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Sending a kid to college

The headline on the cover of a recent Time magazine asked, "Who Needs Harvard?" The featured article was about students finding the right college. Not the school with the highest SAT scores or the lowest acceptance rate, but the one where your daughter, son, grandchild, neighbor, Sunday school pupil, or youth group member is most likely to succeed. The place where he or she will come away not only with a diploma but with a purpose in life.

Too much to expect?

Not if you help that young person choose a college wisely.

The “studied ambiguity” of a church-related college

During an orientation gathering, a parent of a first-year student raised the question: Is the school affiliated with a church? Pausing to formulate an answer, the complexities of the matter became much clearer to me. It brought into focus the question of how a college begun by a Presbyterian pastor and long (though loosely) associated with a Presbyterian congregation becomes an institution that now refers merely to its "religious heritage."  

The simple answer points to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Andrew Carnegie established the Foundation in 1905 to provide pensions for college teachers. The following year Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, keen to secure a pension for a retiring faculty member, turned to the Foundation. But there was a hitch. Sectarian schools were ineligible for Carnegie pensions, since they presumably received financial support in exchange for church control. Moreover, the Foundation discouraged sectarian education because of its supposed interference with the search for truth.

It IS easy being green: Possibilities in campus greening

Much has happened in the area of "greening" since Kermit the Frog first sang the woes of blending in, with his 1970's hit It's Not Easy Being Green.  The world has changed drastically since then, as has the meaning of "green."  Scientists have come to agree on the effects of human consumption on global ecosystems ... and the data are frightening and not easily ignored. Nationally, environmentalism has lost its radical connotations and finally joined the mainstream consciousness. Even the church now seems comfortable discussing sustainability and the need for balance between economy and ecology.

College Briefs 2006

2006-07 academic year underway

Colleges and universities related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) report on new programs, faculty members, and campus changes as they start academic year 2006-07.

Saving the earth by Spirit and science

Religion and science have had a testy relationship ever since Galileo was convicted of heresy and put under house arrest by the Catholic Church for daring to publish his beliefs that the earth circulated around the sun. But in the last 30 years or so, a sort of détente, and even appreciation, has occurred. Scientists (some of whom secretly practice their faith, but don't discuss it) and religious leaders (who vary all over the map in their own scientific training) have realized that these differences pale in contrast to their shared concern and values for the condition of the earth.  

Collaborations are occurring from a new sense of urgency. Threats to the environment are no longer abstractions whose effects might be felt sometime in the future. We can see the damage occurring before our eyes. When glaciers are melting, deserts are spreading, and the Arctic ice is disappearing, we as people of faith see the degradation and changes occurring around us and we wonder not only what our faith has to say but also about how we are called to act. In order to respond, we will have to connect outside of the church culture into new collaborations.  

Helping the next generation of ministers

c. 2006 Religion News Service

When Amanda Adams was growing up, she considered a number of professions: doctor, nurse, writer, teacher, psychologist and bareback rider.

She eventually became a Presbyterian minister because it includes all the things she wants. "Ministry," said Adams, 26, "is an extraordinary balancing act between what we do every day -- the mundane paperwork and meetings, sitting at people's beds when they're ill -- and personal time, time for our own devotions."

Adams and two other young ministers arrived at First Church in Ann Arbor, Mich., last September, committed to two-year residencies. They're part of the Transition-Into-Ministry Program funded by the Lilly Endowment.

The Virtue of Mark’s “Little People”: Part Three

I have been trying to show that, while Mark aims in his Gospel to call people into, and cultivate in them, mature discipleship -- that is, discipleship that faithfully joins the confession of one's life to the confession of one's lips -- it's the "little people" in his narrative, and not (ironically) the disciples, who model this trust in Jesus as the Son of God. The initial picture of such faith, up through the appearance of Bartimaeus in the narrative, is a steady stream of "little people" who stop at nothing to get themselves and beloved others into Jesus' presence. They ask of and expect from him the impossible, and prostrate themselves worshipfully before him. This picture changes, however, as the last of Mark's "little people" appear and disappear in the passion narrative concluding his Gospel.

Local option, ordination standards, and those who want it all!

A current television commercial shows two men fishing on a dock. One asks the other, "What are you going for?" The camera then pans back to show a vast array of fishing poles lining the dock as the other guy answers, "I want it all."* This thinking may well serve as an apt metaphor for the two sides in the debate over ordination standards within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Both sides seem dissatisfied because no one "got it all" at the last General Assembly. Even more ironic, by looking at the General Assembly's actions on most issues, it appears the more conservative side of the church gained considerable ground, yet now acts the most dissatisfied. The General Assembly strengthened its position opposing late-term abortion, back-peddled and apologized on divestment regarding Israel, only "received" the Trinity Report, and reaffirmed the "fidelity and chastity" clause. Yet, when one reads material from some of the more conservative groups within the church, one would think the liberal element really won the day.  

Hearing silent voices

Editor's Note: The author worked in Xela, Guatemala, from August 20 through September 3, volunteering with the Highland Support Project of Richmond, Va. The following thoughts stem from two separate interviews with a former guerrilla fighter and the president of a Presbyterian women's organization.

Before arriving in Guatemala, I knew that the country's recent history was horrific: over thirty-six years, a quarter of a million citizens lost their lives, including more than four hundred villages wiped off the face of existence in the "scorched earth" policy of ethnic cleansing.  Over the previous semester, I had studied John Calvin's doctrine of total depravity at Union-PSCE; after a few minutes of testimony with a veteran guerilla, I had gained an education. 

How one congregation seeks to be fueled by love

When I was a youngster, there was an ongoing argument about the "professionalization" of the Olympics. Americans carped that we sent amateurs to compete against professional athletes from Eastern Europe, whose full-time work was their athletic pursuit.

That complaint has largely died down, of course, now that Americans now send highly paid professionals to Olympic events. In popular usage, amateur often means "second rate" while professional means "excellent." Both, though, are superficial understandings of the words. "Amateur" comes from a Latin word that means doing something "for love."

Remembering thanks

Editor's Note: For the past few issues, the Outlook has highlighted the ministries of church pastors. Here Presbyterian pastors recall members' expressions of thanks. Also in this issue, we publish individual expressions of appreciation from churches to their pastors.

Unexpectedly a member stopped into my office a few weeks ago carrying a large, professionally framed photograph of a beach sunset. She said that the minute she saw it she thought of me. Looking at the photo of the beach scene, with a somewhat broken wind fence in the foreground and a rainbow in the background, I asked, "Why?" She replied, "Because you often break down barriers and think out of the box. Or, it could have something to do with mending fences. But for sure, the rainbow in the background is for God's Hope you remind us to remember." -- Lisa Rzepka, associate pastor, Providence Church, Fairfax, Va. 

In appreciation

Editor's Note: For the past few issues, the Outlook has highlighted the ministries of church pastors. Here we publish individual expressions of appreciation from churches to their pastors. Also in this issue, Presbyterian pastors recall members' expressions of thanks.

Arkansas

We love you, Clare Kelley, and are so fortunate to be able to share you. First Presbyterian, Eureka springs and Holiday Island Presbyterian Churches, Ark.

California

The Rev. Sandy Tice: First Presbyterian of San Bernardino, Calif., loves you and looks forward to many years together.

Thank you, Interim Pastor Jeff Cheifetz, a skilled and dedicated pastor, a gifted peacemaker and caregiver. The Session and members of Old First Presbyterian Church, San Francisco.