wfn.org | Congregations Support Clintons

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (572
notes).

Note 572 by UMNS on Jan. 28, 1998 at 16:53 Eastern (3627 characters).

CONTACT: Thomas S. McAnally				45(10-71B)572
	    Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5470	Jan. 28, 1998

Little Rock, Washington congregations
respond to crises, support first family 

By United Methodist News Service

	The crises facing the First Family and the nation are being dealt with in
special ways by United Methodist congregations in Little Rock, Ark., and
Washington.
	First United Methodist in Little Rock, where Hillary and Chelsea Clinton are
members, held a prayer service Jan. 27, just hours before the president
offered the State of the Union Address.
	Two days earlier, President and Mrs. Clinton were present for worship at
Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington where pastor Philip Wogaman
preached the second sermon in a series on taking faith seriously. 
	In the sermon, Wogaman spoke of the need for the American people to avoid
hysteria and quick judgment. President Clinton is a Baptist but attends
Foundry regularly with his family.
	In Little Rock, a small, hastily-assembled group of church members and others
from the community gathered for the afternoon service, lifting up in
particular the nation's president and his family.
	With the president embroiled in a crisis over allegations of improprieties
involving a White House intern and facing decisions on a possible military
strike against Iraq, it was time for prayer, said Mabel Harris, one of the
organizers of the service.  Those attending "shared a desire to pray for the
nation and for the country," she said.  "We were all just hurting so."
	"We sent word to Hillary that we would be in prayer at 2:30 in the chapel at
the church," Harris said.  "We wanted them to know we were with them."
	Also joining the service was 80-year-old Liza Ashley, longtime cook at the
Arkansas Governor's Mansion, including the 12 years the Clintons resided
there.
	Ashley said she was "a great believer in prayer," and wanted to do what she
could for the Clinton family.  One of the things she does best is cook so
Ashley said she was heading home from the service to make a batch of chocolate
chip pecan cookies to send to Chelsea Clinton, a student at Stanford
University.
	"God hears us when we pray," Harris said, "and there's more power in prayer
when a few are gathered together."
	At Foundry, Wogaman stuck to his series but approached the topic, "Taking the
Bible Seriously," from a slightly different perspective, he told United
Methodist News Service.
	"I thought it important – given the grief, hurt and concern everyone was
feeling – to explore the resources of the Bible which speak to our humanness,"
he said.  "I spoke of very human figures such as David, Peter and Paul, each
of whom was imperfect but each of whom became powerful witnesses to God's
presence in the world."
	The main point of the sermon, Wogaman said, was that "the Bible is a love
story of God's love for us and our love for God and one another.  I concluded
by speaking of the love of God and of our call to be loving . . . I spoke of
our need to avoid hysteria."
	In a telephone interview with United Methodist News Service, he said "I know
the Clintons to be fine people. I have to take seriously the president's
denial of the allegations."
	He pointed to "flaws" in the investigation process surrounding Clinton.  "The
whole point in having a prosecutor is to have a process that is objective and
beyond reproach," he said.  "I do not think this investigation, now over three
years old, has reached that standard." 
	
#  #  #
	NOTE:  Jane Dennis, editor of the Arkansas United Methodist newspaper,
contributed to this story.
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