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Never content – by Clark Cowden
	The Book of Order is part II of the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Over the years, the character of the book has become much more regulatory in nature, but there are still some really important statements that can help direct our congregations in a much more missional direction. One example is found in the Form of Government section G-4.0201 which says this: "The unity of the Church is a gift of its Lord and finds expression in its faithfulness to the mission to which Christ calls it. The church is a fellowship of believers which seeks the enlargement of the circle of faith to include all people and is never content to enjoy the benefits of Christian community for itself alone."... "If we could actually persuade the majority of Presbyterians to live the way the Book of Order calls us to, we would be constantly seeking the enlargement of our circle of faith to include all people. And until the Church does include ALL people, we should never be content."

Presbyterians in their local news
	Scots' area legacy proud, tuneful, fierce Rochester has had a pipe band in one form or another since 1919, with one constant being the preservation of traditional Scottish pipe music. The band is just one way Scottish heritage is preserved in the Rochester area. Scots who settled in Caledonia helped found the First Presbyterian Church of Caledonia, NY which was chartered in 1805. Many were from the Perthshire and Inverness regions of Scotland, said the Rev. Nancy Reinert, the church's pastor. The church had 18 clans in its charter, and descendants of six clans remain.

Scripture lessons for today – from the Lectionary
	"...Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you... Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul..." "...Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you..." "...Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?... all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse..." "...he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd..."

Today in the Yearbook for Prayer and Study Cimarron Presbytery
	"Four members of Gatundu Presbytery in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (Kenya) were guests of Cimarron Presbytery for six weeks during the fall of 2005... "The purpose of the Kenyans’ visit was to put a human face on global mission and to strengthen partnership ties between the two presbyteries..."
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New edition of Encyclopaedia Judaica casts doubt on existence of Moses – by Richard N. Ostling / The Associated Press

No figure in Jewish annals compares with Moses.
     He "changed the course of human history all by himself," Rabbi Norman J. Cohen writes enthusiastically in Moses and the Journey to Leadership, one of those inspirational books built around biblical personalities.
     "He is the founder of the nation, a revolutionary, a lawgiver, a priest, a judge, a politician, a teacher, a prophet, a comforter and a guide -- all rolled up into one. He is the paradigm for all subsequent leaders, for all of us."
     But a Cohen colleague at Reform Judaism's New York City seminary, Rabbi S. David Sperling, isn't certain that Moses even existed or, if he did, whether the Bible provides much reliable information about him.

Churches unite against gay laws
By Jonathan Petre and George Jones / The London Telegraph

Churches were on a collision course with the Government last night after the Archbishops of Canterbury and York backed their Roman Catholic counterpart by criticising new gay rights laws.
Dr Rowan Williams and Dr John Sentamu, the two most senior figures in the Church of England, said in a joint letter to the Prime Minister that the consciences of Christians must not be trampled over.
In what is escalating into a full-scale political battle, they threw their weight behind an appeal by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor for Catholic adoption agencies to be exempted from the new laws so they can turn away same-sex couples.

The pain of the unborn – by Mark Earley / Breakpoint

"...In early nineteenth-century England, few citizens had any real understanding that the lump of sugar they dropped in their afternoon tea was made at the high price of human bondage. The screams of men and women branded or whipped on West Indies sugar plantations were not heard in the fashionable parlors of England. Not until, that is, the great Christian statesman William Wilberforce launched his crusade against the slave trade.
"Today, some two hundred years later, there are victims whose agony our ears will never hear. These are the unborn victims of abortion.
"While the unborn do not have a voice to scream, science tells us that by twenty weeks a child in the womb is capable of feeling pain..."

Carter, Clinton seek to bring together non-conservative Baptists
Exiles from conservative group targeted
By Alan Cooperman / The Washington Post

Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are leading an effort to forge dozens of small and medium-size, black and white Baptist organizations into a robust coalition that would serve as a counterweight to the conservative Southern Baptist Convention.
     Carter and other organizers insist that the alliance is not directly political while touting its potential to recast the role of religion in the public square.
     The Rev. Richard Land, head of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, scoffed at the idea that the new coalition would be nonpartisan.
     "...they're going to hold a convention of several thousand people in Atlanta in early 2008, hosted by two former Democratic presidents, one of whom has a wife seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Some would see that as an overtly political activity," Land said.
Related: Carter hurt by backlash against book
Apologizes at Brandeis for passage on Israel
By Ernie Suggs / The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Carter, who was invited to speak at Jewish-sponsored Brandeis University near Boston by a group of students and faculty, said he's "deeply concerned about the tension that has arisen" from his latest book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."
     Carter apologized for a passage in the book that says terrorist attacks on Israel will end when the Jewish state gives up control of the West Bank, saying it was worded "in an improper and stupid way."
     Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz took the stage after Carter's talk to rebut the former president. He blasted the book for what he called glaring omissions and misrepresentations.

Episcopalians warn dissident clerics / AP

Episcopal leaders are moving to strip clergy members at breakaway conservative churches of their licenses to practice in the Diocese of Virginia.
They warn that such clergy members have six months to reverse their decision to abandon the church before they are removed from the Episcopal ministry. The breakaway churches have cited disagreements with the denomination's liberal views on homosexuality.

Payment for stem cell eggs debated / AP

Say you're a woman who wants to have fertility treatment but can't afford the $5,000 to $6,000 cost.
     What if you could get it for half-price, by agreeing to donate half the eggs you produce for stem cell research?
     Interested?
     British women may get a crack at that deal in a few months, under a plan pursued by Dr. Alison Murdoch of Newcastle University.
     Women donate thousands of eggs in the United States every year to help other women have babies. They are paid. The American Society of Reproductive Medicine doesn't recommend a figure but says $5,000 or more requires some justification and that $10,000 is too much. (In fact, some ads for eggs offer far more).

City must pay atheists group for violating Constitution
The settlement doesn't carry legal precedent but avoids larger payout.
By Jeff Brumley / The Times-Union [NY]

Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton defended on Tuesday the city's Day of Faith anti-violence rally held in August, even though it means the city must pay an atheist group $5,000 in attorneys fees and avoid holding nonsecular events in the future.
A settlement reached Friday requires the city to write New Jersey-based American Atheists Inc. a letter saying it did not intend to violate the First Amendment and will warn department heads against financing programs that "foster excessive entanglement with religion."
Chief Deputy General Counsel Cindy Laquidara said the settlement is not an admission the city violated the Constitution in financing the rally. It simply ends a potentially costly federal lawsuit filed by American Atheists shortly after the event, she said.


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•	Sharon K. Youngs, editor "Perspectives": "...The articles that appear are from the perspectives of the individuals who write them. Mr. Winter's article presents his perspective and, in good Presbyterian fashion, readers, in turn, are moved to discuss and debate that perspective..."