Paul Eugene Faris was born June 27, 1916, in Mayetta, Kan., the second of six children, to Henry and Alice (McCrory) Faris. He was baptized in the Denison, Kan., RPC, and became a communicant member at age 11. He graduated from Denison High School in 1938, and from Geneva College in 1942.

Following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather and grandfather, he enrolled at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Though he nearly died from pneumonia and a reaction to sulfa drugs in his first year there, in God’s mercy he was spared. He was married to Ruth Prosser of Beaver Falls, Pa., on Sept. 14, 1944. He graduated from seminary in 1945, and served three pastorates: Quinter, Kan. (1945–1957), Sterling, Kan. (1957–1971), and Lisbon, N.Y. (1971–1984). While in Quinter, Paul and Ruth were blessed by God with their three children: Eileen, David, and Gwendolyn.

Upon retirement, he and Ruth moved to the Flora, Ind., community to be close to family and to be involved in the church plant in Kokomo, Ind. His happy retirement was soon saddened by Ruth’s death in 1986 after 42 years of marriage. He served as a ruling elder in the newly formed Sycamore (Kokomo, Ind.) RPC from 1992–1999. When he was no longer able to live on his own, he stayed in Lisbon, N.Y., where his daughter Gwen and her family lovingly cared for him until the Lord took him to glory on June 5, 2010.

Paul was a family patriarch, a faithful minister, a gentle churchman, a fellow elder, and a chief counselor. One word that binds all those titles together is covenant. Paul not only taught all his life about the covenant, he lived in covenant. God fulfilled wondrously in Paul’s life the words of Psalm 25: “The knowledge of His covenant He unto them will show.”

Because of this covenant knowledge, Paul’s “eyes upon the Lord continually were set.” He saw the covenant Lord’s hand, working in providence, weaving everything together for His glory and our good. When Paul prayed, like the psalmist, his prayers were filled with pictures of the earthiness of the created order around him: plowed fields with their promise of a fall harvest; the sap of the maple trees being transformed into the syrup he loved; the joy over the birth of yet another grandchild and concern for the mother’s recovery. Yet his prayers also quickly moved from earthly tokens of God’s goodness to helping us see the spiritual realities that lay behind them: grain growing in the fields a reminder of the gospel harvest; life-giving sap the need to abide in Christ like a branch in a vine; a new babe the hope of the new birth in Christ; the labor of a mother the painful price of gospel work.

Paul lived richly, though without great earthly wealth. He mined the Psalms and promoted singing them, though he was a self-aware monotone. A generous benefactor near Sterling, Kan., supplied Paul with books that deepened his understanding of Reformed theology. His love for reading never ceased. After his 90th birthday, he read over 100 books in one year. The vegetable garden drew his attention each year, until he had cultivated a crop for over 50 consecutive years. Green pastures and still waters also attracted him. In Quinter, Kan., Sterling, Kan., and Flora, Ind., he volunteered time constructing the local golf course, where he would later invest time into the lives of his children and grandchildren. He thoroughly enjoyed his descendents, and wrote a weekly family letter in which he related news, recounted history, and imparted wisdom to these whom he loved.

He actively served the presbyteries of which he was a part. As a member of Synod, he labored for many years on the Evangelism Committee and on the Board of Education & Publication. In an unprecedented and unrepeated move, Synod elected Paul as moderator in two consecutive years—1983 and 1984. He worked for a more peaceful and loving Synod meeting than he had witnessed in his early years. With others, he cultivated a spirit of cooperation and love as a member of the court. After delivering the retiring moderator’s sermon in 1985, he never returned to Synod. This was perhaps an overreaction, but he did not want to interfere with the work of the younger men—another evidence of his lifelong commitment to help change the nature of Synod for the glory of God.

He is survived by his brother Harold; children Eileen, David, and Gwen; 16 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren (not including those soon to be born). He longed to see the covenant fulfilled in the lives of those God placed around him. Paul loved Psalm 106, which describes his desire to see with his own eyes that covenant fulfillment: “That I may see Thy people’s good and in their joy rejoice, and may with Thine inheritance exult with cheerful voice.”

—James Faris and Barry York