Newsletter

Last Christmas ______________________________________________________ What would you do if this were your last Christmas? According to my doctor, there is a high probability this is my last Christmas. Last summer a year ago, I noticed I was  having  problems with fatigue. After visits with numerous physicians and many medical procedures, it was determined I had atrial…

The Great Punt If it were not for seeing old friends again and meeting new ones, the meeting of the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church this summer would have been a total waste of time. As a friend said, “We’re doing it again. In good ARP style, we’re kicking the can down…

I’m old now, and I’m too old to do much but sit in my rocking chair and rock in my living room with my dog beside me, look out our picture window at the world, observe the curious goings-on, scratch my gray and balding head, and I wonder in amazement. One of the things I…

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Christmas poem below, written by the Reverend Tanner Cline, was presented on Christmas Eve to the congregation of the Bartow Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Bartow, Florida. I admire people with poetic creativity. I was blessed and intrigued by the poem. As you read it, I pray you find a belated Christmas…

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is by Reverend Seth Yi, the pastor of the Newberry Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Newberry, South Carolina. Some may be offended by Seth’s words; however, pray consider, he may be right. If he is . . . ______________________________________________________ Jesus highlights how tragedy exposes the fragility and unpredictability of life and thus…

I hate the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. I love the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. I am capable of loving and hating the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church at the same time. After 50 years, I have come to this conclusion: one does not have to be mind-numbingly drunk or rip-roaringly crazy to be an Associate Reformed…

Once again, for the third year, General Synod will not meet at Bonclarken. In 2019, Synod met in Pennsylvania, at Geneva College, in Beaver Falls. Last year, because of the stringent Covid protocols in North Carolina, Synod met in the facilities of First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina. Once again, because of Covid protocols, the…

A TRIBUTE 2021 began with the announcement of the death of the Reverend Henry Lewis Smith, my friend since 1970. In the summer of 1972, my wife and I became Associate Reformed Presbyterians when we united with the Covenant Presbyterian Church in Winter Haven, Florida. Henry was the founding pastor of the congregation. More than…

Other than Jesus, do you have a favorite Christmas character? I do. It’s Joseph, and I call him the father of Christmas. However, before I tell you why, let me begin with a story. I don’t have many childhood memories of Christmas. I was the only child of older parents, who were no-nonsense people. They were in their 30s when they married in 1942, and they waited until after World War Two to have a child. Daddy explained he wasn’t going to chance dying in the war and leaving mama to raise a child alone.

The meeting of General Synod last Thursday and Friday (October 22 and 23) sparked my imagination. In the beautiful sanctuary of the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, SC, we heard numerous delegates speak of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as “family.” Well, are we family because we are small (and, indeed, we are small and very scattered)? Are we family because so many of us are blood-related (and such was the case and much more when I became an Associate Reformed Presbyterian in 1972)? Are we family because so many of our ministers are graduates of Reformed Theological Seminary (but most of us who are RTS grads don’t know each other)? So, what kind of family are we? Perhaps, the cartoon above is an uncanny representation of who we are — like the Simpsons, we are a portrait of a dysfunctional family.