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Monday,
July 20, 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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John
Calvin: Reformer & Renaissance man
By Michael R. Walker |
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"...John
Calvin sought to steer clear of the swamps of
legalism and license, encouraging believers to
embrace the liberty that comes as a result of
adoption as God’s children. He taught that
the Gospel always comes to us as a "double
grace": it brings both forgiveness of sins
and renewal of life; freedom from the guilt of
sin and freedom from the power of sin; "justification"
and "sanctification."..." |
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| Are
you livin' God's dream? – by
Paul Detterman / PFR |
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"Go
anywhere near the Presbyterian Center in downtown
Louisville and you’ll be amazed – at
what’s happening next door. The Louisville
Arena Association is building a $286 million basketball
venue. If the name of Louisville’s NBA franchise
is eluding you, relax. This 22,000 seat gymnasium
(currently costing $1,000 a minute to build) is
designed for use by the University of Louisville.
The fifth largest collegiate arena in the nation
is becoming a reality against all odds because
a small group of local luminaries refused to give
up on a dream...
"A relatively
small group gathered themselves around a dream
to see a new arena built in Louisville, a dream
of urban renewal and luxury sports boxes. What
if there was another tenacious group of Presbyterians
who had gathered around God’s dream, God’s
mission of renewing not just a city or a denomination,
but the world?
"Fortunately,
there is. It’s called PFR. Got a passion
for God’s dream? We’re here for you!"
Related: 2009
East Coast Pastors Conference (Sept. 8-11) |
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| New(s)
from The Presbyterian Outlook |
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Firefighting
– by Jack Haberer
"...we at the Outlook find that the greatest
rage screams through letters to the editor when
we publish an opinion piece that challenges the
actions or beliefs of either one of our national
political parties. Whether we question the “enhanced
interrogation techniques” approved by a Republican
administration or challenge the Democratic president’s
reference to people of sincere religious conviction
as “ideologues,” the resulting letters
and, even, cancelled subscriptions make us wonder,
“So what values do we Christians really value?”..." |
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Entering
that new pastorate carefully and effectively
By Bob Harris
"... I have worked with or known pastors
who have found themselves in all kinds of difficulty
because they didn’t take time to understand
the inner dynamics, i.e. the system, of their
new church. They didn’t know who the real
leaders were, the untouchable practices or rooms
or furniture, what landmines to avoid. Unexpectedly,
they had to seek a new call.
"How might
you avoid these missteps?..." |
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"We
need advocacy groups!" – by Elizabeth
Hinson-Hasty
"...women are still underpaid when compared
with men working the same fields and with the
same level of experience... Almost 25% of women
between the ages of 18 and 65 have experienced
domestic violence. Larger proportions of African
Americans and Hispanic people earn poverty-level
wages in the United States. A stained glass ceiling
for women still exists for women in our church;
only 48% of members in PC(USA) congregations are
comfortable with women serving as head of staff
in a multi-staff congregation. People in our churches
continue to experience discriminatory behavior
and harassment because of their race...
"...These
statistics... don’t really even graze the
surface or touch upon issues faced in the larger
global community or the exploitation of our natural
environment..." |
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PHEWA
speakers claim PC(USA) is failing to be salt and
light
By Jack Haberer
"...The presentation of the 2009 John Park
Lee Award to Johnnie Monroe erupted into a barrage
of complaints alleging a failure by Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) leaders to be agents of justice
and mercy..." |
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| Presbyterians
in their local news |
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Haywood's
'Mother Church' ends 175 years of service
By Edie Burnette / Citizen-Times [Asheville,
NC]
Bethel Presbyterian Church – the “Mother
Church of Presbyterianism” in Haywood County
– has ended 175 years of service to folks
in the Bethel community.
Believed to be
the first Presbyterian church erected in the area
and the second Presbyterian church built west
of Asheville, according to the Rev. Riley Covin,
its first home was a meeting house built of logs
by Elijah Deaver in 1839 near its current location
on Sonoma Road, a building that was shared with
Baptists and Methodists until 1885. |
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Retired
Presbyterian minister works toward reunified,
reconciled church
By Bruce Nolan, The Times-Picayune
For 15 years or so, it has been a truism of religious
life in New Orleans: Almost always, when Protestants
and Catholics are formally gathered under one
roof – and when they are joined by Jews,
Muslims and Sikhs – somewhere in the background
will be a retired Presbyterian minister named
the Rev. Will Mackintosh. |
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| Scripture
readings for today – from
the Lectionary |
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"...
The men of David said to him, "Here is the
day of which the LORD said to you, 'I will give
your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to
him as it seems good to you.'" Then David
went and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul's
cloak. Afterwards David was stricken to the heart
because he had cut off a corner of Saul's cloak.
He said to his men, "The LORD forbid that
I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD's
anointed, to raise my hand against him; for he
is the LORD's anointed."..."
"The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered
to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews
saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy;
and blaspheming, they contradicted what was spoken
by Paul. Then both Paul and Barnabas spoke out
boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the
word of God should be spoken first to you. Since
you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy
of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles.
.."
"Again he began to teach beside the lake.
Such a very large crowd gathered around him that
he got into a boat on the lake and sat there,
while the whole crowd was beside the lake on the
land. He began to teach them many things in parables..." |
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Today
in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study
The
Presbytery of Western North Carolina |
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"Fletcher
Presbyterian Church had been a mission chapel
almost its entire history, so its seventy members
understood mission and had a vision that the church
would become a leader in mission giving..." |
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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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Taiwan
Church asks Obama to prevent China takeover
By Loa lok-sin / Taipei Times |
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The
Presbyterian Church in Taiwan Friday issued an
open letter to US President Barack Obama, reminding
him not to sacrifice Taiwan’s national interest
as the US develops closer ties with China.
“We urge the
US government to review its policies concerning
Taiwan and China, recognize the fact that Taiwan
and China are two separate countries, and take
a leading role in calling together all peace-and-justice-loving
countries in the world to prevent China from taking
over Taiwan through military or any other means
for any reason,” the Church’s statement
said. |
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Cronkite:
“Journalism prevailed”
Posted by Douglas LeBlanc / getreligion.org |
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Our
friends at Episcopal Café may be about
the only media people to place Walter Cronkite’s
faith so high in a story, but there it is, right
in the headline: “Walter Cronkite, newsanchor
& Episcopalian, dies at 92.”
In a 2,700-word
report for The New York Times, Douglas
Martin mentioned Cronkite’s faith only in
the context of his funeral: “The family said
it was planning a private service at St. Bartholemew’s
Church in New York.”
Mark Moring of
Christianity Today quoted from a statement released
by evangelist Billy Graham, who called Cronkite
“one of the closest friends I had in journalism.”
Graham added: “He was an icon. I doubt if
anybody will replace him in the hearts and minds
of Americans. I respected his views on so many
subjects.”
The most rewarding
material about Cronkite’s faith comes from
an interview he granted to The Christian Century
in December 1994, while he was in Chicagoland
to visit Willow Creek Community Church. |
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| Are
the deserts getting greener? – by
Ayisha Yahya / BBC |
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It
has been assumed that global warming would cause
an expansion of the world's deserts, but now some
scientists are predicting a contrary scenario
in which water and life slowly reclaim these arid
places.
They think vast,
dry regions like the Sahara might soon begin shrinking.
The evidence is
limited and definitive conclusions are impossible
to reach but recent satellite pictures of North
Africa seem to show areas of the Sahara in retreat.
It could be that
an increase in rainfall has caused this effect.
Farouk el-Baz,
director of the Centre for Remote Sensing at Boston
University, believes the Sahara is experiencing
a shift from dryer to wetter conditions. |
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The
clash of stereotypes
A recent survey reveals what Muslims detest most
about the West.
By Dinesh D'Souza / Christianity Today |
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Surveys
of the world's Muslims find that most Muslims
support democracy and freedom. Indeed, many Muslims
complain that they are ruled by Western-supported
secular despots who deny people their right to
self-government. Most Muslims also support scientific
advancements and seek more prosperity through
free markets and global trade. However one reads
the Qur'an or the historical record of Islam,
no one familiar with this data can call contemporary
Muslims enemies of modernity.
At the same time,
there are some anomalies. Esposito and Mogahed's
analysis [in Who Speaks for Islam?: What a
Billion Muslims Really Think] shows that Muslims
fear that "Islam is under attack" and
that the West is leading that attack. In addition,
while most Muslims don't support theocracy, they
do want religion to have an important role in
shaping their private and public lives. Even Shari'ah,
with its draconian provisions against theft and
adultery, enjoys wide support among Muslims, at
least in the domestic sphere. |
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| Nature-deficit
disorder – Have Our
children forgotten how to play outdoors?
– by
Albert Mohler |
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Author
Richard Louv believes that America's children
are now suffering from a syndrome he identifies
as "nature-deficit disorder." In his
new book, Last
Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit
Disorder ,
Louv suggests that the current generation of American
children knows the Discovery Channel better than
their own backyards – and that this loss
of contact with nature leads to impoverished lives
and stunted imagination. |
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Rabbis,
imams visit U.S. for dialogue
Seek to improve ties overseas
By Julia Duin / The Washington Times |
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A
group of 28 imams and rabbis from 10 European
countries arrived in New York and Washington this
week for whirlwind visits to interfaith centers
to break new ground on Muslim-Jewish relations
and combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in each
other's communities.
They will receive
instructions from teams of American rabbis and
imams who will show the Europeans how American-style
ecumenism works on the ground. It's the first
visit of its kind to involve foreign Muslim and
Jewish leaders coming to the U.S., where interreligious
ties have a much longer history and track record
of success.
The impetus for
the five-day visit came after "exponential"
growth of anti-Semitism among Muslims in Britain,
France and elsewhere in Europe, |
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Religious
groups call for more Internet access
By Adelle M. Banks / RNS |
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WASHINGTON
— An interfaith coalition of groups concerned
about equal access to the Internet launched a
campaign Tuesday to expand high-speed Internet
access in rural and poor communities.
The campaign, called
"Bring Betty Broadband," uses a short
video with a cartoon character who struggles to
use her computer without high-speed Internet access.
It is featured on a new website, BringBettyBroadband.org,
that encourages viewers to contact the Department
of Commerce about improving "digital inclusion"
in communities currently without high-speed Internet
options.
The campaign is
an effort of "So We Might See," a coalition
that includes the National Council of Churches,
the Islamic Society of North America and the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops. |
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Orthodox
Patriarch wants Euro-body with Catholics, Protestants
By Stephen Brown / ENI |
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Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomeos I, a spiritual leader who
represents Eastern Orthodox Christianity, has
called for the creation of a churches' umbrella
body in Europe to include Roman Catholics alongside
Anglicans, Orthodox and Protestants.
"It is only
by engaging in dialogue and by closely cooperating
that the churches will prove capable of proclaiming
the Gospel of Christ to the world in a convincing
and effective way," the Orthodox leader said
in a 19 July address in Lyon, France to mark the
50th anniversary of the founding of the Conference
of European Churches (CEC).
CEC now has about
120 member churches, principally Anglican, Orthodox
and Protestant, but Bartholomeos said that Europe
needs a grouping that includes the Catholic Church. |
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