Sounding Gough

Moving

Yup. I'm moving. It's only a virtual move. I'm moving from Typepad to Wordpress and my blog can now be found at it's ever so puntacular name: www.soundinggough.com.

 All the past blogs are already there and the design is a work in progress. Typepad doesn't make it easy to switch images and the like so I'll be keeping this blog at www.mattgough.com live until the prepaid subscription runs out in June. Meanwhile I'll learn how to move images over or just do it manually post by post.

You will NOT find new blog posts here. Your readers and subscriptions will need to be updated to the new URL www.soundinggough.com where all new posts will be posted.

Eventually mattgough.com will be used for something else or parked in the hopes that another Matt Gough becomes really famous and wants to buy it from me. Though, most agents probably would make someone named Gough change their name to something people can pronounce in only one way.

Goodbye Typepad. You served your purpose but you're no match for Wordpress and open source.

BOO: The Head of the Church

 PC(USA) Book of Order

FORM OF GOVERNMENT

CHAPTER I G-1.0000 PRELIMINARY PRINCIPLES G-1.0100 

1. The Head of the Church Christ Is Head of the Church a. All power in heaven and earth is given to Jesus Christ by Almighty God, who raised Christ from the dead and set him above all rule and authority, all power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.a God has put all things under the Lordship of Jesus Christ and has made Christ Head of the Church, which is his body.b

a. Eph. 1:20, 21; Ps. 68:18

b. Ps. 2:6; Dan. 7:14; Eph. 1:22, 23

The beginning of Chapter 1 of the BOO is a beautiful statement. It begins where every believer begins, at the feet of Jesus Christ. We proclaim that Jesus is Lord. We admit that we need a Lord. However, it isn't just a personal and subjective statement. Jesus has been exalted above every name, every authority, and every power. Whether recognized as such or not, this statement declares that Jesus is the absolute reality behind all of existence.

This is a provocative and scandalous statement which lives at the heart of every struggle, internal and external, within the Church and without. The battles within the church right now are petty compared to the one raging silently, pressurizing towards eruption, over just how firmly we do or do not hold to the absolute Truth of Jesus Christ, name above all names.

My own discipleship has been a practice of identifying those places in me that mistrust and even fight against his authority. In good times, emboldened by Grace, I charge into those chaotic places to exorcise the fear, air out the wound, and submit the beast. In worse times the beast rampaged, rioted, and manipulated all the more proving my desperate need for a merciful Lord.

I have recognized that rather than stand in the confrontation of believing in one whose name is above all names, many live and speak as though he is one of many names. Jesus is their teacher and may even be their Lord but they will stop short of saying that he is Lord of all.

I have recognized in myself a desire to please others, to avoid confrontation, and to keep the peace. In my life, I've done so to the point of losing myself. Having seen that, I did not like it and set out on the work to be more grounded in what God has placed within me. In the same way, many have replaced the substantive and transformative Truth of Christ with a much more shallow non-confrontationalism which is mistaken for peace.

Anyone who has lived as a people pleaser knows that there is no life in it. It is suicide of everything but the body, and even that is compromised. While you appease those around you your inward being rots and decays.

So the church rots and decays when it sacrifices the Name above all names for the sake of being non-confrontational. It dies from within. A church that decapitates itself cannot live.

The exaltation of Jesus Christ is not some sort of coup among competing religions. It is not meant to exalt a particular manifestation of Christianity above all others. It is simply the revelation of the way God created things to be. More than that, it is the revelation of how God has chosen to be. God has chosen a material existence. For all those with the Hellenistic belief that the material world is bad and the spiritual good this may sound heretical.

In a particular real and historical person, Jesus Christ, absolute Truth is incarnate. God has not become human just to rescue us from ourselves and death. Jesus is much more than a rescue mission. In Jesus Christ, God reveals that God has chosen to be and to live in and through a material world and through people of flesh and blood. One Spirit, alive in a Body who have Jesus Christ as their Head. You can almost say that God is a humanist. In Jesus Christ God declares that his existence is an eternal relationship that includes matter.

Quantum Physicists today search for what some call "The God Particle". Our current models of the physical universe do not explain everything that is observed. There is something even deeper. There is still a great mystery. Something connects all matter that we just can't see. We are much more physically connected to one another than we know. There is an absolute physical reality to our existence that I believe to be wed to the absolute reality of Jesus Christ. One name above, within, in between, and interlinked with all names. 

To remove Jesus Christ from the equation is to separate God and matter and tear apart the intimacy of the relationship God has with us. To say that another name is equal is akin to saying that the moon is equal to the sun. The moon reflects the light of the sun. Other names may reflect truth but they are not the source.

Jesus is Lord of all and above all names. We have proclaimed that in ways that are incompatible with the way of Christ. Jesus was exalted after emptying himself, serving, and loving all to the point of surrendering his life. He was exalted to a place of power after releasing all his power as a revelation of God's love for all. We may like to tell people that Jesus is Lord of all but it is when we show it, through emptying ourselves and loving as he did, that people begin to see it for themselves. 

Don’t be scared of the BOO!

As an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) I made a promise, among others, to be governed by our polity and be subject to the church’s discipline.

Our polity refers to our constitution that we call the Book of Order. This is a lengthy document that is the “law” of the PC(USA). It is not decreed by guys in pointy hats but, rather, crafted by the elders and ministers of the church through an orderly process. Every two years (this used to be annually before a recent change to save funds) representatives from all over the United States gather at a General Assembly to vote on amendments and changes to our constitution. If this sounds like a slow process, you are right. It is a slow process but it is a good one considering the alternatives.

Many Presbyterians have never heard of the Book of Order, let alone seen one. As a whole, we Presbyterians are about as familiar with it as most Americans are with the U.S. Constitution. When I ordered them for my Session the first year of my solo pastorate it was met with confusion and one even asked me, “What are we supposed to do with this?"

My first interaction with the BOO was in seminary. I’d say I was ashamed to say that but rarely did any of my pastors refer to it. That’s not a criticism. They spoke out of Scripture and I am thankful that the Bible was primary and not the BOO.  In seminary I took a two week intensive Presbyterian Polity course before I took the ordination exam, which I passed.  Having been raised by two lawyers I very much enjoyed this class, and enjoy perusing the BOO on occasion just for fun. I am not a polity wonk but I like systems and systemizing things. Everything decent and in order!

 Where am I going with all of this? There is some beautiful language in the BOO and I encourage you to become more familiar with it if you aren’t already. I’m going to write a few bogs about certain sections. I thought about blogging the whole thing ala Julie and Julia but I don’t want to lose the 4 readers I do have.  However, the BOO raises wonderful and deep questions, it is riddled with scriptural references, and it helps us understand what it means to be part of the Reformed Tradition.

Don’t be scared of the BOO!

There's a little person in our house

Today I couldn't stop staring at my son. He's a person. I know it kind of sounds like one of those caricatures of a drug induced person staring at their hand saying, "whoa my hand, dude" but I was just in awe. It's a parent thing but it was a slight act of morning worship, not of my son, but of God and the gifts of the miracle of life, individuality, family, DNA, and a whole mess of other things. What was even more amazing was trying to imagine what future things I would be observing this boy do. Things like, using the potty (that will be a glorious day), first day of Kindergarten, first game/meet/play/whatever, prom, marriage, kids?, and who knows, bail hearing..let's hope not but I'd be there! Blows my mind.

I can get so caught up in parenting and anxiety and thinking about parenting roles that I manage forget that this is a distinct relationship with a unique individual. It's a joy to love him, even when he tells his daddy to go away, and know that I'll love him for who he is no matter what. 

I guess all I'm trying to say is that I love being a Dad.