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Month: July 2010

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Christian Witness, Homilies,

Funeral Service for Mary R.

First reading: 1 Corinthians 13:4-13
Gospel: John 13:34-35

The reading and Gospel I chose for today’s service are not your typical funeral readings and Gospel.

I listed to what you all said about Mary on Sunday, and what Fr. Stan had said. I don’t know the right word to capture my impression of Mary’s life, to adequately describe it.

Impressed? That doesn’t quite capture it.
In awe? Still not right.

Perhaps it is too difficult to put a word on Mary’s witness, the way she worked toward perfection in the Christian life; the ways she achieved it.

The reading and Gospel focus on the word love —“ but that is only one translation. The other translations change that word to charity.

It isn’t charity, like having empathy for someone, or giving a donation, or feeding the hungry, or clothing the naked —“ of course those are important acts of Christian charity.

Mary’s charity was different. It was true charity —“ charity of the heart. That is the charity Jesus gives us as the model for the life we are to live in God; in God and with God, where Mary is today.

That charity recognizes more than need. It sees the value of every human being in light of Jesus’ presence in them. It sees innate human value. It sees that we are not just people, but one people who share equally in God’s great love.

Mary lived that message of love —“ of charity. Because she did, there are no words to adequately describe her Christian life, her charity. We stand, without words. We stand in hope and prayer; that the example Mary left, her Christian way of life, her charity, her love will fill us and prompt us to do the same.

Mary knew what Jesus asked of her. He asks it of us too. Let us live as Mary did; eager to fulfill all that Jesus calls us to be. Amen.

Christian Witness, PNCC, Saints and Martyrs, ,

Commemorating St. Christopher

From the Republican Herald: Priest blesses cars for faithful

FRACKVILLE – Ann Marie Wycheck, Frackville, has never been in a major car accident.

Neither has Helen Hopko or Al Gursky, both of Frackville. Or Dorothy or Walter Jaskierski, Saint Clair.

But that didn’t stop them from having their cars blessed Sunday after Mass at St. John the Baptist Polish National Catholic Church.

Parishioners joined in the parking lot with the Rev. Robert P. Plichta to say a short prayer and have the priest perform a blessing ritual.

“I think we can all use a little prayer over our cars to be blessed,” Wycheck said as Plichta made the Sign of the Cross at a nearby vehicle.

“This will help a lot to give me peace of mind when driving,” Hopko said.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Gursky said. “Every little bit helps when you think of how people drive, how dangerous it is.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported more than 37,000 motor vehicle fatalities in 2008, and the U.S. Census Bureau reports that there were an estimated 10.6 million motor vehicle accidents in 2007. Both statistics are from the most recent year data were available.

Plichta said he started this tradition at the church last year, performing the blessing on the Sunday closest to the feast day of St. Christopher, which is July 25. Christopher is the patron saint of travelers.

“For people, it’s important to ask God for protection,” Plichta said.

He said he also says a brief prayer each time before driving.

“In Poland, there was twice where I didn’t say a prayer, ‘under thy protection …’ and I had two accidents – somebody hit me, I hit somebody. Minor. But now I say every time,” Plichta said. “It’s important for somebody who believes.”

Plichta, who is originally from Poland and served a congregation of more than 17,000 in Gdansk, said while in Poland he saw many people who had accidents, then came to get their new cars blessed.

“It just helps give peace of mind to some people,” Plichta said.

He said anyone wishing to have his or her car blessed can contact him at the church at 874-1960. Get your car blessed

If anyone would like to get their vehicle blessed, contact the Rev. Robert P. Plichta, pastor of St. John the Baptist Polish National Catholic Church, Frackville, at 874-1960.

Events, Poland - Polish - Polonia, , , , , , , ,

Out and About in Polonia

Utica Monday Night Polish Heritage Celebration: Holy Spirit PNCC will be at the Utica Monday Night Polish Heritage Celebration on Monday, August 2nd, selling homemade Polish food at Chancellor Park, Bleecker & Kent St., Utica. The Utica Monday Night Polish Heritage Celebration will feature a performance by Jasiu Klocek and the Salt City Brass Polka Band from 6:30 —“ 9:00.

Ychtis Polish Girls’ Group: To perform at Corpus Christi Church, 199 Clark St., Buffalo, NY on Friday, August 6th at 7:00 p.m.

Ychtis, the award-winning girls’ song and dance group from Poland, will visit Buffalo August 6 with a performance at Corpus Christi Church. The name of the ensemble is taken from the Greek word for fish. The group specializes in religious songs. Among their repertoire is music based on the poetry of the late Fr. Jan Twardowski, one of Poland’s beloved poets. They also sing songs about the former Polish city of Lwów, which has a warm place in the hearts of many Poles even though it is now in Ukraine.

The five member group of 10-15 year old girls will sing in Polish and in English as well as tap dance. The group has been in existence for 15 years and is based in the city of Katowice in the industrial region of Silesia.

Ychtis’ mission is to give young people with difficult family situations the opportunity to develop their inner and outer talents through song and dance. Ychtis has appeared on Television and toured Europe where they have won first place in a number of contests. This is their second visit to Buffalo and other cities in North America, where, in addition to Buffalo they will perform in Chicago, Cleveland, Yonkers, Newark as well as a number of cities in Canada.

The group’s performance in the beautiful sanctuary of Corpus Christi Church promises to provide an uplifting experience for all. Admission is free, but a free will donation will be requested at the end of the show to help offset the group’s expenses.

For further information, please call 716-896-1050.

Canal Days Celebration in Little Falls, NY: Enjoy a fun day at Little Falls’ 23rd annual Canal Days, August 13th to 15th. Holy Spirit PNCC will be serving Polish food prepared by its members. Polish dishes will be available as follows:

  • Fri. 8/13, at 5pm and during the parade in front of —Rick’s Style-Inn— 580 East Main Street, Little Falls.
  • Sat. 8/14, from 11am to 4pm at the church, 618 E. Gansevoort St., Little Falls.
  • Sun. 8/15 12 noon until sold out, at the church, 618 E. Gansevoort St., Little Falls.

Mystery Dinner Theater at the Albany PCC: The Albany PCC will host “Home on the Mystery Range” on Saturday, August 14th at 6:30pm. A cocktail hour will be followed by a Polish-American buffer dinner at 7:30pm. Tickets are $35 per person. For tickets please call 518-456-3995

Christian Witness, PNCC

On preaching like Jesus

By Rick Warren from Pastors.com: Learning to Preach Like Jesus

Jesus’ preaching attracted enormous crowds, and the Bible often records the positive reactions of those crowds to his teaching. Matthew 7:28 tells us, “…the crowds were amazed at his teaching.” Matthew 22:33 says, “…the crowds were profoundly impressed.— Mark 11:18 says, “…the people were so enthusiastic about Jesus’ teaching.— Mark 12:37 says, “The great crowd enjoyed listening to Him.—

These crowds had never heard anyone speak to them the way Jesus did. They were spellbound by his delivery.

To capture the attention of unbelievers like Jesus did, we must communicate spiritual truth the way he did. I believe that Jesus – not anyone else – must be our model for preaching. Unfortunately, some homiletics classes pay more attention to Aristotle and Greek rhetoric than to how Jesus taught.

In John 12:49 Jesus admitted, “The Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.— Notice that both the content AND the delivery style were directed by the Father. This is extremely important to note. We often overlook the manner in which Jesus preached.

There’s so much we can learn from Jesus’ style of communication, not just his content. But for now I want to briefly identify three attributes of Jesus’ preaching.

1. Jesus began with people’s needs, hurts, and interests.

Jesus usually taught in response to a question or a pressing problem from someone in the Crowd. He scratched where people itched. His preaching had immediacy about it. He was always relevant and always on target for that moment.

When Jesus preached his first sermon at Nazareth, he read from Isaiah to announce what the preaching agenda of his ministry would be: “The Lord has put his Spirit in me, because he appointed me to tell the Good News to the poor. He has sent me to tell the captives they are free and to tell the blind that they can see again. God sent me to free those who have been treated unfairly and to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Notice his entire emphasis on meeting needs and healing hurts. Jesus had Good News to share, and people wanted to hear it. He had a message that offered practical benefits for their lives. His truth would “set people free— and bring all sorts of blessings to their lives.

Our basic message to the lost must be good news. If it isn’t good news, it isn’t the gospel. We must learn to share the gospel in ways that show it is both “good— and —news.— The gospel is about what God has done for us and what we can become in Christ. A personal relationship with Christ is the answer to all of man’s deepest needs. The good news offers lost people what they are frantically searching for: forgiveness, freedom, security, purpose, love, acceptance, and strength. It settles our past, assures our future, and gives meaning to today. We have the best news in the world…

A great read for we in the PNCC who so value the Word and its sacramental value.

Everything Else, , , ,

On Hungarian wines

From the NY Times: Hidden in Hungary, Treasures on the Vine

The mold covered every surface of the cellar, coating the walls and ceilings in layers of loose black gauze. On one shelf, sheets of mold had grown so thick that it was nearly impossible to tell what was underneath, making the ancient wine bottles seem like ash-colored homunculi, an army of toy soldiers made from fungus.

Walking farther into the cellar, I ducked under a low ceiling and felt dangling fingers of mold touch my head.

—The mold is fed by the wine that evaporates,— said my guide, Zsuzsanna Szobonya, leading me into a hexagonal tasting room where even the arabesque chandelier overhead was adorned with more black fluff. —Try this,— she said.

Standing in the dim light, I sniffed, then tasted. Though the cellar air was damp and musty, the scent from the glass was richly aromatic and floral. The wine, a Tokaji aszu, was full of citrus blossoms and fruit in the nose. In the mouth, crisp flavors of apricot and orange burst forth, followed by an invigoratingly sharp finish that begged for another quick sip.

Lucky mold, I thought.

—Can you imagine?— Ms. Szobonya asked, taking a sip. —So light and fresh, and yet it’s about 20 percent sugar.—

Though not all wines from the region are quite so saccharine, the legendary aszu sweet wines were a large part of what had brought me to this corner of northeastern Hungary. Known by the name of the region’s main winemaking town, Tokaj, the moist and moldy area at the confluence of two mysterious, slow-moving rivers is the oldest classified wine region in Europe —” older than Bordeaux in France, older than Porto in Portugal, older than Chianti in Italy. In fact, many of the stone wine cellars here date to the mid-16th century.

And now, 20 years after the changes that brought democracy, market capitalism and wide-open borders to the former Eastern bloc, Tokaj is emerging as one of the most interesting wine regions in Europe, not just for its sweet aszus and distinctive dry whites, but also for its unusual blend of history and cultures —” Jewish, Russian, Hungarian and Greek —” and for the low-key experience of a less-traveled wine trail where the curious and enterprising can easily rub shoulders with working winemakers, often right in their homes and vineyards…

I’ve had a few, particularly Egri Bikavér (“Bull’s Blood of Eger”). Definitely a full region of wines worth exploring, in person or through your local wine merchant.

Homilies, PNCC

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – C

First reading: Genesis 18:20-32
Psalm: Ps 138:1-3,6-8
Epistle: Colossians 2:12-14
Gospel: Luke 11:1-13

For everyone who asks, receives;—¨
and the one who seeks, finds;—¨
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. —¨

Earnest and persistent prayer

Today, St. Luke tells us of Jesus instruction on prayer. Luke’s narrative is different than the one found in Matthew. It is shorter, and written in simpler language. It is also followed by examples of the need for earnest and persistent prayer. Keep on asking, keep on knocking, keep on seeking — and God will provide.

Praying for?

Jesus’ words as recorded by St. Luke describe the simple things we might ask for: bread, fish, an egg. To understand Jesus’ focus on our prayer and God’s provision, both being focused on the simple, most basic things, we need to look at the situation on the ground in Jesus’ day.

The Greek language has two terms for —poor—: penes and ptochos. Penes refers to a person who does manual labor — the working poor. These penetes were people who needed to work in shops or in the fields. They didn’t have time for anything else, for the leisure of the rich gentry, who were free to give their time to politics, education, or other pursuits.

A ptochos, on the other hand, was a person reduced to begging. They were destitute, without farm or family. They were wanderers — outsiders who could only impose on the generosity of a community for a short time before moving on. Communities consisting of the working poor and less than a handful of the gentry couldn’t support them long-term.

In Jesus’ time the gentry – the rich aristocrats made up 1 to 2% of society. The middle class, the tax gatherers, police, scribes, priests, 5 to 8% of society. The bulk of the population, about 75%, were the working poor. Below these, the untouchables, about 15% of society who were ptochos — beggars, cripples, prostitutes, and criminals.

Poor and getting poorer:

Now, in Jesus day the working poor weren’t just people who couldn’t get ahead. Factually, they had no ability to get ahead. We can imagine that the working poor and the beggars would be inclined to pray, and to pray for their most basic needs because they might not have them tomorrow.

For every step forward, the aristocratic class forced the working poor and the beggars two steps backward. They did this through plunder and taxes. There were many kinds of taxes: a head tax, land tax, tax via seizures of goods so that the government could house and feed soldiers and their animals, or to make younger family members impressed laborers, a tolls tax on all produce and manufactured good brought to market, and tithes.

Let’s look at Jonah the fisherman and his sons, the Apostles Peter and Andrew. They paid a fee to fish in the lake, not anywhere, but in a specific area; they paid a tax to the toll collectors just to take their catch to market; when the fish was sold, that too was taxed. On top of all of this, the tax collector came annually to collect the other taxes. Even if they caught a boatload of fish (Luke 5:6-7), after tolls and taxes there would not be much left. The taxation system might take 30 to 40% from the working poor.

Life was at best —subsistence,— and the wolf was always at the door. With this system of heavy taxation, the working poor, the penes, slid back to become the new ptochos. The Roman historian Tacitus noted: —The provinces of Syria and Judea, exhausted by their burdens, were pressing for a diminution of the tribute.—

As the tax burden grew, the tax debts grew. As the penes could not stay one step ahead of that tax debt, the aristocrats created their large estates by the annexing their small plots. The new ptochos were made homeless wanderers, disconnected from family and community because of their debt.

The poor were getting poorer and they knew there was no answer from the aristocrats.

Having something to pray for:

The people well knew that they might not eat tomorrow, that tomorrow there would not be bread, or fish, or eggs. That tomorrow, no neighbor would knock on their door because they wouldn’t have a door to knock on.

They had something to pray for. They needed to know something about the heavenly Father. They needed to be connected to Him, to know He would hear them and answer their prayers. Jesus showed that this was true.

Why, for what, and for whom?

So when we pray, do we have certainty that we have reached someone who will help us in our need? Are we sure we are talking with someone who will provide at least the most basic of needs? Will He stop our slide from the working poor to the begging poor?

Prayer is remarkably powerful, and here is just one example of where we might take Jesus at His word. Surprising that more people don’t do that. We have God, come to earth, giving us the approach we are to use, and the guarantee of what will happen when we do it. Unfortunately, we often fear it will not happen. We think, if I pray for this or that, for healing, for bread, for my uncle or cousin who is in need, to have my sins forgiven, well God might not be listening. If I knock and knock it is unlikely that He will open the door. But He does, and we do have that guarantee. He will give us that chunk of bread, the fish and egg — He will give us our daily bread. And so we do not slide backwards, He will forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

In this place, this parish church, those prayers are answered, and I can attest to the truth of that. I have seen it in my life and in the lives of parishioners as well as those whose prayers come here through your voices.

A guarantee without cost

St. Paul takes this a step further in helping the people of Colossae to understand God’s generosity to we who are poor. He reminds them as he reminds us — we were dead. We have nothing to offer to God. We weren’t even in the position of Abraham who could offer God a place to rest, some curds, milk, meat, and bread. We were completely dead in sin and apart from God — and God, in His remarkable generosity, made us His friends, people who could knock and ask — and who will receive.

And even when you were dead—¨
in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh,—¨
he brought you to life along with him,
—¨having forgiven us all our transgressions;—¨
obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims,—¨
which was opposed to us,—¨
he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross.

God listening

God is listening and we have His guarantee. Christ has intervened as our sole source of hope and path to the Father who answers our prayers.

The Very Rev. Józef L. Zawistowski in his booklet Polski Kościoł Narodowy Katolicki Jest Swięty [The Polish National Catholic Church is Holy] tells us that our Holy Church is a serious, important, and fundamental religious reform movement calling its members to reconnect with the God who is in the world, the God who listens to us and answers our prayers. That had been all but forgotten when our Church was organized, as it is often forgotten today.

Jesus tells us that we are not apart from God, and that our God is the God that does more than listen to us. He stands at our side, hears us, answers our needs, suffers with us, and together — He with us — we constantly move forward in the creative process of raising ourselves and the world to eternal perfection.

This is God’s guarantee to all of us who knock, seek, and ask. We begin in asking, knocking, and seeking after the simple things — bread, a fish, an egg, and in the end know:

how much more will the Father in heaven
—¨give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.

Our prayer and God’s provision, are still focused on the simple, and really the most basic of all things — our eternal life. In that is God’s answer and our salvation, for in heaven we will all be rich. Amen.

Everything Else, , ,

One for the Young Fogey

Here’s one for fellow blogger, the Young Fogey at the Conservative Blog for Peace (one of my daily reads), from Interia-Anglia.

Londyńscy dżentelmeni mają co roku swoje święto – specjalną Olimpiadę dla Panów, odbywającą się pod patronatem “The Chap Magazine”. Ubrani w tweedowe, dobrze skrojone garnitury, biorą udział w oryginalnych konkurencjach. Jedną z nich jest poderwanie jak największej liczby pań, inną zachowanie uśmiechu na twarzy przy jednoczesnym odbieraniu ciosów… A wszystko po to, by pokazać bunt przeciw kulturze popularnej i dobrze się bawić

Very roughly translated to:

London’s gentlemen have their annual fest – a special “Olympics for Gentlemen” sponsored by “The Chap Magazine.” Featuring men dressed in tweed and well tailored suits, they take part in events. One of the events is to charm as many women as possible, and to respond with a smile if you are slapped. The event focuses on a bit of rebellion against popular culture, along with some fun

…and a personal favorite.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC,

Beauty (or death) in intimate faith communities

The Young Fogey gave me a proper shout-out in his post about Big boxes and boutiques, referencing a post by Br. Stephen Treat at The Anglo-Catholic.

He did capture the sense of “at home” I find in PNCC Parishes — down to earth people, a mixture of backgrounds and classes, all coming together to worship God without much in the way of snobbishness. It is people unafraid of their blue collar, factory, farm, coal miner, meat packer backgrounds, regardless of where they are in the present day. They embody the PNCC motto: Truth, Work, and Struggle. The PNCC also works because it is Catholic, with consistent worship from town-to-town, parish-to-parish. That works for me, as for anyone whose background and tradition is Catholic worship (or who are seeking that stability). I understand Brother Stephen’s point about certain “boutique” churches being an adventure from location to location, pastor to pastor — a disconnect from authentic Tradition and a source of confusion for seekers.

I received a press release a few days ago from Church Growth Mastery entitled The Answer to Church Growth. The press release noted: “Most Churches in the U.S. have an average membership of 60-75 members.” A citation from The Hartford Institute for Religion Research notes in its Fast Facts section:

Q: What’s the size of U.S. churches?

A: The median church in the U.S. has 75 regular participants in worship on Sunday mornings, according to the National Congregations Study. Notice that researchers measured the median church size —” the point at which half the churches are smaller and half the churches are larger —” rather than the average (186 attenders reported by the USCLS survey), which is larger due to the influence of very large churches. But while the United States has a large number of very small churches, most people attend larger churches. The National Congregations Study estimated that the smaller churches draw only 11 percent of those who attend worship. Meanwhile, 50 percent of churchgoers attended the largest 10% of congregations (350 regular participants and up).

They do note that 59% (177,000) of all parishes were small, with 7 to 99 members. The statistics exclude Roman Catholic and Orthodox parishes.

On the hopeful side, we might consider that this represents an affinity for smaller “boutique” churches, a niche. On the down side, it may represent the last of the “hangers-on,” keeping the doors open until the last member is buried (but who will bury the last member). In the end it still comes down to what each parish does, what it represents for its community. Is it open, welcoming to newcomers, or a closed society. Does it proclaim Jesus first and above all. If it is closed, or puts any message before its proclamation of Jesus, it is already cold and on the way out.

Christian Witness, Political, , ,

Whatsoever you do, Wisconsin version

From Jim Wallis at Sojourner’s: Controversy in Wisconsin which speaks to the power of authentic Christian witness in the face of character assignation, threats of financial ruin, improperly making faithful youth a point of leverage, and political machinations of a few pharisees dressed in holy robes.

I doff my cheesehead hat and salute the witnesses in Wisconsin who saw past the sheep’s clothing to the wolves lurking beneath.

It was a nice invitation, not unlike many I’ve received before. Every summer, a number of Christian music and arts festivals convene around the country, featuring musicians and speakers and attracting tens of thousands of young people. I have spoken at many such events over the years and, in fact, met my wife, Joy Carroll, at the Greenbelt festival in England! I’m guessing I’ve spoken there as many as 10 times. Joy is helping to organize an —American Greenbelt— for next summer called the —Wild Goose— Festival, an image that in Celtic spirituality signifies the Holy Spirit.

So when Lifest, a Christian festival in Wisconsin invited me to come and speak this summer, and the date was free, I accepted. Bob Lenz, who directs the annual gathering, is a wonderful man with a big heart and a powerful ministry among high school kids that has saved many from suicide. He’s the kind of guy you want to say yes to. It was put in the calendar.

Then a firestorm erupted. A local Christian radio station, which had always supported Lifest, and a local pastor started circulating attacks against me, suggesting that I was a communist, a deceiver, and, worst of all, an adviser to Barack Obama. My favorite was that I was an —avowed Marxist— and that any young person that heard me would be in —spiritual peril.— They were especially concerned that —the social justice message and agenda [Sojourners] promote[s] is a seed of secular humanism, seeking an unholy alliance between the Church and Government.— Does that sound anything like the language of a certain Fox News talk show host who has recently come after —social justice— Christians and me in particular? Oh no, they insisted, this had nothing to do with Glenn Beck.

The intimidation of Bob Lenz and Lifest began, insisting that I be canceled or they would face pull-outs and protests. A letter was sent to local churches to call for my cancellation and, like Glenn Beck, the authors just made stuff up. Under a great deal of pressure, Bob called me to discuss what to do. He believed that these people were spreading lies and didn’t want to capitulate to their threats. But they were really stirring up trouble, and people were coming after him personally. I decided to call the president of the radio station myself, to ask him what his concerns were, and to offer a dialogue with his board or anybody else he wanted while I was in Wisconsin. But he refused the dialogue unless the station’s demands for my cancellation were met (sounds like Glenn Beck again).

He said he was against the —unholy marriage between the government and the church.— Me too, I said. When I told him how I successfully worked with the Obama administration to preserve religious freedom in hiring for faith-based organizations who receive any public funds (such as World Vision and The Salvation Army), and spent half of my time on health care in preserving the rule against federal funding of abortion, he became silent and kept moving on to —other issues— —“ the last of which was Sojourners supporting a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. When I reminded him that there actually were Palestinian Christians, and that most mainline evangelical organizations now support a two-state solution, he got silent again. But he refused to change his position about me not speaking, and his final reason was that I had supported the Bush administration’s faith-based initiative! So my openness to a previous president’s ideas for faith-based partnerships in alleviating poverty was the reason I shouldn’t speak at Lifest? This was getting quite silly. But when the wild and fabricated charges they began with all fell flat in face of the facts, they were left with not much of an argument. But they stuck with it and pulled out of the festival.

I didn’t realize how big a deal this had become until I got to Wisconsin. Green Bay and Milwaukee television stations were there, with the story already in their local media and newspapers. I arrived to a series of press interviews and meetings with local pastors who were very sorry about all this and expressed hope that I would still come back to Wisconsin (I assured them that I loved their state and would love to come back).

Finally I got to speak to the young people, which was the reason that I came in the first place. I told them that I came because of them and the hope their generation provides to me. And that I liked the title of the talk I was to give: —The Call to Jesus and his Kingdom of Justice.— So that’s what I talked about to a very enthusiastic response from the thousands of young people who were there —“ the crowd made even larger because of the controversy, of course.

I said that when we have controversy and conflict in the church and speak badly of one another as Christians, it actually turns people away from Christ. And I said what unites us is not our different cultures, nationalities, or political views. What unites us is the gospel of Jesus and his kingdom, and their job as a new generation was to make that clear. When I quoted Jesus’ opening sermon at Nazareth and concluded that —any gospel that isn’t good news to the poor is not the gospel of Jesus Christ,— they all cheered.

The front page of the local paper in Appleton, Wisconsin, where I boarded my flight for home the next day, led with the story of the night before in nearby Oshkosh by saying, —Jim Wallis shared his Bible-based message of serving the poor Friday night to a large, welcoming crowd at Lifest despite a small number of boos at his introduction.— They reported what Bob Lenz courageously said in his kind introduction: —This is my brother in Christ,— he told the crowd. —I think he has a message for God’s church. Part of who I am is because of this man.—

I told the young crowd that heeding what the Bible says about serving the poor and seeking justice was not about social action or politics, but rather about nothing less than restoring the integrity of the Word of God in our lives, neighborhoods, nation, and world. Their response to that indicated that many young people today are no longer stuck in the old arguments and divisions in the church.

Most seemed to feel that the controversy and protest looked pretty foolish and unnecessary after the event had taken place. Many thanked Bob for standing firm against some pretty nasty attacks and pressure. But if the attackers had succeeded with intimidation to cancel a speaker they didn’t agree with, there is no doubt that the tactics of distortion and intimidation would have been repeated in other places. That is, after all, how some media celebrities now make their living, and they are encouraging others to follow their example. The newspaper article ended with my saying it was time to —replace the gospel of Glenn, Rush, Sean, and Bill with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.—

When I got to the TSA agent at airport security, she looked at my ID, smiled, and said, —So, you’re Jim Wallis! I hope you felt very welcome here; many of us are very glad you came.— I did feel very welcome and am very glad that I came.

Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, , , ,

Love your brothers and sisters – invite them to church on September 12th

National “Back To Church Sunday,” slated for September 12th, which is also the Solemnity of Brotherly Love in the Polish National Catholic Church. What a great way to put our brotherly love into action, by inviting those we know, people who once attended church – but who don’t anymore, and the “unchurched” and “dechurched” on this Sunday.

Last year, hundreds of churches took part in the first national “Back To Church Sunday,” which saw members invite more than 700,000 friends and family. This year, an estimated 1 million “unchurched” and “dechurched” people will be invited to the special day.

A survey by Outreach, Inc., a California-based church marketing company supporting the initiative, found that last year’s participating churches increased their weekend attendance on average by 19 percent.

“A recent survey of 15,000 Americans indicated that 67 percent would be open to an invitation to church coming from a member of their family,” said Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, an organization dedicated to church health and effectiveness. “‘Back To Church Sunday’ is a great opportunity for reminding and refocusing church members to reach out to their unchurched family members.”

In a separate study, the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey showed that 83 percent of American adults identify themselves as Christians. In contrast, another survey that same year by the Barna Group, a leading research organization focused on the intersection of faith and culture, indicated only about 20 percent of Americans attend a church on any given Sunday.

When Mount Sterling First United Methodist Church in Mt. Sterling, Ky., participated in “Back To Church Sunday” in 2009, response was well beyond expectations.

“Our sanctuary was full,” said Debi Lambert, the church’s evangelism and outreach leader. “We saw our attendance that day increased 40 percent over our normal attendance for that time of year.”

Unchurched families that visited that Sunday have become members, Lambert said. Others attend periodically. That’s why the Mount Sterling church anticipates an even greater response to the 2010 event. “Everybody at church has gotten on board and is excited and involved,” Lambert said.

Inviting newcomers is only part of the campaign. Churches are also encouraged to make their facilities visitor-friendly, paying attention to details important to those who haven’t tried church in a while.

In support of “Back to Church Sunday,” Outreach also supports the “Back To Church Sunday” Facebook page and a roster of participating churches on the Back to Church Sunday website. When churches go to the website and register their participation, their names and locations are added to the roster.

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