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However, as I read and reread the article, I noticed what to me is a glaring omission. He closed with a quotation from Ecclesiastes (7:2), a book from which we do not draw our theology, and used only one other scriptural reference, an allusion to 1 Corinthians 15:19. He rightly called our attention to "the teaching of the ancients," but in the process left the impression that everyone will die. The very chapter he used (1 Cor. 15) contains the blessed exception, "We will not all sleep" (v. 51, NIV).

Have we come to the point in the history of the church that the great hope of the early church, the personal return of Jesus Christ, can be pretty much ignored in such a fine article?

-James R. Leonard

Bettendorf, Iowa

THE PALESTINIAN PROBLEM

Bruce Brander's article "Palestinian Christians Face Uncertain Fate" [News, Oct. 3] is pure Israel bashing. I remind him that Israel was the only country to recognize what was to be a sovereign Palestinian nation. It was Muslim nations, not Zionist, that occupied what was to be an unmandated Palestinian homeland in 1948. In recent times, a Palestinian's chances of getting murdered by a radical Muslim are far greater than of being killed by an Israeli.

-Leland Garrison

Marion, Ind.

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* Thank you for bringing the situation in Israel and Palestine to the attention of readers. Many, including some of my own colleagues in mission, assume that the Palestinian community is an Islamic monolith. It is refreshing to read and sense the heartbeat of our Arab brothers and sisters. Their need is great. For too long they have been the object of Western Christian ignorance.

-William J. Saal (WJSaal@aol)

Upper Darby, Pa.

THOSE YFC PIONEERS

To that impressive roster of the "YFC influenced," you could add the name of Larry Ward ["YFC Celebrates Golden Year," News, Oct. 3]. Director of Watertown (S.D.) Youth for Christ (1944-45) during military service in World War II, he went on to become vice president/overseas director of World Vision and later founder/president of Food for the Hungry - serving along the way as the first managing editor of a magazine called Christianity Today.

The motion that developed then continues. Ward now serves as director of WorldTouch.

-June L. Pereira

Arizona

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When reading that YFC started in 1944, a wonderful remembrance hit me. Sometime early in 1945, I was moved by the army from Germany to Paris, where I was stationed before being sent back to the U.S. for discharge. We arrived in Paris late at night, and the next morning I discovered we were in a very large warehouse. Looking around, I found this notice on a bulletin board:

A Cordial Invitation to christian fellowship is extended to you by "the fishermen."

Thursdays at 7:30 Saturdays at 7:30 Dufayel Barracks American Cathedral Metro Barbes Parish Room 23, Avenue Geo. V. Metro, Geo. V. YOUTH FOR CHRIST

Being 23 years old, 3 and one half years in the service, and coming from a vital Christian home and church, this invitation really was appealing, and I made it to the next YFC meeting. That was the beginning of a truly great experience socially and spiritually, and gave one a taste of heaven on earth.

-Glenn Morey

Anderson, Ind.

NO EPISCOPAL WAR

Your article by John Kennedy on our recent triennial general convention in Indianapolis contains some mistakes of fact and curious interpretations of what happened [News, Oct. 3]. The bishops of the Episcopal Church have spent three years rebuilding a sense of community and collegiality, and we all waited eagerly to see how they would handle an open discussion on sexuality issues that have threatened the peace of the church for many years. To call the intense but very civil debate on their proposed pastoral teaching a "showdown" is just plain wrong. Their decision to send the Affirmation, a critique on the fifth draft that originated with a group of bishops in the Southwest, along with the pastoral study document - downgraded from a teaching - was not a decision to give it "equal footing." The debate made it very clear that the bishops were sending it as a response to the pastoral. So when Bishop Spong of Newark proposed a very different kind of response, both liberal and conservative bishops said that it should also be sent with the pastoral. Then they decided to send neither but to put them in the official minutes with signatories. Kennedy does not make a very basic distinction between the proposed pastoral teaching and a pastoral letter.

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December 12 1994, Vol. 38, No. 14