Jesus and the environment

"The picture of [Jesus] which emerges from the gospels is of a person who was interested in the whole of life," said the Archbishop of Canterbury in a speech at St. German's Cathedral on the Isle of Man last fall. "He came from a rural community and knew all about the birds of the air, the flowers of the field and the animals with which he shared his surroundings. He was not the caricature that the novelist Nabokov described as 'a blond bearded faddist in a towelling robe' ... He was someone who loved life. And so should we. We are called to rejoice in God's creation; to care for it tendarly and to respect it. After all, there are challenges enough. Our world's population is now over the six billion mark. ... By 2030 the world's population will have doubled. We in the first world will have to learn to live more simply so that others may simply live."

"'Change and decay in all around I see':
Challenges facing the Church in the New Millennium"
Anglican Communion News Service

Memo to networks: No guns for a day

Over the years, many people have commented on the frequency with which guns are used to commit violent acts in television programs.

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has long been committed to nonviolence. With help from likeminded people, the organization is hoping to persuade television networks and stations and cable channels in the US to participate in the second annual day free of gun violence on television. If they succeed, no programs or commercials containing guns or gun-related violence will be shown on April 15—Easter Sunday.

The idea came from a Quaker church in Midlothian, Virginia. The effort is not meant to favor gun control, but simply to provide an opportunity for people to reflect on gun-related TV violence.

For more information, visit http://www.gunfreedayonty.org.

The next generation weighs in

According to Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation (Vintage Books), the generation of young people that began college in 2000 could prove to be far more practical and insightful than their predecessors. The authors, Neil Howe and William Strauss, point to surveys in the US to buttress their claim: "... homicide, violent crime, abortion, and pregnancy among teens have all plummeted at the fastest rates ever recorded. Teen suicide rates are falling for the first time in decades."

They also cite a 1998 Primedia/Roper National Youth Opinion survey which "found that, when asked 'What is the major cause of problems in this country?' more teenagers named 'selfishness' than anything else."

While no one can be sure how each generation will turn out, these positive signs are encouraging.

Reported by Andrew Brownstein
"The Next Great Generation?"
The Chronicle of Higher Education
October 13, 2000

REVOLUTIONARY DADS

"... A quiet but thoroughly monumental revolution is taking place in the American family. The number of fathers solely responsible for the care of their children is growing at a rate almost twice that of single mothers. Fully one-fifth of single parents today are single fathers—more than 2 million of them. This is up from 1970, when single-mother-families comprised approximately 90 percent of the single-family population. ... [Also] "[m]ore men than ever are acting as stay-at-home dads—as many as two million of them, surveys show."

Jeff Gillenkirk
"A Revolution in American Fathering"
America
November 4, 2000

Balance in your life

"There are plenty of golfers who know a lot about the game. ... But when it comes to applying any of that knowledge on the course, they cannot or do not. The same can be said about those who know about the Bible and attend church but do not apply what they learn so they can live a life with balance," says Wally Armstrong, president of Gator Golf Enterprises, and Jim Sheard, with whom he has written several books on life, golf, and faith.

Their most recent book is Finishing the Course (J. Countryman Books, 2000). They say: "... balance can be achieved when we let God direct our lives. The Bible says that man's ways are not God's ways, and, therefore, we need to allow Him to show us His ways. When we do, He provides the power and direction for a fulfilling life."

"Balanced Swings"
The life@Work Journal
November/December 2000