Front Page

Episcopal Church Joins Interfaith Appeal for Middle East Peace

January 13, 2005, WASHINGTON, DC - The Rt. Rev. Allen Bartlett, representing Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, joined 34 of the nation's most prominent Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders to announce a major appeal to President Bush citing their united support for renewed U.S. leadership in the Middle East peace process. Bartlett, the retired bishop of Pennsylvania, noted: "The results of the recent elections prove the Palestinian ability to function under very difficult conditions and their desire for democracy and longing for an end to conflict. They face huge obstacles and hard choices. This gathering of religious leaders underscores this moment as a unique opportunity for the United States to step forward with strong and persistent leadership, engaged with both Israelis and the Palestinians, to bring a just and peaceful resolution to the conflict." Bartlett has been involved in Middle East issues for over 10 years, including spending a portion of his 1993 sabbatical at St. George's College in Jerusalem. Presently, Bartlett is chairman of the Ecumenical Working Group for Middle East Peace in Philadelphia.

Between Ballots and Barbed Wire: Accompanying Elections under Occupation

"I would like to express my thanks to this group of Christian leaders and volunteers who are here to promote the principles of the prince of peace," said former US president Jimmy Carter. Present in the region as an international monitor for the Palestinian elections, Carter was speaking at a 10 January gathering in Jerusalem of members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), local church leaders, and local Jewish and Muslim partners. Also attending the gathering was US congresswoman Lois Capps who, like Carter, had served as an election monitor. Presenting a report entitled "Accompanying elections under occupation: between ballots and barbed wire," EAPPI members shared their observations of the recently-concluded Palestinian elections, while Carter, Capps and local church leaders praised the work of EAPPI and its volunteer "ecumenical accompaniers" in helping to bring peace to both Palestinians and Israelis.

General News

African-American Pastors Learn to 'Tarry for Power'

January 11, 2005, ATLANTA - The real power for ministry doesn't come from a book or seminary education but from a pastor's relationship with Jesus Christ, a United Methodist bishop told 650 clergy. Because ministry comes with myriad challenges, a "power outside yourself" is needed as well as the knowledge of how to incorporate it into one's work, said Bishop James Swanson, in the opening address to a convocation of pastors leading African-American churches. "Power is in the relationship with Jesus Christ in the sense that you are able to surrender yourself and your understanding to his understanding, so that the questions that are answered are out of your relationship with Christ," he said, "(and) so that you may convey the messages to your people in word and in deed."

Pastors Learn of Divine Love, 'Monsters' Affecting Ministry

January 12, 2005, ATLANTA - God's love is neither won, bought nor negotiated, and divine love is not blind to evil, according to a seminary professor. The Rev. Joy Moore urged pastors of African-American congregations to remember that "God's love is an expression of his expectation that we might be a reflection of his holiness in a world that is in need of hope." "There is nothing that you can do to cause God to love you any less," said Moore, assistant professor of preaching at Asbury Theological School in Wilmore, Ky. "And by the same token, there is nothing that you can do to cause God to love you even more."

'Groundwork' Begins for Evangelism, Back-to-school TV Advertising;
New Teaching Resources Mailed to All Congregations, Dioceses

January 10, 2005 – Designed to help increase local church hospitality and evangelism in preparation for back-to-school national television advertising, new teaching resources for use in Lent or Eastertide 2005 have been mailed to all congregations in the Episcopal Church. Titled "Groundwork: Digging Deep for Change and Growth," the resources are also available on-line. The materials precede the scheduled March 2005 preview of new TV ads designed to reach "Generation X" viewers (often defined as those born between 1962 and 1981) who are unaffiliated with any church. The ads are being developed through the Episcopal Church's Office of Communication pursuant to $750,000 allocated for this purpose by General Convention in 2003. For a free consultation regarding this advertising, congregations are invited to contact the Episcopal Media Center in Atlanta, telephone: 800.229.3788, after reviewing their Groundwork packets.

European Youth Discern God's Call for Their Lives

January 13, 2005, BRAUNFELS, Germany - Young United Methodists from Central Europe gathered in late 2004 to discern God's call for their lives. The Methodists, ages 16 to 26, gathered in November for European Exploration 2004, a weekend event modeled after the biennial U.S. Exploration events that the denomination's Board of Higher Education and Ministry has sponsored for the past 12 years. The European gathering, sponsored by the denomination's central (regional) conferences in Europe, offered the nearly 45 participants an opportunity to look at using faith in daily life, no matter what profession they choose. Event leaders - in the plenary session, workshops, small-group discussions and worship - represented a variety of vocational paths. Deaconesses led a session that opened interest in the areas of lay ministry and women in ministry.

Ecumenical News

Distinguished Visitors Praise Baha'i Temple

January 12, 2005, NEW DELHI, India - Prominent international visitors to the Baha'i House of Worship here recently expressed their admiration of the Temple that attracts more than three and a half million visitors each year. Crown Princess Margareta of Romania and her husband, Prince Radu von Hohenzollern-Veringen, attended a prayer service at the Temple on 14 November 2004. On 13 December 2004 the First Lady of the Slovak Republic, Silvia Gasparovicova, attended a similar service at the House of Worship. Princess Margareta and her husband were welcomed at the House of Worship by the secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of India, Farida Vahedi, and by the architect of the Temple, Fariborz Sahba, who explained features of the building.

National News

Humanitarian Organization Sends Letter to President Bush - Worries Bush Administration "Invoking a Culture of War" That Leaves "Little Space for Quiet Diplomacy"

January 13, 2005, PHILADELPHIA, PA - In a recent letter, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker humanitarian service organization, urged President Bush to heed major U.S. religious leaders - including those in his own denomination, that have expressed concerns about the U.S.-led war with Iraq.

In the 2004 elections voters reportedly cited moral values as the "most important issue." Accordingly the letter penned by Paul Lacey, clerk of the AFSC Board of Directors, questioned why the President recently refused meeting with U.S. church leaders - including bishops from Bush's own United Methodist Church. "You preside over a nation deeply divided, and the deepest divisions, the deepest distrusts, occur in questions with the most compelling moral resonance," Lacey writes. "We are divided on questions of war and peace, of social and economic justice, of how to combat terror and protect citizens' constitutional rights."

International News

Ecumenical Group Seeks to Aid Sudanese in the U. S., Darfur
Kansas City-based Council Organizes Churches Here, Relief There

January 12, 2005, KANSAS CITY, KS - It's not enough to have a church that welcomes you every Sunday. Sometimes you need a place that feels like home, says Peter Biet, a native of Sudan who moved here from Sudan in 1999. "Being far away from home, you are deprived of so many things," Biet says. "When you are in a foreign church where the language is not yours, you will get messages in bits. You will not be able to enjoy it as you did when you were at home." Biet helped found the Sudanese Community Church in 2001 so the growing congregation of Sudanese people in the Kansas City area would have a place to worship in their native language each Sunday. The church is a Presbyterian-Episcopal hybrid, and its first minister is the Rev. Paul Ater, an Episcopal pastor who is Sudanese.

Best Way to Help Relief Effort: Stay Home, Make Donation, Agency Says

January 7, 2005 – In the wake of televised images of the death and destruction in the tsunami-ravaged countries of South Asia and Africa, many United Methodists are feeling the need to go and help. United Methodist Committee on Relief officials are urging those who want to help to remember that the people in the stricken countries are feeling the same need and are working to recover from the disaster. And thousands of people who have been left homeless by the Dec. 26 tsunami need the jobs that the recovery will bring. "What is inspiring to me is that the Methodists in all of these areas are on the frontlines of response, and they are doing the same job we do when a disaster hits in the United States," said the Rev. Kristin Sachen, head of UMCOR's disaster response. "God is already present. We do not need to go there to make God present."

American Friends Service Committee Tsunami Relief Tops 2-million
Humanitarian Organization Earmarks Second Distribution to Region "Peace Cadres"
Looks at How Relief Efforts Can Contribute to Long-term Peace-building in Indonesia

January 14, 2005, PHILADELPHIA, PA - The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has raised more than two million dollars in support of its Tsunami relief effort. New funds to support more medical personnel, equipment and supplies have been sent to the Aceh Province of Indonesia, where the risk of disease and infection is escalating. The bulk of new work will be concentrated around the coastal city of Meulaboh, the closest major city to the earthquake's epicenter and perhaps the hardest hit. 43,000 of the area's 200,000 inhabitants were killed in the tsunami. The first wave of medical supplies were sent to Banda Aceh, Lhokseumawe and Nias in the Aceh Province.

United Methodist Delegation Comforts Indonesian Church, Bishop Says

Jananuary 14, 2005, MEDAN, Indonesia - The tsunami disaster in Indonesia has allowed United Methodists to reconnect with their Methodist counterparts here. The Jan. 12 arrival of a United Methodist delegation "is of great significance to our church," said Bishop Rusman Pungka Mual Tambunan of the North and Central Sumatran Conference of the Gereja Methodist Indonesia (Methodist Church of Indonesia). The tsunami tragedy is "so sad and so vast," the bishop said, then added through a translator: "Our heart is comforted by your presence. I thank you for being with us as members of one family."

Methodists Across Europe Respond to Tsunami

January 11, 2005 – Horrified by what they saw and heard of the destruction wrought by deadly tsunamis in South Asia, Methodists across Europe have lined up to help in whatever way they can. A congregation in the north of England is filling and shipping plastic crates called "aquaboxes" that contain water purification and filter equipment. An elderly Irish Methodist couple donated their government winter fuel subsidy to those they believe have more need of the money. Lithuanian United Methodists collected a special offering that will go to the United Methodist Committee on Relief's tsunami response. Slovakian United Methodists are collecting donations for the entire month of January. And in the Czech Republic, where United Methodists remember the devastating effects of recent floods in their own country, congregations have organized a national appeal.

Middle East News

LWF Encourages Israel, Palestine to Seize Opportunity for Peace
Election of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas a "New Chance"

January 13, 2005, GENEVA - The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has appealed to both the Israeli and Palestinian leadership to seize the opportunity for peace presented by the recent election of Mr Mahmoud Abbas as President of the Palestinian Authority (PA). In letters addressed today to the PA president-elect and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon respectively, LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko says the election of Abbas offers both sides "a new chance for peace" in the Holy Land. Noko requests Sharon to grasp this new chance "with both hands" and resume negotiations with the elected PA leadership "at the earliest possible juncture in order to strengthen the renewed hopes for peace that are growing in the hearts of Palestinians and Israelis alike."

Reviews

Disaster Strikes - God Is There

January 12, 2005, MINNEAPOLIS - Disasters come, sometimes with a feverish pitch that not only strip us of our internal strength and community resources, but also our ability to believe. How can there be a loving God with tornadoes, earthquakes, fires and other related disasters? Throw in wars, violence, genocide, disease, trauma...the questions are endless and so, it seems, is the pain. In Act of God/Active God, Dr. Gary Harbaugh raises the faith-related questions that the victims/survivors of natural disasters have as a result of this experience. Is the disaster an "act of God"? Did God cause the disaster? If God is all powerful, why did God allow it to happen?

Martin Marty Pens New Pocket-sized Devotions for Lent

January 13, 2005, MINNEAPOLIS - Places Along the Way: Pocket Devotions for Lent by Martin Marty is now available from Augsburg Fortress. In this classic Lenten devotional, Marty invites us to join him for a journey, one that will visit places familiar and unknown, and help us to consider various aspects of our life with God. Each day during Lent we read from the Bible, and then are taken to a location from that reading, which in turn leads us into a meditation and prayer. Spending a few minutes a day in this way can center us on the Lenten path that leads us to Jesus' saving death and resurrection. Places Along the Way is also available in an expanded book format, with photographs by Mica Marty.