The PCA cannot and must not make nice with partiality, racialism, or wokeness of any stripe. We must call upon the Lord our salvation and like the Israelites before the divided waters of the Red Sea, step forth in faith (Exod. 14:15), even in “the Faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

When Moses and the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord for salvation, the Lord saved (Exod. 2:23-25). When righteous Job cried out to God for restoration, God answered him from the whirlwind and restored His servant (Job 38:1, 42:10). When the Son of God lamented His cruciform humiliation, the Father sent the Spirit to resurrect Him from the dead unto exaltation (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34; Rom. 8:11; Gal. 1:1; 1 Pet. 3:18).

But when the obstinate Israelites grumbled against God and His servant, the anger of the Lord burned against them (Num. 11:1). When the three ‘friends’ spoke rashly of Job’s plight and divine justice, the Almighty rejected their counsels (Job 42:7). When Judas felt regret for betraying Christ, God utterly abandoned the traitor to the Field of Blood (Matt. 27:3-8; Acts 1:18).

From the biblical examples given above, it is clear that protestation of one form or another framed in Christian language does not automatically qualify as spiritually pure lamentation. Despite attempts over recent decades to retrofit socio-political grievances into the language of biblical lament, the two are incompatible. There are certainly examples of holy protest and righteous advocacy in the Bible and the annals of Christian history, but there is no place for worldly grumbling in Christian prayer. The project to collapse the distinction between biblical lament and socio-political grievance is quite literally profane.

We saw this played out in last month’s online publication of A Call to Prayer & Lament, published and signed by 224 individuals who identify with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA): 112 Teaching Elders, 42 Ruling Elders, 65 who hold some “Other Leadership Role,” and 5 who denominate themselves as simply “Member.” This document, couched as it is in a combination of generalities, Christianese, and the rhetoric of intersectionality, is nothing short of wokeness masquerading as piety. Far from being a call, it is a profanation of prayer and lament.

Predictably and sadly, the online form allowing for additional signatories got spammed into oblivion by anonymous trolls—woke activists by a different racialist stripe.[1] This too was profanation heaped upon profanation, and the whole debacle brought disgrace to the church for which Christ our Savior bled and died. For additional analysis of the document and resultant developments, I commend readers to the excellent briefs by PCA pastors Thomas Rickard[2] and Charles Stover,[3] an interview between PCA pastors George Sayour and Matthew Everhard,[4] and an article by Christian Post reporter Jon Brown.[5] Readers might also note the sympathetic write-up from advocacy writer Liz Schob of the pro-LGBTQ website, QNotesCarolinas.[6]

It is not my intention to offer a line-by-line analysis and refutation of last month’s Call. Rather, I would like to propose a far different and more spiritually minded—one might say, Presbyterian—call to earnest prayer and biblical lament in two parts.

Part One: A Call from a Father in the Faith

This New Year’s, I confess that I feel weighed down with the profanity of our day. As I read the memoirs of early eighteenth century Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theologian Thomas Halyburton (1674-1712) this past week, I stumbled upon a timely and poignant reflection. Halyburton wrote something that struck me as equally applicable to our fair Church in 2026 as it was to his dear Kirk in the opening decade of the 1700s.

Ques. What is the duty that is in a special manner called for from this church in this day?

Ans. 1. Mourning. It is a day of abominations.

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