“I did this not out of spite, but out of a feeling against the prevailing self-righteousness that stems from religion, particularly in Lancaster County,” the atheist said. “I don’t consider it an earthshaking affair, but in this area in particular, we seem to have so many self-righteous religious people, so it just annoys me.”

"Some people are just wired to do this," Lanier told me. "Sometimes it's men who know they're not equipped to work in the church nursery or to sing in the church choir. But if they're like me, they can feel the smile of God as they exercise their tool skills—and because they have a chance to relate one-on-one to someone who maybe never heard the gospel of Jesus before."

According to Kreider, what lies behind this busyness isn't simply ambition and drive; it's also a "dread [of] what they might have to face in its absence." That's because "busyness serves as a kind of existential reassurance, [and] a hedge against emptiness.It's our way of telling ourselves that our lives "cannot possibly be silly or trivial or meaningless" if we are "in demand every hour of the day."

The new amendment easily passed stating that the dissolution of the ministry of a bishop requires a two-third supermajority for all voting bodies. After the passing of the amendment, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said nothing but appeared stunned.

My own conversion was intellectual. I didn't need a quick spiritual fix. Instead, I encountered a compelling and luminous vision of reality so powerful and attractive that it demanded a response.

Bishop Lawrence said that he had “expressed the personal feelings” of his deputation to his colleagues in the House of Bishops and would withdraw in solidarity with the deputation from the remainder of the convention.

Wayne Sparkman, at the PCA archives, pulled out a book of letters written by a Puritan pastor and handed it to me. He showed me a letter written to a young woman who just lost a newborn. In that, the pastor related his own pain and how God grieves with his children, but still offers hope. Reading that letter, full of real life helped me make a little sense of the mess. Five and a half years later, I hope I can help others make sense of it a little better too.

There will be a visitation Sunday afternoon at 2:00PM with the service following at 3:00 in the Sanctuary at Christ Presbyterian Church, 2323 Old Hickory Blvd. Nashville (halfway between Hillsboro Road and Highway 100)

There’s so much that’s encouraging, one respondent told the magazine, but he too perceived an “unmistakable climate of suspicion.” You see and feel it in presbytery and General Assembly, he said. Some are sure that the denomination is teetering on the brink of liberalism, while others fear that we’re becoming rigid and sectarian.

We are grateful that the rite, as approved by General Convention, contains provisions that protect diocesan bishops and parish priests who cannot for the sake of conscience authorize or use the liturgy.