Brian Stewart, award-winning Canadian journalist, says that when he started his career he had nearly given up on Christianity. He thought that church was a rather tiresome irrelevance. But after years of covering news all over the world, he came to a new understanding. He can now say, ‘I’ve never reached a war zone, or famine group or crisis anywhere where some church organization was not there long before me… sturdy, remarkable souls usually too kind to ask, “What took you so long?”’
When he and a reporter from BBC broke the news of the great famine in Ethiopia in 1984, TV coverage was given the credit for saving millions of lives. Stewart says that was not the case. He went to Ethiopia only because church and aid groups on the ground there foresaw the famine and begged the media and the world to take notice. ‘My own experience has convinced me that Christianity is best shared with others,’ he says. Besides, ‘Christian work on the front lines infects those around them, even those who are not Christian, with a sense of Christ’s deep mystery and power.’” (Speech at the 160th convocation of Knox College, Toronto.)
We too are part of such work. This past week Grace sent a check for $405 to assist with our denomination’s relief efforts in Haiti. Thanks to all who contributed! Furthermore, funds given last year to One Great Hour of Sharing, plus general designated funds of the PCUSA, are being used to help with basic humanitarian relief in providing temporary shelter, food and health assistance. Funds are also being used to provide water, sanitation engineering, and equipment to construct water purification systems. Resources for building latrines are also being provided, as the sanitation situation is critical. PDA will be supporting communities in the long struggle to rebuild from this disaster — the worst earthquake to strike Haiti in 200 years.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Pastor's Column February 21, 2010
A thought for this Lenten season:
One way of thinking about prayer is that it is cooperation with the One who seeks our wellbeing, the One who seeks the well being of the world in which we live, the natural world, the political world, the economic world.
Douglas Steere said, “The great Christian men and women of prayer have always looked upon prayer as a response to the ceaseless outpouring of love and concern with which God lays siege to every soul. Prayer for them is a response to the prior love of God… the only appropriate reply that a man or woman could make who had been made aware of the love at the heart of things.” To sense God’s ceaseless outpouring of love is to want to love God back through every relationship that a man or woman touches, which prayer helps us do.
Prayer is step one in how we actively cooperate with the One who seeks our wellbeing and the wellbeing of others. We are to pray for ourselves and for others, including the city or towns in which we live and work. In Jeremiah 29:7,8 the prophet tells the exiles to Babylon, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
We may sometimes forget that we’re all in this thing together, but the Bible never does. It’s not just “God and me,” but “God, others, and me.” And because God is the Love at the heart of it all, my task is to enjoy this love and help others experience it also.
One way of thinking about prayer is that it is cooperation with the One who seeks our wellbeing, the One who seeks the well being of the world in which we live, the natural world, the political world, the economic world.
Douglas Steere said, “The great Christian men and women of prayer have always looked upon prayer as a response to the ceaseless outpouring of love and concern with which God lays siege to every soul. Prayer for them is a response to the prior love of God… the only appropriate reply that a man or woman could make who had been made aware of the love at the heart of things.” To sense God’s ceaseless outpouring of love is to want to love God back through every relationship that a man or woman touches, which prayer helps us do.
Prayer is step one in how we actively cooperate with the One who seeks our wellbeing and the wellbeing of others. We are to pray for ourselves and for others, including the city or towns in which we live and work. In Jeremiah 29:7,8 the prophet tells the exiles to Babylon, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
We may sometimes forget that we’re all in this thing together, but the Bible never does. It’s not just “God and me,” but “God, others, and me.” And because God is the Love at the heart of it all, my task is to enjoy this love and help others experience it also.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Pastor's Column February 14, 2010
Presbyterians have a well-deserved reputation for being cheap, but not on Valentine’s Day! An elder of St. Penurious Presbyterian Church of Parsimonious, Pennsylvania treats his wife to the following ritual every Valentine’s Day. After she cooks supper and they eat her meal, he takes her to the local Walmart. They go to the greeting card section, where he chooses the most expensive valentine and lets her read it. Then they go home.
For her birthday his wife said she wanted to see the world. The man broke down and bought her a globe. She got mad. He said he’d meet her half way. If she’d furnish the ship, he’d furnish the ocean. He’s so cheap that he sewed Baggies into his pockets so he can take soup home from a restaurant.
The man wasn’t always this way. When he was a boy in elementary school, he brought his teacher an apple every morning. He’d let her keep it on her desk until he ate it for lunch.
Prior to becoming a Christian he was into the occult. His fascination ended when he went to a fortune-teller who told him, “For twenty dollars I’ll read your future and you can ask three questions.”
“About what?” he asked.
“About anything.”
“Isn’t twenty dollars a lot of money?”
“Not that much. Now, what’s your last question?”
For her birthday his wife said she wanted to see the world. The man broke down and bought her a globe. She got mad. He said he’d meet her half way. If she’d furnish the ship, he’d furnish the ocean. He’s so cheap that he sewed Baggies into his pockets so he can take soup home from a restaurant.
The man wasn’t always this way. When he was a boy in elementary school, he brought his teacher an apple every morning. He’d let her keep it on her desk until he ate it for lunch.
Prior to becoming a Christian he was into the occult. His fascination ended when he went to a fortune-teller who told him, “For twenty dollars I’ll read your future and you can ask three questions.”
“About what?” he asked.
“About anything.”
“Isn’t twenty dollars a lot of money?”
“Not that much. Now, what’s your last question?”
Sunday, February 7, 2010
PASTOR’S COLUMN for the week of February 7, 2010
Remember the commercial on TV, “When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen”? Given the disastrous advice and practices of Wall Street, and consequent collapse of the economy two autumns ago, equal air-time should have been given to, “When Jesus talks, people really should listen.” If the world had paid attention to our Lord, maybe so many wouldn’t be suffering as they are today.
One of the teachings that Jesus gave us is The Beatitudes (Matthew 5: 1-12), which not only shows us the way to happiness and joy, but describes a different economy – the economy of God.
The difference goes something like this:
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: Invest and you’ll have heaven on earth.
The Beatitude Attitude: Divest and you’ll have heaven after earth.
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: Grab it while you can.
The Beatitude Attitude: Give it while you can.
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: Show no mercy.
The Beatitude Attitude: Show nothing but mercy.
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: My way or the highway
The Beatitude Attitude: Thy way every day.
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: Blessed are the deal makers
The Beatitude Attitude: Blessed are the peace makers
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: Those who have the gold make the rules.
The Beatitude Attitude: Look out for your neighbor’s interest, just as you do your own.
-DJ
One of the teachings that Jesus gave us is The Beatitudes (Matthew 5: 1-12), which not only shows us the way to happiness and joy, but describes a different economy – the economy of God.
The difference goes something like this:
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: Invest and you’ll have heaven on earth.
The Beatitude Attitude: Divest and you’ll have heaven after earth.
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: Grab it while you can.
The Beatitude Attitude: Give it while you can.
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: Show no mercy.
The Beatitude Attitude: Show nothing but mercy.
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: My way or the highway
The Beatitude Attitude: Thy way every day.
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: Blessed are the deal makers
The Beatitude Attitude: Blessed are the peace makers
The advice/behavior that got us in this mess: Those who have the gold make the rules.
The Beatitude Attitude: Look out for your neighbor’s interest, just as you do your own.
-DJ
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