An Open Letter to Pope Francis

I congratulate and commend you on your rise to the papal see. I rejoice with much of the world that the Roman Church is now led by a man from Latin America. With others I am encouraged to hear of your humility and rejection of the trappings of riches in your ministry as cardinal in Argentina. I pray that Francis of Assisi truly will be your pattern for ministry, with his passion for the Gospel and care for the poor.

Many of us heard very disturbing news reports concerning the papal curia and the power struggles present there. It seems that not only are there local conspiracies to retain power, money and immunity from gross sexual sin, but the Vatican itself has been home to such wickedness. I know that Benedict seems free from accusation of sin in this, but that he was unable to overthrow the power of the curia and cleanse the Roman Church from the top down. On a local level, the world has seen that diocese after diocese has protected sexual predators from criminal justice and these men have often gone on to assault more children. This is a very great evil that will not escape judgement from our King, Jesus Christ. I pray that you will be committed to confronting evil and casting it from your midst, not simply minimizing the damage to reputation and coffers.

As well, I strongly urge you to cleanse the Roman Church of the cult of Mary. As a pastor from Latin America, you have seen yourself how Mary has become far more than an object of reverence, but an object of worship. No amount of subtle theologizing can justify this. While all Christians should revere Mary as the mother of our Savior, she is not our “co-redemptrix,” object of worship or receiver of our prayers. Latin America and parts of Europe have become bastions of goddess-worship. God is not pleased with this. While it is attractive to the uneducated and superstitious, it incurs God’s wrath and destroys the opportunity for unity in the universal Church.

If you actually care for the poor, you will also reform the Roman Church’s system of merit and indulgences. How sad that five hundred years after Martin Luther exposed the evil of this system (which at the time was also propping up a corrupt curia), you continue to sell indulgences with the promise that “excess merit” from Mary and the saints can be delivered to suffering souls in your imaginary purgatory. There is nothing biblical about this, and it plunders the poor and superstitious. Salvation is a gracious gift, which saves a person completely and does not consign her to purgatory, because Christ “has perfected for all time those of us who are being sanctified.” Your theologians have already admitted that Trent misunderstood or misrepresented Dr. Luther. He never said that salvation can be apart from good works, but that good works are not the basis for our salvation. Can we not agree that Christ’s work is the basis for our salvation? Can we not agree that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient to fully pardon our sins, even the sins committed after baptism which we all commit? Can we not turn people from fear of hell to a joy in good works?

If you do these things, your church will be transformed. Bring sin into the light, the true light of the true Gospel. Live as Francis with a concern only for the poor and the Gospel.

Peace,

The Rev. Travis D. Hutchinson

Teaching Elder, Presbyterian Church in America

Countering the Arguments of the World

(the "Mouth of Sauron," Return of the King)

Today's sermon highlights how "there is nothing new under the sun." The Rabshekah of Assyria gives a compendium of arguments against true religion at the gates of Jerusalem. I've drawn out some of his arguments and pointed out the biblical response to such attacks. The notes (sorry they're just notes!) from my sermon can be viewed here. I pray that they are helpful to you.

The 40th General Assembly Ends Early

Somewhat shockingly, the PCA General Assembly ended shortly before eleven at night on Thursday. The Assembly seemed destined to run until midnite and then all Friday morning, but it picked up speed, largely through the Overtures Committee recommending that the pile of discipline amendments be sent back to Pacific Northwest Presbytery for more work. The idea is that the overtures, while possibly helpful, were imperfect (aren't they all!) and the Assembly didn't have time to perfect them (certainly true). The moderator often calls late night sessions on Thursday if the business is running very long. Nashville two years ago was a late night bloodbath that you probably can still watch online. Sometimes he calls Thursday night sessions if there's a chance we can finish and avoid Friday morning. He did. We did. Score!

H.P. Lovecraft Gets a Shout Out

Ruling Elder Robert Mattes made PCA history tonight with his reference to H.P. Lovecraft, the father of modern horror-fantasy. Robert was speaking against a proposal to change the PCA Book of Church Order to forbid intinction (taking communion by dipping the bread into the wine).[Correction: He was actually speaking in favor of forbidding intinction, see his comment below.] The motion carried and will be sent down to the presbyteries for ratification and a second vote at the next General Assembly in Charlotte. The floor debate was long, and somewhat heated, and in the end the motion carried by a mere FOURTEEN votes out of around a thousand commissioners on the floor. The problem with the motion, in my view, is that it singles out one non-biblical practice which is very ancient and ignores other more egregious violations of apostolic practice such as swapping grape juice for wine or using tiny plastic shot glasses instead of a common cup.

Assembly Approves Report Condemning Muslim Bible Translations

Note: This post was written immediately after the events and needed some corrections, which I added later in the evening. The Ad-Interim Committee on Insider Movements submitted an eighty-page report on Bible translation which included five recommendations for the Assembly. The report was submitted to us by the unanimous action of the Committee. The first four recommendations passed almost unanimously after brief opposition from the floor. The fifth recommendation concerned funding and will come later in the business. The Assembly received the report, which grants it a great deal of weight in the PCA. Some scholars are calling the document "historic" as it defines biblically, theologically and linguistically why the common biological terms must be retained in the translation of "huios" (son) and "pater" (father) in reference to Jesus and God the Father. Muslim Idiom Translations have translated these terms with such substitutes as "representative" and "guardian."

This action will give guidance to churches supporting translation work, a resource to our mission agency, and place pressure on translation agencies to hold to biblical standards for translation.
Neither our mission agency or the pastor who questioned some of the language of the report in a pre-Assembly packet spoke against the report. I think we're all on the same page with this. Praise God.

Please pray the the Assembly will authorize funding the AICoIM to continue for another year.

The Assembly Votes to Approve a Report Condemning Muslim Bible Translations

The PCA takes a historic vote.

The Deaconess Issue Rises

This post was made after midnite, so the "tomorrow" is Thursday, June 21. It turns out my statement about the absence of conflict about deaconesses was premature. Today we received the report from the Review of Presbytery Records (RPR) and RPR took exception to several sets of presbytery minutes which dealt with the issue.

To try to make this simple without the 60 page report in front of me and a dying cell battery the big issue is churches which are "commissioning" deaconesses as members of the diaconate with the deacons, which RPR holds is a "distinction without a difference." The Assembly will have to debate and vote on the report. This one of the avenues the Assembly can hold presbyteries accountable. The two others are by offering overtures from presbyteries or individuals addressing an issue in principle or by petitioning GA to "assume original jurisdiction" if a presbytery has been grossly negligent. The third option is almost impossible so the first two are the normal paths. We'll see tomorrow when we take up the report.

Sent with an Old World flourish from my iPhone