While attending a preaching conference in Atlanta last year, I had the opportunity to visit the Ebeneezer Baptist Church and the National Park Service grounds that are dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s memory. Yet as I strolled through the streets there and gazed at the adjacent neighborhood, I was forced to wonder: Had Dr. King’s dream truly come to fruition?
I have the privilege of serving Jesus as the president of the University of Dubuque, a Presbyterian-related college and theological seminary that,..
These are cynical times, and this is supposed to be a season of hope.
We have the president of the United States flying off in fierce secrecy at Thanksgiving to greet the American troops in Iraq — an unabashedly Hollywood patriotic moment — followed almost immediately by more deaths of more soldiers far from home.
Wise men from afar, angels visiting shepherds in the night, a child cradled in a manger — through what lens shall these stories be viewed? Are they fact or fiction? Kenneth Bailey reflects.
Christmas is both "the best of times" and "the worst of times." It is best when its spirit kindles the light of Christ’s compassion and love in the hearts of believers. It is worst when it brings to mind the loneliness, melancholy and sorrow that is felt by all who grieve their losses, unable to touch the hands and faces of those whom they once loved. It is worst, too, for those whose life at the margins, in deprivation, impoverishment and disenfranchisement, casts a long shadow upon the future.
Being now among their number, I am nevertheless not especially fond of old people. That is, I object mightily to church activities that separate the old from the young, the married from the single, the male from the female. Naturally, if the church camp has only one shower, segregation delivers the U.S. Male from strain to eye and whiplash to the neck. However, in general segregation is a bad idea because families, including the family of God, are by nature, and by nature's God, multigenerational.
The opinion piece entitled, "Whose Church Is It Anyway?" is one of the most significant articles written recently for all Presbyterians to consider. In this brief article the author, whose name was withheld, outlines the pattern of a "whisper campaign" that undermines many new pastorates and forces new pastors to leave before real ministry can ever begin. This occurs at great spiritual and financial cost to minister, congregation and presbytery alike.
In perhaps the most famous story in the New Testament, a lawyer stands up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" We all know the answer he gets: Love God with everything you’ve got, and love your neighbor as yourself. "Do this, and you will live," replies our great Christ.
In late October the Presbyterian Lay Committee issued what it called "A Declaration of Conscience." It takes that group’s traditional "you can’t trust Louisville" stand a bit further. I understand they say it's not a call to withhold funds altogether, but when they say that GA mission and per capita budgets are not "worthy of support," and ask sessions to prayerfully consider redirecting contributions elsewhere, it sure sounds like "Don’t give your money to the PC(USA)."
According to our Constitution, the office of deacon is primarily involved with giving since it is defined as one of "sympathy, witness and service after the example of Jesus Christ." "It is the duty of deacons, first of all, to minister to those who are in need, to the sick, to the friendless, and to any who may be in distress both within and without the community of faith" (G-6.0401-0402).
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