Holiness and Justice: It’s been my privilege to serve on the Presbytery’s Denominational Concerns Task Force, and I am looking forward to the forum on Tuesday.  Most of the time at the forum will be given over to listening to the people of the presbytery, but we will begin by giving a report on some our work to date and sharing provisional drafts or some of what we will bring to the presbytery in March.  We’re wrestling with issues ranging from property ownership and per capita payments to ordination standards.

One of the pieces we will present is a set of Faith Essentials that we will recommend to the presbytery for use in examining ministers and candidates for membership in the presbytery.  Last year’s General Assembly made it clear that each presbytery has the responsibility and privilege of examining candidates and must determine whether candidates meet the ordination standards of the church.

As we have worked and prayed together, our Task Force has used our Book of Order and the Confessions to identify 11 essentials that must be adhered to “without serious departure” by those who seek membership in the presbytery.  The eleven essentials concern:  The Authority of Scripture, the Sovereignty of God, the Trinity, Sin, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Election of God’s people for Salvation and Service, the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Covenant Life of the Church, Christian Stewardship, and Living Obediently, Seeking Justice and Holiness. 

I am particularly pleased with out last point, Living Obediently, Seeking Justice and Holiness.  It rightly follows many more foundational doctrines, but it is important.  In our statement (come Tuesday evening to see it!) we seek to emphasize both holiness and justice as part of God’s call to obedience.

In our fractured world and church we too often live in the safety of the “either/or” rather than in the exciting tension and adventure of “both/and.”  In our PC(USA) those who are rightly concerned about issues of justice for the oppressed and help for the marginalized too often neglect the moral, relational and sexual holiness to which a Holy God has called us.  And those who are rightly concerned about living faithful and obedient lives to the glory of God in a dark and perverse world too often neglect the ethical, societal and political justice for which God calls us to be passionate.  If you live in a either/or world you have to choose between justice and holiness.  If you live in a both/and world you have to be ready for an adventure that will call forth everything you have, body, mind and soul, for the glory of God.

Here at Park our program of mission engagement is designed to support as many both/and projects as possible, and Sue Makin’s work in Malawi, the Belo-Beaver Partnership in Brazil and the work of our newest mission partner, Tiger Pause in Beaver Falls, are wonderful examples of ways we touch our world both with God’s call to holiness and his demand that we work for justice.

How about you?  Are you living the adventure of both holiness and justice or in the predictable routine of holiness or justice?  Do care about the plight of the less fortunate and those pushed to the side and that your life is a reflection of a Holy God?