A General Assembly Policy Review with possible new applications of Reformed Christian Principles 2011 by Christian Iosso, Advisory Committee on Social Witness
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December 20, 2011, by Chris Iosso, A Christmas Editorial When we pray for the peace of Jerusalem, we should also pray for Bethlehem. Most readers will know that the city is largely surrounded by a high cement wall. Israeli
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Moderate and progressive Christians have always found it hard to take Donald Trump seriously as a false messiah, much less an actual one. In the name of Trump, some 1000 or so extremists invaded and occupied the Senate and House chambers for several hours on January 6, prompting many Republicans
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“Don’t just do something, stand there.” The first thing to do in a crisis or even disaster is not to panic. This is not “fight, flight, or paralysis,” but steadiness, rooted in the inner security of faith. A national or international crisis is something that it helps to have a
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Here goes Lee again, asking uncomfortable questions! Yet he has read anthropology about our culture and reads it in real time in the tragic, self-destructive struggles we almost all—in the 99%– see around us. As one raised in a progressive form of Northern Presbyterianism, I do not see what Lee
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The Committee on the General Assembly (COGA) has a very weighty set of decisions in front of it. The General Assembly, currently scheduled for June 20-27, 2020 in Baltimore, MD, likely cannot be held physically during that time frame. Yet the church is mandated to have one in 2020, and
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Warren gave as her core motto at the end of the last debate a reference to Matthew 25, seeking to recognize herself and the divine even in the “least of these.” Whatever the ideological fine points, there she spoke to the egalitarian core of the Democratic soul. While her goal
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Mitt Romney paused, perhaps in prayer, certainly in faith-filled emotion before casting one of the most meaningful votes in President Trump’s impeachment trial, supporting the charge that the President was guilty of abusing his power. Senator Romney, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a
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I was sitting in the chapel last Wednesday between two women and we got to the hymn “For Everyone Born,” which somehow finds “justice and joy” in a verse where “abuser, abused, with need to forgive” have “a place at the table” (in Glory to God #769). One woman walked
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The mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton of August 3 and 4, 2019, cannot be allowed to recede into the learned-helplessness of our politics, even if the head of an NRA in disarray can still neutralize a fearful president. Universal background checks should win in both houses of Congress,
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A Tradition to Counter Historical Amnesia. For everyone following the common lectionary, this Sunday (March 17) includes what is called Jesus’ “lament” over Jerusalem, Luke 13: 31-35. His weeping occurs as the city comes into view in chapter 19, verses 41-44. Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem is the framework for Lent,
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A Reflection and Prayer for Ash Wednesday “Emergency” is the right word for the brutality that borders so much of our manageable, even comfortable lives. Today, a friend recalls the prophet Joel’s call: “Rend your hearts and not your garments.” (Joel 2:13). Lent calls us to see more of the
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