PRELUDE, February 2004



FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:

REACHING THE LOHAS

Advertisers have identified a growing segment of the population, the biggest market you never heard of: the LOHAS. Is your congregation reaching them?

LOHAS is an acronym for "lifestyles of health and sustainability." These are folks who want to see themselves as protecting our environment, growing emotionally and spiritually, and preferring products that are produced in sustainable ways. They may eat lunch in a fast food joint like the rest of us, but they also buy energy-efficient appliances, health food, and yoga tapes. Scientists tell us that our survival as a species may depend on how we treat the earth; savvy marketers know the survival of their corporations depends on appealing to the LOHAS. It is no accident that the congregation I served which attracted the most people in their 20s and 30s was also built by its members with their own hands, who insulated it so well that they spent only $900 a year to heat it.

So how is your congregation doing? Many things about Christianity ought to resonate with the LOHAS: being good stewards of God's good creation, creation-centered spirituality, contemplative prayer, etc. Nearly every faith community urges healthy living and conservation of our natural resources. Often, though, we fail to practice what we are supposed to preach: many congregations waste electricity, oil, and disposable coffee cups on a prodigious scale. How are your church's heating bills this winter?

There are many simple ways your congregation can reach out to the LOHAS-and live more faithfully:

Shalom/Salaam/Shanti/Pax,
Tom



MEA CULPA, MEL

Several alert readers have called my attention to a serious mistake I made in my column last month: I attributed to Mel Gibson words actually uttered by his interviewer, Bill O'Reilly. Gibson appeared on TV a year ago to defend the film he was making about the Passion of Christ from certain "forces" he claimed were trying to stop its production. Given that nobody had heard of the film yet, let alone denounced it, and that the biggest obstacle to its release might be the unlikelihood that anyone would sit through a couple hours of subtitled Aramaic dialogue, I thought then - as I still do - that this was a lousy way to try to drum up publicity for his film. I also thought - and here my memory proved to be wrong - that Gibson clearly implied that Jews were trying to stop a Christian from making a movie about the death of Jesus. It was, in fact, his interviewer who used the phrase "Jewish people" and not Gibson himself.

Let me also be clear, as I thought I was last month, that I was not presuming to review a film I haven't seen and I was not suggesting that the Christian Church is fundamentally anti-Semitic. I should have done more than protest the casual anti-Semitism still found in many churches, particularly when it comes to mistranslation of Scripture. I should have also celebrated the great strides we have made to overcome prejudice against our fellow People of the Book. In my own preaching, I strive to proclaim God's grace as well as God's judgment. I should have done so in last month's column.

--Tom



DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT - Sara Weiss, Director

Special thanks go to the United Church of Christ Wider Church Ministries for its generous gift of $50,000 to help support our job development project for World Trade Center clients in collaboration with FEGS-Long Island and to Newsday Charities & the McCormick Foundation — and to all of you who gave to Newsday’s Help a Family appeal - for $48,000 to help us help Long Islanders in need.

We also thank the following for their gifts of $500 or more:

We're also grateful to the numerous faith-based institutions, businesses, agencies, and others who gave less but whose gifts are every bit as important to us, and we thank the individuals who gave but don't want us to publish their names.



Long Island Council of Churches and FEGS Launch New Job Development Project for World Trade Center Clients

Thanks to generous grants from The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s U.S. Disaster Relief and the United Church of Christ's National Disaster Ministries, the Long Island Council of Churches and FEGS Health and Human Services System, a Long Island Jewish Family Services agency, have launched a joint project to provide a complete array of job services for World Trade Center clients from both agencies, and from other agencies, by referral.

The project will provide employment services including job counseling, training and retraining, certification and licensing, job readiness, job placement, and after-placement. The LICC will provide direct assistance for clients while they are in this employment services program, including emergency food, housing assistance, medical prescriptions, transportation assistance, etc. according to need.

To enroll in the job development program, please call Alric Kennedy at 516-565-0290.



FROM THE MULTI-FAITH FORUM: SIKHISM ON FAITH & POLITICS

The Gurus (teachers) advised Sikhs to have faith in God: if each of us does the righteous thing in the name of God, everything will turn out right in the long run and our lives will be more peaceful. Sikhism deals not just with spiritual life but life as a whole. It is founded on three pillars. Sikhs must earn their living without being parasites on society, they must share the fruits of their labor with the rest of the community for the overall welfare of the community, and they must remember that their survival is by the grace of God. Therefore Sikhs must take part in communal affairs and not stay aloof from society; political affairs and spiritual life are interdependent. Yet Sikhs are convinced that the State must be secular and has no right to impose any religious beliefs on its citizens. The Ninth Guru, Tegh Bhadar, gave his life to preserve the religious freedom of Hindus who resisted coerced conversion. Sikhism also believes in freedom of expression. The Fifth Guru, Arjan, paid with his live because he would not bow to political pressure to change the hymns of the Sikh gurus, which are cherished by Sikhs as the "Guru Granth." Sikhism believes in individual liberty and equal justice for all: it was founded on the principle that all people, regardless of gender, race, color, creed, religion, or economic status are children of one and the same God and are entitled to equal treatment. To this day, Sikhs cherish these freedoms and are proud of their heritage. Several hundred years ago, the founding fathers of this country saw the value of these very same principles and incorporated them into the U.S. Constitution.

--by Ardaman Singh



WORTH QUOTING:

Why More People Are Coming to the Food Pantry

The LICC's Fall Convocation on Sept. 25 will focus on feeding the hungry. This year's Convo coordinator, the Rev. Lorraine DeArmitt calls our attention to this disturbing trend:

"The Children's Defense Fund's 1998 study made it clear that, two years after the welfare [reform] experiment began, about half of the families who had been forced to leave welfare had still not found work at all. The number of children living in extreme poverty had increased from 6 million in 1995 to 6.3 million in 1996 and nearly 6.4 million in 1997."

--Loretta Schwartz-Nobel
"Growing Up Empty: The Hunger Epidemic in America"



On Conflicts Between School Activities, Sports, and Sabbath Time

"Work obligations, children's involvement in sports programs, the need to use Sunday for chores and errands that cannot be attended to during the week, and the opportunity for shopping in stores on Sunday are all realistic forces, many of them legitimate, with which we must contend today. Nonetheless, I ask us to consider . . . how much do we feel we are being drained of life and spirit because we have not kept a sacred space for Sunday?"

--Bishop William Murphy
"Pastoral Letter on the Lord's Day"



Guidelines for Theological Combat

The United Methodist Church, like many other denominations, seems to be perennially in the grips of theological and political battle between conservatives and liberals, between "evangelicals" and "ecumenicals." The Executive Director of the Methodist Federation for Social Action recently made these suggestions for coping with controversy, words that might guide us in any theological dialogue or any church fight:

"Claim our common identity as followers of Jesus seeking to embody God's love, justice, and mercy. We may have different understandings of what this means, but it is the same God that we worship and the same Jesus that we follow. It is important that we do not lose sight of this fact.

"Respect one another in our efforts to live out our faith. Too often it seems that we not only disagree but [also] attach motives to others that may or may not be true. It's time that we started to believe the best about one another. . . .

"Admit our faults. We must acknowledge that our actions, no matter where we stand, have caused pain and anguish for those who believe differently than we do. . . .

"Be open to new solutions. In the midst of our deep polarization we have become committed to deeply entrenched positions. We leave little room for the Holy Spirit to move in our midst. We need to believe that God can show us a way where once there was no way. . . .

"Have the courage to honestly face the tough questions. . . . it is disingenuous for us to pretend that our significantly different perspectives can co-exist in the church without consequence. Rather than trying to prove one side right and the other wrong, we need to start with the question of how to learn from one another and to apply the wisdom from all."

--The Rev. Kathryn Johnson
"Social Questions Bulletin" (used with permission)



TV WORTH WATCHING:

"The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance"

If you think church politics are messy today, you should see what they were like in the 15th century. The latest PBS "Empires" special, "The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance" shows that our fights do not begin to equal those of six centuries ago.

Catholics point out that the Church the Reformers left is not the same today, and this program proves them right. The Papacy, divided and contested, was up for grabs in the early 1400s and up for sale. A powerful banking family in Florence backed a one-time pirate with a huge loan. He became Pope in 1410 and made the Medici "God's bankers." As John XXIII, he was so despised, though, that he was deposed five years later (and his papal name went unused for five and a half centuries, until the new John XXIII who ushered in the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.) Theirs became the most profitable business in Europe and the biggest bank in the world. With his phenomenal wealth, Cosimo de Medici sponsored the construction of a great, innovative cathedral, a major religious festival in Florence, intellectual freedom, renewed study of the ancient past, and extraordinary religious art. Cosimo eventually is recognized as both the Father of the Florentine Republic and "Godfather of the Renaissance."

Some of the world's greatest artists - Michelangelo, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci - flourished in Florence under Cosimo's grandson Lorenzo. Lorenzo the Magnificent was fabulously wealthy but his power was challenged. His beloved brother was assassinated, triggering a bloodbath of retribution, and Lorenzo soon learned that the Pope himself had ordered his extermination. As if this were not enough, a young monk named Savonarola whipped up the populace against the decadence of Renaissance Florence. After Lorenzo's death in 1492, his family was driven from the city and Savonarola led a mass public burning of books, wigs, cosmetics, great works of art in his infamous "Bonfire of the Vanities." Homosexuals also were set ablaze.

The Medicis had their revenge: though exiled, their wealth made Giovanni de Medici a cardinal at 16 and pope in 1513. As Pope Leo X, he spent wildly, depleted the papal treasury, and began selling indulgences for the forgiveness of sin on an unprecedented scale. His excesses prompted protests from a German monk named Martin Luther, and the Protestant Reformation swept across much of Europe. During the next decade Medici maneuvering plunged the church further into chaos. After Leo's death in 1521 his cousin Giulio became Pope Clement VII and continued the family tradition of artistic patronage and political machinations, leading Charles V to declare war on Rome and sack the city in 1527. When a Medici became Duke of Florence, he assumed direct control of the city and ruled it as an autocrat.

One of the most interesting chapters of Medici history is found in "Power vs. Truth," the final hour of "The Medici." Many of us were raised on the notion that religious intolerance got Galileo Galilei into trouble, but the truth turns out to be quite different. As scholars such as Mario Biagioli and the late Stephen Jay Gould have pointed out, his friend Urban VIII treated Galileo cruelly, but the astronomer was a victim not of religion but the politics of patronage. When the Medicis withdrew their support, Galileo's fate before the Inquisition was sealed. He retracted his teaching about the motion of planets around the sun, and this once-progressive family became staunch defenders of the status quo.

"The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance" airs on WNET/13 and most other PBS stations on Wednesdays, February 11 and 18, at 9 p.m. but remember to check your local listings. This dynasty offers both inspiring glimpses of artistic greatness and a cautionary tale about greed and power.



DID YOU KNOW?



OFFERED/NEEDED

Offered:

Guest preachers:


Help Avoiding Foreclosure
The Long Island Housing Partnership offers a low-interest loan program that can help those who have suffered financial hardships beyond their control to avoid foreclosure. Homeowners must be no more than 12 months in arrears and able to demonstrate that they can resume full mortgage payments. Call the LIHP at 631-435-4710 to request a "HEMAP" application and to schedule a free counseling session.

Help Avoiding Bad Loans
The LICC offers free seminars to help people avoid predatory loans and to help them be good stewards of their financial resources. These are usually an hour to 90 minutes, and we will tailor it to the needs of your parishioners. We will arrange speakers, publicity, educational materials, and other freebies. All you need to supply is the location and refreshments. A number of dates are currently available, before or after Sunday worship, Feb. 8 to May 2, and you can request a weekday, a Saturday or some other time that is best for your flock. If you are interested, call 516-565-0290, ext. 206, fax 516-565-0291, or e-mail licchemp@aol.com.

Eight-Foot Poles
The LICC has a dozen 8-foot poles for the taking.

Book Discussion Group
The United Church of Rockville Centre will be holding a book discussion group to discuss the book, The Red Tent. The discussions will be on the following Thursdays: January 29th, February 5th and 12th at 7:30 p.m. The group will meet at the parsonage, next to the Church at 430 Morris Avenue. For more information, call 516-766-2975.

Lecture on Spiritual Relationships
The Rev. Robert W. Gunn, Ph.D. will lecture on "The Spiritual Path of Relationships" on Friday, Feb. 6, 7:30-9:00 p.m. at The United Church, 430 Morris Avenue, Rockville Centre. The lecture will focus on how we can turn obstacles in our relationships into doorways to a deeper relatedness with our partners, parents, friends, children, as part of our own deepening relationship with God. For more information, call 766-2975.

Worship Space
The Community Reformed Church in Manhasset has space available for worship Sunday afternoons, 1:00 or later, including some classrooms, ample parking. Two Korean churches have gotten started here and moved up and on as they grew. Call the Rev. Stuart Clark at 516-627-3494.

Interfaith Visits to Houses of Worship
Would you like to take your Sunday School class, confirmation group, or youth fellowship to visit a house of worship from another faith community? Many members of the Long Island Multi-Faith Forum would be happy to host church, synagogue, or Unitarian Universalist kids. To visit a Sikh gurudwara in Richmond Hill, Glen Cove or Plainview, for example, call Raj Singh at 516-671-2220 or email rsingh@optonline.net. Would you like to take your youth group and their parents to the Interfaith Seder (a real dinner rather than a model seder) at Temple Beth El in Great Neck on March 30? If so, call Harvey Barer at 222-2520 by March 20.

A Partner for Ecumenical/Interfaith Vacation Bible School
The Rev. Judy Stevens, pastor of Patchogue United Methodist Church, would like to work with another congregation to provide ecumenical or interfaith VBS next summer. She had a great experience with an ecumenical VBS offered by Floral Park UMC to children of Hispanic employees at Belmont Race Track, and she would love to find a partner for interdenominational or interfaith VBS in the Patchogue area. You can contact her at 631-475-0381 or jas116@aol.com.

"From Violence to Wholeness"
- a spiritual retreat on moving from a culture of violence to nonviolence, will be offered at the Riverside Church, March 5-7. This experiential study/action program focuses on the causes of violence, the transformative power of nonviolence, nonviolent social movements, community building and action planning. Together we explore nonviolence as a creative, powerful and effective process for addressing and resolving conflicts in our lives and in the world. Co-facilitators will be Kolya Braun-Greiner, M.Div. (Union '92) and Heather Maxwell, both trained by the Fellowship of Reconcilation. Fee: $100. For more information and to register, contact Heather Maxwell at 845/358-4601, ext. 26 or nv-intern@forusa.org.


Needed:

Give us your tired, your poor...fruitcake:
Do you have a dozen of these tins in your cupboard, placed there by the Ghost of Christmas Past? Why not donate them to the LICC or your local emergency food pantry? Food donations are slow after the holidays, and there is actually a fair amount of nutrition in these desserts. Do you have anything else that needs to be cleaned out of your cupboard? Our Hempstead Emergency Food Center at 404 Peninsula Blvd. particularly needs cereal, spaghetti sauce, tuna, and canned meat. Our Riverhead emergency food pantry needs soup, stew, canned vegetables, spaghetti sauce, peanut butter, jelly, and cereal. Did you receive more of those fancy jellies this Christmas than you know what to do with? Is your youth group collecting money next weekend for "Souperbowl Sunday"? If so, please keep us in mind!

Volunteers
The LICC needs volunteers to pick up food donations and schlep them to Hempstead or Riverhead. If you can help, please call Hugh Watts at 516-486-2272 or Carolyn Gumbs at 631-727-2210. We also need volunteers in both our Hempstead and Riverhead offices to answer phones and greet clients. Could you give one morning or afternoon a week to do this?

Office Equipment
Our new Riverhead office, 407 Osborn at Lincoln, opposite the Polish American Civic Association, needs a low room-divider (about 3 feet high), a vacuum cleaner, desk chairs, high-intensity desk lamps, skate-wheel rollers for off-loading trucks, and some narrow (about 18 inch wide) "U-boat" carts for the new office, please call Carolyn Gumbs at 631-727-2210. The LICC's Hempstead office needs file cabinets, carpeting, a carpet cleaner, and a dust buster. We have old computers and monitors, and a dot-matrix printer to give away. Call Anne Vaughan at our Hempstead office (516-565-0290).

Volunteers
Our Lady of Consolation, a 450-bed nursing and rehabilitative care center located at 111 Beach Drive in West Islip, needs volunteers, 14 years or older, mornings, afternoons, evenings, and weekends as transporters, Eucharistic Ministers, office assistants, gift shop assistants, patient visitors and front desk greeters. Call Joan Coyle at (631) 587-1600, ext. 8330.

Blood
Blood supplies on Long Island are at dangerously low levels and may lead to postponement of surgery. To donate blood, call 1-800-933-BLOOD. If your congregation is having a blood drive, please let us know so we can spread the word!

VOLUNTEERS TO ASSIST FAMILIES WITH LOVED ONES IN PRISON OR JAIL
FEGS Health and Human Services System is seeking volunteers for its PRISON FAMILIES ANONYMOUS program, assisting families with loved ones in the criminal justice system. Volunteers will spend time in the visiting waiting areas of the Nassau Correctional Facility in East Meadow or the Suffolk Correctional Facility in Riverhead. They will provide information, support and compassion to parents, partners, children, siblings and other relatives and friends of those incarcerated. Volunteers will be trained and receive ongoing support. For information, call FEGS Prison Families Anonymous Program at 516-496-7550.

A Pesticide-Free Apartment
Barbara Rubin is seeking an apartment anywhere in Nassau County where there is no pesticide spraying - she has a disability which is aggravated by exposure to these chemicals. She can afford $1500-1600 a month, not including utilities. You can reach her at 516-669-1402.


JOB OPENING:



PATHWAYS TO THE HOLY: Led by the Spirit to Live Justly

Lent, 2004

The LICC is co-sponsoring the Bible study "Pathways to the Holy" that examines the Gospel readings for Lent and how they apply to local issues on Long Island today. We encourage you to consider starting such a study group in your parish - or in conjunction with other congregations in your community.

Week One (Luke 4:1-13) Led By The Spirit: Finding True Nourishment
In his time of fasting, Jesus was tempted to seek power and glory. In today's global economy, the temptation of wealth often leads to exploitation of the weak. This can be seen in Florida, where the Immokolee tomato pickers have been reduced to near-serfdom so that large corporations like Taco Bell can turn a profit.

Week Two (Luke 9:28b-36) Led by the Spirit: Becoming Fully Awake
During the Transfiguration Peter, John and James were called to be fully awake to God's presence. In our time, we often miss God present in us and those around us. This is particularly true in America's very individualistic culture of self-absorption.

Week Three (Luke 13:1-9) Led by the Spirit: Examining Our Conscience
The parable of the fig tree is a call for us to truly repent by examining how we have sinned. In this time of war and terror, America's new global role requires a national examination of conscience. Do revenge and power prevent us from building, not just a safe, but a better world?

Week Four (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32) Led by the Spirit: Granting Forgiveness
In the parable of the prodigal son, divine forgiveness knows no bounds. This is difficult for us to understand when we act self-righteously. How do we righteously proclaim our countercultural Christian values in the public square so that we are faithful and forgiving but not sanctimonious and judgmental?

Week Five (John 8:1-11) Led by the Spirit: Living Righteously
In the Gospel of the adulterous woman we are all asked: who is without sin? Jesus calls us to righteousness. Sometimes we are harsh on those we believe to be sinners. For example, alcoholics and drug abusers often are written off by family, friends and the government, rather than receiving the care and support they need.

Week Six (Luke 22:14-23:56) Led by the Spirit: Suffering Together
When we read the Passion we share in the suffering of Christ. As Christians, we are called to live the Passion by sharing in the suffering of our neighbors. Today, immigrants serve our communities yet suffer isolation, hatred and discrimination. How can we lift their cross?



PATHWAYS TO THE HOLY ORDER FORM

Please place your order by January 30, 2004 to insure that we can meet your request. To place your order by telephone, call Mary Robinson at 516-733-7078 between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday, or fax to 516-733-7098 or email Robinson.Mary@catholiccharities.cc or mail to:

Mary Robinson
Catholic Charities
90 Cherry Lane
Hicksville, New York 11801

Please provide the following information:

Note: You will be billed upon receipt of your order. There is no need to include a check.



Save This Date: February 29

A LEAP OF FAITH FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING--Interfaith Prayer Service

Sponsored by:

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 29TH, 2004, 3:00 to 5:00 PM
IBEW Hall, Motor Parkway, Hauppauge
Show Your Support for Affordable Housing on Long Island
Join Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Islamic Clergy
Elected Officials and Housing Advocates
In a Prayerful Reflection of Hope and Action

Directions to IBEW: Take the LIE to Exit 55, Motor Parkway. From the west, make a left on to Motor Parkway. From the east, make a right on to Motor Parkway. IBEW is ahead about 1,000 feet on your right. Park in the rear of the building.



Leadership and Anxiety in the Church: A Family Systems Perspective

A Seminar offered by the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center
Co-sponsored by the Long Island Council of Churches
Hicksville United Methodist Church
May 26, 2004

Topics include:

For registration information contact:

Lombard Mennonite Peace Center
1263 S. Highland Ave., Suite 1N
Lombard, IL 60148-4527
630-627-0507
www.LMPeaceCenter.org