Thinking Praying Living: Though none go with me
… I increasingly believe that many of the struggles we face as a denomination are the aftershocks of our dislocation from the center of American culture. Many Presbyterians have been so used to the congruence between middle class white American culture and the Presbyterian Church that our movement away from the center is extremely disorienting. This disorientation causes deep confusion about identity and mission. We are no longer the chaplain to the culture. …
… We have to find what God is calling us to when we’re no longer important. For many Presbyterians, this reality is painful and unwelcome. But it can also bring us to a more faithful clarity about identity and mission. Free from the expectations to of the past, we may be able to follow Jesus more closely.
The other night as I rested uneasily in bed, the words of a Gospel song my Holiness missionary parents taught me as a young child kept flitting through my head, “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus.” The second verse stuck in my head,
Though none go with me,
still I will follow.
Though none go with me,
still I will follow.
No turning back,
no turning back. …
Good stuff, Charles. That song was common in my Holiness origins as well. Maybe Presbyterians need to learn some of those old Holiness favorites. 😉
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