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The debate over gay marriage that erupted in the United States during 2004 seems to have taken everyone by surprise --at least judging from the sputtering and apoplexy that has frequently replaced argument on both sides of the issue. Howard Dean's run for the Democratic presidential nomination, peaking in January, reminded voters of the Vermont civil union statute that Dean signed into law in 2000, offering a package of "marriage-like" benefits to samesex couples. But the concept of civil union,…

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light; The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow; The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich…

Gathered before God is the result of conviction and curiosity. Jane Rogers Vann is convinced that "God is calling the church to be renewed at its lifegiving center, worship" (p. 10). Her curiosity is expressed in the form of two questions: "How do we learn the Christian life from the experience of congregational worship? How do renewal in worship and spiritual renewal in congregations complement and support each other?" (p. 2).Motivated by conviction and curiosity, Vann focused her attention on…

A short film that aired on TV when I was a child lingers at the fringes of my memory. It began, if I remember aright, with a boy rowing a boat on a lake. Then the camera began to zoom out until first the boy, then the boat, the lake, the country and finally the planet receded from view. Eventually, somewhere in the far-flung depths of space, the motion ceased, and then reversed its direction. The viewpoint zoomed lakeward. On…