 I know this is rather long, but hopefully you hang in there! Two significant conferences have occurred within the PC(USA) over the past couple of months. Both of them can be understood to revolve around the question, "What is next in the church beyond our three decade debate on sexuality?" In late January the Fellowship of Presbyterians met in Orlando and in response to that question announced the creation of a "new reformed body" - the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (ECO). The decision by our denomination to lift the ban on the ordination of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, according to the organizers was "the straw that broke the camel's back" in the eyes of the ECO organizers. For them, what lays next will be outside the PCUSA. The second gathering took place last week in Dallas. The NEXT Church Conference. As one participant wrote, "It's difficult to describe exactly what NEXT is, but I'd sum it up as a "frame of mind" (and to paraphrase the closing sermon) - NEXT is an urgent hope for living into a creative, innovative, and faithful future for the PCUSA. As you might suspect, I went to Dallas instead of Orlando. And I came home exited about the future of our denomination and with my head bursting with ideas and kernels of ideas. The theological framework for the conference was provided by Stacy Johnson who is a professor of theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. Johnson said there are two ways to live: as those who are perishing and as those being saved. The logic of survival versus the logic of the cross. The logic of survival - which recognizes that we are perishing and, therefore, will do whatever it takes to survive. The logic of the cross which knows we are being saved and called to follow the way of Jesus by taking up the cross. Too often the church seems to be caught up in the hopeless effort to save itself, fighting to survive. "The real adaptive challenge is to go behind the doctrinal structure of Christendom to a deeper understanding of the gospel itself. We need to envision and re-envision the gospel and how we embody it," he said. "It's not just that we need a better delivery system for the gospel. It's that we need to understand the gospel to live it more clearly." Further, he added, "The Kingdom of God is about revolution. The revolution is God's revolution. We're not about bringing revolution. But our reform needs to be in service of God's revolution." Johnson offered three keys to living into such revolution and reform: poetry, prayer and prophetic witness. Poetry - given that the Greek word, poesis, actually means "to create," Johnson said that believers need to be oriented toward the life and teachings of Jesus. Prayer - focused on the death of Jesus,not as arm-wrestling God to match our interests but to echo Jesus' words, "not my will but yours be done," which invites us to think, he said, like Gerald May, who taught us, "It is when our beliefs about God crumble that we finally may stop worshiping our beliefs ... and begin to worship God." Prophetic witness - pointing to the resurrection of Jesus. The passion for justice and righteousness stand central to Israel's prophetic tradition, he said. "And Jesus stands right in the heart of that tradition." And, true to the prophetic message of Jesus' ministry, the world is the arena of God's acting, and that God has a future focus. Resurrection faith says, "There's much more to come." As I wrote on my Facebook status when leaving Dallas, "It is delightful to be leaving a larger church gathering excited about the future of our denomination rather than depressed." There are exciting, faith-filled things going on within the PC(USA) and there are exciting, faith-filled things going on within FPC, Stamford. And God has yet more to come for our denomination and for us right here! I can't hardly wait! Blessings! 
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