From time to time, we will post articles and essays about the life and beliefs
of Peace Church.

From the April 25, 2004 Bulletin:

Two perspectives on reading and prayer.

From Harold Martin, writing in a Brethren Revivial Fellowship
pamphlet:

"It is proper for Christian people to read good books, but if
those books stand between you and your regular reading of
the Bible, it is better not to read the books."

From Thomas Moore's Meditations:

"The monk practices spiritual reading.  For [the monk], a book is
not a source of information, but a way to pray.  What if we always
read as prayer, every book a scripture, whether science, fiction,
or theology?  Our minds might release some of their authority and
influence, allowing our hearts, or some other place of reflection,
to be nourished.

The first perspective, it seems to me, is like putting blinders on
a horse.  It limits our field of view, and therefore constricts our
reading, our thinking and our imagination.  It limits the leading
of the Spirit of God.

The second perspective is like reading the New Testament -- the
Gospels especially -- which instruct and counsel us to take off our
blinders and see -- and read!  The Gospels are full of examples of
openness and acceptance and inclusion. The cautions I read there
are directed at legalism and narrow-thinking and self righteousness.

Moore concludes:

"Monks also spoke of the world as a book . . .  How do you study
the world without trying to be informed?  The answer to that
question defines the difference between the religious and the secular
life."

Perhaps the difference between the religious and the secular life is
like the difference between information and meditation.

                                                                        --Kerby--

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From the January 18, 2004 Bulletin:

We are a small, somewhat struggling church.  A church this is also
full of anticipation and hope.  And these may be the best of times for us.
Like a young couple just getting started on their journey, the early years
are frequently remembered as the best.

We are at the beginning of realizing ourselves anew -- a congregation
well-suited and called for this new time.  And this new time is the
realization in our world that the Christian right does not speak the
whole truth of biblical Christianity.

We Brethren are called out from our biblical faith to be a New
Testament community here in Portland, faithful to the Sermon on the
Mount, faithful to Jesus' life and his teachings.  Which means, that if
anything is to be taken literally, what Jesus said should trump what
is said about him.

When he said, "Love your enemies," he meant, don't
kill them.  When he said, "Sell what you have and give to those in need,"
he meant, don't pile up wealth for ourselves.  When he said, "Visit the
sick and imprisoned, and feed the hungry, and clothe the naked,"
he meant that is how we show our love for him.  In our hymns and
services we praise Jesus, but imitation is really the truest praise, the
highest worship.

God in Jesus has shown us what is expected of us:  To act justly, and
and love kindness, and walk humbly with God.  That is clearly the
vision of Peace Church.  And our world is aching to hear these words
from Christians.

For too long, popular Christianity has been dominated by an evangelism
which ignores our human solidarity and preaches a divisive gospel, so
condemning that humanity is ultimately and eternally separated into
heaven and hell, and biblical writing which teaches otherwise has been
ignored.  But no longer.

Imitation-of-Christ is the heart of Brethren belief and action.  And
Christians living imitation-of-Christ are far more likely to bring
salvation into our world rather than leaving it in the after-life.  Recall, Jesus
taught us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as
it is in heaven." This is the promise of salvation.  This is what it means
to believe that Jesus is Lord and Savior of life.

As Peace Church continues its Christian witness, we seek to let more
people of Portland know that this gospel of justice, and reconciliation,
and service, and simplicity, and peace, and love is the heart of the
Christian faith.  It was certainly the heart of Jesus of Nazareth, who is
the Christ.

                                                            --Kerby--

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From the June 12, 2005 Bulletin:

There has been much discussion recently in our country on stem cell research
and the disposition of frozen human embryos.  Recently George W. Bush made
a public appearance with several adopted babies who came to life from in vitro-
fertilized frozen embryos, implanted in surrogate mothers.  And much is being
made of the thousands of frozen embryos in storage in the United States which
await implantation or destruction.  These embryos could also be used in stem
cell research.

The Christian right speaks loudly in defense of these embryos as babies who
have the right to life.  They also speak loudly in opposition to birth control.
The latest development in this social discussion is the argument for the right of
pharmacists who do not believe in birth control to refuse to fill prescriptions
for birth control medications.

However, this whole discussion is strange, and its driving force, I believe,
is not the will of God, but human ego -- we think too highly of ourselves.
When we speak of the sacredness of life, we are speaking of ourselves.  The
way we treat all other species of lifemakes it clear that they are not sacred
to us.  When we think that every sperm and egg, joined in an embryo, or about
to be, is sacred, we are taking ourselves too seriously -- precisely because we
do not ascribe sacredness to the sperm and egg or fertilized seed of all other
forms of life.  In fact, the greatest puzzle in this discussion is that those who
argue loudest for the sacredness of life in every human sperm and egg and
embryo defend the killing of those humans who disagree with them, and support
war among humans.

Consider the hundreds -- or thousands -- of seeds produced
by one maple tree.  Consider the hundreds of thousands of sperm a male salmon
showers over a cluster of eggs dropped by a female.  Consider the millions -- the
billions -- of seeds produced by every other species of life on the planet.  They are
all sacred, and yet it is folly to consider their sacredness is denied or diminished
when they do not survive into adults.  And it is greater folly to wish that they would.

Such great numbers of reproductive possibility are a function of ensuring the species
spread and survival, not of dominating all other species on earth.  And so it is the
greatest folly for us to think it is God's will that humans so dominate the earth that
we destroy whatever species are in the way of the maturation of every sperm and
egg.

Clearly we have fulfilled Genesis' command that we fill the earth and subdue it.
And simple use of our brains rather than our egos might lead us to the wisdom of
thinking of God's other creations above ourselves -- which might ultimately be to
our benefit as well as theirs.

                                                                    --Kerby--

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