LOUISVILLE (PNS) Ruling Elder Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri, co-moderator of the 223rd General Assembly, told the 110 or so presbytery and synod moderators attending the Moderators’ Conference Friday that the way she understands her favorite chapter in the Bible – Romans 8 – has understandably changed and deepened since she was a teenager in a new member class at her church in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Paul’s words to the church in Rome are familiar to most Christians: “If God is for us, who is against us?” “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Except that young Vilmarie saw those as personal promises. The co-moderator said she now gives the verses a literal read, with an emphasis on the plural pronouns that are on the page, not the singular ones that spoke directly to her. “Sometimes you’ve just got to sit down and scrutinize the text,” she preached during a joyous opening worship service, … [Read more...]
Princeton seminary report examines its historical connection to slavery
(PNS) Work on the Princeton Seminary and Slavery report began in the spring of 2016. The Rev. Dr. M. Craig Barnes was in his third year as president — and wanted to make more progress in seminary conversations on race. “Some thought race was an optional concern, for people of color,” Barnes said. “Others didn’t want the conversations to be too binary” — expressing concern for Latino and Asian American students. With racial tension rising in the country, Barnes felt it was critical for Princeton seminary, a residential campus where 40 percent of its 450 students are nonwhite, to deal with its story of race. So he commissioned a committee of faculty and administrators to examine Princeton’s historic connections to slavery. For more than two years the committee met regularly. When its 115-page research report was released in October, the committee had examined: The relationship of the seminary’s founders to slavery Construction and finance of the facilities … [Read more...]
Lutheran comfort dogs bring compassion, care during disasters
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (RNS) — Early on the morning of Nov. 8, Bonnie Fear awoke at her home in Colorado to a two-word text message from Rich Martin, director of K-9 Ministries for Lutheran Church Charities in Chicago. “Call me.” Something terrible had happened, and Fear knew she was about to be deployed to wherever it was. In no time, Fear was on a plane headed to Los Angeles, along with Cubby, the 4-year-old golden retriever she handles for the Lutheran Comfort Dog Ministry, and their ministry partner Carol Salander. Hours earlier, a mass shooting at the Borderline Bar and Grill in suburban Thousand Oaks had claimed the lives of a dozen people, including students from California Lutheran and Pepperdine universities. Cubby and her handlers are part of the Lutheran Comfort Dog Ministry run by Lutheran Church Charities of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. The ministry has more than 130 specially trained golden retrievers in 20 states, most of them owned and cared for by … [Read more...]
Seminaries partner with prisons to offer inmates new life as ministers
NASHVILLE, N.C. (RNS) — Inside a squat cinderblock building on the grounds of Nash Correctional Institution, 24 inmates are hunched over white plastic tables listening to Professor James Dew explain how God is omnipotent and omniscient. More than half of the men listening are serving life sentences for murder, armed robbery and other offenses. The rest have at least 12 years left to serve. But Dew is not preaching to his audience as he paces the room posing questions about whether God can sin (No) or know people’s emotions (there’s disagreement, but most Christians say yes). He is teaching theology to prospective ministers. The prisoners jotting notes, calling up documents on closed-circuit laptops or asking Dew questions of their own are earning four-year bachelor’s degrees in pastoral ministry from the College at Southeastern, the undergraduate school of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in nearby Wake Forest. Dew’s class is part of a new niche in prison … [Read more...]
National and international church leaders urge churches to engage with political leaders
LOUISVILLE (OGA) Representatives from the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches are urging faith groups to engage with their political leaders. Jim Winkler, president of the national council, and Dr. Peter Prove, executive director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, appeared Monday on Coffee with the Clerk, a weekly Facebook Live broadcast with the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Winkler and Prove joined Nelson in Washington, D.C., to discuss the impact of the recent election results and discuss the role of various faiths in the work on Capitol Hill. Prove and Winkler say efforts to speak with members of the Trump administration have not been easy. (Left to Right) Dr. Peter Prove, with the World Council of Churches, and Jim Winkler, National Council of Churches, joined the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, for the Facebook Live broadcast of Coffee with the Clerk in Washington, … [Read more...]
Regarding ruling elders: Letting God Be God in the Church
(OGA) The struggle to be in control is a kind of addiction that is part of our fallen human nature. Even the most passionate lovers of God must deal with layer upon layer of what spiritual writer, Thomas Merton, called the “False Self.” This is the self that is always protecting and building up ourselves. It is part of our fallen nature to always be taking care of those systems, people, and things that give us what we want, that make us feel comfortable and happy. When we stubbornly insist on our own way it is obvious that we are not centered on God. But a deeper truth is that even when we spend our time, energy, and money on the needs and wants of others, our False Self is ready to see what’s in it for us. Many psychologists can tell stories of people who on the outside seemed to be selfless servants of others, but on the inside were driven by desperate needs to manipulate, please, and control. When we believe we are in control of things, we feel safe. When we face the reality that … [Read more...]
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