As the chair of the drafting committee that prepared the report adopted by the 1978 General Assembly (UPCUSA) on the issue of homosexual ordination, I was stunned by A. J. McKelway's claim that the definitive guidance it provided answered a question that was not asked, and thus "got us into this mess" (Outlook, June 18). Having reread the record, I beg to differ.
Amendment A is the latest attempt to permit the ordination of practicing. homosexuals. Having failed to reinterpret the clear and consistent words of Scripture, and having failed to overthrow the church's traditional teaching on sexual behavior and marriage, proponents of homosexual ordination now turn to polity.
When you were a kid was the "True Church" the subject for a month of church school lessons? Did you hear lots of sermons on it; was there a "True Church Sunday" with a special bulletin cover and all? Did you sit around the Sunday dinner table discussing the "True Church" with Mom and Dad and perhaps Preacher Ned? Did you have the conviction as communicant class ended that soon you would be a member of the "True Church"?
Commenting on the precarious state of relations between the Unionists and the IRA in Northern Ireland, commentator Andrew Sullivan of The New Republic recently stated in his weekly TRB column:
"You cannot negotiate peace with people [the Irish Republican Party] whose power is entirely dependent on the will to wage war.
Presbyterian News Service
Robert McAfee Brown, 81, celebrated Presbyterian writer and educator, died on Sept. 4, in a nursing home near his summer house in Heath, Mass. Brown, whose health had deteriorated in recent years, suffered a broken hip in a fall about a month ago.
Many of us know that true peace often comes only after some kind of conflict. In the case of the wars that have made and kept this nation free and peaceful, a freedom and peace we celebrate this week, the conflict has been terrible. It has cost people their lives or the lives of those they loved; it has scarred others for life, physically and emotionally.
One of the most remarkable stories of the 213th General Assembly happened before commissioners arrived in Louisville. Advocates for 33 overtures, from 26 presbyteries, conferred among themselves in the weeks prior to the Assembly. I was one of them.
1. We have to get past the idea that we are the answer to the problems in the world, instead of Christ being the answer.
By letting go, we free ourselves to serve. Letting go of what? Fear, ego, pride, self-interest -- our own agendas. Empty yourself of these so you can receive God's gifts. We are not Christ, but we can be his hands and feet.
According to the polymathic Philip Schaff, Lutherans produce the best scholars but the Reformed community produces the best preachers. I grew up agreeing with Schaff about the latter but not the former. Our small Presbyterian Church – located at the beginning and the end of the road for ministers – nevertheless provided appropriately learned pastors for our little fellowship.
ISBN 0-8006-3240-0On this journey into classical Christian art, readers will not find themselves laden with the baggage of an in-depth history of art nor a catalogue of the greatest works from around the world. Helen de Borchgrave's book rather invites the reader to join her knowledgeable, guided tour of art treasures in sites close to their origin.
By Brian Wren
WJKP. 2000. 422 pp. Pb. $22.95. ISBN 0-554-25670-8
Reviewed by Melva Costen, Atlanta
By George Hunsinger
Eerdmans. 2000. 375 pp. $39. ISBN 0-8028-4644-0
Reviewed by Robert C. Bankhead, Wilmington, N.C.
ISBN ISBN 0-664-25844-1Lloyd Rediger is on a crusade. He has written his latest book, "Fit to Be a Pastor: A Call to Physical, Mental and Spiritual Fitness," as a challenge to the church to join the quest for healthy leaders. The book is a summons issued to all of us in church leadership, particularly pastors, to seek body-mind-spirit fitness and to do it now.
Bill Williams has written a very good book for those who wonder why, if God is all-powerful, there is imperfection and suffering in this world. He had good reason to ask such questions. He was one of three children in one family who were born with cystic fibrosis. Noting that the odds of such an occurrence were one-in-four, no wonder Williams asks, "Why?"
ISBN 1-57075-279-6M. T. Winter, widely known as a "singing nun," is also widely appreciated as a friend of God and of all God's children. This book, as the subtitle indicates, is the story of her own faith journey from the blind belief of childhood to the mature faith of a medical missionary as Sister Miriam Therese.
ISBN 0-664-50129I expect devotional books to be sentimental and superficial, at best, and insipid at worst -- this book of meditations on the psalms by Thomas Currie is neither. Instead the reader will find here real theological depth and an authentic wrestling with issues of the spiritual life.
ISBN 1-57322-150-3"Everything unborn in us and the world needs blessing. My grandfather believed that the Holy has made all things. 'It is up to us to strengthen them and feed them and free them whenever possible to find and fulfill his purposes for them,
R. David Steele, 70, a widely known herald of hope and joy among Presbyterians in the PC(USA) died Tuesday, Aug. 28, of cancer in Sun City, Ariz.
A pastor, author, homespun philosopher, poet and humorist, he was known to many readers 
of The Outlook for his regular column "Tuesday Morning" written by him since February 1985.
MONTREAT, N.C. -- Mary Elva Smith, the new director of the Women's Ministries Program Area of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), said here recently that she'd like to see the denomination push for another global women's conference that she said will restore the validity of feminist theology in the church.
The magazine Monday Morning -- which for 66 years provided a place for Presbyterian pastors to shout out on matters in the church and the world -- is ceasing publication at the end of this year, for financial reasons.
Updated 3 p.m. EDT Aug. 16 to include additional information.
A curriculum produced "by Presbyterians for Presbyterians" is continuing to have financial problems -- in part because so few congregations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are using it -- so the denomination has decided to suspend development of the next phase of the curriculum to try to contain the losses.
Before proceeding, you need to read the strange little story in Numbers 15:32-36.
This passage from the ancient world has an important connection with a prominent object in our present world, to wit: the moon. Now a family magazine should be careful about what it exposes. Therefore, at least one of the current uses of the term "moon" will remain decently covered by being uncovered here -- uncovered in the sense of being roundly undescribed.
ISBN 0-664-22141-6This book is the report of a journalist's investigation into the many ways in which the Bible is understood, used and studied in America, and her reflection as a reporter on the findings of her study.
ISBN 0-9192-1796-4This study reflects the glaring incongruities of the religious situation in the United States today. Religion in general (whatever that may mean) remains popular but for many there is little substance.
ISBN 1-58051-061-2The theme of this book is the reconciliation of folly and holiness. In beautifully written paragraphs, folly is described not as foolishness or buffoonery, but as vulnerability; risk above safety; truth above security; love above self-gain; and celebration over somberness. (Harvey Cox's "A Feast of Fools" and Henri Nouwen's "Clowning in Rome" play upon the same theme.)
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