Mi'raj Yesus dan murid-murid yang ternganga

Saat mi'raj-nya Yesus, murid-murid menyaksikan. [Kisah Para Rasul 1. 9]. Ketika mereka sedang menatap ke langit kosong itu, mungkin masih belum bisa mengerti apa yang terjadi, ada dua messengers [bukan dari yahoo bukan juga juga dari yang lain] berdiri di dekat mereka dan berkata: "Hai orang-orang Galilea, mengapakah kamu berdiri melihat ke langit? Yesus ini, yang terangkat ke sorga meninggalkan kamu, akan datang kembali dengan cara yang sama seperti kamu melihat Dia naik ke sorga." [ayat 10-11]

Kalau dibahasakan dalam bahasa Kupang, begini kira-kira perkataan kedua massenger berpakaian putih-putih itui:"We ba'i ngao dari Galilea dong, kanapa ko bosong badiri tanganga pi langit sa?! Itu Yesus yang naik pi langit itu nanti turun juga sama ke bosong liat sang dia naik."

Hei orang-orang yang mengaku pengikut Yesus, masih bingung ko? jangan 'tanganga' talalu lama. Atau masih mau menunggu panggilan angkat senjata dukung mesias-mesias baru yang muncul untuk lawan 'Roma' seperti yang ditanyakan murid-murid beberapa saat sebelumnya? [ayat 6]
This is no time to stand and stare. It was time for us to recognize that one day He would return in the same way as they had seen Him go (personally), and that He would then expect them/us to have completed the task that He had given. He would come personally to call them/us to account and He would not want to come and find them/us either sleeping or staring upwards. God’s prime concern was now that they take out to all the world their witness about Him.

Selamat memperingati kenaikan 'Yesus itu'...

Former religion reporter now preaches from pulpit

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PATRICK CONDON

AP/FALL CREEK, Wisconsin

On the first Sunday morning of October, pastor Steve Scott looked far beyond the surroundings of his western Wisconsin congregation to find worthy subjects for their prayers: recent natural disaster victims in Indonesia and the Philippines.

There's nothing unusual about clergy taking inspiration from headlines, but for Scott it's instinctive. He spent 23 years as a journalist at the St. Paul Pioneer Press, most of the last five as religion reporter for Minnesota's second-biggest newspaper.

"What you get with Steve is someone who is able to take current events and use them as a launching pad for sermons and biblical study," said Glen Mabie, a parishioner and a former TV newsman in the nearby city of Eau Claire.

Scott's previous job seemed tailored to his lifelong interest in faith and spirituality and he figured it would be his for decades. But in 2005 his newspaper eliminated the beat, a step many other newspapers are making in lean times. At least seven other metro dailies also cut religion beats, and many others ended or trimmed weekly religion sections, according to the Religion Newswriters Association.

Scott, now 49, was reassigned to cover several St. Paul suburbs. He was "petulant ... pouting ... not very professional," he recalled. When the paper offered buyouts at the end of 2006, he took the opportunity without knowing what he wanted to do next.

He was interested in religion even before he covered it as a reporter. His father, who died when Scott was 6, was a Methodist pastor; after his death, Scott's mother for many years was organist at a Methodist church in Eau Claire, where Scott sang in the choir and was active in the teen youth group.

Once at college Scott stopped worshipping regularly, but he said he never stopped believing in God, and he minored in religious studies.

Even as a sports journalist, Scott kept that interest alive. In 1999, a year before he got the religion beat, he took a seminary class at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. He did so because it "sounded fun."

Scott likes to talk about the notion of a calling. Though the term is most often applied to clergy, he believes it's pertinent to anyone trying to figure out how they can best use their abilities to make the world a better place.

"I absolutely believe, as corny as it might sound, that I was called to be a journalist when I was 14," he said.

But one's calling can change, he said.

The buyout money gave him a few months to think about what to do with his life, and soon he returned to the seminary. He planned to earn a master's degree and approach religion as an academic. He got work as a consultant for North Presbyterian Church in Eau Claire, but when the pastor there died unexpectedly, the congregation asked Scott to take over.

"We can see the signs when we look back that there was something more coming for him," said the Rev. Ann Scott, Scott's wife since 2007 and a Methodist pastor in nearby Chippewa Falls. "We weren't exactly sure what that was. But we believe now that God was at work."

Scott serves every Sunday at the churches in Fall Creek (9 a.m.) and Eau Claire (10:30 a.m.), tackling the challenges of two tiny, graying congregations. Next summer he'll become a full-fledged Methodist minister and get his own congregation somewhere in Wisconsin.

At the Oct. 3 service, he apologized to his parishioners for the chill in the sanctuary.

"You'll be happy to know if you weren't at the church council meeting - we discussed the furnace," Scott told the 15 people scattered through the pews. He vowed it would be fixed soon.

These days, Scott earns about a third of his Pioneer Press salary. It could approach half once he's a commissioned minister; he won't be ordained until the end of a three-year probationary period.

Would he still be at the newspaper if he'd never lost his religion beat? "That's a lot of ifs," he said.

Twice called to professions that are suffering declines, Scott ponders another "if" question about journalism and religion.

"Cynically, some of my friends have asked me: 'What are you thinking? You left the newspaper business, and you're going into the church business?' They sort of share a demographic of a certain age, and they're both wondering why young people don't seem that interested.

"Perhaps there's a point. But I believe in newspapers, and I believe in the church, and despite their flaws, if we didn't have either one ..."

Scott trailed off, not completing the thought.

OCT 18, 2009

Gone to the dogs: Church starts pet service

GILLIAN FLACCUS
AP/LOS ANGELES

When the Rev. Tom Eggebeen took over as interim pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church three years ago, he looked around and knew it needed a jump start.

Most of his worshippers, though devoted, were in their 60s, attendance had bottomed out and the once-vibrant church was fading as a community touchstone in its bustling neighborhood.

Dog service: Bob Hedges, right, sits with his dog Chester, during Sunday services at at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles Nov. 1, 2009. The 30-minute worship, complete with individual doggie beds, canine prayers and a tray of dog treats for the offering, is intended to reinvigorate the church's community outreach while attracting new members who are as crazy about God as they are about their four-legged friends. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

So Eggebeen came up with a hair-raising idea: He would turn God's house into a doghouse by offering a 30-minute service complete with individual doggie beds, canine prayers and an offering of dog treats. He hopes it will reinvigorate the church's connection with the community, provide solace to elderly members and, possibly, attract new worshippers who are as crazy about God as they are about their four-legged friends.

Before the first Canines at Covenant service last Sunday, Eggebeen said many Christians love their pets as much as human family members and grieve just as deeply when they suffer - but churches have been slow to recognize that love as the work of God.

"The Bible says of God only two things in terms of an 'is': That God is light and God is love. And wherever there's love, there's God in some fashion," said Eggebeen, himself a dog lover. "And when we love a dog and a dog loves us, that's a part of God and God is a part of that. So we honor that."

The weekly dog service at Covenant Presbyterian is part of a growing trend among churches nationwide to address the spirituality of pets and the deeply felt bonds that owners form with their animals.

Traditionally, conventional Christians believe that only humans have redeemable souls, said Laura Hobgood-Oster, a religion professor at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.
But a growing number of congregations from Massachusetts to Texas to California are challenging that assertion with regular pet blessings and, increasingly, pet-centric services, said Hobgood-Oster, who studies the role of animals in Christian tradition.

She recently did a survey that found more than 500 blessings for animals at churches nationwide and has heard of a half-dozen congregations holding worship services like Eggebeen's, including one in a Boston suburb called Woof 'n Worship.

"It's the changing family structure, where pets are really central and religious communities are starting to recognize that people need various kinds of rituals that include their pets," she said. "More and more people in mainline Christianity are considering them to have some kind of soul."
The pooches who showed up at Covenant Presbyterian on Sunday didn't seem very interested in dogma.

Animals big and small, from pit bulls to miniature Dachshunds to bichon frises, piled into the church's chapel to worship in an area specially outfitted for canine comfort with doggie beds, water bowls and a pile of irresistible biscuits in an offering bowl. There were a lot of humans too - about 30 - and three-quarters of them were new faces.

The service started amid a riot of tail-sniffing, barking, whining and playful roughhousing.
But as Eggebeen stepped to the front and the piano struck up the hymn "GoD and DoG," one by one the pooches lay down, chins on paws, and listened. Eggebeen took prayer requests for Mr. Boobie (healing of the knees) and Hunter (had a stroke) and then called out the names of beloved pets past and present (Quiche, Tiger, Timmy, Baby Angel and Spunky) before launching into the Lord's Prayer.

At the offering, ushers stepped over tangled leashes and yawning canines to collect donations and hand out doggie treats shaped like miniature bones in a rainbow of colors.

Donna Lee Merz, a Presbyterian pastor at another Southern California church, stopped in with Gracie, her 14-month-old long-haired miniature Dachshund. The puppywith ears soft as silk was overcome by the other dogs and wriggled across the floor on her belly, quivering with excitement. She finally calmed down when Merz held her in her lap.

"She knew it was a safe place and a good place to be, a place to be loved," Merz said, gently petting Gracie after the service. "I'll be back."

Emma Sczesniak came to Covenant for the first time, lured by the promise that she could worship with her black Lab, Midnight, and her wire-haired Dachshund-terrier mix, Marley.
Marley sat on her lap during the service, while Midnight checked out the other big dogs and sat patiently waiting for his biscuit. Sczesniak said the dog-friendly service came at the perfect time for her: she's been thinking about getting back to church, but wasn't sure how or where to go.
"I don't have any kids, so my pets have always been my children, so it does mean a lot," she said of the dog-inclusive revise. "I haven't been to church in a long time and this may push me into it. I'm getting older and I've been thinking about those things again."

But Midnight, Marley, Gracie and the other pups probably had something more important on their minds as Eggebeen intoned his benediction and the service drew o a close: Just where could they find more of those delicious treats?

For Eggebeen, the night was a spiritual success - and the rest is out of his hands.
"It's important for a church like us just to do good things. The results, we'll just have to see," he said. "Ultimately, that belongs to God."
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On the Net:
Covenant Presbyterian Church: http://www.covla.org

Malaysia rejects call to release 10,000 Bibles

JULIA ZAPPEI
Associated Press/KUALA LUMPUR

The Malaysian government has refused to release 10,000 Bibles confiscated for using the word "Allah" to refer to God, a banned translation in Christian texts in this Muslim-majority country, an official said Wednesday.
An official from the Home Ministry's publications unit said the government rejected pleas by church officials to allow the Bibles, imported from Indonesia, into the country. Christians say the Muslim Malay-dominated government is violating their right to practice their religion freely.
Such religious disputes are undermining Malaysia's reputation as a harmonious multiethnic, moderate Muslim nation. About 30 percent of the country's 28 million people practice Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism or other faiths.
A Home Ministry official said the government told the importer last month to return the Indonesian-language Bibles, which are still with customs.
"Actually the publications, the Bibles are already banned," said the official, refusing to elaborate. He declined to be named because he is not authorized to make public statements.
The Bibles contain the word "Allah," which is banned by the government for use by non-Muslims in an apparent bid to appease Muslims.
Church officials say the word "Allah" has been used for centuries to refer generally to God in both Indonesian and Malaysian languages, which are similar. The Roman Catholic Church is challenging the ban in court.
The government maintains that the Arabic-origin word "Allah" is an Islamic word and its use by Christians and others will upset Muslims.
Another 5,100 Bibles, also imported from Indonesia, were confiscated in March and have not been released. But the ministry official did not immediately have any information on those.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia, which had called for the release of all Bibles, described the seizure as "ridiculous and offensive."
"This constitutional right (to practice freely) is rendered illusory if Christians in Malaysia are denied access to Bibles in a language with which they are familiar," the federation's chairman Bishop Ng Moon Hing said in a statement.
He also rejected concerns that Bibles in the Malaysian language, or Bahasa Malaysia, containing "Allah," will upset Muslims.
"Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia have been used since before the independence of our country and have never been the cause of any public disorder," he said. Malaysia gained independence in 1957.

AP 1.00 -- NOV 4, 2009 13:12:43

Para teroris mempraktekkan apa yang kita ajarkan

Setiap kali ada ledakan bom, para pemuka agama menjadi sangat sibuk. Mulai dari menjadi narasumber di televisi sampai seminar-seminar. Mulai dari himbauan di mesjid, gereja dan vihara sampai bikin buku. Mulai dari mengutuk serangan bom sampai membela diri bahwa agama tidak mengajarkan kekerasan dalam bentuk apapun.

Apa benar agama tidak punya kontribusi terhadap segala bentuk kekerasan termasuk terorisme? mengapa para pemuka agama selalu merasa membela agama mereka walaupun tidak ada orang yang secara implisit mengatakan bahwa agama mendukung kekerasan?
Saya kira umat beragama harus berani jujur mengatakan bahwa agama memang menyumbangkan bahan bakar yang cukup besar untuk kekerasan.

Agama-agama Semit seperti Kristen, Yahudi, Islam yang punya klaim ketuhanan yang kuat punya unsur kekerasan yang kuat bahkan dalam kitab-kitab suci mereka. Dalam Perjanjian Lama agama Kristen dan Katholik misalnya bisa kita temukan unsur-unsur kekerasan yang kuat. Dan karena itu ritual korban menjadi central untuk mencegah timbulnya korban sosial yang lebih besar. Walaupun dalam Perjanjian Baru, paradigma korban ini diaminkan dalam pengorbanan Yesus Kristus (sehingga tidak perlu ada korban-korban lain lagi) semangat korban dan kekerasan ini kadang masih kental.

Dalam praktek bergama sehari-hari, banyak penganut agama sebenarnya munafik: kekerasan selalu diajarkan dari mimbar-mimbar gereja dan masjid kita secara terang-terangan. jangan heran terorisme selalu menemukan lahan subur untuk bertumbuh. Agama yang eksklusif adalah lahan yang sangat subur untuk terorisme.

Jadi tak usah munafiklah tiap kali mencounter dan membela agama (praktek agama) sebagai yang tak bersalah, karena para teroris sebenarnya telah dididik secara benar oleh kita.

salam

Sacrificial animal avoids the murder of the other

One can always interpret the monotheisms as sacrificial archaisms, but the texts don't prove that they are such. It's said that the Psalms of the Bible are violent, but who speak up in the psalms if not the victims of the violence of the myths: "The bulls of Balaam encircle me and are about to lynch me"? The Psalms are like a magnificent lining on the outside, but when turned inside out they show a bloody skin. They are typical of the violence that weighs on humans and on the refuge that they find in their God.

Our intellectual fashions don't want to see anything but violence in these texts, but where does the danger really come from? Today, we live in a dangerous world where all the mob movements are violent. This crowd or mob was already violent in the Psalms. Likewise in the story of Job. It – the "friends" – demanded of Job to acknowledge his guilt; they put him through a real Moscow trial. His is a prophetic trial. Is it not that of Christ, adulated by the crowds, then rejected at the moment of his Passion? These narratives announce the cross, the death of the innocent victim, the victory over all the sacrificial myths of antiquity.

Is it so different in Islam? Islam has also formidable prophetic insights about the relation between the crowd, the myths, victims, and sacrifice. In the Muslim tradition, the ram Abel sacrificed is the same as the one God sent to Abraham so that he could spare his son. Because Abel sacrificed rams, he did not kill his brother. Because Cain did not sacrifice animals, he killed his brother. In other words, the sacrificial animal avoids the murder of the brother and the son. That is, it furnishes an outlet for violence. Thus Mohammed had insights which are on the plane of certain great Jewish prophets, but at the same time we find a concern for antagonism and separation from Judaism and Christianity that may negate our interpretation.