August 2004 (Volume 4 Issue 8)
[1] This social statement begins the public conversation within the ELCA on health and health care. If we take this statement seriously, we will be agents of change. The impact of this statement depends on the action of individual members, congregations, and institutions of the church toward improving health within their spheres of influence. This […]
[1] I wonder if church can be “church” if you are not face to face with other people gathered to be together as a believing community. I wonder if being together, physically together is mandatory for “church”? If your first reaction is to say being physically present is mandatory, then www.shipoffools.com is not church. [2] […]
[1] It has been said that “May you live in interesting times” was an ancient Chinese curse. Surely ours qualify as “interesting times.” Difficulties surround us on international, national, regional, local, familial, and personal levels. The issues-the “war on terror,” the conflict in Iraq, the ongoing devastation of world and local hunger, the economic disparities […]
[1] I have been invited to draft an essay regarding biblical perspectives on education. The specific context for this essay is the preparation of a social statement on education by the ELCA. Two qualifications need to be stated at the outset. The first qualification is that the communities that formed the Bible did not share […]
But yield who will to their separation, My object in living is to unite My avocation and my vocation As my two eyes make one in sight. Only where love and need are one, And the work is play for mortal stakes, Is the deed ever really done For Heaven and the future’s sakes. Concluding […]
Brazos Press, 2001. Pp. 254. $18.99 (paper) [1] Like me, you might begin reading this review for the sake of balance, to listen at least for a little while to the voice of a pacifist sectarian whose theology, though interesting and admirable, is also eccentric and unrealistic. You, as a reader, therefore begin with the […]
Grand Rapids: Eerdmanns, 2000. Pp. 375. $39.00 (cloth) [1] Hunsinger is a great teacher because he is the best of students. He does honor and justice to the theology of Karl Barth through lucid studies in political, doctrinal, and ecumenical theology. His writing is the output of a rapt and apt pupil; it beautifully re-presents […]
[1] Sexual intimacy can serve as a resource for spiritual transformation and renewal in our lives. Through it, we can experience a restored sense of healing, joy, personal power to affect and be affected, passionate relationship, creative potency, and wondrous pleasure. When sexual relating functions this way in our lives, making love can be one […]
[1] Journey Together Faithfully: The Church and Homosexuality is the study series offered by the Task Force for ELCA Studies on Sexuality. The primary text provided is a study guide with instructions for six study sessions, plus appendices of pertinent ELCA documents, a list of resources, and frequently asked questions. The study is intended as […]
[1]The two texts for the meditation this evening have each held significance for me for years. First, Micah 6:8: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Second, II Corinthians 5:19: […]
