The Union Theological Seminary community gathered in James Chapel Wednesday evening for a two-hour vigil remembering transgender people from around the country lost to violence during 2024. Read more »
November 21, 2024
Union Theological Seminary holds a moving Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil
The Union Theological Seminary community gathered in James Chapel Wednesday evening for a two-hour vigil remembering transgender people from around the country lost to violence during 2024. Read more »
Among the skills most highly valued by newly elected moderators and vice-moderators is the ability to run purposeful meetings. 
Calling Christians yet again to move forward in hope in this post-election season, the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins and colleagues from the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations led the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in worship on Wednesday. 
In Unbound’s latest Advent devotional, Palestinian theological educator Dr. Grace Al-Zoughbi Arteen offers her perspective on Jesus as the “Subversive King.” 
Teaching how to budget, save, eliminate debt and start investing should become essential life skills, Katherine Lankford says. Don’t wait until you are 30, 40, 50 or 60 years old to learn hard lessons. Instead, look at the experience and the mistakes of others and take charge of your financial habits now. 
New mid council moderators and vice-moderators were given a 12-item to-do list as part of a workshop during the Moderators’ Conference last week, along with guidance provided by April Davenport, the PC(USA)’s General Counsel. 
“I think the impact in our presbytery is what I like to call ‘expanding the we.’ Who we are goes beyond the established churches that have been here but expands with different people and new communities, immigrant communities, places all across the Greater Atlanta region,” said the Rev. Aisha Brooks-Johnson, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, who described how 36 new worshiping communities allow the presbytery to be “diverse, unique, inclusive and creative.” 
“We collect experiences, and we want to know good news and challenges you are dealing with,” said the Rev. Tony Larson, who along with the Rev. CeCe Armstrong is Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024). Larson was speaking to a room full of teaching elders during a Saturday workshop at the Moderators’ Conference, held last week at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky, and attended in person and online by about 130 moderators of mid councils in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 
The ground beneath us is off kilter. This is a scientific fact with spiritual resonances.
This planet tilts on its axis. On the Earth, we are never perfectly upright, and so we experience uneven periods of light and darkness. As we approach the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, our days shorten. This is the reality for those Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico during Advent. We are drawn further and longer into darker nights. 
Two rampaging squirrels break the silence of the thick forest as our group of 30 walk on a road made from tens of thousands of hand-laid bricks recovered from a landfill.
Ahead of us, on the crest of the road, stood another group. Under a canopy of long-leaf pines and hardwood trees was an old woman in a wheelchair, a young girl, three adult women, a boy, two young men, and Marcus Briggs-Cloud, who I had only met virtually before. All were wearing clothing incorporating multi-colored Maskoke patterns.
The two young Maskoke men held their two-foot-long wooden stickball sticks in front of our group, gently enforcing an invisible barrier. Across the gap between our groups, Marcus gave a traditional welcome speech in the Maskoke language for 10 minutes. Then we were asked to state the intentions behind our presence on their land.