LOUISVILLE - The General Assembly Council unanimously approved a budget of nearly $127 million for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for 2004 - a budget that includes $3.1 million in adjustments and the elimination of 19 positions on the denomination's national staff. Nine of those positions are vacant, but 10 people will lose their jobs.
When the denomination's budget is being cut, it's natural to look inward: to talk about what's getting the axe and what's being preserved.
But Fahed Abu-Akel, moderator of the 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), turned attention back to the world outside in his remarks to the General Assembly Council on April 4. Abu-Akel asked each Presbyterian to pause at noon each day to pray about the war in Iraq
LOUISVILLE -- John Detterick, one of the top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is a little frustrated -- he's tired of hacking away at budgets, and wants the Presbyterian church to come up with a new and more strategic way of figuring out what work it should be doing and what it can no longer afford.
Both movies rely heavily on the star power of the leading male, but make sure to feature a young, attractive woman. Both expect the viewers to accept an unlikely plot line long enough to be charmed by the skill and ingenuity of the main character. Both develop the main character as someone not ordinarily thought to be important, but who enjoys tremendous success, and we root for them both because they represent the 'anti-hero,' the one who plays against type.
In 'Head Of State,' Chris Rock plays a lowly town alderman, Mays Gilliam, who is caught on the national news doing a dramatic rescue, just because he happened to be nearby at the time. This catches the attention of the Democratic Party's kingmakers, who have a problem. Their presidential candidate and his running mate have died in a plane crash. They need to find a sacrificial lamb quickly, because the opposition is the well-known Republican who has been the vice president for eight years. Nobody wants to run against him. And so they choose Gilliam, the unknown, the 'man of the people,' and try to garner some goodwill for the next election.
What might it mean to consider a season of war in light of the authority of Christ? Fundamentally, for Christians to regard Jesus’ authority means that we spell it with a capital "A." Jesus is the Authoritative One who stands alon, above all our other notions of authority. Self-interest, community affiliation, ethnic identity and patriotism are all put in context, reinterpreted and often critiqued by our larger commitment to Christ.
Inherent in our suffering is a transforming power that can either humanize or demonize us. As we listen to another’s suffering, we can encourage and empower each other, for in dying we learn to live. Isn’t this journey from crucifixion to resurrection, from despair to hope, an eternal path sought by pilgrims everywhere? The tragedy of 9/11 announces louder than ever that we are living in an interconnected world of sufferers.
In recent weeks, there has been ongoing discussion in this space in support of a conscious effort by Presbyterians to renew the covenant of grace which has been given in the blood of Jesus Christ, which is the foundation for the church to which we belong, and through which Christ's witness to the world is made. If there is no such effort, the future looks pretty bleak.
A few years ago on a neighborhood stroll, I chanced upon a friend who was walking her dog. Knowing that she was active in her church and devoted to it, I asked her what she was giving up for Lent
Her answer was quick and tinged with her usual humor. Said she: "I am not giving up anything. I am giving up giving up, however."
I quickly agreed that giving up giving up was a good idea.
Editorial note — Reflecting on the recent trip to Selma, Ala., described below, two closely interwoven themes became apparent: First, despite the..
With time running out for a peaceful solution to the threatened conflict in Iraq as this column is written, it is important that Presbyterian officers (and pastors) take their responsibility as peacemakers with utmost seriousness. When Jesus teaches us that the peacemakers are blessed, the Greek expression used in Matthew 5:9 (eirenopoioi) makes it clear that we are called to more than peace praying, peace talking, peace thinking or peace hoping: we are commanded to peace doing. Peacemaking demands real work, active effort and engagement in processes that will really change things.*
A speech given on March 20 during a "day after" protest.
Today is a sad day — a day that will long be remembered as a day of infamy.
Like many of you, I'm sure, I don't know whether to scream or weep.
David Stoner, who has been a principal party in negotiations with the Pakistani government, reports that Forman Christian College in Lahore will be formally turned over to PC(USA)-designated college principal Peter Armacost, today, March 20.
NEW YORK — Holmes Rolston III, professor of philosophy at Colorado State University, whose 30 years of research, writing and lecturing on the religious imperative to respect nature have established environmental ethics, has been named the 2003 Templeton Prize laureate. The prize, valued at more than $1million, was announced Wednesday at a news conference at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York.
KANSAS CITY — Finally, it's final: the 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will not be called back into session.
For months, the denomination has been waiting to hear whether Alex Metherell, an elder and physician from Laguna Beach, Calif., would succeed in his efforts to reconvene last summer's General Assembly to take on an issue which he claims could pull apart the PC(USA) — that of sessions and pastors which refuse to follow the denomination's constitutional standards, which limit ordination to those who practice fidelity if they're married or chastity if they're single.
By Dorothee Soëlle and Luise Schottroff
WJKP. 2002. 160 pp. Pb. $14.95.
0-664-22500-4
— Review by Gary Collins, Newport Beach, Calif.
Jesus of Nazareth by German theologians Dorothee Soëlle and Luise Schottroff provides a fine introduction to the feminist/liberationist view of Jesus, as well as fresh insights for those who have already had that introduction. Twenty-four gritty poems — nine from Soëlle — are spread through the text to inject into the scholarly narrative the authors' deep concern for the Earth's overlooked and exploited ones.
KANSAS CITY — During an all-day hearing here Monday, one lawyer said this case "will decide the future of our denomination," another said it's a test of whether there's any trust left in the church.
The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the highest court of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is expected to decide later this week whether, after months of high drama, the 214th General Assembly (2002) will meet again — maybe the week before the 215th General Assembly.
LOUISVILLE — As the Witherspoon Society — founded in 1973 and built upon the push-for-change energy of the 1960s — celebrates its 30th anniversary, some of its own members are thinking through what it means to be a progressive voice in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) with a nation preparing for war and a church divided against itself.
The most famous, the most influential, and, arguably, the most effective Presbyterian minister in America died Feb. 27. And the response of the American people was overwhelming.
The death of Fred Rogers, better known as Mr. Rogers, was front-page news in the New York Times and a prominent story on most network newscasts. Even this past Sunday’s New York Times arts section, almost two weeks after the fact, included a wonderful article headlined "What Mr. Rogers Could Have Taught Michael Jackson."
In recent weeks we have been discussing the renewal of our covenant with God and with another, that is, God's covenant of grace, in which God promises to be our God and we promise to be God's faithful people — and are enabled to be such solely by the grace of God.
Editor's note — Following is the Report of the Pastoral Committee appointed by the Presbyery of Northern New England to work with Christ church, Burlington, Vt. The report was accepted without change by voice vote at the presbytery's stated meeting on March 8. It is the final report of the presbytery's compliance under the GAPJC decision in the Londonderry case.
By Peter Gomes
Harper. 2002. 388 pp. Pb. $23.95. ISBN 0-06-000075-9
— Review by Lewis F. Galloway, Columbia, S.C.
The Good Life by Peter Gomes is a fresh presentation of the challenge to live a good life by practicing virtue. His book will give rise to much discussion about the crisis of purpose in North American higher education, the meaning of virtue and the nature of the good life.
KANSAS CITY — The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission will hear a complaint over whether the 214th General Assembly should be called back into session, but with only one defendant — Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel.
The trial is scheduled to begin March 17 in Kansas City. It's not clear whether, if the judicial commission were to rule against Abu-Akel, if there is still enough time to call the Assembly back into session before the next General Assembly — the 215th — opens for business in Denver May 24.
KANSAS CITY ‑- The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission is supposed
to decide by March 3 whether to move ahead with a complaint regarding the refusal of
top Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders to call last year's General Assembly back into
session.
Menaul School, a PC(USA)-affiliated secondary school in Albuquerque, N.M., is facing an economic crisis which must be resolved by April.
To continue operation, the school is seeking $550,000 in loans — $450,000 from the General Assembly and $100,000 from Southwest Synod. [Note — School officials had earlier told The Outlook that the GA request would be for $900,000. It has since been reduced.] The good news for the school is that the synod has approved a $200,000 loan. On the other hand, the GA committee that must recommend the larger loan does not meet until April 1.
KANSAS CITY — Katie Morrison got a lot of people's attention when she told reporters that she's lesbian, that she lives in a committed relationship with a longtime partner, and that to her way of thinking, chastity is not at all the same thing as celibacy. But Morrison, who was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in California in October 2001, told Redwoods Presbytery, when it was considering her ordination that fall, that she could comply with the requirement in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Constitution that those being ordained practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single.
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