Mark Hamilton

On Tuesday a lawsuit was filed challenging Pastor Mark Hamilton’s candidacy for Spokane City Council.

Attorney Frank Malone is disputing Hamilton’s residency, claiming he has not lived inside the Spokane city limits long enough to run for office.

The Spokane City Charter states, “A person must be a qualified voter of the City of Spokane and have been a resident of the city, and of the appropriate council district, for the one year immediately preceding the time of filing as a candidate…”

The lawsuit claims Hamilton bought his house in District 1 last June but did not register to vote at his "new residence" until after the November election. 

Additionally, the suite claims Hamilton still does not have the proper permits to occupy the qualifying residence.  Last week a city building official declared that Hamilton is not allowed to live at the residence. 

“The voters of the 1st Council District deserve to have a representative that actually represents them,” Malone said in a press release. “They do not deserve a representative who claims to live in the district but clearly does not. This is the most basic requirement to run for office and this violates the trust of the voters.”

Hamilton is pastor of 1 Body Ministries in Spokane and has worked in ministry for 28 years.

He refused to allow Spokane Faith & Values to interview him earlier this year when he was approached about a feature on 1 Body Ministries.

Spokane Youth For Christ succeeded in raising $75,000 during its annual fundraiser this month.

Spokane Youth For Christ succeeded in raising $75,000 during its annual fundraiser this month. Tracy Simmons/SpokaneFAVS

Spokane Youth For Christ succeeded in raising $75,000 during its annual fundraiser this month.

About 450 people attended the YFC annual banquet. Tracy Simmons/Spokane Faith & Values

Tom Davis, executive director for Youth for Christ, speaks at the annual fundraiser. Tracy Simmons/SpokaneFAVS

Spokane Youth For Christ succeeded in raising $75,000 during its annual fundraiser this month.

Spokane Youth For Christ succeeded in raising $75,000 during its annual fundraiser this month. Tracy Simmons/SpokaneFAVS

Jeff Vancil delivers the keynote address at the YFC fundraiser Tracy Simmons/SpokaneFAVS

On May 6, about 450 people gathered at The Lincoln Center for the Spokane Youth For Christ Annual Dessert Banquet.

The fundraiser succeeded in its goal to raise $75,000.

At the event Spokane YFC Executive Director Tom Davis explained that the ministry began in Spokane in 1955, revamping its mission in 2003 to focus on Spokane's poorest neighborhoods.

He said YFC works to reach the "least, the lost and the last" of the youth in the Hillyard and West Central neighborhoods, those who "have been pushed to the fringes of society."

Between the Hillyard and West Central youth centers about 1,000 students are reached each year, he said.

Spokane YFC reaches local youth through numerous programs, including skate church, mentoring, City Life Club, a recording studio, camping trips, a partnership with Blue Button Apparel and other intentional relational ministries.

Keynote speaker Jeff Vancil, encouraging attendees to donate, said YFC is a gift to Spokane and a, "gift to these kids."

"It's a team worth getting behind," he said.

The ministry's annual operating budget is $720,000.

Donations can still be made online here.

More photos are available on our Facebook page.

Hey Rev!

Sometimes I feel an overwhelming pull toward seminary. Other days I don't. How do I know whether or not I'm supposed to go?

- Student

Dear Student:

“The place God calls you to,” Frederick Buechner tells us, “is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Discovering where that place may be for each of us is what we know as discernment. Discernment is often challenging work. That’s because God rarely calls us in a loud and unambiguous fashion: for every heavenly vision, God sends us thousands of holy whispers. Discernment is also challenging because God so often invites us to do things which, as Paul puts it, sure appear to be foolish. Anyone who has heeded God’s call — whether it be to having a child or changing careers or beginning retirement or going to seminary— will tell you that there are moments when she wonders if she isn’t doing something that is totally misguided.

Discernment is more like searching for clues in a great forest than it is like pulling answers out of a box. Mercifully, however, the work of discernment does get easier with practice. Over time, you begin to learn where the clues are likely to be hidden.

Here are a few things, Student, that I have learned during my years of searching.

First, make sure that you talk with God about this decision. God enjoys having conversations such as this one. Share your anxieties, your passions, your uncertainties. Hold your questions before God. You may be surprised by what she has to say.

Second, be open to the people through whom God may give you advice. My experience is that God often speaks through the voices of friends and of teachers. Do the people whom you love, trust, and respect think that seminary is a great idea? Or are they saying “no” or, perhaps, “not yet”?

Third, use your imagination. Pretend that you have made the decision to go to seminary. How does that feel? And now pretend that you have said, “no thanks.” How does that feel? Which decision makes you the most free, the most passionate, the most energized, the most at home?

Fourth, allow yourself to sit with this question in abundant silence. God doesn’t like to shout. Laptops and smartphones are fabulous technology. But, if you rarely look away from your screen, you may not even notice God when she is sitting right beside you.

Fifth, decide that you’re going to make a decision. A clear ending is vital to any period of discernment. Without the promise of an ending, discernment will slowly ossify and turn into paralysis and regret.

Finally, Student, whatever decision you make, commit yourself to it entirely. This is a diving board moment. Like a marriage proposal, like the opportunity to move to a new city by yourself, like the words which you may or may not speak to a dying friend. The decision that you make is going to shape your life in profound, unexpected, wondrous, and permanent ways. Trying to do this partway won’t work.

Is seminary the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet? Is it where God is calling you to be? Or is that place somewhere else for you?

Whatever your answer may be, jump in. Give all of yourself to whatever you choose to do.

Have a question about life, love, or faith? Post it as a comment or email it to melfert@stjohns-cathedral.org, or submit your question online privately.

Salem Lutheran Church Charlene O'Connor

Chuckles rose from the congregation as many remembered the words to “Eyes on the Prize,” a 1960s freedom song, which was sung during worship on the seventh Sunday of Easter at Salem Lutheran Church. 

Blending traditional hymns, prayers, and Bible readings, Salem Lutheran, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, holds service Sundays at 10:15 a.m. Holy Communion is celebrated every Sunday and all are welcome to partake.

Located in Spokane’s West Central neighborhood at 1428 W. Broadway Ave., Salem Lutheran was originally started by a small group of Swedish immigrants and has been at the corner of Walnut and Broadway for nearly 125 years. 

“It’s part of our immigrant heritage,” said the Rev. Liv Larson Andrews. “We’re here for people who don’t have a home.”

The church is a registered Reconciling in Christ congregation, and is made predominantly of people 60 and older with a few young families and college students also in attendance.

“We’re a small community with a big heart for neighborhood—we’re here to share life and rejoice,” Larson Andrews said.

Building community has always been a focus for Salem Lutheran. The church has worked with Spokane Urban Ministries to provide low-income housing in the surrounding buildings. They now have 47 units.

For the past eight years, Salem Lutheran has connected with the community through the The Book Parlor, a nonprofit, full-service bookstore located across the street at 1425 W. Broadway. Sharing a building with Indaba Coffee Bar, it sells books from all different genres as well as trinkets from around the world. 

To further bolster their presence in the community, the church has plans to start a family-oriented gathering on Thursdays where kids can do crafts while learning about the gospel. 

“It’s a way for us to strengthen our changing community and to share our mission,” said Larson Andrews.

Where We Worship is a Spokane Faith & Values feature that profiles different houses of worship in the Spokane area. To have your organization featured email Tracy.Simmons@ReligionNews.com.
 

Easter Sunday at Millwood Community Presbyterian Church

Easter Sunday at Millwood Community Presbyterian Church Lace Williams-Tinajero

Religion being thrown around in public discourse gives us a particular opportunity to challenge ourselves to realize our meanings and assumptions when we talk about ecumenicalism. To talk about the church is to include the global Christian community, not just a certain domination or authority. 

To speak about the church as an institution is to recognize the ways in which we have organized ourselves into decision making bodies as well as into worship communities. 

We devise and discern systems of behavior, prayer and paperwork!  We elect leaders, join committees, publish newsletters, host social and spiritual events, and through each of these acts we remind ourselves that we belong, that we have a place.  The danger is that we can become invested in our personal sense of identity so much that we fear changes, we become suspicious of reform or renewal and we begin to value our human traditions as much as we do Scripture and align our customs and business plans with divine providence. It can become confusing to determine in the web of prayer and organization how much is God and how much is ourselves — the acts and breath of the Holy Spirit are not always easily detected or acknowledged.

The story of Israel in Scripture is an important witness to this tension between God’s plan and our own ideas of God’s plan. Scripture lays it all out for us — the ups and downs, the wins and loses —which is why it is so important for us to keep it at the center of our relationship with God, so that we do not become products of our own spiritual goals but maintain our steadfast commitment to God’s word and deed. Scripture stories demonstrate the teeter totter effect in our relationship with God, particularly in the crucial way that our relationship with God is embodied for good and bad in our relationships with each other and creation.

This post is the beginning of a series. I’d like to start with the Exodus story and then go on to the Gospels. I will wrap up with a look at the church as an institution. In each of these three areas, we will consider how the acts and consciousness of social justice can be both exemplified and corrupted by bureaucracy and human systems.

Check back for part two, where we will examine how Israel came into being as the people of God.

"If we are not preaching politics from the pulpit we are not preaching the Gospel."

Rev. Deb Conklin

We cannot avoid political preaching

On May 31 Venerable Thubten Chodron, founder of Sravasti Abbey, will read from her latest book, "Don't Believe Everything You Think" to raise money for youth in Ponderay County.

Youth Emergency Services of Ponderay County provides for homeless teens, of which there are more than 100 in the Ponderay County area.

Chodron said for every book she sells at the reading, she will give a percentage to YES.

The reading will be at 7 p.m. at Auntie's Books.

Then, on 6:30 p.m., June 7 she will have a book reading at Morning Light Yoga Studio in Coeur'd Alene, Idaho.

A couple of 14-carat gold wedding rings. Jeff Belmonte from Cuiabá, Brazil/Wikipedia/http://bit.ly/117YV6E

"I would much rather do a funeral."

All you clergy types have heard it. Especially around this time of year. The calendar fills with weddings and rehearsals and the like, and I hear a collective ministerial groan.

I first encountered this pastoral complaint while on my internship in Virginia. I also happened to be engaged and planning my wedding that year. When I would share about that process with clergy, inevitably I would receive a smile of support followed by stories. Horror stories. The "you wouldn't believe the wedding I had to do" stories. And usually, the offending character was a woman: that crazy Bridezilla, or her crazier mother.

It can be tough these days when asked to "do" a wedding. We clergy wind up feeling like one more in a long list of vendors, though we are likely the lowest paid in that list. And far below the photographer in rank and influence.

But as this smile-horror story pattern emerged among my colleagues, I began to wonder: had these pastors ever offered another vision of weddings to their congregations? Had they taken the time to form women and men to be thoughtful about marriage beyond sexual ethics? Had they done any teaching about worship or the marriage rite?

I was married in April of 2005 in my hometown of St. Louis, MO. The wedding was on a Saturday. Friday morning I awoke in the bed of my childhood and ambled sleepily into my parents' kitchen. The TV was on and the news was sad: a bride in Georgia was missing. Kidnapped. Gone, leaving her groom, plus nine bridesmaids and a reception of 1,400 guests without her company. I considered including a prayer for her in our wedding liturgy.

By Saturday morning the plot thickened: the bride, shocked by the attention her story was getting nationally, came forward and confessed that she had staged her own kidnapping and was just fine, in California. Oh.

That bride still needs our prayers. But I want to know: How have we come to the era in which we must escape our own weddings? How do we as faith leaders do better by our people?

Ranjana Akhter, 35, holds a picture Wednesday of her missing daughter Sheuli Akhter, 20, while standing opposite the ruins of Rana Plaza where Sheuli worked. The building, packed with garment factories on illegally built additional stories, collapsed April 24 in a suburb of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka. Photo by Calum MacLeod/USA Today

DHAKA, Bangladesh (RNS) Just two more months, the daughter promised her mother by telephone, then she’d be home for good.

Making shirts in this packed metropolis of 12 million people, Sheuli Akhter, 20, made decent money — about $140 a month — by the impoverished standards of rural Bangladesh. But she missed the family benefiting from the wages of her hard work.

Her mother, Ranjana Akhter, was found sobbing near the rubble of the Rana Plaza factory where her daughter worked, days after the eight-story complex collapsed and killed more than 1,100 workers. Viewing dozens of corpses a day, the 35-year-old woman still hoped her daughter had somehow survived.

The victims retrieved from the debris were crushed and unrecognizable in the South Asian heat.

“I am looking for her body, but they are all decomposed now. It’s getting harder to identify,” said Ranjana Akhter, tears falling from her eyes.

The scale of the mismanagement and breadth of the human tragedies in Bangladesh powerfully illustrated what years of abuse, inhumane conditions and unthinkable danger could not: Garment workers in Third World countries take enormous risks to earn a living in Bangladeshi-owned companies that produce clothing for Western retailers.

At the end of this global production line stand millions of American shoppers whose favorite companies and brands — Benetton, The Children’s Place, Gap, J.C. Penney, Mango, Target and Sears — use Bangladesh as a launching pad for the goods Western consumers crave.

Clothing manufacturers in North America and Europe — operating with scant supervision of their operations — have made Bangladesh the second-largest exporter of clothes in the world. The enormity of this tragedy is already beginning to change the country’s free-for-all business climate.

Many international retailers rushed to embrace a labor-backed factory safety proposal after the April 24 collapse, the world’s deadliest industrial accident since India’s Bhopal chemical plant disaster took 2,260 lives in 1984.

4 million jobs at stake

More than 30 retail chains including H&M, the largest clothing producer in Bangladesh, agreed to sign onto the proposal, which requires public disclosure of factory inspections and company-paid renovations when problems are found.

But talks broke down between the labor coalition IndustriALL and trade groups representing U.S. retailers like Gap over language that might make stores liable for conditions in Bangladeshi factories while requiring union-style management restrictions. The retail groups said they could improve worker safety by conducting more rigorous inspections of their factories.

A major pillar of Bangladesh’s economy, the garment industry employs roughly 4 million people. Only China exports more clothing than Bangladesh, which has 5,000 factories of varying sizes producing for other major chains.

These global brands thrive in a place where the average worker earns the equivalent of 24 cents an hour, according to the Worker Rights Consortium, a worker advocacy group that criticized U.S. retailers for failing to sign onto the proposed changes. The wage for garment workers is much higher — sometimes four times that — which is why so many people are drawn to the industry.

Many of the garment operations have sprung up in the past decade in buildings sometimes refurbished in a hurry to capture customers. Western retailers contract with myriad unconnected workshops to get fabric and buttons and fasteners needed for their products. Though many importers require inspectors to check on working conditions, they do not oversee all aspects of building safety. Those laws are the authority of the government, which works hand-in-hand with the industry.

In fact, a consortium of Bangladesh factory owners is also a lobbying group that consults with the government on working conditions and safety matters. Government oversight is notoriously weak.

Rana Plaza was showing structural cracks before the collapse. They prompted some businesses to move out of the building, but that wasn’t enough for the factory to shut down. The owner was captured trying to flee across the Indian border and is under arrest on charges that he built illegal additional floors on a building not designed for manufacturing.

Since 2005, at least 1,800 garment workers have been killed in factory fires and building collapses in Bangladesh, according to the advocacy group International Labor Rights Forum. That includes the toll from Rana Plaza.

Despite this carnage, the retail industry has found a needy home in Bangladesh, a nation of 140 million mostly Muslim people that’s home to regular political strife and overwhelming poverty. Sixty million Bangladeshis are classified as “very poor,” and per capita income is $1,700 a year.

Its garment firms, which make up 80 percent of total exports, face pressure from foreign buyers to retain the nation’s chief selling point: the cheapest place to make clothes. The disaster highlights the perilous choice for Bangladeshis in the garment sector, 80 percent of them women who work as seamstresses and support entire families.

Some survivors say the jobs are no longer worth it.

“I will never work in a garment factory again, and never again in a multistory building,” said Asma Akhter, 22, who lay trapped in the rubble for three days before rescue.

‘This can’t be justified’

After a factory fire last November killed 117 people who were making T-shirts and jackets, “the government didn’t take any steps to prevent this type of incident. Another disaster like this can still happen,” she said.

“The garment factory owners sell the products abroad at a high price, but we get low wages. This can’t be justified,” said Asma Akhter, who hopes her secondary school education, unusual among her colleagues, will aid her job hunt.

Others see it differently.

Seamstress Asma Akhter, 25, who is no relation to the woman of the same name above, said she would be “helpless” without the garment sector.

“I don’t know what I could do,” she said. “If you want to survive you have to work.”

But nothing says world retailers have to stay in Bangladesh.

International companies must contend with a volatile political environment of frequent street agitation and confrontation. Regular strikes called by opposition parties wielding street power hamper production.

“We must stop the killing,” said Nazmar Akter, president of Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation and general-secretary of the Awaj Foundation of workers’ groups.

“It’s a global business. Everybody has the responsibility,” Akter said. “Workers in Bangladesh are unsafe, hungry, with bad living and working conditions. We are human. We want respect and dignity; that’s our demand.”

(Calum MacLeod writes for USA Today. Jayne O’Donnell contributed to this story.)

Q. Do you celebrate Christmas?

A.  I do indeed celebrate Christmas, though obviously as a secular holiday. So as the mood takes me, Christmas tree and decorations go up, and I play Christmas albums and movies all the rest. Best album: the one the Mormon Tabernacle Choir did with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. Best Scrooge version: Alistar Sim's classic, hands down (and available in a stunning transfer on BluRay now days). All in all, with all its funky pagan accretions (gift giving elves and magic decorated trees and such) it has become too much fun as an event not to partake of what we will. In this respect I'm a bit like the Japanese, who do their Santa Claus thing every December devoid of its Christian roots, or people having Halloween parties (even though its roots are also Christian).

In a broader sense, Christians have a right to be very ambivalent about coopting such as mine, where the holiday is "celebrated" but without any of its theological underpinnings being accepted. Of course this has been the problem from the get-go, and you find devout party poopers bristling at the secular and pagan add-ons, while the holiday juggernaut rolls on notwithstanding. So in the long term, non-theist embracing of Christmas as secular fun could be deemed more of a subversive activity (worse than billboard wars) than were atheists to avoid the holiday entirely in a rush to have Solstice Parties instead.

Want to submit a question? Leave a comment below for fill out this online form.

Last year LifeWay Research reported that 90 percent of Protestant pastors agree that they should not endorse candidates from the pulpit, even though 44 percent of them personally endorse candidates.

But what about other political issues? Is it every OK to preach politics from the pulpit?

We asked our panelists:

When, if ever, is it OK to preach politics from the pulpit?

On Thursday the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America will decide whether or not it should change its policy which currently forbids openly gay scouts to participate in scouting troops across the country.

The proposal will be put before roughly 1,400 voting members at a meeting in Texas. The ban on gays serving in adult leadership positions would remain.

The issue has divided many.

Where do you stand? 

Should the Boy Scouts allow gay youth to participate as members?

Over the last week, Americans learned that the Internal Revenue Service targeted some 500 conservative groups for extra scrutiny, some of which included the words "Tea Party" or "patriots" in their name.  Several reports say that the agency has also targeted some Christian organizations, going so far as to demand the content of members' prayers.

On Tuesday, Politico reported that Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan's Purse, said the IRS targeted both of his ministries as part of an Obama administration effort of “targeting and attempting to intimidate us.”

Graham said in a letter that an ad encouraging voters to support “candidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel” during the 2012 election was the reason IRS agents visited the North Carolina offices of both Graham groups. According to Politico, the ads in question supported a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. That amendment, Politico reported, passed in May.

On Friday, The Blaze reported that James Dobson, a Christian radio talk show host and author, said he was targeted by the agency for criticizing President Obama.

"It all started when he decided to create a 501(c)(4) for his radio ministry, Family Talk," Billy Hallowell reported.

After six months of silence, the IRS reportedly "flooded" the ministry with questions they considered "odd."

“There were all kinds of questions — ones we’ve never seen before,” said Dobson's son Ryan.

According to the younger Dobson, the IRS asked about their political views and copies of past broadcasts and transcripts.  In March of this year, Dobson learned that the agency was set to recommend they not receive their tax exempt status because of criticism of Obama.

“We inquired about our status and [the agent] said she was probably going to recommend that our application not be [granted],” Dobson told The Blaze. “She said we were political and we had criticized President Obama … and she said we did it when he was a candidate.”

Dobson said his father has been in radio for 36 years and has worked under IRS regulations regarding tax-exempt groups.

Nevertheless, the IRS stated that since Family Talk sounds like a conservative group that does not represent all points of view, it could not qualify as an educational group.

After Family Talk threatened to take the IRS to court, the application was approved.

Other Christian organizations have also found themselves in the agency's crosshairs.

On Friday, the Thomas More Society provided a 150-page analysis detailing what happened to three organizations that oppose abortion to the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

Two of the organizations reported that the IRS demanded, among other things, the content of prayers said by their members.

Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., grilled outgoing IRS commissioner Steven Miller about the inquiry during Friday's hearing on the issue.

"Their question, specifically asked from the IRS to the Coalition for Life of Iowa: ‘Please detail the content of the members of your organization’s prayers,’" he said.

“Would that be an inappropriate question to a 501 (c)(3) applicant?” Schock asked Miller. “The content of one’s prayers?”

“It pains me to say I can’t speak to that one either,” Miller said in response.

Miller said he couldn't comment on the specific case, but said it would "surprise him" if the question was asked.

The Iowa group was also asked about its opposition to Planned Parenthood, and an IRS representative from Cincinnati "unlawfully insisted that all board members sign a sworn declaration promising not to picket/protest Planned Parenthood" in the future, the Thomas More Society added.

The society also said that the IRS demanded that Christian Voices for Life of Fort Bend County, Texas, "explain its content, message, and prayers as if they were engaging in highly offensive or criminal behavior."

Making matters worse, the IRS official who was in charge of the division handling tax-exempt organizations while conservative groups were targeted is now in charge of the division overseeing enforcement of the health care law, causing many to wonder if their political or religious views may be a deciding factor in health care decisions.

The American Enterprise Institute’s Scott Gottlieb said that “an unnamed healthcare provider in California is suing the IRS and 15 unnamed agents, alleging that they improperly seized some 60 million medical records of 10 million Americans, including medical records of all California state judges on March 11, 2011.”

"Both the IRS scandal and Obamacare contain similar themes: government overreach, massive intrusions, and bureaucrats granted opportunities to abuse their power in arbitrary and harmful ways. The American people should not be subjected to either," wrote Chris Jacobs, Senior Policy Analyst in the Center for Health Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation.

Related:

GOP Rep. Aaron Schock: IRS asked about content of pro-life group's prayers

Franklin Graham: IRS targeted ministry after criticism of Obama

My friend and I were discussing the purpose of church, and he named the various reasons people attend: a sense of obligation or guilt, because it’s the socially acceptable thing to do, to see friends and have a community, or because someone else (often a significant other) “makes” them go. Every Saturday night or Sunday morning, I make a choice: I decide whether or not I will go to church. Of these possible reasons my friend listed, only one applies, and it’s only part of why I choose to attend church.

It’s not easy, you know. I have to make a conscious effort. I have to get up earlier than I would otherwise do. And I have to go alone. One of the reasons I attend church is for the purpose of making friends and finding community. When I was growing up, moving frequently meant I did not have a group of friends I had known since childhood, and I was always the “new kid” at school, so my friends were often at church. As an adult, church still plays a large part in my social life, though now I also have friends at work. And one of the best things I’ve found about church is the small group Bible study: a place in which I can learn to trust others and be vulnerable in a way I can’t in many other settings. A church can become part of my extended family. We support each other, we pray with each other, we love each other and we learn from each other. This doesn’t mean these relationships always go smoothly — they don’t, but it’s also a place in which I learn to ask forgiveness, and to forgive others.

The second reason I attend church is because it is a place in which I can focus on worshiping God with fewer distractions. I am by no means saying church is the only place I connect to the divine. For instance, I am awed at the creator whenever I look at the stars, whenever I am in the woods, and generally when I witness the beauty of nature. In church, the music reminds me of the goodness of God and his love and forgiveness. I experience the beauty of confession and assurance of pardon (I tend to prefer churches in which this is part of the liturgy), reminding me that faith is a journey, that I still have a lot to learn, but that God helps me through this journey. And it is encouraging to participate in these activities with others who are seeking the same thing.

Another friend told me she doesn’t think church is for people who do not already believe. Though it seems somehow wrong to say this, I sit in church many times and think, “Why would anyone who isn’t already a believer even want to come?” Even as a church “insider,” having attended all my life, I sometimes marvel that anyone would voluntarily go to a place every week to sing songs (some of which are not exactly the best songs ever written), pray, eat a dime-sized piece of bread and a thimbleful of wine or grape juice, and listen to a lecture. But to me the songs, the prayer, the Eucharist, and the lecture sometimes affirm and encourage me. And sometimes I understand that part of the value of attending church is in the discipline of doing so, even if I don’t see results every week. Regular exercise produces results — but not immediately. Similarly, regular attendance at church may not always seem to make a difference. I find that I don’t always get something out of going to church, but when I do, it is an experience that I can only describe as an encounter with God. When this happens, I remember why I often make that decision on a Saturday night or Sunday morning to go to church.

Why do you decide to go to church?

Han Hills, a humanist celebrant in Wilmington, NC, performs a wedding at Wrightsville Beach. Photo courtesy of Leap of Humanity

Amanda Holowaty didn’t need God to get married. She just needed her husband Mike.

When the Wilmington atheist couple decided to join their lives a year ago, they knew they wanted a secular wedding celebrant, but their families weren’t so sure.

Her family is Methodist and his is “generally spiritual.” And they worried about even telling Mike’s grandmother, who is Eastern Orthodox.

So they found a wedding celebrant ordained through the Humanist Society, Han Hills, who allowed their family members to read a spiritual poem.

“Nobody seemed to notice that we didn’t mention God,” Holowaty said. “People came up afterward and said it was one of the best weddings they’d seen.”

With the rise of the “nones” – the 20 percent of Americans without a religious affiliation – more couples are looking for wedding celebrants who don’t mind skipping God’s blessing of the ceremony altogether.

More national atheist and humanist agencies such as the Humanist Society and the Center for Inquiry are developing ordaining programs to establish nontheist ministers in most states to perform weddings and funerals. CFI began its certification program in 2009.

There are currently 138 celebrants listed as ordained through the Humanist Society, and some perform weddings in multiple states. The Center for Inquiry has 23 celebrants.

Because of the demand she’s seeing for marriage and funeral celebrants, Florida humanist writer and blogger Jennifer Hancock is considering writing a book about the secular approach to marriage.

What’s missing, she says, is advertising for leaders in the humanist community who can fulfill ceremonies for life cycle events. Only a handful of the ordained celebrants listed on the society’s website also advertise their services on a personal page.

Former Army medic Richard Cotter advertises his services in and around New York at humanistcelebrations.com. California Humanist minister William Rausch advertises his memorial, baby naming and wedding services at ebcelebrant.com.

“As soon as you do the advertising, people are like yeah, I want that. When I got married, I was worried. I didn’t want any religious references in my wedding because I didn’t want to start out the most important relationship of my life with a lie,” Hancock said.

“Some of my most popular posts are about grief, marriage relationships and parenting. That’s all stuff that a traditional minister would help you with.”

The creative elements of a humanist wedding don’t differ much from a religious one. There are sand-mixing ceremonies, candle-lighting ceremonies and walking down an aisle in a white dress. Vows are typically written by the couples themselves, said Hills, whose company is called Leap of Humanity.

Hills already has eight weddings booked this year across North Carolina and is starting to book weddings for 2014. And he’s only been formally advertising his services for a few months.

“You need a certain personality to do this. If you’re mousy, and you can’t think in a crisis, this isn’t for you,” he said, laughing. “It’s the only job where you can look out and if you see old ladies crying, then you’re doing a good job. It’s an honor to be given this place of reverence.”

North Carolina’s celebrant numbers have grown to seven, while New York and California have the most, at about 20 each. But there are some states without any Humanist celebrants listed, such as Wyoming, West Virginia or Wisconsin.

Humanist Society program coordinator Sadie Rothman said she gets at least two requests for Humanist celebrant applications each month. But the process to become a celebrant requires five character references and training sessions.

Becoming a wedding celebrant outside of an established faith system can present legal challenges, depending on the state. In North Carolina, marriages performed through the online Universal Life Church before 1981 are considered valid. But the legality of ULC marriages after that date is in question, according to state marriage laws.

Because the Humanist Society is a religious nonprofit associated with the American Humanist Association, they are considered a valid marrying entity in the state. But Indiana Humanist celebrants certified through the Center for Inquiry lost a legal battle in December 2012 over the validity of the marriages they performed.

Mike Werner, past president of the American Humanist Association, said the demand for Humanist celebrants will grow to include traditional ordained ministers interested in officiating nontheist ceremonies.

Amanda and Mike Holawaty didn’t want to settle for a justice of the peace. They wanted to celebrate their values in a scenic wedding near the ocean.

“You see weddings in movies and on TV, the bride being given away and walking down the aisle,” she said. “It was really the same desire for us, just minus the religious aspect.”

(Amanda Greene is the editor of Wilmington Faith & Values.)

Spokane Faith & Values is happy to welcome Sarah Conover to its team of writers.

Conover teaches creative writing and meditation and has authored several books, including "Muhammad: the Story of a Prophet and Reformer," which will be released later this year.

She holds bachelor's degrees in religious studies and education and a master's in creative writing.

For SpokaneFAVS Conover will be writing about Buddhism and will begin a new series called "Ask a Buddhist."

Read more about Conover on her author's page.

Jean II Restout : Pentecôte, 1772 Courtesy Art Renewal Center

On Sunday we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. In John  20:19-23 we read that the disciples were gathered together, huddled in fear, hiding in an out of the way place, confused and bewildered about all that had occurred in the recent days. They were no doubt still distraught about the death of Jesus; and confused about several experiences when Jesus seemed somehow to be with them. They feared that they, as followers of him, would be killed by the Romans, as indeed many of them eventually were. They were not filled with peace, or courage, or faith, or hope. They were anxious, confused and hopeless, as we all sometimes are.

And then, something happened. They experienced something. We aren't really sure what they experienced. The story passed down to us is vague regarding many details. But, it is clear that they experienced something significant. It was like a "strong driving wind which filled the entire house," and like "tongues of fire which parted and came to rest on each of them." They experienced the divine presence; they were "filled with the Holy Spirit." It was at the same time a very personal, individual experience, and a profound communal experience.

Shortly after this they left the upper room and began boldly talking about and witnessing to their experiences. They began to change their way of living to be more consistent with the message and example of Jesus. Whatever happened in that upper room had a lasting impact upon them. They were permanently changed; they were transformed. Where once they were terrified and inhibited, now they were bold and courageous; where once they felt deserted and defeated, now they felt sustained and emboldened. They began to exude an energy, a confidence, a courage, a boldness that they previously lacked.

Some regard Pentecost as significant because it represents the "birth" of Christianity. Some regard Pentecost as significant because it is the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to "Send the Spirit to be with you." Some regard Pentecost as significant because it represents the empowering and commissioning of Christ followers to spread the Gospel of Christ to all people. Yet, it all began with an experience; a divine visitation; an experience of the holy filling, healing and transforming timid, frightened, people. It was an experience that they did not expect, could not anticipate, did not plan and could not control.

And, so it is with us. We, too, have experiences of the divine. We are each having experiences of the holy every day. Spiritual writers often comment that the divine is all around us, and within us, at every moment; yet, we are often inattentive to the divine. My tradition teaches that the holy dwells within each one of us; that we are each a temple, a living place of the holy presence, the Holy Spirit. This is not a theory, but a lived reality, a lived experience. The mystics among us testify to this, and all of us have occasional, momentary glimpses of this reality. We may encounter the holy when we encounter each other; and in nature; and in the depths of our own being. These experiences often come in unexpected ways, in ways that we do not plan and cannot control. They occasionally come in dramatic fashion, like "a strong driving wind" or "tongues of fire;" but more commonly these experiences are more subtle. And, since we do not expect them, we are often not looking for them, and perhaps don't recognize them when they occur.

Perhaps Pentecost can be more significant for us this year than in past years; perhaps it can be for us an opportunity to become more aware of and attuned to how we experience the holy. What have been your moments of divine visitation? What are the times, the situations, the ways in which you experience the presence of God? What is that like for you? Is it like a strong driving wind, or a gentle breeze? Is it like tongues of fire, or a serene sunset?   Is it like a solitary walk in a peaceful forest, or a loud, energetic dance among friends? What can you do in your daily life to become more aware of these experiences, and more receptive to letting them "sink in"?   How can you make time, and space, to become more reflective about the ways that the Spirit is in you, and with you, and among us? Let us pray for the outpouring of the Spirit in our lives and our relationships. And, let us be receptive to the Spirit transforming us, sustaining us, and encouraging us.

Our next Cofee Talk will be at 10 a.m., June 1 at Morning Sun Bakery, 5602 N. Wall St.

Our next Cofee Talk will be at 10 a.m., June 1 at Morning Sun Bakery, 5602 N. Wall St.

The topic for our next Coffee Talk is relationships and spirituality.

Do shared spiritual practices matter? How is spiritual conflict resolved in a relationship? What are the benefits and challenges of a shared faith? How does this apply to marriage, dating, friendships and family relationships?

Join our panelists, Eric Blauer, the Rev. Jim CastroLang, Amy Rice and Eli Sowry, as they examine these issues and more!

And, here's an on-topic post to get you started.

See you at 10 a.m., June 1 at Morning Sun Bakery, 5602 N. Wall St.

In an era when everyone is crying out for the right to marry, the wisdom of the Apostle Paul might be good to heed. Paul penned some pretty shocking words about the single's "better" life to a society that almost worshipped marriage. His words echo to us in this day when we still frame our society around the institution of marriage. Our understandings of personal meaning have been influenced by Hollywood more than Scripture. We've been raised to think that true happiness of body, soul and spirit is hinged upon the discovery of the "one" even though for Bible believing people, our founder and main frontman were both single dudes.

1 Cor. 7:32-35,38:
"I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him. But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife. His interests are divided. In the same way, a woman who is no longer married or has never been married can be devoted to the Lord and holy in body and in spirit. But a married woman has to think about her earthly responsibilities and how to please her husband.  I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible...So the person who marries his fiancée does well, and the person who doesn’t marry does even better."

Paul has a few other things to say about relationships and the spiritual life, not a lot really, but a few instructions and allusions connected to the divine purposes of human relationships but the focus is never about self-actualization or perpetuation of humanity. The real emphasis of the New Testament is upon the Kingdom of God and the pursuit of knowledge and experience of God within the believing community.

"So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus," Galatians 3:26-28.

I share these things not to dishonor or demean marriage, I've been happily married for almost 23 years, but to encourage singles to regain their confidence as those on the "better" path. If one desires to deepen their spiritual life, the call is to devote themselves to The Lord, not another person.

The church needs more apostolic people like Paul and in order for that to happen they must embrace the life of holiness that offers one's body and soul to God without the many distractions of marriage.

Join us for our next Coffee Talk, where we'll examine relationships and spirituality. It will be at 10 a.m., June 1 at Morning Sun Bakery. Blauer is a panelist.

Our next Cofee Talk will be at 10 a.m., June 1 at Morning Sun Bakery, 5602 N. Wall St.

Our next Cofee Talk will be at 10 a.m., June 1 at Morning Sun Bakery, 5602 N. Wall St.

Our next Cofee Talk will be at 10 a.m., June 1 at Morning Sun Bakery, 5602 N. Wall St.

Bart Ehrman courtesy Bart Ehrman

Christian principles are engrained in American society, but the text those values are based are cluttered with mistakes, omissions and intentional changes, says scholar Bart D. Ehrman.

Ehrman, author of numerous bestsellers including “Misquoting Jesus” and “Jesus, Interrupted” will be speaking about the inadequacies of the Bible, particularly the New Testament, at 6:30 p.m., May 23 at The Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox, 1001 W. Sprague Ave.

“We don’t have the original books of the New Testament, which sounds strange to some people. We have the books Matthew, Mark, Like and John and others, but we don’t have the originals of these books, what we have are later copies made by scribes over the centuries. They’re copies, they have differences in them, and in some places we don’t know what it originally said, so I’ll be lecturing on that,” he said.

His mission, he said, is to educate people, especially people of faith, about the reality of the Scriptures they hold sacred.

“My goal is not to de-convert anybody or to change anybody’s religious views, but if someone has a deep commitment to the Bible they ought to know all they can about the Bible,” he said. “The alternative to being an informed believer is being an ignorant believer, and who would prefer being ignorant to being informed?”

Ehrman, a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was an Evangelical Christian for many years. His views began to change when he was studying the Bible at Moody Bible Institute in the 1970s.

He thought the Bible was the inspired word of God, he said, but as he began diving deeper into his studies of the New Testament, found himself becoming skeptical. He said he developed into a liberal Christian, which he practiced for many years. Today, however, Ehrman considers himself an agnostic.

“How do you explain so much pain and suffering in the world if God is in control of that?,” he said. “I was dissatisfied with all the answers I found…Even if you can’t have a satisfying answer as to why there’s suffering, you can have an appropriate response to it.”

Last year he launched The Bart Ehrman blog, which is locked behind a pay wall, where he shares his ideas, thoughts, interacts with readers and responds to critics. In just over a year the blog has raised $37,000, which Ehrman has donated to charities devoted to fighting homelessness and hunger.

“We have to try to relieve suffering whenever we can, however we can,” he said.

Although Ehrman isn’t a believer, he said he remains fascinated with Jesus and the Scriptures and continues to lecture and write about both.

“There’s never been a force as powerful in the Western world as the Christian church,” he said. “Jesus and the New Testament are what stand as the foundation of the Christian religion so anybody interested in history, culture or society should be interested in the New Testament and the historical Jesus, so I find it continually fascinating.”

His lecture, sponsored by Eastern Washington University and the Daniel and Margaret Carper Foundation, is free and will include a time for question and answers with Ehrman, as well as a book signing.

The Foundation funds bringing a speaker to Spokane each year a speaker whose work relates to the current class discussions on critical thinking and religion, according to Jeffers R. Chertok Professor Georgia Bonny Bazemore. Ehrman was chosen, she said, because of the power and importance of his work.

LivesSTRONG bracelet by Sherool/Wikipedia

The YMCA of the Inland Northwest and LIVESTRONG at the YMCA will be hosting a Bone Marrow Donor Registration Drive in honor and celebration of LIVESTRONG Day on Friday from 8 a.m to 8 p.m at all three YMCA locations.

“As committed partners in the effort to support survivors of cancer, it is important that we give members of the Spokane community an opportunity to take a meaningful action in the fight against cancer,” the organization stated in press release.

LIVESTRONG at the YMCA is a 12-week, small group program designed for adult cancer survivors.

“When I completed my cancer treatment, I felt as though I was hanging on to a new life with an uncertain future. My support team of doctors was suddenly gone once I was no longer a patient,” said cancer survivor Karen Atkinson. “LIVESTRONG at the YMCA gave me a support group of other survivors with similar goals of getting stronger and healthier. The program staff created an encouraging atmosphere of community and provided me with the knowledge that I needed to gain my power.”

Nicole Manus, LIVESTRONG at the YMCA program coordinator said in press release that, “each participant works directly with a survivor coach to develop an individualized program to meet their specific needs, but they all gain a sense of community by learning about each other’s journeys and growing stronger together.”
 
On Friday community members interested in taking a meaningful action in the fight against cancer will be able to complete a simple application process, which includes a cheek tissue swab to enter the national bone marrow donor registry. 

The event will also be an opportunity for individuals to learn more about how to get involved in LIVESTRONG at the YMCA: as participants, volunteers or sponsors. All visitors will also have an opportunity to place a ribbon on our LIVESTRONG Wall of Yellow in support, honor or memory of a loved one who has battled a cancer diagnosis.

Google image

This is my first article for Spokane Faith & Values. Not having a specific topic to write about I thought it appropriate to give a little background information about Paganism, the local Pagan community and myself. Personally my experience with Paganism goes back more than 15 years. During that time countless books have been read, spiritual work undertaken and completed, private and public groups have been joined and faded away. In no way is this personal journey of learning and spiritual growth over; however it has, like a fine wine, matured with age. I have become choosier about the books read, tasks undertaken and groups in which to participate. One constant during this journey has been somewhat different than many other religious paths which are prevalent today — there was and still does not exist a guide or path upon which one can decisively say is the right way. This is something which is differentiates a Pagan religion from most mainstream belief systems and why many people still do not recognize Paganism as a religious system.

You would think since most are based on the Gods of yesteryear it would be a simple and easy thing for someone to become a Pagan — just pick up a book and read about the religions and Gods of the past.  Nothing could be further from the truth. What scholarly information is known about ancient religions is surprisingly little. Many times the best accounts of ancient belief systems were written by outsiders, conquerors or others who neither understood, nor practiced the religion. These accounts were, at best, descriptions of the activities observed rather than the belief system as a whole.  The recorded descriptions of events were often colored by the observer’s belief in another system. Through much of history these accounts were retold and rewritten and no longer bear any of the original meaning behind the rites and practices of the original practitioners.

Since the original understanding and knowledge of the ancient beliefs are lost to antiquity, what many Pagans do is really a reconstruction of what they believe to be the original belief system. They do this by using the currently available scholarly material, myth and legend regarding the time, place and practices of ancient societies. In truth what is practiced today is not the Paganism of ancient times but Neo-Paganism. It is also true that the Neo-Paganism of today is one of the newest religions around.  Though Pagans may claim roots to their belief go back many centuries Neo-Paganism’s rise truly can be traced back to the 1951 repeal of England’s Witchcraft Act of 1735. The Witchcraft Act of 1735 was different from previous acts claiming witchcraft and magick to be real (the spelling here is intended to differentiate stage magic performed by magicians from the spiritual practice of magick in a metaphysical sense). The act of 1735 was a reversal of opinion stating that people who claimed some sort of metaphysical power were frauds and punished by imprisonment rather than death.

Once the Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed and imprisonment no longer a threat Gerald Gardner along with others began to come forward describing their religious practices and beliefs. Shortly after this there was an explosive interest in magick and occult practices giving rise to what is called Wicca today. About the same time similar fervor took hold in the United States. Raymond Buckland went to England to learn more and brought back much knowledge, which he then taught to others as Saxon Witchcraft.  As people learned more and began to have slightly different beliefs groups began splintering off forming different sects, which are generally referred to as paths. At one time Neo-Paganism was the fastest growing religion in the world but has since tapered off. Today some form of Neo-Paganism is practiced just about any place in the world you care to look for it. 

In the Spokane community there are a few public, and doubtlessly numerous private groups. Some of the public groups are the Inland Empire Pagan Guild based out of the Unitarian Universalist Church.  The oldest group in the community is the Spokane Pagan Meetup Group, which has been in existence since 2002 and is primarily a meet and greet for local Pagans. A relatively new group in the area is called ROOTS whose focus is on teaching interested members about various practices of Paganism. All three groups can be found on Meetup.com where they regularly post their events and activities. If you are interested in Neo-Paganism these groups are a good place to start though not the only place. There are now thousands of books available on a myriad of metaphysical topics. Many bookstores have sections specifically for metaphysics and Paganism. Many Pagans started their path by reading books on Wicca, witchcraft and magick.  There are also a plethora of online resources many of which are quite good.

Whether you know it or not it is likely you know someone who is a practicing Neo-Pagan. Most do not practice their religions openly nor do they show any outward sign of their inner religious beliefs. This is not because it is against the law, for at least in the United States it is a protected right to practice your beliefs as you choose. It is because of the long running stigmatism associated with metaphysical practices that most Pagans are not public about their beliefs. This stigmatism about Pagan religious practices bears no resemblance to what you may find purported by classic or modern literature, nor anything at all like what is depicted by the film industry. As a whole Pagans show a great respect for nature, life and other religious practices. Pagans are normal people who hold jobs, raise families, worship gods and enjoy life. There are a few of us, I amongst them, who are not afraid of the stigmas and openly show we have Pagan beliefs in hopes of dispelling the myths and stigmatisms attached to our belief systems. Let’s start a conversation and help dispel those myths. If you have questions or comments about Neo-Paganism please forward them to SpokaneFAVS and they likely will become the topic of my next article.

The search efforts to find Dr. Jay Sloop, the Upper Columbia Conference Health Ministries director who disappeared Tuesday, are ramping up in Kiev. On Wednesday searcher uncovered possible clues to Sloop’s whereabouts and are searching the area today.

According to the family blog, the search has been narrowed to a wooded park in Kiev called Zamkova Gora. 

In a press release the conference stated, "Even though they remain hopeful, this is a difficult time for the family and for the many people who know and love Dr. Sloop. We continue to solicit your prayers for everyone involved in the search and for Dr. Sloop’s safe return."

Sloop went missing on Tuesday after leaving for a morning walk.