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Wednesday,
May 13, 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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When
an M.Div. from Princeton isn’t enough
Blog by Adam Walker |
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"...
Transferring as a Candidate in the PC(USA) ordination
process is not something that is recommended,
and I think I am beginning to see why now. Granted,
I understand that trying to transfer as a candidate
is hard for the Committee on Preparation for Ministry
(CPM). They have no idea who I am – and I
am asking to come into the process midway. So
I can understand a CPM’s desire to get to
know the candidate and make sure they know what
they’re getting into...
"Because of
Princeton Seminary’s required course load
and previous requirements from Kendall Presbytery,
I had only taken one exegesis course (in Hebrew)
and was prepared that I may have to take a Greek
exegesis course to fulfill this presbytery’s
requirements. But I was not prepared for what
I learned today..." |
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| Announced:
"God's Whole Family" Conference
/ MLP |
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The
National Welcoming & Affirming Presbyterian
Conference
September 4 - 6, 2009 Labor Day Weekend
Second Presbyterian Church, Nashville, Tennessee
"God's Whole
Family" is hosted by Second Presbyterian
Church, Nashville and produced by More Light Presbyterians
for pro-LGBT Presbyterians, families, friends
and allies. |
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| Scripture
lessons for today
– from
the Lectionary |
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"
The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned
upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!...
Extol the LORD our God;
worship at his
footstool.
Holy is he!..."
"...thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
concerning this city of which you say, "It
is being given into the hand of the king of Babylon
by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence":
See, I am going to gather them from all the lands
to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath
and in great indignation; I will bring them back
to this place, and I will settle them in safety.
They shall be my people, and I will be their God..."
"Let every person be subject to the governing
authorities; for there is no authority except
from God, and those authorities that exist have
been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists
authority resists what God has appointed, and
those who resist will incur judgment..."
"...his mother and his brothers came to him,
but they could not reach him because of the crowd.
And he was told, "Your mother and your brothers
are standing outside, wanting to see you."
But he said to them, "My
mother and my brothers are those who hear the
word of God and do it." |
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Today
in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study
The
Presbytery of Blackhawk – Illinois |
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"...The
goal of the ministry is for First Presbyterian
to become a multicultural church. The Hispanic
community is the largest and fastest growing minority
group in the area. Funding for the Latino Ministry
comes from the presbytery, synod and General Assembly..." |
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| Vote
chart for 08-B: 77
yes – 93 no |
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If
the 3 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
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77
yes - 96 no (corrected numbers)
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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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Saudi
judge says it's OK for men to beat wives
By Abdullah Shihri / AP |
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RIYADH,
Saudi Arabia – A Saudi judge told a conference
on domestic violence that a man has the right
to slap a wife who spends money wastefully and
said women were as much to blame as men for increased
spousal abuse, a Saudi newspaper reported.
"If a person
gives 1,200 Saudi riyals ($320) to his wife and
she spends 900 riyals ($240) to purchase an abaya
(head-to-toe robe) from a brand shop and if her
husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to
her action, she deserves that punishment,"
Judge Hamad Al-Razine said. |
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Bethlehem
Christians look to Pope Benedict for support
By Judith Sudilovsky / PNS |
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BETHLEHEM,
West Bank – Bethlehem was teeming with tourists
and pilgrims just days before Pope Benedict XVI
was scheduled to visit the city as part of his
eight-day pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
“We are very
pleased the Pope is coming. It gives us a good
feeling,” said 41-year-old Gabi Awad, whose
nine-year-old son, Rojeh, had just celebrated
his first communion at the Catholic St. Catherine
Church. “We would like [the Pope] to take
care of the Christians in the Holy Land. The situation
here is very difficult.” |
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| Sweden
rules 'gender-based' abortion legal
/ The Local |
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Swedish
health authorities have ruled that gender-based
abortion is not illegal according to current law
and can not therefore be stopped, according to
a report by Sveriges Television. |
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| Tougher
times see New Zealand's churches increase attendance
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Church
flocks are growing as people search for a deeper
meaning during the recession.
Christ Church Cathedral
Dean Peter Beck said Anglican churches had seen
an increase in congregation numbers.
"There's certainly
a renewed interest; people are looking for a way
forward," he said.
"Instead of
consumerism and individualism, which has really
consumed us in these last decades, people have
been shown the result of all that is to reap this
whirlwind around the world and they are looking
for something better.
"It's extraordinarily
encouraging really." |
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N.Y.
Assembly passes gay marriage bill
By Jeremy W. Peters / The New York Times |
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ALBANY
— The State Assembly approved legislation
on Tuesday night that would make New York the
sixth state to allow same-sex marriage —
a pivotal vote that shifts the debate to the State
Senate, where gay rights advocates and conservative
groups alike are redoubling their efforts.
In a sign of how
opinion in Albany has shifted on the issue, several
members of the Assembly who voted against the
measure in 2007 voted in favor of it on Tuesday.
The final vote
was 89 to 52, including the backing of five Republicans.
The State Senate
has yet to vote on this issue. |
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Vigils
for anniversary of Iowa immigration raid
By Nigel Duara / AP |
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POSTVILLE,
Iowa – Hundreds gathered in the small northeast
Iowa town of Postville on Tuesday to mark the
one-year anniversary of a huge immigration raid
and reflect on the community's difficulty in recovering
from the arrests.
After a prayer
vigil at St. Bridget's Catholic Church, participants
marched a half mile to the Agriprocessors Inc.
kosher slaughterhouse, escorted by sheriff's deputies
and state troopers. About 650 people attended
the vigil, including four busloads from the Minneapolis
area and Chicago.
The Rev. Gary Catterson
of Postville's Community Presbyterian Church said
a state grant to help pay rent and utilities for
families of those detained has almost run out.
"I don't feel
like the state or federal government has been
of great assistance," Catterson said. |
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| Miss
California keeps crown /
Charisma |
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Christian
beauty queen Carrie Prejean will be allowed to
keep her Miss California title despite controversy
over revealing photos recently leaked online and
her support for traditional marriage.
Donald Trump, co-owner
of the Miss Universe Organization, made the announcement
today during a press conference in New York.
"We've really
studied these photos," he said. "We've
made a determination that everything we've seen
to date that she's done... the pictures taken
were acceptable, were fine."
During the press
conference today, Prejean thanked God for trusting
her "with this large task" but said
she had been "punished" for exercising
her free speech rights. |
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Dividing
the unity
Pro-gay Presbyterians and Lutherans gain; Episcopalians
formalize split.
By Richard N. Ostling |
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"The
latest Presbyterian Church (USA) referendum on
sexual morality upheld a law requiring all clergy
and lay office-holders "to live either in
fidelity within the covenant of marriage between
a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness."
But it was a surprisingly close call for conservatives..." |
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New
life in Christ: What it looks like, what it demands
By Charles J. Chaput / First Things |
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"The
Catholic faith is not simply a collection of doctrines
and ideas, or a body of knowledge, or even a system
of beliefs, although all those things are important.
At its root, Christianity is an experience: a
life-changing, personal experience of the risen
Jesus Christ. Everything else in the writings
of St. Paul, and everything else in our life as
Catholics, flows from that personal encounter
with Jesus Christ. If we truly seek him, then
we will always find him. But when we find
him, we need to be ready for the consequences,
because nothing about our lives can be the same...
"Believers
today are relentlessly tempted to accept a halfway
Christianity, to lead a “double life”
– to be one person when we’re in church
or at prayer and somebody different when we’re
with our friends or family, or at work, or when
we talk about politics..." |
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The
torture debate shows our vulnerability to radical
evil
By David P. Goldman / First Things |
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"Radical
evil sets the threshold of victory so high that
we risk contamination by confronting it on its
own terms. Terrorists tempt us to torture them,
by striking against innocent noncombatants out
of the shadows. The present debate over torture
is a black cloud as big as a man’s hand announcing
a storm to come. How do we arrogate unto ourselves
the right to inflict death and extreme pain upon
innocents – leave aside not-so-innocent terrorists
– without corrupting ourselves? The insidious
character of radical evil seeks to contaminate
us through our own response. Ordinary evil kills
for profit or rapes for pleasure. Radical evil
rapes and kills so that terror and horror will
blot out the memory of the good and leave behind
only the capacity for more evil..." |
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Minister’s
community of squatters defies odds
By Judy Peet / RNS |
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LAKEWOOD,
N.J. – The vegetable garden is ready to plant,
the washer and dryer will be hooked up soon, and
Nina the Polish lady figured out how to make cheese
from the milk of the new goat, named Molly.
But while residents
of what has come to be known as “KP Tent
City” search for 20 more chickens “so
we have enough eggs to be self-sustaining,”
local officials explore ways to “gently”
roust what Mayor Robert Singer calls “a nightmare
waiting to happen.”
Throughout the
country, tent cities have risen in response to
troubled economic times and, just as quickly,
have been shut down for health and zoning violations.
Even the tent camp in Sacramento, Calif., made
a national symbol of the recession by Oprah, pulled
up stakes last month.
Here in Lakewood,
however, the tent city is now in its second year
and becoming more entrenched every day. |
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Fathers,
sons and homosexuality
By Warren Throckmorton |
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"...In
a book written with his wife, "A Parent’s
Guide to Preventing Homosexuality," American
psychologist, Joseph Nicolosi pegs the “crucial
period” for bonding between father and son
at “between one and a half to three years.”
Elsewhere, Nicolosi argues that fathers of homosexual
sons are unavailable, detached and/or hostile.
To fathers in London, he advised, “If you
don’t hug your sons, some other man will,”
suggesting that male homosexual attraction is
a search for a father’s love.
"The father-deficit
theory is not held by mainstream sexuality researchers,
but is popular among conservative Christians.
This has always puzzled me because Nicolosi’s
statements regarding the origins of homosexuality
can be discounted not only by research but by
common experience..." |
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| Cheerleaders
for the Revolution /
Media Research Center |
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"...a
Media Research Center analysis of ABC, CBS and
NBC evening news coverage of President Obama’s
first 100 days in office shows network reporters
have failed as watchdogs. The networks have raised
few doubts about Obama’s left-wing agenda
and showered each of Obama’s major policy
initiatives with positive press...
"Such highly
promotional coverage is not part of the normal
“honeymoon” that exists between journalists
and new Presidents. Rather, it seems to be a symptom
of how few network reporters evidently see their
professional role as operating on the public’s
behalf as a check on whoever is in the White House.
"The longstanding
liberalism of network reporters made them aggressive
adversaries of the Bush White House over the past
eight years...
"The once-fierce
media watchdogs have become Barack Obama’s
drooling, tail-wagging lapdogs." |
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An
upstart church movement wrestles with growing
older
By Amy Dockser Marcus / The Wall Street Journal |
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GREENWICH,
Conn. -- On a recent Saturday morning, musician
Rob Mathes was in London's Abbey Road Studios,
where the Beatles recorded, working with rock
band Dashboard Confessional. But he rushed back
to the U.S. for what he sees as an equally important
gig: playing Sunday morning services at Trinity
Church in Greenwich, Conn.
The 44-year-old
Mr. Mathes helped found the church to draw in
young people with a new kind of service -- hipper,
less formal, trying to reach people who had drifted
away from church but still felt a spiritual need.
Last weekend, Trinity
celebrated its 10th anniversary. Its parishioners,
numbering 500 to 700 every Sunday, attend prayer
groups and take communion. But they do so while
a band plays original works as well as contemporary
songs based on traditional hymns.
Now, Trinity is
at a crossroads. |
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God,
you give each generation
New Hymn text by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette |
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God,
you give each generation
words of wisdom, truth to tell.
And your call to every nation
is to teach our children well. |
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| Kopp
Disclosure |
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"...I
hear the congregation that doesn't like us anymore
is gonna join another franchise that's kinda like
us but may like Jesus a little more than we do
in practice as well as theory.
"Psst.
"Don't believe
it..." |
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| Letters
from readers – email
us |
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Art
Seaman "...If same sex marriage
is legal in some places, it will force us once
again to define and refine our thinking. Will
our church refuse to recognize valid legal marriages?
Will our church seek to define church marriage
as different from civil marriage?" |
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Neil
D. Cowling "Earl Tilford agrees
with Tom Hobson that the church ought not follow
the world. Well, and good! Right on target! Then
he contradicts that very position when he says
"Yes, we are all living in a sinful, flawed
world and we do the best we can." That is
nothing but another popular secular argument couched
in religious language..." |
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© 2009 CHURCHandWORLD.com Inc.
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