Many within congregations of today’s Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will have heard of John Calvin’s metaphor for Holy Scripture as “spectacles.” Often in passing reference, the basic premise is that the words of the Bible allow us to see clearly the world around us as God intended. Words like sola scriptura are added to cement the notion that Christian truth is found in God’s Word, as read in the Holy Bible.
Much has been written, printed, and promoted in recent years on just how to effectively address the continuing drop in membership across the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — a dilemma that has progressively gripped the denomination for several years now. Page upon page are cluttered with flowing verbiage on just how congregations can, through spiritual renewal and transformation, become sufficiently infused with a spiritual fire and buzz-word theology to stem this dwindling membership crisis and stabilize these staid, established congregations from further erosion.
A friend and colleague in ministry with whom I share a number of theological and cultural differences recently commented that I was most surely a “liberal” and that we would never agree on certain things that he held of deep value as a “conservative.”
William C. Placher, the LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., passed away unexpectedly Nov. 30 in Minnesota at age 60. At the time of his death, Placher was on leave from Wabash and was serving a one-year appointment as the Kilian McDonnell Writer-In-Residence at the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn.
Outlook Editor Jack Haberer recently interviewed Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons about his thoughts looking back at the year 2008 and ahead to 2009. Parsons was elected to the stated clerk position at the 2008 General Assembly in San Jose.
(RNS) Barack Obama may have chosen Joe Biden, and John McCain may have turned to Sarah Palin, but in the end the most sought-after running mate in the 2008 campaign never appeared on a single ballot.
A 10-minute preview of “Voices of Christmas from the National Council of Churches,” the CBS Christmas Eve special celebrating the 100th anniversary of the NCC, can be found on YouTube.
It’s a tradition that many Presbyterian churches don’t follow – but one with a strong theological vision.
While many folks celebrate New Year’s Eve with champagne and parties, or an evening around the TV with a bowl of popcorn, some Christians choose to wave in the New Year at church.
it's getting pretty late,
at the bottom of the driveways
the naked trees await,
the tinsel has been vacuumed
from the carpet and the chair,
BETHLEHEM (ENI) — Unemployment has shrunk to 23 percent and hotel capacity is often around 100 percent these days, so things are looking up for Bethlehem says the head of the city's chamber of commerce and industry board.
"While some may gasp at the mention of 23 percent unemployment, when we have witnessed 45 percent unemployment, 23 percent is an improvement," said Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce and Industry chairperson, Samir Hazboun, at a recent meeting with journalists.
GENEVA (ENI) — Sixty years ago, 147 churches met in Amsterdam to bring into being the World Council of Churches, which is now the world's largest Christian grouping. Today, the organization exists in a world where the landscape for Christianity and other faiths is changing.
At a service at the beginning of 2008 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the WCC, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I, who is often considered the spiritual leader of Christians from the Orthodox tradition, said churches should be prepared to confront their differences honestly, and to examine them in the light of the Scriptures.
University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Ark., has received a $800,000 gift from the Rogers Foundation in Fairfax, Va., to help expand and renovate its student center.
DUBUQUE, IOWA — The John Knox Presbytery voted here Nov.18 to enroll as a candidate for ministry an inquirer who declared a scruple to the denomination’s ordination standards.
c. 2007 Religion News Service
Being a child of the 60s, my theology was shaped by those great British theologians, The Beatles, who announced good tidings of great joy: “All you need is love,” followed by “Love, love me do, you know I love you” and “She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah.”
Always we are chasing words, and always
words recede.
But the greatest experiences are those for
which we have no expression.1
(ENI) — A government-backed independent U.S. commission has recommended that Iraq be designated "a country of particular concern" for what it calls "ongoing, severe abuse of religious freedom".
(ABP) -- A majority of American Christians believe that at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life, says a new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
(ENI)--U.S. president-elect Barack Obama has defended his selection of evangelical leader and best-selling author Rick Warren to deliver the prayer at his 20 January inauguration, a move criticized by some gay groups and supporters of abortion rights, saying Warren opposes what they stand for.
(ENI)--The Southern Africa Catholic Bishops' Conference has called on all nations to stop colluding with Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe who is trying to stay on as president of his country that has been reduced to pauper status under his rule.
LOUISVILLE — Terri Bate, a veteran fundraiser who has worked for such non-profit organizations as Outward Bound and Habitat for Humanity, has joined the staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s General Assembly Council as the director of funds development ministry.
(ENI) -- Israeli archaeologists at Jerusalem's Hebrew University are working on what they believe is further proof that a site uncovered in 2007 is the tomb of King Herod, the king of Judea, whose actions are noted in New Testament texts of the Bible.
LEAWOOD, Kansas — A Baptist pastor thinks he has a solution to the dilemma about whether it's more appropriate to say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" in secular settings like department stores.
(PNS) Carl H. Geores, a champion for rural and small church ministry in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for more than 50 years, died at his home in Monmouth, Maine, Dec.15. He was 86.
(PNS) Bruce Larson, who served as pastor of Seattle’s University Church from 1980-1990 and then joined Robert Schuller as co-pastor of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif., died Dec. 15 at age 83. He had suffered for a number of years with Parkinson’s Disease.
(ENI) — Lutheran World Federation General Secretary Ishmael Noko, has in a letter to Lutheran church leaders in southern Africa expressed anguish and outrage over the increasingly worsening crisis in Zimbabwe.
On Robert Mugabe's current leadership role in the country, Noko noted that while many Zimbabweans paid the ultimate price during the struggle for freedom from colonial rule, the "independent government that they fought for has turned liberation into repression, and finally into calamity."
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