The Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD – the German federation of Protestant churches) marked Reformation Day on 31 October with a soaring, whimsical approach to spreading Martin Luther’s message that the grace of God is available to all.

Across the country, schools, student organizations and church groups organized “flashmobs” that launched “blessings from above” — paper airplanes with inspirational messages. Most flew their gliders from windows or other high vantage points simultaneously at 15:17 (3:17 pm) in recognition of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation on 31 October, 1517.

At Humboldt University in Berlin, a flock of white paper airplanes glided from a high window and landed at the feet of students in the courtyard below. Each carried a message inside — “Wishing you good travel through the new semester” — or a verse from the Bible: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

“Many students in Berlin are not very conscious of their religious heritage and I think it’s a good idea to remind them,” said Julian Titze of the Evangelical Student Community (ESC) in Berlin, who took part in the flashmob.

Reformation Day is a holiday in some German states, though not in Berlin. “It is a very important historical date, but its messages are also very important today,” said Pastor Christoph Roemhild of the EKD in an interview before the event. “Reformation Day reminds us that we are not self-made men. A lot of people don’t feel blessed. They strive for recognition to make themselves bigger. But we want to tell them God already recognizes them.”

The date is also seen as an opportunity to maintain a commitment to keeping the Reformed churches in touch with the modern world. “The work of renewal did not finish in the 16th century,” the Rev. Setri Nyomi, general secretary of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, said in a statement. “We do not simply belong to a tradition. As Reformed, we believe the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ is a movement that continues to be renewed — always reforming.”

For the EKD, activities like the Reformation Day flashmobs are a way to keep the message fresh and communicate with a younger audience. “We have to develop new ways to reach people … to surprise people that the church is different from what they would expect,” said Holger Dannenmann, a pastor for ESC, in an interview in Humboldt’s 18th century courtyard.

Dorothee Lütz, studying for a master’s degree in philosophy, hurried to class at the end of her lunch break with a crumpled paper airplane in hand. “I saw it on the ground,” she explained. “It says, ‘Jesus loves you,’ and I thought that’s nice. It’s nice to be reminded of that.”

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

One of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winners, Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian activist who helped bring her country out of a brutal civil war, said on 7 October that the best way to achieve global peace is to start in local communities.

“It is time for us to do justice in our communities … one day the world’s problems will meet you at your doorstep,” she said at the Interchurch Center in New York. Coincidentally, she had been scheduled to appear there at a book launch, in an event organized by the National Council of Churches (NCC), when the prize was announced.

Gbowee, citing the examples of peace and justice campaigners such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, said she does not believe it is possible to practice non-violent action without some connection to a higher power. “My faith has really helped me,” said Gbowee, a member of the Lutheran Church of Liberia.

The Nobel committee announced on 7 October that Gbowee, Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Yemen’s Tawakkul Karman, who leads opposition to dictatorial President Ali Abdullah Saleh, would share the prize. Faith groups around the world hailed the recognition of activists for justice and women’s rights.

Gbowee, who organized a group of Christian and Muslim women to challenge Liberia’s warlords, was honored for mobilizing women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war and to ensure women’s participation in elections. She trained as a trauma counselor during the war and worked with former child soldiers. The Liberian civil war ended in 2003, and Johnson Sirleaf was elected.

Speaking of Johnson Sirleaf, Gbowee said every time “she sees me coming, she’s weary” because “I always say, ‘Madame President, you need to do this, this, this.’” But, Gbowee added, “We have a good professional relationship, like mother and daughter.”

Gbowee, who was slated to return to Liberia following the reception, was in the U.S. to promote her memoir, “Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changes a Nation At War.”

Her story will also be featured in a documentary, “Women, War and Peace,” premiering 11 October on the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service. The NCC also is adding her to its Circles of Names campaign that honors women of faith who have been a source of inspiration and who have mentored others in their walks of faith.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Two evangelical Christian thinkers from opposite ends of the political spectrum come together for a thought-provoking dialogue on polarizing issues in a live forum at Riverside Church in New York City on

Thursday, October 6, 7:00 p.m. Lisa Sharon Harper, director of mobilizing at Sojourners, and D.C. Innes, associate professor politics at The King’s College, will discuss their new book Left, Right & Christ: Evangelical Faith in Politics (Russell Media), in a conversation moderated by Kirsten Powers of FoxNews and The Daily Beast. Afterwards, a panel discussion with Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Jim Wallis, president of the Christian social justice ministry Sojourners, will offer additional perspectives from the right and left, respectively.

As they do in Left, Right & Christ, Harper and Innes will explore how their Christian faith shapes their participation in the political process. They will present their divergent positions on poverty, health care, immigration, same-sex marriage, abortion, terrorism, and the environment in what is sure to be a robust give-and-take.

“Both of us are Christians. And so what we have in common is greater than all our differences,” the authors write. “Yet differences there are, and in this book we elaborate on our political differences, in particular. How can two people who share the same fundamental life-transforming Christian principles think so differently when it comes to politics?”

The event will be held on Thursday, October 6, 7:00 p.m. in the James Chapel at Union Theological Seminary, 3041 Broadway at 121st Street, New York, New York 10027 It is free and open to the public. Copies of Left, Right & Christ will be available for purchase, and the authors will be available to sign books.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Long before VeggieTales, The Donut Man and Superbook, there was a little ping-pong character named Jot who was, well, a dot. Often confused with his cousin, the smiley face, Jot was once a large part of Christian culture, but now is almost all forgotten. Stories of sightings of the dot pop up from time to time like sightings of Elvis in a mini mart.

For the uniformed, Jot lived with his dot parents and attended school with all of the other dots. When they stood still, Jot and friends sprouted arms and legs but when they moved, they shaped back into a dot and bounced around. Each four and one-half minute episode was told from a child’s point of view, featured a moral lesson and a Bible verse or two.

Jot was born in 1959 but his first story wasn’t aired on TV until 1963 or 1965 (depending on the source). Jot was created by Ruth Byers and Ted Perry and was produced by the Southern Baptist Radio and Television Commission (RATC). Buyers was an artist and was a director of Children’s productions at a local theatre. Perry was a writer for RATC.

The two created a stylistic yet simple cartoon that still looks great today if you can find him. Initially, Jot cartoons were shown on a locally-produced show, Peppermint Place, in Dallas, TX and then later on The Children’s Hour in Fort Worth, TX. The episodes were distributed nationally and even internationally and translated into 19 different languages. Jot was syndicated from 1965 to the 1980s. Lou Kelly voiced jot from 1965-1966 and again from 1968 to 1981. Colleen Collins voiced Jot during 1967. Jot was also a big hit around the country as part of a vacation Bible school curriculum. But after that, Jot pretty much disappeared.

Sightings of the dot are posted every so often. In March of 2009, Jot created his own Twitter account where he posted that he was the official mascot of FamilyNet Television. He was living in Atlanta with his wife and two dots at the time. Mysteriously, the tweets stopped in October of that same year. Jot also has a MySpace and Facebook page, but nothing has been posted on those sites since October 2009 as well. Later in December, it was announced that FamilyNet Television was purchased by ComStar Media. Coincidence? I think not. By visiting the current FamilyNet or ComStar websites, you will find no mention of the little guy.

However, just this last Sunday, June 26, Jot made a brief appearance again as five of the original cells of the TV series were auctioned off by Heritage Auctions.

Do you remember Jot? Watch the video to see if it helps jog your memory. It’s time for a Jot comeback tour. Sure, he’s probably a little heavier now and has a few wrinkles, but don’t we all?

Originally posted on: Examiner.com

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

A new book is scheduled for release in October with the theme that Christians and Muslims may have a meeting of minds about Jesus, because they share more common beliefs about him than they realize.

The book, Jesus: One Man, Two Faiths, written by MTSU professor emeritus Ron Messier, proposes that Christians and Muslims may dialogue about points of agreement about Jesus as a way to begin to ease tensions between the two faiths, the Daily News Journal said.

A member of Bible Study Fellowship International, Messier is also a longtime professor of Islamic and Middle East studies. He said the idea for the book came to him after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The incident spurred greater public interest in Islam leading to weekly speaking engagements for Messier for the next two years.

Messier was also struck when, while teaching an “Introduction to Islam” class at Vanderbilt University, a Pakistani student wrote an essay that said even Muslims underestimate the role Jesus plays in Islam. She noted that the Qur’an says that “Jesus—not Mohammed—will lead Muslims to judgment on Judgment Day,” the Daily News Journal said.

Messier, a former Catholic, said that 99.9 percent of Muslims believe they worship the same God that Christians do. They also believe Jesus was born from Mary, and although they don’t mention the Holy Spirit, they say Jesus was conceived by the “spirit of God,” the Daily News Journal said.

They also devote a whole chapter in the Qur’an to the birth of Jesus which is very similar to that in the New Testament. They believe Jesus performed miracles, healed, raised the dead, and believe he was raised to heaven by God to lead the people to judgment on Judgment Day, the Daily News Journal said.

In researching the book Messier studied Christian scripture, the Hebrew bible, both Qur’an and Christian exegetical writings, and talked to many Christians and Muslims, the Daily News Journal said.

The book focuses on concepts that overlap with, at the very least, some Christians and some Muslims. However Messier adds that there are two points of difficulty which Christians and Muslims will struggle with. One is the concept of the Crucifixion which Muslims do not believe happened. The other is the trinity, the Daily News Journal said.

Nonetheless, Messier contends that despite these points of disagreement, Christians and Muslims can be enriched by engaging in discussions about their different understanding of the two concepts, the Daily News Journal said.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Seven gay pastors were reinstated recently into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America after having been barred from service for some 20 years.

The pastors, also called the “Bay Area Seven” are Reverends Jeff Johnson, Paul Brenner, Dawn Roginski, Ross Merkel, Megan Rohrer, Craig Minich and Sharon Stalkfleet.

They will be officially recognized on the ECLA clergy roster, making them eligible to serve in any of the denomination’s 10,500 Lutheran churches.

In September, three more gay pastors will be admitted and in October, one gay pastor in Chicago and two in St. Paul-Minneapolis will be welcomed. All in all, a total of 46 openly gay pastors are slated to be welcomed to the clergy roster.

The ceremony, which was held at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco, is the first of many more that have been scheduled since the ELCA decided last year to accept non-celibate gay ministers who are in committed relationships.

In the past, gay men and women could become Lutheran pastors only if they took a vow of celibacy.

According to The New York Times Rev. Johnson said, “Today the church is speaking with a clear voice. All people are welcome here, all people are invited to help lead this church, and all people are loved unconditionally by God.”

Johnson said the ECLA’s former policy “ruined lives, destroyed faiths.”

Rev. Rohrer said she viewed the ceremony not as her first day as a pastor but a day when “the church gets to receive me as a pastor.” She is a missionary for the homeless and serves in four churches, the San Francisco Chronicle said.

The ECLA, which has 4.6 million members, is the largest Protestant church in the U.S. to admit non-celibate gay clergy. The decision has led 185 of its 10,396 congregations to separate from the denomination.

The United Church of Christ and the Episcopal Church permit gay clergy, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) may soon follow suit as its general assembly voted to allow non-celibate gay clergy to serve, however this needs ratification by a majority of the PCUSA’s 173 regional presbyteries.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

The Christian film, “The Way Home” (formerly “Our Child is Missing”) will be released on DVD in October.

The Lions Gate Entertainment film which premiered over a year ago at the Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta is based on a real life experience of producer Randy Simpkins of Red Five Entertainment.

The story tells of the time Simpkins’ two-year-old son walked out of their house and could not be found for several hours.  Simpkins is played by Dean Cain of “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” television series.

It played to a sellout premier in Atlanta and was shown in a number of international film festivals including the London International Christian Film Festival and The International Family Film Festival in Hollywood.

The theme of the movie is about learning to set priorities in life and putting God first and family second. The DVD will first hit Christian stores on Oct. 6, then be available in secular outlets on Oct. 26.

On Aug. 15, Simpkins and his wife Cristal will attend an advanced film screening at Old Camp United Methodist at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. They will talk about what the experience was like for them and what it had taught them, the Times-Georgian said.

Simpkins and his family will also take a publicity road tour and address several church groups to share how the experience brought them closer as a family. He said, “Every time we see the movie, we relive the whole experience. It’s tough, but I still learn from it,” the Times-Georgian said.

He added, “Our number-one priority in doing this is to inspire and see lives change. That’s what we’re most interested in.” Simpkins also said he hopes that the DVD release will touch a larger audience and that they will be encouraged to examine their own lives and see how God can work in their lives as well, the Times-Georgian said.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Pope Benedict XVI released recently a Vatican document that criticized Israel, Egypt, Islam and Christian fundamentalists.

The 46-page text, “The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness,” will serve as the working document for an October meeting at the Vatican about the Middle East, Fox News said.

Benedict held mass in a sports arena near the Cypriot capital where he prayed for the success of the October synod of Middle Eastern bishops, which will focus on the issues outlined in the document, according to the AFP.

This is the first time a pope has officially visited Cyprus, and is part of a continuing move to open communion with Orthodox and Catholics amid a post Christian and neo pagan age, according to Catholic online.

Benedict said he hoped the October synod “will help to focus the attention of the international community on the plight of Christians in the Middle East who suffer for their beliefs, so that just and lasting solutions may be found to the conflicts that cause so much hardship,” the AFP said.

The document said “Oftentimes, relations between Christians and Muslim are difficult, because Muslims make no distinction between religion and politics, thereby relegating Christians to …being considered non-citizens,” Fox News said.

It said, “The Israeli occupation of Palestinian Territories is creating difficulties in everyday life, inhibiting freedom of movement, the economy and religious life,” Fox News said.

The document also claimed that Christian fundamentalist theologies use the bible to justify Israel’s occupation of Palestine, which makes the position of Christian Arabs more tenuous, the AFP said.

“In Egypt, the rise of political Islam, on the one hand, and the disengagement of Christians (forcefully at times) from civil society on the other, lead to severe difficulties,” the document said, adding that there is also an Islamic push taking place in Egypt through the media and through schools, Fox News said.

Be Sociable, Share!

•