November 28, 2005

Controversy

During my daily commute I listen to the news on the radio. Lately, between the US Senate confirmation hearings for Samuel Alito, the proposed Maryland Marriage Protection Act, the proposed bill for state funding of stem cell research, and the discussions surrounding the release of the Pope’s first official writing, all of the arguments have me reaching for my iPod and radio transmitter.

It’s not the debates themselves that bother me, it’s the attitude with which the debates are conducted: an adversarial us vs. them attitude that employs personal attack as a valid tool in the pursuit of victory. True to the etymology of the word controversy, opponents verbally “turn against” one another. It irritates me to see the ineffectiveness of this attitude in our public debate; it saddens me when I see this attitude within the body of Christ. Our perceived “adversaries” in these instances are, in fact, our brothers and sisters in Christ. My simple solution when I reach my threshold of aggravation with conflict in the news is to tune out for a while. When my friends and peers reach their threshold of aggravation with conflict within the church they just leave.

But what is the remedy? A pithy “Can’t we all just get along?” doesn’t cover it. We are all, as Christians, called to bring wholeness to the world through the light of the Gospel. Our views on how to do so differ. Our passions to find ways to care for those we see hurting and broken run to the core of who we are and what we believe. It is unrealistic to expect that we will suddenly come to agreement on contentious topics; but, maybe we can change the way we debate to keep my friends and peers in the church. Maybe our debate can turn to dialogue.

Alfred Adler described empathy by borrowing from an unidentified English author the phrase, “seeing with the eyes of another, hearing with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.” In the midst of all of these debates around me I’m asking myself, “Am I really listening empathetically when I disagree on how to bring wholeness to this world? Or, am I just listening for points to refute when it’s my turn to speak?”

Perhaps, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I can better feel with the hearts of my brothers and sisters and despite disagreement come closer to feeling the truth of Paul’s words in Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

Love in Christ,

Janice Kominski

Coordinator of Communication

Inside this issue

Controversy

Take Note/Act Now

§ News Update

§ Big Event

§ 2006 Legislative Agenda

§ ACREC

§ Web Briefing for Treasurers

§ Presbyterian Men’s Conference

§ Free tables and chairs

§ Katrina Work Trips

Prayer Concerns

Highland PC

First PC of Annapolis

People

Pray for Dottie Sharp’s recovery.

George DeMass’s mother died on Sunday, January 29^th.

Ed Terry’s father-in-law is very ill.

William McGill, retired minister, died on January 5^th. For more please see the Presbytery homepage.

Prayer Concerns

The Presbytery of Baltimore

asks for prayers:

· For our New Church Developments

· For those traveling to Guatemala next week as a part of the Guatemala Mission Partnership

· For the Presbytery staff retreat on February 1st

Take Note/Act Now

Read comments by Peter Nord regarding news about the Baltimore Presbytery in the Layman and at the Legislature in the attached PDF or on the Advocacy Team News page of our website: http://baltimorepresbytery.org/AdvocacyTeamNews.htm.

The Big Event will be held at Woods Memorial PC on Saturday, February 25, 2006. Brochures have been mailed to each church. The brochure is also available as a PDF off of the home page of the Presbytery website: click here.

The agenda for the 2006 Maryland Legislative Season has been posted to the Presbytery website within the Advocacy section (a sub page of the “Our Ministry” section or click here).

The Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns (ACREC) announces the launch of its Web site at www.pcusa.org/acrec.

The Board of Pensions invites you to view a new Web Briefing dedicated to the issues that concern church treasurers (read more).

The 2006 National Presbyterian Men’s Conference will be in Chicago from April 21-23 (Brochure). More information is available at http://www.presbyterianmen.org.

Free children’s tables and chairs: Kenwood PC is no longer using them so both are available to any interested church that can pick them up. Call Carol at the church: (410) 668-4664.

Hurricane Katrina work trips:

§ The Presbyteries of Baltimore, New Castle and National Capital are coming together to form a coalition to support and train groups who would like to travel to the Gulf Coast. Read more.

§ A work team from First PC Howard will be going to Mississippi on March 5-11, 2006. Anyone interested in joining them should contact Kris Holmes at krisholmes13@comcast.net or Doyle Nichols at doylenichols@comcast.net.

§ If you're interested in joining with a work team from Second PC to travel to and work in New Orleans during the week of March 12, 2006, please be in touch with Karen Meyers at 410.825.6940 or krnmyrs@yahoo.com.

Also on our website

Don’t miss all the new Local Church Announcements at: http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/announcements.html.

Past Issues of Tidings are available at: http://www.baltimorepresbytery.org/midweekmail.html.

Presbytery Yearly Calendar

Peter Nord, Executive Presbyter

pnord@baltimorepresbytery.org

Bill Millen, Associate Executive

bmillen@baltimorepresbytery.org

Deb Milcarek

Associate of Mission and Justice

dmilcarek@baltimorepresbytery.org

Charles Forbes, Stated Clerk