"Better Than a Hallelujah"
A Sermon on Isaiah 65:17-25 and 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, 6:1-2 by Marci Auld Glass for Covenant Conference 2015, Saturday, November 7: "The Belhar Confession reminds us that we are called to proclaim this new heaven and new earth that God is about to create. But we can’t do that in a way that tells people to be okay with the pain they are experiencing NOW, or with the injustice that is breaking their backs and their souls NOW. We aren’t called to be Pollyanna and deny the truth of people’s lived experience. As Paul Roberts said the other night, we are not called to just be nice. We are called to disrupt."
Marci Glass elected Co-Moderator of Board
The Rev. Marci Auld Glass, pastor of Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho, is the new Co-Moderator of the Board of Directors of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians. "Even as we have made great progress, we recognize the Covenant Network's vision toward a church as generous and just as God's grace is not yet complete. I look forward to working with the Board, and with the greater church, as we live into a church ever more generous and ever more just."
GA: Civil and Religious Marriage
Covenant Network Board member Marci Glass, who has decided not to sign civil marriage licenses in her own ministry, reflects on Item 10-01, an overture from the Presbytery of Lehigh to be considered by the 221st General Assembly.
Covenant Conference Workshops
Should ministers act as agents of the state in solemnizing marriages? What is shame and how does God make a way beyond it? How do congregations grow intentionally in inclusiveness?These were a few of the issues addressed in workshops at the 2013 Covenant Conference, “Marriage Matters,” held October 31 – November 2 at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago. While there’s no substitute for being there, a few of our workshop leaders have graciously shared some of their materials
"The Reign of God We Get"
A Sermon on Luke 7:1-10 by Brian Ellison, at Southminster Presbyterian Church, Boise, ID, June 2, 2013: "But this is the world. And this is where God is. When Jesus shows up we might like every story to be like a magic wand being waved. The leper is touched and the healing occurs. The mud is put on the eyes and sight is restored. But the world we live in is a Luke Chapter 7 world, and healing rarely happens that way. Justice is rarely a matter of a single spoken word. Every problem is not healed by each just action. The day you or I offer a cold cup of water to an overheated stranger, he will be better and a thousand more will still thirst. But the witness of the scriptures and the promise of the gospel is that it still matters. That, in fact, it couldn’t possibly matter any more. That this is the kingdom of God."
The Church is for Blessing
A reflection on ministry, church, relationship, love, holiness, and the PCUSA General Assembly, by Marci Auld Glass:Because these two young men LOVE Jesus. They LOVE the church. They LOVE each other. And the place they most wanted to be to celebrate their relationship is in a church.What, exactly, is our problem with this?