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blog, ferguson

Pastors minister in Ferguson unrest

The continued unrest in Ferguson, MO which have featured protests, violence, and racial tensions, have the country waiting for new news of peace. The conflict revolves around Michael Brown’s murder by the hands of a police officer. Conflicting information from police sparked riots, protests, and demonstration. Local police responded with riot gear only for other departments to be dispatched to try to keep peace.

In the midst of this unrest, pastors and clergy have responded. Ministers in the middle of the Ferguson crisis have sought to provide comfort, direction, and peace. Perhaps under reported are the stories of pastors ministering to protesters, police, and local officials:

Here are some notable stories:

afeature, Church Leadership

Should a dying church be repurposed?

It seems that I’m stuck on thinking about dying or dead churches. Why so grim, Alan? That is a good question. It seems that folks are interested in talking about this topic. For some odd reason, I’ve been thinking about struggling churches lately. Perhaps it is because I’m writing a second book on a related topic. I’m blessed with a growing and fruitful congregation to lead, but other pastors find themselves in a different situation.

Here in Albany, there are a number of congregations (mostly Catholic) who are closing their doors or selling property. According to the Albany diocese, 20% of churches will be closed. One church in particular, St. Patrick’s, is facing a flight from a group to stop the razing of the church. Some want to turn the church into a brewery or consider another purpose instead of a site for a supermarket.

Overit Media in Albany is housed in a former church.

Churches that closed are often bought as private homes, turned into a business, or sometimes bought by another church. I’m sure the members of a closed or closing church don’t want their structure turned into a pub or demolished to make way for a parking lot. Overit Media in Albany is one example of a church building turned business building.

Instead of closing or tearing down a church completely, is there another way?

A recent article from the Economist brought forward an idea that is growing. Since 1980, the Church of England has closed over 1,000 churches. That’s a lot of congregations and people. What can be done to reverse the trend? The idea goes something like this: keep the church building operating and functional, but repurposed the building so that services can be held while housing. The article sites some successful examples:

But there is a new mood in the Church of England… The plan is to turn the church into a community centre that will continue to hold religious services. This has worked elsewhere: Michaelhouse café in Cambridge… serves cappuccinos during the week but the building reverts to its original use as St Michael’s church on Sundays. In Hereford, Bath and York, working churches double as coffee shops, crèches and stores.

Could repurposing a church revive a church and help spawn new life through becoming a center for religious and cultural life? Doubling as a coffee shop and a church? Doubling as a library and a church? Doubling as a cultural center and a church? It is an exciting idea, but it is not a new one. Early church monastic communities featured gardens, centers of learning, and made money by selling goods that monks made.

But, how far could this concept go? Is it making a marketplace out of God’s house of worship or it is following where God is calling us to “be” the presence of Christ?

Read. Respond. Render.

Israel Trip

Israel Trip Day 7: Mass, Sderot & Kibbutz Visit

St. George’s

Sunday morning, we walked to nearby St. George’s Church (Anglican) in Jerusalem for a mass in a side chapel. It was a delight to experience worship in Jerusalem with liturgy. The priest gave an excellent reflection on John the Baptist in the midst of Advent. As we were exiting the church I noticed a large baptistry for immersion baptisms. I have heard of some Anglo-Catholic congregations returning to the ancient practice of immersion and even seen baptistries in Catholic churches.

Sderot & Sderot Media Center

We started our morning in one of the most dangerous locations in Israeli. Near Gaza, on the Israeli side of the boarder, is a small city named Sderot. The location of the town puts it right in the line of rocket fire over head. These rocked attacks started in 2001. Homemade rockets are fired from Gaza over into Israeli controlled land. The city lives in constant fear. If there is a rocket attack there is a 15 second siren warning the public to get to a bomb shelter immediately. Public bomb shelters are above ground at all bus stops.

Our group watching the video that shows how extremists in Gaza build rockets.

Our first stop was the Sderot Media Center. At the media center, we were shown a video describing the struggle in the community. It included a video that featured rebels making shoulder fire rockets. The part of the video showed many children during a community gathering and a rocket attack interrupted the gathering. Children and adults ran in panic to shelters. The footage that followed was disturbing. During the video, the power went out in the media center. This results from damage that the power grid sustains during attacks. The damage is lasting beyond rocket attacks in the form of instability in the power grid. The media center helps share the story and struggle of the people in the city because these stories do not reach many mainstream news outs locally and internationally.

A bomb shelter. Notice the vents. This most likely means there is an underground section in this shelter.

We took a short walk to the police station in the city. As we walked, the local leaders told us that every house in the city has a safe room that can sustain a directed rocket. These rooms costs over $26,000 to construct. In addition, every bus stop (there were many) has an above ground bomb shelter. As we walked. we saw random bomb shelters/safe rooms that dotted the street. It wasn’t clear if these were private or public. Some houses that are two and three stories have safe rooms/bomb shelters on each floor. You can tell what part of the house is a safe room because of shape and yellowish color.

Spent rockets. Notice the different sizes and shapes. The rockets are just made from plumbing pipe.

We walked around to the back of the station to a parking lot of police cars. Against the back wall of the police station, there was a small display of rockets. These rockets were sent from Gaza over the boarder into the city. The rockets were in different states of damage. Some small and some larger. I picked up an early version of these homemade rockets which was small and thin. The display showed that as time went on, the rockets became larger. I couldn’t believe that the rockets were made out of plumbing pipes. Regular pipe. The tail fins of the rockets are welded on and the entire construction is very basic.

Spent rocket.

We took a short trip to the boarder of the city that overlooks Gaza. It became very clear why this city is hit hardest by rocket attacks. The city is the closest population to Gaza.

Looking across the valley into the Gaza Strip.

Later, we rode over the only protected playground in the world, or so we were told. The playground is similar to what you would see in the States. However, there is a large concrete tube shaped and painted to look like a giant worm. This giant worm is a protected bomb shelter. This way, if the alarm goes off children can quickly be protected from rocket attacks. In 2004, during a rocket attack, a rocket killed children walking to school. Since then, play grounds are bright and decorated order to make the spirit of children more hopeful. Because of rocket attacks, there are no windows for early elementary school buildings. This is a protection measure for younger children.

That giant worm is really a bomb shelter.

Kibbutz Nir Am

Later in the day, we traveled to a kibbtuz in Nir Am and met with Avi Kadosh, the Director. The community was found in 1943, by his wife’s family. The complex was destroyed in the war of independence. He joined the kibbutz during his army service. He was born from Hollywood, CA and was called into the draft but left to live and serve in Israel with the army. He met Nina, who he later married.

The kibbutz was on the leading edge of independence because it is so close to Egypt. After the British Mandate, Egypt invaded from the west. Recently, rockets fell on the community during different Gaza conflicts causing damage to buildings and structures. In 2009, the community built safe rooms that can withstand bombardment. The kibbutz is seeing more frequent cycles of engagement between Gaza and the Israeli military.

The buildings and structures on the kibbutz were very nice and modern. We sat in a common café space. They provided refreshments for us and there was an espresso maker behind the counter. I so wanted to ask for a mocha, but I didn’t want to push my luck! The coffee in Israel is spicy. I just wanted an in fashion Italian espresso.

After a long day, we travel to Tel Aviv for the night to rest.

Israel Trip Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 5 part I – Day 5 part II – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 8

blog

Welcome to AlanRudnick.org

This is the new website for Alan Rudnick. On The Bema has transformed!

joe paterno, penn state

The Story Behind the Penn State, Nebraska Pre-Game Prayer

If it is one thing that came out of the Penn State-Nebraska game, it was not a loss for Penn State. It was a win-win for both teams. Why? Check out how the game started:

That man standing in the center is Ron Brown, an assistant coach with Nebraska. Notice in the picture that in a packed stadium, both teams, game officials, and coaches are present. What a display of unity, support, and class for college football. While many students rioted (or for some, protested) Joe Paterno’s departure, these college athletes stopped and made a statement. They prayed. For some, it may have been a moment of silence, but for others it was a start to the path of healing.

This shows all the world what is at the heart of people in college sports despite the actions of key leaders in the Penn State football program and university. There is still a sense of concern for the victims, the university, and students. They are all in it together. We are all in it together.

Back to the picture.

Who is Brown? And what did he say when this picture was taken? The Washington Post gives us some more info on Brown:

joe paterno, penn state

Sins of Omission: Paterno, Penn State

Penn State Nittany Lions head coach Joe Patern...

Image via Wikipedia

By now, most the country has heard about the shocking revelation that former Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky had inappropriate sexual contact with children associated with his foundation, The Second Mile. Sandusky is accused of sexually abusing several, possibly 20, boys from 1994 to 2008. A three-year grand jury investigation revealed that several Penn State administrators knew of Sandusky’s actions but did not report it. Penn State officials Tim Curley and Gary Schultz appeared in court yesterday to answer charges of lying to the grand jury.

Sandusky’s action, as reported by the grand jury investigation, are appalling. What is almost equally shocking is that it appears that people at Penn State knew of at least one case of abuse and failed to act. A graduate assistant coach, Mike McQueary, witnessed Sandusky engaging in inappropriate contact with a boy and the assistant coach reported it to head coach Joe Paterno:

harold camping, Rapture

Harold Camping: My Bad

Looks like retirementville for our old pal Harold Camping. Camping, who failed to correctly predict the end of the world, has now admitted he was wrong. The radio preacher said that it “seems embarrassing for Family Radio.” However, Camping still proclaimed that he would “more carefully than ever” look to the Bible for his end of the world predictions. Upon final review, the ‘evangelist’ said “God is in charge of this whole business and we are not.”

Camping still leaves some room for the possibility for his predictions to return:

“I am checking my own notes more carefully than ever. There is other language in the Bible, and we still have to look at very carefully. … We should be very patient about this matter. At least in a minimum way, we are learning to walk more and more humble before God. We are ready to cry out and weep before God, ‘Oh Lord, You have the truth, we don’t have it.’”

The only full apology that he offered was about those who didn’t believe him:

Incidentally, I have been told that I had said back in May that people who did not believe that May 21 should be the Rapture date probably had not become saved. I should not have said that and I apologize for that.”

According to CNN, it is estimated that supporters gave $80 million from 2005 to 2009.

Harold, just say “my bad” and let everyone get back to their life. Stop flooding the news and making us Christians look crazy.

Albany Times Union, blog

Featured in Wedding Article

My good “in” with the Albany Times Union through my blog has produced several fruitful friendships. One them is Kristi Gustafson Barlette, social media strategist and staff writer, who writes about culture, trends, and relationships. Kristi interviewed me for an article on the benefits of premarital counseling for engaged couples:

Counseling. That one little word often conjures up images of trouble — either for you independently or as a couple. Many people believe turning to a counselor means you are weak or cannot handle life on your own. But, in reality, counseling — especially the premarital variety — can help you better understand yourself and your partner.

“Counselors are not just there to point out the things that are bad; they are also there for reinforcement and to point out what’s good,” says Amy Eisinger, an associate editor with WeddingChannel.com. “It’s not like you are going to discover this earth-shattering issue. Pre-wedding counseling is going to help you strengthen your relationship; it’s not going to break you up.”

…

Rev. Alan Rudnick, minister at the First Baptist Church in Ballston Spa, requires everyone he marries to go through premarital counseling. Couples meet with Rudnick three or four times before the wedding and take an in-depth look at their relationship. He is not a judge, and his church is not a drive-by wedding chapel. Instead, Rudnick establishes relationships with couples — and often with their parents, as well — that can last long after the duo slip bands on one another’s ring finger. “It lets us sit down and make the relationship qualitative, instead of quantitative,” Rudnick says.

Read the rest

Thoughts on pre-wedding counseling? (timesunion.com)
Money and Marriage Advocate Provides Premarital Financial Counseling for Engaged Couples (prweb.com)
How to handle those prewedding jitters (timesunion.com)
Bride texts during her wedding (timesunion.com)

All Saints, Halloween

Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?

With Halloween upon us all the ghosts, witches, and ghouls come to play… err, trick-or-treat. Poorly made scary movies run non-stop on TV. Millions will give out candy to kids and people will participate in those zombie 5ks. Adults spend about $6.7 billion a year for parties, costumes, and candy. With Americans spending that much money on this festive holiday, is there a sinister evil moving among us, pushing us to celebrate a poorly documented holiday?

There is more to Halloween than we think. Many have made Halloween to be an evil day, which has not always been evil since its inception. What started as a Christian day to prepare for All Saints’ Day (November 1st), Halloween became a spooky, evil, and candy filled observance. The term “Halloween” from its beginnings, had nothing to do with any pagan or evil beliefs. The Christian festival All Hallows Eve morphed into our current word Hallowe’en.

Many believe Halloween is associated with the pagan concept of Samhain, a Gaelic harvest festival in which the beginning of the year and worlds of the living and dead would be thinly divided. It’s true, early Christians converted this practice and aligned it with a Christian observance.

The fact is we don’t really know what happened in the Samhain harvest festival. We have historical records that roughly inform us what the festival was about, but nothing certain. Regardless, the question remains, can Christians celebrate this “evil” holiday?

Professor of philosophy at Biola University (a Christian university), John Mark Reynolds helps us understand how Christians can reject the overtly evil undertones of Halloween:

Christians have the right to reject [the pagan] interpretation. My neighbor’s celebration of Halloween as a pagan festival does not require me to lose All Hallows Eve, because of course in the actual historical memory of the West that is what Halloween is. The day after All Hallows, Christians celebrate the lives of the greatest of the faithful who have died and gone to God. On All Hallows the fact that we will all die is brought home to us. We do fear death, but rejoice in the victory of Christ over death. The costumes and the joy poke fun at the diabolic, they do not embrace it.

Thomas More once said that the Devil cannot stand to be mocked. By spending the night of October 31 filled with fear over what evils might be occurring (and sometimes are), we live in the fear that Satan wants us to live in. By laughing, mocking, and even “cartooning” evil with goofy costumes we can take a posture of triumph with Christ.

We Christians certainly should not take light the power of evil. We do not practice occult activities of the paranormal, but the evils of this world are real. Prostitution, human trafficking, children dying of starvation, murder, and torture are the real evils of this world. We Christians should not fear a kid who wears a Sponge Bob costume and spends a night with his friends enjoying candy. Certainly, there are greater evils than an underwater sponge.

Is Halloween evil? It is, if you want it to be evil. The truth is All Hallows Eve (Halloween, the Christian practice of it) was corrupted. Christians can take comfort in understanding the historical Christian remembrance that is associated with All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day. Teaching our children to remember the “saints” of our lives and the Christian witness encourages us to celebrate All Saints Day. Christians can even make Halloween fun for children by having events in churches or in our communities where children and their parents can dress up, play games, remember our “saints” and share some treats in a safe place.

Halloween

Why We Love the Paranormal

What is it about the paranormal that Americans find so fascinating? A Gallup poll found that about 75% of Americans believe in the paranormal (ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, etc…) Nearly 50% believe in ghosts and 41% believe in extrasensory perception. And, almost a third believe that ghosts can haunt people. There is an extremely small percentage of Americans (less than 1%) that celebrate Halloween in neo-pagan ways and most see it as a time to dress up. Many in Christianity believe Halloween to be such an evil day that they shun any connection with it. Still, we find so many fixated on the holiday with billions spent on costumes, candy, and parties.

Maybe it goes beyond a fascination and the paranormal has become a love affair. According to Romance Writers of America, paranormal romance books are the fasting growing segment in their industry with such big sellers as the Twilight series selling 1.3 million copies on the first day of release. (Ladies, Edward or Jacob?) In fall of 2005, we saw a rise in shows like Medium, Ghost Whisperer, Night Stalker, Supernatural, A Haunting hitting the TV scene. Ratings for shows like Ghost Hunters and Celebrity Ghost Stories continue to drive ad sales.

Our preoccupation with the unknown is nothing new. Throughout human history we have always wanted to believe in something greater than ourselves. Religion can give us a sense of divine comfort and direction but for some that is not enough. For those who seek the paranormal it is a way to have a connection with supernatural forces. Paranormal interests are not only for men, but also women. Even housewives are getting in on the act by forming their own paranormal groups.

Lynn Schofield Clark, associate professor of communication at the University of Denver and author of From Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural, explains why we love the paranormal:

At its heart, this interest in the paranormal and supernatural is about coming to terms with the fact that we have less control over things than we thought we did,” Clark says. “And with the fact that maybe we know less than we thought we did, too. Stories about the supernatural and paranormal occur right at the intersection of faith and science. They’re titillating, because they ask us to consider questions such as, ‘How do we know what is real?’ and ‘How do we know that what we think is real is actually real?’

Keeping such fascinations are a part of life as long as they do not become obsessions. Obsessions with the communication with the dead, occult practices, and the like are often fill with people searching for meaning but unable to find it. Abuse is common. Fortunetellers are often people making money off of desperate people stuck in grief with the loss of their loved ones. Occult groups are often places of manipulation.

For some, the scare of a movie gives us a sense of “safe adventure”. We sit in a theater with others to be scared only to be reassured with pop corn and soda. For others, the mystery is always there to prove if ghosts are real or not. No matter our level of interest in the paranormal, it is part of our humanness to want to know more. To discover. To try to push the boundaries of the known and unknown.

Let us not push our boundaries too far from curiosity to obsession. I pray that we can separate the desire for a suspenseful thrill and unhealthy fascination with evil this Halloween. Stay safe.

end of the world, Rapture

The End is Here (again)

We remember the hype and hysteria around Harold Camping and his end of the world prediction that came and went. I first blogged on the topic back in March 2011when no one was really worrying about it. Well, he’s back! Now, the end of the world will be this Friday – October 21! According to the Family Radio Worldwide teacher radio nut, Camping believes that the end started in May and will conclude this month.

Though a “spiritual rapture” occurred at the apparent the end of the world back in May, this time Camping is for real. The end will not go out with a bang, but with a whimper. Camping said:

“We’re getting very near the very end. Next Friday looks like, at this point … it will be the final end of everything.”

“There won’t be earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other natural disasters.

“The end is going to come very, very quietly.”

I think we’ll see Camping “flabbergasted” again with another apocalypse fall out. If you are depressed about the end of the world, read my ‘End of the World Guide: 37 Things You Should Before the End‘ to cheer you up.

You have to hand it to Camping, he learned his lesson about being definitive about the end. He added “probably” to his prediction. Last time, he explained what happened:

“What really happened this past May 21st? What really happened is that God accomplished exactly what He wanted to happen. That was to warn the whole world that on May 21 God’s salvation program would be finished on that day. For the next five months, except for the elect (the true believers), the whole world is under God’s final judgment.”

At 90, Camping is still causing an international news story. Pretty good! When I’m 90, I just hope I can get to the bathroom in time.

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