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Voices

Come to Good Friday

Here is the simple thing that I did. I opened an envelope that contained a hospital bill. It was 19 pages long, an exact tabulation of every syringe, every test, every pill, every process that had occurred. It was the concrete, specific inventory of everything that had happened to my mother. It was the ritual of her last days, a medicinal rosary, one bead after another of failed instruments and procedures. Each one, listed here, rested now in my hand nine years after her death.

Voices

Beyond Prayer: How do we begin to turn the Denomination around?

I have recently read and susequently re-read Robert Bullock's carefully crafted series on the current state of the denomination and those elements that have had an effect on our present malaise. Following this process I have also read articles in Presbyterians Today and The Layman, all dealing with elements of the same concern.

Book Reviews

The Invisible Child: On Reading and Writing Books for Children

By Katherine Paterson
Dutton. 2001. 266 pp. $24.99. ISBN 0-525-46482-4

— Review by Freda Gardner, Princeton, N.J.

The subtitle could be: What Makes Katherine Tick? What are the thoughts, experiences, loves, concerns that make this author so prolific, so admired around the world; so ready to speak to and with children and to care about them with a passion that marks the decades of her life? Who are the people that called forth that passion and keep it burning today? And what of God, who continues to call Katherine Paterson to many ministries, to the use of the gifts that are hers?

Editorials

Renewing the Covenant VIII: Seeing the New Church Emerging

Change is a human constant. In recent weeks the idea of covenant renewal in the Presbyterian Church has been discussed extensively, toward the end of suggesting an overall framework in which 21st-century American Presbyterian Christians in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) might reclaim the past and recommit to a new vision of the church and its work, that we might move beyond the paralysis which has descended upon us in recent decades.

Voices

Never Night Again!

The spring beauty of Easter is here again! On Resurrection Sunday churches everywhere will be overwhelmed with throngs. This is the day when even the faintest faith will flicker again. Some are more preoccupied with the pagan symbols of the goddess of spring — rabbits, eggs, flowers, brightly colored clothes — but they still are attracted to the one Easter object, the sign of the cross.

Voices

Where There’s Smoke…

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Where there’s fire, hose it down! Then again, if the smoke is coming from a fireplace, let it burn. And if the smoke is coming from a refinery, it may be incinerating toxins (good!) or it may be releasing them (evacuate!). Then again, what appears to be fire may actually be steam, which could be good (a power plant) or bad (a radiator).

Where there’s smoke, who knows what to do?

Uncategorized

Moderator Abu-Akel asks for prayers for end of war in Iraq and for peace

When the denomination's budget is being cut, it's natural to look inward: to talk about what's getting the axe and what's being preserved.

But Fahed Abu-Akel, moderator of the 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), turned attention back to the world outside in his remarks to the General Assembly Council on April 4. Abu-Akel asked each Presbyterian to pause at noon each day to pray about the war in Iraq

Uncategorized

Detterick’s four challenges for the PC(USA)

LOUISVILLE -- John Detterick, one of the top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is a little frustrated -- he's tired of hacking away at budgets, and wants the Presbyterian church to come up with a new and more strategic way of figuring out what work it should be doing and what it can no longer afford.

Movie Reviews

Head of State and The Good Thief

Both movies rely heavily on the star power of the leading male, but make sure to feature a young, attractive woman. Both expect the viewers to accept an unlikely plot line long enough to be charmed by the skill and ingenuity of the main character. Both develop the main character as someone not ordinarily thought to be important, but who enjoys tremendous success, and we root for them both because they represent the 'anti-hero,' the one who plays against type.

In 'Head Of State,' Chris Rock plays a lowly town alderman, Mays Gilliam, who is caught on the national news doing a dramatic rescue, just because he happened to be nearby at the time. This catches the attention of the Democratic Party's kingmakers, who have a problem. Their presidential candidate and his running mate have died in a plane crash. They need to find a sacrificial lamb quickly, because the opposition is the well-known Republican who has been the vice president for eight years. Nobody wants to run against him. And so they choose Gilliam, the unknown, the 'man of the people,' and try to garner some goodwill for the next election.

Editorials

Renewing the Covenant VII: Making Enemies into Partners

In recent weeks, there has been ongoing discussion in this space in support of a conscious effort by Presbyterians to renew the covenant of grace which has been given in the blood of Jesus Christ, which is the foundation for the church to which we belong, and through which Christ's witness to the world is made. If there is no such effort, the future looks pretty bleak.

Voices

Coping with Suffering in a Fragile World

Inherent in our suffering is a transforming power that can either humanize or demonize us. As we listen to another’s suffering, we can encourage and empower each other, for in dying we learn to live. Isn’t this journey from crucifixion to resurrection, from despair to hope, an eternal path sought by pilgrims everywhere? The tragedy of 9/11 announces louder than ever that we are living in an interconnected world of sufferers.

Voices

Questioning Authority in a Time of War

What might it mean to consider a season of war in light of the authority of Christ? Fundamentally, for Christians to regard Jesus’ authority means that we spell it with a capital "A." Jesus is the Authoritative One who stands alon, above all our other notions of authority. Self-interest, community affiliation, ethnic identity and patriotism are all put in context, reinterpreted and often critiqued by our larger commitment to Christ.

Voices

Taking Our Own Advice

With time running out for a peaceful solution to the threatened conflict in Iraq as this column is written, it is important that Presbyterian officers (and pastors) take their responsibility as peacemakers with utmost seriousness. When Jesus teaches us that the peacemakers are blessed, the Greek expression used in Matthew 5:9 (eirenopoioi) makes it clear that we are called to more than peace praying, peace talking, peace thinking or peace hoping: we are commanded to peace doing. Peacemaking demands real work, active effort and engagement in processes that will really change things.*

Voices

Giving Up ‘Giving Up’

A few years ago on a neighborhood stroll, I chanced upon a friend who was walking her dog. Knowing that she was active in her church and devoted to it, I asked her what she was giving up for Lent

Her answer was quick and tinged with her usual humor. Said she: "I am not giving up anything. I am giving up giving up, however."

I quickly agreed that giving up giving up was a good idea.

Voices

Today is a Day of Infamy

A speech given on March 20 during a "day after" protest.

Today is a sad day — a day that will long be remembered as a day of infamy.

Like many of you, I'm sure, I don't know whether to scream or weep.

Book Reviews

Jesus of Nazareth

By Dorothee Soëlle and Luise Schottroff
WJKP. 2002. 160 pp. Pb. $14.95. 0-664-22500-4

— Review by Gary Collins, Newport Beach, Calif.

Jesus of Nazareth by German theologians Dorothee Soëlle and Luise Schottroff provides a fine introduction to the feminist/liberationist view of Jesus, as well as fresh insights for those who have already had that introduction. Twenty-four gritty poems — nine from Soëlle — are spread through the text to inject into the scholarly narrative the authors' deep concern for the Earth's overlooked and exploited ones.

Uncategorized

GA PJC rules against call for special session; says moderator erred in sending January letter

KANSAS CITY — Finally, it's final: the 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will not be called back into session.

For months, the denomination has been waiting to hear whether Alex Metherell, an elder and physician from Laguna Beach, Calif., would succeed in his efforts to reconvene last summer's General Assembly to take on an issue which he claims could pull apart the PC(USA) — that of sessions and pastors which refuse to follow the denomination's constitutional standards, which limit ordination to those who practice fidelity if they're married or chastity if they're single.

Uncategorized

Presbyterian minister, professor Rolston to receive 2003 Templeton Prize

NEW YORK — Holmes Rolston III, professor of philosophy at Colorado State University, whose 30 years of research, writing and lecturing on the religious imperative to respect nature have established environmental ethics, has been named the 2003 Templeton Prize laureate. The prize, valued at more than $1million, was announced Wednesday at a news conference at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York.

Uncategorized

Decision expected this week in case regarding call for a special session of the 214th GA

KANSAS CITY — During an all-day hearing here Monday, one lawyer said this case "will decide the future of our denomination," another said it's a test of whether there's any trust left in the church.

The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the highest court of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is expected to decide later this week whether, after months of high drama, the 214th General Assembly (2002) will meet again — maybe the week before the 215th General Assembly.

Voices

Learning from Mr. Rogers

The most famous, the most influential, and, arguably, the most effective Presbyterian minister in America died Feb. 27. And the response of the American people was overwhelming.

The death of Fred Rogers, better known as Mr. Rogers, was front-page news in the New York Times and a prominent story on most network newscasts. Even this past Sunday’s New York Times arts section, almost two weeks after the fact, included a wonderful article headlined "What Mr. Rogers Could Have Taught Michael Jackson."

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