Abraham Lincoln and the PC(USA)

I was reading an article in Newsweek about Obama's faith and came across the quote below from Lincoln's Second Inaugural, speaking of the North and the South and the Civil War.

"Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invoke his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes."

The denomination of which I am a part, the Presbyterian Church (USA), has had its own civil war going on for several years now, largely around the issue of ordination standards, specifically the ordination of practicing homosexuals.

There are passionate, Godly men and women on both sides of this "war" (and let's make no mistake, it is becoming more and more a war) who "read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and...invoke his aid against the other."

But like our nation's Civil War, the "prayers of both" cannot be answered, at least not "fully." Being a part of the PC(USA) is often a frustrating experience and sometimes, truthfully, I wonder if sticking it out is worth it. But one has to trust that "The Almighty has His own purposes."