In the wake of escalating tensions and civil unrest in the Middle East, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders today have issued a call to prayer for the peoples and nations of the Middle East, as well as PC(USA) partners.
The Moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010) Cynthia Bolbach, General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, and General Assembly Mission Council Executive Director Linda Valentine called Presbyterians to pray with these words:
“Hundreds of thousands of people have staged protests in the past few days in different parts of the Middle East, particularly in Tunisia, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, and Algeria. Today, clashes between protestors and the police have intensified to dangerous levels. Lebanon has been in a precarious situation since the collapse of the coalition government earlier this month. Iraq continues to be the target of suicide bombers and other forms of violence. The failure of Israeli-Palestine negotiations is causing many to lose hope in a political solution for this decades-old conflict.
Please remember all the peoples of the Middle East in your prayer. Please remember those whose lives have been disrupted and those who are afraid during this civil unrest. Please also pray for the governments and political leaders that they might govern fairly, wisely, and with sensitivity to the peoples’ lives and dignity.
Please pray in particular for the Christian minorities in the Middle East, as they often become the scapegoat in the midst of conflicts. Although most of the Middle East inhabitants are Muslims, more than fifteen million Middle Easterners are Christians who trace their Christian heritage back to the apostolic era. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has partnered with Middle Eastern churches for most of the last two centuries. Please join your hearts in prayer for our sisters and brothers with whom we have been made one in the Body of Christ:”
God of every blessing,
hear our prayers
for all the nations and peoples of the Middle East:
Guide the people to express their concerns peacefully
and government leaders to respond peacefully;
Inspire all to listen to one another carefully;
Lead all to pursue justice together.
Bless the poor in spirit ...
give them the gift of abundant life.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Words Create Worlds
Lost in the reports and commentaries this past week is this article by Suzannah Heschel.
Speaking directly to Sarah Palin's curious video posting, Dr. Heschel writes: Words both express and shape our thinking and our behavior.
Yes, the gunman who pulled the trigger is the one put on trial, but almost instantly we all began a profound and very moving period of collective soul-searching.
How might we have contributed to an atmosphere in which such a heinous act could take place?
What can we do to change the ugliness of our language?
Do our words and tone indicate a bitterness of heart and an anger in our spirits that is damaging to ourselves and our entire society?
And her concluding words should be heard by all:
Civilized people strive for ways to coexist and seek moral principles that achieve peace and prosperity for all, not just for ourselves.
[Sarah] Palin’s insistence on freedom seems to suggest freedom for oneself, without assuming any responsibility for others;
a perspective that would create a wild realm in which each person looks out for herself, not for the collective. . . .
that is not the message of the Bible.
When God points out immoral behavior, it is of the collective people, not individuals.
The prophet Amos condemns the crimes and injustices committed by an entire society, be it Israel or Edom, and the prophet Jonah calls on all citizens of Nineveh to repent, not just those who have acted in sin.
The dream of the prophets is not for conquest, power, or wealth.
The dream of the prophets is of peace.
A civilized society does not live by the sword, but by principles of justice, and those principles require a clear and careful articulation.
Words do create worlds.
Speaking directly to Sarah Palin's curious video posting, Dr. Heschel writes: Words both express and shape our thinking and our behavior.
Yes, the gunman who pulled the trigger is the one put on trial, but almost instantly we all began a profound and very moving period of collective soul-searching.
How might we have contributed to an atmosphere in which such a heinous act could take place?
What can we do to change the ugliness of our language?
Do our words and tone indicate a bitterness of heart and an anger in our spirits that is damaging to ourselves and our entire society?
And her concluding words should be heard by all:
Civilized people strive for ways to coexist and seek moral principles that achieve peace and prosperity for all, not just for ourselves.
[Sarah] Palin’s insistence on freedom seems to suggest freedom for oneself, without assuming any responsibility for others;
a perspective that would create a wild realm in which each person looks out for herself, not for the collective. . . .
that is not the message of the Bible.
When God points out immoral behavior, it is of the collective people, not individuals.
The prophet Amos condemns the crimes and injustices committed by an entire society, be it Israel or Edom, and the prophet Jonah calls on all citizens of Nineveh to repent, not just those who have acted in sin.
The dream of the prophets is not for conquest, power, or wealth.
The dream of the prophets is of peace.
A civilized society does not live by the sword, but by principles of justice, and those principles require a clear and careful articulation.
Words do create worlds.
Monday, January 3, 2011
The Boomers Are Coming, The Boomers Are Coming
Today and every day for the next 19 years, about 10,000 Baby Boomers will reach the age of 65.
How is this going to affect what we do in ministry?
While the Boomers have managed to put their own imprint on each of the other life stages, we need to give attention to this new phenomena.
The Pew people remind us "The 79-million-member Baby Boomer generation accounts for 26% of the total U.S. population. By force of numbers alone, they almost certainly will redefine old age in America, just as they've made their mark on teen culture, young adult life and middle age."
Traditionally, age 65 signified retirement from the tasks of making one's way in the world and days of leisure and hobby.
But, not this time. We are reminded: "don't tell Boomers that old age starts at age 65. The typical Boomer believes that old age doesn't begin until age 72".
Take a look: Pew Research Center
How is this going to affect what we do in ministry?
While the Boomers have managed to put their own imprint on each of the other life stages, we need to give attention to this new phenomena.
The Pew people remind us "The 79-million-member Baby Boomer generation accounts for 26% of the total U.S. population. By force of numbers alone, they almost certainly will redefine old age in America, just as they've made their mark on teen culture, young adult life and middle age."
Traditionally, age 65 signified retirement from the tasks of making one's way in the world and days of leisure and hobby.
But, not this time. We are reminded: "don't tell Boomers that old age starts at age 65. The typical Boomer believes that old age doesn't begin until age 72".
Take a look: Pew Research Center
Thursday, December 30, 2010
A New Year Lies Ahead
It is good that we begin a new year every year about this time, don’t you think?
As strange as it might seem, the new year did not always begin on January 1!
To be sure, there almost always has been a celebration of the beginning of the new year, but it used to begin March 25. Yep, going back to the ancient Babylonians, some 4000 years ago, and for long periods of time since then, folks celebrated the new year in conjunction with Spring – marking the end of winter and the beginning of new growth.
In fact, it wasn’t until 1752 that England decreed that January 1 would mark the beginning of the new year there and in the colonies.
But, still, the fact is that most people in the world do not mark the beginning of the new year on January 1.
Jews the world over mark the beginning of the new year in September or October.
Hindus in different parts of India celebrate the new year on various dates.
Muslims use a calendar that has 354 days in most years so their new year falls on different dates as well.
The Chinese New Year begins between January 21 and February 19.
The Thai New Year is celebrated in April 13 to April 15.
The Vietnamese New Year is the Têt Nguyen Dan and is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year.
But, we take time just after the darkest time of the year, just as the days get longer, as things change, as more and more light illumines our lives,
to remember where we’ve been,
to remember what we’ve done,
to remember what has happened,
perhaps to evaluate our experiences,
perhaps to celebrate the moments of epiphany,
perhaps to grieve at what has been lost,
and then to look ahead to the days to come.
It is in the looking ahead that our faith gets expressed.
One study has concluded that on average each American makes 1.8 New Year’s resolutions each year.
Well, I know some don’t make any resolutions, because they don’t need the guilt attached to failed expectations.
But, resolutions can be powerful tools for behavior and attitudinal change.
I have seen it work time and time again.
Resolutions can be powerful tools if you write them down.
Resolutions can be powerful tools if you display them prominently on the refrigerator door or the bedroom mirror.
Resolutions can be powerful tools if you refer to them daily,
if you say them out loud,
if you include them in your prayers.
New Year’s Day may be the most active-minded holiday, because it is the one where people evaluate their lives and plan and resolve to take some kind of action.
It is no accident that the ancient Romans named this month January – after Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings.
Janus is always depicted as having two faces, one looking forward and one looking backward.
And, that’s what we do, isn’t it?
We look back on the days past.
And we look forward to the days to come.
As we look forward to the days to come, let us remember that the Psalmist reminds us that each of our days are God-given. What we do with them is up to us. How we spend them is up to us. How we get through them is up to us.
Frets and anxieties and regrets have a way of festering and infecting our lives with unhealthiness. Let’s rid ourselves of them. Misplaced allegiances and unrecognized debts foster unhappiness, unpleasantness and, ultimately, an unfulfilled life.
Let us follow the clue left by Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Because, that’s what we believe, isn’t it?
That’s what we hear and say each Sunday in church.
He or she is rich who owns the day,
and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can;
tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely,
with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
The new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.
Yes! Yes! Yes! With its hopes and invitations, the new day is too dear to waste a moment on the yesterdays.
This is a call to each of us.
This is a call to our church.
Resolve to pray for your church each day in 2011.
Resolve to pray for all who worship here in 2011.
Resolve to pray for those who need to hear the message we proclaim in 2011.
See you in Church,
Clyde
As strange as it might seem, the new year did not always begin on January 1!
To be sure, there almost always has been a celebration of the beginning of the new year, but it used to begin March 25. Yep, going back to the ancient Babylonians, some 4000 years ago, and for long periods of time since then, folks celebrated the new year in conjunction with Spring – marking the end of winter and the beginning of new growth.
In fact, it wasn’t until 1752 that England decreed that January 1 would mark the beginning of the new year there and in the colonies.
But, still, the fact is that most people in the world do not mark the beginning of the new year on January 1.
Jews the world over mark the beginning of the new year in September or October.
Hindus in different parts of India celebrate the new year on various dates.
Muslims use a calendar that has 354 days in most years so their new year falls on different dates as well.
The Chinese New Year begins between January 21 and February 19.
The Thai New Year is celebrated in April 13 to April 15.
The Vietnamese New Year is the Têt Nguyen Dan and is celebrated on the same day as Chinese New Year.
But, we take time just after the darkest time of the year, just as the days get longer, as things change, as more and more light illumines our lives,
to remember where we’ve been,
to remember what we’ve done,
to remember what has happened,
perhaps to evaluate our experiences,
perhaps to celebrate the moments of epiphany,
perhaps to grieve at what has been lost,
and then to look ahead to the days to come.
It is in the looking ahead that our faith gets expressed.
One study has concluded that on average each American makes 1.8 New Year’s resolutions each year.
Well, I know some don’t make any resolutions, because they don’t need the guilt attached to failed expectations.
But, resolutions can be powerful tools for behavior and attitudinal change.
I have seen it work time and time again.
Resolutions can be powerful tools if you write them down.
Resolutions can be powerful tools if you display them prominently on the refrigerator door or the bedroom mirror.
Resolutions can be powerful tools if you refer to them daily,
if you say them out loud,
if you include them in your prayers.
New Year’s Day may be the most active-minded holiday, because it is the one where people evaluate their lives and plan and resolve to take some kind of action.
It is no accident that the ancient Romans named this month January – after Janus, the god of gates, doors, and beginnings.
Janus is always depicted as having two faces, one looking forward and one looking backward.
And, that’s what we do, isn’t it?
We look back on the days past.
And we look forward to the days to come.
As we look forward to the days to come, let us remember that the Psalmist reminds us that each of our days are God-given. What we do with them is up to us. How we spend them is up to us. How we get through them is up to us.
Frets and anxieties and regrets have a way of festering and infecting our lives with unhealthiness. Let’s rid ourselves of them. Misplaced allegiances and unrecognized debts foster unhappiness, unpleasantness and, ultimately, an unfulfilled life.
Let us follow the clue left by Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Because, that’s what we believe, isn’t it?
That’s what we hear and say each Sunday in church.
He or she is rich who owns the day,
and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it.
Some blunders and absurdities
no doubt crept in.
Forget them as soon as you can;
tomorrow is a new day;
begin it well and serenely,
with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
The new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.
Yes! Yes! Yes! With its hopes and invitations, the new day is too dear to waste a moment on the yesterdays.
This is a call to each of us.
This is a call to our church.
Resolve to pray for your church each day in 2011.
Resolve to pray for all who worship here in 2011.
Resolve to pray for those who need to hear the message we proclaim in 2011.
See you in Church,
Clyde
Thursday, November 25, 2010
This Christmas: Experience the Holy
First Sunday of Advent. Look for the messengers. Hear about it here.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
We are celebrating All Saints Day this Sunday
We are celebrating All Saints Day this Sunday.
It seems clear that we all need time and ritual for remembering those who have gone before us.
There seems to be a common universal urge to remember.
We need to remember.
For centuries, the church has known this –
and on All Saints Sunday we remember those persons who have influenced our faith development,
whose presence is still felt in our lives even thought they now rest from their labors.
All Saints Sunday is the church's Memorial Day, a time to remember and give thanks to God for those who have died in the faith.
All Saints Day is a day on which we remember special people,
people who now dwell with God.
people whom the scriptures and the church call saints.
John Irwin begins A Prayer for Owen Meany with these words:
"I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice –
not because of his voice,
or because he was the smallest person I ever knew...
but because he is the reason I believe in God;
I am a Christian because of Owen Meany."
Connect with All Saints Day today by taking time to remember the Owen Meanys of your life.
We all believe in God because of someone.
We are all here today because of someone.
Today, think about who that is for you - and come worship with us this Sunday.
Christ Presbyterian Church is a place where you are welcome - no matter what.
In fact, you are expected.
See you Sunday.
It seems clear that we all need time and ritual for remembering those who have gone before us.
There seems to be a common universal urge to remember.
We need to remember.
For centuries, the church has known this –
and on All Saints Sunday we remember those persons who have influenced our faith development,
whose presence is still felt in our lives even thought they now rest from their labors.
All Saints Sunday is the church's Memorial Day, a time to remember and give thanks to God for those who have died in the faith.
All Saints Day is a day on which we remember special people,
people who now dwell with God.
people whom the scriptures and the church call saints.
John Irwin begins A Prayer for Owen Meany with these words:
"I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice –
not because of his voice,
or because he was the smallest person I ever knew...
but because he is the reason I believe in God;
I am a Christian because of Owen Meany."
Connect with All Saints Day today by taking time to remember the Owen Meanys of your life.
We all believe in God because of someone.
We are all here today because of someone.
Today, think about who that is for you - and come worship with us this Sunday.
Christ Presbyterian Church is a place where you are welcome - no matter what.
In fact, you are expected.
See you Sunday.
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