Volume 4 Issue 2

• Greetings from the Barnes & Noble Café in Flagstaff, Arizona. Mary and I are visiting Rachel and Steve and in the process I discovered the availability of high-speed internet access from B&N. It sure beats the unreliable dial-up approach from the motel room. What an amazing age we live in!
  
• Christians around the globe are being challenged in their understandings of and beliefs about death. Who would have guessed a few weeks back that Terry Schiavo and Pope John Paul II would together figure so prominently in the media? If nothing else the fervent (and sometimes violent) debate among Christians testifies to how much more remains to be done toward moving in the direction of theological maturity. I am taking this to mean that the mission of Growing in Christ is still relevant and fulfilling a worthwhile need.
  
• Last week I promised to pass along any worthwhile websites addressing the need for living wills. Thus far the most comprehensive I’ve discovered is: www.time.com/schiavo Again, readers who know of other sites are encouraged to send them to me at: RevMAH@aol.com and I will see that they are listed in future newsletters.
  
• Today’s “guest preacher” is Andrew Sullivan, a columnist for whom I have a growing respect. I find it significant that his essay appeared in a secular publication (TIME magazine) while addressing an obviously spiritual subject. One of today’s pressing issues (in my opinion) is encouraging this merger of the spiritual and the secular (a good thing) while not blurring the separation of church and state (a bad thing). I hope that you will find what Sullivan has to say to be as meaningful as I do.
  
• Thank you for allowing GiC into your home or place of business for a few minutes. You are invited to “sign” the Guestbook and to express your thoughts and ideas in the “comments” section that follows each Newsletter and Sermon. A reminder to those who are courageous enough to venture into the archives and then need to know how to get back out: click on the “view my profile” link near the top right corner and then on the “my web page” link near the upper left of the page you are taken to; if all goes well this should take you back to the GiC home page.
  
• Until next time………Shalom!