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Monday,
May 11, 2009
Come
to this page first...
it is
the quick and easy way to miss nothing
of
All the National PC(USA) news
Something we may have overlooked? Please, tell
us |
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Reformed
ecclesiology: “The community of Christ”
By Dennis Okholm / Theology Matters, Jan/Feb.2009
issue |
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"...
I am increasingly convinced that the churches
in the West – particularly mainline churches
– need to begin with biblically-oriented
theology as they seek a cure for what ails them.
In fact, it might even change the diagnosis of
the illness. With that in mind, we need to consider
how biblically-grounded theological insights from
our Reformed tradition might guide us in our thinking
about the current situation in our church..."
Also in this issue (all in the same PDF
file):
• A review of What is missional ecclesiology?
– by Viola Larson
The nFOG Task Force has now released new drafts
of its work including Foundations of Presbyterian
Polity and Proposed Form of Government... One
of the documents made available by the task force
is What is Missional Ecclesiology?. This document
is recommended reading for both individuals and
groups preparing to study the new drafts. In other
words the nFOG Task Force wants members of the
PCUSA to shape their thinking around the theological
concepts in Rev. Paul Hooker’s paper “What
is Missional Ecclesiology?”
• Lessons from Nehemiah on wall-building
– by Terry Schlossberg
• The lamp has not yet gone out – by
James R. Edwards
• The Reformation of the Church: Where is
the power lodged?
By Sue Cyre |
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| New(s)
from The Presbyterian Outlook
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Living
up to our reputation
By Jack Haberer / The Presbyterian Outlook"...We
Presbyterians have inherited a reputation for
being the thought-leaders of world Christianity.
We are known as the people of the book(s) –
a single book, the Bible, and the countless other
books of scholarship.
"Are we living
up to that reputation? Or are we deluding ourselves?...
"We can reclaim
our reputation. We can resolve to renew it, strengthen
it, and enlarge it. We can raise the bar of expectations
for growing disciples of all ages, so that our
churches become the prime source for continuing
education...
"Toward such
an end we present this special teacher training
edition of The Presbyterian Outlook..." |
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•
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Index
to Reports & Resources |
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Film
in review: “Star
Trek” – by Ronald P.
Salfen
“Star Trek” is the kind of prequel
that you wish the last “Star Wars” could
have been. It’s a good script with a strong
story line. The special effects enhance the experience,
but not at the expense of the character development.
And best of all, at the end, the prequel perfectly
sets you up to enjoy every “Star Trek”
episode ever made. |
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| Scripture
lessons for today
– from
the Lectionary |
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"I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your
name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you,
and praise your
name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
his greatness is
unsearchable."
"The word that came to Jeremiah from the
LORD in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah,
which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.
At that time the army of the king of Babylon was
besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah
was confined in the court of the guard that was
in the palace of the king of Judah, where King
Zedekiah of Judah had confined him. Zedekiah had
said, "Why do you prophesy and say: Thus
says the LORD: I am going to give this city into
the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall
take it; King Zedekiah of Judah shall not escape
out of the hands of the Chaldeans, but shall surely
be given into the hands of the king of Babylon,
and shall speak with him face to face and see
him eye to eye; and he shall take Zedekiah to
Babylon, and there he shall remain until I attend
to him, says the LORD; though you fight against
the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed?"..."
"...Slaves,
obey your earthly masters in everything, not only
while being watched and in order to please them,
but wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord... Masters,
treat your slaves justly and fairly, for you know
that you also have a Master in heaven..."
"...when the Pharisee who had invited him
saw it, he said to himself, "If this man
were a prophet, he would have known who and what
kind of woman this is who is touching him –
that she is a sinner."..." |
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Today
in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study
Australia
and New Zealand |
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"The
Uniting Church in Australia (UCA), was formed
in 1977 from the Congregational, Methodist, and
Presbyterian denominations. The UCA is involved
in many Pacific Island nations where lack of education,
threats of global warming, and the remnants of
nuclear testing continue to put people at risk..."
"Many of the
parishes in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa
New Zealand are “cooperating,” that
is, combined with parishes of other denominations...." |
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| Vote
chart for 08-B: 75
yes – 91 no |
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If
the 7 remaining presbyteries would vote the same
way on 08-B as they did on 01-A (2001/2002), the
final result would be the rejection of 08-B by
Please,
email
results to us. Or call 641.673.9389. Thank
you! |
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News of all other churches.
in the USA and worldwide.
and their interaction with
the world around them.
Included: opinions, resources
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Voices
from the entire spectrum
Therefore:
Always something to like,
always something to dislike,
always something to ponder...
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Pope
pleads for protection for Middle East Christians
By Lech Mintowt-Czyz / The Times of London |
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Pope
Benedict XVI pleaded yesterday for Christians
to be better protected in the Middle East as he
addressed a crowd of 20,000 in Jordan.
The pontiff, giving
the first open-air Mass of his tour of the Middle
East, called for the embattled Christian community
to be given material and moral assistance.
Speaking at a sports
stadium in Amman, the Jordanian capital, he urged
the "ancient communities" to persevere
in their faith despite the hardships threatening
them. Christians make up less than 2 per cent
of the overwhelmingly Muslim population of Jordan.
“The Catholic
community here is deeply touched by the difficulties
and uncertainties which affect the people of the
Middle East,” the Pope said, in English. |
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| Islamic
Jihad calls pope's visit 'gift to occupation'
/ YNET |
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The
Islamic Jihad announced on Monday that Pope Benedict
XVI's visit to Israel is a "gift to the occupation
and disregard for the suffering of the Palestinian
people". |
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An
open message to the pope
By Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen / The Jerusalem Post |
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The
writer is chief rabbi of Haifa and co-chairman
of the Bilateral Commission of the Chief Rabbinate
of Israel and the Holy See.
He asks the pope
to say "that Jews need not to change their
religion to merit redemption " |
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Judge:
Prayer ban OK
Officials prohibited from promoting, endorsing
religion
By Carmen Paige / Pensacola News Journal [Florida] |
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A
federal judge on Friday approved a consent decree
that calls for Santa Rosa County School District
officials to stop promoting their religious beliefs
in schools.
School officials
now are prohibited from promoting or endorsing
prayers during school functions and from organizing
school functions at religious venues. The consent
decree must be distributed to all employees.
"The court
has ensured that decisions about religion will
be left in the hands of families and faith communities
and not public school officials," said Benjamin
Stevenson, an American Civil Liberties Union of
Florida attorney based in Pensacola. |
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Israel
today, the West tomorrow
By Mark Steyn |
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On
Holocaust Memorial Day 2008, a group of just under
100 people – Londoners and a few visitors
– took a guided tour of the old Jewish East
End.... The tour was abruptly terminated when
the group was pelted with stones, thrown by “youths”
– or to be slightly less evasive, in the
current euphemism of Fleet Street, “Asian”
youths. “If you go any further, you’ll
die,” they shouted, in between the flying
rubble...
"A recent
government statistical survey reported that the
United Kingdom’s Muslim population is increasing
ten times faster than the general population.
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, and many other
Continental cities from Scandinavia to the Côte
d’Azur will reach majority Muslim status
in the next few years...
"In Britain
in January, while “pro-Palestinian”
demonstrators were permitted to dress up as hook-nosed
Jews drinking the blood of Arab babies, the police
ordered counter-protesters to put away their Israeli
flags. In Alberta, in the heart of Calgary’s
Jewish neighborhood, the flag of Hizballah (supposedly
a proscribed terrorist organization) was proudly
waved by demonstrators, but one solitary Israeli
flag was deemed a threat to the Queen’s peace..." |
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| George
Barna: Many churchgoers and faith leaders struggle
to define spiritual maturity |
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"...a
new study from the Barna Group identifies an underlying
reason why there is little progress in helping
people develop spiritually: many churchgoers and
clergy struggle to articulate a basic understanding
of spiritual maturity. People aspire to be spiritually
mature, but they do not know what it means. Pastors
want to guide others on the path to spiritual
wholeness, but they are often not clearly defining
the goals or the outcomes of that process...
"The study
showed five significant challenges when it comes
to facilitating people’s spiritual growth.
1. Most Christians equate spiritual maturity
with following the rules.
2. Most churchgoers are not clear what
their church expects in terms of spiritual maturity.
5. Pastors are surprisingly vague about
the biblical references they use to chart spiritual
maturity for people...
The research also
identifies a number of opportunities that can
be leveraged to address the problems related to
spirituality maturity. |
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Baby
boomers are key to winning euthanasia debate,
says ‘Dr Death’ – by Caroline Wilson / Sunday Herald
[Scotland]
Campaigning generation battle to win one last
freedom: the right to die |
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They
gave us the pill, the permissive society, women's
lib, the peace movement and rock and roll. Now,
it seems, the ageing "Baby Boomer" generation
is trying to change the rules of society one last
time – this time in the way we die.
According to Dr
Philip Nitschke, the controversial pro-euthanasia
campaigner dubbed "Dr Death", the post-1945
generation is at the forefront of the moral debate
on an individual's right to choose when and how
they die if they are terminally ill.
Nitschke, from
Australia, told the Sunday Herald that he believes
the fight for what he termed "the last right"
is approaching a watershed as the baby boomers
- a generation raised on freedoms and liberty
– demand to be given the right to take their
own life with or without the help of others.
Related: Suicide
expert turns on 'Dr Death' / The London Telegraph
For well over a decade, they were friends as they
launched a global campaign to legalise assisted
suicide for terminally-ill patients.
But after Dr Nitschke
conducted a tour of Britain last week to show
people how they can end their lives effectively,
Dr Irwin has hit out at his former colleagues
actions.
Dr Irwin accused
Dr Nitschke of being "totally irresponsible"
for telling people how to obtain an "easy
access" drug either for their own suicides
or to help with the deaths of seriously-ill relatives.
The drug, Nembutal,
is illegal for human use in Britain but obtainable
through the internet. |
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Choosing
not to abort babies with disabilities
By Julia Duin / The Washington Times |
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Nancy
Mayer-Whittington remembers it as though it were
yesterday; the joy of learning she was pregnant
followed by the news that her daughter's first
day of life would be her last.
Nearly 15 years
later, she still weeps at the memory of how on
the afternoon of Nov. 17, 1994, her gray-eyed
daughter Angela lived barely 10 minutes, the victim
of Trisomy 18, a fatal genetic defect. Pictures
of the dark-haired little girl, robed in a white
christening gown, are still scattered about her
suburban Maryland home.
She was the first
woman her doctor knew who had decided to keep
her pregnancy. All his other patients in similar
situations had aborted.
"I was so
happy I did what I did," she says of her
decision to bring Angela to term...
"She has written
a book, "For
the Love of Angela
," about her experiences and co-founded a
support group, Isaiah's Promise .." |
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Inside
Britain's first mixed convent
By Joanna Moorehead / The Times of London |
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The
number of women called to become nuns in Britain
has shrunk to just a handful. Yet in Essex, the
country’s youngest religious order is preparing
to welcome new sisters – and perhaps even
the odd brother – as the country’s first
mixed convent takes shape.
"...From September,
she’ll be Sister Katie: instead of the fast-moving,
hard-living, sexy, dizzy, international world
of air travel, she’ll be surrounded by the
peace, tranquillity and well-tended gardens of
the community’s House of Prayer..." |
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| Letters
from readers – email
us |
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Tom
Hobson "...71% of Americans believe
that torture may sometimes be necessary
to protect our nation. Here we see the fallacy
of letting the polls do our theology for us. We
have been told that if a majority of us believe
that cohabitation or same-sex marriage is OK,
the church should get in line with what the world
believes at the moment..." |
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Earl
H. Tilford "Kudos to Grove City College
for suspending a student for appearing in gay
pornographic media.
"Grove City
College is a decidedly Christian place. Having
taught there for seven years I can attest to that...
"Mr. Gretcher
may be in for a difficult time based on behavior
but not his sexual orientation... whatever that
may be. While there is not nor will there ever
be a "Gay Pride Week" at Grove City
College, no one is persecuted for sexual orientation.
His Christian heterosexual classmates and the
faculty are far more likely to pray for him than
to harass. And that is one of the finer aspects
of "being a Grover." |
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