February 2010 Ordained Servant

From the Editor. This month Pastor Cook finishes his excellent article on ministry to the dying. We look forward to future articles by Pastor Cook on ministry to the grieving and hospital visitation.

Since it is not always possible to write an editorial essay or choose book reviews that stay with a common monthly theme, I have chosen to fire a liturgical shot across the bow of informality. One pastor I came across on an Internet search said that he no longer gives a benediction because he has rarely seen one performed properly. It is either misunderstood as a prayer or improperly performed by using a doxology. Since we forbid the unordained to give the benediction, we ought to know what we are forbidding, as well as its importance at the close of worship.

Since Orthodox Presbyterians do not need a birthday celebration to inspire interest in Calvin I have included a review by David Booth of what may prove to be the standard biography of Calvin, by Bruce Gordon.

I have also added a new feature, "Servant Training," in response to a request that candidates committees be given a voice in OS. I am happy to include such germane material, and invite other committees to submit articles. Ordinarily, I will not publish arguments in favor of overtures, but make an exception here, since the overture in question was passed unanimously, and would be a significant improvement in the way we oversee licentiates.

You'll be relieved to know that Eutychus II has survived the holiday season, at least enough to lament the necessity of surviving.

Finally, in keeping with the theme of ministry to the dying, I have chosen a poem by one of my favorite New Hampshire poets, Jane Kenyon, "Let Evening Come."

Blessings in the Lamb,
Gregory Edward Reynolds

From the Archives: "DEATH AND DYING"

href="http://opc.org/OS/pdf/Subject_Index.pdf">http://opc.org/OS/pdf/Subject_Index.pdf

• "A Life and Death Matter." (G. I. Williamson) 8:2 (Mar. 1999): 39-41.
• "Pastoring the Dying and the Mourning." (Joel R. Beeke) 13:4 (Oct. 2004): 76-87.

Ordained Servant exists to help encourage, inform, and equip church officers for faithful, effective, and God glorifying ministry in the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Its primary audience is ministers, elders, and deacons of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, as well as interested officers from other Presbyterian and Reformed churches. Through high quality editorials, articles, and book reviews we endeavor to stimulate clear thinking and the consistent practice of historic Presbyterianism.