Jason led a very specific prayer time the other night.  It was an elders meeting discussing, among other things, the Book of Church Order (BCO) of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).  Our opening prayer time appropriately focused on Chapter 8, The Elder.  We read the first four paragraphs, and then prayed for each other that our lives and service would reflect what we had read.  The instructions were to review the descriptions, definitions, and admonitions and pray for one another in light of what we read.

There was a similar reaction to these paragraphs as one has when reading the qualifications for elders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 – these goals are too lofty, I can never measure up.  So it was right to pray, recognizing our helplessness and need for a mighty God who provides wisdom, assistance and good gifts in abundance.

Jason noted that the BCO, although written in the 1970s, draws from a long heritage of such documents in Presbyterian history.   Accordingly, there is wisdom in the pages.  As the Westminster Confession of Faith makes clear in its first chapter, the BCO (and the WCF itself, for that matter) do not have the same level of authority as the Bible, but it is still a trustworthy guide. An additional prayer of our is that PCA elders and members pay attention to all three (WCF, BCO, and especially the Bible) for many decades and centuries into the future.