ICJS to host Interreligious Events on Howard Thurman

All ICJS programs are excellent.

Dan Gleckler

From: John Rivera, Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies <info@icjs.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2023 10:44 AM
Subject: ICJS to host Interreligious Events on Howard Thurman

Dear friend,

We are writing to you in the hope that you will share with your congregation news about the exciting series of events ICJS is offering in October and November centering on the life and legacy of Howard Thurman, arguably the most important 20th century African American religious leader before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and universally acclaimed as the moral anchor to the modern Civil Rights movement.

The centerpiece is the ICJS Manekin-Clark Lecture on Oct. 23 at 7pm at Northside Baptist Church featuring Dr. Walter Fluker, an internationally recognized expert on Howard Thurman’s life and teaching. In addition, ICJS is offering a three-part course on Howard Thurman: Moral anchor to the Civil Rights movement, and two book studies, one for religious leaders and the other for the general public.

Would you be willing to place a short notice (copy below) in your newsletter or bulletin and repost our Facebook and Instagram postings to let your congregation know about this opportunity? I’ve also attached a printable flier and a clickable graphic (PDF) that could be used in an e-newsletter.

Many thanks,

John Rivera

ICJS Director of Communications and Marketing

Bishop calls for prayer after Jacksonville shooting

Statements by Bishops Tom Berlin and Peggy Johnson are particularly moving, on the shooting of three in Florida.

Let us pray for ways to push for more active sympathy, and then join those who do so.

Blessings, and thanks for all your ministries day by day.

Dan Gleckler

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Florida Conference

Bishop calls for prayer after Jacksonville shooting

LAKELAND, Fla. — Just days before the 60th anniversary of the March on Washington, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, a gunman killed three Black people in Jacksonville, Florida, in what law enforcement identified as a hate crime. “How long, O LORD, will some have to live in fear,” asks Florida Conference Bishop Tom Berlin in a call to prayer that references Psalm 13.

Read Bishop Berlin’s statement

Read New England Bishop Peggy A. Johnson’s statement

Read World Council of Churches statement

The Associated Press: What we know about Jacksonville killings

Download March on Washington meme

News from Maui

Some news and photos of Maui…

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Special sanctuary lost in Maui fires

DALLAS (UM News) — Members of Lahaina United Methodist Church are grieving the destruction of their historic sanctuary in the wildfires that devastated the west side of Maui, Hawaii. Some regular visitors to the island also are feeling the pain, having formed a close attachment to the sanctuary and the congregation. Sam Hodges reports.

Read more

Bishop Talbert

Beautiful article on Bishop Talbert

Dan Gleckler

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Bishop Talbert, advocate for justice, dies

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UM News) — From humble beginnings as one of seven children born to sharecropper parents in rural Louisiana, retired United Methodist Bishop Melvin G. Talbert took his ministry of justice and love for all people around the globe. Talbert died last week at the age of 89. Kathy L. Gilbert reports.

Read obituary

Read Council of Bishops press release

United Women in Faith director, Lilly grant

Please note the new United Women in Faith director and include her in your prayers and also pray over the Lilly grant possibilities for us…

Dan Gleckler

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Vonner installed as women’s group leader

DALLAS (UM News) — Sally Vonner’s installation as top executive of United Women in Faith took place in her native Texas, before a crowd that included many family members and longtime friends. She’s the second African American woman to lead the New York-based mission group, which last year changed its name from United Methodist Women. Sam Hodges reports.

Read story

Lilly accepting grant proposals

INDIANAPOLIS — Up to $78 million in grant money is available to museums, historical sites and cultural organizations through the Lilly Endowment’s Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative. Proposals are wanted on developing exhibitions, educational programs or other activities that will provide fair, accurate and balanced portrayals of the role religion plays in the United States and around the world. Eligible organizations can participate by submitting concept papers by noon U.S. Pacific time Oct. 30.

Read press release

More information (PDF)

Inclusive Love Heals All

This is stunning stuff.

Let’s take it seriously.

Healing is for all…

Pray for this outlook.

Dan Gleckler

Inclusive Love Heals All

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Franciscan sister Nancy Schreck locates Jesus’ commitment to nonviolence in God’s unconditional and inclusive love.

The starting place is Jesus’ vision of and commitment to the inclusive love of God that welcomes all to the one table and creates a worldview that critiques any kind of exclusion as a form of violence. One of the radical nonviolent actions of Jesus therefore is to eat with “sinners” and “tax collectors” and all those others which the society of that time excluded. Sharing a common table is nonviolent resistance to the violence of division. In Jesus’ vision, we are all part of one body held in God’s all embracing love. This embrace makes each one a sister and brother and thus makes nonviolence possible. One might say therefore that nonviolence is only possible in community.

Read more