WorldHope Corps

I’m thrilled that Richard is coming to campus this week to lecture on "Contemplative Mind as an Alternative Consciousness" for the annual Tipple-Vosburgh Lectures at Drew University.   If you are near Madison, NJ, be sure to join us on Tuesday , October 19, at 7:30pm at the Dorothy Young Center. My good friend, Jeff Markay, introduced me to the works of Richard Rohr a few years ago, and I’ve found myself listening to his tapes over and over to gain new insights.   Known for his articulation of a “Spirituality of Imperfection” for the second   half of life, Rohr speaks deeply to my heart and to thousands of others, and I commend him to my audience.     In reading his book on the Enneagram, I learned that I am a Seven and how to get along with a Five.    In listening to his tapes on Saint Paul and   Franciscan Spirituality, I heard the Gospel of Jesus in a radical way that I had not heard it before.   And in listening several times to “...

I was blessed this week to participate in the first Malawi Summit sponsored by the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries to bring together church groups and organizations (like WorldHope Corps) involved in ministry in Malawi.   Eight mission groups were represented at the Summit in Nashville, including:, Belmont UMC, Church of the Resurrection in KC, First UMC in Ankany, Iowa, and other active clergy and laity). We compared notes, found out what each other were doing, and asked questions about how we might work together in a more coordinated and transparent way in Malawi. Most gratifying for me was learning that the WorldHope Corps initiatives--HOPE HOMES, HOPE SCHOLARSHIPS AND HOPE TAILORING SCHOOL--have been enthusiastically embraced and supported by the other volunteer mission groups.  And that there are others who want to put in village wells and support the work in Malawi, each in their own way. Rev. Herb Mather, a Drew Theological School graduate, an...

I love this prayer offered today by a Drew seminarian for the family and friends of Tyler Clementi, and for many others who live in despair ...  And I wanted to pass it on... One of our national trainers and a member of the National Shalom Committee is a professor at Rutgers University where this latest youth suicide occurred.  She shared with us how emotionally overwhelmed the campus community is right now, and we want to lift up those in need of help and healing into the Light of Christ. Shalom, Amen Michael  Dear Lord: We humbly bow our heads to thank you for your faithfulness when we come to you in prayer. We lift up your name in praise, Oh God because we know that we are weak and powerless without you.  We know that you are the hearer of the prayers of every sinner, Lord, of every woman, every child, every man, every lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersexed child. For we are all your children. The children of ...