Online worship that’s intimate, meaningful, inclusive — and, at the same time, can be touching and even humorous?
It can be done, according to a panel assembled for a webinar hosted by 1001 New Worshiping Communities Coordinator the Rev. Nikki Collins. Read more »
June 11, 2020
Can online worship be intimate?
Online worship that’s intimate, meaningful, inclusive — and, at the same time, can be touching and even humorous?
It can be done, according to a panel assembled for a webinar hosted by 1001 New Worshiping Communities Coordinator the Rev. Nikki Collins. Read more »
A few months ago, during our Strong Kids/Strong Emotions program for refugee kids, Hadil (not her actual name) was sitting across from me, stringing beads to make a bracelet. 
Since the Office of the General Assembly issued an advisory opinion from the Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), saying that churches can hold online or virtual communion during an emergency/pandemic, the church’s Office of Theology and Worship released the statement “Celebrating the Sacraments in a Time of Emergency/Pandemic.” 
As Americans watched the pandemic move across the globe with startling speed, we thought about our medically vulnerable relatives, our children and the elderly. We planned how to gather food and water, made sure we had medicine in our homes. We washed our hands, didn’t touch our face and if we had to leave the house, we put on a face mask. It was inconvenient, but for most of us, possible. 
Nearly 400 people gathered virtually Wednesday to share with one another the good things God is doing through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Matthew 25 invitation, which seeks to build congregational vitality, dismantle structural racism and eradicate systemic poverty. 
“Can you breathe?” asked Rev. Dr. Margaret Aymer of worshipers at the Just Worship conference at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. 
On Friday, an independent group of United Nations human rights experts released the sort of statement we are used to seeing about other nations. 
What should predominantly white churches do to help their communities address racial disparity and systemic racialized oppression?
A panel convened by two Union Presbyterian Seminary organizations — the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership and the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation — had some ideas Tuesday during an hour-long webinar. 
Hardly a day goes by without the Rev. Brad Munroe receiving a call from someone wanting to make a donation to help Native Americans in the southwestern United States, many of whom are struggling to cope with poverty and the weight of COVID-19 and its economic fallout. 
Amid weeks of global preoccupation with the personal, social, economic, and political impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plight of the Palestinian people bears a growing, striking resemblance to George Floyd’s plea, “I can’t breathe.” Ever since 1967, the knee of Israel’s military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza has been increasingly and relentlessly pressing down on the Palestinians’ neck.