The annual synod (leadership gathering) of the Christian Reformed Church concluded last week at Trinity Christian College in Palos Height, Ill. What was most newsworthy in an immediate sort of way was the norovirus that broke out and struck 80 synod-related folks as well as 25 Trinity staffers. Let me hasten to say that it was NOT Trinity’s accommodations or food–the virus was imported and then spread. Trinity staffers did a fantastic job of keeping things moving and helping us to contain the virus as much as possible. While there were some serious complications experienced by a few, everyone ultimately recovered–for which we’re very, very grateful. That includes yours truly, who, I should add, is no longer infectious, so stop avoiding me already!

Longterm what was most noteworthy about synod was its decision to propose to Synod 2012 that The Belhar Confession be adopted as a fourth confession of the CRC. That allows our congregations and classes to study the Belhar for a few years before a final decision will be made.

What’s the Belhar? What does it mean? And what else did synod do? Are all these things not written in the July issue of The Banner that should be in your hands in a week or so? Forsooth, that’s a week later than usual, but it allows us to get synod coverage to you in July instead of waiting for the August issue. So hang in there!

If you’re really eager to know what happened, check out synod news at www.crcna.org and tell them Bob sent you.

Jesus told jokes, often about camels. See, for example, Matt. 23:24: “You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!” C’mon, lighten up, eh! That’s funny!

To be sure Jesus told his jokes (at least the ones recorded in Scripture) in dead earnest and always with a redemptive purpose–in this case to lance the Pharisees’ thick hide that held in the festering puss of hypocrisy, self-righteousness, and disdain for (most of) God’s people.

Do we still work at creating/using humor like that? I’m getting a bit weary of our heavy-duty, dead(ly) serious discussions on moral issues, helpful and important as they are. I’m not suggesting we stop dialoguing on those, but can we season those with some more fun stuff, stuff that’s more proactive rather than reactive? Somehow we need to keep reminding each other in all seriousness that our overarching testimony to the world must be bathed and validated in our JOY! Read and meditate some on Matthew 9:14-17 to be sure to allow its humor to nourish your soul.

So here’s a challenge: send us your favorite joke or anecdote that makes an important point but in a lighthearted way. I’m in serious need of some good sermon fodder!

Here’s one to start off: A knight riding a fine horse spies a tiny bird lying on its back on the road, its spindly legs pointing heavenward. “What are you doing?” asks the knight?

“The sky is falling,” answers the bird.

The knight bursts out laughing: “So with your wee, little legs you’re going to hold up the entire sky for us?”

“One does what one can,” responds the bird. “One does what one can.”

Thought I’d give you, faithful participants, the jump on this one. In the July Banner we’ll be inviting readers to submit their reasons for gratitude in tough times–given the state of the economy. We’ll solicit their/your very brief stories (100 words at most) and publish a collection of the best ones in our Thanksgiving issue of the mag. As The Banner’s managing editor put it, we’d like something more than “I’m grateful for my cat;” we’d want something like, “I lost my job but this is what happened that really surprised me . . .” Our God still provides in so many amazing ways, even when we’re under financial stress. We’d love to celebrate how.

Since you’ve shown your inclination and ability to contribute to our online discussions, we’d love to have you contribute to our print mag as well. Feel free to post your submissions here–I have your e-mail so if we use your story we’ll get back in touch.

You won’t get paid but you’ll have the chance to present your public thanks to God a la Psalm 50:14-15. Don’t miss out on that opportunity! And thanks for your thanks!

In the current issue of The Banner we feature an interview with some very articulate young folks who have just taken on ministry responsibilities in the Christian Reformed Church. Next month synod, the annual leadership meeting of the denomination, will approve another crop of candidates for the role of Ministers of the Word and Sacraments.

I was new to the ministry once (thirty-some years ago). I wish I would have known then and there some of the things I had to pick up along the way. It would have been good if somebody would have told me upfront.

I won’t say exactly what. I raise this only to ask you what advice you would give to a new pastor starting out. If you had the opportunity (and now you do!) what would that advice be?

Because of the flu pandemic, some Roman Catholic dioceses have taken the uprecedented step (at least, to my knowledge) of temporarily offering only the wafer and not the cup during communion. Given their doctrine of transubstantiation (the wine actually becomes the blood of Christ in their view) that’s a really radical step.

That raises the question of what, if anything, we should do as churches to prevent the spread of H1N1 amongst the faithful. Should we suspend worship, at least for a number of weeks? Should we encourage the flock to forego handshaking? And how about those little walking human bug traps we call “covenant kids” who may be most vulnerable? Should we lock the nursery doors?

How do we balance concern for physical well-being with our calling to provide a welcoming, open, and supportive community?

Thanks so much to all of you who participated in our discussion on the Christian Reformed Church’s policy on homosexuality. I found the discussion respectful, open, and enlightening in many ways. May God’s Spirit help us to be obedient to Scripture’s intent and accepting and loving to all.

Now that unemployment worldwide is at an all-time high, this must be affecting many of us. If you or your loved ones are unemployed, I’d very much appreciate hearing your stories, especially how your congregration is doing in providing material, emotional, relational, and spiritual support. And I’d love to hear good ideas for what churches can do to be of use.

What can you tell us?

Let me express my heartfelt appreciation for all of you who have weighed in on this discussion on the Christian Reformed Church’s stance on homosexuality. I’ve followed it carefully and find it illuminating. I also appreciate the tone–most of the discussion is honest, open, and respectful, as befits those who seek to speak the truth in love. What I especially appreciate is the way in which there is a careful listening to one another and an honest attempt to interact and answer the concerns raised.

There have been a few, but very few, exceptions. One post that I believe directly violates Paul’s exhortation to speak the truth in love I did allow on the site. It is the one written by Ken Horjus in response to my last post. I allowed it because it gives me a chance to assure you that he may be a fine, upstanding brother in Christ, but he’s a very unaccomplished mind reader.

Horjus claims to be able to look into my mind and finds that posting on this site is a waste of your time and you should ignore it. Reason: “DeMoor has his views on this whole issue . . . . . (sic) nothing you say is going to change his mind, or change the way he writes about it in his opinion spots in The Banner.” He goes on to state: “You are fooling yourselves if you think that Bob Demoor (sic) is sitting behind a desk somewhere, weighing this posting as against that posting, or what this person says or that person says.”

Horjus further divines my secret motivation for carrying on this online discussion: “. . . exercises like this are akin to on-line polls–meant to generate far more heat than light.”

Unless Mr. Horjus can prove that he knows my mind better than I do, I can only respond by telling you that I do, indeed sit behind a desk–in Edmonton, actually–and weigh these posts carefully. I’m not keeping score on who is for this or against that–I’m trying to discern where we disagree and where we might be on our way to finding each other.

I can’t prove to you that I know my own mind better than Brother Horjus does. I can only ask you to believe me that I’m following this discussion in good faith and it’s worth your effort to keep the discussion going. We may well wish to excerpt some of this in The Banner at some point (with your permission, of course).

If you don’t believe me, well, then at the least you can still benefit from hearing each other out on all this. It seems to me that that may be of greater value than to try to influence what some future editorial might say on the issue.

Either way, thanks for your input. And thanks, brother Ken for giving me a chance to say my piece. I do hear your frustration and I’m sorry for it. If you were the only one frustrated over this issue I’d drop it in a heartbeat.

Thanks so much for all of you who are participating in this discussion on the Christian Reformed Church’s stance on homosexuality and on the way it is being implemented in Christian Reformed congregations. While there is much disagreement, there is also a respectful, constructive, and frank conversation happening that, I believe, honors the Apostle Paul’s urging in Ephesians 4 to “speak the truth in love.”

I’ve noticed two things in our conversation so far. The first is that we’re certainly not of one mind on the issue. Respondents, some homosexual, some not, are to be found on both sides of whether the CRC stance is the right one.

The second thing I’ve noticed is that most respondents are very sure that their view is the right one, even though those views often stand diametrically opposed to one another.

So how to proceed in our conversation? Maybe, rather than continuing to repeat what we’re personally sure of, we might help each other a lot by asking ourselves what we are NOT so sure of. Maybe we need to take another look at our opposing basic assumptions and ask: what questions do we need to ask (and seek answers to) that will help us to see why, as Bible-believing Christians, we’re so divided on the issue and how we might come to some common understandings.

What are those questions? Before we even try to answer them, can we honestly and fairly help each other formulate them?

Thanks for all your responses to my last post. In that (brief) post I urged you to read and comment on my editorial and the IMHO column in the March issue of The Banner (online at www.thebanner.org).

So far, on this site and elsewhere, I’ve received three types of responses to my suggestion that we discuss this issue once more because the Christian Reformed Church’s present approach to providing pastoral care for those sisters and brothers in our congregations who are homosexual isn’t working:

1) some scolded me for raising it because they assumed I was advocating a fundamental liberalization of the present CRC moral position on this and thereby compromising the clear testimony of Scripture that homosexual practice is a sin.

2) some who made that same assumption welcomed renewed discussion, arguing that the present CRC position is prejudiced against gay people, unloving, and hypocritical, and not sufficiently taking into account that homosexual orientation is not a matter of personal choice.

3) some felt that raising this issue again, whatever its merits, would be damaging to both the church as well as to those within it who are homosexual, and that it would be most prudent and loving to all to just drop it at this point.

To focus this discussion a bit, I’d like to reiterate my main reason for wishing to raise it at this time. I would very much appreciate your specific responses to that.

The last time the denomination spoke to the issue (2002/2003), it affirmed its earlier position that homosexual orientation is not a sin but homosexual practices are. But it also went on to say that our congregations have done a very poor job of providing acceptance of, support for, and pastoral care to our sisters and brothers who are homosexual. My observation, confirmed by many I’ve spoken to about this, is that we have not improved on that score at all. Leadership within our congregations are de facto using a don’t ask, don’t tell approach that isn’t serving anyone well.

What I  believe we need to discuss specifically is these two questions:

1) is there something specific to the Christian Reformed Church’s present policy that does not allow congregations and its leaders to do what synod said it must do: provide acceptance, love, and pastoral care for its homosexual members? If so, how should that policy be amended to make this happen?

2) if the problem is not with the policy itself, then how can synod assist the churches in implementing it in a way that meets synod’s own call to the congregations and their leaders to care appropriately for their homosexual members.

What say you?

In the March issue of The Banner, a Christian Reformed pastor asks if there’s room in the CRC for his son, who is homosexual. In my editorial of that same issue I raise the question of whether we should talk about that.

Should we?