Howard's Sermons and Article Clippings.

Howard's Sermons and Article Clippings.

About Me

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Im a Mainline protestant minister who loves serving in multicultural and urban contexts. I'm very interested in how liberation theology and existential-humanistic psychology are applied to the praxis of pastoral care and counseling. My most profound encounters with God come as we sojourn as brothers and sisters seeking the inbreaking of God's reign, here and now.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Christian Univeralism

I AM A CONVINCED UNIVERSALIST

by William Barclay

Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at Glasgow University and the author of many Biblical
commentaries and books, including a translation of the New Testament, "Barclay New Testament," and "The Daily Study Bible Series."


I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God. In the early days Origen was the great name connected with universalism. I would believe with Origen that universalism is no easy thing. Origen believed that after death there were many who would need prolonged instruction, the sternest discipline, even the severest punishment before they were fit for the presence of God. Origen did not eliminate hell; he believed that some people would have to go to heaven via hell. He believed that even at the end of the day there would be some on whom the scars remained. He did not believe in eternal punishment, but he did see the possibility of eternal penalty. And so the choice is whether we accept God's offer and invitation willingly, or take the long and terrible way round through ages of purification.
Gregory of Nyssa offered three reasons why he believed in universalism. First, he believed in it because of the character of God. "Being good, God entertains pity for fallen man; being wise, he is not ignorant of the means for his recovery." Second, he believed in it because of the nature of evil. Evil must in the end be moved out of existence, "so that the absolutely non-existent should cease to be at all." Evil is essentially negative and doomed to non-existence. Third, he believed in it because of the purpose of punishment. The purpose of punishment is always remedial. Its aim is "to get the good separated from the evil and to attract it into the communion of blessedness." Punishment will hurt, but it is like the fire which separates the alloy from the gold; it is like the surgery which removes the diseased thing; it is like the cautery which burns out that which cannot be removed any other way.
But I want to set down not the arguments of others but the thoughts which have persuaded me personally of universal salvation.
First, there is the fact that there are things in the New Testament which more than justify this belief. Jesus said: "I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (John 12:32). Paul writes to the Romans: "God has consigned all men to disobedience that he may have mercy on all" (Rom. 11:32). He writes to the Corinthians: "As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22); and he looks to the final total triumph when God will be everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:28). In the First Letter to Timothy we read of God "who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth," and of Christ Jesus "who gave himself as a ransom for all" (1 Tim 2:4-6). The New Testament itself is not in the least afraid of the word all.
Second, one of the key passages is Matthew 25:46 where it is said that the rejected go away to eternal punishment, and the righteous to eternal life. The Greek word for punishment is kolasis, which was not originally an ethical word at all. It originally meant the pruning of trees to make them grow better. I think it is true to say that in all Greek secular literature kolasis is never used of anything but remedial punishment. The word for eternal is aionios. It means more than everlasting, for Plato - who may have invented the word - plainly says that a thing may be everlasting and still not be aionios. The simplest way to out it is that aionios cannot be used properly of anyone but God; it is the word uniquely, as Plato saw it, of God. Eternal punishment is then literally that kind of remedial punishment which it befits God to give and which only God can give.
Third, I believe that it is impossible to set limits to the grace of God. I believe that not only in this world, but in any other world there may be, the grace of God is still effective, still operative, still at work. I do not believe that the operation of the grace of God is limited to this world. I believe that the grace of God is as wide as the universe.
Fourth, I believe implicitly in the ultimate and complete triumph of God, the time when all things will be subject to him, and when God will be everything to everyone (1 Cor. 15:24-28). For me this has certain consequences. If one man remains outside the love of God at the end of time, it means that that one man has defeated the love of God - and that is impossible. Further, there is only one way in which we can think of the triumph of God. If God was no more than a King or Judge, then it would be possible to speak of his triumph, if his enemies were agonizing in hell or were totally and completely obliterated and wiped out. But God is not only King and Judge, God is Father - he is indeed Father more than anything else. No father could be happy while there were members of his family for ever in agony. No father would count it a triumph to obliterate the disobedient members of his family. The only triumph a father can know is to have all his family back home. The only victory love can enjoy is the day when its offer of love is answered by the return of love. The only possible final triumph is a universe loved by and in love with God.

William Barclay: A Spiritual Autobiography, pg 65-67, William B Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1977.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Partners in Health calls for support for U.S. funding to train and retain health care workers in Africa




PIH calls for support for U.S. funding to train and retain health care workers in Africa

Over the past few weeks, Partners In Health has been hard at work with colleagues at other organizations and in Congress to get a piece of legislation introduced that addresses the catastrophic shortage of health care workers in Africa. The final text of the bill incorporates ideas and language that we urged the drafters to include, recognizing the critically important role of paid community health workers. Now the drafting is over, the bill has been filed, and it is time to pitch in to get it passed.

Starting on Friday, March 9, we're working to generate thousands of emails and calls to the Senate supporting the bill. Call your Senators and encourage their support of the African Health Capacity Investment Act of 2007. You can reach your member by calling 202-224-3121 (connecting to all offices).

Directly Observed Therapy in Tomsk

Village health worker training in Lesotho

In Sub-Saharan Africa, a mere 3 percentof the world's health workers struggle against all odds to combat 24 percent of the global disease. Millions of people in Africa are suffering and dying from HIV/AIDS and other preventable and treatable diseases. In early March, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) introduced the African Health Capacity Investment Act of 2007, which would help African countries to develop a stable health infrastructure and better address their health crises.

The time to act is now. Please call and email both of your Senators and ask them to co-sponsor the African Health Capacity Investment Act.

Please ask both of your Senators to:

  • Co-sponsor the African Health Capacity Investment Act of 2007;
  • Work with Senate colleagues to pass the bill quickly and ensure that Congress appropriates at least $150 million for the African health workforce this year, by including at least that amount in their appropriations "wish lists."

The original co-sponsors of the African Health Capacity Investment Act include Senators Durbin, Bingaman (D-NM), Coleman (R-MN), Dodd (D-CT), Kerry (D-MA), and Feingold (D-WI). If one of the preceding is your Senator, you may contact them to thank them for their support of the Act and encourage their dedication to passing and appropriating full funding for the bill.

For maximum impact, please follow up your calls with emails to your Senators.

If you would like to see sample text for a letter to your Senator or to read some background information before placing a call or writing an email, read on.

Sample letter

Dear Senator __________________,

I am writing to respectfully urge you to co-sponsor the African Health Capacity Investment Act, and to help make sure it passes quickly with the full amount of funding appropriated.

In Africa, people are dying unnecessarily because there are simply not enough doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care workers. The World Health Organization has identified 57 countries, including 36 in Africa, facing critical shortages of health workers that make them "very unlikely" to achieve goals in fighting diseases like AIDS and malaria and reducing child and maternal mortality. In Africa, a mere 3% of the world's health workers struggle against all odds to combat 24% of the global disease burden.

The causes of the shortage are complex, and include HIV/AIDS, poor working conditions, insufficient capacity to train new health workers, the overall lack of funding for health, ceilings on government wage bills, and the "brain drain" of health workers to countries like the United States, which need to do more to address their own health worker shortages. A recent estimate of the funds needed to double the health workforce in sub-Saharan Africa placed the cost at an additional $2 billion in the first year, and more in ensuing years.

Strengthening the health workforce in Africa will bring enormous health benefits to millions of people and save untold numbers of lives. That is why I am asking you to co-sponsor the African Health Capacity Investment Act, and to ensure that it passes and is fully funded this year. To help ensure full funding, I hope that you will include in your appropriations "wish list" at least $150 million for Africa's health workforce.

Thank you.

Background information

The World Health Organization has identified 57 countries, including 36 in Africa, where the current level of health workers make it "very unlikely" to achieve health-related Millennium Development Goals, internationally agreed upon goals on reversing the spread of AIDS, malaria, and other major diseases, and significantly reducing child and maternal mortality. A recent estimate of the funds needed to double the health workforce in sub-Saharan Africa placed the cost at an additional $2 billion in the first year, and more in ensuing years.

In Africa, people are dying unnecessarily because there are simply not enough health care workers. Health workers--nurses, doctors, pharmacists, community health workers, laboratory technicians, physician assistants, nurse assistants, mental health workers, and many more-are at the core of health systems everywhere, diagnosing and treating diseases, educating and caring for patients, and developing and implementing policies and strategies to combat disease. But in sub-Saharan Africa, a mere 3% of the world's health workers struggle against all odds to treat 14% of the worlds population and combat 24% of the global disease burden. The World Health Organization estimates that sub-Saharan Africa is suffering a shortage of more than 800,000 doctors, nurses, and midwives, and an overall shortfall of nearly 1.5 million health workers. At present, sub-Saharan Africa has little over 1 million health workers, and fewer than 600,000 doctors, nurses, and midwives.

The causes of the shortage of health workers are complex, and include HIV/AIDS, which is decimating much of the continent's workforce. In South Africa, it is conservatively estimated that 16% of the existing health workforce are HIV+ and in Malawi the government assumes they will lost 3% of their health workforce each year to the disease. Additionally, there is a lack of sufficient and relevant training capacity to produce the number of health workers required; an inability to retain health workers due to poor working conditions and lack of funding for adequate salaries, sometimes due to wage caps imposed by the International Monetary Fund; and "brain drain," the large-scale emigration of health care workers seeking better paying and more secure jobs in countries with greater resources such as the United States, England, and Canada.

If the international community is committed to reaching universal access to prevention, treatment, and care, governments must show leadership in addressing the health workforce crisis. Today, you can be part of the solution.

Arizona Presbyterians patrol desert to keep migrants alive

Sonoran Samaritans

Arizona Presbyterians patrol desert to keep migrants alive

by Evan Silverstein

TUCSON, AZ — The Rev. John Fife, a former moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), pointed toward the rugged Baboquivari Mountains recently as he drove along a stretch of desert highway outside Tucson.

Fife, a longtime leader of humanitarian programs along the U.S.-Mexico border, said the mountain range in the Sonoran Desert is “the center of the universe” for undocumented migrants trying to enter the United States.

Rev. John Fife and Dr. Norma Price
The Rev. John Fife, pastor of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, and Dr. Norma Price, a retired oncologist, are volunteers in a program that patrols the desert with food and water for illegal immigrants from Mexico.
Photo by Evan Silverstein
It is also the final resting place of many who freeze to death high up in the mountains, said Fife, the pastor of Tucson’s Southside Presbyterian Church.

Illegal immigrants are dying in record numbers along Arizona’s southern border areas, as Mexicans continue to cross into the United States in search of work.

“A storm blew in from the west a couple of years ago, around January, and 400 people came into the desert and died out there,” said Fife, who was moderator of the PC(USA)’s 204th Assembly, in 1992.

Many border crossers who escape freezing instead bake under the summer sun, dying of thirst, heat stroke or exhaustion.

“There is no shade or water available to the crossers,” said Rob Daniels, a spokesman for the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector, which takes in much of Arizona. “They’re at the disposal of the elements. They really face an uphill battle of Herculean size.”

Some others are killed by bandits who prey on immigrants traveling on foot across one of the hottest, driest deserts in the world, where ground temperatures sometimes reach 140 degrees.

“That literally cooks the body from the inside out,” Daniels said.

And there are other challenges, including snakes, scorpions and vultures, twisted ankles, dislocated knees, broken bones and severely blistered feet.

But Fife and a group of volunteers, including doctors and nurses, are trying to prevent as many deaths as possible.

That’s why Fife, representatives of nine faith communities and others formed the Samaritan Patrol in July 2002.

Volunteers called Samaritans roam the desert in Jeeps and vans, looking for stranded migrants, to whom they offer food, water and medical help.

“The bottom line is to save as many lives as possible,” Fife said last month as he patrolled the desert in a 4-wheel-drive Isuzu Rodeo.

Dr. Norma Price, a retired oncologist, was Fife’s co-pilot for the early-morning patrol. Temperatures were already nearing triple digits.

“It’s about saving lives,” Price said, “but even if you haven’t saved a life, if you’ve helped make their day better, relieved their anxiety, their hunger, their thirst, that’s rewarding. Even if at the time it wasn’t a life-saving issue. Of course our primary mission is to save lives but it isn’t always that dramatic. Sometimes it’s just giving water to the person.”

The need for the ecumenical Samaritans is clear.

Last year a record 139 undocumented migrants died after crossing into Arizona from Mexico. The U.S. Border Patrol said last month that 84 migrants had died near the border since its fiscal year began on Oct. 1.

That’s the most deaths ever recorded in the same period. And the hottest, deadliest season is just beginning.

Since 1995, when the Border Patrol implemented a blockade strategy along the border, about 2,600 men, women and children have died after crossing the border. Thousands continue to take on the risk of making the dangerous trek.

“If you step back and you take a look at what’s happened over the last eight years, 2,600 deaths is a disaster of major proportions,” Fife said.

Samaritan volunteers, who attend training sessions before heading into the desert, begin their searches at daybreak and patrol the most popular migrant trails for six to eight hours. The Samaritans work separately from Humane Borders, another Tucson faith-based volunteer organization that has set up more than 40 water stations in the desert for thirsty migrants.

The Samaritans program, whose strongest supporter has been Fife’s Southside Presbyterian Church, is funded through contributions, but it has also received Presbyterian Disaster Assistance grants.

During the summer — the “season of death,” in the volunteers’ words —Samaritan volunteers patrol the desert seven days a week. In the winter, when conditions are less hazardous, they go out only two or three days a week.

They travel along dirt roads on public land, covering a territory 115 miles long and 80 miles wide.

On May 27, after passing a Border Patrol bus returning illegal immigrants to Mexico, Fife stopped his vehicle at a spot in the desert near the Mexican border, about 50 miles southwest of Tucson. That’s where he and Price started their search.

“We usually find them in large groups of 10 to 20,” Fife said. “That’s what makes it profitable for the ‘coyotes’ (who smuggle people across the border).”

Price used binoculars to survey the desert landscape. Then she and Fife separate, each shouting, in Spanish, “We have food, we have water.”

On that day they got no response.

The desert in the area was littered with garbage left behind by previous crossers — empty plastic jugs, discarded clothes, backpacks and toilet paper. “They’ve been here,” Price said, surveying the litter.

The Samaritans then walked, checking out dry gullies and thickets of mesquite, but found no illegals.

“It’s about a 50-50 chance, maybe a little higher this time of year, that we’ll encounter someone,” said Fife, whose also involved in the “No More Deaths” movement that is putting medical aid stations along the Arizona border.

Fife said helping stranded migrants is only part of the mission, that the volunteers also want to encourage southern Arizona residents to practice hospitality and offer aid and oppose the U.S. government’s “beef-up-the-border” policy, which forces migrants to take ever-more-treacherous routes through the area.

Church leaders said the hundreds of desert deaths and millions of captures of undocumented border-crossers demonstrate that the U.S. policy has failed, that its strategy of trying to deter the migrants has only increased their risks.

“It’s important that we understand this, because as the failed policy of militarization of the border has proceeded, a record number of deaths have occurred year after year after year,” said Fife, noting that no migrant deaths were reported in 1994, the year before the more stringent border policies were enacted.

For some, Samaritans may recall the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s, in which churches and other religious groups aided people fleeing war-torn Central America. That movement was co-founded by Fife in 1981 and quickly spread nationwide.

Sanctuary workers helped smuggle the immigrants into the country. Fife and 10 other people were indicted on federal smuggling charges. Eight, including Fife, were convicted but not sent to prison.

Fife said the Samaritan effort is based on similar faith-based principles but is not a Sanctuary revival. He said no laws will be broken, and the effort falls within the federal provisions of humanitarian assistance.

Federal law prohibits anyone from aiding illegal immigrants “in furtherance of their illegal entry,” including sheltering them, Fife said, but “it is never illegal to provide food and water and medical aid to the migrants who are in danger of dying.”

Daniels, of the Border Patrol, said: “There is a difference between humanitarian (assistance) and harboring. It’s very clearly defined, and we’ve had discussions with Rev. Fife and others.” He said Samaritans is like “many of the churches (that) run soup kitchens or feed the homeless.”

Fife was one of at least 150 religious leaders from across the state who gathered on the lawn of the Arizona capitol in April to protest the federal government’s border policy.

The group called for an employment-oriented program that would allow workers and their families to enter the United States through recognized ports of entry and live and work safely and legally in the country. The religious leaders said the root causes of illegal migration are environmental, economic, and trade inequities.