Day 685 - Who is Viola Larson and Why Is She Attacking Mercy Junction, 1001 Worshipping Communities of the PC(USA) and the Presbytery of East Tennessee? Part I

October 25, 2014

I apologize for the three long posts that follow, but as T.S. Eliot said (paraphrased), "Complex questions do not deserve facile answers." 

Viola Larson presents herself as a self-appointed defender of what she calls orthodox Calvinist Presbyterianism. Recently in her blog, she severely criticized the 1001 Worshipping Communities of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the Presbytery of East Tennessee for giving a grant to, and sponsoring Mercy Junction (a ministry of a friend of mine, Brian Merritt). In so many words she said that both Mercy Junction, the Presbytery of East Tennessee(PET) and the PC(USA) had deviated from “orthodoxy” into heresy, or even apostasy. Using highly limited, if not superficial information, Viola Larson says Mercy Junction, “by actions … infer that Jesus is not the only way to a relationship with God.”(Her October 7, 11 and 22, 2014 posts).

Subsequently she also attacked another emerging worshipping community in Knoxville called First Creek Communion (See her October 22, 2014 post).

Frankly, I had never heard of Viola Larson until this criticism was pointed out to me. I thought it prudent to discover the basis of her criticism and judgment of these worshipping communities and exactly what she proposes as an alternative route to authentic worship. In fairness I include the link associated with Ms. Larson’s blog so you do not have necessarily to accept my assessment.

To do this, I am posting a response to Viola Larson in three parts, particularly concentrating on her severe condemnation of Mercy Junction, although the treatment of First Creek Communion is as egregious.

This first post provides a fairer and more accurate characterization of Mercy Junction than Ms. Larson’s October 7 post. 

In post II of this series I explore exactly where Viola Larson stands on Reformed Protestant theology.  In fairness I include the links associated with Ms. Larson’s blog so you do not have necessarily to accept my assessment.

The third post offers my own personal commentary on her criticism and these two ministries. This final post offers a reflection on her theology, her criticism of these new emerging ministries and a suggestion for future discourse.  I attempt to provide links to all places I gleaned information.

A disclosure

 In full disclosure, I know Brian Merritt, the activities of his ministry and his wife, a creative Presbyterian author, Carol Merritt. Brian graduated from Austin Seminary, one of the more respected Presbyterian seminaries and is an ordained pastor/evangelist in PC(USA). I am a graduate of Georgia Tech holding undergraduate and graduate degrees in science and engineering. I recently graduated from Union Presbyterian Seminary. 

My ministry is director of Urban Outreach Ministries in Chattanooga, a ministry to homeless and un/underemployed men of the community. We seek to build a commitment to Christian vocation to persons who desire to take the first step towards a changed life.

As part of this ministry we work with three groups, Mercy Junction, St. Andrews Center, a 501 ( c ) 3 non-profit and Mustard Tree Ministry, a UMC ministry with similar aims. In the past summer with support of Mercy Junction and Mustard Tree Ministry we farmed a plot on donated property and were able to deliver ~1,000 lb of fresh sweet corn to the Chattanooga Food Bank and sell a smaller quantity to sustain operation. Another part of the donated corn went to a “Free Market” operated by Renaissance Presbyterian Church, a predominantly African-American PC(USA) congregation on the Westside of Chattanooga. Mercy Junction supports this free market by growing vegetables and gave several bushels of our donated corn to people who cannot afford, or have access to fresh vegetables.

Who is Mercy Junction

For reference, Mercy Junction has a web page that states, “ We are an ever-evolving ministry of the Presbytery of East Tennessee, located in Chattanooga’s Southside. (We) sustain a healthy food-sharing ministry with a “pay-what-you-can” market, and share worship and community focused on action-to-neighbor, and provide a gathering point for teaching and spiritual reflection.” Mercy Junction also uses Facebook extensively where interested readers can find out more of their day-to-day ministry.

Viola Larson is extremely offended by an “e-zine” called the HolyHeretic that Mercy Junction publishes. It elicits ideas about God and God’s work in the world from, of all things, the people of the world at large, the target ministry of the Christ’s Church. It seems to me, however raucous it may be to refined ears, it engages the disordered world in conversation so that witness may follow.

Because Holy Heretic encourages reflections from different (and also no) theological perspective, it is natural we will read unusual, seriously non-orthodox, and what an orthodox Christian might consider heretical ideas. Brian has not told me this, but my sense of his e-zine is that he is following an idea of John Cobb who once said it is the responsibility of every worshipping Christian to work out their theology rather than rely on other “scholars” to simply inform them.¹

Holy Heretic offers an opportunity for people inside and outside the congregation of believers to worship and refine their sense of theology in the presence of pastors and ministers. Mercy Junction seems to find itself in a similar demography to that Jesus first ministered. That world is where we find those who live outside the congregation of believers, and those who may live far from the mainline church, especially the part of the Church that clings rigidly to a sense of orthodoxy defined in the era of ~400CE to ~1600CE.

(I am not providing an extensive summary of First Creek Communion led by Rev. Kally Elliot in Knoxville, but my comments concerning Mercy Junction and Viola Larson's criticism apply as well to this new ministry. That may await a future post.)

To be fair, we should consider seriously Ms. Larson's criticism of Mercy Junction and PET because (1) I believe she is, or was, a member of PC(USA) denomination, (2) she judges other Christians as non-Christian, (3) she challenges a basis credo of all persons of the Reformed faith that honors at its core the freedom to raise a question seeking dialogue in the continuing struggle to be reformed and always reforming and faithful.

I will continue analysis of Ms. Larson's criticism and her particular theological stance in the next post.

Some source documents

1.     John B. Cobb, Jr., Becoming a Thinking Christian, Chapter 1, Nashville:Abington Press, (1993) p11ff.