When a congregation launches a Church Wellness Project, voices telling the old stories come first. Some are negative, some are fond reminiscences, some are reminders of “how we used to do things,” and some are one more try at getting an idea or need on the table.
Day-after reflections of an election may sound dated when you read them a couple weeks later. That being said, now that you’ve heard numerous pundits’ two cents’ worth, the mail delivers a mainline Presbyterian editor’s two cents’ worth. That is to say, I write as one who aims to obey God’s will as revealed in the inspired words of holy Scripture, as one who has a passion both to evangelize the world and to promote justice, as one who promotes the ministry of reconciliation and connectionalism, and as one who above all aims to glorify God. All this is motivated by living in the hope, the audacious hope, of the resurrection.
“I’m going to come close to preaching here,” confessed author and environmental activist Bill McKibben in his keynote address to the 11th annual Caring for Creation Conference on October 25 in Newport Beach, Calif. The conference was sponsored by Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment.
JONESBORO, Ga. (ABP) -- The Georgia Baptist Convention has decided to refuse gifts from a historic member church that last year called..
(ABP) -- On Nov. 12, in a front-page story, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution broke the news that the Georgia Baptist Convention has approved a new policy giving GBC executives the freedom to refuse donations from churches it finds to be out of step with Southern Baptist beliefs. The policy move is aimed (for now) at First Baptist Church Decatur, because it called a woman, Julie Pennington-Russell, to serve as pastor.
A hymn for “Christ the King” Sunday, November 23
Whatever You Do
ST. DENIO 11.11.11.11 (“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”)
Text by Carolyn Gillette
Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany: Liturgies and Prayers for Public Worship, by Brian Wren. WJKP, 2008. Pb., 230 pp. $29.95.
Wren offers a great gift for worship planners and leaders in this collection of litanies and prayers, sung refrains, and orders for special services. Elements of worship are tied to the texts of the Revised Common Lectionary. Includes a CD-ROM of the book’s contents.
They began, like the Gospel story itself, with a nativity scene. John Mack Walker carved wood along the way the Gospel story went, through scenes and stories in the life of Christ, until finally there were sixty carvings
Twenty-four of his beautiful woodcarvings are now the centerpiece of displays at the Presbyterian Heritage Center at Montreat, N.C.
My son’s menacing mercy split followers—
cleaving them as a plow tears earth to hold seed—
foes too—as a hammer bursts rock to shard.
With his kind cunning he sliced shackles of
a friend’s grave-swaddling, then cut a broad swath
in holy courts, paring harsh pretenders.
I hold an advantage — like the young, I still knew
that in matters of love everything’s possible
and good assured.
Now attentive to Isaiah 61:1-4 & 8-11
To give … a garland. … they shall repair the ruined cities
At watch, when …
‘a day’ can mean a thousand years
often leads to nine-hundred-and-some years
of false starts, promising beginnings
that prove only a beginning, no more.
LOUISVILLE — A fair trade organization with roots in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is introducing a “symbolic gift” line to bolster the businesses and livelihoods of Peruvian artisans — just in time for Christmas.
In many waits —
I haven’t known what I wait for
or even that I’m waiting.
Standing at the bus stop, she’d say,
The Presbyterian Writers Guild and author Cecil Murphey are sponsoring a Presbyterian Writers Conference April 23-24, 2009, at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga.
The conference is aimed at helping writers produce marketable articles or books, develop a freelance career, and “impact the world with their words.” The faculty will include a publisher, a literary agent, freelance writers, a novelist, book authors, and a journalist.
DUBUQUE, Iowa – The John Knox Presbytery voted here Tuesday to enroll as a candidate for ministry an inquirer who declared a scruple to the denomination’s ordination standards.
(ABP) -- The Georgia Baptist Convention has decided to refuse gifts from a historic member church that last year called a woman as pastor.
Messengers to the Nov. 9-11 annual meeting approved a policy change authorizing convention leaders to decline funds from churches "not in cooperation and harmony with the approved work and purpose" of the convention.
LOUISVILLE — Maybe we should skip Thanksgiving this year.
After all, it has been a rough fall. Our investment crops have been devastated. Our long election campaign has left us an angry divide. We still have sons and daughters in harm’s way. The number of people who are homeless, sick, and hungry grows daily.
GENEVA — (ENI) A global Protestant grouping representing 75 million Christians says a new global economic order that puts people first is urgently needed to help the poor, following a meeting of the G20 nations about the worldwide financial turmoil.
(ENI) — Sixty years after the creation of the State of Israel and of the resulting expulsion of Palestinians from their homes, the (Lutheran) Church of Norway says that "the Church should see its responsibility in light of this, and care for Jews as well as Palestinians.”
GENEVA — (ENI) The 16th-century Reformation figure John Calvin is often portrayed as a stern Protestant but an exhibition in Geneva of selected passages from his writings shows a dimension of the reformer that many people do not know.
LOUISVILLE — Jane Parker Huber, 82, renowned Presbyterian hymn writer and tireless advocate for women in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), died Nov. 16 in Hanover, Ind.
Harare, 17 November (ENI)--Zimbabwean Christians have vowed to press on with
weekly prayer vigils "until something happens" after efforts at forming a
unity government to resolve the country's economic and political crisis
faltered.
The Psalmist says, wait for the Lord. I have a hard time waiting for my toast to pop up. Seriously. Watching it doesn’t help either. “Hurry up”, I said to the egg, frying in the pan; taking my mind off the bread in the toaster. “Can’t you cook a bit faster?” The Psalmist says, wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord. I would like to do that but waiting for the doctor is tough enough. The other day I mentioned to my wife that the tree in our front yard just wasn’t growing. She reminded me that trees take years, ten or more, to mature fully. Just wait and watch. It will grow. Trees take time. Still, I want a tree now.
Editor’s note: This is the second installment of a three-part article. The first article, “Why do we Presbyterians continue to fight?” appeared in the Outlook issue of Nov. 10 (page 13). The third installment will appear in a later issue of the Outlook with the title, “How a focus on experience can further discussion.”
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