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Monday,
July 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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| Sharing
Calvin’s DNA – by
Christine Chakoian / Outlook |
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LAKE
FOREST, IL — There was no singing “Happy
Birthday, dear John.” No party guests bringing
gifts to the birthday boy. No cake with 500 candles.
Instead, we sang
“Sant-Eprit, visite-nous!” and Psalm
8: “O Lord, how glorious is your name.”
We brought offerings to God as the honoree. For
refreshment, we shared the Lord’s Supper,
bread and cup.
John Calvin would
have loved it.
On Pentecost Sunday,
an overflow crowd of around 1,400 Reformed Christians
representing 35 countries gathered from around
the world at Saint-Pierre Cathedral in Geneva. |
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| ‘Dialogue
between theology and literature is urgent,’
says Puerto Rican theologian Luis Rivera Pagán
/ PNS |
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“The
modern Latin American literary production has
such evident tangencies and religious resonances,
that my perplexity is awakened by the lack of
attention on the part of the theological community,”
Puerto Rican theologian Luis Rivera Pagán
told a recent gathering here of church leaders
from throughout Latin America.
“The dialogue
between theology and literature in Latin America,
is urgent for the obvious interests that both
have in the mythical memory and the utopian visioning
of the peoples, set apart from western modernity,”
Rivera Pagan told the group at the Evangelical
Theological Seminary of Matanzas that was commemorating
the 80th anniversary of the 1929 Hispanic American
Evangelistic Congress of Havana. |
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Following
Jesus into dangerous places
An interview with new Columbia Seminary president
Steve Hayner
By Sue Boardman / PNS |
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"...Reflecting
on the admonition of Karl Barth to do theology
with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the
other, Hayner said that recent denominational
and world news absolutely impact his sense of
what he is being called to do at Columbia.
“The key question,”
he said, “is what God is doing throughout
America and the world today.”
"As a seminary
affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
that also serves a variety of other constituents,
the CTS community must wrestle with how it “can
participate in what God is doing now and into
the future, not 30 years ago,” Hayner said...
The issue in our face is how to help students
engage with the realities of our time and still
move into ministry with a great sense of hope.”...
"Asked whether
he sees a need to “do church” differently
in the future, Hayner responded emphatically.
“The fundamental
thing,” he said, “is building a definition
of what the church is and ought to be now.”...
Rather than being simply gathered, we must see
ourselves as being sent..." |
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Jesus’
work of healing at The Community of the Cross
By Brad Long / PRMI |
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"I
am writing this edition of Moving With The Spirit
Online while we are in the midst of an amazing
event at the Community of the Cross (COC). We
are seeing Jesus Christ working through the Holy
Spirit in our midst doing His healing ministry
– this includes spiritual healing, inner
healing, healing relationships, physical healing,
and setting the oppressed free from evil spirits..." |
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| New(s)
from The Presbyterian Outlook |
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Tent
to die. Hope to live – by Jack Haberer
"...We are caught in a death spiral, and
everybody under the Big Tent knew it. Yet most
folks seemed downright upbeat. It’s as if
they also knew that a resurrection waits just
around the next corner.
'Optimism and hope
did pervade the Big Tent event, in part, because
1,500 Presbyterians had come together for something
other than a legislative battle. With so many
folks worshiping together, smiles filled the room..." |
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So
much to do in spiritual development –
by Tom Ehrich
A client recently completed a report on best practices
in Spiritual Development. It made me tired just
to read it.
They were so thorough.
They identified 12 forms of prayer, six forms
of study, three forms of service, as well as detailed
thoughts on other spiritual disciplines such as
fasting, giving, worship, confession, and silence.
I know these forms
exist, and I know that I don’t need to understand
or practice them all. Why, then, did their report
make me tired? |
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Presbyterian
Women to incorporate as non-profit corporation
By Leslie Scanlon
LOUISVILLE – Presbyterian Women has voted
to incorporate as a separate non-profit corporation,
which would have a “covenant relationship”
with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) but would
be a separate organization with control over its
own finances and affairs...
According to Susan
Jackson-Dowd, communications coordinator for Presbyterian
Women, the biggest changes incorporation will
bring are that Presbyterian Women will have control
of its own bank accounts and accounting systems.
And Presbyterian Women would be allowed to receive
stocks or buy property without approval from the
General Assembly Mission Council. |
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Presbyterian
Women: International partners in spotlight at
Gathering Sunday worship – by Leslie
Scanlon
LOUISVILLE – Sunday worship started at the
2009 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women
with pomp and ceremony, and an appreciation of
the role that Presbyterian Women plays in congregations
and around the world.
Led by a woman
carrying a cross trailing ribbons, with everyone
singing “Lift High the Cross,” a parade
of church leaders and international guests marched
through the crowd at the convention center –
a colorful stream of women wearing capris and
saris and bright African dresses, bedecked with
sashes and turbans and flowers in their hair. |
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Presbyterian
Women: Garcia opens Churchwide Gathering with
challenge to hard work – by Leslie Scanlon
LOUISVILLE – The theme of the 2009 Presbyterian
Women Churchwide Gathering – which has brought
about 2,500 people to Kentucky for five days of
worship, conversation, and communion July 11-15
– is “God Will Do Wonders Among You.”
But not so fast,
warned Magdalena Garcia, the pastor of Ravenswood
Church, a multicultural congregation in Chicago,
and the preacher during opening worship.
In the 3rd chapter
of Joshua, just before Joshua promises that God
will bring wonders, Joshua admonishes the people:
“Sanctify yourselves.” In other words,
there’s some hard work to be done first to
get ready for the good stuff. |
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| Scripture
lessons for today
– from
the Lectionary |
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"...you
are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil will not sojourn
with you..."
"David went out and was successful wherever
Saul sent him; as a result, Saul set him over
the army. And all the people, even the servants
of Saul, approved... the women sang to one another
as they made merry, "Saul has killed his
thousands, and David his tens of thousands. Saul
was very angry... "
"Now those who were scattered because of
the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled
as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, and
they spoke the word to no one except Jews. But
among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene
who, on coming to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists
also, proclaiming the Lord Jesus..."
"...they entered the house of Simon and Andrew,
with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law
was in bed with a fever, and they told him about
her at once. He came and took her by the hand
and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and
she began to serve them..." |
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Today
in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study
National
Capital Presbytery |
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"For
over one hundred years, Church of the Pilgrims
has been located near Embassy Row. The Embassy
of the Republic of Sudan is less than two blocks
away. It was for this reason that the U.S.-based
Save Darfur Coalition approached Pilgrims about
serving as a staging area for a vigil on International
Human Rights Day..." |
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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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Cuban
court hands pastor six year prison sentence
By Charlie Boyd / Christian Today |
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Christian
Solidarity Worldwide has called into question
a six year prison sentence handed on Thursday
to the leader of a growing Christian organisation
in Cuba.
The pastor was
initially detained by police in May 2008 on human
trafficking charges. A court ruled in March that
there was no evidence to support the charges but
did not release Pastor Gude Perez from prison.
Then in April he was charged with the falsification
of documents and illicit economic activities,
as well as “counter-revolutionary conduct
and attitudes”. His wife told CSW that false
documents and testimonies had been presented in
court. |
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| Iraq
beefs up security after attacks on Christians
/ AP |
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Iraqi
authorities Monday imposed vehicle bans in two
mostly Christian towns and increased security
around churches in Baghdad after attacks targeting
the Christian minority.
The measures followed
a series of bombings in or near churches that
killed at least four people Sunday, including
one that happened as worshippers were leaving
Mass in eastern Baghdad.
Iraq's Christians
have often been targeted by Islamic extremists,
and many have fled the country despite an overall
drop in violence in the past two years. |
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Tearfund:
G8 leaders ‘squandered’ opportunity
on climate change
By Jenna Lyle / Christian Today |
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"...ambitious
goals for 2020 emissions targets have sunk without
trace and the financial bone of contention still
remains,” said Tearfund’s Director of
Advocacy Paul Cook.
He urged developed
countries to deliver $150 billion a year to help
poorer countries finance the mitigation, adaptation
and technology needed to deal with the impact
of climate change. |
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| No
retreat on abortion, but Vatican gives Obama the
benefit of the doubt – blog
by John L. Allen Jr. / The National Catholic Reporter |
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Ever
since Pope Benedict XVI set aside Vatican protocol
to send a telegram of congratulations to Barack
Obama on Nov. 5, ahead of his actually taking
office, the Vatican has often seemed warmer to
Obama than some voices in the American Catholic
church, including some American bishops.
Trying to make
sense of this contrast, the key question has seemed
whether the Vatican is less bent on emphasizing
the “life issues” than the American
bishops, preferring to accent areas of agreement
such as the Middle East and climate change, or
whether they’re simply more willing to give
Obama the benefit of the doubt despite an equally
keen concern with his pro-choice policies.
In that regard,
the 35-minute meeting between Pope Benedict XVI
and Obama made two things clear:
• First, Benedict XVI yields pride of place
to no one in the depth of his pro-life commitment,
and there was no mistaking the forceful message
the pontiff delivered to Obama on that score;
• Second, the Vatican still seems inclined
to a more benign reading of Obama’s positions
than his fiercest American critics...
The Vatican appear impressed
with what they see as Obama’s willingness
to consider the church’s positions respectfully,
and thus they’re inclined, at least at this
stage, to regard him as a conversation partner
rather than an enemy. |
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Beloved
couple's suicides on railroad tracks remain a
mystery
By David Tarrant / The Dallas Morning News |
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HENRIETTA,
Texas – The train whistle blows several times
a day in this North Texas community, the familiar
soundtrack of life in small towns located along
railroad lines.
But since late
last month, the sound has become a haunting reminder
of the evening when a beloved couple stepped onto
the tracks and stood in embrace until a train
ran them down.
The double suicide
of the Rev. Eldon Earl Johnson, 69, and his wife,
Linda Kay, 61, was particularly shocking because
of the key role the Johnsons played in helping
nearby Ringgold rise from the ashes after nearly
being destroyed by wildfires three years ago.
Why the popular
minister and his wife took their lives is a secret
that they carried to their graves. But their deaths
have left a community struggling to plumb the
mysteries of the human heart. |
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Most
Britons want to see end to poverty in their lifetime
But few believe it will happen |
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Almost
three quarters (72 per cent) of British men and
women want to see poverty ended in their life
time, says a poll commissioned by international
development agency Christian Aid.
In the poll of
nearly 2,000 adults commissioned by Christian
Aid, however, only three per cent said they believed
the eradication of global poverty would be achieved
in their lifetime. |
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| New
poll shows Americans continuing to move toward
pro-life position on abortion – 86
percent favor significant restrictions; majority
believes abortion hurts a woman long-term |
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The
American people continue to move to the pro-life
perspective on abortion according to the latest
Moral Compass survey by the Knights of Columbus
and Marist Poll.
The poll mirrored
findings of other recent surveys, showing that
more Americans identify as pro-life than as pro-choice,
and that the vast majority of Americans favor
restricting abortion.
Since October nearly
every demographic sub-group has moved toward the
pro-life position except for non-practicing Catholics
and men under 45 years of age.
Related: The
poll Abortion in America July 2009 |
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Why
you can't just 'love your neighbor'
– According
to Benedict XVI's new encyclical, trying to love
people without knowing the truth about them leads
to mere sentiment and will do them harm.
By Francis J. Beckwith / Christianity Today |
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CT
asked Baylor University philosopher Frank Beckwith
to examine the [new papal encyclical] and analyze
its theology, and explain why evangelical Christians
should care.
"...Although
mainstream media outlets have already spun this
encyclical as one that focuses on the global economic
crisis – and it most certainly does address
that – that is clearly not the pope’s
point of departure. For those who have eyes to
see, the animating principle of this encyclical
is virtually on every page of it: theological
anthropology is the only proper starting pointing
from which we can come to know the common good...
" We have
intrinsic dignity because we are made in God’s
image. However, we are also fallen creatures,
prone to the same delusion and arrogance that
captured the imaginations of our first parents.
This means we can paint the Sistine Chapel as
well as pollute Lake Erie. We can find a cure
for polio while building gulags and concentration
camps. We can fly our magnificent aircrafts into
our monuments of prosperity in order to deliver
in the name of God the angel of death. For these
reasons, Pope Benedict XVI offers us an encyclical
whose name affirms the only solution to what afflicts
this mystery called man, Charity in Truth." |
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What
is the Christian Life? An Introduction
By Mark D. Roberts |
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Today
I’m beginning a multi-part series on the
Christian life. I want to try and answer a simple
question:
What is the Christian
life?
A similar question
might be: How should a Christian live? Or perhaps
one might ask: What are essential elements of
a Christian lifestyle? Or maybe: What difference
will it make in my life today if I am a follower
of Jesus? There are many other possible forms
of this question. The simplest one is: What is
the Christian life? |
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| Turkish
delight? – blog
by Richard Mouw |
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"I
am writing this from Turkey, where we have been
helping to lead a tour focusing on Paul’s
missionary journeys. This has been more of a learning
experience than a teaching one, which is what
I expected when I took on the assignment. Nor
was I disappointed in my desire to view a Muslim
culture up close. What was an unexpected treat,
though, was the opportunity actually to attend
a Muslim circumcision party..." |
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Evolution,
the Bible, and the book of nature
A conversation with Francis Collins.
Interview by Karl W. Giberson / Books & Culture |
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Q.
You take both the Bible and evolution seriously.
Did the harmony you find between evolution and
your faith just come naturally?
A.You know, it really did. When I became
a believer at 27, the first church I went to was
a pretty conservative Methodist church in a little
town outside Chapel Hill. I'm sure there were
a lot of people in that church who were taking
Genesis literally and rejecting evolution.
But I couldn't
take Genesis literally because I had come to the
scientific worldview before I came to the spiritual
worldview. I felt that, once I arrived at the
sense that God was real and that God was the source
of all truth, then, just by definition, there
could not be a conflict...
"Our society
is polarized because the materialist perspective
that guides science is assumed in many instances
to be an over-arching worldview that excludes
anything outside the material world. Large numbers
of people in our very religious society are suspicious
of this.
"This negative
reaction to scientific consensus is not about
the facts. It's actually about an atheistic
worldview that people fear is behind the claims
of science..." |
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Young
Earth Creationism as Innumeracy
Blog by Beau Weston |
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"...When
most people check the box on the poll marked "God
created the world pretty much in its present form
within the last 10,000 years" they don't
really mean 10,000 years as opposed to 10 million
or 10 billion. They mean "God created the
world and I don't care what number you use."
"Young earth
creationism reflects innumeracy. But it reflects
a deeper commitment to God's sovereignty." |
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Indian
scientists look to stars to cure heart patients
By P. Vijian / Bernama |
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NEW
DELHI – Indian astro scientists have become
starry-eyed. They are looking to the stars to
heal heart patients.
While it may sound
out of this world (pardon the pun), scientists
at the Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi have
resorted to doing exatly that.
They are boldly
taking the science of astrology to a new dimension.
The scientists
are busying calculating the movements of stars
and planets of patients to understand how they
can reduce or avert the increasing heart-related
diseases – merely using their horoscopes.
Several 'astrology hospitals'
have emerged in Varanasi in the northern state
of Uttar Pradesh, where astrologers prescribe
suitable gem stones, beads, mantras and herbal
medicines to patients. |
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United
Methodists hit Times Square with 3-month ad campaign
By Joshua Goldberg / Christian
Post |
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For
three months, the United Methodist Church will
be airing two 15-second ads in New York’s
Times Square every hour for 18 hours each day.
Throughout the
months of July, August and September, the denomination
will air spots on the 26-by-20-foot CBS “Super
Screen” as part of a $20 million campaign
geared toward 18- to 34-year-olds.
This month’s
spots focus on literacy and environmental awareness,
with one asking “What if church was a literacy
program for homeless children? Would you come?”
and the other asking “What if church considered
ecology part of theology?” |
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| Kopp
Disclosure |
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"...I'll
never forget when Harold was confronted by an
angry woman who accused him of using her as a
bad example to illustrate a Biblical truth: "You
were talking about me in your sermon.
"Harold replied,
"While you'll never believe me that I wasn't
talking about you and while it's very arrogant
of you to think that I was as if you're always
on my mind and the center of everyone's universe
in the church, maybe you're feeling guilty about
something Bob and I don't know about; so if the
shoe fits..." |
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