Death of Bob Adams

Long time WATD member, Bob Adams of Santa Barbara, died on Saturday April 14th. Bob was ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), held a Ph.D. in the Sociology of Religion, and taught for many years at Chapman University among other places. He is survived by his wife JoAnne.

Services will be held on Wednesday Evening at First Christian Church of Santa Barbara.

Humane Borders leader honored

This Press Release recognizes WATD member Robin Hoover for his work on the immigration issue:


HUMANE BORDERS LEADER RECEIVES AWARD FROM MEXICO’s PRESIDENT

Robin Hoover, pastor of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) of Tucson, Ariz., has received the Mexican Human Rights Award from Mexico's Commission for Human Rights presented by President Felipe Calderon. The award is known as the Reconocimiento Cum Laude and is the highest human rights award given by the Mexican government to a non-Mexican.

Hoover was recognized for his work with Humane Borders, a non-profit social justice group he founded in 2000 to help address the rising tide of immigrant deaths taking place in the desert. The interfaith group now manages a network of more than 80 water stations and dispenses more than 50,000 gallons of water a year to immigrants crossing the desert. Hundreds of volunteers visit Humane Borders each year to assist in this special ministry.Hoover’s work has received international attention from journalists, politicians and human rights advocates from around the world. To watch a video about Humane Borders featured on Naomi’s New Morning, a Sunday morning program on the Hallmark Channel, visit:

www.disciples.org/dns/releases2007/07025.html

Thoughts on Homosexuality

With Ted Haggard's fall, homosexuality became a topic of conversation, at least for a moment. Here is some thoughts on the topic published recently in SoMA Review. This is an important issue that must be addressed or Ted Haggard won't be the last one to fall in this way.

Bob Cornwall

Academy of Parish Clergy

It's not a new organization. In fact, it's been around since at least the 1960s. The Academy of Parish Clergy is an interfaith clergy association that encourages clergy health and continuing education is going through a period of transformation. If you are a member of the clergy, this organization could provide the foundation for creating a clergy support network. For many of us in the pastorate, finding that support network is difficult. So check it out.

And while you're doing that, order up a copy of Sharing the Practice, the journal of the Academy. I must confess, I'm the new editor, and I'm looking for people who would like to write congregation based articles that would benefit/encourage fellow clergy. So, check it out and join up.

Blessings,

Bob Cornwall
First Christian Church, Lompoc
Editor, Sharing the Practice

Practices and Pilgrims

I have been reading From Nomads to Pilgrims, a book edited by Diana Butler Bass and Joseph Stewart-Sicking. This is a series of essays that look at twelve practices, which have been the foundation for congregational transformation among Mainline Churches. This volume follows upon Diana's earlier book: The Practicing Congregation, a book that is rooted in even earlier effort led by Dorothy Bass, which is found detailed in a series of essays under the title: Practicing our Faith, (Jossey Bass, 1997).

I make comments on two blog posts at my own blog, which you might like to look at.

Bob Cornwall
First Christian Church

George Tolman's Honor

Dear WATD friends and colleagues,
First Christian Church of Tucson will honor George Tolman for 40 years of service on September 24. You're invited if you can make it. We'd love to have you, and George would love to see your smiling faces. He came here in 1966, served 21 years, and he was named minister emeritus. He has sustained pastoral and visionary leadership since then. Even better, he's been a great teacher of discipleship to everyone around. He's preaching, so watch out! We'll recognize him in morning worship, of course, and we'll have a catered dinner following. I do hope you'll consider coming by for this. I'll let you sleep on a cot and take a shower down the hall if that suits you. Otherwise, you're on your own, unless you can get George to put you up.
For those of you who attended this year, thanks to all of you. You inspired me to get busy on the book. The church covered my butt for three weeks while I wrote. I knocked off 210 pages of completed, edited manuscript so far. I'm sort off on vacation starting now for two weeks to write some more. The end is in sight.

Rev. Robin Hoover, Ph.D.Pastor, First Christian ChurchPresident, Humane Borders, Inc.740 E. SpeedwayTucson, Arizona 85719Church 520-624-8695

Bound and Free

Douglas John Hall isn't the new guy on the block, but I kind of finally spent some time with him. The retired professor of the theology of McGill University, Hall was a student of Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich and has much affinity with J. Moltmann. In Bound and Free (Fortress, 2005), Hall tells the story of his theological journey, his commitment to the idea of stewardship, and his vision for a reclaimed Protestantism. As in his The Cross in Our Context: Jesus and the Suffering World, Luther is a major dialog partner.

In the third chapter, entitled: "Stewards of the Mysteries of God: Preserving Classical Protestant Theology", Hall lays out a dialectic of classical Protestantism:

1. Christocentrism (contra Christomonism) -- Thus Christ is central, but its not so exclusive that it crowds out anything else.
2. Dialectical character of theology (contra doctrinal simplism) Yes, there is complexity, ambiguity, paradox -- grace and freedom, etc. Protestantism is at its best says Hall when its modest.
3. Faith seeks Understanding (contra rationalism and irrationalism) Here Anselm got it right!
4. The Bible (contra Biblicism and Bible Illiteracy) Key here is the opening sentence: "The sola Scriptura of the Reformation never meant that no other work of Christian tradition should have any importance for Protestantism, but it did and does mean that the canonical scriptures of the Older and New Testaments have priority."
5. Faith in dialogue with doubt (contra Fideism or "True Belief") Faith is relational, it involves trust, but there is an important place for doubt. Yes, it is as he suggests: "Nothing, I suspect, is more important in the stewarding of this tradition today than that pastors and teachers should take every opportunity to assure those in and around the churches that doubt and doubters are welcome in the community of faith."

If you've not read this book, it is quite worth a try. Being that I am already a Moltmann fan, Hall's insights came as a very welcome companion.

Bob Cornwall

Red and Blue God

The Wittenburg Door has long been an oasis for those who think that religious people take themselves too seriously. Though its been years since I delved into its pages, the Door's Senior Contributing Editor, Becky Garrison, has written a provocative satire on the relationship of politics and the church -- taking potshots at both right and left. The book is entitled: Red and Blue God, Black and Blue Church: Eyewitness Accounts of How American Churches are Hijacking Jesus, Bagging, the Beatitudes, and Worshiping the Almighty Dollar, (Jossey-Bass, 2006). It has its ups and downs as a book, but its a quick read that will help refocus one's attention off of the political grind to the gospel call.

I've written just a little bit more on my blog-- http://pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com.

Enjoy,

Bob Cornwall