An article recently published by the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) explored the aspects of racism present in U.S. Christian missions to Korea during the time of Japanese colonization of Korea (1905–1945) and reaching into the first years after the end of World War II but just before the Korean War broke out in 1950. Read more »
October 18, 2021
‘The danger of a single story’
An article recently published by the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS) explored the aspects of racism present in U.S. Christian missions to Korea during the time of Japanese colonization of Korea (1905–1945) and reaching into the first years after the end of World War II but just before the Korean War broke out in 1950. Read more »
A mostly white group of more than 40 preachers tuned in recently to hear the Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick — who in turn did his share of listening during an informative 90-minute online session he hosted — lead a webinar with this provocative title: “Preaching about Racial Justice without Losing your Conviction or your Job.” View the webinar here. 
The Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick has announced his retirement from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary effective at the conclusion of the fall 2021 semester. 
Do people in the LGBTQIA+ community need the church? Does the church need people who are LGBTQIA+? 
When Operation Iraqi Freedom kicked off in 2003, I was an Army chaplain assigned to a battalion in the 3rd Infantry Division. We spent the first four days of the war in a convoy heading toward Baghdad. 
The Rev. Susan Brouillette, a new leader in the 1001 worshiping community movement, hopes to create a community for those who are spiritual but not religious and want to make the world a better place. 
Had he been told in advance about the death and heartache wreaked by the pandemic, the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol and the killings of people of color over the past months, “I’d be tempted to run away, to cower in anxiety and fear,” the Rev. Eugene Cho, president and chief executive officer of Bread for the World, said during a sermon featured in the recent Festival of Homiletics. “I’m grateful that God, out of God’s goodness and grace, has invited all of us to be leaders in a church that serves through humble servant leadership.” 
Not one day goes by that I am not misgendered in some way.
Sometimes it is intentional. Most often it is just a mistake. Either way, it is a micro-aggression that I have learned will probably be a part of my journey for the rest of my life. 
In the parking lot of First Presbyterian Church of Hayward in Castro Valley, California, a village of five tiny homes is the most visible manifestation of the church’s effort to address homelessness. “We’ve come to the theological place, maybe philosophical, that housing is a human right,” said the Rev. Jake Medcalf, Hayward’s lead pastor. “If we don’t provide housing in our neighborhoods, especially in an area like the Bay, we are literally — I don’t think it’s dramatic, I think it’s real — condemning people to die on the streets.” 
One Sunday morning, Tom Trenney, the Routley Lecturer for the recent Presbyterian Association of Musicians’ Worship and Music Conference and the minister of music at First-Plymouth Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, invited the choir and whoever wanted to in the congregation to whistle during the hymn “Lord of the Dance,” except during the somber fourth verse. He tried the same thing Tuesday, inviting class participants to pucker up behind their masks and whistle.