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You are cordially invited to have a RamadanDinner(fast-breaking meal) with a Turkish family.
Ramadan is approaching quickly once again. The holy month of Ramadan is special in Muslims' spiritual lives as it is the time to renew one's devotion to God Almighty by performing obligatory fasting, giving compulsory charity, and performing other forms of worship.
Muslims are encouraged to invite their friends to dinner and break bread with them even if they have only a single date or olive to serve. In this context members of the Turkish American community are inviting their brothers and sisters from other faiths to share dinners at their homes. Dinners will take from August 12 and continue through September 7. Those who want to attend a dinner may pick any date between aforementioned dates.
We believe by breaking bread together we will have a stronger dialog and better understanding of each other's values, faith and ethnicity. This will set an example for our children to follow and make our and future communities a better place to live in. If you and/or your congregation want to be a part of this project and enjoy the warmth of Turkish hospitality along with ingenious and delicious Turkish food, please let us know. IDC will arrange a Turkish-American family by whom you will be hosted as their guests. You just need to reply this email or call us at 973-353-9333.
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Over 10 (long) weeks we have read Revelation, a book associated with "last things" and 'the end of the world." I have found it helpful to think of the visions of Revelation not as chronological last things but as ultimate things-things of timeless and timely significance. In this way I have been able to listen to Revelation's warnings and receive its message of hope as effective for my daily living rather than a distant or intangible future concern. For me reading Revelation has driven home the urgency of looking for Christ bringing the kingdom of God today-to diligently look and work for the end of the troubled world as we know it and recognize the in-breaking of the world as God intends it to be. With these thoughts in mind, I offer you excerpts from an article on eschatology by Karen Russell found in Journeys Through Revelation: Apocalyptic Hope for Today.
Eschatology-The Last Things
Eschatology literally means "the study of last things." For Christians, eschatology enables us to come to an understanding of the fulfillment of God's promises and Christ's coming again. Unfortunately, it is all too common for us to hear the word "eschatology" and immediately think of the world-ending wars and other reasons to fear. In books, movies, and in our culture in general, eschatology has been equated with catastrophe, violence, and the end of the world.
...Eschatology, despite being about last things, encourages us to constantly look forward to the things we are assured will happen, even if we are not assured [when] we will see them.
Jesus speaks often (nearly ninety times in four gospels) and deliberately about the kingdom of God/heaven.... [Most] of his kingdom talk consists of descriptions of God's kingdom, and encouragement to look around, for "the kingdom of heaven has come near" (Mt. 3:2; 4:17). ... In the sermon on the mountain, Jesus describes a kingdom where the meek inherit the earth, the hungry are fed, the thirsty are satisfied, and where those are blessed who are insulted (Mt. 5:1-12). The prophets of the Hebrew scriptures speak of a time when ...implements of destruction become implements of growth and fruitfulness. The defining characteristic of the kingdom of heaven is a complete up-ending of the way things normally are....
In 1978, the General Assembly adopted the position paper "Eschatology: The Doctrine of Last Things."* This paper gathers and explains not only the Reformed view of eschatology, but also the implications of eschatology for our lives as Christians. The main points of this paper are:
- "God's sovereignty is the first and most important affirmation in our understanding of God's final purpose..." (Thesis 5)
- "In light of the fact that God's purpose, revealed and accomplished in Christ Jesus, will be brought to full fruition, our response is to work to make visible the reality of God's love, and to declare the Good News that in Jesus Christ the future is secure. (Thesis 9)
- Creation will be fully redeemed-not as part of a series of events but simply because God wills it and promises it. (Thesis 6)
- The gift we are given for our trust in God's sovereignty and work of redemption is hope, not fear. (Thesis 7)
- This hope enables is to demonstrate now what the kingdom of God will be.
- This hope is not ungrounded optimism, but knowledge that God will redeem creation and over-come the forces of evil and chaos; because of this our struggle against those forces is not futile.
*full paper at www.pcusa.org/media/uploads/theologyandworship/pdfs/eschatology.pdf
Carol-Ann Krueger
Administrative Assistant
Christ Presbyterian Church
1600 Washington Valley Road
Martinsville, NJ 08836
PH: 908-722-2080
Fax: 908-722-2135
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Web Site: www.CPCMNJ.org
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(08/05/10)
