Ecumenical Resources on the Year 2000

What is the ecumenical community’s word as we approach the Year 2000 and the start of a new millennium? How can we "seize the millennial moment" with all its potential to unite and inspire -- or to disappoint and divide?

These pages include some resources to help, available from the (U.S.) National Council of Churches, its member communions and several "fellow travelers." Their premise is that we must resist any temptation to cynicism or indifference and get involved! This is an important religious and social moment for individuals and for communities, a moment that needs our witness for unity, respect for diversity and commitment to working for justice.

	Overview: Seizing the Millennial Moment
	Bible Study Resources
	Global Debt Forgiveness/Jubilee 2000
	Interfaith Relations
	Middle East/Holy Land Tourism
	Middle East Council of Churches' Christmas/Millennium Message
	NCC’s 50^th Anniversary Celebrations
	Pillars of Peace for the 21^st Century
	Y2K
	Postscript: Selected Millennium Web Sites

"The Approaching Millennium" is Theme of the Winter 1998-99 Issue of "Reformed Review," A Theological Journal of Western Theological Seminary. Contact James I. Cook, Editor, c/o marilyn@westernsem.org 1-800-392-8554 or 616-392-8555; fax 616-392-7717; mail Reformed Review, 101 E. 13th St., Holland, MI 49423. 183 pages; single copies $5.

In The Myth of the Millennium (128 pages, paperback), author Tom Wright proposes that the Millennium should not be a time for looking backwards, but for improving our future. What if anything does the Millennium mean for us? Can we make it more forward-looking? What is the significance of Denis the Insignificant? These and other questions are answered in this informative little book, which debunks the nonsense surrounding the Millennium, and suggests a link between someone called Denis the Insignificant and world debt. In addition, it considers the way society's ideas have changed, explaining what is really meant by the word 'postmodernism', and why it's not the answer. The author is well known as a respected New Testament scholar and a regular broadcaster on radio and television. His many books include, most recently, The Meaning of Jesus with Marcus Borg. The Myth of the Millennium is available from SPCK Publishing. Refer to ISBN: 1 902694 04 X£3.99

For those of you on EcuNet, check out the newly established public meeting on "Millennial Fever: Race for the Cure." Convened by the NCC at the request of ecumenical and denominational staff at a workshop on the millennium at the July 1998 meeting of the National Association of Ecumenical and Interreligious Staff.

LIVING STONES PILGRIMAGE
With the Christians of the Holy Land
By Betty Jane Bailey and Alison Hilliard
This is a unique companion for Christian pilgrims and tourists in the Holy Land, which enables visitors to experience the reality of Palestinian Christians today. It includes 16 pages of full color and meditations to accompany walks and biblical journeys. There are many tourist guides available but none produced specifically to present Holy Land Christians to the world, and with the support of all the local churches. Price: $15 plus shipping. Order from Chicago Distribution Center

FROM THE BEGINNING
Resources and Study Guide to the Middle East
By Betty Jane Bailey
This six-session guide looks at the region's conflicts, its peoples, traditions, cultures, and churches. ISBN 0-377-00241-0 / Was $6.95, now $3.00. Order from Friendship Press

Church World Service's Emergency Response Program Web Site, with a wide range of resources for response to natural and human-caused disasters, offers a section of resources on "The Y2K Crisis" including:

Utne Reader's "Y2K Citizens Action Guide," a 120-page "sensible, non-alarmist Guide" to help the average person understand the scope of what could possibly shut down on January 1, 2000; discover why we can't predict exactly which systems may be disabled; assess the state of preparedness of local public officials and agencies; make plans on a block and neighborhood level, create a sensible personal and family preparedness plan; take a neighborhood and individual inventory, and prepare for Y2K with creativity, ingenuity and emotional balance. Downloadable free, or phone 1-800-880-8863. $4.95 single copies, $1 per copy on orders of 50 or more.

The United Methodist Church in August announced a new series of "Y2K" radio public service announcements, "designed to acknowledge the fears but emphasize the endless possibilities of a new era." With varied and unusual musical formats -- blues, big band, lullaby (for grown-ups) -- and a variety of approaches to the new time period, the 30- and 60-second spots are intended for use during fall 1999. Included is a hauntingly beautiful song/spot for Christmas -- "Fear Not" -- which echoes the comforting refrain from the angels that announced the birth of Christ 2000 years ago. The spots have been sent to more than 12,000 radio stations across the United States. For more information, contact UMC Public Media Marketing, 800-476-7766; e-mail radio@umcom.umc.org

A cursory search of the Internet comes up with hundreds of sites devoted to the new millennium. Here are just a few that may be of special interest to the ecumenical community.

The Center for Millennial Studies CMS proposes to gather and archive the vast "harvest" of apocalyptic literature that is appearing at the turn of the second Christian millennium; to collect and edit documents from earlier such times; and to encourage, through publications, conferences and research, the study and analysis of apocalyptic thought, the millenarian movements it generates, and the kinds of mutations that they must undergo in order to adjust to the (inevitable) return to normal time. (From CMS Mission section of this site.)

The Millennium Institute The mission of the Millennium Institute is to use systems thinking and the turn of the millennium to catalyze a redirection of human civilization toward a peaceful, just and sustainable future.

The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions See especially plans for the December 1999 Parliament to take place in Cape Town, South Africa, at the millennial moment. Theme: A New Day Dawning: Spiritual Yearnings and Sacred Possibilities.