As part of his sabbatical from Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina, a few years ago, the Rev. Brad Smith brought his wife, Nancy, and their three young adult children to Taiwan to experience the richness of both Taiwan’s culture and church life. Read more »
May 25, 2022
Welcoming the stranger
As part of his sabbatical from Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina, a few years ago, the Rev. Brad Smith brought his wife, Nancy, and their three young adult children to Taiwan to experience the richness of both Taiwan’s culture and church life. Read more »
The Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, a Presbyterian pastor and hymn writer, has published a new hymn lamenting gun violence and remembering “the beloved children of God who died in the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas” on Tuesday. 
As a way of thanking the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for its support of 1001 New Worshiping Communities, leaders in the movement from across the country have put together a digital Pentecost Devotional, “Indecent and Out of Order.” 
During his engaging mini-plenary, the Rev. Dr. Rodger Nishioka gave educators attending the annual event of the Association of Partners in Christian Education in Chicago a homework assignment: Memorize Isaiah 50:4 and recite it to the folks back home if they ask what you learned at the “Circle of Faith” event of the organization formerly known as the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. 
Today is the day the liturgical calendar turns green.
Ordinary Time … the long expanse of days without festival or celebration.
It’s as if all that fire of Pentecost has burned out overnight and the Holy Winds have blown right out to sea. Yesterday was a great and mysterious day, but it’s time to get back to work and on with life as we’ve known it. Blow out the birthday candles. The Church is another year older, feeling her age in her joints and in her responsibilities.
So, let’s get on with it. 
To set the stage for her “Circles of faith, Circle of Empowerment” message from Hebrews 11:23-28, the Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz proclaimed during the recently renamed Association of Partners in Christian Education conference that attendees were going to experience the Holy Spirit throughout their whole body. 
Gun violence is an issue that divides our nation, our political parties and our churches. Whenever there is an incident of gun violence, whether it be an accident or a mass shooting, people always return to the same debate: gun rights versus gun control. 
The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis recently recalled for the renamed Association of Partners in Christian Education the scene — including tastes, smells and lasting impressions — of the first time she took communion when she was 7½ years old. 
The Rev. Mark Adams, a mission co-worker at the U.S.-Mexico border, tells an unsettling story about Jaciel, a 6-year-old boy at Frontera de Cristo’s New Hope Community Center. 
Led and inspired by the joyful recorded percussion provided by youth drummers at Beechmont Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Presbyterians on Tuesday dedicated the Presbyterian Center’s new conference center that will host the 225th General Assembly — and, perhaps, some future assemblies as well.