First of all, what is this document? A Common Word Between Us and You (ACW, https://www.acommonword.com/) is an open letter written in October 2007 by 138 Muslim scholars, clerics, and intellectuals who unanimously came together for the first time since the days of the Prophet to declare the common ground between Christianity and Islam.
(ENI) — The first meeting at the Vatican of a Roman Catholic-Muslim Forum has affirmed the right of individuals and communities to practice their religion in private and in public, while also rejecting terrorism in the name of religion.
LOUISVILLE — Evan Silverstein, a veteran reporter who served the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for 10 years as senior reporter for the Presbyterian News Service, died Nov. 9 in his Louisville home, apparently of natural causes. He was 42.
MINNEAPOLIS – It can be hard sometimes to know what progress looks like.
At the Covenant Network of Presbyterians meeting in Minneapolis Nov. 6-8, which drew just over 400 people for worship, conversation, and organizing, certain realities nudged at the edges of the presentations.
His initial words seemed so harsh, but the others’ response was stunningly gracious. Now, together, they have become conversation partners, and an avenue toward peace may result.
The recent three-part series of Outlook articles by Erwin Barron has generated a number of letters to the editor and lit up..
Recently a colleague responded to a comment I made about the current economic situation by asking, “So, you’re saying that this economic..
Recently a colleague responded to a comment I made about the current economic situation by asking, “So, you’re saying that this economic..
Day-after reflections of an election may sound dated when you read them a couple weeks later. That being said, now that you’ve heard numerous pundits’ two cents’ worth, the mail delivers a mainline Presbyterian editor’s two cents’ worth. That is to say, I write as one who aims to obey God’s will as revealed in the inspired words of holy Scripture, as one who has a passion both to evangelize the world and to promote justice, as one who promotes the ministry of reconciliation and connectionalism, and as one who above all aims to glorify God. All this is motivated by living in the hope, the audacious hope, of the resurrection.
“I’m going to come close to preaching here,” confessed author and environmental activist Bill McKibben in his keynote address to the 11th annual Caring for Creation Conference on October 25 in Newport Beach, Calif. The conference was sponsored by Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment.
Editor’s Note: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) moderator of the 218th General Assembly, Bruce Reyes-Chow, recently sat down with writer Erin Dunigan to reflect on the first four months of his two-year term. Reyes-Chow, 39, is also pastor of Mission Bay Community Church, an innovative new church of San Francisco Presbytery that was recently named winner of a 2007 Sam and Helen Walton Award for outstanding new church development. He offers thoughts on his first months as moderator.
Editor’s note: This is the third installment of a three-part article. The first article, “Why do we Presbyterians continue to fight?” appeared in the Outlook issue of November 10. The second installment appeared in the November 17 issue.
Editor’s Note: Ben Comen, a young man with cerebral palsy, is easily the slowest competitor in any race he enters. But crowds gather to cheer him on. Sports Illustrated ran an article on Ben in its Oct. 23, 2003 issue; at that time he was a 16-year-old “slowest high school cross-country runner in America,” according to the article. Here is Ben’s perspective on his “love of the sport.”
Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our festal day.
With apologies due to William Carlos Williams for co-opting his famously brief, beautiful, and enigmatic poem, “The Red Wheelbarrow,” here is my sincere attempt at capturing just a wee bit of the essence of someone who has been abundantly blessed with God-given gifts — talents and traits that can only be described as sublime:
In many waits —
I haven’t known what I wait for
or even that I’m waiting.
Standing at the bus stop, she’d say,
attentive to 2 Peter 3:8b — never forget …
with the Lord “a day” can mean a thousand years
My soul was twice saved in a single week this past August. In a short span of seven days, I twice found myself in danger. On both occasions the youth of the church I serve rescued me.
When a congregation launches a Church Wellness Project, voices telling the old stories come first. Some are negative, some are fond reminiscences, some are reminders of “how we used to do things,” and some are one more try at getting an idea or need on the table.
JONESBORO, Ga. (ABP) -- The Georgia Baptist Convention has decided to refuse gifts from a historic member church that last year called..
(ABP) -- On Nov. 12, in a front-page story, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution broke the news that the Georgia Baptist Convention has approved a new policy giving GBC executives the freedom to refuse donations from churches it finds to be out of step with Southern Baptist beliefs. The policy move is aimed (for now) at First Baptist Church Decatur, because it called a woman, Julie Pennington-Russell, to serve as pastor.
A hymn for “Christ the King” Sunday, November 23
Whatever You Do
ST. DENIO 11.11.11.11 (“Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise”)
Text by Carolyn Gillette
Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany: Liturgies and Prayers for Public Worship, by Brian Wren. WJKP, 2008. Pb., 230 pp. $29.95.
Wren offers a great gift for worship planners and leaders in this collection of litanies and prayers, sung refrains, and orders for special services. Elements of worship are tied to the texts of the Revised Common Lectionary. Includes a CD-ROM of the book’s contents.
They began, like the Gospel story itself, with a nativity scene. John Mack Walker carved wood along the way the Gospel story went, through scenes and stories in the life of Christ, until finally there were sixty carvings
Twenty-four of his beautiful woodcarvings are now the centerpiece of displays at the Presbyterian Heritage Center at Montreat, N.C.
My son’s menacing mercy split followers—
cleaving them as a plow tears earth to hold seed—
foes too—as a hammer bursts rock to shard.
With his kind cunning he sliced shackles of
a friend’s grave-swaddling, then cut a broad swath
in holy courts, paring harsh pretenders.
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