Counting the cost of pastors

To the editor:

  I am grateful the June 2014 issue of New Horizons opened a discussion on the cost of a pastor's education in the OPC. Reading the two articles dealing specifically with that cost, I thought a reader could easily come away with the impression it is the responsibility of two parties: the pastor and, perhaps, his home congregation when pursuing the ministry. It seems to me there's at least one other party: the congregation(s) the man is eventually called to serve. Implicitly, every congregation in the OPC has asked their pastor to acquire a rather expensive education so he may serve them.

  Even amongst those who graduate university and seminary without education debt, it's exceedingly rare to find a man who has anything like the savings or retirement funds he might have had he been working during those years. As with any man who invests heavily in an education, the pastor needs to recoup his investment through the labors which that education makes possible. The more presbyteries, sessions and congregations realize this simple fact, the less we as a denomination will have to be concerned about pastors who reach retirement without the means to support themselves into old age.

  Not all our Churches will be able to pay their pastors salaries commensurate with their educational investment. Nonetheless, just as every congregation recognizes it must eventually pay down the mortgage on its building, it should also make paying its pastor a proper wage an eventual goal. After all, "the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel" (1Corinthians 9:14).

grace & peace,

 The Presbyterian Curmudgeon

Yet more on Psalmody

To the editor:

  In the June 2014 issue of New Horizons, R. Gaffin offers a brief consideration of Psalm 137 in order to question its propriety in public worship, and from thence to assert total psalmody (the use of all 150 Psalms in Christian worship) is not required of the Church today. Living in Denver, in the heart of the Great American Desert, our congregation has never had occasion to sing "Eternal Father, Strong to Save," a petition for "those in peril on the sea," and I can hardly imagine a time when we will. Nevertheless, I am sure that hymn will find a place in some congregation's worship. A hymnal is for all congregations everywhere, as is a psalter-hymnal; while Mr. Gaffin wonders whether Psalm 137 is "suitable for singing in public worship," I would guess that some pastor somewhere today thinks it highly suitable. 

  Not incidentally, this argument (that our congregation should have the option of singing all 150 Psalms for whatever occasion may arise in her corporate life) led our session to authorize the purchase of The Trinity Psalter some years ago to supplement The Trinity Hymnal. The continued existence of that Psalter (not to mention the recently revised RPCNA Psalter or the also updated Canadian Reformed Book of Praise, amongst many extant psalter-hymnals) by itself questions the need for an OPC psalter-hymnal. The Church should be able to sing all the Psalms and songs of Scripture; need she do so from an OPC-branded songbook?

grace & peace,

 The Presbyterian Curmudgeon

It's not "Pacific Rim"

But what was Pacific Rim? It was a beautiful meditation on the spiritual nature of giant robots fighting giantic monsters arising from the ocean; truth be told, however, it was a little weak on plot. Okay, really weak on plot and character, since every character was more archetype than human being. Truly amazingly depicted archetypes, granted.

Godzilla manages to root itself in plot and genuine human relationship. For the record, it's nice to see a main character suffer a major familial tragedy in childhood and go on to establish what appears to be a perfectly normal family in adulthood: cheering, and rather true to life. If I have any substantive criticism of the film, it's that we didn't get to see enough of the titular character himself. Still, I was very pleased with what I did see. From what I remember from watching all the Godzilla movies during my childhood (thanks, Washington D.C.'s Channel 20!), they got his scream just about perfect.

Having seen the new Godzilla with Things 1 and 2 this afternoon, I don't know why some reviewers saw an environmental/mankind-gets-what-he-deserves-for-messing-with-nature theme. On that count, it pales in comparison to the overt anti-nuke/pro-green emphases of the original films. Exhibit A: Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster, which, in all seriousness, may have been my favorite of the Godzilla movies. And then there's its theme song, which left my 12 year-old self slack-jawed in amazement.

In sum: not Pacific Rim, but since Pacific Rim isn't out this summer, go see Godzilla instead. Its makers may have let him grow to a size too large to be possible, let alone believed, but at least they remembered that he's our hero.