70 years ago — February 3,1947 “Protestant missionaries newly returned to Japan celebrated the fifth anniversary of Pearl Harbor by spending the afternoon and evening discussing the changed conditions under which they resume their work. … Eighty-four had been cleared with SCAP (… Supreme Command for the Allied Powers, the military government of Japan) and it is hoped that by soon after Christmas a hundred may be on the ground. Not quite as many Catholic missionaries have been cleared. All who are allowed back now must have had previous experience in Japan, speak the language and be able to show that they have available adequate shelter, food and support.” Changes in post-war Japan have made it a critical mission field. Japanese who embrace Christianity are no longer persecuted. Another change has been the union of many of the Protestant churches into one – the Kyodan. “They believe that it was one of the strange works of God’s purpose that united them in one church, and they mean to … [Read more...]

60 years ago — January 7,1957 “Dr. Deborah Coggins, who was recently put out as health officer for Madison County, Florida, joined her husband in the practice of medicine in Madison at the beginning of the new year. … Dr. Coggins lost her job because she had lunch one day in a private dining room with two nurses whose work she supervised. One of them was a Negro. They met to try to deal with the critical midwife situation that exists in Madison County where there are not enough doctors to care for the delivery of babies being born there.” The Cogginses are Presbyterians and many in the church took a stand in support of them including Robert Browning (a county health educator) and T.C. Merchant Jr. of the local newspaper. Alas, Browning was fired from his job for his stand and the newspaper withstood pressures. Merchant’s plea in print stood on the fundamental American right to exercise freedom of speech: “If this is destroyed for anyone, he said, it is endangered for … [Read more...]

50 years ago — December 19, 1966 The three wise men on their journey home from Bethlehem discuss what they have witnessed. Doubts and despair fill their minds. “That family is very poor. … Long before the frankincense has lost its fragrance and the myrrh its perfume, the gold will all be gone. … One cannot be a king without wealth.” And without wealth, how can one be wise? It takes money to gain an education. It’s true he is of the royal line, but but a royal line of what? “Of a slave people, without hope of winning again the land of their fathers.” The young camel driver spoke up with wisdom to these three. “What if it is God who has so willed it? His ways are not as our ways. What if God has so chosen, that out of weakness and poverty, in the face of the power and glory of the nations, out of the night of man’s despair, a new kingdom shall rise, not made with hands? ... What if now God speaks to us in a child – what if this be his child?” From “Three unwise men” by Kenneth J. … [Read more...]

40 years ago — December 6, 1976 “Ours is not basically a conflict over religion; certainly it is not one between the Catholic and Protestant churches. It is a conflict over politics, over differing claims to national identity and democratic liberties, whether looked at from the viewpoint of the Protestant majority or the Catholic minority. There is, indeed, a religious aspect to the conflict, arising from the … past history, the denominational divide largely coincides with the national, cultural and social divisions of the population. We may compare this with the situation in Palestine or Cyprus. They also have religious differences, but there is much more than those in their conflicts. … [In Ireland] it is not a simple internal struggle … but rather a more old-fashioned nationalistic one between historic communities who are occupying the same territories and using the religious labels to identify themselves.” Violence has been used by various groups to intimate people. “Yet the … [Read more...]

30 years ago — November 17, 1986 “Despite the religious origin of a day of thanksgiving, the dates for celebrating it, in this part of the world at least, are determined by secular authorities. … This was not always the case. … Farmers … were tied to a cycle of planting and harvesting, and when the harvest were good they and the people dependent upon them for food celebrated with festivals of thanksgiving.” Our thanksgiving traditions are tied to the events of Massachusetts and Virginia and the struggles of the early colonists to survive. Out of the 101 pilgrims at Plymouth, 44 died that first winter. They “knew as they planted crops that spring that without a good harvest few of them would survive the following winter. The first harvest was not spectacular, but it was adequate, and when it was completed, their governor, William Bradford, declared a day of thanksgiving and prayer. … They lived in a time and place when it was easier to realize how dependent we are on God’s … [Read more...]

20 years ago — Nov. 18, 1996 “This year we are celebrating 40 years of ordination of women to the ministry of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In the life of the church that isn’t a very long time. However, it is a generation. A great deal has changed within the church during that time. … I dream of a day when all children will feel that they can explore any calling from God. Children who experience various models in ministry — women and men, ministers and lay people, white and racial ethnic — see that God calls all types of people to service … . My hope for the future of the church is not centered on women in ministry, but on people doing ministry. … Because church leaders in the 1950s … listened to God speaking to them and changed their way of thinking; because Margaret Towner and others were willing to follow God’s call … our Presbyterian Church has grown and expanded and matured.” Guest Editorial “My Hope for the Future of the Church” by Caroline … [Read more...]