Post 17: It's A Long Way Up
“I used to pray that God would feed the hungry, or do this or that, but now I pray that he will guide me to do whatever I'm supposed to do, what I can do. I used to pray for answers, but now I’m praying for strength. I used to believe that prayer changes things, but now I know that prayer changes us and we change things.” Mother Teresa
In 1984 I finished my graduate degree in Biblical Studies from Fordham University. It was also the year I finally left the Roman Catholic Church and became a member of the Presbyterian Church USA. Most people get Roman Catholics, even if you disagree with them, because there are so many of them and they have been around for so long. But Presbyterian?
To the non-initiated, Presbyterianism seems like a dance craze popular in colonial America or maybe a torture procedure from the Inquisition. However, when you think Presbyterian, think Mr. Rogers. Just about everybody knows Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran on television under different formats since 1963. Yes, Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian Minister, who for over three decades had a tele-ministry that didn’t pound the pulpit, didn’t wave a bible under your nose, and didn’t threaten to send people to hell. Instead his congregation was millions of American homes, his pulpit the TV, and he taught what “love your neighbor as yourself” meant. That’s what I loved most about becoming Presbyterian that I would end up with a lot so geeky that Mr. Rogers was cool. Mr. Rogers became my hero.
I was invited to First Presbyterian Church at Mount Vernon, NY, and was transfixed. The sermons were biblically based but socially on point. The lay people were invested with equal authority in leadership. It was an integrated church racially and in terms of gender and age. The woman who invited me was an “elder,” an ordained lay leader, and she was my age. I quickly learned these defining fundamental traits contained in the Presbyterian Book of Order that guide all things presby (the Greek work for “elder”):
1. The election of the people of God for service as well as for salvation;
2. Covenant life marked by a disciplined concern for order in the church according to the Word of God;
3. A faithful stewardship that shuns ostentation and seeks proper use of the gifts of God’s creation;
4. The recognition of the human tendency to idolatry and tyranny, which calls the people of God to work for the transformation of society by seeking justice and living in obedience to the Word of God.
– Book of Order (G-2.0300 – G.2.0500a)
I felt like I was coming spiritually home even as I was leaving the church of my birth. It was a peaceful transition: I was grateful for the heritage, especially the social gospel and mystical teachings of the Catholic Church. I would find in one of Barry’s song, “Goodbye My Love,” from 2:00 AM Paradise Café, a kind of a fitting tribute to my departure from the Roman Catholic Church.
However it would be in the Presbyterian Church where my emerging song could be sung. It was the place I could engage in ordained ministry as a woman. In 1985, Barry’s album Manilow featured a song, “It’s a Long Way Up” that captured my emerging spiritual journey:
Once you find what matters in your life
Keep on pushing through the darkness
Till you see the light
It stirred my soul and affirmed the course my path was taking.
First Presbyterian in Mount Vernon embraced me and sponsored me, first on a mission team to Nicaragua, then to Colombia, and later as candidate for ordination to ministry to Word and Sacrament, what Presbyterians call Teaching Elders.
Notes:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/838305.Mother_Teresa?page=6
Give the gift of music to the next generation through donations to:
The Manilow Music Project
8295 South La Cienega Boulevard
Inglewood, CA 90301
[email protected]
Click here to go to the next post or click here to return to the previous post.
In 1984 I finished my graduate degree in Biblical Studies from Fordham University. It was also the year I finally left the Roman Catholic Church and became a member of the Presbyterian Church USA. Most people get Roman Catholics, even if you disagree with them, because there are so many of them and they have been around for so long. But Presbyterian?
To the non-initiated, Presbyterianism seems like a dance craze popular in colonial America or maybe a torture procedure from the Inquisition. However, when you think Presbyterian, think Mr. Rogers. Just about everybody knows Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran on television under different formats since 1963. Yes, Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian Minister, who for over three decades had a tele-ministry that didn’t pound the pulpit, didn’t wave a bible under your nose, and didn’t threaten to send people to hell. Instead his congregation was millions of American homes, his pulpit the TV, and he taught what “love your neighbor as yourself” meant. That’s what I loved most about becoming Presbyterian that I would end up with a lot so geeky that Mr. Rogers was cool. Mr. Rogers became my hero.
I was invited to First Presbyterian Church at Mount Vernon, NY, and was transfixed. The sermons were biblically based but socially on point. The lay people were invested with equal authority in leadership. It was an integrated church racially and in terms of gender and age. The woman who invited me was an “elder,” an ordained lay leader, and she was my age. I quickly learned these defining fundamental traits contained in the Presbyterian Book of Order that guide all things presby (the Greek work for “elder”):
1. The election of the people of God for service as well as for salvation;
2. Covenant life marked by a disciplined concern for order in the church according to the Word of God;
3. A faithful stewardship that shuns ostentation and seeks proper use of the gifts of God’s creation;
4. The recognition of the human tendency to idolatry and tyranny, which calls the people of God to work for the transformation of society by seeking justice and living in obedience to the Word of God.
– Book of Order (G-2.0300 – G.2.0500a)
I felt like I was coming spiritually home even as I was leaving the church of my birth. It was a peaceful transition: I was grateful for the heritage, especially the social gospel and mystical teachings of the Catholic Church. I would find in one of Barry’s song, “Goodbye My Love,” from 2:00 AM Paradise Café, a kind of a fitting tribute to my departure from the Roman Catholic Church.
However it would be in the Presbyterian Church where my emerging song could be sung. It was the place I could engage in ordained ministry as a woman. In 1985, Barry’s album Manilow featured a song, “It’s a Long Way Up” that captured my emerging spiritual journey:
Once you find what matters in your life
Keep on pushing through the darkness
Till you see the light
It stirred my soul and affirmed the course my path was taking.
First Presbyterian in Mount Vernon embraced me and sponsored me, first on a mission team to Nicaragua, then to Colombia, and later as candidate for ordination to ministry to Word and Sacrament, what Presbyterians call Teaching Elders.
Notes:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/838305.Mother_Teresa?page=6
Give the gift of music to the next generation through donations to:
The Manilow Music Project
8295 South La Cienega Boulevard
Inglewood, CA 90301
[email protected]
Click here to go to the next post or click here to return to the previous post.