Defending Warren
ENI – President-elect Barack Obama defended his selection of evangelical leader Rick Warren to deliver the prayer at his inauguration, a move criticized by some gay groups and supporters of abortion rights.
Authorcommunications
The Facebooking God…
For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we shall see face to face.- 1 Corinthians 13:12
The doctrine of the Trinity is, of course, notoriously difficult. But it's also central to Christian faith. One theologian puts it this way: “Those who deny the Trinity may lose their souls, but those who try to explain it may lose their minds.”
According to the late Scottish Reformed theologian T.F. Torrance, the doctrine of the Trinity “is the innermost heart of the Christian faith, the central dogma of classical theology, the fundamental grammar of our knowledge of God.”
Mom, Music and Me
It's Nostalgia Night at our house. Ramona and I have been going through some old record albums. Yes, records. You may remember them. A curious form of transmitting sound waves, but nonetheless very popular back when the earth was cooling and we were attending high school. Although we've since opted for compact discs, I still can't bring myself to toss out these old albums. Recorded here is a part of my past. A part of the good old days. A part of me.
Enjoyed Christmas stories
Just a note to say I really enjoyed reading the Christmas stories from around the world, and the children's drawings were delightful. I think that should be a December tradition, as it would encourage children to be interested in the magazine. Also what a good idea to have the Advent calendar!
Preach on Incarnation
Re Jesus is here! December
The Malthusian Dilemma and the Judgment of God
The latest census figures for Malawi were just released with the shocking news that Malawi's population has grown to over 13 million. It is a surprise because of the devastation HIV/AIDS has brought with up to 80,000 annual deaths of people in their reproductive years attributed to 'the thinning disease.' What this means is that the population splurge is coming from the next generation, from those in the 13-21 age bracket.
Visiting one of our Livelihoods programmes in a rural district called Phalombe, I was struck by the huge number of children under five roaming about. I saw what I thought were sisters carrying siblings on their backs: it turns out these were the mothers.
Poverty and Population
Re Poverty Focus, October
North Bay Woods
Your October issue has a wonderful article by Erin Woods – and every time she is published (she has been on the cover, written an editorial and many other articles) I believe, not once have you mentioned – and she is proud of the fact – that she is a member of Calvin, North Bay, Ont. So, the next time Erin Woods has the occasion to submit an article, please let everyone know that this wonderful young woman comes from an amazing congregation: Calvin in beautiful North Bay.
Remembering Zimbabwe
Re A Colonial Life, by Margaret (Rudo) Zondo, November
Greater and Deeper
I was delighted to read about the series on religion and theology by two outstanding theologians, Joseph McLelland and John Visser.
Christian Cramps
Ian Wishart in his series on Calvin writes, “On the whole, Calvin had a gloomy view of human life…” Wow, he's not kidding. Following Calvin's prescriptions to suffer like Christ could lead you to a serious case of the Christian Cramps.
It’s the start of a New Year – 2009
Click here for this month’s Called to Wonder.
$50 million for Bibles
World Net Daily and Orlando Sentinel – An anonymous donation of $50 million is kick-starting an initiative to provide 200 million people with Bibles in their native languages by the year 2025.
Food crisis
EAA – “The current food crisis is an appalling indictment of our broken food system,” stated Sam Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches in opening a conference on Confronting the Global Food Challenge. With over one billion people in the world now facing constant hunger, Kobia said that such growing tragedies are “a result of the ways our societies have chosen to produce, share, buy and sell food.”
Curriculum : The Church Must Teach – Or Die!
Sixty years ago this fall, the Presbyterian Church USA's Christian Faith and Life Curriculum was launched. It became the most successful Christian education program in the history of American Protestantism. In his A Religious History of the American People, the eminent historian Sydney Ahlstrom gives this program pride of place in his discussion of the impact of neo-orthodoxy, the movement initiated by the renowned Swiss theologian Karl Barth, on the American churches in the 1940s and 1950s. Neo-orthodoxy, he notes, moved into the seminaries and from the seminaries into the churches and then into its Sunday schools.
Curriculum : The Whole Church Teaches
Dong-Ha Kim, a recent graduate from Knox College, while updating a 22-year-old video for our denomination, made an interesting observation: “Twenty-two years ago there was an underlying assumption that children and families wanted to be in church.”
Curriculum : Young Children and Worship
“This is the best program I know that provides a spiritually formative setting which is age-appropriate for young children,” says Marcia Floding, a Christian education consultant for the Reformed Church in America, of Young Children and Worship, a curriculum used internationally including the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
“Young children are tactile, they love to play, they are concrete, yet they are capable of experiencing God and knowing Him. Children and Worship takes into account what children are, and presents the spiritual nurture they need at their development level.”
Doubt deepens faith
ENI – A sermon on doubt won a best-sermon competition hosted by the Dutch newspaper, Nederlands Dagblad.” Doubt can be hastily perceived as the opposite of faith and something that is not good. Yet, when I read the story of Gideon, I learned that this really is not the case. It seems that even though Gideon doubts, he also believes; doubt is a tool to a deeper relationship with God,” said the winner, Almatine Leene, a theology doctoral student from South Africa, studying in the Netherlands.
Meeting inmates with love
Wendy Murchy, Terry Richardson and Arn Main have spent a lot of time in jail. Their experiences behind bars have had a profound impact on their lives – and on their faith.
But they are not inmates; they are three individuals who have been called to the ministry of prison chaplaincy. Rev. Terry Richardson is a Lutheran minister who is presently serving as the Director-General of Chaplaincy for Corrections Services Canada in Ottawa; Rev. Wendy Murchy is a Protestant (Pentecostal) chaplain in the Fraser Valley Institution for women in British Columbia; and Rev. Arn Main is a Protestant (Christian Missionary Alliance) chaplain in the Beaver Creek Institution outside of Gravenhurst, Ont.
A serious downturn
– The Anglican Church in Canada eliminated seven positions from its national office in November as part of a plan to slash $1. 3 million from the 2009 budget and reduce its running deficit.