How proud am I to be a Presbyterian? Depends on the day. But Winfield Casey Jones certainly gets it right that our tradition itself happily has never been silent on the question.
There are Presbyterian distinctives, of course. But there is something deep inside us that works better when we don't emphasize them. As Casey says, this is particularly true in times like these for the PC(USA), which has been losing members by the truckload for over 40 years - all my adult life. …
The editorial "Sinfully proud" got this discussion going, and Outlook Editor Jack Haberer brings to it (and to his fine work at the journal) the passion of a convert. He sees our family as a new member can and should. As Calvin's 500th birthday arrives in two months, all of us have new opportunities this year to resume our acquaintance with a too-often forgotten treasure that is the Reformed tradition. The question before us, I think, isn't so much one of degree as of kind. How does our tradition guide the expression of pride and enthusiasm about the tradition itself? …
So does the Reformed tradition permit us to be "sinfully proud" of it? Sure. We might even be encouraged to do it boldly. But the best way to do it, I think, is Casey's way — never be completely at ease with the practice. For if any single insight expresses Calvin's genius, it may be this: that tribalism in all its forms, beginning with our own, is the great and permanent enemy of the Christian church. It is so because of its established tendency to block the three elements Casey enumerates in his note: the sovereignty of God, the supremacy of Christ, and open partnerships with Christians who do things differently than we do.
I love our tradition. And this could be Reason #1.
Wayne G. Boulton
Boston, Mass.
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