Looking radically outward
I figure 1957 was the high-water mark of mainline Protestantism in the U.S. Although mainline churches kept growing until 1965, it..
Latest Posts
Calendar Check – November 2014
Nov. 2-5 Richmond, Va. Celebrating 100 years of the Assembly’s Training School for Lay Workers and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education. Union Presbyterian Seminary. atspscecentennial.org Nov...
John Chalmers
“Recovery and healing [are] a soul searching matter and, for me, that is deeply spiritual — so no quick fix. Instead, it..
Tough places to be these days
Tough places to be these days: Mission co-worker Nadia Ayoub is working with Roma children in the Ukraine. Steve and Cinda Gorman..
A third grade girl…
A third grade girl in a Sunday school class in Oregon interrupted the teacher’s Bible story to ask a question. “If Jesus..
From my study window (50 years ago — October 26, 1964)
“‘I don’t want to be obligated to anyone. If you receive favors from people, that puts you in their debt.” Reflecting theologically,..
Deceased (from the Oct. 27, 2014 issue)
Donna Louise Alora, 71, March 10, Boise, Idaho Joseph Lee Barr, 84, March 28, Liberty, Kan. Elmon H. Brown, 80, Jan. 11,..
Honorably retired (from the Oct. 27, 2014 issue)
George B. Antonakos, from associate pastor, Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore Donald M. Bolls, from pastor, Aspinwall Presbyterian Church, Aspinwall, Pa. Alvin Bridges,..
Transitions (from the Oct. 27, 2014 issue)
Jack Cabaness, from pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Westminster, Colo., to pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Katonah, N.Y. Susan Friedl, to interim pastor, Calvary..
Anniversaries (from the Oct. 27, 2014 issue)
First Presbyterian Church, Effingham, Ill., 150 years Highland Presbyterian Church, Street, Md., 125 years
Frank Schaefer wins final reinstatement with Methodists
(RNS) Seven years after officiating at the wedding of his gay son, the Rev. Frank Schaefer has been reinstated as a clergyman..
Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program (PILP) Names Jim Rissler President
LOUISVILLE (PNS) The Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program (PILP) board of directors has named James G. “Jim” Rissler as its next President & Chief..
New WCRC General Secretary stresses solidarity to bring change
LOUISVILLE (PNS) One of the main goals the Reverend Christopher Ferguson has as the new general secretary of the World Communion of Reformed..
Aja leaving OGA position
LOUISVILLE (PNS) Veteran Office of the General Assembly (OGA) staffer Loyda Puig Aja has announced her resignation as director of Ecclesial Ministry..
Idaho city: Chapel owners exempt from discrimination law
(RNS) Husband-and-wife Pentecostal ministers who own a wedding chapel in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, refused to marry same-sex couples after a recent court..
Is California forcing churches to pay for abortions?
(RNS) Religious groups are battling the state of California over whether employee health insurance plans require them to pay for abortions and some..
Secularism grows as more U.S. Christians turn ‘churchless’
(RNS) If you’re dismayed that one in five Americans (20 percent) are “nones” — people who claim no particular religious identity —..
Was, is and is to come
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” The apostle John’s vision of God’s infinitude is..
God wasn’t waiting there for me
I have often wondered if, in the two days following Christ’s crucifixion, Peter and James and John – the three whom Jesus..
Film in review – “The Judge”
In the end, it's about fathers and sons. Which means that it's complicated. The judge is Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall) who's..
Film in review – “The Best of Me”
With a movie based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, you expect romance. And in “The Best of Me,” that’s exactly what you..
Film in review – “John Wick”
This premise has been done before and very recently. In “The Equalizer,” Denzel Washington played a former assassin who decides to come..
Film in review – “St. Vincent”
Bill Murray has played this role before: the grouchy, irascible selfish hedonist, the heir apparent to Walter Matthau as the prototypical “Grumpy..
Pope Francis blasts supermax prisons as ‘torture’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis said Thursday (Oct. 23) that keeping inmates isolated in maximum security prisons is “a form of torture,”..
God and the Gay Christian
by Matthew Vines Convergent Books, New York, N.Y. 224 pages REVIEWED BY JONATHAN SAUR When I was 20 years old, I asked..
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