During a recent online forum held in the Presbytery of St. Augustine on racial and ethnic tensions, a woman named Kristen shared her family’s story: “I didn’t really know what systemic racism was. Then my father, who wore hearing aids, was arrested during a traffic stop when he didn’t understand the rules for including his adaptive devices on his driver’s license.” Read more »
January 26, 2021
Practicing Matthew 25 through Project Common Grounds
During a recent online forum held in the Presbytery of St. Augustine on racial and ethnic tensions, a woman named Kristen shared her family’s story: “I didn’t really know what systemic racism was. Then my father, who wore hearing aids, was arrested during a traffic stop when he didn’t understand the rules for including his adaptive devices on his driver’s license.” Read more »
The Rev. Edwin Gonzalez-Gertz at Light of Hope Presbyterian Church in Marietta, Georgia, says the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Matthew 25 invitation has given the congregation language to articulate what they’ve been doing for a while — out of necessity. 
As COVID-19 circles the globe, mission co-workers the Rev. Ryan and Alethia White in Germany believe that working together, in our respective corners of the world, can improve protection for human rights everywhere. 
When he first saw the “Everyday God-Dance” video, the Rev. Dr. Barry Ensign-George, the coordinator of the Office of Theology & Worship, said he loved it.
“It reminded me in this difficult time that there’s such a thing as joy,” he said. “It was so hopeful.” 
The Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Theology and Worship have together prepared a statement on the sacrament of baptism and services of ordination and/or installment during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
When Jaime Lázaro was looking for Commissioned Ruling Elder (CRE) education in Spanish so that he could become a commissioned new worshiping community leader in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), he couldn’t find the polity course he needed for ordination. Knowing it was a need for several candidates in Southern California — and in all likelihood around the country — he and Martín García believed that God was calling them to do something about it. 
No sooner had the small delegation from the Presbytery of Mid-Kentucky — its general presbyter, stated clerk and moderator — renewed their passports and booked their flights to Taiwan than COVID-19 postponed their plans. Ever since three representatives from Changhua Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, Mid-Kentucky’s international mission partner, had traveled to Mid-Kentucky in May 2019, the Revs. John Odom, Jerry Van Marter and Angela Johnson had long been looking forward to their reciprocal visit. 
Speaking during a Facebook Live event on the topic “Courageous Leadership Matters,” the Rev. Stephen Lewis, president of the Forum for Theological Exploration, told host the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty that in many ways, “our future is rooted in the labors of those who came before us.” 
On a cool Arizona Sunday evening, mission co-workers Miriam Maldonado Escobar and the Rev. Mark Adams gathered with group of Christians on the border between Agua Prieta, Mexico, and Douglas, Arizona, for a prayer pilgrimage in solidarity with the “Not Another Foot” movement to call for an end of the massive border wall spanning the entire Southern border of the United States. 
In 2004, members of Second Congregational United Church, known as SecondFirst Church since federating with First Presbyterian Church, dreamed of building a gymnasium for the community of Rockford, Illinois — and they did it.