New This Week - "Rediscovering Paul Study Pack: Understanding the Controversial Apostle" and "Step Away from the Computer: Using Technology Wisely"

New Youth Study
Step Away from the Computer: Using Technology Wisely

New Adult Study Pack
Rediscovering Paul Study Pack: Understanding the Controversial Apostle
1. “Paul: His Life and Thought,” by Michael Cosby. This three-session study provides a summary of who Paul was, his conversion experience, and some of the main beliefs he had about who Christ was and how Christians should live.
2. “Paul’s Journeys,” by David Otto. This three-session study takes participants on a tour of Paul’s three missionary journeys. What he saw and what he did on each of the journeys will be discussed.
3. “Paul and the Role of Women in the Church,” by Sandra Hack Polaski. This two-session study examines Paul’s statements and actions in order to conclude just what Paul really thought about women and their role in the church

Staff Pick
Where Is God When Disaster Strikes?

Last Week's Top Five
U.S. Government vs. Fundamentalist Mormons: What’s Best for the Children?
Compassion as a Spiritual Discipline
What Does the Lord Require?
"Jeremiah Wright and Black Prophetic Preaching," by Debra J. Mumford
Tibet and the Olympics

"2008 Presbyterian General Assembly Study Pack" Is Now Ready for Preorder and Will Go Live on May 14
“Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God” (from Mic. 6:8) is the theme of the 218th General Assembly (2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The Thoughtful Christian is pleased to partner with the Office of the General Assembly to produce the official Bible study pack for the Assembly. It will be available for all commissioners to the Assembly, and individual churches may purchase the study pack to use before, during, or after the Assembly in order to prayerfully reflect on our life together.

The 2008 Presbyterian General Assembly Study Pack comprises two studies and nine daily devotions by Presbyterian leaders selected by the Office of General Assembly.
“Micah,” by Presbyterian Old Testament scholar Gene March. This is a one-session study highlighting the context, structure, and enduring themes of this book for Micah’s day and ours.
“What Does the Lord Require?” by Presbyterian Old Testament scholar Beth LaNeel Tanner.

This three-session study looks at the three things the prophet Micah states the Lord requires.
Presbyterian pastor and Christian educator Joyce MacKichan Walker is the author of the Leader’s Guides for both studies.

Visit us again next week for our new study pack titled "2008 Presbyterian General Assembly Study Pack" and our new adult study titled "Prosperity Gospel."Click on any of the links above to be redirected to the site for more information.

Prophetic Preaching vs. Political Sound Bites

In 1972, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright became pastor of an 87-member church, Trinity United Church of Christ, in Chicago. Three and half decades later its membership has grown to over six thousand, making it the largest church in the United Church of Christ denomination. In addition to Sunday services of worship, Trinity United Church of Christ supports numerous ministries in the poor neighborhood that surrounds it: tutoring for kids, programs for women’s health, ministry to people with HIV/AIDS, providing food for the poor, prison ministry, a senior citizens home and others. From the beginning of his ministry Reverend Wright was determined that the Church at worship would also be the Church that served the least of the brothers and sisters in the world that surrounds it. That support reaches beyond its immediate neighborhood, a fact made clear by its giving over $3.7 million the broader UCC mission and ministry funds from 2003 to 2007. Notably the United Church of Christ is now standing up for the Reverend Wright against recent attacks that challenge his ministry and his patriotism.

Everything that Jeremiah Wright along with the colleagues on his staff and the congregation he serves have accomplished over the years is now being called into question, because the prophetic message of this intelligent, faithful, and successful Christian leader is reduced by the media to sound bites played over and over, out of context, and for purely political reasons. While Wright is the initial target in these attacks, the presidential political race motivates them, because it is within Trinity United Church that Barack Obama was baptized and there that his children were baptized. The news media never gave much attention to Wright’s church or the messages of his sermons until they realized that Wright could be falsely presented to the American people and perhaps subsequently bring Sen. Obama down.

How could Wright’s proclamation, repeatedly heard over the television, “God damn America,” make sense in any context? If people will bother to listen to the whole sermon or even to that part of it that leads up to this pronouncement of judgment of America, one will find that it makes sense in the biblical context. The Bible teaches us that we cannot confuse our country with our God, and that we cannot blindly believe that whatever we do as a country is blessed by God. As the Rev. Wright proclaimed in this same sermon, “God doesn’t bless everything.”

God does not bless gang-bangers. God does not bless dope dealers. God does not bless young thugs that hit old women upside the head and snatch their purse. God does not bless that. God does not bless the killing of babies. God does not bless the killing of enemies.

Wright proclaims that whereas God does not change or ever fail us, governments do change and they do sometimes fail us. After describing the failure of the Roman government, the British government, the Russian government, the Japanese government, and the German government, Wright turned in his sermon to the failures of the American government:

And the United States of America government, when it came to treating her citizens of Indian descent fairly, she failed. She put them on reservations. When it came to treating her citizens of Japanese descent
fairly, she failed. She put them in internment prison camps. When it came to treating citizens of African descent fairly, America failed. She put them in chains. The government put them on slave quarters, put them on auction blocks, put them in cotton fields, put them in inferior schools, put them in substandard housing, put them in scientific experiments, put them in the lowest paying jobs, put them outside the equal protection of the law, kept them out of their racist bastions of higher education and locked them into position of hopelessness and helplessness. The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law, and then wants us to sing God bless America? No, no, no. Not God bless America; God damn America! That's in the Bible, for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating her citizen as less than human. God damn America as long as she keeps trying to act like she is God and she is supreme!

Reverend Wright preached this sermon the Sunday after 9/11, and he preached it straight from the Bible. If any Christian believes that God’s judgment only falls on other countries and never on us then that Christian has fallen into self-deception and idolatry. Oddly enough, no one went after Rudolf Giuliani when Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson supported him even though they blamed the events of 9/11 on America for supporting feminist and gays and “abortionists.” Furthermore, no one has persistently criticized Sen. McCain, although his spiritual leader, Rev. John C. Hage made a similar suggestion regarding Hurricane Karina. While Giuliani and McCain sought ways to distance themselves from these members of the clergy, even as they accepted their support, they never endured the constant repetition of sound bites that are ultimately meant to hurt Barack Obama.

The criticisms of Rev. Jeremiah Wright are comprised of cruel caricatures and lies, and they are without doubt politically motivated with the true target Barack Obama, who in spite of the mainline media’s misleading reporting, may still have a chance to be heard in his own right and become our country’s first African American president.

Rev. Wright Gets the Main Point Wrong

Rev. Jeremiah Wright continued to explain himself this week at the National Press Club. He gave a learned address on the prophetic ministry of the black church. He then answered questions about the controversial sound bites that have been looped in the press. His answers were, I think, plausible explanations of what he was and still is arguing.

When he quoted others saying that America's "chickens had come home to roost" on September 11, he meant that the U.S. government had committed terrorist acts around the world and on its citizens over its long history, and now terrorist acts were in turn committed on the United States.

When he said that the AIDS virus might be have been created by the U.S. government and might have been used on American citizens, he cited the Tuskegee syphilis experiments as precedent.

And when he said that God damns America, he meant that God condemns the government of the United States for its past unrepented-of bad actions, including slavery.

Each of these points one could hear from leftist pulpits, pundits, and press any week of the year. Jeremiah Wright is an old '60s university radical, and like many others of his generation he sees the current administration and today's political culture as not fundamentally different from what that generation railed against 40 years ago.

I don't agree with Rev. Wright. Senator Obama does not agree with Rev. Wright. Senator Obama has said so. That story should die now.

There is one important point that we should not let go. Rev. Wright's premise in his remarks to the National Press Club is that the criticism of his views was not an attack on Jeremiah Wright, nor was it an attack on Barack Obama. Wright maintains that the criticism of his views is really an attack on the black church.

That is just wrong. No one would be interested in the views of an old lefty if he were not pastor to a potential president. We can know this is true because we do not see obsessive coverage of all the other old lefties, even old prophetic black church radicals, who say the same sorts of things that Rev. Wright does.

The black church is not under attack. And the black church is not identical with leftist critiques of the U.S. government. By making this claim, Jeremiah Wright is claiming to be much bigger than he really is. He got his 15 minutes because he is pastor to a potential president. Wright could have poured oil on the waters. Instead, he made the controversy a fight about himself. As a result, Senator Obama had to denounce some of the more extreme views of his former pastor.

Let it go.

Reposted from The Gruntled Center

Bible study should be timely. It should stimulate our thoughts about Christian values and how they relate to today's world. The Thoughtful Christian is a Web-based resource center designed to attract and keep participants' attention. Perfect for Sunday school classes, Bible study groups, or individual reflection, the studies encourage class members to share their thoughts and beliefs while wrestling with questions that inform the way we live out our faith in everyday life. For more information please visit http://www.thethoughtfulchristian.com/.

The gamble of nationalism

Gambling has never tempted me. The thought of losing money for the slim chance of winning a greater amount fills me with dread, rather than anticipation.

I feel the same way about nationalism, because its effects are also unpredictable. It can lead to stirring music, family picnics and fireworks displays or genocide and mass expulsions — sometimes both.

After the United States affirmed Kosovo’s declaration of independence and I saw the Serb hooligans subsequently trashing the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade last month, my first thought was, “Well, at least they’re not attacking defenseless civilians this time.”

I then reflected that I have never known nationalism to make anyone kinder, more just or compassionate. Indeed, far more examples exist of nationalism leading to human rights abuses.

But I also wondered what separated the nationalism of Kosovar Albanians from the nationalism of the Serbs, or the nationalism of the Croats who had also committed atrocities for patriotic reasons during the 1990s after the break up of Yugoslavia.

For that matter, what separates Serb nationalism from that of the Basques in Spain or the Corsicans in France or the Tamils in Sri Lanka or the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria?

Of course, I speak from the perspective of someone whose nationality brings her privileges. Even my criticisms of my government have at their roots a sort of nationalism. Just as I get more upset at family members whose values bother me than I do at strangers holding the same values, I suspect I get angrier at my own country for deterring democracy and supporting human rights abuses than I do at other countries for behaving in the same manner.

But in the end, the United States is the only country in which I feel at home.

So who am I to deny anyone the same sense of security? The Kosovars have suffered much from Serb nationalism, so I don’t blame them for feeling they would be safer as a nation.

Additionally, I have a soft spot for them because of their sustained nonviolent grass-roots campaign against Serb oppression in the 1990s. If the West had supported the nonviolent activists calling for autonomy, instead of ignoring them, I suspect that Kosovar Albanians might not have driven out thousands of Kosovar Serbs in reprisal for atrocities directed from Belgrade. Kosovo might have parted from Serbia on better terms, similar to those on which India separated from England.

Or maybe not, given the shared border. Maybe, given that the European Union now makes economic and military decisions for its constituent countries, no reason exists for the Basques, Catalonians and Corsicans not to have their own nations within that union.

Or maybe the separation of these aspiring nations from Spain and France might cause a crumbling of the Union, if the French and Spanish governments use their militaries to crush these nationalist movements. Maybe the 40 million Kurds, if given a nation of their own, would drive out the Arabs, Turks and Persians in their region.

Maybe the Quebecois, if they voted to secede from Canada, would abrogate the minimal treaty rights Canada’s federal government granted First Nations like the Mohawks.

That’s the thing about supporting nationalist impulses. It’s a gamble.


For more information on the Kosovars' nonviolent movement, see Stephen Zunes' "Kosovo and the politics of recognition," http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5006.

Reprinted with permission from Mennonite Weekly Review. More of Kern's"World Neighbor" columns are available at http://www.mennoweekly.org/STANDARD/kern-index.html
Bible study should be timely. It should stimulate our thoughts about Christian values and how they relate to today's world. The Thoughtful Christian is a Web-based resource center designed to attract and keep participants' attention. Perfect for Sunday school classes, Bible study groups, or individual reflection, the studies encourage class members to share their thoughts and beliefs while wrestling with questions that inform the way we live out our faith in everyday life. For more information please visit http://www.thethoughtfulchristian.com/.

New This Week - "U.S. Government vs. Fundamentalist Mormons: What’s Best for the Children?"

New Adult Study
Book: Blood Done Sign My Name

New In the News
U.S. Government vs. Fundamentalist Mormons: What’s Best for the Children?

Staff Special In the News Pick
This week marks the launch of the ninth release from the "Grand Theft Auto" video game franchise. Use these studies with your youth and adult classes to explore questions like, What is it about "Grand Theft Auto" games that appeals to gamers? or How should Christians respond to a game like this?
Xbox Ethics: Is It All Just a Game?
Children and Video Games: What's the Problem?

Last Week's Top Five
Compassion as a Spiritual Discipline
"Jeremiah Wright and Black Prophetic Preaching," by Debra J. Mumford
What Does the Lord Require?
Tibet and the Olympics
Global Climate Change: Facts and Solutions

"Rediscovering Paul: Understanding the Controversial Apostle Study Pack" Is Now Ready for Preorder and Will Go Live on May 7
1. “Paul: His Life and Thought,” by Michael Cosby. This three-session study provides a summary of who Paul was, his conversion experience, and some of the main beliefs he had about who Christ was and how Christians should live.
2. “Paul’s Journeys,” by David Otto. This three-session study takes participants on a tour of Paul’s three missionary journeys. What he saw and what he did on each of the journeys will be discussed.
3. “Paul and the Role of Women in the Church,” by Sandra Hack Polaski. This two-session study examines Paul’s statements and actions in order to conclude just what Paul really thought about women and their role in the church."

2008 Presbyterian General Assembly Study Pack" Is Now Ready for Preorder and Will Go Live on May 14
“Do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with your God” (from Mic. 6:8) is the theme of the 218th General Assembly (2008) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The Thoughtful Christian is pleased to partner with the Office of the General Assembly to produce the official Bible study pack for the Assembly. It will be available for all commissioners to the Assembly, and individual churches may purchase the study pack to use before, during, or after the Assembly in order to prayerfully reflect on our life together.

The 2008 Presbyterian General Assembly Study Pack comprises two studies and nine daily devotions by Presbyterian leaders selected by the Office of General Assembly.
-“Micah,” by Presbyterian Old Testament scholar Gene March. This is a one-session study highlighting the context, structure, and enduring themes of this book for Micah’s day and ours.
-“What Does the Lord Require?” by Presbyterian Old Testament scholar Beth LaNeel Tanner. This three-session study looks at the three things the prophet Micah states the Lord requires.

Presbyterian pastor and Christian educator Joyce MacKichan Walker is the author of the Leader’s Guides for both studies.

Visit us again next week for our new youth study titled "Step Away from the Computer: Using Technology Wisely" and our new adult study pack titled "Rediscovering Paul: Understanding the Controversial Apostle."

Click on any of the links above to be redirected to the site for more information.