"Read it, please. Straight through to the end. Whatever else you were planning to do next, nothing could be more important."That is my plan.
This is not a conflict, my friends. It is an Occupation created and enforced by superior military power over a imprisoned population.It is an Occupation institutionalized behind a Wall that is not about security but all about protecting the Israeli public and the outside world from seeing what Israel’s right-wing rulers do daily in their name.
As folks like the Christian Peacemaker Teams report to us constantly, what is not being seen, and certainly not reported in US media, is a brutal, death-dealing, racially-oriented Occupation carried out by an Israeli government unrestrained by any outside power.
The world witnessed Israel's brutality last year in Gaza.
I couldn’t agree more with Jayne Devlin’s opinion [posted April 8, 2010] of kicking ministers out of the PCUSA who don’t abide by the confessions, creeds and Reformed theology that this denomination is based on. While many in our denomination strive to bring others to a point of spiritual salvation through Jesus Christ, there are others (John Shuck) who are pulling these same people in the other direction. It should be up to individual presbyteries to deal with these heresies that are broiling in their own backyards. For some reason they do not since they rely on individuals to file an accusation. Certainly if the congregation of First Presbyterian Church in Elizabethton wants to fire their pastor, they can do so. I have to assume that the congregation is totally on board with John Shuck since he has been there for nearly five years, expounding and teaching his angry, leftist brand of humanism, while leaving the teachings of Jesus Christ on the doormat of his church for all to trample on.Even my "angry, leftist brand of humanism" is not enough motivation for Rick to complete a fill-in-the-blank form in the Book of Order, Form 26 on page 329.
Don’t assume that all churches in Holston Presbytery are like this. Compare the Web sites of First Presbyterian in Elizabethton with First Presbyterian in Bristol. The language and content on these Web sites are vastly different from one another. Praise God for churches like First in Bristol. However, this epitomizes the overall problem in our denomination. We definitely are not of one accord and barring a miracle from our Lord, this will continue.
The church will have one geothermal heat pump system, which includes 14 miles of underground pipe in the front yard,to heat its two buildings.The pipes have a 50-year lifespan.First Presbyterian Church of Bristol will be a great resource for the Green Interfaith Network that is now forming in the Tri-Cities. This is a network of congregations pooling resources and ideas to save energy, preserve our environment, and be good economic stewards like FPC Bristol.
Although the initial expenses associated with the project are significant, they are outweighed by the long-term advantages. The church will reduce its electricity bill by nearly 50 percent, and the project is expected to generate a payback within six to
eight years. Church officials plan to have heat available using geothermal energy by mid-November 2008. In addition to opting for geothermal energy, the church replaced 168 windows and added insulation to its ceilings. The stained-glass windows in the sanctuary are in the process of being checked and re-caulked, if necessary.
“The more money we can save now, the more resources we have available to serve the community,” explains Dr. Gordon Turnbull,Pastor. “That is what we are here for, to serve our Lord and to serve our community.”
Go here for more pics.
No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.It is helpful to hear others talk about their grief. It is also good to read articulate writers describe their own experiences. One of the reasons it is helpful is that when we experience grief (not if but when) we can know that we are not alone. We will still have the feelings, such as in Lewis' case, grief that feels like fear. But we can know that we aren't going crazy.
At other times it feels like being mildly drunk, or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says. Or perhaps, hard to want to take it in. It is so uninteresting. Yet I want the others to be about me. I dread the moments when the house is empty. If only they would talk to one another and not to me . . .
An odd by-product of my loss is that I’m afraid of being an embarrassment to everyone I meet. At work, at the club, in the street, I see people, as they approach me, trying to make up their minds whether they’ll ‘say something about it’ or not. I hate it if they do, and if they don’t . . .
And grief still feels like fear. Perhaps more strictly, like suspense. Or like waiting; just hanging about waiting for something to happen. It gives life a permanently provisional feeling. It doesn’t seem worth starting anything. I can’t settle down. I yawn, I fidget, I smoke too much. Up till this I always had too little time. Now there is nothing but time. Almost pure time, empty successiveness . . .
... Meanwhile, where is God? This is one of the most disquieting symptoms. When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing [God], so happy that you are tempted to feel [God's] claims upon you as an interruption, if you remember yourself and turn to [God] with gratitude and praise, you will be — or so it feels — welcomed with open arms. But go to [God] when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain, and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence. You may as well turn away. The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become. There are no lights in the windows. It might be an empty house. Was it ever inhabited? It seemed so once. And that seeming was as strong as this. What can this mean? Why is [God] so present a commander in our time of prosperity and so very absent a help in time of trouble?That is good, honest writing.
A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence.C.S. Lewis tells the truth. You wonder when you are grieving why no one has prepared you for that. Those who attempt to comfort in the name of or on behalf of God are well-meaning. They are caring, compassionate people who want you to feel better. But it seems as though they have never grieved themselves or have forgotten. The platitudes are so shallow. You want to say,
"just be with me but don't speak."But you don't say that because you don't want to be rude and you still hope that maybe one of your friends will have an answer that is truthful. You don't want them to abandon you as God has done. But no answer is truthful. The door to God is double bolted from the inside.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"That is why I still go back to this old book. Like Walter Wink, I wrestle with it. It tells the truth about grief and loss. It talks about the death of God. At a deeper level than the stories themselves, are human beings writing in their own idiom about their own grief and fear.
"My sheep hear my voice."That is unbelievable to me until I can be sure that the voice once was mute.
... Something quite unexpected has happened. It came this morning early. For various reasons, not in themselves at all mysterious, my heart was lighter than it had been for many weeks. For one thing, I suppose I am recovering physically from a good deal of mere exhaustion. ... And suddenly, at the very moment when, so far, I mourned H. least, I remembered her best. Indeed, it was something (almost) better than memory; an instantaneous, unanswerable impression. To say it was like a meeting would be going too far. Yet there was that in it which tempts one to use those words. It was as if the lifting of the sorrow removed a barrier.Those acquainted with grief know that it is not a straight line. It is not a series of steps to climb, or hurdles to jump as quickly as possible as if we are racing around a track. It is messy. It is up and down. Yet there comes a time when the door to God is no longer closed and bolted. Lewis speaks of God:
And so, perhaps, with God. I have gradually come to feel that the door is no longer shut and bolted. Was it my own frantic need that slammed it in my face? The time when there is nothing at all in your soul except a cry for help may be just the time when God can't give it: you are like the drowning man who can't be helped because he clutches and grabs. Perhaps your own reiterated cries deafen you to the voice you hoped to hear.When the sorrow lifts a new sense of God (or of meaning if you prefer) emerges. It isn't the same as before. Less naïve. Less tame. Less familiar. More complex. Deeper. Wilder. Grief is the great killer of God. But what happens is that in time God is reborn. God is more alive. So are we.
When the thumb of fear lifts, we are so alive.That is the sense of these stories from scripture as well. Because they are honest about death, I can also resonate with their stories of rebirth. This is the via transformativa or the way of compassion. The stories in Acts are stories of people who having experienced grief that feels like fear are no longer overcome by fear.
Prayer is rattling God’s cage and waking God up and setting God free and giving this famished God water and this starved God food and cutting the ropes off God’s hands and the manacles off God’s feet and washing the caked sweat from God’s eyes and then watching God swell with life and vitality and energy and following God wherever God goes.If you want a movement for justice and peace, you need folks who aren't afraid to set God free. If grief is the death of God, recovery is God reborn within.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — To pray or not to pray? That's the issue government leaders across the country are facing after a federal judge ruled that the National Day of Prayer set for May 6 was unconstitutional.According to the mayor of Topeka, Kansas, Bill Bunten:
The ruling can't take effect until all appeals are exhausted, but that's not stopping atheists and prayer advocates from firing off letters, e-mails and even planning to put up billboards to convince state and local leaders across the country to see things their way. (Read More)
"Some of these judges have lost their way," Bunten said. "Every day is a day of prayer in most Kansas lives, whether they are Christian or Muslim or Jewish or whatever, and to say that a prayer day is illegal is just ridiculous. That judge better go back and read some history about how this country was formed. Next thing you know we won't be able to sing 'God Bless America.'"Someone does need to read some history to be sure. The Freedom from Religion Foundation has been motivated:
They were drafting an online petition where people could urge Obama to honor Crabb's ruling and "leave days of prayer to individuals, private groups and churches, synagogues, mosques and temples." Annie Laurie Gaylor, one of the foundation's leaders, was putting the finishing touches on a full-page ad for the New York Times.The irony is that modern day atheists are in a similar position to pre-Constantine Christians in Rome. These early Christians were called atheists because they wouldn't participate in the Empire's cult. The gods of the Roman Empire were in their experience, gods of war, slavery, and exploitation. They wanted nothing to do with them.
The foundation also plans to take out billboards promoting the separation of church and state in Colorado Springs, Co., home of the National Day of Prayer Task Force. The signs will read "God and government: A dangerous mix."
"Whether or not we win in court, I want to win in the court of public opinion," said Gaylor. "This law is based on lies and bad history."
‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
What do you think will happen to this man?JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who won a $258 million Powerball jackpot and plans to use some of the money to pay bills, replace his two missing front teeth and take his children to Disney World said he hasn't decided yet if he'll quit his job at the convenience store where he bought the winning ticket.
Chris Shaw — a 29-year-old tattooed father of three who was raised by his grandparents in rural southern Missouri — came forward Thursday as the winner of the 10th-largest Powerball jackpot ever. Shaw said he had just $28.96 in his bank account and recently bought a 1998 Ford Ranger from a friend who agreed to let him pay off the $1,000 price $100 at a time. Now, he said, he no longer has to worry about how he'll pay his friend — or his utility bills.
"We didn't come from money. For us it's just going to be a huge relief to know I'm going to be able to pay my electric bill, my gas bill," Shaw told the Associated Press. "It's like a weight lifted. I had bills at home I didn't know how they were going to be paid."
Shaw said he bought the $5 ticket Wednesday at the Break Time convenience store where he works in Marshall, a central Missouri town about 80 miles east of Kansas City. He accepted his ceremonial check at the Missouri Lottery headquarters in Jefferson City wearing a tan and red plaid shirt, a red hat and a huge grin — minus two front teeth he says he lost because he didn't take care of them but can now afford to have replaced.
"I'm just a regular guy working paycheck to paycheck ... well not any more," he said.
Shaw said he needed a few days to decide whether he will keep his minimum-wage job at the store where he has worked for just three weeks. He also plans to seek advice "from people who know about money" about whether to take the jackpot in 30 payments over 29 years or the lump-sum amount of $124,875,122.
His boss, Jackie Maxwell, general manager of the Missouri-based Break Time convenience store chain, was thrilled to hear Shaw had won.
"He's just a great guy, a good employee. When you think of a large winner like this, everyone likes to see that the person who won is somebody like Chris," she said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Shaw — who has a 10-year-old son, a 7-year-old girl and a 5-year-old girl by two different women — said he had played Missouri Scratchers lottery tickets before, winning at most $80. He checked his Powerball ticket against the state lottery's website only after his girlfriend, Tosha Ewry, told him the winning ticket was bought at the store where he works.When Shaw called Ewry back to tell her the news, she thought he was joking, he said. Finally, he said he told her: "I swear on a stack of Bibles, you need to leave work and come home."
The winning numbers were 11-34-41-49-55, Powerball 20. The Power Play number was 2.
Shaw said he looks forward to spending more time with his kids, who live with their mothers about 240 miles southeast of him in his hometown of Alton, as well as with his girlfriend's two sons — 13-year-old and 15-year-old boys Shaw says he considers his own. He plans to take them all to Disney World in Florida.
"I can be with them as much as I want now," Shaw said.
He said his children already have been asking for new skateboards, bicycles and "just stuff that's really hard to do when you make $7.25 an hour."
Each spring, folks from the congregation of First Presbyterian participate in Carter County Streams Clean-up. Our church has agreed to adopt a portion of Dennis Cove as our clean-up area. We’ll meet at the covered bridge park on Saturday, April 24th at 9:00 a.m. where litter bags and gloves are distributed. Then we head to a beautiful mountain stream where we enjoy looking at wild flowers and listening to singing warblers as we collect litter along the stream bank.On Sunday, April 25th join us for a Hike and Meditation!
On Sunday afternoon, April 25, the Peacemaking Committee will sponsor a hike and meditation. We’ll spend an afternoon celebrating Earth, looking for wildflowers, birds, butterflies and whatever else crosses our path. We will hike about 3.7 miles from Hampton to Dennis Cove following the Appalachian Trail much of the way, passing Laurel Falls and Laurel Fork Gorge. Then we will meet with anyone who would like to participate in an Earth Day meditation. For those who do not want to hike but want to participate in the meditation, you can join the group in Dennis Cove between 5:30 and 6:00. Participants will need to bring hiking clothes and a lunch to church so that we may leave as soon as possible after the service. For more information contact Gary Barrigar at 543-7576.Great outing! So invite your friends and join us as we celebrate Earth!
Bob Swanay is the director of the Johnson City Public Library. Folks are swarming to the place. Why is that, Bob?“The library is a safety net during times tough economic times like this,” he said. “People know they can use our resources for job searches. As they research, they sometimes encounter a wide range of information that may help them enter into a new career.”
The demand for computer use also has increased sharply, largely due to the fact that many times it is the only option for researching career opportunities and filling out job applications. Also, the offerings available on the library’s website include a wealth of information and links that open portals to a shared library system, Heritage Quest, World Book Online and access to a number of online programs.In 2009, the library’s website registered 1.5 million hits, and that number is only expected to rise. And all the increases have been most pronounced over the last three years, about the same length of time the country’s economy has been on a downhill slope.
“People are feeling the effects of the slowing economy and have a little extra incentive to come in,” Swanay said. “Part of our strategic plan includes the creation of a career center with more emphasis on providing information on job searches.
“Another factor is that when you’re pinching pennies, you’re looking for a cheap form of entertainment. We have lots of programs for children that keeps them engaged. DVDs are very popular. We’re not Blockbuster, but we do dabble in popular materials. We’re trying to strike a balance between entertainment and education.”
Yup. Proud of my peeps!Music is more than a hobby for Hampton’s Jim Miller, or even a profession. Heck, he’s made it a way of life.
Miller doesn’t just listen to music like most of us do. He hears it in his head, in his sleep, all around him. He plays various kinds of music on numerous instruments, performing and making recordings. He teaches music to students of all ages and leads jam sessions.
For years, Miller was a maker of fine hammer dulcimers. He even invents instruments, using everyday items like turkey basters, a drill, a bicycle wheel or a DustBuster to make music.
“Anything you can get a pitch off of, I’m all for it,” he said with a laugh. “The wackier the better.”
At one point, he said, “I was jamming down” by plucking on a cable used to crank open a camper. It made for some good bass notes.
Miller teaches fourth grade at Cloudland Elementary School in Roan Mountain and leads an after-school traditional string band. He also teaches dulcimer and autoharp at East Tennessee State University in the Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Program.
That’s in addition to all the jamming, performing, demonstrating and recording he does, in addition to the inventing he does.
Why so much music?
“It’s a universal language,” he said. “Every culture has music. It’s a great way to express yourself. If you play oldtime music, you can go anywhere in the world and if you find an old-time banjo player you can play with him. It’s a real camaraderie.”
In these troubled times, leasing a god may be a better strategy than buying one outright.Good advice.
After twenty-five years of deliberation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Church Council has abolished its anti-gay policies, effective immediately. Following from discussions at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly last summer, the ELCA will now allow people in same-sex relationships to serve as rostered leaders. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) human beings are no longer considered abominations but blessed church members with full standing. Same-sex partners and families can now fully participate in the ELCA Pension Plan.Here is the article from Lutherans Concerned:
Best of all, the ELCA is reinstating people who were removed from ministry positions because they were truthful and came out of the closet, as well as those who conducted holy unions for non-heterosexual couples. The ELCA has practiced restorative justice.
This weekend, the ELCA Church Council meeting in Chicago moved the decision of the 2009 Churchwide Assembly into policy by replacing the language in church documents that excluded ministers in committed same-gender relationships with a policy that allows congregations and organizations to call a fully-qualified minister in a committed, same-gender relationship. And, the Council also approved the way to reinstate ministers who have been removed from the roster because of the previous policy and to receive ELM pastors onto the roster of the ELCA. The Council also made the benefits of the ELCA pension plan available to rostered ministers and employees in committed, same-gender relationships.If the Lutherans can do it, the Presbyterians can too.
Suffering and Hope in ColombiaBecca works for Appalachia Service Project and is a member of FPC Elizabethton.
Brief Synopsis: Colombia, South America has been in a civil war for over forty years - and most Americans know nothing about this war, or that the US government helps to fund it. Fighting amongst the right-wing paramilitaries, leftist guerrilla groups and the Colombian military often leave innocent civilians, union leaders, indigenous people, pastors and peace workers in the cross fire. There are more internally displaced people in Colombia (about 4 million) than in any other country in the world including Sudan. Come learn why you should care about human rights in Colombia and what you can do to help advocate for a peaceful US policy on Colombia. Becca Knight participated in an emergency peace delegation to Colombia as part of her work with Mennonite Central Committee. She will share powerful stories about suffering and hope in Colombia.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will have an opportunity to be a voice for justice and action at this summer's General Assembly when it considers the work of the Middle East Study Committee. The committee's report is published in pdf, Breaking Down the Walls. From the committee's website:It was with great joy that I learned of the recent 16-4 vote at UC Berkeley in support of divesting the university's money from companies that enable and profit from the injustice of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and violation of Palestinian human rights. Principled stands like this, supported by a fast growing number of U.S. civil society organizations and people of conscience, including prominent Jewish groups, are essential for a better world in the making, and it is always an inspiration when young people lead the way and speak truth to power.
Despite what detractors may allege, these students are doing the right thing. They are doing the moral thing. They are doing that which is incumbent on them as humans who believe that all people have dignity and rights, and that all those being denied their dignity and rights deserve the solidarity of their fellow human beings.
I have been to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under the racist system of Apartheid. I have witnessed the humiliation of Palestinian men, women, and children made to wait hours at Israeli military checkpoints routinely when trying to make the most basic of trips to visit relatives or attend school or college, and this humiliation is familiar to me and the many black South Africans who were corralled and regularly insulted by the security forces of the Apartheid government.
In South Africa, we could not have achieved our freedom and just peace without the help of people around the world, who through the use of non-violent means, such as boycotts and divestment, encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the Apartheid regime. Students played a leading role in that struggle, and I write these words of encouragement for student divestment efforts cognizant that it was students who played a pioneering role in advocating equality in South Africa and promoting corporate ethical and social responsibility to end complicity in Apartheid. I visited the Berkeley campus in the 1980's and was touched to find students sitting out in the baking sunshine to demonstrate for the University's divestment in companies supporting the South African regime.
The same issue of equality is what motivates the divestment movement of today, which tries to end Israel's 43 year long occupation and the unequal treatment of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government ruling over them. The abuses they face are real, and no person should be offended by principled, morally consistent, non-violent acts to oppose them. It is no more wrong to call out Israel in particular for its abuses than it was to call out the Apartheid regime in particular for its abuses.
To those who wrongly allege unfairness or harm done to them by this call for divestment, I suggest, with humility, that the harm suffered from being confronted with opinions that challenge one's own pales in comparison to the harm done by living a life under occupation and daily denial of basic rights and dignity. It is not with rancor that we criticize the Israeli government, but with hope, a hope that a better future can be made for both Israelis and Palestinians, a future in which both the violence of the occupier and the resulting violent resistance of the occupied come to an end, and where one people need not rule over another, engendering suffering, humiliation, and retaliation. True peace must be anchored in justice and an unwavering commitment to universal rights for all humans, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, national origin or any other identity attribute. These students are helping to pave that path to a just peace and I heartily endorse their divestment vote, encourage them to stand firm on the side of what is right, and urge others to follow the lead of the youth.
The PC(USA) has historically committed itself to the two-state solution, joining the international consensus behind this as the best option to a long-term peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The MESC recommendations support that option. However, the window is rapidly closing to make this a reality....
....Since the MESC was approved by the 2008 General Assembly, more than 20 Israelis and more than 1500 Palestinians have died needlessly due to violence. The situation may change, but by the time the 2010 General Assembly meets, it is almost certain that this death toll will rise. With every military and militant attack, with every settlement, with every escalation of rhetoric and with every death, the stakes simply increase. Not solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not an option. Waiting is not an option. The time for action is now.
Wayne Schwandt
Rebecca Nunley
