An email newsletter for members and friends of FaithFutures Foundation.
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Issue 12 | February 2003
| News from the Foundation |
Just for women ...
FFF has recently announced the formation of soFFFia, a women-only online forum to explore questions of faith and spirituality from women's perspectives. soFFFia moderator and FFF Trustee, Marie Cameron from Toowoomba in rural Queensland (Australia) writes: "The name, as well as indicating our links with the FaithFutures Foundation, refers of course to Sophia/Wisdom, the feminine divine principle, who figures in both the Hebrew and Christian Testaments but who has been rather overlooked in the past 2000 years."
More information about soFFFia >>
Meeting of FFF Trustees
The first Trustees' meeting for 2003 is scheduled to take place in late March and early April. To save costs, these sessions are held online rather than face to face. That presents both challenges and opportunities as the Trustees seek to build community themselves as well as attending to the needs of the Foundation and its network of members and friends.
>> Submit suggestions or issues for consideration
Financial Report, Jan-Dec 2002
In keeping with our commitment to public accountability and transparency, the financial report for the past year is now available on the Foundation's web site. These reports are updated after each quarter so that members and friends of the Foundation can stay informed of our financial information.
Funding priorities 2003
The Foundation's wishlist is available online, but income from donations during 2002 was actually down compared with the previous year. While this was a common trend among non profit last year, we would have been in trouble had it been for a growth in come from sales and a couple of large gifts for specific purposes.
I consciously chose not to make a last-minute appeal for funds just before the end of the year, but we do need your continued generous support. This can be expressed through direct gifts and donations (tax deductible for US tax payers), or by subscriptions (US$4.95 or US$9.95 a month). No gift is too small, and the generous support of our small but growing membership will make immense difference to our capacity to achieve our mission.
At present any shortfall in Foundation income to meet expenses is funded by my personal credit card.
This central FFF project is continuing to develop with the addition of further clusters from John Dominic Crossan's inventory of historical Jesus traditions.
Work is well underway on a large batch of around 150 additional items (##213 through 364) that are expected to be published on the FFF site shortly. In addition, as other clusters are completed for use in the weekly lectionary notes or the weekly discussions within HODOS, there is a steady chipping away at the remaining set of items.
A small working group has been looking at ways to make use of XML technologies so that the JESUS DATABASE can be used for a wider variety of needs, and with greater flexibility. A progress report on that project is expected to be one of the items on the agenda at next month's meeting of Trustees.
Forming local FFF Circles
Do you have a small discussion or study group that shares the Foundations interests in exploring ways to connect our religious traditions with the best of human knowledge and the big issues facing our 21C societies?
Maybe you could affiliate with FFF as a local Circle?
FFF Study Guides
We have several new publications in planning, and are always looking for offers of new study materials that have been prepared for other settings and may be of interest to others. Keep an eye on the FFF Online Store for news as they become available, and check the information for contributors if you have something already prepared that may be worth sharing with others.
Online project for MJAFT guide >>
| Music and Jesus |
Could he not hold a note?
Was he a puritan?
These are just some of the questions that members of the HODOS online community found themselves exploring this week.
The unexpected discussion thread sprang from one person's comments on the value of "the God who Sings" as a window into the Sacred. It was then noted that none of the extant sayings attributed to Jesus make use of music, or musical instruments.
Why this surprising silence? Could it be that in the beginning was the Word, but no music?
| advanceWORD |
There have been some changes to the ADVANCEWORD service ...
To reduce administration, the option of monthly payments through the PAYPAL system is no longer available to new subscribers. All new subscriptions will now be paid for a year in advance, using PAYPAL, credit card, or check.
Existing subscribers already using the monthly subscription may continue on that basis, but are asked to consider changing to the annual payment method at a time that suits their convenience.
We have introduced an online discussion forum exclusively for subscribers to ADVANCEWORD.
Other related resources that have been updated or developed include the Index to RCL Readings and an Index to the Passion Narrative.
| Reviews |
One of the best ways we can share information is by writing reviews of important articles, books, films, study resources and videos.
FFF members and friends are encouraged to submit short written reviews, or the URL of helpful reviews in other places, so that we can build up our collection of reviews.
| ©2003
FaithFutures Foundation, Inc. |