A Reflection for the Third Sunday of Advent- Henri Nouwen

Keep your eyes on the prince of peace, the one who doesn't cling to his divine power; the one who refuses to turn stones into bread, jump from great heights and rule with great power; the one who says, "Blessed are the poor, the gentle, those who mourn, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness" (see Matt. 5:3-11); the one who touches the lame, the crippled, and the blind; the one who speaks words of forgiveness and encouragement; the one who dies alone, rejected and despised. Keep your eyes on him who becomes poor with the poor, weak with the weak, and who is rejected with the rejected. He is the source of all peace.

Where is this peace to be found? The answer is clear. In weakness. First of all, in our own weakness, in those places of our hearts where we feel most broken, most insecure, most in agony, most afraid. Why there? Because there our familiar ways of controlling our world are being stripped away; there we are called to let go from doing much, thinking much, and relying on our self-sufficiency. Right there where we are weakest the peace which is not of this world is hidden.

Bonhoeffer on the Praxis of Churches

The church is only the church when it exists for others. To make a start, it should give away all its property to those in need. The clergy must live solely on the free-will offerings of their congregations, or possibly engage in some secular calling. The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men (sic) of every calling what it means to live in Christ, to exist for others (Letters and Papers from Prison).

Juan J Sarmiento (@juanjsarmiento) has shared a Tweet with you:

"bobhyatt: Muslim world is largely closed to Xn evangelism. What if God is bringing millions of Muslims to the US so we can love them towards Jesus?"
-http://ping.fm/mtIMH

Enjoying the attention to the dynamics of migration and multilingual during Jesus' upbringing in Anne Rice's "Out of Egypt"

According to the latest Census data, one in four US chidren is Hispanic

Preaching three times this weekend.

Thinking of Patrick, a humble Scottish saint whose obedience forever impacted the destiny of Ireland, western civilization and many nations

Enjoyed the play "Beneath the Veil" at Glendale's Alex Theatre.

Memento, homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris.

Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. C.S. Lewis in "The Weight of Glory"

Inter-Ethnic Marriages: Rapidly on the Rise

A recent Pew study indicates that a record 14.6% of all new marriages in the United States in 2008 were between spouses of a different ethnicity from one another. That figure is an estimated six times the intermarriage rate among newlyweds in 1960 and more than double the rate in 1980. In 2008, 9% of whites, 16% of blacks, 26% of Hispanics and 31% of Asians married someone whose ethnicity was different from their own.

Click here to read more...

The Logic of the Mission of God

Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music
inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation;
every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to
walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s
fellow human beings and for that matter one’s fellow nonhuman creatures;
and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world – all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make. That is the logic of the mission of God.” N.T Wright (Surprised by Hope, p 208)

Mega-iglesias: Lugares de Reconciliacion Racial?

En febrero del 2009, la famosa Iglesia Willow Creek había alcanzado el 20% el umbral de las minorías que significa una congregación integrada. Hoy sus miembresia esta compuesta en un 80% de euroamericanos, 6% de hispanos, el 4% asiaticos, 2% Africo-Americanos y un 8% "otros" grupos étnicos. Parece tratarse de una tendencia entre iglesias con miles de miembros!

Siga este link para leer el interesante reportaje de la revista TIME

Multiracial Americans: The Fastest Growing Group

The number of multiracial people rose 3.4 percent last year to about 5.2 million, according to the latest census estimates. First given the option in 2000, Americans who check more than one box for race on census surveys have jumped by 33 percent and now make up 5 percent of the minority population — with millions more believed to be uncounted.
Demographers attributed the recent population growth to more social acceptance and slowing immigration. They cited in particular the high public profiles of Tiger Woods and President Barack Obama, a self-described "mutt," who are having an effect on those who might self-identify as multiracial.
Population figures as of July 2008 show that California, Texas, New York and Florida had the most multiracial people, due partly to higher numbers of second- and later-generation immigrants who are more likely to "marry out." Measured by percentages, Hawaii ranked first with nearly 1 in 5 residents who were multiracial, followed by Alaska and Oklahoma, both at roughly 4 percent. (According to the Census Bureau, via Associated Press. Click here for the entire reporte)

Virtual Ministers in Scotland/Ministros Virtuales en Escocia

Para hacerle frente a la escasez de ministros ordenados en la Iglesia de Escocia (Presbiteriana) un consejo ministerial ha propuesto la utilización de "ministros virtuales" que pueden predicar y enseñar en vivo mediante un sistema electrónico de videos. Cada día aumenta el número de parroquias que no tienen ministros residentes y el futuro no parece muy alentador.

The Dignity of Difference- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks at MIT

A thought on Crying and Pain

Sometimes in order to help He makes us cry.
Happy the eye that sheds tears for His sake.
Fortunate the heart that burns for His sake.
Laughter always follows tears.
Blessed are those who understand.
Life blossoms wherever water flows.
Where tears are shed divine mercy is shown.

-Rumi (Sufi Poet) , "Mathnawi"

"Promiscuity": A good old Calvinist word?

I can understand why the Canons of Dort are not the object of much consideration in PCUSA circles nowadays. It did, however, come to my attention that some old translations of the render the 5th article of the second main point as saying:
"the promise of the gospel is that whosoever believes in Christ crucified shall not perish, but have eternal life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be declared and published to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without distinction, to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gospel".
More recent versions read: "without differenciation or discrimination". We sure can use some of that missional "promiscuity" in our congregations today!

Partership for developing new congregations

San Fernando Presbytery, seeking to “relearn the art of starting new congregations,” has teamed up with Evangelical Covenant Church — a denomination with a long track record of successful new church development in its area.

The presbytery is currently interviewing and screening prospective church planters. In the meantime, leaders of the effort say they have discovered some things about successful new churches: they are organized around identity and concern, not around geography; they need visionary leadership more than skilled managers; they need to train disciples more than “provide services for consumers; and contrary to commonly-held opinion, they don’t cost that much money to start. (From Presbyterian News Service)