Our Denominational Story
I hope this finds you well and enduring this MI hot spell! It is good to be back in Michigan after a week away at our denomination's General Assembly and a weekend away with Lisa. I had thought to do a recap on the week, but rather than recreate the wheel let me refer you here where you can check in on any of the action yourself, or if you prefer a written summary you can find one here.
One thing I did come away with was a reminder of why I appreciate the PCA. Our motto from the beginning has been "Faithful to the Scriptures. True to the Reformed Faith. Obedient to the Great Commission." All three of these statements are critical. The scriptures give us an accurate view of both God and ourselves that enables us to see the majesty of God, the beauty of His creation, and the tremendous gap that exists between Creator and creature. The Reformed faith helps us interpret the scriptures and to see the tremendous grace that God has granted to all who acknowledge the heinousness of their own sin and turn to Christ for grace through his finished work on the cross. And the Great Commission reminds us of the tremendous joy that we experience as we respond to the grace of the Lord with overflowing hearts, readily sharing the good news with all that we come into contact with as we go faithfully throughout his world.
To illustrate this mindset let me share a few words from Michael Graham, who is the biographer of Jack Miller*, one of our PCA "fathers in the faith", that I believe illustrate this "PCA" movement:
"I've pondered for some time what Jack would say about ... how Christians often bite and devour one another, regardless of the rationale or justification.
Jack felt he had never been more criticized than by the Cross of Christ. The cross said the worst thing about us anyone could ever say. So whatever criticism he received from others paled in comparison.
When Jack didn't know how to respond graciously or felt discouraged, he would say, "I need to go out and share the gospel," so he could benefit from the faith-building character of the gospel himself (Romans 10:17).
For Jack, sharing the gospel was his way of returning to sanity in a world full of sin, rage, and apathy. He observed that we are all like people without skin, raw to the touch."
I love this movement of scriptural illumination, leading to Gospel (re)immersion, culminating in getting outside of oneself and sharing the good news. As Miller observes, "we are all like people without skin, raw to the touch", it is only our immersion in the grace of Christ that covers us and grants us relief from the stinging effects of this world, while simultaneously giving us what we need to share with others.
This pattern has been on display for us throughout this past week as we have soaked in the teaching of Romans 15:5-7 at Arts and Rec camp. Perhaps not surprisingly it is again on display for us this week as we come back to 2 Samuel. In chapter 6, David rightly looks to see the Ark of the Covenant brought into Jerusalem, however goes about it wrongly, ending in tragedy. But God continues to pursue David in the midst of his fear and anger, meeting him in his rawness with fresh assurances of his grace, resulting in unmitigated joy for David that is witnessed by and overflows to all the people! It is truly great to be a part of that continuing story.