What’s so great about camps and conference centers? In three words, they make converts.
Tribes are good. Whether we speak of them literally – like Cherokee and Navajo – or figuratively – like family, prayer group, congregation, labor union, alumni club, softball team, or political party – they provide us circles of friendship, of belonging, of learning. Tribes teach community values and reinforce them via tribal rituals.
My grandkids have headed down our snow-covered driveway just in time for me to pull together this Christmastide editorial you will read in late January about summertime with children.
If the 1970s were the “Me Generation“ years and the 80s called “The Decade of Greed,” and the 90s the “Decade of dot.coms,” what about the 00s – what BBC dubbed the “noughties”? What lies ahead for people of faith as they do mission in the ensuing twenty-teens?
As 2010 passes the baton to 2011, we take a few moments to look back, to wring our hands over the year’s disappointments, to lift holy hands in praise for the year’s triumphs.
In all due respect to John Buchanan, my Presbyterian ministerial and editorial-writing colleague serving in the Windy City, when I hear the name Ernie Banks, I don’t immediately think of the shortstop and first baseman known as “Mr. Cub.” Sure, that Banks was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1977.
The local folks happened to be the first to cast their votes, so I showed up to observe.
Editor’s Note: Providing editorial commentary in this 2010 Fall Book issue is Roy W. Howard, pastor of St. Mark Church in Rockville, Md., and Outlook book editor.
The old-timers, they are a-changin’. At least they’re dismantling stereotypes of the golden years. Good for them. Good for all of us.
Greetings from University of the Ozarks in sunny, downtown Clarksville, Ark.
Why in the world would you set aside a whole month to appreciate your pastor? How many of us — other than athletes and actors — hear “well done” on the way out of work each week … from a whole group of people … and after only an hour’s work?
The Park51 Islamic center (inaccurately called the Ground Zero mosque) controversy has constructed the ultimate caricature of caricatures.
So Anne Rice — vampire novelist turned recommitted, Jesus-loving Christian — has quit the church, and the blogosphere has gone viral. What’s the big deal? Everybody’s doing it.
They need no exodus who dwell in the Promised Land.
The city of Minneapolis could not have been more welcoming to the two or three thousand Presbyterians who gathered for the 219th General Assembly. But her quiet twin brother, St. Paul, also threw open his arms of welcome.
But, would I want to live there? Thousands of Jewish settlers from the United States and Europe do. So do the Palestinians who have been there for four millennia or more.
So it’s time to cast votes for or against the proposed new Form of Government (see p. 16). Yea or nay?
Six candidates. Five ministers and one elder are standing for election to become Moderator of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
When an interim pastor showed up for work at a congregation in Queens, a borough of New York City, she thought the congregation had already died.
Will it play in Peoria?”
The report going to the General Assembly cuts to the quick. It affirms the denomination’s determination to be faithful to the teachings of Scripture and the Reformed tradition, but it admits that the effort to define what constitutes such faithfulness “has created significant debates among us.” It laments, “These debates (have) both clouded understanding of our mission and inhibited cooperative participation in it.”
Today’s my birthday. Forty years young, spiritually speaking.
If ever I were totally convinced and totally unconvinced, it’s right here and right now: on the matter of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) speaking out regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
We’re winning. Christians in the Great State of Texas have taken the majority of seats on the state’s Board of Education, and they are re-writing the curriculum for social studies courses (final vote in May).
I accepted the call to pastoral ministry with humbled thrill. But when reality set in, I found myself dreading the thought of having to officiate at funerals. For the past four years writing, editing, and publishing have separated me from regular congregational leadership duties, and I find myself missing most the pastoral practice of officiating at funerals.
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