¿Es la vida una serie de acontecimientos fortuitos o hay un hilo más profundo de significado y propósito? ¿Creer que "Dios tiene un plan" para tu vida significa creer en una deidad cruel que inflige dolor y sufrimiento en nosotros como parte de ese plan? Glennis Johnston, ministra de una iglesia cristiana, busca las respuestas.

Is life a series of random events or is there a deeper thread of meaning and purpose? Does believing that 'God has a plan' for your life mean believing in a deity who cruelly inflicts pain and suffering on us as part of that plan? Glennis Johnston, a Christian church minister, searches for answers.

Glennis JohnstonGlennis Johnston ist Pfarrerin der Uniting Church in Queensland/Australien. Der folgende Artikel ist ein Auszug aus einer Rede zum Thema "Bedürfnisse identifizieren und ihnen begegen", gehalten beim Landestreffen von "Initiatives of Change" in Melbourne im November 2010.

In a culture of fakery and phoniness we need a community of people who will demonstrate authenticity and honesty, not just talk about it, says Glennis Johnston.

It feels like we are on an emotional roller coaster these days. Wild swings of the market and a tense political campaign can easily allow us to be controlled by fear, blame and anger or swayed by false hopes and promises that appeal to our self-interest.

Clementine Lue Clark

I was born to Jamaican parents, a Chinese father and Black mother. I grew up in Jamaica being called “de chinney gal” or “Miss Chin.” Then I moved to the United Kingdom and was treated very much like a West Indian immigrant with all of the stereotypes that entails. Now I’m living in the United States happily married to a White American, learning each day about what it is like to be in an interracial marriage. (I’m learning it’s like any other marriage.) In Boston, where I live surrounded mostly by educated people, being in an interracial marriage is quite normal. I have the privilege of rarely thinking about it.

On 27 June, 1908, 100 years ago, a young American Frank Buchman experienced a spiritual awakening which led ultimately to the worldwide movement now known as Initiatives of Change. It also issued in other extraordinary consequences – including directly contributing to founding of Alcoholics Anonymous. From Los Angeles, Jay Stinnett researches the link:

Mary Lean reflects on a major upheaval in her life.

I looked up '2006 year of' on the internet and discovered that, according to various authorities, this is the Year of Deserts and Desertification, of Rembrandt (born in 1606) and of Mozart (born in 1756).