#presbyterian — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #presbyterian, aggregated by home.social.
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Hildersham—Puritan, expounding Psalm 51—identifies reluctance to give to the poor as a faith problem. If you genuinely believed God’s promises, giving would present no difficulty. Preachers regularly deploy “if you truly believed, you would” for tithing and attendance. Curiously rarely for the poor. Hildersham would have found that selective.
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Hildersham—Puritan, expounding Psalm 51—identifies reluctance to give to the poor as a faith problem. If you genuinely believed God’s promises, giving would present no difficulty. Preachers regularly deploy “if you truly believed, you would” for tithing and attendance. Curiously rarely for the poor. Hildersham would have found that selective.
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Hildersham—Puritan, expounding Psalm 51—identifies reluctance to give to the poor as a faith problem. If you genuinely believed God’s promises, giving would present no difficulty. Preachers regularly deploy “if you truly believed, you would” for tithing and attendance. Curiously rarely for the poor. Hildersham would have found that selective.
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Hildersham—Puritan, expounding Psalm 51—identifies reluctance to give to the poor as a faith problem. If you genuinely believed God’s promises, giving would present no difficulty. Preachers regularly deploy “if you truly believed, you would” for tithing and attendance. Curiously rarely for the poor. Hildersham would have found that selective.
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Justin Perkins—Presbyterian missionary to Persia, not a man without evangelistic credentials—makes an argument that should interest anyone whose primary concern is spreading Christianity. American slavery, he says, was not merely sinful but the single greatest human obstacle to that very project. One notes that some Christians prefer a gospel uncomplicated by current issues. Perkins suggests that in his era, ignoring the obstacle didn’t make it less obstructive.
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Sibbes—Puritan, encouraging the backslider—offers a self-check for election. Colossians 3:12: put on bowels of mercy toward the fatherless and needy. That’s how you demonstrate you’re one of the elect. Modern conservative Christianity has developed different assurance criteria. Mercy toward the needy as evidence of election has been quietly retired. Sibbes didn’t get that memo.
#puritan #grace #presbyterian #empathy #compassion #salvation
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Van Doren—Presbyterian, commenting on the Good Samaritan—makes an observation of devastating simplicity. The Samaritan did not assess nationality before acting. He saw a man lying in his own blood. That was sufficient information. One notes we have developed elaborate frameworks for determining whether persons of various categories merit assistance before proceeding. The Samaritan apparently skipped that step. It seems not to have occurred to him.
#presbyterian #christian #samaritan -
Llewelyn John Evans— #Presbyterian minister, seminary professor, expounding Galatians 6—identifies every man for himself as earthly, sensual, and devilish. Not merely sub-Christian. Devilish. He adds that even natural humanity protests against it—meaning you don’t need scripture to recognise it as wrong; basic human instinct will do. One notes we appear to have entered an era where certain Christians are arguing against the dictates of natural humanity. Evans would have had a category for that.
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Albert Barnes—Presbyterian, bible commentator, reading Acts 4 carefully—notes that the early church grew because of unity, generosity, and actively supplying the needs of the poor. This opened hearts. Won people over. He ties it directly to resurrection preaching: the doctrine produced the behavior.
Today we’re told the opposite: that concern for the poor distracts from core doctrine. Barnes’s words suggest these people have read a different Acts than he did.
#easter #presbyterian #christian -
Samuel Crothers—Presbyterian, Ohio, 1854, preaching against slavery’s corrupted gospel—makes a pointed comparison. Jesus also called himself Master. But what did he do with that title? Instructed, clothed, fed, protected. The disciples gloried in calling themselves his servants. They’d have refused Caesar’s title in exchange. It humbled and cheered them simultaneously. Slavery took that word and made it monstrous. Crothers noticed. Apparently this required pointing out.
#presbyterian #christian -
First Presbyterian Church of Monterey, a Presbyterian Church USA congregation (e.g., https://pcusa.org/about-pcusa/who-we-are/social-witness), had a presence at #NoKings event in Monterey. Photos courtesy of Elaine Cole.
Solar-powered, bike-friendly FPC-MRY (fpcmonterey.org) is our home church of 36 years. Its Jay Bartow Memorial Garden is a peaceful rest stop near downtown: https://bikemonterey.org/rest-stop-tip-jay-bartow-memorial-garden-monterey.html
#PalmSunday #NoKingsMonterey #Presbyterian #Christian #Christians #WWJD #WhatWouldJesusDo
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First Presbyterian Church of Monterey, a Presbyterian Church USA congregation (e.g., https://pcusa.org/about-pcusa/who-we-are/social-witness), had a presence at #NoKings event in Monterey. Photos courtesy of Elaine Cole.
Solar-powered, bike-friendly FPC-MRY (fpcmonterey.org) is our home church of 36 years. Its Jay Bartow Memorial Garden is a peaceful rest stop near downtown: https://bikemonterey.org/rest-stop-tip-jay-bartow-memorial-garden-monterey.html
#PalmSunday #NoKingsMonterey #Presbyterian #Christian #Christians #WWJD #WhatWouldJesusDo
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First Presbyterian Church of Monterey, a Presbyterian Church USA congregation (e.g., https://pcusa.org/about-pcusa/who-we-are/social-witness), had a presence at #NoKings event in Monterey. Photos courtesy of Elaine Cole.
Solar-powered, bike-friendly FPC-MRY (fpcmonterey.org) is our home church of 36 years. Its Jay Bartow Memorial Garden is a peaceful rest stop near downtown: https://bikemonterey.org/rest-stop-tip-jay-bartow-memorial-garden-monterey.html
#PalmSunday #NoKingsMonterey #Presbyterian #Christian #Christians #WWJD #WhatWouldJesusDo
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First Presbyterian Church of Monterey, a Presbyterian Church USA congregation (e.g., https://pcusa.org/about-pcusa/who-we-are/social-witness), had a presence at #NoKings event in Monterey. Photos courtesy of Elaine Cole.
Solar-powered, bike-friendly FPC-MRY (fpcmonterey.org) is our home church of 36 years. Its Jay Bartow Memorial Garden is a peaceful rest stop near downtown: https://bikemonterey.org/rest-stop-tip-jay-bartow-memorial-garden-monterey.html
#PalmSunday #NoKingsMonterey #Presbyterian #Christian #Christians #WWJD #WhatWouldJesusDo
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First Presbyterian Church of Monterey, a Presbyterian Church USA congregation (e.g., https://pcusa.org/about-pcusa/who-we-are/social-witness), had a presence at #NoKings event in Monterey. Photos courtesy of Elaine Cole.
Solar-powered, bike-friendly FPC-MRY (fpcmonterey.org) is our home church of 36 years. Its Jay Bartow Memorial Garden is a peaceful rest stop near downtown: https://bikemonterey.org/rest-stop-tip-jay-bartow-memorial-garden-monterey.html
#PalmSunday #NoKingsMonterey #Presbyterian #Christian #Christians #WWJD #WhatWouldJesusDo
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Nicholas Byfield was a Calvinistic, Puritan minister. Here he speaks of compassion as being a proof of our spiritual state, citing bible passages about generosity, watering other peoples, aiding those needing warmth, visiting orphans and widows. These qualities in us prove that we are true neighbors and good Samaritans
Are you following religious leaders who point to other spiritual metrics at the expense of the biblical ones?
#chistian #puritans #calvinist #biblical #colossians #presbyterian -
Adolph Saphir—Jewish convert, Presbyterian missionary, not a man hedging his bets—makes a sharp observation: secular modernity’s cherished values of fraternity, equality, human dignity? Borrowed. From Israel’s scriptures. Without a receipt. He inverts Exodus: Israel once took Egyptian gold; now the world takes Israel’s moral furniture and acts like it invented the stuff. Revelation first. Enlightenment later.
#presbyterian #christian -
John McDowell, Presbyterian preacher, noted that oppression often looks quite respectable: lawsuits designed not to win justice but to exhaust the other party into surrender. One might say this still happens. Yet mention “oppression” in church and people gasp—as if the Bible itself hadn’t brought it up first. The question, then, is awkwardly simple: are we defending justice, or merely protecting our profits?
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The WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CEMETERY, off North Street in Mifflintown, was our favorite playground as children, particularly during sledding season. It is the resting place of local shero Nancy Kulp, "Miss Jane" of "The Beverly Hillbillies;" '60's kidnapper of Peggy Ann Bradnick, William Hollenbaugh; and my parents. Sunset, 1973. #cemetery #cemeteries #graveyard #graveyards #burialground #burialgrounds #westminsterpresbyteriancemetery #northstreet #mifflintown #presbyterian #nature
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The WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CEMETERY, off North Street in Mifflintown, was our favorite playground as children, particularly during sledding season. It is the resting place of local shero Nancy Kulp, "Miss Jane" of "The Beverly Hillbillies;" '60's kidnapper of Peggy Ann Bradnick, William Hollenbaugh; and my parents. Sunset, 1973. #cemetery #cemeteries #graveyard #graveyards #burialground #burialgrounds #westminsterpresbyteriancemetery #northstreet #mifflintown #presbyterian #nature
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The WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CEMETERY, off North Street in Mifflintown, was our favorite playground as children, particularly during sledding season. It is the resting place of local shero Nancy Kulp, "Miss Jane" of "The Beverly Hillbillies;" '60's kidnapper of Peggy Ann Bradnick, William Hollenbaugh; and my parents. Sunset, 1973. #cemetery #cemeteries #graveyard #graveyards #burialground #burialgrounds #westminsterpresbyteriancemetery #northstreet #mifflintown #presbyterian #nature
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The WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CEMETERY, off North Street in Mifflintown, was our favorite playground as children, particularly during sledding season. It is the resting place of local shero Nancy Kulp, "Miss Jane" of "The Beverly Hillbillies;" '60's kidnapper of Peggy Ann Bradnick, William Hollenbaugh; and my parents. Sunset, 1973. #cemetery #cemeteries #graveyard #graveyards #burialground #burialgrounds #westminsterpresbyteriancemetery #northstreet #mifflintown #presbyterian #nature
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The WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CEMETERY, off North Street in Mifflintown, was our favorite playground as children, particularly during sledding season. It is the resting place of local shero Nancy Kulp, "Miss Jane" of "The Beverly Hillbillies;" '60's kidnapper of Peggy Ann Bradnick, William Hollenbaugh; and my parents. Sunset, 1973. #cemetery #cemeteries #graveyard #graveyards #burialground #burialgrounds #westminsterpresbyteriancemetery #northstreet #mifflintown #presbyterian #nature
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Matthew Anderson, a Presbyterian pastor, arrived in a new town hungry and weary, asking where he might find food. He was told the town had no place for anyone without work—the very reason he had come. He later reflected on 1 John 3:17: if we have plenty yet shut our hearts to a brother in need, how does God’s love dwell in us? The danger is explaining compassion while need stands before us.
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William Swan Plumer, a big Presbyterian voice in the 1800s, told pastors something quite shocking: better to be fooled by a few freeloaders than accidentally send away someone truly desperate.
Today we’ve flipped it—terrified of helping the wrong person, so we help… practically no one at all. Brilliant system, really!
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Albert Barnes, Presbyterian expositor, reads James and addresses the wealthy with sober gravity. Let every rich man ask how his estate was gained. What we applaud as success may summon heaven’s displeasure. This life is probation, not indulgence. Self-examination is not class warfare; it is Christian duty. Will you search your ways before the Lord?
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Albert Barnes, Presbyterian expositor, reads James and addresses the wealthy with sober gravity. Let every rich man ask how his estate was gained. What we applaud as success may summon heaven’s displeasure. This life is probation, not indulgence. Self-examination is not class warfare; it is Christian duty. Will you search your ways before the Lord?
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Albert Barnes, Presbyterian expositor, reads James and addresses the wealthy with sober gravity. Let every rich man ask how his estate was gained. What we applaud as success may summon heaven’s displeasure. This life is probation, not indulgence. Self-examination is not class warfare; it is Christian duty. Will you search your ways before the Lord?
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Albert Barnes, Presbyterian expositor, reads James and addresses the wealthy with sober gravity. Let every rich man ask how his estate was gained. What we applaud as success may summon heaven’s displeasure. This life is probation, not indulgence. Self-examination is not class warfare; it is Christian duty. Will you search your ways before the Lord?
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Albert Barnes, Presbyterian expositor, reads James and addresses the wealthy with sober gravity. Let every rich man ask how his estate was gained. What we applaud as success may summon heaven’s displeasure. This life is probation, not indulgence. Self-examination is not class warfare; it is Christian duty. Will you search your ways before the Lord?
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John Livingston Nevius, a Presbyterian missionary in China, observed that Chinese hearers judged Christianity partly by Western conduct. The Opium Wars—forcing opium trade at gunpoint—undermined gospel credibility and hindered evangelism. Nevius asks us to consider whether tolerated injustices today likewise weaken Christian witness.
What are you supporting?
#evangelism #presbyterian -
Edward Leigh, a member of the Westminster Assembly, warns that “pinching pennies” from mercy doesn’t protect your household—it invites trouble. Citing Proverbs 11, he says hoarding multiplies burdens, while generosity lightens them. It’s almost comic: the tighter the grip, the fuller the calendar. How might mercy actually free you?
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‘The Katie Geneva Cannon Digital Collection began in 2021 with the goal of having a single online repository for the personal records of Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, the first Black woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church and a founding voice in womanist theology.’
Katie Geneva Cannon Digital Collection | Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
#DigitalCollections #PCUSA #Presbyterian #Theology #WomanistTheology
https://pcusa.org/historical-society/collections/digital-collections/katie-geneva-cannon-digital-collection?utm_content=365679966&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin&hss_channel=lcp-29421&openWithFirefox=true -
Albert Barnes, a Presbyterian with a very sharp moral finger, basically says: if a widow’s kids are suffering, she’ll knock on strangers’ doors—and if you’re a Christian with a house full of cushions and cupboards, that knock is on you. A crumb from your mansion could’ve turned her place into Eden. And really—what other worldview dares accuse the comfortable like that? So… which tiny, barely-noticed bit of your surplus could you give today?
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George Hutcheson, a Scottish #Presbyterian expositor, notes that Job is accused (v.22:6-7) not of cruelty but of neglect: no water for the weary, no bread for the hungry. Scripture treats withheld mercy as real guilt. We answer not only for harm done, but for good refused.
What omissions would still accuse us? Where can you give water today?
#Christian #ChurchHistory #ConfessionalFaith -
Llewelyn Joan Evans, a Presbyterian minister, preached that bearing one another’s burdens begins with attention. Visiting crowded tenements, he noted faces marked by poverty and indulgence in vice—and asked whether they awaken even a passing, thoughtful concern in us. Faithful people do not avert their eyes. When suffering meets your gaze, what response follows?
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James Balmford, a Presbyterian elder, wrote during the London plague, rebuking neighbors who denied contagion despite visible sores and public wailing. For him, piety didn’t excuse rejecting plain evidence or endangering others. How will you speak truth to neighbors when denial puts lives at risk?
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James Hamilton, a Presbyterian minister in Scotland, peers at Ecclesiastes 4:1 and says God is apparently running the world’s most meticulous tear archive. Babylonian exiles, cheated workers, enslaved people, Siberian prisoners—every tear is logged. And when the cup is full, it doesn’t leak politely; it tips over onto the oppressor. So yes, history, theology, and basic human decency all agree: tears count. Are you counting them?
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Eliphalet Nott, a Presbyterian and college president, told his church that missions run on more than pious wishes. Prayer without giving, he said, is spiritual pantomime—telling the hungry “be fed” while locking your pantry. Christ is not impressed by goodwill that keeps its wallet shut. He has no patience for “thoughts and prayers”. What’s in your heart?
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Laurens Perseus Hickok, a Presbyterian grandee, notes that God hands out goodness even to the ungrateful, and calls that godlike. Which is awkward, because we prefer a deity who audits recipients. If charity waits on thank-you notes (ex: USAID, Ukraine), Hickok suggests we’ve misunderstood God—and made stinginess sound theological.
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John Brown of Edinburgh, a Presbyterian, argues that Christianity alone breeds pity by teaching us we live on undeserved mercy. Grasp that, and the Spirit produces an active compassion—exactly what Jesus meant by “Be merciful” (Luke 6:36), not sentiment but action.
Oddly, those most offended by mercy to the undeserving in the body are often just as offended by mercy to the undeserving in the soul.
How active is your compassion?
#christian #mercy #presbyterian #values #sanctification -
John Brown of Edinburgh, a Presbyterian, argues that Christianity alone breeds pity by teaching us we live on undeserved mercy. Grasp that, and the Spirit produces an active compassion—exactly what Jesus meant by “Be merciful” (Luke 6:36), not sentiment but action.
Oddly, those most offended by mercy to the undeserving in the body are often just as offended by mercy to the undeserving in the soul.
How active is your compassion?
#christian #mercy #presbyterian #values #sanctification -
John Brown of Edinburgh, a Presbyterian, argues that Christianity alone breeds pity by teaching us we live on undeserved mercy. Grasp that, and the Spirit produces an active compassion—exactly what Jesus meant by “Be merciful” (Luke 6:36), not sentiment but action.
Oddly, those most offended by mercy to the undeserving in the body are often just as offended by mercy to the undeserving in the soul.
How active is your compassion?
#christian #mercy #presbyterian #values #sanctification -
John Brown of Edinburgh, a Presbyterian, argues that Christianity alone breeds pity by teaching us we live on undeserved mercy. Grasp that, and the Spirit produces an active compassion—exactly what Jesus meant by “Be merciful” (Luke 6:36), not sentiment but action.
Oddly, those most offended by mercy to the undeserving in the body are often just as offended by mercy to the undeserving in the soul.
How active is your compassion?
#christian #mercy #presbyterian #values #sanctification -
John Brown of Edinburgh, a Presbyterian, argues that Christianity alone breeds pity by teaching us we live on undeserved mercy. Grasp that, and the Spirit produces an active compassion—exactly what Jesus meant by “Be merciful” (Luke 6:36), not sentiment but action.
Oddly, those most offended by mercy to the undeserving in the body are often just as offended by mercy to the undeserving in the soul.
How active is your compassion?
#christian #mercy #presbyterian #values #sanctification -
Last eve we listened to another very worthwhile interview with a #Presbyterian, this one a local woman we know and greatly admire, Susan Weir. For link to that, emailed 1/13/26 to newsletter recipients of First Presbyterian Church of Monterey, go to https://fpcmonterey.org/newsletter
Susan is administrator of FPC-Monterey and is a daughter of the late Carol and Ben Weir. https://pcusa.org/news-storytelling/news/2016/10/14/former-pcusa-moderator-benjamin-weir-dies
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Our daughter sent us a link to a podcast she thought we'd enjoy – and she was right, we found it worth our time! At first we thought it's an hour and a half, don't have time, but we hooked up our old computer speaker to a laptop and played it in the kitchen while we made Swiss chard enchiladas for some loved ones. The time passed quickly!
James is an eighth-generation #Texan, former middle school #teacher, and #Presbyterian seminarian. He’s running for U.S. Senate. https://jamestalarico.com/meet-james-talarico/
Here's a link to podcast of James Talarico interviewed by Ezra Klein https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-james-talarico.html
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Matthew Mead ministered in Presbyterian churches during the Plague. He confronted a people in crisis and demanded honesty. You claim to love God—very well. Where is that love in your treatment of others? Some bury themselves in devotional rites while neglecting family and neighbor. Mead’s rebuke is clear: love for God that never reaches another human being is not love at all.
#christian #devotions #presbyterian -
Richard Salter Storrs, Congregationalist, says the gospel endeared respect for lives and property of others, lessened internecine wars, increased compassion for sick & ship-wrecked Mariners. It “constrained” people to divide their last morsel with famished travelers.
Would those who claim to be “men of God” today, instead, warn you about sick travelers out to constrain UR family to a single morsel?
How can you live out these ideals?
#christian #immigration #obedience #presbyterian #pca -
Ashbel Green was chaplain of the US House. Writing on the mammon of unrighteousness, he says many in his land worship this god, are cruel to the poor, deprive their own families.
He’s decrying sin and idolatry, which have SJ implications. Is this a necessary consequence of the Westminster Cat? Anything like this today?
How can you avoid the mammon of unrighteousness?
#christian #biblicalparenting #presbyterian #calvin #maga