Predestination

When I was in college I spent a lot of time debating. One running joke was that the one debate topic you do not "run" was to propose that you “bring back prohibition.” In the final round of the national tournament one year, two of my good friends proposed the idea of “bringing back prohibition.” The homiletical equivalent is to argue about predestination. That is one area that we also do not want to argue about.

I preached last week on predestination. That is not something Christians or Presbyterians like to talk about. We would rather avoid it. But its also the subject that many people most closely associated with Presbyterians. So we have to think about what this topic means to us, what our tradition teaches about it and what we believe about it.

A Much Needed Focus on Job Training

On July 15, President Obama announced a major new federal investment in job training and community colleges. He appropriately made the announcement in Michigan, a state with 14% unemployment. Obama's plan consists of a $12 billion investment in community colleges. Part of the funds will help build and renovate buildings, part will expand on line courses and part will provide challenge grants for programs to expand "student success" and maximize the numbers of students who will graduate.

Many federal job training programs are not effective but community colleges tend to be worth the investment. Glad to see the attention.

CFR

This week I attended the Council on Foreign Relations conference on Religion and Foreign Policy. Very interesting speakers as always, especially the Pakistani ambassador.

Welcome to Spiritual Calcium

Welcome to Spiritual Calcium! David Gray's blog at Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church. Looking forward to communicating with you.