By Viola Larson, Naming His Grace blog Jesus warns His disciples that some are only hired hands working for wages while they watch the Master’s sheep. But Jesus is the good shepherd, the one who lays His life down for the sheep. The hired hand is not the owner of the sheep and he leaves…
By Viola Larson, Naming His Grace blog The Presbyterian Church (USA) through the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy and their journal Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice, has stepped beyond the boundaries of Scripture and confession. The being of God and the person of Jesus are deeply effected in their November edition,…
By Viola Larson, Naming His Grace blog In a rather embellished story, two of the first Moravian missionaries on their way to live among and preach the gospel to the slaves of St. Thomas Island, cried out to those watching their ship leave, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!” The two…
By Viola Larson, Naming His Grace blog There were these among the church in her early days: These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of…
By Viola Larson, Naming His Grace blog Who is Alison Weir, and should either the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Mission Agency or the Israel/Palestine Mission Network be pointing to her material? On their twitter page, IPMN linked to an article by Weir. The article, “Christian Evangelicals Increasingly Support Palestinian Human Rights,” is on the International Middle…
By Viola Larson Putting away the event of the 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church would probably be the best of all worlds as far as my emotions go, but neither my emotions nor those seeking information will allow that. I woke up this Sunday morning thinking about the letter from the Palestinian Business…
By Viola Larson In the May newsletter of the Presbytery of Sacramento our General Presbyter, Rev. Jay Wilkins has written a message about the debate going on in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on same sex marriage. He is very polite and straight forward about it and I appreciate that, but I am bothered that Wilkins…
Editor’s note: The Presbyterian Lay Committee (PLC), the publisher of The Layman and The Layman Online, does not support same-sex marriage. Instead, the PLC “believes with Scripture that God ordained the lifelong marriage of a man and a woman in the very order of creation and that Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, blessed…
By Viola Larson I am reading a new book, Live like a Narnian: Christian Discipleship in Lewis’ s Chronicles; the author, Joe Rigney, reminds the reader that Lewis saw goodness and joy in feasting, celebrations, the coming of spring and certainly Christmas. In the chapter, “The Witch’s War on Joy,” the reader begins to understand…
By Viola Larson The Presbyterian News Service in their article, ACSWP continues work on reports to GA 221, reported that the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP), was preparing, among other reports, a paper on “End of Life” issues for the P C (U.S.A.)’s General Assembly. Some of the reports were mandated by previous GAs,…