The internal world of piety: A study of Matt 6:1-6

The opening of the season of Lent is an appropriate moment in which to reflect on Jesus' discussion of financial gifts and prayer. It appears in a trilogy that includes fasting. With the lectionary, we will focus on the first two of this trilogy.

The amazing make up of this short list of pious acts strikes us first. Surprisingly, there is no mention of the temple or of its sacrifices. This passage is thus in the same tradition with Hosea 6:6 which reads, For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice. It is also in harmony with Stephen in Acts 7:48 where he affirms, The Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands (Acts 7:47).

Voices

The temptation of Jesus

The stories in the Gospels are best understood as history theologically interpreted. There is history -- something happened. There is theological interpretation -- the Gospel authors were not mere recorders of the tradition but also commentators on the stories they passed on to their readers.

Many different approaches have been taken to the study of the temptations of Jesus. The stories themselves, like other Gospel stories, can be likened to three great diamonds that need to be examined and slowly turned in order to appreciate the beauty of the light reflected from their various facets. Very briefly, we ill look at a few options for interpretation.

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Evangelicals to media: Stop pigeonholing us

Exit polls only ask Republicans faith question "Are you an evangelical?"

Prominent evangelical leaders have called on media outlets to correct flaws in their presidential primary exit polls by asking only Republicans that question. The result is "pigeon-holing evangelicals as beholden to the Republican Party," according to their letter made public today.

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PC (USA) Pakistan missionaries safe after latest bombing in Lahore

LOUISVILLE -- All Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission personnel in Pakistan are reported safe after the latest bombing in Lahore, which killed at least 22 people and injured scores more today (Jan. 10).

Outlook Reporting

Guest Commentary: Mike Huckabee’s charm doesn’t convert Jimmy Carter

Presidential contender Mike Huckabee, an ordained preacher in the Southern Baptist Convention, adores its theology. Born-again Jimmy Carter deplores it. Carter severed Southern Baptist ties in which he was raised because some leaders snarled like roaring lions at other Christians. Recruiting former president Bill Clinton, another Southern Baptist, Carter has cobbled together a coalition of Christians disgruntled with a denomination that keeps women in their place, strictly behind their men.

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Ishmael Beah shows what hope can do

MONTREAT, N.C. -- If Hope* ... *has a voice, as the theme of the conference went, then 800 students attending the College Conference at Montreat in western North Carolina got to encounter as vivid an example as they might ever hear or see on January 5. Ishmael Beah, author of the best-selling A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, showcased for the students how a wrecked child's life had been turned from killer to humanitarian, thanks to the efforts of a few ordinary radicals.

Beah delivered a plenary address in the morning and responded to questions in an afternoon session. In his address, he told his story in two chapters: his old life and his new life. They couldn't be more different. The old life took shape when a band of young rebels engaged in his nation's civil war arrived in his small Sierra Leone town. Soon this 12-year- old was far away from his home and parents, toting an AK-47, taking drugs (marijuana, amphetamines, and a toxic mix of cocaine and gunpowder), wandering around with a band of trained teen and pre-teen hoodlums. He cannot count the number of people he killed in the ensuing two years. He had become a brutal killing machine.

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An ever-present witness: A message to the PC(USA) from the General Assembly stated clerk

LOUISVILLE -- As I write this column, the Iowa caucuses are set to take place. What seems to be the longest Presidential campaign ever is about to enter an important stage as voters begin to make public their choice for the person who will fill the Oval Office next January.

As negative as I fear the campaign will most likely become before it's over, it pales drastically in comparison to other parts of the world that are also in election seasons.

The assassination of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto just days before a scheduled election is one heart-wrenching example. The violence has ended, according to PC(USA) mission coworkers Robert Johnson, Jr. and Marianne Vermeer, but the tension and uncertainty continue.

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George F. Barber III resigning Montreat Conference Center presidency

MONTREAT -- George F. Barber III announced today his resignation as president of the Montreat Conference Center effective February 15. He will be available for consultation through April 30.

In his resignation letter, Barber said that he and his wife, Wanda, "feel we have completed the chapter of leadership God intended us to bring here and are confident that it is time for us to move on. We are excited about the new phase and potential for our lives."

Editorials

True Believers

One thing you can say about Pope Benedict XVI: he really believes this stuff! The paper, "Responses to Some Questions Regarding Certain Aspects of the Doctrine on the Church," proclaimed last June that all the world needs to hear, believe, and obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as articulated by the Roman Catholic Church.

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Vatican tells missionaries good works aren’t enough

VATICAN CITY -- Roman Catholic missionaries should aim to win souls and not restrict themselves to humanitarian good works, the Vatican said Dec. 14.

A new 19-page document, which was personally approved by Pope Benedict XVI, draws on a controversial Vatican declaration he issued in 2000 that asserted Catholics alone have "the fullness of the means of salvation."

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Grassley says no hearings on ministry financing, subpoenas planned

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who is investigating the finances of six prominent evangelical ministries, said Dec. 7 he doesn't plan to hold hearings on any individual ministry and hopes he won't have to subpoena any of them.

But in response to critics who wonder if his investigation into alleged lavish spending is too broad, Grassley said he simply expects tax-exempt ministries to follow the law.

"I think their fear is that we're going to get involved in doctrine, in the internal teachings of the church," said Grassley, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, in an interview. "That's none of my business.

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Sweden gears up for interfaith climate summit in 2008

Nusa Dua, Indonesia (ENI) -- The (Lutheran) Church of Sweden says it is to convene an interfaith climate summit in Uppsala, Sweden immediately before a United Nations climate change conference in Poland in 2008.

"On the basis of my experience here in Bali, I am all the more convinced this kind of initiative is absolutely urgent," the Rev. Henrik Grape, sustainable development officer at the Church of Sweden told Ecumenical News International, during the final stages of the December 3-14 UN climate change talks in Bali, Indonesia.

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Dismissal due to differences, says U.S. Methodist leader

New York, (ENI) -- The former head of the United Methodist Church's main ecumenical and inter-religious agency says his recent dismissal was due to disagreements over the future direction the body should take.

"They didn't agree with my vision or my ability to bring it forward," Larry Pickens said of his December 5 dismissal as head of the denomination's General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, a post he had held since 2004.

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US government honors Zimbabwe pastor who is HIV-positive

Harare, (ENI) -- The United States government has honored Maxwell Kapachawo, the first Zimbabwean religious leader to publicly disclose his HIV-positive status through the use of radio and television, by conferring him with the "award for Breakers of Silence."

"Kapachawo's actions and interventions have significantly contributed to breaking the silence around HIV and AIDS in the Church," the US ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, said while presenting the award to the 34-year-old pastor and others engaged in the fight against the pandemic.

Voices

Presbyterian camps/conferences movement celebrates 100 years

As Presbyterians celebrate the 100th anniversary of camp and conference ministry in 2008, one trend they're noticing is towards diversity. While there isn't any shortage of the traditional campfires and canoeing, there's also a move towards innovative programming that builds on the passions and strengths of particular locations.

At Calvin Center near Atlanta, for example, people who want to learn more about international mission work -- often in preparation for short-term mission trips -- come to its "Global Village," where they live in conditions designed to represent what they would find in Haiti, Nicaragua, Kenya, Palestine, or a barrio.

Voices

Presbyterian camp executive reflects on camps’ impacts

Peter Surgenor, 59, is a Presbyterian minister who's just been elected to a three-year term as president of the American Camp Association. He's executive director of the Holmes Presbyterian Camp & Conference Center in upstate New York, which is run by the presbyteries of Hudson River, Long Island, and New York City.

And he's a man who can trace the history of church camps from the time when volunteers did most of the work and donated most of the food to keep costs down, to an era when camps have become accustomed to multiple streams of income.

Voices

20 minutes with Joel Winchip

Editor's Note: In September 2007, Joel Winchip became the first executive director of the Presbyterian Camp and Conference Center Association. He recently sat down to talk with Outlook editor Jack Haberer about the state of Christian camping and about Joel's new role.

JH: What is the current state of Presbyterian camp and conference ministry?

JW: It's going to be a big year for camp and conference centers in our denomination. We'll be celebrating 100 years of Presbyterian camp and conference ministry, so it's a great time to look back on how this ministry has touched our lives through the history of the Presbyterian Church.

Voices

Stony Point: Iona on the Hudson?

Just a half-hour's ride from the concrete and steel of New York City, Stony Point Conference Center welcomes Presbyterians to the Hudson River Valley. But its serene appearance shrouds a season of turmoil as it struggles to formulate a future for significant mission.

Voices

Shining

This orb that drew us far across the ancient dark,

whose radiance was, at times, a comfort,

other times, it seemed, a mocking challenge,

Voices

A playground “creation”

What began two years ago as a simple notion -- replace an aging play structure at Westminster Woods Camp & Conference Center in Occidental, Calif. -- became an unprecedented venture that reunited, redefined, and reinvigorated the community of the camp's supporters.

After raising more than $100,000 for a new, one-of-a-kind playground, kids, teens, young adults, parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents came to The Woods in last October for a five-day build process that was both energizing and exhausting. Through hard rain, fog, cool evenings and colder mornings, the roughly 300-person volunteer brigade persevered and created a unique play structure that will be a centerpiece of the camp's ministry for years to come.

Voices

MICAH: Peace mission to body and soul

Church mission projects are not uncommon. You can walk into almost any church in America, glance at its bulletin board, scan the church newsletter, or have a brief conversation with the pastor as you're walking out of the worship service and quickly find out the various projects it supports.

But not all mission projects are equal. Some demand an enormous amount of energy from the church while others actually give life and energy. Some appear wonderful to the casual observer but secretly inflict pain and stress on those in charge while other mission projects mysteriously seem to run themselves. Some projects that should have been buried years ago continue to be repaired and kept on life support at great

Voices

Students’ spiritual interests rise, worshipping drops

(RNS) Though college students' attendance at worship services declines, their interest in spiritual matters grows during their time on campus, a new UCLA study shows.

UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute compared the views of students who were freshmen in the fall of 2004 with the same students' thoughts in the spring of 2007, when they were juniors.

Voices

Restoring the deaconate

In the cacophony of issues before the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today, there is one that has not been reviewed with sufficient care. And as the denomination finds its administrative clothes too big, this particular unsung cause will, with the grace of God, add healthy girth to the corpus ecclesial.

The neglected song whose sweet melody needs to be heard throughout the church, from the local congregations to the denominational headquarters, is the song of the diaconate.

Voices

PHEWA awards deadline Feb. 15

(PNS) The Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA) is seeking nominations for four ministry awards that will be celebrated during the 218th General Assembly in San Jose, Calif. next June. Deadline for nominations is Feb. 15.

They include:

The Presbyterian Association for Community Transformation (PACT) Award recognizes a congregation that either through ecumenical or interfaith community ministry or a special project of the congregation, has been faithful and creative in its ministry to and with its community.

Voices

The “I’s” have it, maybe

My formal service in the Christian community began during my first year in college. It included preaching, evangelistic outreach, and ministry to boys at risk on the streets of Philadelphia, Pa. In the intervening 44 years, I made an extensive study and assessment of young men engaged in turf wars in urban areas, the causes of civil strife, and most especially, the nature of conflict in the church. The following article, dedicated primarily to the Protestant sector of the church, summarizes some of my findings.

Identity

Individuals and groups of people acquire a core operational identity that is formed out of a variety of factors such as history, culture, ideology, experience, and personal characteristics. While conscious choice has a role in ultimately defining identity, most of it is absorbed long before we develop a critical awareness of who we are. For example, all Western Protestants are indelibly stamped with attitudes arising out of the Renaissance and the Reformation. Authority is couched firmly within an individual's perceptions and sensibilities, or, at most, within a particular constituency friendly to the individual.