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Friday,
May 15, 2009
Come
to this page first...
it is
the quick and easy way to miss nothing
of
All the National PC(USA) news
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us |
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Clean
Water U schedules first summer session
J uly water system training course aimed particularly
at students, teachers who can’t make school
year events
By Janet Tuck / Synod of Living Waters |
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FRANKLIN,
TN – Living Waters for the World – a
mission program of the Synod of Living Waters
that trains people in the installation, partnership
and hygiene of clean water systems – will
hold its first ever summer training session of
its Clean Water U.
Since 2004, more
than 800 volunteers representing 13 different
denominations and organizations from throughout
the United States and 11 countries have participated
in the Clean Water U. training program. |
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A
two-way street
Pursuing bi-vocational ministry, tentmaker fulfills
lifelong dream
By Emily Enders Odom / PNS |
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TOPEKA,
KS – With more than 30 years of clinical
and administrative experience in the field of
nursing, the Rev. Robert Hattle was trained to
promote health and preserve life, gifts he now
gratefully shares both with his congregation and
with the larger community here.
Hattle, a registered
nurse and an ordained tentmaking minister –
earning a living primarily from his secular employment
– serves the Oakland Presbyterian Church
approximately 25 hours weekly while working up
to 24 hours as needed each week as a clinical
R.N. at Midland Hospice House. |
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| Letters
from PCUSA missionaries and Young Adult Volunteers |
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Marcia
Towers in Guatemala |
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Mark
Adams on the U.S.-Mexico border |
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Chris
McReynolds on the U.S.-Mexico border |
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| Scripture
lessons for today
– from
the Lectionary |
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"...Declare
his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works
among all the peoples..."
Then Moses recited the words of this song, to
the very end, in the hearing of the whole assembly
of Israel:
Give ear, O heavens,
and I will speak; let the earth hear the words
of my mouth. May my teaching drop like the rain,
my speech condense like the dew; like gentle rain
on grass, like showers on new growth. For I will
proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness
to our God!..."
"Let us therefore no longer pass judgment
on one another, but resolve instead never to put
a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of another.
I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that
nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean
for anyone who thinks it unclean... Do not let
what you eat cause the ruin of one for whom Christ
died..."
"...They were all weeping and wailing for
her; but he said, "Do
not weep; for she is not dead but sleeping."
And they laughed at him, knowing that she was
dead..." |
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Today
in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study
The
Presbytery of Great Rivers – Illinois |
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"The
Rev. Stephen Whitaker invited every church in
the Presbytery of Great Rivers to help Darfur
refugees by raising funds to purchase fuel-efficient
cook stoves. These stoves, built in Darfur by
refugees, use far less wood than traditional open-fire
cooking..." |
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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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Which
would mean:
44.5%
- 55.5%
A margin
of 11% |
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's
own PR team resurrects 'Hitler Youth' uproar
By John L. Allen / CNN |
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JERUSALEM
– The Middle East may be the most hyper-sensitive
piece of real estate on earth, where no more than
a stray word or gesture can trigger an explosion.
For precisely that
reason, the Vatican had hoped that Benedict's
trip to the region this week could surmount the
occasional PR gaffes that have plagued his papacy.
He would stay "on message" about peace,
reconciliation, and inter-faith solidarity.
That game plan
began to unravel Tuesday. The pope's spokesman
issued an unsolicited denial that Benedict XVI
had ever been a member of the Hitler Youth, only
to have to retract that denial within a couple
of hours. In so doing, the Vatican inadvertently
reopened a chapter of the pope's past that most
people had considered closed. |
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Pope's
visit to Israel 'great success'
Blog by Ruth Gledhill / The Times of London |
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"Mordechai
Lewy, Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, has
told me that the Pope's visit to the Holy Land
should be regarded as a great success. What a
relief. It's not over yet, quite, but just meditate
for a second or two on how many things could have
gone wrong, and didn't, and it surely makes a
person believe in the power of prayer.
"Ambassador
Lewy was speaking by telephone from Israel. 'It
has been a success, yes, I have no doubt. Considering
the difficulties which he faced before the visit
and due to the very very complicated programme
and considering the fact that every partner, and
he had more than three partners all with their
own expectations which were sometimes conflicting
expectations, I think up to now it is a success.
'I cannot say there
were not accidents but I think they were not of
the character which they could cast a shadow on
such an important visit.'..." |
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More
Americans Identify as Pro-Life than Pro-Choice
A dramatic shift in the past year
By Audrey Barrick / Christian Post |
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For
the first time in over a decade, more Americans
say they are pro-life than pro-choice, a new Gallup
poll revealed.
Just over half
(51 percent) of Americans stand for the sanctity
of human life while 42 percent consider themselves
pro-choice, according to the May 2009 survey released
Friday.
This marks the
first time a majority of U.S. adults identified
themselves as pro-life since Gallup began asking
the abortion question in 1995 when only 33 percent
called themselves pro-life.
Since then the
highest percentage identifying as pro-life was
46 percent in 2001 and 2002.
The Gallup Poll
found the dramatic shift occurred just in the
past year. In 2008, 44 percent said they were
pro-life while 50 percent were pro-choice. |
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What
Social Security's underfunding means for your
retirement
The baby boomers will get their payouts, but what
about the rest of us?
By Emily Brandon / USNews |
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Social
Security and Medicare's annual checkup revealed
that the recession and longer life expectancies
are taxing the health of the entitlement system.
The Social Security Board of Trustees report found
that program costs will exceed tax revenues in
2016, a year sooner than predicted in last year's
report. The trust fund will be exhausted in 2037,
four years sooner than the 2008 estimate. Here's
a look at how the projections could affect your
retirement plans.
It's highly unlikely
that baby boomers will face a rise in the retirement
age or cuts in benefits.
Social Security
and Medicare will still be around for younger
generations. But there is some uncertainty about
whether there will be tax increases, benefit cuts,
some combination of the two, or other fixes to
correct the underfunding.
Social Security
currently replaces about 41 percent of preretirement
income for most Americans when they retire.
Medicare's funding
ailments are expected to occur even sooner than
Social Security's. Projected annual assets for
the hospital insurance portion of Medicare are
expected to exceed expenditures by 2012. The hospital
insurance trust fund is expected to be exhausted
by 2017, two years earlier than projected in last
year's report. Medicare Part B, which covers doctors'
bills and other outpatient expenses, and Part
D prescription drug coverage are more adequately
financed in the short term, but increases in healthcare
costs over the long term will average 6.4 percent
annually and require increases in enrollee premiums
and general revenue funding. |
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Methodist
bishops agree to pay cut
By Daniel Burke / RNS |
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The
UMC’s 50 active U.S. bishops voted to give
up their planned pay raises for next year and
instead reduce their salaries to the 2008 level,
dropping their annual pay from $125,650 to $121,000. |
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| Man
convicted in lucrative body parts scheme
/ AP |
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LOS
ANGELES – A man was convicted Thursday of
carving up cadavers donated to UCLA's medical
school and selling the parts to unsuspecting medical
research companies in a $1.5 million scheme.
Jurors found Ernest
Nelson, 51, guilty of eight counts, including
grand theft and tax evasion. Prosecutors said
Nelson could face a maximum of 12 years in prison
and they want him to repay $1.5 million to UCLA.
Prosecutors said
Nelson and Henry Reid, the former director of
UCLA's Willed Body Program, devised the scam in
1999. |
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Yet
another twin study – N.E.Whitehead
Same sex attraction is not genetically
enforced |
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Twin
studies on same sex attraction (SSA) continue
to be performed. A sixth major one has just emerged
(Langstrom et al. 2008) and nicely confirms the
main results of the others, viz that genetic influences
are modest.
Langstrom’s
paper shows again that most events leading to
SSA are so specific to the individual that even
identical twins react differently. This conclusion
has now been affirmed by 6 major studies. At this
stage we should be saying, “This conclusion
is not going to change now – the main cause
of SSA is individualistic reactions”. It
is also time to say that there is no way that
SSA is an example of something inexorably taking
people over from birth onwards. There is far too
much chance involved. Rather, SSA is a good example
of a trait which is not genetically enforced.
Related: Sexual
orientation theorizing: Is change possible?
– by Warren Throckmorton |
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What
do prayer studies prove?
When a landmark study suggests that intercessory
prayer may actually hurt patients instead of help
them, you have to wonder.
By Gregory Fung and Christopher Fung / Christianity
Today |
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Should
your doctor prescribe prayer as part of your treatment?
According to a study of 1,134 physicians this
past December by Health Care Direct Research,
the majority of doctors (70 percent) believe miracles
are possible today. Yet fewer than 29 percent
believe that the outcomes of medical treatments
are related to "supernatural forces"
or "acts of God."...
Three years ago...
results from a landmark study carefully designed
to put the debate to rest went public. The study
received some attention at the time, but seemed
to have escaped the notice of many Christians,
probably because of its surprising – and
for Christians, disturbing – conclusions.
The result: The
group whose members knew they were being prayed
for did worse in terms of post-operative complications
than those whose members were unsure if they were
receiving prayer. The knowledge that they were
being prayed for by a special group of intercessors
seemed to have a negative effect on their
health. |
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When
it comes to illegitimacy, we’re living in
separate worlds: An update on the white underclass
By Charles Murray |
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"...[a
study about] women born from 1957 to 1964 [shows
that] well-educated white women in moderately
affluent circumstances almost never had babies
without a husband, and women from middle class
homes were almost as finicky about requiring a
husband. At the same time, white women with no
more than a high school education in low-income
households were having nearly half of their babies
without a husband.
"...that was
in a population that had an overall illegitimacy
ratio of 11 percent...
"Today, the
illegitimacy ratio for non-Latino whites is 28
percent. How do the classes break down now?...
I’ve spent the last few weeks exploring that
question. I’m not done... but here are some
tentative estimates:The illegitimacy ratio for
the white underclass is probably now in the region
of 70 percent. I think that the proportion for
the white working class may be above 40 percent.
The white middle class is approaching 20 percent
– a scarily high figure when you think about
all the ways that the middle class has been the
spine of the nation.
"The white
overclass? They’re still living in the 1950s
– their ratio is probably about 4 or 5 percent
tops..." |
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The
Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
By Albert Mohler |
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"...we
see hundreds of ministers of Christ, ready to
receive diplomas and be granted their degrees.
In just moments, these scholars of theology and
the arts of ministry will receive their educational
rewards, "with all the rights, privileges,
and responsibilities, appertaining thereto."
"There is
but one problem -- not one of these ministers
is qualified to enter this calling...
"Jesus Christ
calls his ministers from the ranks of the incompetent,
so that He will show his singular competence through
them. He uses earthen vessels to demonstrate his
own life in us. He confounds the wisdom of the
wise by using the unworthy to demonstrate his
worth..." |
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Writer's
fiction distorts facts about Catholicism
By Ann Rodgers / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
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"Angels
& Demons" is an exercise in Catholic-bashing
that falls short because author Dan Brown doesn't
know enough about Catholicism to create a convincing
distortion of it...
"The movie's
most faithful Catholics are villains who believe
they have the right to murder for their faith.
Initially, I thought it attempted to be evenhanded
in its bigotry, since avowed atheists were portrayed
as sadistic, homicidal sociopaths. But it turns
out... that's a sham...
"The plot
turns on the idea that the Catholic Church is
opposed to scientific research. In fact, the Vatican
sponsors a world-class observatory and conferences
on science and ethics...
"The Catholic
Church opposes use of the death penalty. After
Pope John Paul II was shot, he immediately and
publicly forgave his would-be assassin...
"Ultimately
the ignorance, lies and bigotry in the plot undercut
the message of scholarship, truth and tolerance
that it tries to promote." |
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The
Temple as a Thin Place – by
Mark D. Roberts
Part 5 of series: Thin Places |
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"...The
Temple was not... a place of worship like a synagogue
or church sanctuary. Nor was it a quiet place
for retreat, at least not in the courts where
ordinary folk were welcome. The Temple, by its
very design, kept people away from its holiest
places, the places where God was said to dwell
and where priests alone could enter. Yet common
people surely experienced God’s presence
in the Temple courts, and in this sense they constituted
a thin place..."
Related: Permalink
for this series |
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