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| 8/29/08 |
| So ... what's so great about being a pilgrim
people? These latest additions are posted from
just outside St. Paul, Minnesota -- where the Republicans are coming
in just a couple days. We have spent the last couple weeks (or
is it years?) packing, driving from Georgia to Minnesota, unpacking
-- and still we're trying to find things, and once we find them,
trying to find places to put them. So that's why the long
silence. But we are making progress again the chaos,
and here are a few things that I want to share right now.
Your achy but happy web-weaver, Doug King |
| With John McCain’s choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as
his running mate, 'creation science' enters the race
In October, 2006, the Anchorage Daily News
reported on Republican Sarah Palin’s affirmation that creationism
should be taught alongside evolution in the state's public
classrooms.
Here's the story >>
Thanks to
John Shuck, and to
The Clergy
Letter Project, for calling attention to this interesting bit of
background. |
|
Interfaith Worker Justice
urges: Waste Management workers deserve the
right to organize!
Forty years after Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
stood with workers in their historic strike in Memphis, sanitation
workers in the solid waste industry are still fighting for decent
wages, safe working conditions and respect.
Waste Management workers across the country are
seeking to improve their working condition and wages by organizing
with the Teamsters union. Workers are facing Waste Management's
fierce anti-union tactics, including captive audience meetings,
letters and firings.
Sanitation workers at Waste Management deserve the
right to organize in an environment free from intimidation and
threats of job loss. A huge proportion of sanitation workers are
Latino and African American, just as in Dr. King’s day.
As people of faith, we stand in support of these
workers and encourage Waste Management to immediately stop these
practices. Our religious teachings say that we are to treat others
as we wish to be treated, and that laborers deserve their just
reward.
Interfaith Worker Justice urges: Please add your
name to the list of religious leaders and people of faith who stand
with workers at Waste Management by signing the petition.
Click here and scroll down a bit. |
| $1.2 million grant bolsters
collaboration among faith-based LGBT organizations to increase the
number of welcoming and affirming churches
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Foundation’s
Institute for Welcoming Resources (IWR) and five partner
organizations have been awarded a total of $1.2 million from the
Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund to work jointly to expand the
number of churches that are welcoming and affirming of lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and to strengthen their
internal capacities. This funding is significant not only because of
its dollar amount, but also because it marks a breakthrough in
secular foundation support for LGBT faith organizing efforts.
The recipients are the Task Force’s Institute for
Welcoming Resources, which works with the welcoming church movement
in 30 Christian denominations; Integrity, which works within the
Episcopal Church; Lutherans Concerned/North America, which works
within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada; More Light Presbyterians,
which works within the Presbyterian Church (USA); Reconciling
Ministries Network, which works within the United Methodist Church;
and the United Church of Christ Coalition for LGBT Concerns.
The grant, which will be paid out over two years,
will support a strategic, collaborative effort to expand pro-LGBT
faith-based organizing efforts and allow the groups to fortify their
respective infrastructures. Through the welcoming church movement,
congregations decide — through a formal vote — to offer an
unconditional welcome to people of all sexual orientations and
gender identities. To date, more than 3,100 congregations across the
Christian spectrum have explicitly welcomed LGBT people to full
inclusion in the life and ministry of their congregations.
The full story >> |
| Washington Report to
Presbyterians July-August issue highlights ...
The Hospitality of Housing Policy
Is not this the
fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the
thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break
every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and
bring the homeless poor into your house? - Isaiah 58:6-7a
The stories of the
Hebrew Bible place a tremendous emphasis on the idea of place – of
having a place to call home. It is not such a surprise, really – it
is a collection of stories produced by the descendants of people who
wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Of course home was
important to them. And likewise, the concept of hospitality, of
inviting others into their homes, was a foundation of society,
because they had once been strangers / sojourners / resident aliens
/ immigrants / refugees, and they knew what it felt like to be
strangers in a strange land.
Likewise, hospitality
returns as a central theme in the ministry of Jesus, the length of
which is marked by acts of hospitality. His hospitality knows no
bounds as he welcomes those at the margins of society. He shares
meals and communes with those to whom no one else will even speak.
The conduct of his own ministry is dependent upon the hospitality of
others. Think of all the events that take place in people’s homes.
Both the hospitality of Jesus and the hospitality that Jesus
receives are pervasive and enabling throughout the Gospels.
The Rationale for the
218th General Assembly’s (2008) new statement, “From Homelessness to
Hope” discusses God’s hospitality:
God makes a home
and a place for all at the table, but humans, through sin, have
excluded particular groups of people… Due to human sin,
hospitality too often becomes a matter of sharing our crumbs
rather than offering an abundant loaf… In contrast, true
hospitality is equated with justice. Each person is provided not
only a chair and a meal, but a bed and a place of shelter,
indeed the opportunity to become an ongoing part of the
community. True hospitality requires emancipation of slaves and
economic redistribution, so all may find a place to be at home.
Click here for the full GA statement >>
Certainly, the
question of hospitality for the stranger is a question for the
church, but what about U.S. national policy? The question of U.S.
hospitality is the concern of this Washington Report to
Presbyterians. Whether the issues concern immigration and family
reunification, refugee policy, or the homelessness and affordable
housing crisis at home, U.S. policies have much for which to answer
when it comes to hospitality.
The July-August issue
of Washington Report to Presbyterians provides very helpful
surveys of three areas in which Christians are discerning the call
to welcome the stranger and the homeless:
Also -- plan for this event:
ECUMENICAL ADVOCACY DAYS – "Enough for All Creation”
The program for
Ecumenical Advocacy Days (March 13-16, 2009) will focus on the
world’s abundance and how it can be allocated to address concerns
regarding climate change, immigration and migration, and poverty.
Religious advocates and activists will gather in Washington DC for
worship, issue briefings, workshops, advocacy skills training, and
lobbying with Congress. Information and registration forms will be
available soon at
www.advocacydays.org.
And -- join the Washington Report e-list!
If you want to
receive Washington Report to Presbyterians,
just click here.
If
you’d like to receive it electronically, send your name, mail
address and email address to
mary.cooper@pcusa.org.
Members who subscribe electronically to Washington Report will also
receive Witness in Washington Weekly, an online weekly update of
legislation before Congress, with related Presbyterian policy and
links to more information. |
| 8/15/08 |
|
Synod of Lakes and Prairies PJC
dismisses another complaint against the Rev. Paul Capetz
The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of
Lakes and Prairies Tuesday, Aug. 12, dismissed a remedial case filed
against the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area that sought to
nullify the presbytery’s Jan. 26 action that restored the Rev. Paul
Capetz, an openly gay man, to the exercise of ordained ministry.
The
full report >>
See our
report on the earlier complaint >> |
|
NCC
responds to Russian attack on Georgia
The
Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council
of Churches USA, has issued a statement calling the recent Russian
invasion of Georgia “a disheartening reminder that the 21st century
remains a primitive age of fanatical nationalism and military
bullying.”
He
adds that “Political leaders in Russia and Georgia -- indeed in many
other nations including our own -- seek to justify military
interventions on the grounds of national interest or public
security. In general the churches of Christ reject such puerile
political rationalizations.”
The full
text of the letter >>
Also —
PC(USA) and RCA send letter to churches in Georgia and Russia
As
the conflict in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia continues, the
Rev. Gradye Parsons, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has joined with the Rev. Wesley
Granberg-Michaelson, general secretary of the Reformed Church in
America (RCA), in sending a letter of concern and solidarity to
church partners in Georgia and Russia.
The text of the
letter, and a list of church partners to whom it has been sent
>> |
| 8/12/08 |
Social Witness Policy —
 | a summary of GA actions |
 | and a listing of study committees on which
you might want to serve |
The staff of the
Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, along with the
committee's Co-Chairs, has issued a
very helpful summary of social witness policy actions by the 218th
GA, along with notes on the numerous study committees that will be
appointed by the Moderator or by ACSWP. |
|
Help wanted
Presbyterian World Mission seeks
candidates for international service
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
mission leaders are asking the church to help them identify
qualified candidates for international mission service.
“The General Assembly Council
developed a budget, which in June was approved by the General
Assembly, that enables the church to reverse a 50-year trend of
decline in the number of mission co-workers serving
internationally,” says Hunter Farrell, the church’s director of
World Mission. “We are seeking to increase the number from fewer
than 200 today to 215 in 2009 and 220 in 2010.” Currently, 18
mission positions are posted on the Mission Service Recruitment
office’s Web site [www.pcusa.org/msr].
They are scattered around the world
and call for a variety of skills and gifts. “Both the World Mission
staff and our international partners agree that all these positions
meet critical needs,” Farrell says. “Our partners have been
requesting some of these positions for several years.” The church,
however, lacks candidates for some positions and that is why World
Mission is asking individual Presbyterians to consider their own
call and giftedness for mission service and encourage others to do
likewise, he adds.
“Many times people hear a call to
service after somebody has affirmed their giftedness,” Farrell says.
“I would like Presbyterians to think about individuals who worship
in the pew behind them on Sunday mornings, who serve on the
congregation’s Mission Committee with them, or who work with them on
presbytery projects and in other areas of ministry.”
Some of the openings include:
-A Christian educator/evangelist in the Democratic Republic of Congo
-An English teacher in Indonesia
-A health coordinator in Sudan
-A women’s leadership facilitator in Guatemala
For more information about mission
service, email the Mission Service Recruitment office [msr@pcusa.org]
or call toll-free (888) 728 7228, x2530.
The full story >> |
|
A monthly column from the Moderator, Bruce
Reyes-Chow:
We Are Family
The Rev. Bruce
Reyes-Chow, Moderator of the 218th General Assembly
(2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), offers his reflections
on his experience of the church over the few weeks since he was
elected as Moderator.
He tells of hearing
many voices across the church, reflecting the fact that “a great
many realties exist in our church. A number of individuals and
communities are filled with pain, frustration, anger, sadness,
resignation, and righteous indignation over GA actions.”
Yet, he says, as in a
family, “When we are at our most faithful, we will hope more than we
could ever imagine that the other will grow fully into who God hopes
that person to become.”
His full letter >>
And more thoughts on
listening ...
On his own moderatorial blog, Bruce Reyes-Chow offers
further thoughtful reflections on the need for listening, and what
that means for him, and for all of us.
More >> |
| Church-backed border worker who left water in
desert faces federal prison Judge mulling
whether plastic jugs intended for illegal immigrants are litter
Presbyterian News Service reports that a volunteer
with a faith-based humanitarian aid group in Arizona – the No More
Deaths organization – that receives support from Presbyterians is
facing jail time or a fine after leaving 25 water jugs in the desert
for undocumented border-crossers.
Magistrate Judge Bernardo Velasco of U.S. District
Court is considering whether Daniel Millis, 29, is guilty of
littering in Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge by leaving the
one-gallon plastic jugs filled with drinking water.
The full story >>
Background on No
More Deaths >> |
| Form
of Government Task Force to gather first time post-assembly
Expanded group will revise the report presented to this year’s GA
from Sharon Youngs,
Communications Coordinator, Office of the General Assembly
The Form of
Government Task Force (FOGTF), expanded in size and loaded with
comments from this year’s General Assembly, is scheduled to meet for
the first time since the 218th General Assembly adjourned in June to
begin revising the original task force’s report.
Three new members
will join the original nine when they gather Aug. 21-22, 2008, at
First Presbyterian Church in Arlington, VA: Elder Carol Hunley
(Pittsburgh Presbytery) and the Revs. Grace Bowen (New York City
Presbytery) and Dan Williams (Shenandoah Presbytery).
The
full story >> |
| Stanley Anderson promised large
gift to 2006 GA, now charged with securities fraud
Jerry L. Van Marter, of Presbyterian News Service,
reported on August 6, 2008:
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has
filed civil fraud charges against Stanley W. Anderson, a
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) elder from Colorado who made
a dramatic
pledge of $150 million to the denomination at the 2006 General
Assembly.
The SEC charges that Anderson, 63, and four
partners offered short-term returns of up to 1,000 percent through
trades in notes issued by European banks. In reality, the agency
says, the five conducted a Ponzi scheme, taking more than $5 million
from investors and losing it all. Nearly $3 million was used for
Ponzi-style payments — where early investors are paid from the money
provided by later investors — or was misappropriated, according to
the Rocky Mountain News.
Joey Bailey, chief financial officer for the
PC(USA), told the newspaper the church had no knowledge of the SEC
complaint and that it had not received any money from Anderson’s
pledge. "The church will continue to hold Mr. Anderson and his
family in our prayers," he said. |
|
For items from
Earlier in August
All of July, 2008
June,
2008
May, 2008
April,
2008
March, 2008
February,
2008
January, 2008
December, 2007
November, 2007
October, 2007
September, 2007
August, 2007
Check earlier months through the
general
archive page.
For an index of all our
reports on
the Witherspoon Conference
The 2006 General Assembly
Some of our more important recent reports are still listed
below. |
| "Why LGBT Equality Leads to a
More Missional Church"
[8-8-08] The Rev. Dr. Jack
Rogers, Moderator of the 213th General Assembly, has just
posted a thoughtful and helpful essay observing that the actions of
the 218th GA, this past June, offers a new way “for all
of us to move forward together in mission as one church.”
He notes that there were two main themes of the
Assembly’s actions: becoming more fully a “missional church,” and
becoming more inclusive by granting “ equal rights to our church
members who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT).”
While one theme may seem the concern of
conservatives, and the other the focus of progressive support, in
fact they can be mutually supportive. He writes: “Think about it –
if the goal is for the church to be woven into the very fabric of
society – we can’t have preconceived notions about our neighbors. We
have to go out with open hearts to preach and practice the message
that we are to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.
Affirming the equality of all God’s people is a prerequisite for
reaching out in Christian service to all God’s people. So the GA
approved overtures to grant equal rights to people who are LGBT and
also approved steps to create a more missional church. In so doing,
I believe the Assembly found a new way forward.”
So the new version of G-6.0106b will not only
advance the cause of fairness and love in our church; it will also
be a vital step toward becoming a truly missional church as well.
Read his essay >> |
| More on the
shooting at the UU church in Knoxville Words really
can kill [8-8-08]
John Shuck, who pastors a Presbyterian church near
Knoxville, reflects on the sad reality that words – and especially
words that dehumanize – can kill.
Read his blog >> |
Immigration raid in Postville, Iowa, shows
serious violations of workers' rights.
[8-4-08]
The
New York Times condemns the action as " 'The Jungle,'
again." The editorial concludes:
By treating illegal low-wage workers as a de
facto criminal class, the government is trying to inflate the
menace they pose to a level that justifies its rabid efforts to
capture and punish them. That is a fraudulent exercise, and a
national disgrace.
The
American Immigration Lawyers Association elaborates on the
violations of judicial process, calling the whole action "a travesty
of justice."
The Synod of Lakes and Prairies
reports on
actions by Presbyterians to help the many
families affected by the raid.
|
“Let's face reality. Schism is here,” says Lay
Committee CEO.
[8-4-08]
Stephen G. Brown, an elder at
First Presbyterian Church of Haines City, Florida, is chairman of
the Board of Directors and chief executive officer of the
Presbyterian Lay Committee. He has just published on the Layman
website one of the clearest and most detailed guides for
separation we have yet seen from the Presbyterian Right.
After listing what he regards as the offenses
committed by the 218th General Assembly, he makes very
specific suggestions for action, including:
* Form close alliances
with other like-minded churches in your presbytery. ...
* Support the renewal
groups by sending letters of encouragement, and giving financial
support and your time.
* Don't send any per
capita or mission funds to the GA, your presbytery or the synod,
unless you are 100% sure of how the money will be spent. ...
* Have legal counsel
experienced in church property disputes review your property
documents. Contact the Presbyterian Lay Committee office if you need
a lawyer referral. ...
He concludes: “Only through prayer and a united
effort will there be peace in this denomination. Presbyterians have
divided many times before and sometimes it has happened in a
respectful and civil way. Let's pray for another peaceful process.”
This statement appears under the headline “Peace
will follow unity.” But in fact, it seems that for Mr. Brown, peace
will come to the PC(USA) only when the Presbyterian Right is allowed
to split ... on its own terms.
The full Layman article >> |
| Moderator invites suggestions for Task Force
appointments [8-1-08] Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow sent
this e-mail on July 29.
We in the Witherspoon Society encourage you to consider submitting
your name (or a friend's!) to serve on one of these committees.
As many of you know, one of the privileges and
responsibilities of the moderator as a result of most General
Assemblies is to appoint people to the various Task Forces,
Study Groups and other bodies created by each General Assembly.
Coming out of the 218th General Assembly I will have the sole or
shared responsibility to appoint members of eight different
committees or task forces totally nearly 100 people.
The rest of the
note includes information on task forces for which he is
seeking members, including those dealing with such topics as Form of
Government revisions, marriage and civil unions, the "Restricted
Funds Resolution Committee," Middle East Study Group, Heidelberg
Catechism, Belhar Confession, the "Climate for Change Task Force,"
and Youth Ministry. |
|
On the 2008
Intergenerational Peacemaking Conference
Peacemakers hear
about global food crisis
[8-1-08]
Some 270 participants came together from around
the globe for the 2008 Intergenerational Peacemaking Conference of
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), on the campus of Chapman
University in Orange, California, July 15-18.
Focusing on the theme, “Sowing Mustard Seeds:
Working for God’s Justice — Confronting Poverty,” the group heard
from keynote speaker Anuradha Mittal, executive director of the
Oakland Institute, a policy think tank on social, economic and
environmental issues. She emphasized that confronting poverty means
confronting the international trade policies being imposed on
developing nations by the United States, the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF).
More >> |
|
The
"Ordination Question" in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
[7-28-08]
As
Presbyterians prepare to consider in their presbyteries the proposed
amendment to the Book of Order, which would broaden and deepen the
notion of conditions for ordination – and would eliminate the narrow
ban on homosexuality which was put in place in 1997 – it may help to
have a sense of the long and winding path the church has followed in
dealing with the question of sexuality and ordination.
Gene
TeSelle has prepared this brief chronology to help us navigate that
path. |
|
The
218th General Assembly has opened doors to a new future
for the Presbyterian Church
Let’s help the PC(USA) move through those doors!
[7-23-08]
Gene TeSelle, Witherspoon Issues Analyst, writes: "The actions
of the 2008 General Assembly suggest that the tide has turned in the
Presbyterian Church. ..."
He
analyzes the significant steps toward making the ordination process
more open and fair, looks at the announced plans of the Presbyterian
Right to oppose those steps, and suggests ways we might move forward
to bring a truly inclusive church closer to reality during the
months ahead, as presbyteries will be considering their responses to
the proposed amendments to the Book of Order.
The full
article, along with other helpful material >> |
|
A
Special Report on the
2008 General Assembly [7-5-08]
This is being sent (in a shorter version, in print)
to Witherspoon Society Members and Friends
Gene TeSelle, Witherspoon
Society Issues Analyst, begins his customary wrap-up on the
Assembly:
The
previous General Assembly, in 2006, was relatively cautious,
electing a middle-of-the-road Moderator and adopting the
recommendations of the Theological Task Force (specifically its
interpretation of G-6.0108) by a close margin.
This
Assembly indicates a turning of the tide. It elected a Moderator who
was clearly progressive and forward-looking, and most of the
moderatorial candidates assumed that the framework of discussion was
the pluralism encouraged by the last Assembly's action. It approved
a number of measures that move the church ahead, including several
changes to the Book of Order, though it is also clear that these
will be highly contested in the presbyteries. It elected a new
Stated Clerk who decried "fear" inside and outside the church; he
represents continuity and a reaffirmation of the Kirkpatrick
approach. A strong social witness was also affirmed, including a new
"Social Creed for the 21st Century."
Read
the full report >> |
| Do you want to go
back in time??
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links:
And go to the Archive
index page for items from 1999 through the latest month.
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find what you want? Click here to run a
Google
search. |
|
This page was last edited on
08/29/08
|
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A major
Ghost Ranch event this summer!
July 28 - August 3, 2008
Paths toward Peace and Justice:
Spirituality, Earth-Care, and the Prophetic Word in a time of
Violence
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An index of
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BECOMING NEIGHBORS:
An Invitation
to Global Discipleship
A Witherspoon conference
on global mission and justice
September 16 - 19, 2007
Louisville, Kentucky |
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