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Friday,
August 7, 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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New
day – by
Howard Livingston / PNS
Texas congregation reaches out to homeless children
congregation |
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ARLINGTON,
Texas — Four years ago, a member of Grace
Presbyterian Church in South Arlington attended
a meeting about homeless kids in the Arlington
schools.
About 2,000 students
live in cars, with friends, at a flop house motel,
and on the streets. They still have the desire
to finish school despite the obstacles.
The "No Child
Left Behind" Federal Law enacted in 2002
classifies them as "transitional students."
Funding from that law provides two meals a day
while at school.
After sharing these
facts with his church of 275 members, the consensus
was that something had to be done... |
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Kingdom
moments and divine appointments
By Carmen Fowler / The Presbyterian Layman |
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"Esther
is 16, dark skinned and prefers not to look you
in the eye. Her hair is short and her body is
lean. In rural Malawi, she lives 10 km (about
six miles) from her school in a “borrowed”
house. She is a “double orphan” and
literally does not know where tomorrow’s
meal will come from.
"Today, we
ate nzima and beans and greens with our hands
from plastic plates under a tree at the Ministry
of Hope Feeding Center at Kwamba. The harvest
in Malawi has been good this year, so the orphan
feeding centers only operate three days a week.
During the “starving season” from December
through March or April, the feeding center will
provide a meal a day to 500-plus orphans from
dozens of villages surrounding Kwamba. But for
children like Esther, who have no family at all,
there is not an extended family to rely on, no
fields to call their own and no neighbors’
fields from which to glean. So tomorrow, when
the center is not “open,” I wondered
aloud, “Where will you eat tomorrow?”
"Eight thousand-seven
hundred miles from my American home, I begin to
see myself through the eyes of an African orphan.
She sees me as a lost, lonely, bereft little child..." |
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No,
Viola Larson, the IPMN is not supporting "antisemitism."
Viewpoint of Neil Cowling |
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"It
is with considerable reluctance that I undertake
to write what follows. I would have preferred
that someone else write it, but no one else has
sought to do so. I believe that the accusations
made in recent blogs by Viola Larson need to be
answered..." |
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| Presbyterians
in their local news |
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May's
Lick Presbyterian congregation holds steady
By Barbara Goldman / The Ledger Independent [Maysville
Ky.]
The little church that could still can thanks
to the determination of a few dedicated members.
After 216 years
of existence, May's Lick Presbyterian Church might
not have the congregation size of earlier years,
but there is no doubt its heart has grown with
every year.
Four members and
two regular visitors attend services the first
and third Sundays of each month and hold a Bible
study every Sunday in the small May's Lick church. |
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| Scripture
readings for today – from
the Lectionary |
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"How
lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints
for the courts
of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
to the living God..."
"...David's anger was greatly kindled against
the man. He said to Nathan, "As the LORD
lives, the man who has done this deserves to die;
he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he
did this thing, and because he had no pity."
"Nathan said
to David, "You are the man!..."
"Now after these things had been accomplished,
Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia
and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He
said, "After I have gone there, I must also
see Rome." So he sent two of his helpers,
Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself
stayed for some time longer in Asia..."
"...Someone from the crowd answered him,
"Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a
spirit that makes him unable to speak; and whenever
it seizes him, it dashes him down; and he foams
and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I
asked your disciples to cast it out, but they
could not do so." He answered them, "You
faithless generation.." |
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Today
in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study
The
Presbytery of New York City |
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"Presbyterian
Men of New York City was formed in 1983 when a
few men gathered to discuss the needs of men in
the city. The group quickly grew and now has an
active mission that reaches worldwide. Its mission
is to lead men into a vital relationship with
Christ and assist them in their spiritual, personal,
and community development..." |
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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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| Pebbles
in their mouths – by
Faith J. H. McDonnell / IRD |
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Victims
of North Korea’s brutal regime once died
in anonymity. The Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea (DPRK) deliberately isolated itself from
the rest of world. But now news of Kim Jong Il’s
prison nation escapes almost as frequently as
North Koreans attempt to escape to “better”
conditions in China. Escapees and refugees tell
of millions of deaths from famine, imprisonment
of another million in the country’s labor/death
camps, 21st century gas chambers, and various
other DPRK human rights atrocities. The Washington
Post recently released such grim reports, but
nothing prepares us for the execution of a 33
year-old mother of three for distributing the
Bible. More shocking, her death was all but ignored
by churches in America. |
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| Pakistan:
Who's attacking the Christians? – by
Omar Waraich / TIME |
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GOJRA
– "The intruders wore masks and carried
guns. They went door to door, through the narrow
and dusty alleyways, asking if there were any
Christians inside. When the terrified faces inside
replied yes, they poured chemicals on the small,
redbrick homes of Episcopalians and Evangelicals,
setting them ablaze. In some cases, they didn't
bother with the question. Instead, they opened
fire and hurled rocks, forcing families to flee
in a panic – moments before fresh flames
consumed their homes as well. When the attackers
were done, nine people had been killed and 45
homes lay smoldering and destroyed in the clustered
Christian colony in Gojra, a town in central Punjab,
marking the worst anti-Christian violence Pakistan
has seen in recent years...
"Authorities
and human-rights groups now suspect that the attackers
belonged to the Sipah-e-Sahaba, a sectarian militant
group from the nearby town of Jhang. A senior
member, Qari Saifullah, served as Taliban commander
Baitullah Mehsud's right-hand man and trained
scores of suicide bombers..."
Related: Were
Pakistan's deadly Gojra riots enough to provoke
change?
By Jeremy Weber / Christianity Today
As the prime minister of Pakistan visited
the scene of the Muslim nation's worst Christian
persecution in recent memory Thursday, observers
wondered if the violence will finally prompt the
repeal of the country's notorious blasphemy laws. |
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Sacramento
Bee declares persecution over
Someone had better tell the good news to Christians
in North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Burma...
By Ted Olsen / Christianity Today |
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Why
are there fewer refugees settling in Sacramento
County? The Bee has an answer:
Religious persecution
of Christian evangelicals<sic> – Sacramento's
largest refugee group – has almost disappeared
since the collapse of communism in the former
Soviet Union in 1989-91, experts say.
Actually, what
the expert (a singular Slavic radio show host)
said was that religious freedom has improved in
some parts of the former Soviet Union, which was
a major source of refugees for the Sacramento
area in the late 20th century.
[Comment: Ever met a non-Christian evangelical?] |
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| U.S.
signs disabilities treaty, sparking "reproductive
health" concerns – by
Piero A. Tozzi / C-FAM |
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Late
last week, United States (US) Ambassador to the
United Nations (UN) Susan Rice signed the Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities –
the first binding UN treaty to mention "sexual
and reproductive health" – on behalf
of the US. While this has prompted concern among
certain advocates for the unborn, veteran pro-life
UN observers counsel that the term should not
be construed to include abortion.
At the time of
the treaty's adoption in 2006, delegates debated
including the phrase amid worries among pro-lifers
that certain pro-abortion organizations like the
Center for Reproductive Rights might claim that
the term was elastic enough to include abortion.
An official report
of the proceedings, however, noted that this phrase
was "not intended to alter" policies
with regard to "family planning or related
matters." The treaty does not affect the
pro-life laws of member states that signed or
ratified it.
To underscore this
point, at least 15 nations made statements in
the UN General Assembly at the time interpreting
"sexual and reproductive health" as
excluding abortion. No nation made a statement
contradicting such an interpretation. |
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Four
lesbians charged in attack on pro-traditional
marriage group
By Kate Bramson / The Providence Journal |
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WARWICK
– The weapons included mayonnaise, ketchup
and salsa – but also pepper spray, a glass
jar and fists.
A difference of
opinion over gay marriage sparked the incident,
and emotions escalated quickly. Punches were thrown.
A small group
of men visiting Rhode Island this week urging
people to support traditional marriage called
the police.
Offended by the
men’s message, four young women now face
charges of assault or battery and disorderly conduct.
The youngest, 17, also faces a more serious charge
– felony assault with a dangerous substance. |
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| World
Vision: Measure success in Afghanistan by children,
not only insurgents – by
Aaron J. Leichman / Christian Post |
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In
measuring the rate of success in Afghanistan,
the U.S. government should not look only at the
number of insurgents defeated but also the number
of children in school and the content and quality
of their education, emphasized one of the largest
Christian relief and development organizations
in the world.
According to World
Vision, which has worked in Afghanistan since
2001, the country’s pressing development
needs are not getting appropriate attention from
the U.S. government and other international donors.
Related: Christian
Leadership Summit encourages 60,000 to invest
in themselves |
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The
angel in camouflage / by Dilia Ayala
No hero should die alone. |
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The
emergency-room trauma call and the medical staff's
immediate action upon his arrival is only a memory
to her now; sitting quietly at the bedside of
her brother-in-arms, she carefully takes his hand,
thanking him for his service and promising she
will not leave his side.
He is a critically
injured combat casualty, and she is Army Sgt.
Jennifer Watson of the Casualty Liaison Team here.
Although a somber
scene, it is not an uncommon one for the Peru,
Ind., native, who in addition to her primary duties
throughout the last 14 months, has taken it upon
herself to ensure no U.S. casualty passes away
alone. Holding each of their hands, she sits with
them until the end, no matter the day or the hour.
"It's unfortunate
that their families can't be here," said
Watson, who is deployed here from Fort Campbell,
Ky. "So I took it upon myself to step up
and be that family while they are here. No one
asked me to do it; I just did what I felt was
right in my heart..." |
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Hybels
opens leadership summit with 'rogue waves'
By Lillian Kwon / Christian Post |
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Rogue
waves provide the perfect conditions for leadership
and greatness to emerge, said Pastor Bill Hybels
at the annual Leadership Summit.
Leaders know these
conditions produce our deepest learning curves,
strongest bonds with team members, and deepest
faith testing, the Willow Creek Community Church
pastor told thousands on Thursday. Storms draw
something out of us that calm seas don't.
Hybels was addressing
church, ministry and business leaders from around
the world who were attending and tuning in to
the 2009 Leadership Summit, hosted by Willow Creek
Association. With this year's two-day summit taking
place in the midst of an economic storm, Hybels
advised attendees about "leading in a new
reality."
He encouraged leaders
to re-invent new strategies that would serve as
self-replenishment. That includes reordering their
priorities, responsibilities and relationships.
During "rogue wave" situations, "the
best thing you bring to the table every single
day is a filled-up bucket and a heart that's right
with God," he stressed. |
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The
only 'Christian Nation'
There is no single best way to run a country.
By John Calvin with Knox Bucer-Beza |
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The
ascended Christ reigns over the church and all
societies but in different ways. In truth, the
only "Christian nation" is the body
of Christ as it is dispersed throughout all peoples
and in all times. Confusion on this point has
resulted in far-reaching consequences.
"Christendom"
is a contrived empire. I would have preferred
to pass over this matter in utter silence if I
were not aware that here many dangerously go astray
in our day. For there are some who deny that a
commonwealth is duly framed that neglects the
political system of Moses, and is ruled by the
common laws of nations. Let other men consider
how perilous and seditious this notion is; it
will be enough for me to have proved it false
and foolish.
God planted into
the human conscience from creation the precepts
of his moral law. In fact, what we call the moral
law of God is simply the testimony of this natural
law.
Christ's spiritual
kingdom and the civic jurisdiction are things
completely distinct. These kingdoms are distinguished
but should not be opposed. We are citizens of
two cities: one temporary and the other eternal. |
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Russian
Patriarch's visit to Ukraine a triumph, say top
aides
By Sophia Kiskkovsky / ENI |
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A
10-day visit to Ukraine by Patriarch Kirill I
of the Russian Orthodox Church was a triumph,
laying to rest talk of the need for formal independence
of one of the most significant parts of the church,
say top aides.
That was their
assessment at a 6 August media conference in Moscow
following the Patriarch's 27 July to 5 August
trip.
Kirill's visit
to Ukraine was his first to the cradle of Russian
Orthodoxy since his enthronement in February,
and took place amid divisions that have shaken
the Orthodox church there since the collapse of
communism. |
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Winning
the war on The War on Terror
By Daniel E. Ritchie / First Things |
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"Does
it matter that the Obama administration is now
involved in “overseas contingency operations”
rather than “fighting terror”? Is it
important that our Secretary of Homeland Security,
Janet Napolitano, refers to man-caused disasters
rather than terrorism? And how about the news
made by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton,
when she was asked about the elimination of the
phrase war on terror: "The administration
has stopped using the phrase and I think that
speaks for itself," Clinton said. “It
was controversial here [in Europe].”
"The New
York Times often used quotation marks around
the war on terror during the Bush administration.
National Public Radio commentators sometimes referred
to “the so-called war on terror.”
"The rhetorical
struggle isn’t just about the war on terror,
of course. It’s about the very notion of
terrorism..." |
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| To
serve God and Wal-Mart: The making of Christian
free enterprise – Book
review by Diane Winston / Religon Dispatches |
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This
is about the book: To
Serve God and Wal-Mart: The Making of Christian
Free Enterprise
, by Bethany Moreton.
"People like us don’t do Wal-Mart. The
very name conjures retrograde rednecks, and the
company’s M.O. – its sexism, anti-unionism,
low wages, insufficient health care, foreign product
sourcing, adverse environmental practices, and
toxic impact on local businesses – has made
the moniker synonymous with free-market blight.
But people like us sometimes miss the obvious...
"A critical
appraisal of how religion, politics, and economics
were interwoven in post-Vietnam American culture
and society, To Serve God and Wal-Mart
is also a bracing reminder that we, among the
most materialistic people in the world, have turned
a blind eye to the impact of material conditions
on our actions, attitudes, and beliefs. Simply
put, the 2008 election’s voting bloc du
jour, “Wal-Mart Moms,” are more
than a pundit’s wet dream or Rodeo Drive’s
worst nightmare. They are a significant segment
of the American public, a key constituency in
shaping national values, and a harbinger of a
global economic order organized around “Christian
service” and “family values.”..." |
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Remembering
Hiroshima rightly
Hiroshima is no reason to reject a nuclear weapons-free
world.
By Tyler Wigg-Stevenson / Christianity Today |
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In
recent years, an unlikely coalition of former
Cold Warriors has urged movement toward the global
abolition of nuclear weapons. This position, which
would have been dismissed as fantasy even five
years ago, now has the support of two-thirds of
the former secretaries of state, defense, and
national security advisers, was endorsed by both
presidential candidates in the 2008 elections,
and has been adopted as policy by the current
administration.
Those who use Hiroshima
to defend nuclear weaponry are forced to adopt
a sort of celebratory triumphalism about the massive,
indiscriminate killing of civilians, which contravenes
every principle of Christian just war theory.
And those on the other side, who use Hiroshima
to decry the Bomb, often find themselves in a
position that seems to impose a false moral equivalency
on both the cause and conduct of World War II-era
Japan and America. |
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Did
the Crusades get a bum rap? – “I
get tired of people apologizing for the Crusades,
like Christians were a bunch of dirty looters
that went over there and killed everybody. It
just wasn’t true.”
By Tiffany Stanley / RNS |
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The
Crusades, when Christians tried for two centuries
to oust Muslims from the Holy Land, left over
a million dead, with territory lost and gained
and lost again – all in the name of Jesus.
These days, Christians
are not so quick to call the Crusades the golden
age of Christendom, but a millennium later, their
memory still reverberates.
Even so, Rodney
Stark, 75, a professor of social sciences at Baylor
University, says the crusaders were not all that
bad, and certainly not barbaric, greedy warmongers.
In his new book
“God's
Battalions: The Case for the Crusades
,” the 1996 nominee for the Pulitzer Prize
depicts soldiers who truly believed their military
service under God would cover over a multitude
of sins – namely all that murdering and marauding
required of them in the tumultuous Middle Ages.
Stark argues that
Muslims asked for it, that the Crusades were the
first military response to Muslim terrorists and
their looming, advancing Islamic empire. |
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Open
rebellion at heart of Kirk
By Craig Brown / Scotsman |
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Fears
have been raised that a covenant established by
conservative evangelicals against the ordination
of openly gay ministers is part of a push towards
a split in the Church of Scotland.
A total of 35 churches
across the country have signed up to a campaign
of non-co-operation against the Kirk establishment
over its decision not to address for two years
the issue of appointing openly gay ministers.
The covenant was
established by the Fellowship of Confessing Churches,
an evangelical body that ran a petition against
an openly gay minister, the Rev Scott Rennie,
being appointed to Queen's Cross Church in Aberdeen.
Its signatories
"reject the authority of those who have denied
the orthodox faith in word or deed". |
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A
Good Samaritan changes a church's misfortune
By Amanda Raus / NBC Connecticut |
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Just
an hour after sharing the story of the Presbyterian
Church of Coventry, a good Samaritan came forward
to help the church overcome its misfortune.
On Sunday, thieves
broke into the building.
"They broke
into this office. You can see they hammered away
at the key, the lock where the frame was,"
Pastor Brad Evans said as he showed the damage
left behind.
They stole a laptop
and blank checks. But what is most disturbing
is that they stole more than $200 that the Bible
school students collected for an orphan named
Ruth who lives in India. |
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Mega-mirror
– Megachurches
are not the answer or the problem.
Editorial / Christianity Today |
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"...We
ask overseas missionaries to adapt themselves
to the culture they seek to reach. When megachurches
do that in the United States, and do it effectively,
we should not complain.
"But at some
point cultural adaptation itself needs to be adapted—back
into gospel culture. For instance, African churches
found it necessary to tolerate polygamy and other
cultural practices in the first generation of
missionaries. But by the second and third generations,
maturing Christian disciples were undermining
polygamy. In corporate America, it may be necessary
to use the ethos of marketing to gain the gospel
a hearing. But after a generation, shouldn't megachurches
begin shifting away from business and consumer
language in the way they conceive of their work?
In none of Paul's prayers for his churches does
he highlight "innovative growth strategies"
that "multiply impact." His language
is radically un-businesslike and inefficient.
One example: "I keep asking that the God
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father,
may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation,
so that you may know him better" (Eph. 1:17)..." |
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A
new therapy on faith and sexual identity
A different report than yesterday's
By Stephanie Simon / The Wall Street Journal |
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The
men who seek help from evangelical counselor Warren
Throckmorton often are deeply distressed. They
have prayed, read Scripture, even married, but
they haven't been able to shake sexual attractions
to other men -- impulses they believe to be immoral.
Dr. Throckmorton
is a psychology professor at a Christian college
in Pennsylvania and past president of the American
Mental Health Counselors Association. He specializes
in working with clients conflicted about their
sexual identity.
The first thing
he tells them is this: Your attractions aren't
a sign of mental illness or a punishment for insufficient
faith. He tells them that he cannot turn them
straight.
But he also tells
them they don't have to be gay.
[Comment: A rather different report on
the new APA guidelines than the AP article to
which we linked yesterday.—Ed.]
Related: Response
from NARTH, the National Association
for Research and Treatment of omosexuality
"...NARTH appreciates that the APA stressed
the importance of faith and religious diversity.
Unfortunately, however... the task force reflected
virtually no ideological diversity. No APA member
who offers reorientation therapy was allowed to
join the task force. In fact, one can make the
case that every member of the task force can be
classified as an activist. .." |
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