The two prayers below were written for the nation’s chaplains and health care workers serving on the frontlines of COVID-19. The author is the director of the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel and is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Read more »
March 31, 2020
Prayers for chaplains and health care workers
The two prayers below were written for the nation’s chaplains and health care workers serving on the frontlines of COVID-19. The author is the director of the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel and is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Read more »
At 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, the Office of Vital Congregations will continue its weekly Zoom conversations around “The Seven Marks of a Vital Congregation: For Such a Time as This.” 
A few weeks ago, before coronavirus took over our thoughts in South Sudan, I joined a meeting of women to talk about community development. Women gathered in a circle after the church service, many of them holding young children on their laps. I started the discussion by reflecting on John 10:10, where Jesus expressed his intention to give us “life, and have it abundantly.”
What does that mean? 
The Rev. Morgan Schmidt serves First Presbyterian Church in Bend, Oregon, as the associate pastor of teens and 20-somethings. When she launched the Facebook site Pandemic Partners on March 12, little did she know the extraordinary impact that using crowdsourcing to help fill some of the needs brought on by the coronavirus would have on her Central Oregon community of about 98,000. 
As churches, worshiping communities and their leaders continue to grapple with the spread of COVID-19, some are finding ways to live into their commitment to the Matthew 25 invitation. 
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness (OPW) has signed onto appeals to top U.S. officials, including President Donald J. Trump, to ease sanctions on Iran to help blunt the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. 
The Rev. Darius Swann, the lead plaintiff in a landmark Supreme Court case, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education, died March 8 at the age of 95. 
The Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (MRTI) has joined nearly 200 signatories on a statement from global institutional investors urging companies to support workers and markets during the coronavirus pandemic. 
In a joint statement, ecumenical organizations across the world are standing together to protect life during this time of COVID-19. 
G.W. Rolle, pastor of justice ministries at The Missio Dei, a new worshiping community in the Presbytery of Tampa Bay, is in his second week of a self-imposed quarantine.