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This story online at: http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/2006/06651.htm
06651
December 7, 2006
Great Hope and Expectation
by the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick PC(USA) General Assembly stated clerk
LOUISVILLE * The Advent season is upon us, a season of hope and expectation. The season this year is particularly exciting for my family and me as we await the birth of another grandchild (my third!) in a few short weeks. How is it that a grandparent's heart can expand to love and welcome each new grandchild as deeply as it did the first one? It is a marvel to me for which I am most thankful.
Indeed, Advent is a season of great expectation. Prior to the birth of Jesus, the people of God had much reason to keep their eyes fixed on the horizon. As John the Baptist, echoing the prophet Isaiah, proclaimed in advance of the Messiah's coming, "Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low" (Luke 3:5).
So, too, do we in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have much reason to keep our eyes fixed on the horizon these days. Things are happening that, I think, will help the PC(USA) be an even greater witness to the gospel of the coming Messiah.
Six months ago, commissioners to the 217th General Assembly made decisions that were filled with hope for the future of the church. Those decisions are beginning to bear fruit.
For example, the Form of Government Task Force has produced initial drafts of a much-needed revised Book of Order that will enhance our mission and ministry in this 21st century.
In addition, just last week, leaders of American Jewish religious movements met with Presbyterian leaders to engage in a "new season of dialogue and understanding," as the assembly invited us to do in its resolution on Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Those same commissioners voted overwhelmingly to encourage all of us to witness to the church's visible oneness, to strengthen our covenanted partnership with each other at every level of the church, and to find new and different ways to make decisions that move us beyond a win/lose approach.
As we are learning, this kind of work is hard and slow going. But so are the even more important tasks of preparing the way of the Lord, working to help lift up the valleys and make low the hills.
It will all happen in God's good time. And for that, I am filled with great hope and expectation. May your hearts be filled with hope as well.
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