God is holy.  All His actions and pronouncements are holy.  They must not and do not deserve to be compromised.  The above represent subtleties in that they do not appear to be active or aggressive evil attitudes or acts.  At least, that is how they might appear to us.  But how do they appear to a holy God?  Slighting or taking lightly His holy character, actions, perspective, or pronouncements dishonors and disrespects Him in every way.

Unholy darkness is so subtle that it may compromise relating to words or actions out of either ignorance or insensibility on the part of some Christians.  Due to the subtleties, a greater need for holy sensibility or awareness needs to be encouraged.  A first experience to this need for me came through another language—French.
My first two years of language studies for missionary service were spent in Montpellier, France: French in my first year and Arabic in my second year.  Members of the French church I attended would invite me to dinners in order to assist my proficiency in the French language through conversation.  One evening, I had dinner with two sisters.  After dinner (Where I had to learn to eat potato chips with a fork and knife!) they pulled out a word game named Diablo (Devil).  It was akin to Scrabble—composing words with lettered tiles.  Unlike Scrabble where an unlettered tile could be used for any letter foregoing a score, this game had the image of a devil on the tile to be used similarly.  One of the words needing another letter was “CHR__ST.”  It was one sister’s turn to add a letter where she could.  She placed the deviled tile in the blank space, spelling “CHRIST” with the devil’s image in the middle of it.  Looking on, I was shocked and thought to myself, “I could never spell such a holy name using a devil to score.  I would forego a turn and lose points rather than combine the unholy with the holy.”  To me—without judging her, I thought such a move lacked holy sensibility.  It was a compromise.
I was also confronted with a frequently-used French exclamation by even some believers.  Coming from the States, I was familiar with commonly uttered profane usage of God’s or Jesus Christ’s name in vain, which is prohibited to all.  It was a while before I recognized the French use of the word God in vain appearing at first innocuous because it didn’t damn anyone or wasn’t used against someone.  It was simply, “Mon Dieu”! (“My God”!).  Eventually, it came to me as virtually calling on God without really wanting Him.  In effect, it is simply an exclamation calling on God in vain.  It too represented a compromise.
Do these relate to holy sensibility vs. compromise today and here?  There are an infinite number of ways, but following are a few.
Perhaps the greatest compromise of all is misnaming murder as a woman’s right, health care, or abortion.  The term abortion originally related medically to natural miscarriage, not coerced miscarriage.  It comes from Latin, “abortionem (nominative abortio) ‘miscarriage.’” In French, avortement (abortion) was still used for natural miscarriages when I was there.  Not realizing this until later caused misunderstanding on my part.  Please note holy sensibility so rampantly missing in regard to this unholy act against the most vulnerable and innocent numbering in the millions.  Unfortunately, many claiming to be Christian fail to see it for what it is, i.e., killing a genuine human being in an early stage of life.  This is compromise.
Another prolific compromise relates to identifying an immoral propensity, temptation, or acts to one’s position and union in Christ.  The usage and acceptance of the term “Gay Christian” by so many is a compromise involving an unholy association with a holy union between a believer and Jesus Christ.  No other sexual propensity, temptation, or sexual acts ever become an identity factor of one’s position or union in Christ.  This, too, compromises the holy with the unholy.
One other compromise is accepting the rainbow colors in a flag or diverse objects—God’s holy promise and sign following severe judgment for evil on earth—for activism representing ungodly attitudes and actions. “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be eliminated by the waters of a flood, nor shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth . . . I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall serve as a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. It shall come about, when I make a cloud appear over the earth, that the rainbow will be seen in the cloud . . .” (Genesis 9: 11, 13-14. God’s holy covenant sign must not be compromised with unholiness or sin.
God is holy.  All His actions and pronouncements are holy.  They must not and do not deserve to be compromised.  The above represent subtleties in that they do not appear to be active or aggressive evil attitudes or acts.  At least, that is how they might appear to us.  But how do they appear to a holy God?  Slighting or taking lightly His holy character, actions, perspective, or pronouncements dishonors and disrespects Him in every way.
Let’s pray for and exercise “Holy Sensibility” by not compromising even in the subtlest of offenses against God. “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1: 15-16).
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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John Murray wrote in his book Principles of Conduct, “And the import is that the holiness of God demands holiness on the part of those who enter into such a covenant relation with Him.” Therefore, any desire to see or know the Lord must be accompanied by the wiliness to be holy. John Murray further states, “The holiness which is demanded by the covenant fellowship is expressed concretely in obedience to the divine commandments.”

As youngsters, my brother and I visited an uncle serving as an army colonel at Fort Huachucha, Arizona. One evening, we had dinner at the Rancho Grande Hotel in Nogales where Gordon McCrae and Shirley Jones were staying. They were starring in “Oklahoma,” which was filmed in Arizona because Arizona was more like what Oklahoma used to be –- so we were told! We were thrilled to see these and other movie stars close-up.
While having a malt at a sidewalk café in Denver one evening last summer with my brother and his family, a couple of movie stars with roles in Dynasty (a TV soap opera) came and sat down at a table next to us. My niece and nephew were quick to recognize them. This time I didn’t! I’m not an evening soap fan. Years later, a younger generation is just as thrilled at seeing the stars.
It is a natural human desire to want to see someone we love or someone famous or powerful. Does this normal desire manifest itself in our Christian lives? Does it go beyond wanting to see some famous Christian preacher or writer? How many of us desire to see God? Even if a few of us were able to admit that we desire to see Him (Many of us aren’t ready to pass through death’s dark veil or do not feel spiritually prepared yet.), there remains a foreboding warning, “. . . without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12: 24)
Proximity and opportunity may enable us to see a great or famous person. However, as John Murray wrote in his book Principles of Conduct, “And the import is that the holiness of God demands holiness on the part of those who enter into such a covenant relation with Him.” Therefore, any desire to see or know the Lord must be accompanied by the wiliness to be holy. John Murray further states, “The holiness which is demanded by the covenant fellowship is expressed concretely in obedience to the divine commandments.”
While living in today’s materialistic, hedonistic, and humanistic culture, both the idea of holiness and obedience to God’s commandments appear outmoded, antiquated and passé. Some consider “walking in the light” as “living in the dark ages.” In days gone by, many who sought to be holy isolated themselves from the surrounding culture by withdrawing from society altogether. Others formed communities and cloistered themselves off from the world. Some withdrew to an isolated spot and became hermits. But God’s demand for holiness and obedience was meant to be practiced in the midst of life, not outside of it—and for the sake of the world, not in spite of it. One wonderful and awesome fact for which we should be grateful is that the standard remains constant and the same for all peoples and all ages. This should comfort us as and if we pursue holiness.
Are we giving God priority in our lives, maintaining Him as our one and only God and overcoming any competition for first place in our lives with things or people? He expected this of all people from the very beginning. Even success should not be our number one pursuit. Is it difficult to keep the Lord’s Day holy? In some societies, Sunday is a common workday, yet believers there strive to keep the commandment. Is it difficult to lead pure, moral lives? It never was easy; yet the commandment has remained the same. Are we uneasy or frustrated with what we have, wanting more? It is no easier for believers in the Third World to be content with their pittance in life.
This is a time for renewal for us. Let’s pray A Disciple’s Renewal prayer which has been handed down to us from the Puritans:
O MY SAVIOR,help me.I am so slow to learn, so prone to forget, so weak to climb.I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights:I am pained by my graceless heart,my prayerless days,my poverty of love,my sloth in the heavenly race,my sullied conscience,my wasted hours,my unspent opportunities.Give me increase and progress in grace so that there may bemore decision in my character,more vigor in my purposes,more elevation in my life,more fervor in my devotion,more constance in my zeal.As I have a position in the world,Keep me from making the world my position.May I never seek in the creaturewhat can be found only in the Creator.We desire to see the Lord—Holy, Holy, Holy – Amen.
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.

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It’s telling that the Associated Press chose not to show respect for religious values when it comes to sexual morality. For AP, June Pride Month licenses its writers to insult religious people for their ancient and current beliefs. This is a form of intolerance veering into hatred, especially anti-Jewish hatred, that deserves to be called out and shamed every time it occurs.

As I read the paper the other morning, I found an article titled, “Pride parade held amid tensions.” It was an Associated Press article and related to a Pride parade in Jerusalem. In the very first paragraph, it engaged in open insults against religious conservatives in the Israeli government.
Israel is always interesting to me due to reading the Torah (or, as Christians say, the Old Testament) beginning when I was a child. Therefore, I pay a certain amount of attention to news related to that nation. I also have had the privilege of visiting the Holy Land and places important to both Jews and Christians.
The article’s first paragraph read:
JERUSALEM (AP) — Thousands of people on Thursday marched in Jerusalem’s Pride parade — an annual event that took place for the first time under Israel’s new far-right government, which is stacked with openly homophobic members.
I was shocked to read those words: “. . . which is stacked with openly homophobic members.” How do they know they’re “homophobic” and not simply religious Jews and people?
Shame on the Associated Press for resorting to name-calling, e.g., “homophobic members.” Would they call people who are religious and disapprove of adultery, “adulteryphobic?” Or would they call those who oppose pedophilia “pedophobic?” There are other sexual acts or relations that could also be named that are mutually considered sinful and forbidden by Islam, Orthodox Judaism, and Christianity.
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The month of June has been usurped by the “father of lies,” (John 8: 44) who “deceives the whole world,” (Revelation 12: 9), and who disguises himself as “an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11: 14).  In other words, many churches and our nation have readily turned over an entire month to serious evil—serious, yet so deceptive that it is embraced by so many, even believers in Jesus Christ.

June, which some have designated as “Gay Pride Month,” is not the time for church leaders to be silent.  It’s the most appropriate, opportune, pertinent, and relevant time to address the heavy spiritual darkness hanging over the Church and our nation.
Pastors and elders, follow the model of the Apostles who addressed serious issues as they arose.  Remember the Jerusalem Council in Acts.  Remember the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans—especially chapter one, his letter to the Corinthians dealing with incest in the church, and Jude’s short epistle dealing with the sin and doom of ungodly people.
The month of June has been usurped by the “father of lies” (John 8: 44); who “deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12: 9), and who disguises himself as “an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11: 14).  In other words, many churches and our nation have readily turned over an entire month to serious evil—serious, yet so deceptive that it is embraced by so many, even believers in Jesus Christ.
Pastors and elders, this is not the time to ignore such evil, to be cowardly in the face of such evil, or to be compromised by such evil.  Your flocks, your sheep desperately need your faithfulness to God’s Word in exposing evil for what it is. See Ephesians 5:11-12: 1:
“Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them; for the things which are done by them in secret it is a shame even to speak of” (ASV).
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret” (ESV).
“Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.  It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret” (NIV).
The your sheep are inundated with deceptive messages deviously proclaiming sexual immorality and more as blessed, good, loving, righteous, wholesome and legal.  Your flocks contain some mature believers, but many new believers, many youth believers, many parents, and many children—all of whom are vulnerable to such strong messaging.  Sadly, many churches and Christians have not only accepted the message but have embraced and even practiced it.  The deception is so appealing, attractive, beguiling, captivating, enticing, seductive, and subtle.  These may be many words, but they powerfully define and describe Satan’s devices.
Growing up in a Presbyterian, Reformed Faith church, it wasn’t until later in life I realized that any Scripture relating to the sin of homosexuality was skipped over in sermons and Sunday school lessons.  We never learned there was such a sin being practiced. As a result, no young person was warned about the dangers or the temptations to these sexual sins and how to resist and renounce them.  In other words, we grew up naïve and ignorant—thus vulnerable.  Do you wish that for your young people and flock?
Pastors and elders, now is the time to address such a sinister sin.  Do it in love, but firmly.  Don’t soft-pedal it with jumping onto other sins such as greed, gossip, etc.  In the hierarchy of sins, this is a serious one because God commanded death to anyone guilty, and He used the harshest of adjectives and modifiers to describe how heinous and serious it is.  When preaching on the sins of greed, pride, adultery, concupiscence, one doesn’t veer off to other sins to soft-pedal those.  The Church is dealing today with what is termed the “Third Way.”  The emphasis is so much on love or ignoring some issues that truth is canceled out or dismissed.  When it comes to sin, whether immorality or other acts of unrighteousness, there is only “One Way,” and that is to proclaim what God said about them– to expose them, call for confession and repentance, and then forgive and restore the sinners.
It gives me no personal pleasure in focusing on or writing about this topic, but the force of the advocates for sin are so strong and taking prisoners—even deluding Christians—that it demands being addressed openly, cautiously, firmly, lovingly—but above all faithfully and truthfully.   Many lives are at stake, especially the lives of members of your flocks.  “Let God be true, and every man a liar” (Romans 3: 4) relative to this issue.  Don’t you wish to instruct and protect them?  If you genuinely love your sheep, you will sacrificially protect or rescue them as much as you would feed and nourish them.
Pastors and church leaders, now is the time to stand up and step up to the present challenge.  And while doing so, assure your flocks that believing God over Satan or the world does not make one “homophobic.” That has to be one of Satan’s shrewdest tricks.
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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Logically and rationally with so much history supporting female deacons or deaconesses, it is difficult to understand such conflict.  The office of deacon does not biblically lead to the office of elder.  Their gifts and callings are different.  One governs and the other serves.  Remember, originally, they served tables. 

The current battle over women as deacons or deaconesses is disturbing—disturbing, as there are so many evidences for women participating in the works of mercy (responding to “Thoughts on the ARP Special Committee on Women Deacons Study”)
First, perhaps a thought is worth noting.  We hear and believe as some claim that the feminization of the church has/is taking place.  I would also offer that there is a history of the masculinization of the church.  Let’s be reminded that in the Church, we are “. . . neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  Throughout history, this has been forgotten.
I am not a member of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP) but rather a member of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC).  But I am also a student of the Word with a degree in Biblical Education, which means I’ve academically studied Bible, theology, church history, Greek, and hermeneutics.  This background plus more than 60 years of Bible study leads me to my conclusion.  Now to some personal thoughts.
I agree with the ARP form of Government wherein is stated, “The office of deacon is not one of authority and does not require the obedience of church members.”  The author responds, While an argument might be made that the New Testament church had female deacons, there is no evidence to suggest that some congregations had deaconesses and others explicitly denied them.”  Actually, the New Testament doesn’t compare any congregations.  So that point appears moot.   The author continues as to teaching reaffirming women being ordained to the office of deacon stating, “. . . I don’t believe any of us believe is the one taught in Scripture.”  Actually, Scripture, it appears, does give evidence in 1 Timothy 3: “In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.” (1 Timothy 3: 11) This follows the qualifications of the male deacons.  The word διακονοι covers both men and women.  Some versions translate women as “wives” of deacons.  However, as qualifications for elders precede deacons, their wives—who would be more important than deacon’s wives—are not mentioned.  Other translations of “women” allow for considering in context that these are the qualifications of female deacons.  To me, this is the more hermeneutically logical and rational understanding. Then there’s Phoebe who is titled in the Greek “deacon.”  But since the same word can be either translated deacon or servant, some versions translate “servant” for her as a woman.  One has to wonder if it’s an effort to avoid affirming her role as deacon/deaconess.
Next worth considering is that neither the fruit of the Spirit nor the gifts of the Spirit are separately listed by gender.  Therefore, the gift of mercy is not a gift given only to men—remember, “neither male nor female.”   There is a practice in many Reformed faith churches that also is not taught in Scripture.  It is customary in many churches for a man to be an usher, be promoted to deacon, and then promoted to elder.  That’s not biblical.  Where in Scripture is evidence that a deacon becomes an elder?  Those gifts and offices are separate.
We must go to church history to see what transpired in churches closest to the times of the Apostles.  For the first 400 years of the church, female deacons or deaconesses were prolific.  “Their ministry is mentioned by early Christian writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Origin. . . In a letter, Pliny the Younger attests to the role of the women deaconesses. . . (He actually tortured two) 4th century Fathers of the Church, such as Epiphanius of Salamis, Basil of Caesarea, John Chrysostom, and Gregory of Nyssa accept the ministry of deaconesses as a fact.” (Wikipedia) There is much more out there in Church history.
In Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, he lauds deaconesses compared to nuns.  Perhaps he later differentiated between ordained and nonordained, but he recognized the ministry.
Logically and rationally with so much history supporting female deacons or deaconesses, it is difficult to understand such conflict.  The office of deacon does not biblically lead to the office of elder.  Their gifts and callings are different.  One governs and the other serves.  Remember, originally, they served tables.  When there are potluck or other meals in the church, who mostly serves tables?  Aren’t they the women?
This is written, and hopefully lovingly, in response to the conflict and cancellation of women as deaconesses or deacons in the ARP, but it stretches to many Presbyterian and Reformed Faith churches including my own.
The opinion I offer here today isn’t based on gender; it’s based on Scripture, ancient history, and Church history.  It’s so confusing—if not disappointing—to see such a strong push against the ministry (works of mercy) and service denied those gifted by the Holy Spirit for such a ministry.  Imagine the wealth of service a church lacks due to denying gifted women authority, recognition, and a God-given role in Christ’s body to practice and use the gifts the Holy Spirit has sovereignly given to both men and women to honor and glorify Jesus Christ and benefit His body, as well as many others.  I’m compelled to say, “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy on us.”
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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Omitting verifiable facts from American history silently, but powerfully abets, contributes to, and supports calls for reparations. For that reason, and given the breadth of reparation proposals, they become nothing more than entitlements based on skin color alone.
Reparations to descendants of slaves is a complex issue and one burdened with pros and cons. Indeed, since slavery ended in 1865, many more cons than pros exist on the reparations ledger. Moreover, a Pew Research Center report finds that three-quarters or more of white adults oppose reparations, as do a majority of Latinos and Asian Americans. Nine Black leaders also oppose reparation payments. Nevertheless, approximately a dozen cities and several states have initiated reparation programs renewing hopes for a national policy of reparations for slavery.
The most irrational reparations plan (so far) is California’s. The California reparations panel just approved a payment of up to $1.2 million per black resident—without requiring proof showing slave ancestors. This is irrationality to the point of madness. California joined the union as a free state in 1850. California’s blacks were not slaves, and Asians, Jews, and Hispanics also experienced fierce discrimination.
California’s not the only “free” state supporting reparations. Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Rabb proposed statewide reparations involving multiple compensation tiers, with the greatest awards going to residents who can prove they descended from generations of black Pennsylvanians. The plan seemingly does not distinguish between actual slave descendants and descendants of free blacks or black slaveowners.
That last point—another con for reparations—reminds us that not all blacks were slaves. Basically, when the subject of reparations arises, it views the issue solely (and falsely) through a racial prism; i.e., blacks were slaves, and only whites were slave owners.
In fact, blacks practiced slave ownership, trading, and bounty hunting for escaped slaves. Thousands of blacks owned slaves, with some becoming very wealthy. Five Native American tribes (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) also owned black slaves. These facts are verified and addressed by several black historians and scholars, e.g., John Hope Franklin, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Larry Koger, Glenn Loury, and Carter G. Woodson.
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Coarse and crude language must have been in vogue in the Apostle Paul’s day for him to address Christians in two different locations not to resort to such language or speech, as was common to the pagans. We may never allow such words to depart from our lips, but let’s not let such words depart from our clicks on social media or anywhere else either.  God’s standard of holiness is the same for both oral and written language.

Who is not aware of the increasing coarseness of language today?  Words once considered the most obscene or even blasphemous were censored from newspapers, magazines, articles, movies, and TV programs. Today, such words have become prolific not only in everyday speech, but also in the media.
Recently, an article appeared in The Wall Street Journal entitled, “Curses! Why All the Crude Talk?” It was written by Peter Funt, the son of Allen Funt of the original Candid Camera TV program.  In it he makes some amazing and striking statements.  Bear in mind the article is not religious in nature.
Here are some of those statements: “When friends or colleagues use the F-word as matter-of-factly as my parents said ‘gosh’ or ‘golly,’ it makes me cringe—but I seem to be part of a bleeping minority.”  Here is another: “Science has actually given a name to the benefits of swearing: lalochezia. It refers to the emotional relief gained from using profane speech. As far as I know, however, there is no term for the discomfort that many of us suffer when friends and colleagues pepper conversation with words that seem to relate more to their quest for social liberation than to communication.”
He even mentions national leaders openly using such language: “As vice president, Joe Biden famously used the F-word when congratulating President Obama on completing the 2010 healthcare legislation. Mr. Obama’s 2016 appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner included a video in which he jokingly says ‘F— you!’ to NBC’s Chuck Todd. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Mr. Obama conceded, ‘I curse more than I should, and I find myself cursing more in this office than I had in my previous life.’  Politico has reported that President Biden swears frequently in staff meetings, favoring the F-word.”
I am in a book club where the women are all Christians.  We read one book where on one page and in the same chapter that infamous word noted above was profusely mentioned more times than was needed.  It turned many of us off to be confronted with such obscene or profane language profusely.
As this is written to Christians in particular, am I implying I also hear Christians using such language?  Thankfully, no, I don’t.  But that doesn’t mean such language escapes us in a more subtle manner.  Most of us are involved in social media in some form.  Perhaps it’s Facebook or Twitter.  Those are the two I am most familiar with although I am on Facebook solely.  And that is where I have observed something that perhaps few have addressed.
This is what I am finding more often than I wish to see.  People post memes, that is, “an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by internet users, often with slight variations.”  Some aren’t humorous, but rather wise or thoughtful sayings.  That in itself is fine, but more and more they may include an introduction with the F-word or some other thoughtless or coarse language.
What is sad to me is that Christians are posting such memes, apparently not aware of the language or oblivious to it.  I have decided to never post or repost anything that contains such language.  My decision is based on two biblical passages addressed to Christians in the epistles.  One is “. . . and there must be no filthiness or foolish talk, or vulgar joking, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks”  (Ephesians 5: 4). The other is “But now you also, rid yourselves of all of them: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene speech from your mouth”  (Colossians 3: 8).
Coarse and crude language must have been in vogue in the Apostle Paul’s day for him to address Christians in two different locations not to resort to such language or speech, as was common to the pagans.
We may never allow such words to depart from our lips, but let’s not let such words depart from our clicks on social media or anywhere else either.  God’s standard of holiness is the same for both oral and written language.  We certainly do not wish to offend our God, do we?  Nor should we wish to offend and cause discomfort, as Mr. Funt noted, to those who read what we send.
It may help us to always remember these words: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart always be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer”  (Psalm 19: 14).
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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As she aged becoming very frail, we were living together; I tended to her needs.  One Sunday afternoon, I prepared dinner and served it in our little kitchen.  I asked her to say grace.  Being raised Catholic she once knew only a prescribed prayer.  Growing in her faith in Christ, she began to pray more spontaneously and with beautiful, simple language.  As she prayed at the table that day, she not only asked God’s blessing on the food, she confessed: “I am so rotten, and You are so good.

“Humility is the proper estimate of oneself.” Charles Spurgeon
When my mother and father married, she was Catholic, and he was Protestant.  They were married by a justice of the peace eloping, as his rank in the army did not permit one to marry at that time.  My father was against their children being raised Catholic.  She replied: “Well, they’re not going to be raised heathen.”  Eventually, a Presbyterian minister came to speak to them, as my brother attended a public school release-time class allowing religious training in churches or synagogues. He chose a Presbyterian church in the same block.  Though unchurched at the time, our mother taught us to pray at bedtime and read Bible stories to us.
Our father began attending that church taking me and my brother to Sunday school.  Our mother remained at home not able to participate in Mass, as she was not considered married by the Catholic Church or by a priest or pastor.  In those days, it considered children of such unions to be bastards.
One Easter morning, she decided to join us for church.  She came away thinking, they worship Christ too.  Subsequently, she began attending regularly and joined a women’s Sunday school class where the Bible was taught and studied.
Throughout her life, she exhibited a low view of herself.  I thought she suffered from low self-esteem.  Later in life, I recognized it was something else.
A week and half following my college graduation, our father died of pneumonia.  Our mother remained a widow for over 30 years.  In that time, she began daily Bible reading, meditating, and praying.  Her faith grew, and I sensed her relationship to Jesus Christ was personal.  Wanting her to experience assurance, I had her read 1 John 5: 13: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” She received assurance of salvation and eternal life because she trusted solely in Christ’s death on the cross for her salvation.
I received a diamond ring from an aunt, my father’s older sister, Helen, for whom I was named.  In a conversation with my mother, she said she once had a diamond ring that belonged to her mother.  I asked her what happened to it?  She replied she pawned it to pay for a surgery I needed when seven years old.  When she returned to buy it back, it was already sold.  I was pained remembering episodes of personality conflicts with my mother and questioning her love. She never once mentioned that sacrifice to me. I found myself weeping over such a sacrifice and her never pushing it on me to make me feel ungrateful.
As she aged becoming very frail, we were living together; I tended to her needs.  One Sunday afternoon, I prepared dinner and served it in our little kitchen.  I asked her to say grace.  Being raised Catholic she once knew only a prescribed prayer.  Growing in her faith in Christ, she began to pray more spontaneously and with beautiful, simple language.  As she prayed at the table that day, she not only asked God’s blessing on the food, she confessed: “I am so rotten, and You are so good.”  I believe she was 87 or 88 years old at the time.  I was taken aback by such words but also felt they were inappropriate for grace at a meal.  Was I ever wrong!  It didn’t take long for the Holy Spirit to reveal something special about my mother.
Not knowing it would be her last Christmas in this life, I was bathing her when she spontaneously broke out in prayer thanking God for Helen’s bathing her.  For me, it was a picture of her intimate closeness to God and humble spontaneity.  She was so frail at that point, and little did we know she had only nine days left.  Days later, not being able to get out of bed herself, she said: “Helen, my time is near.  I love all three of you equally, I love your father, and I love the Lord.”
On January 3, 2001, visiting her in the hospital, she sat up in bed and said, “Helen, I want to go to heaven.”  I took her hand and said, “And I want you to go too, Mom.”  Immediately, I couldn’t believe I said that.  I certainly didn’t mean it yet.  She didn’t know she would be put in a nursing home the next day. Five hours later, I received a telephone call with these words: “Miss Herndon, your mother has passed.”  Grief and relief both filled my spirit.  Yet, immediately, I knew God heard her and took her home.
It didn’t take me long to see her life overall and the traits most typical of the true person she was.  Yes, as thought of most mothers, her love was genuine and rich.  For a woman who was monetarily limited, she was generous to others.  But the trait that stands out the strongest was her humility toward God and toward others.  Several evidences from the past reveal her beautiful gift of humility.
First, her determination that her children wouldn’t be raised as heathens when confronted they would not be raised in her faith.  Secondly, her low view of herself was genuine humility toward God and toward others. Third her humble secret of sacrificing a treasured gem—a priceless gem belonging to her mother she would never recuperate—to pay for an operation for one of her children.  Then there were her prayers where she humbly confessed to God she was “so rotten” and another where she spontaneously thanked God for someone bathing her.  Today, I frequently tell the Lord I’m borrowing my mother’s words with genuine sincerity, “I am so rotten, and You are so good.”
She had only an elementary school education, but she taught me with a college education and even a degree in biblical education what matters most in our relationship to God and others.  Thomas Moore spoke of “Humility, that low, sweet root, from which all heavenly virtues shoot.”  She possessed that “sweet root.”  Despite all the accolades such a humble, godly woman deserves, God’s Word expresses her character best: “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.”  Fear of the Lord resulted in the sweet gift of humility she left family and world.
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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Unfortunately, there are some who have succumbed to the lure of secular culture and promote those values as if biblical. And gladly in the midst of this, many lay elders, deacons, and congregational members remain faithful and speak to the current issues. They need to be heard, heeded, and respected.  Their “prophesying,” like Amos, on behalf of God’s Word and Christ’s commands deserves careful attention.

Amos is considered a minor prophet in the canon of Scripture. However, Amos asserted he is not a prophet: “I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs.  But the Lord took me from following the flock and the Lord said to me, ‘Go prophesy to the people of Israel” (Amos 7: 14-15).
Amos had been accused by Amaziah, the priest of Bethel to King Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel . . . Then Amaziah said to Amos, ‘Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying!  But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence.” 
Then Amos replied to Amaziah, “I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of a sycamore figs.  But the Lord took me from following the flock and the Lord said to me, ‘Go prophesy to My people Israel.”
In today’s language here is a layman addressing a warning to the people of God, and he is then rebuked by a cleric.  Does that not speak to some similar situations in the church today?  Many clerics are coming out of what are considered conservative, orthodox seminaries, yet with cultural ideologies that are counter to biblical principles and truth.  And so it is left to lay leaders to stand up for maintaining  biblical principles and truths.
The book of Amos is applicable to today and a reminder that God is sovereign and will choose whom he wills to address serious issues confronting his covenant people both in the Old Testament and in the universal Church today.
The Church in every generation is confronted with false teachings of every type. The present time is no exception where specific issues like race and sexual identity are front and center. By whom are these issues usually framed? Sadly, mostly by those who are clergy and the seminaries that influenced them. As a result, it falls to lay leaders lay church members to resist these incursions into the church. They desire to remain steadfast to the divine revelation of God regarding human depravity, that all, regardless of race or sexual identities, “…have fallen short of the glory of God.” And further, that God created male and female and instituted marriage by which they would express sexual relationships. 
There is no intent here to discount the importance of clergy in the life of the church; many are faithful to God’s divine revelation and historic, orthodox Christianity. Unfortunately, there are some who have succumbed to the lure of secular culture and promote those values as if biblical. And gladly in the midst of this, many lay elders, deacons, and congregational members remain faithful and speak to the current issues. They need to be heard, heeded, and respected.  Their “prophesying,” like Amos, on behalf of God’s Word and Christ’s commands deserves careful attention.
Here is my plea to church leaders: recognize the voices of the laity, don’t silence them; listen to them.  They too are God’s instruments and servants to keep Christ’s Bride faithful to her Groom.
The message for us today is listen to Amos, a simple herdsman and grower of sycamore figs, not to Amaziah, the priest and the cleric; Amos is a forerunner and model for today’s Church. And to lay leaders: be faithful as Amos to your churches today.
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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God enriched my life not only with friends like Dorie Howell, but with friends of so many different nationalities and diverse races.  My life has been etched time and again with such diversity.  But the most important etching in my life and on my heart is that of my most beloved Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I must have seen it a thousand times over, my name, Helen Louise, etched in glass on a flower vase.  Above my name is etched a small songbird with flapped wing sitting on a small branch.  It sits holding pale artificial flowers on the sink in my bathroom.  Every time I wash my hands, wash my face, put on makeup, comb my hair or push it into its waves after shampooing, I see it. And yet this morning, it was more than seen.  It was a reminder of a very dear friend who gave it to me as a gift.
That dear friend was Dorie Howell, a graduate student I met in college my freshman year as an undergraduate student at our Christian college founded by an Irish Presbyterian minister in Columbia, South Carolina.  Dorie was one of those delightful people who was always cheerful—one might even call her the “life of the party.”  She was quite tall, while I was so short.  We only knew each other there for a year and a half, as she returned to California to begin teaching kindergarten.  Through correspondence, our friendship grew and became punctuated with visits to California, to her family’s cabin in Colorado, and her visits to her sister and family in St. Louis.  Dorie was also a twin whose sister was named Lorie.  Dorie and Lorie.  Another interesting fact about Dorie was she and her sister, as toddlers, were babysat by Marilyn Monroe when she was still Norma Jean before becoming a star.
Our friendship continuously grew and endured many years until God took her home following a long bout with ovarian cancer.  I had visited her in California less than a year before she died sensing what the outcome of her medical battle would be.  One day while at work, I telephoned her in the hospital from my office when one could charge calls to one’s home telephone.  I felt compelled to call her and to attempt to encourage her.  That very day a few hours later when I returned home, her twin sister telephoned me to let me know Dorie passed and was with the Lord.  I was so struck that I called her only a few hours before her departure.  God has a way of letting us know what we must do and when.
This morning seeing that etched vase reminded me that not only was my name etched on a vase; my friend remains etched on my heart.  So many years later, I recall so many conversations and experiences with this dear friend and sister-in-Christ—conversations and experiences that not only formed a deep and rich friendship but edified us both in the Lord.  We both shared a deep and rich love for our mutual Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We both sought to serve Christ by making Him known to others.  Dorie, remaining single, loved children and gave them her all teaching kindergarten in a Christian school.  She served Christ in many other ways as well through her church and in community service to many.  She was completely spontaneous in talking about God.
A short while after her death, I was informed she made travel arrangements for me and others to go to California to attend her memorial service.  So a plane ticket was made available to me to go, and I was able to spend time with her twin sister, Lorie, and her family with whom I remained in contact all these many years after Dorie’s death.  A healthy friendship is not exclusive; it invites many others into it.
As I am reminded of this very dear friend who remains etched in my heart, along with so many more of diverse nationalities and races, my thoughts take me to our relationship with Jesus Christ and our Triune God.  Just as my name is etched on a vase and a dear friend is etched on my heart, what about Jesus Christ?  Is He etched on our hearts? Biblically, the word “etched” does not appear.  But there are not a few references to Christ being written on our hearts:
“You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3: 2-3).
As a Christian woman, I have many very dear friends etched on my heart.  In fact, the plaque to be placed on my grave reads “Devoted daughter and friend.”  I want to leave behind the legacy that my parents and my friends were most important to me.  God enriched my life not only with friends like Dorie Howell, but with friends of so many different nationalities and diverse races.  My life has been etched time and again with such diversity.  But the most important etching in my life and on my heart is that of my most beloved Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The etched vase that caught my attention this morning reminded me, yes, of a very dear friend; but it also reminded me of an eternal relationship that matters the most in life and for eternity.  Is He and His sacrificial death on the cross for you and His resurrection etched upon your heart?
Helen Louise Herndon is a member of Central Presbyterian Church (EPC) in St. Louis, Missouri. She is freelance writer and served as a missionary to the Arab/Muslim world in France and North Africa.
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