Don Dewey and Tom Perring at Miracle Week

Loch Leven Camp and Conference Center

"The Holiness of Work"

Registration, scholarships and information, www.pswdw.org 

Mark your calendar because this is one retreat you will not want to miss!   Invite your friends!
 
Early Registration (deadline Sept. 6th): $135
Late Registration (deadline Sept. 20th): $145
Scholarship deadline: Sept. 6th. 

For more information, contact Leni Jahn (858) 453-2881, lenijahn@sbcglobal.net. See you in October!

Donna Woodbridge
% First Christian Church
109 E. Wilshire Avenue
Fullerton, CA 92832

 

Did you know...
Project IMPACT recently began a new partnership with Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), a federally funded snack program for at-risk children and adults. CACFP plays a vital role in creating and maintaining quality, affordable care for school-age children. Project IMPACT has served approximately 200 snacks per month in 2010. Upon arriving at IMPACT after-school programs, most children have had nothing to eat for 3-4 hours.

Now, thanks to our CACFP funding, our afterschool staff serves healthy snacks at the beginning of each program. This assures that the children are not longer hungry and can fully participate in all of the educational activities. By giving the children the fuel they need to learn, the snack plays a similar role at the end of the day that the School Breakfast program plays at the start.  
Nicole Artry ~ Director of Snack Food Program

Come be part of the good news.  You'll be glad you did!

To volunteer contact Dan Oliver 714-328-3947 / doliver@disciplespswr.org
    IMPACTING Communities with Hope...One Child at a Time

A MOSQUE NEAR GROUND ZERO?

    As this issue of monthly mailing is being prepared, there is a controversy in our country over plans by a group to construct a major Islamic center, named Cordova House, including a mosque but also facilities for community gatherings, classes, etc., at a site close to "Ground Zero," where the World Trade Center stood before it was destroyed by the Al Queda attackers on September 11, 2001.  

This period of time also happens to be especially holy for Muslims:  August 11 to September 10 is the fast month of Ramadan, during which they take no food after sunrise and before sundown each day, for the sake of deepening their relationship with God.  Americans, most of whom are Christians, are being confronted in these ways with the major presence of a different religion in our midst.   Unfortunately, some of our fellow believers are reacting with fear and hostility to the increased visibility of our Muslim neighbors.  There is a movement to prohibit the planned Muslim community center near Ground Zero, on the grounds that it would amount to a dishonoring of the 9/11 victims.  Worse, one large church has called for an international "Qu'ran Burning Day" on Sept. 11 (the Qu'ran or Koran being the holy scripture of the Muslim people).   Clearly these folks don't remember that it was Adolf Hitler who became famous for burning books.
   
      A recent statement by Rev. Dr. Michael "Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, addresses this issue.  Kinnamon notes that there are indeed extremely painful memories and deep emotions connected with Ground Zero for hundreds of thousands of Americans.  But he says that is precisely why the Muslim community center near the site should be encouraged.  Dr. Kinnamon notes that a considerable number of those who lost their lives on 9/11 were themselves Muslims.  In a situation in which most Americans are just beginning to learn what Islam actually is, we must be extremely careful not to let our judgment be clouded by irrational prejudice, and fault a whole religious tradition for the heinous actions of a very small group of radical terrorists.  The National Council of Churches has issued a statement supporting the building of Cordova House "as a living monument to mark the tragedy of 9/11 through a center dedicated to learning, compassion, and respect for all peoples."   We must at all costs guard against a revival of the bigotry of the past which, at the hands of  Christian Americans from Europe, so scarred the original indigenous inhabitants of  our land and then also the African-American peoples who were brought here.   The NCC statement ends with a call "to embrace again the words of Christ: love your neighbor as yourself."  

ECUMENICAL COURTESY AND ECUMENICAL HONESTY

     In keeping with the commitment to unity of our denomination, each year the Pacific Southwest Region invites one ecumenical guest and one interfaith guest to attend our Regional Assembly and to bring greetings to the delegates from our churches from their respective religious communities.  Our guests this year will be Father Alexei Smith, who is the official ecumenical representative of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles; and Swami Sarvadevananda, an Indian Hindu leader who is associated with the Los Angeles Vedanta Society.   Delegates are encouraged to meet them and have conversation with Father Alexei and Swami during the two days of the Assembly.

      There are about 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in almost all the countries of the world, and close to a billion Hindus (mostly in India).  So on the basis of population alone, it behooves us to learn more about these great traditions and how the Spirit of God is operating in them.   Most Disciples probably know little about the specific beliefs of Vedanta in particular and Hinduism in general, even though they have had more influence on our own society than we may realize: think, for instance, of the increasing popularity of yoga and meditation techniques in America.  On the other hand, we are all likely to know something and to have opinions about the Roman Catholic Church.  One of the great points of division between the Protestant and Catholic churches-beyond the very painful fact that we cannot come to the Lord's Table together-is on the question of the ordination of women.   Disciples, who are accustomed to women pastors and are now experiencing the fine leadership of our regional minister, Rev. Susan Gonzales Dewey, and our national president, Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, may have strong feelings about the refusal of the Catholic Church to ordain women.  We cannot and should not duck this issue.  But as a church committed to Christian unity, we need to balance ecumenical courtesy, i.e., making a guest such as Father Alexei feel very welcome and affirmed, with ecumenical honesty, i.e., making clear, when it comes up, that we respectfully disagree with the position of our sister church.  Perhaps the best stance is for us to look for opportunities to ask sincere questions of Father Alexei, and other Catholic believers we know, as to why their church takes the stand they do on this matter.  And then also to make clear that, even in disagreement, we gladly acknowledge the deep Christian faith and tradition of our fellow Roman Catholic believers.

HOW MANY CHRISTIANS IN CHINA?

    According to the World Christian Database, considered one of the most reliable sources on religious statistics, the number of Christians in China exploded from under a million in 1970, just forty years ago, to around 120 million today-about 9% of the total Chinese population.  Other sources dispute this figure and place the Christian share of the population significantly lower.  Prof. Philip Jenkins, who writes on Christianity outside the North Atlantic community, thinks the figure is closer to 5%, or 65 to70 million.  It is very difficult to get accurate figures because many Chinese Christians meet in house churches and are therefore not registered with the Chinese authorities.  In any case, it is clear that Christianity is growing rapidly in China.  And although Christians still are a fairly small minority of the population, their presence is no doubt the leaven in the lump which will transform all of China for the better in the decades to come.  Pray for the Christians of China!   
 

DATE                                     LOCATION                             LANGUAGE      

Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2010           First Christian, Oceanside                     English


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