Spring/Summer 2014
Volume XXIX, Number 1
In This Issue
Looking back in modern Turkey by Lee Staman
Several months ago, my wife and I spent our honeymoon in Turkey. While most people might opt for the beaches of Mexico, we were both drawn to a country that garnered responses like, “Turkey? Really?” or “What’s in Turkey?” For each of us this country held different interests, but we both shared a desire to explore a region that mixed East and West, Asia and Europe.
There’s room in our tent by Mark Safstrom
In the 1910s through the 1930s, Covenanters were engaged in a flurry of activity in establishing missions in China, Alaska and Congo, building on precedents from the previous century. For the centennial history of First Covenant Church in Seattle in 1989, Jeannette Adamson was recruited to write down her memories from these decades, as this had been a profound part of her own family’s story.
Från den lilla stugan: The Flicker’s secret by Chrissy Larson
I pick up the phone and hear my friend on the other end. “So is it true that Flickers can lick their eyeballs?” I hesitate. “Ummm, not… no… not exactly!”
Believing in the abyss by John E. Phelan Jr.
A first glance this may seem an odd coupling. Wiman is a contemporary American poet born in Texas and best known for his stunning poetry and his strong editorial leadership of Poetry magazine. Hammarskjöld is not only the 20th century’s most important Swede, but also an international diplomat of enormous courage and foresight who led the United Nations during its crucial formative years.
In January 1945, a young girl named Dora Eiger joined the few other survivors of Auschwitz-Birkenau in a death march forced by guards who were fleeing the advancing Red Army. Short on food, water, and warm clothing, she somehow survived— only to end up in Bergen-Belsen, where she spent several more weeks in captivity before being liberated by the British.
Loving the prairie neighbor: Christian Orphans’ Home of Nebraska by David M. Gustafson
The Christian Orphans’ Home of Phelps Center, Nebraska, began in 1888 in response to human need — a response prompted by love of God and neighbor. The orphanage was founded by Axel Nordin (1858-1912), pastor of the Swedish Free Mission at Phelps Center, now Holcomb Evangelical Free Church.
Sightings in Christian Music by Glen Wiberg
Revise us again? This was the title of an article in the September, 2013 issue of Christian Century. It is a question which every hymnal commission has faced. Should churches alter worship texts? In a hymn text, theology can turn on a single word or phrase.
Covenanters, Lutherans, and creeds by Tom Tredway
Many Pietists have an aversion to formal creeds. For example, take this recent e-mail, sent to me by a sometime contributor to Pietisten, a Mission Friend, born and bred: “I have modified much from my youth but not the conviction that creeds if not simply bad, are problematic.”
With joy and gladness by Tom Swanson
Been thinking, just wondering. What really is joy and where does it come from? Can we willfully manufacture joy on our own? Is joy available to everyone? Does joy come from active or passive behaviors? How unique is our Christian joy, and do I really understand the phrase “the joy of the Lord”?
Knowing God by Paul Peter Waldenström and translated by Mark Safstrom
O, that we could one day truly learn to know God! In reality there is no one in whom we have so little confidence as God.
Sweet hour of prayer by Phil Johnson
For more than thirty years The Evangelical Beacon, the monthly magazine of the Evangelical Free Church, printed a column “Nine O’Clock Prayer” by Mary. Mary was a Christian layperson who had experience, brains, and good will. She was a disciple of Jesus and a priest in the sense of the “priesthood of all believers,” a reality she did not doubt for a minute.
Poetry Corner by Arthur Mampel
Theodore Roethke, a superb teaching poet who influenced many contemporary poets and during the fifties and sixties taught at the University of Washington, wrote in his book On the Poet and His Craft (1965)...
"Gather '14"; "SEED" trip to Norrköping, Sweden
Blessed be the poor in team spirit by Eric Nelson
Seattle’s still basking in the glow of winning the Super Bowl, the city’s first major sports title in decades. The 12th Man has swelled with pride, a victory lap downtown was the largest public event since the 1979 Seattle SuperSonics’ NBA crown, and most importantly, the Lombardi Trophy dropped Seattle’s fans from the list of most miserable.
Ruth Marie Lundberg was born to Martin and Anna Lundberg in Selah, Washington on March 3, 1926. She and her older brother Richard grew up on a small apple farm, and the family attended the Selah Covenant Church. Childhood memories included helping with the apple harvests after school, going on family picnics in the mountains, and youth camp on “the coast.”