Resource Spotlight

Joseph D. Small, Proclaiming the Great Ends of the Church (Louisville: Geneva Press, 2010) 

I am writing this newsletter on Shrove Tuesday, the eve before the beginning of Lent. Like many of us who are involved in the life of the church, I have been thinking about how to observe Lent – and like many a Presbyterian this means that I have been thinking about what to read for a Lent Devotional. I have a stack of half-read, withmore than one unread (!), Lent devotionals from years past sitting on my bookshelves, all of which would be beneficial to read this Lenten season, and yet many of which I have failed to finish in years past. I doubt I am the only one who can say this. 

So, this year I have decided to take a different tack. I am going to read a sermon each day during Lent. Perhaps you would like to join me. The first volume of sermons I plan to read is a volume of sermons edited by Joseph Small, the former Director of the Theology, Worship, and Education unit of the PC(USA), titled Proclaiming the Great Ends of the Church (Louisville: Geneva Press, 2010). It contains 24 sermons, four on each of “The Great Ends of the Church” listed in the PC(USA)’s Book of Order (I will have to find another volume for the remaining 16 days!). If you are unfamiliar with “The Great Ends of the Church”, have been part of the American Presbyterian Church’s Polity since at least 1910 (they can be found in the most recent version in the very first chapter at F-1.0304). They are key principles for the Foundations of Presbyterian Polity: 

The great ends of the Church are:  

the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind;  

the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God;  

the maintenance of divine worship; 

 the preservation of the truth;  

the promotion of social righteousness;  

and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world. 

In his editorial introduction to this collection, Small says of the Great Ends, “With an economy of words and surplus of meaning, the church has six great aims to direct our life together, six basic works of the church that are foundational to who the church is and what church is called to do.” (xi).  

I can think of few better ways to observe Lent this year then to take fifteen minutes or so each day and consider how we might faithfully proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ then to reflect on these “Great Ends” which are intended to present to us “a holistic vision for the church’s life (xi).