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Becoming an Innovative Church!

We believe that Pasadena Presbyterian Church is in a season of dreaming. Who are we? Where have we been together, and how are we called to move forward now? How is God stirring our hearts and minds?

As part of our ongoing mission and call, we want to be Sacred Space for the City. And in that posture toward the people and neighborhoods around us, we are curious about innovative forms of ministry and mission that are happening within our larger Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) denomination and in other churches and community groups. We are also interested in questions being asked around us - by those who have a faith commitment and by those who do not.

We have much to learn from everyone!

Here are some news stories and blog posts. We hope that they will call us anew to be an innovative, creative church that meets the needs of people around us!

Undocumented UCLA Students Gather at Church for Graduation Ceremony
Presbyterian Network to End Homelessness Releases Handbook
World Refugee Day: Business Welcomed with 'Open Arms' at Central Presbyterian Church

Sermon: Intention and Interpretation

This sermon was preached by the Rev. Jack Barden on June 12, 2012 in the Shelton Chapel at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.  Jack is the Vice President for Admissions at Austin Seminary, and we welcome this important sermon about interpretation and multiculturalism.

Genesis 11:1-9

In a moment, I’m going to read our Hebrew scripture passage, but before that, I want to ask you to recall the story for yourself.  What do you remember about the story in Genesis 11:1-9? Take a moment to recall it – how would you tell the story of the Tower of Babel?  Write it down in a couple of sentences if you can.  What are the key elements? What is the point of the story?  What happens?   

I was challenged recently to do this and this is what I jotted down:

The people wanted to reach up to the heavens, to reach up to God, so they built a tower, as high as they could.  God saw what they were doing and said, ‘They are too proud.’ So God confounded their speech, such that they all spoke in many different languages and could not understand one another. The people, in confusion, abandoned the Tower and scattered over the face of the earth – each to their own land and language group.

That’s how I remembered the story - What do you remember? 

Here’s the problem with the way most of us remember this story – we are remembering interpretations of the story, not the actual story in the biblical text.  We are so used to reading biblical stories, especially the mythic-poetic stories of the first eleven chapters of Genesis, through the lens of centuries of interpretation, that it is sometimes difficult to hear the stories afresh.  So, let me invite you to lay aside your remembered versions and the centuries of interpretation you have learned about this text and try to listen to it afresh, as I read from an original translation by Ted Hiebert, an Old Testament scholar at McCormick Seminary in Chicago:

All the earth had one language and the same words. When they traveled toward the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar, and they settled there. They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and let us fire them.’ The bricks were stones for them, and asphalt was mortar for them. And they said, ‘Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves, so that we will not be dispersed over the surface of all the earth.’

Then Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the human race built.

And Yahweh said, ‘There is now one people and they all have one language. This is what they have begun to do, and now all that they plan to do will be possible for them. Come, let us go down and let us mix there their language, that they will not understand one another’s language.’ Then Yahweh dispersed them from there over the surface of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. Therefore, he named it Babel, for there Yahweh mixed the language of all the earth, and from there Yahweh dispersed them over the surface of all the earth.

Before we dive into that text, let’s set the story in its literary context – just remind ourselves what has happened in the preceding chapters of Genesis.  Traditionally, our summary of these early chapters is an interpretive arc of human pride and sinfulness.  It begins, of course, with the story of Creation, (and then the second story of Creation), followed quickly by the story of the apple and the Fall, and the expulsion from the Garden. Then there’s the mess between Cain and Abel, and the generation of corruption prior to the Flood. God seems so disappointed in the human race, that God decides to destroy humanity (and the rest of Creation) and start over. Noah and his family build an ark and save some animals, but Noah’s children don’t behave very well in the aftermath of the storm and the story culminates in this story of the Tower of Babel. After this episode, God looks for “one righteous person” and finds Abram to be the father of God’s chosen Covenant People.  And – voila! - we have a direct line (more or less) from Abraham to Jesus!

In this interpretive arc, the Babel story is the culmination, the zenith (or nadir, if you will) of human pride and sinfulness; Abraham is the do-over guy, the reset for what God’s intention for humanity was meant to be.  And it’s not just our fault that we read the Genesis narrative this way; theologians from Augustine to Luther to Calvin to Gerhard von Rad have read it this way. But is that really what the biblical narrative intends?  What if we set aside our centuries of theological interpretation and look at the text for a moment?  If we do, we will see that Noah is really the do-over guy. Noah is the first righteous human that God identifies - long before Abram was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, God covenanted with Noah to be the do-over guy.  And Noah is the one who releases the curse from the land; after the Flood, the earth itself is released from the curse laid upon it in Eden. And the first biblical covenant between God and humanity is made with Noah in Genesis 9, a full three chapters before God’s covenant with Abram.

So. Let’s assume that the Flood story is the pivotal mythic moment of Genesis and Noah is the do-over guy.  If that’s the case, then the Tower of Babel is not the “last straw” for God’s disgust of humanity’s pride; it is instead the first story of God’s new intention for humanity and creation.  So, let’s turn to the text and see if we can glimpse what God’s new intention really was!

The first thing we need to note is that there is nothing about pride and punishment in the actual text – this is interpretation.  There is nothing inherently prideful about building a tower with its top in the heavens.  Nowhere does the text say that the motivation for building this tower was so that humanity could become like God or occupy heaven or usurp God’s rightful place as Sovereign of All Creation.  The explicit motivation for building the tower is right there in verse 4: “so that we will not be dispersed over the surface of all the earth.”  This is not a story about human pride, trying to take the place of God.  It is a story about a people attempting to codify their cultural identity and location and homeland.  It is a story about human desire to live in a homogeneous society - to associate only with people who look like them, who speak like them, who live where they live, who worship like they worship.

God’s response to seeing the city and the tower is to “mix there their language” and disperse them over the surface of all the earth.  If we hold to the interpretation that what the people are doing at Babel is a manifestation of pride, then we interpret what God does as punishment.  But we don’t have to interpret it that way.  There is nothing in the text itself that suggests dispersion over the surface of the earth and mixing of languages is somehow a punishment or something not to be desired.  As a matter of fact, wasn’t that sort of the purpose of God’s instructions to Adam and Eve, to be fruitful and multiply, so that the whole of Creation would be cared for?  Perhaps even the expulsion from the Garden is not punishment, but merely God’s way of jump-starting God’s intention for humanity to be dispersed over the surface of all the earth.

Let’s run with this for a moment, and cross that hermeneutical bridge to our own world.  What if God’s intention for humanity is diversity?  What if God truly values multiple cultures and languages and homelands?  What if God is delighted not by a homogeneity of humanity gathered behind walls away from the world, but God is delighted instead by a plethora of people populating cities and countries and villages with a cacophony of worship and praise and proclamation?  What does that mean for our congregations?  What does that mean for our denominations?  What does that mean for the hour of 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning?  And what does that mean for our political discourse and our immigration laws and our border walls and our detention centers?

Ok, before you think I’ve left preaching and gone to meddling, let me ask you to look at one more scripture – the Pentecost story.  Here’s another story which starts out with the phrase, “they were all together in one place.”  Sounds a bit like Genesis 11:1, doesn’t it.  And what happens” The disciples begin to speak in other languages.  In v. 6, we read that the international crowd gathered in Jerusalem was amazed “because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.”  It’s not that all the people of all the nations suddenly understand Aramaic; it’s that God’s Word is being proclaimed in a myriad of languages!  In case we missed it in v. 6, we hear again in v. 11, the gathered foreigners amazed that “in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.”  There is still a diversity of languages and the Gospel is being introduced into every language so that it can be proclaimed to every culture group, so that the Gospel of Christ will be dispersed from there over the surface of all the earth!

Hmmm!  Could it be that God values many languages and cultures? Could it be that God values diversity?  Could it be that the Church is not complete until every language group and every culture is included?  Could it be that God’s intention for the Church is not that language differences and cultural uniquenesses be transcended or done away with, but that the Gospel be proclaimed in each culture in the particularity of every language?

When we gather at the Table in a moment, we will hear the call proclaim that ‘they shall come from east and from west, from north and from south, to sit at table in the kingdom of God.’ But I don’t recall ever hearing in that call to the Table, ‘they will all speak one language and have one cultural identity and look alike and think alike and believe alike, and all differences will be set aside.’

It’s just a Tuesday, and I could be completely wrong about all of this.  But, consider for a moment, that there’s something of God’s intention in this interpretation.  And consider for a moment – If this is true, how might your congregation, your ministry, your life, be faithful to God’s intention for humanity? Then come to the Table, and be fed.

(This sermon owes a debt to interpretations and reflections put forward by Ted Hiebert of McCormick Seminary.)

Fred Rogers Acceptance Speech - 1997

Remembering those who have helped make us the people we are. . .  Thank you, Fred Rogers.

Young Adults in the News!

As a young adult community, we want to stay aware of the particular gifts that young adults bring to our world as well as the particular challenges that young adults face. We are curious to learn about culture and trends among young adults. Here are some recent news stories and blog posts that concern young adults: 



Rally Hails New Policy Halting Deportations for Young Adults
Can Millennials Keep the Faith?
Students at Penn State: 1) Incoming Freshmen Move In, Talk Sandusky Verdict 2) Don't Let Focus on Sexual Abuse Fade
Welcome to Upward Bound at Cal State L.A.

Vacation Bible School: This Week!

It's an exciting week at Pasadena Presbyterian Church because it's the week for Vacation Bible School!  Our children from Korean, English, and Spanish Language Ministries are gathering in the evenings this week to learn about faith and have a lot of fun together.  Children from our neighborhood have been welcomed as well.

The theme this year is "Sonrise National Park."  Children will learn about the promises of Jesus as they learn to trust him on a journey through a Wilderness Adventure Park.  Please join us during evenings of this week: Monday-Friday from 6:00-8:30pm!

We are especially grateful for the staff members and volunteers who make this a meaningful event every year.  Thank you so much!

Thank You! A Message From Dr. Mark Smutny

Dear Friends,

June is traditionally the month when we publicly recognize two important ministries at PPC: Christian Education and Music. Accordingly on June 3, we will honor all who have been involved in ministries of education from nursery workers to adult education teachers, youth advisors to Sunday school teachers. We will thank God for those who teach us about Jesus and the implications of the Christian faith whether we are children, youth or adults.

Then on June 10, we will sing the praises of our music ministry with a glorious music celebration Sunday. All choirs will participate. We will joyously give thanks to God for all who make it possible: children and parents, choir members and directors, composers and section leaders, amateurs and professionals alike. We will make a joyful noise to the Lord, giving thanks to God who makes it all possible.

While we make an extra effort to recognize and publicly thank these important ministries, there are many more, less visible, but equally valuable ministries that also deserve recognition. These ministries do not receive much publicity. Yet their deeds are also what make a church, a church. The people who practice countless acts of kindness, who bear witness to Christ through thousands of deeds of concern may not be especially visible. Yet they deserve our thanks. They weave a tapestry of love that makes us stronger. They make us who we are. They, too, do God's work.

I wish to name some of them. I thank the Deacons. I thank them for their loving care. I thank them for their hospital and nursing home visits to the sick and the fragile. I thank God for the hands they hold and the prayers they utter for the dying, for the scared, for those who need comfort and for their loved ones who need company. Thank you for your gentle love and your ministry of service.

I thank those who arrange flowers with such care. You know who you are. I thank those who deliver them to those who need a loving smile and kind face from the church. Thank you. It means so much. Thank you, too, to those who prepare communion elements and bring them to the communion table, then clean up afterward. Thank you. I notice. We who walk through the kitchen on Sunday morning notice your love. Thank you to all who pray for the sick and the grieving. Thank you for praying each and every day.

Thank you for praying for me. It means so much that you pray for me. Some days when I get tired and I feel cranky, your prayers and the knowledge that you are praying for me is what gives me strength. Thank you. Thank you for your love.

I thank God for all the ministries that welcome people and help people connect to one another. I thank God for the welcoming people at the church Information Table on the patio, the church volunteers in the office, the greeters and ushers and the refreshment and cookie providers. I thank God for the ministries of the Congregational Life Committee and all the fun activities they have organized through the years. I wish to thank the ministries of TOTALITY and Young Adults, Presbyterian Women and the Men's Group, all the other groups and circles, the people who organize dinners, lunches and brunches. These groups provide glue, care, fellowship, fun and friendships that bind us one to another. You are a gift from God, and I give thanks to God for all of you. Forgive me if I have left some of you out. Thank God for all of you.

I thank God for the collectors of money, of checks, offerings and tithes; for ushers on Sundays and during concerts and special occasions who conscientiously guard the financial gifts of the people and see that these gifts are placed in safe keeping. Thank you for integrity and welcoming smiles. I thank God for those who count the money on Monday mornings. You count offerings week after week with diligence, honesty and precision. Your work is a labor of love. You are faithful stewards. Well done. Thank you.

I thank God for the Trustees and all who serve on Trustee committees. As we have worked together over the years to keep PPC going in our ministry of facilities and finance, I want you to know how much I am grateful for all of you. Together we have worked long, long hours. I know many of you would rather be singing in the choir or participating in a small group or sitting at home. Instead, you have given to the church sacrificially to keep this old, majestic church going. It's an act of love to do what we do together. I know it is. I notice what you do. I know God notices what you do. Thank you. Thank you.

I thank God for the Session. I am thankful for the ways we invite God into our decision-making. I'm impressed and thankful for the many times when we face big decisions, and we often laugh together. Laughter is a sign that we love each other. I give thanks for how thoughtful you are and how courageous. I give thanks that our meetings usually end before 10:00 p.m. Thank you.

I thank God for the PPC staff. You work too hard. I expect too much of you. Sometimes I am unfair. For that I am sorry. Sometimes I do not listen. Forgive me. You do not get paid enough for what you do. I wish we could pay you more. Thank you for your amazing devotion to this church and to our Lord we serve together. We would not do what we do if we did not believe that we are serving Him. Thank you for all the extra time and devotion you pour into this church. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Faithfully and with much love and thanksgiving,

Your friend and pastor,
Dr. Mark