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DANVILLE, KY -- Centre College won't host a 2008 presidential debate -- most likely. The Commission on Presidential Debates has announced the locations of next year's three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate.
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PDA New Orleans coordinator dies in car crash
LOUISVILLE- Rich Cozzone, Volunteer Village Coordinator for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been killed in an automobile accident in New Orleans.
Details are sketchy, but initial reports indicated that no other vehicles were involved in the crash. Cozzone was the only fatality.
Film in review: ‘The Golden Compass’
"The Golden Compass" has generated a lot of "buzz" because of its supposedly anti-Christian content (propelled by reports that the author of the book on which the movie is based advertises himself as an atheist). But "The Golden Compass" is merely a fairy tale. Like all fairy tales, in places it is extremely creative, in other places practically plagiaristic, and its apparent purpose is simply to entertain.
We begin with a bit of overdubbing by way of introduction. There are several parallel universes, connected by some sort of cosmic dust. In each parallel universe, humans have different relationships to their souls, or spirits. In some, the soul lives inside the body. In others, such as this one, the soul lives outside the body, in the persona of a constant-companion animal, like a bird, or a cat, or a marmoset, or a ferret.
US presidential hopeful Romney’s speech on faith gets big splash
Oxford, Ohio, 7 December (ENI)--Political and religious observers agreed on only one point regarding US presidential candidate Mitt Romney's speech about his Mormon faith: it was a brilliant tactic for garnering international media attention to his wavering standing as a leading Republican Party contender.
Beyond that, reactions to the 6 December speech ranged widely - from glowing comparisons to John F. Kennedy's address to Baptists in 1960 about his Roman Catholic faith to criticisms that Romney's speech lacked any significant account about the differences in theological views between Mormons and traditional Christians.
Giving and Receiving — An Update from Marianne Vermeer and Robert Johnson of Forman Christian College, Lahore, Pakistan
I suspect that many of you who have heard missionaries say 'I have received far more from the people of __________ than I could have possibly given them,' think they are being coy, or politically correct. I used to think this too. However, I want to tell you about a recent two week stretch I had that illustrates why missionaries have said this as long as there have been cross-cultural missions.
First, you should know something about Pakistan, and Pakistan's Christian population. By and large, Pakistan's Christians are converts from the Dalit or 'untouchable' caste of Hindus in the last part of the nineteenth century. As is often the case with marginal populations, the stigma and disadvantages of being from a despised class have persisted long after the 'official' reasons for discrimination have disappeared. Now, instead of being looked down upon by Hindus for being unclean, Christians are disdained by many in the Muslim majority for being infidels (as well as for having the lingering cachet of the ritually polluted).
Churches in Middle East reaffirm dialogue with Muslims
Paphos, Cyprus (ENI)--Churches from the Middle East meeting in Cyprus have highlighted the importance of the Christian presence in the region and dialogue with Muslims.
The Middle East Council of Churches said in a statement on 4 December after a meeting of its highest governing body, 'The churches expressed their great concern about various land occupations and the perpetuation of the sufferings of the people caused by injustices and wars.'
Update: Torrance remembered as greatest Reformed theologian since Barth
Thomas Forsyth Torrance (1913-2007), who died of a heart attack in Edinburgh on December 2, was arguably the greatest Reformed theologian since Karl Barth, with whom he studied, and an eminent 20th century ecumenist. Having served for 27 years as Professor of Christian Dogmatics at New College, he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1976; and in 1978, he was awarded the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion for his contributions to the emerging field of theology and science.
Thomas Forsyth Torrance, 94, dies Dec. 2 in Edinburgh
Thomas Forsyth Torrance, 94, a twentieth century Protestant Christian theologian who served for 27 years as professor of Christian Dogmatics at New College, Edinburgh in the University of Edinburgh, died December 2 in Edinburgh.
Torrance was born to Scottish missionary parents while they were serving in Chengdu, Szechuan, China. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and University of Oxford before receiving an academic scholarship to the University of Basel in Basel, Switzerland. There, Torrance studied under theologian Karl Barth. Years later, Torrance translated into English Barth's Church Dogmatics.
Former GA vice-moderator and Board of Pensions chair Gene Sibery dies. Was one of the 20th century’s ‘most influential health care thinkers’
LOUISVILLE -- D. Eugene Sibery, a Presbyterian elder and health care executive who served as vice-moderator of the 1997 General Assembly and for six years as chair of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Board of Pensions, died Nov. 29 in Cape Coral, FL. Sibery, 78, had been in declining health for a number of years.
Born Sept. 29, 1929 in Muncie, IN, Sibery was named one of the most influential health care thinkers of the 20th century and was an architect of Medicare. He strongly believed that every citizen should have good health care, especially the elderly and the poor, and worked to achieve that.
Not That Far from Bethlehem
Consider that you're not that far from Bethlehem ...
It was a rather messy story in many ways:
She wasn't married, but she was pregnant.
And she tried to convince her beloved and betrothed
that, although he wasn't the father,
neither was any other man.
Yeah, right ...
She faced the possibility of being stoned
for being in such a position.
He certainly anticipated public scorn and ridicule ...
"Tell us more, Joseph, because of course we believe
that the Holy Spirit is the father!"
The travel to Bethlehem was uncomfortable to say the least,
and once they arrived, they had to settle
for substandard accommodations.
She gave birth without the comfort and support
of family and friends.
Self-Development of People announces grant recipients
WASHINGTON, DC -- The National Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has approved grants totaling $495,250 to 21 self-help projects in the United States.
Money for the grants comes from the PC (USA)'s One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) offering.
SDOP, funded primarily through the OGHS offering, enables members and non-members of the PC(USA) to establish partnerships with economically poor, oppressed and disadvantaged people in order to help them achieve sufficiency.
Grants were approved at a meeting of SDOP's National Committee last month in Washington, DC. Projects funded range from learning how to plant and operate an organic farm using produce sales to reinvest in equipment, seeds and tools in South Carolina to supporting a cooperative of Mexican Americans in rural Arkansas seeking to create and operate a thrift store and restaurant.
Form of government changes, options to be presented at General Assembly
LOUISVILLE -- Recognizing there is opposition to some of what it has proposed, but still confident that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) needs a more flexible form of government to navigate in a post-modern world, the Form of Government Task Force is recommending significant changes in the denomination's constitution, but providing opportunities for amendment if the broader church disagrees.
Teaching Greek in Spanish
For Harry Horne the satisfaction of being a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) co-mission worker in Peru is watching those he ministers to achieve a deeper understanding of the Word of God -- in Hebrew and Greek. The Colorado-born former pastor teaches Hebrew and Greek language courses at a branch of the Latin American Biblical University located in Lima.
"Nobody becomes an expert on Greek or Hebrew in a course or two, but they get enough to start using it," said Horne, who also teaches other Bible courses at the school. "It's fun watching people reach a level where they feel confident enough to use those tools. When it becomes useful it's really good to see when folks find new things in text because they have those tools."
20 minutes with Hunter Farrell
Hunter Farrell, former missionary to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Peru began service as director of global missions for the General Assembly Council this past summer. Outlook editor, Jack Haberer, recently discussed with him his take on missions.
JH: You spent the first third of your career serving in African missions, both on site in the Congo and here in the General Assembly as an area coordinator. Peru must have been quite a change for you. Tell me that transition.
HF: I had lived as a foreign exchange student in high school in Chile and spent a year of my time at the University of Texas at Austin abroad at the Catholic University in Peru. I spoke Spanish and had a love for Latin-American culture, so I was looking to get back there when I applied to what was then the Division of International Mission in Atlanta. John Pritchard got hold of my application and said, "Come to Zaire." ... I went at age 24, did a year as a volunteer in mission in Zaire, and fell in love with Zaire, the people, and with the way Presbyterians do mission.
Two basic communications rules
Paul Revere might have gotten away with one ride through "every Middlesex village and farm." But in modern church life, we aren't likely to have such impact.
Two basic rules of communications are:
1. People aren't likely to hear something the first time you tell them. To hear your message, people need to hear it multiple times -- some say as many as seven times.
2. People don't like surprises. If you want their acceptance, especially of a change, you need to "telegraph your moves."
Here's what I mean.
A single announcement, even of an important event, is unlikely to be heard. People tend to be overloaded with information. They are distracted. Rather than spend time and money on designing the perfect one-time announcement, plan a series of announcements that, eventually, will catch your audience's attention.
Atonement
Anybody remotely related to Christianity, and its churches, would have to be automatically interested in a film named 'Atonement.' That is, after all, the essence of the Christian message: that Christ came to offer atonement for our sins. However, atonement, among us mere mortals, at least, comes with many emotional layers, if it visits at all.
Mission dittos
Stay away from the foreign mission field if you're not ready to face the unexpected. My recent trip to Peru -- arranged to explore mission work being done by fellow Presbyterians there -- packed the regular surprises: children whose effervescence belies their poverty, spotless homes set in the midst of barrios, mission programs being led by visionary and strategic-thinking Peruvian leaders. Those and many other joyous discoveries humbled this American Presbyterian, exposing his shallow sophistication and hollow materialism.
Getting to Bethlehem — Again (Third Sunday of Advent)
Text: Matthew 11:2-11
Whenever expectations meet reality, questions are sure to follow.
Years ago my wife told my son that they were going to do something very special to get ready for Christmas. She pumped up his excitement. She told him they were going to have fun. As a consequence, he couldn't wait until the day came -- to make a gingerbread house. I walked in just as the project was being completed. He was sitting there with his head in his heads, bored to tears and asking his mother if they were having fun yet.
Our expectations build a road leading us somewhere until we come to that stop along the way called reality. It happens even to the best of us!
Presbyterian Heritage Center to open at Montreat
For those who love Montreat and the sweep of Presbyterian history, it was a painful moment when the 2006 General Assembly voted to close the office of the Presbyterian Historical Society at Montreat, N.C.
But now another chapter is being written
The formal archives of the southern branch of the Presbyterian church have been moved.
Most of the material went to the Presbyterian Historical Society offices in Philadelphia, and some to Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., and other places.
But now a nonprofit group that wants to keep the sense of Presbyterian history alive for visitors to Montreat is working, in cooperation with the Montreat Conference Center, to create a new Presbyterian Heritage Center.
“Historic breakthrough” for first Global Christian Forum
LIMURU, Kenya -- After four days of meetings, some 240 leaders of a broad range of churches, confessions and interchurch organizations from more than 70 countries agreed to carry forward what they call "the Global Christian Forum process," an open platform for encounter and dialogue whose goal is to "foster mutual respect, explore and address common challenges."
Participants broke into a spontaneous doxology when the final draft of a "Message from the Global Christian Forum to Brothers and Sisters in Christ Throughout the World" was approved at the last session of the meeting, which took place Nov. 6-9 in Limuru, near Nairobi, Kenya.
The missional Pilgrimage
Know some folks who like to travel? How about traveling as a group? How about traveling to the land of Israel-Palestine and Jordan? How about tracing the steps of Paul? How about visiting those places that still reverberate the voices of Athanasius and Patrick, Luther and Calvin, Zwingli and Knox?
What if you visit all those places and still hunger for more?
Don’t drop your guard on HIV and AIDS, pleads Tutu
Geneva, 30 November (ENI)--Faith-based campaigners and religious leaders say churches should not relax their efforts to deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic despite UN figures showing a drop in the number of people worldwide living with the virus.
'This is not the time for complacency nor apathy,' said South African Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu in a 30 November statement released by the World Aids Campaign to mark World Aids Day on 1 December. 'It is the time for compassionate leadership.'
An important call to action from Linda Valentine, Executive Director, General Assembly Council, concerning Joining Hearts & Hands:
Because we can accomplish more together than we can individually, I am inviting you to rise with me to a new challenge.
When the Steering Committee of Joining Hearts & Hands met on Wednesday via conference call, we learned that $212,000 stands between us and the deployment of gifted mission candidates to serve where Christ has called them. Denise England -- called to Egypt; Carol Dolezal-Ng -- called to Lebanon; Kathy Reeves -- called to Switzerland; and other qualified candidates who are ready and waiting need your financial assistance now.
Indian bishops demand end to Christian Dalit oppression
New Delhi, 29 November (ENI)--In an unprecedented protest, more than 30 bishops joined scores of priests, nuns and church activists in a sit-in near the Indian parliament in New Delhi to demand an end to the decades-old discrimination against Christian Dalits.
'We want the government to end this discrimination,' demanded Church of South India Bishop Jeypaul David, president of the National Council of Churches in India, addressing the sit-in on 29 November.
Church-backed farmworkers march on Burger King
LOUISVILLE -- A church-backed group of farmworkers and their supporters donned walking shoes today (Nov. 30) for a nine-mile march through Miami to the corporate headquarters of Burger King to demand higher wages and better working conditions in Florida's tomato fields.
The Florida-based Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), which receives support from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and other faith groups, is calling on the fast-food giant to pay a penny more per pound to farmworkers harvesting its tomatoes.