In light of what New Way podcast host the Rev. Sara Hayden describes as “the new round of organizing, strategy and action sparked by the most recent, shocking, continual — and yet unsurprising — anti-Black violence of our time,” the podcast of the 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement has begun a new season focused on racial injustice and faith. Read more »
June 30, 2020
New season of ‘1001’ podcast focuses on racial injustice and faith
In light of what New Way podcast host the Rev. Sara Hayden describes as “the new round of organizing, strategy and action sparked by the most recent, shocking, continual — and yet unsurprising — anti-Black violence of our time,” the podcast of the 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement has begun a new season focused on racial injustice and faith. Read more »
A webinar posted last week by three ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency speaks to the announcement expected Wednesday that Israel will, with the blessing of U.S. government officials, annex about 30 percent of the territory of the West Bank, which would affect about 750,000 Palestinians living in land occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war. 
The Rev. Michelle Hwang has been out to protest against police brutality and systemic racism in the Chicago area, been inspired by the diversity she sees in the crowd, and comes back home thinking about the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 
The Presbyterian Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) has signed onto a statement calling for the investment community to help put an end to systemic racism and foster racial equity and justice. 
The ministry of presence is important in God’s mission. Yet even when a global pandemic causes cancellation of short-term mission trips, congregations and presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are showing care and compassion in creative and urgently needed ways from afar. 
On behalf of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, the Mission Development Resources Committee (MDRC) recently approved 10 Mission Program Grants to 1001 New Worshiping Communities and two presbyteries for their congregational transformation work. 
Just this week, North Korea announced it had suspended but not canceled military action against South Korea. That action would have sent armed North Korean soldiers back to the demilitarized zone (DMZ). At the Pyongyang Summit in 2018 South Korea and North Korea agreed to remove armed guards along the border to decrease hostilities. 
Following the compelling study of the Cain and Abel story she delivered Tuesday to the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, Dr. Suzie Park, who teaches the Hebrew Bible at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, turned to another of the faith heroes held up in Hebrews 11 — Abraham, who, according to the Genesis account, was willing to sacrifice his only son, Isaac — during a Thursday broadcast to the 800 or so people registered for PAM’s online Worship & Music Conference, celebrating the organization’s 50th anniversary. 
As the Rev. José González-Colón was preparing his keynote speech for this year’s Peace Breakfast, his drafts were left in tatters by a fast-changing world rocked by protests and a pandemic raging in the midst of climate change. 
2020 will certainly be remembered as a year of full disclosure for the United States. A tiny virus too small for the eye to see has disclosed and exposed the grave injustices and disparities that exist for Black and brown communities across the nation.