Council of Churches Urges NO on Proposition 8

The Council is proud to call your attention to the ad running in the San Jose Mercury News, signed by 25 local churches.

As people of faith,
We believe that all people are made in the image of God. 
We believe in loving, faithful and committed relationships. 
We affirm everyone's right to the freedom to marry. 
We urge you to..
VOTE NO ON PROPOSITION 8.
Don't eliminate marriage for anyone.

Wonder why?
Dr. Walter Wink, a professor of Biblical Interpretation, writes:
"We must critique the sexual mores of any given time and place by the love ethic exemplified by Jesus.  Our moral task, then, is to apply Jesus' love ethic to whatever sexual mores are prevalent.  This means that everything is to be critiqued by Jesus' love commandment. ... Christian morality is the attempt to discover a manner of living that is consistent with who God created us to be. ... The Bible knows only a love ethic, which is constantly being brought to bear on whatever sexual mores are dominant." (from "Homosexuality and the Bible" by Walter Wink. Click here to download a free pdf of the full article.)

Click here to watch a 1 minute video of local clergy saying why they urge you to vote NO on proposition 8, and click here to hear Fr. Francisco Castro speak in Spanish.

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Disaster Preparedness Workshop for Faith Based Organizations and Congregations

Join us as we strengthen our local CADRE (Collaborating Agencies Disaster Relief Effort) Network and members.  Learn how your congergation and other faith-based organizations can share in the coordination of preparedness and response efforts with our emergency managers and government partners.  This free informative session; led by staff from the Peninsula Clergy Network, Interfaith Space, and Council of Churches of Santa Clara County; will be held on Tuesday, December 2nd, from 10:00 am - 12:00 noon at the Volunteer Center of Silicon Valley.

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"Soldiers of Conscience" film & discussion with Associate Producer

Don't miss the San Jose screening of this award winning documentary followed by Q&A with the Associate Producer on Wednesday, October 1, at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 405 S. 10th St. (at San Salvador), beginning at 7pm.  Click here to download a full page flyer, and click here to download insert size flyers.

Their country asked them to kill.  Their hearts asked them to stop.

From West Point grads to drill sergeants, from Abu Ghraib interrogators to reservist-mechanics; soldiers in the US Army today reveal their deepest moral concern: is it ever OK to kill another human being?  Interviewing several conscientious objectors as well as a West Point professor on the morality of war, the film provides a thoughtful exploration of war, peace & the human conscience.

Associate producer Ian Slattery will lead the discussion following.  Suggested donation of $5-15 requested, but no one turned away for lack of funds. Students are invited to attend free of charge.

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Join the Next Matthew 25 Reality Tour - "Lord, when did we see you sick and visit you?"

PRINT A PAMPHLET AND SPREAD THE WORD! (req. Acrobat Reader)

There are thousands of children, women and men in our county who are sick or injured and unable to get good medical care. On Saturday, February 10, from 10am to 2pm we will share Bible Study, prayer, stories, lunch and ideas for action with sisters and brothers in our own community who are uninsured or underinsured, and with medical care givers who work with them. We will hear their struggles, together turn to scripture for guidance, learn from them about our common humanity, and seek ways to advocate for broader health care for all people.

Jesus charged his disciples to heal the sick. Working for access to quality medical care for all is intrinsic to our calling as disciples. The event will take place at the Low-Income Self-Help Center , 525 W. Alma Ave. in San Jose. Registration is required and the number of participants is limited. Go to http://www.mysignup.com/matthew25 or call the council of churches office at 408-297-2660.

When:	Saturday, February 10, from 10am to 2pm
Where:	Low-Income Self-Help Center 525 W. Alma Ave. in San Jose

Gay Ministries' Workshop on Adoption

"Adoption Workshop" - The Gay Ministries Committee of the Council of Churches offers a workshop about Adoption on Wednesday, May 10, 2pm at 1710 Moorpark Ave. in San Jose. Carol Brown from Family Builders by Adoption will speak about adoptions involving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. She will also have general information for anyone interested in adoption. Everyone is welcome and there is no charge.

Almaden Hills UMC - Church of the Month!

Each month we will celebrate one of our member congregations with a special story! This month it is Almaden Hills United Methodist Church. Almaden Hills UMC is led by Pastor Carole L. Vincent, who joined as pastor in July, 2005. Congregational worship is her passion and the highlight of her week. Carole is helping the congregation celebrate their 45th anniversary this month. Click "Read More" to learn more about the festivities!
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Various Ways to Add Media to Stories

The easiest way to add an image to a story is by using the image "autotag." This is an example of what happens when you do that. In this case, I've added image1 directly to the story and have set it to be aligned to the left, with text flowing around it. Then I uploaded the image directly into the story. Using February 26, 2010

Rev. Ben Daniel
5301 McKee Road
San Jose, CA 95127
Thanks for coming to yesterday's Council Board meeting.
The purpose of this letter is to state the terms of your position as a Consultant-Facilitator with the Council.
1. Your employment status will be as an Independent Contractor. You will receive an IRS 1099 form at the end of 2010 reporting our payments to you to the IRS.
2. The maximum available budget for this work is $5,000. We propose to pay you at the rate of $1,000 per month with the expectation that you will work 10 hours per week and that some weeks will be less and others more. We further anticipate that your own church responsibilities, personal schedule, travel and vacation plans may suspend this work sometimes and may lead into one or two Fall months.
3. The focus of your work is the problem of Democracy At-Risk
4. We are asking you to:
5. Develop a Working Group on this issue drawing in clergy, laity, academic and community leaders as may be appropriate.
a. Identify or create background materials including Constitutional issues that can be part of educational and teaching resources in the life of the church.
b. Identify steps needed to reach out or disseminate discussion in both our congregations and in the public square.
c. Working with the Executive Director of the Council, seek ways to make public witness about the dangers posed today to democratic institutions and practices.
6. You are encouraged to include interfaith partners if you deem it appropriate; however, our target population is the Christian community, and particularly the Protestant community that is our primary constituency.
7. You are encouraged to draw upon the outline prepared for the advisory meeting held on February 18th . (attached)

A letterhead version of this letter will come to you via regular mail and we ask that you sign it and return a copy to me. Feel free to discuss any aspect of this letter you might need to clarify. Also, for our files, please send me a copy of your resume.

I'm very pleased you are going to work with us and very eager to move forward promptly on "Democracy At-Risk." May God bless you and guide or work together.

Very truly yours,

Rev. Charles W. Rawlings
Executive Director

his method, the image is automatically resized to a specific width, so that all images in a story will match if you use this method for all the images. This is also really important if you're going to use the story on the front page of the web site, since the very first image in the intro text will be pushed automatically to the home page and all the images look best if they are the same size and aligned.

If you look at this story in "edit" mode, you'll notice above this line of text, there's a "clear" autotag. We use that to clear the space around a media object so that the next line of text or the next media object has its own space in the story. Now it is time to move from Intro Text into Body Text.

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