The CRC and the HSR

 

Calvin Seminary

Yesterday while walking along the canal, my friend Peggy told me that she had seen a news story in which a Christian Reformed pastor had walked out of  this year's Synod in protest over the Human Sexuality Report issues.  The Synod's reaction to the HSR is a story I have been following but when it becomes national news I am thinking it is worth recording in this blog.

Synod 2022 passed a resolution that made agreeing to the HSR a matter of confessional status.  That meant that to be a pastor or elder or deacon in the CRC one had to agree with a document that forbade marriage between gay individuals as well as engaging in sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman.  Years ago there was also a multi-year controversy over women in office, but it was settled by allowing individual churches to make decisions.  This issue was not settled in that way but instead was made "confessional." 

Over the past year many churches including our own former church in South Bend sent overtures to classes and then on to Synod to temper this ruling.  However Synod 2023 reaffirmed the decision of Synod 2022 but with just one hour left to meet did leave the decision of how to discipline those who disagreed for another time.  So as one person we know who is greatly affected by this decision (teaches in a church-owned facility) said the hammer did not come down yet.  

A young man named Ryan Struyk wrote a passionate piece a few weeks ago on the 12Blog which I read daily.   He wrote of being baptized and raised in the CRC and now feeling rejected by them.  Ryan is a producer for CNN and thus the connection to the national news.  His father David Struyk, a CRC pastor and participant in Synod, stood up after the vote and spoke saying that he was walking out of Synod in protest.  That was the video on the national news with Jake Tapper, a CNN host, commending his action on Father's Day.  

Our church in South Bend considers itself an "affirming" church and a welcoming church.  What will happen to it now is a question to be answered in the next year or so.  There will be many affirming churches and pastors and professors at Calvin College and probably Calvin Seminary.  What will happen to their jobs and for that matter, their pensions?  What will happen to all the CRC employees in missions or denominational agencies?  

We are no longer members of the CRC but I am sad to see this judgemental attitude become official.  I am sad to see that it may divide the denomination into groups or even a new denomination.  It is possible that the affirming churches may join another denomination like the RCA (Reformed Church of America) which has also split up over this controversy. 

----------Two weeks later--we know of two people who were employed by the CRC who have resigned their positions--in one case being unemployed, in the other taking a job that she is very happy to have.

A Second Indictment

Documents stored
in a Mar-a-Lago
bathroom

Last Thursday a grand jury in Florida indicted Donald Trump on 37 counts of keeping classifed documents, hiding them after a subpoena searching for them, lying about them, and showing them to others who did not have security clearance.  Trump will be arraigned in Miami tomorrow and is expected to plead "not guilty." 

 President Biden and the former vice-president Pence were also found to have  classified documents at their homes but they cooperated with officials and did not lie about their presence.  They are not being charged.  

Trump's valet, a Mr. Nauta, is also being charged for helping the former president move the document boxes around his home Mar-a-Lago and lying about his help.   Documents were found in a store room, a bathroom, a bedroom and a ballroom stage. Some were spilling out of boxes.  Some files labeled classified were empty.  

Crowds are expected at the courthouse tomorrow so security will be strong.  The former president is insulting Jack Smith, the special prosecuter,  (I won't even repeat his words!) and claiming it is a witch hunt.  I hope there will be no repeat of the violence of January 6.    

This makes two arraignments for Trump in recent months with the potential for at least two others in Georgia and Washington DC.  Those potential charges seem to me to be more serious--influencing an election and inciting violence--but some say this one is more likely to be provable.  Trump's attorney gave significant information which led to the charges.  A few attorneys have resigned from representing him. 

-------------It occurred to me that I could watch the arraignment live on TV right now--at 2 pm Tuesday.  But I have absolutely no desire to watch that event.  It will be bad enough to watch the highlights on the evening news.  It is just all so sad.  We pray for our country and for good leaders.  At least the debt ceiling crisis was averted and Congress was able to agree on that issue.  

Air Quality at Dangerous Levels

A few days ago we were reading about wildfires in Nova Scotia.  It didn't take long for us to smell those fires here in New Jersey--and then to observe the hazy conditions they created. 

Wednesday Jim had a golf date scheduled at a new course for him--Tamarack--in East Brunswick where a fellow he met at the Meadows Golf Course had scheduled a tee time for the two of them.  Tamarack is a bit north of here so even closer to the wildfires.  He texted me from the course saying that he was wearing a mask--not for Covid reasons but to prevent getting the smoke particles in his lungs.  In an unfamiliar course, it was even harder for him to see where that little golf ball landed. 

Our weather app listed the air quality on Wednesday as around 375 in Princeton.  It was far worse in New York City.  Outdoor events including Major League ball games were canceled.  Everyone was warned to stay inside and to check on elderly neighbors.  Once Jim came home, we did stay inside and we did not open the windows to let in cool air in the evening as we often do.

The air smelled like one giant campfire--reminiscent of roasting hotdogs or marshmallows.  Dan and Alex texted photos of their landscape with no Catskill mountains in sight.  

Yesterday the air seemed clearer.  I went for a short walk in the evening.  Today the air is fresh again and it is a relief. Dry conditions due to climate change make the danger of forest fires more likely.  So this may not be a once in a lifetime experience as it was for us up to this point.