November 10, 1999

This month the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and representatives of its 35 member communions will journey to Cleveland, the city of the NCC's founding in 1950, to celebrate (a few months early) its golden anniversary. But despite the upbeat tone of the 50th anniversary brochure and Web site, some church leaders are wondering whether the council is likely to survive for very long after the ambitious celebration and, if so, in what form.

At the end of the year Joan Brown Campbell will conclude her nine-year tenure at the helm of the National Council of Churches. But she won't be relinquishing her role as a champion of the ecumenical movement. She will become director of religion at the Chautauqua Institute in New York state, overseeing religious programs and interfaith services. Campbell, who has had excellent relations with the NCC's historically black churches, is expected to help Chautauqua attract a more diverse constituency to its summer programs.

The Sixth Sense (1999), directed by M. Night Shyamalan

A few days after my second viewing of the film The Sixth Sense, I was reading R. P. Blackmur's book about Henry Adams, in which he laments the disappearance from modern consciousness of the ability to "express human reactions and aspiration in terms of great symbols." That idea resonated with a discussion I had led about the film.