No one knows exactly how many children in the tri-county area around Detroit (Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties) are lacking a bed of their own, but it is likely the number is in the thousands, according to the nonprofit Building Beds 4 Kids. Read more »
November 22, 2019
If we build it, they will sleep
No one knows exactly how many children in the tri-county area around Detroit (Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties) are lacking a bed of their own, but it is likely the number is in the thousands, according to the nonprofit Building Beds 4 Kids. Read more »
What a trap! They came to put Jesus in jeopardy with the authorities regarding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and he turned it back on them. They were caught in their own theological trap because they had a double standard. They did their best to get along with the Roman authorities, while quietly teaching their people that God — not the civil authorities — must be the ultimate object of their worship. They taught that in the end, everything belongs to God, so when Jesus put before them the coin showing the image of Caesar, they were in a bind. The worship of the one on the coin was a basic principle of Roman citizenship. He was to be worshiped and obeyed not simply as the political primate, but as a god, and therefore a divine alternative to the God of Israel, to whom the Jewish leaders were bound. 
Stewardship is not simply asking for pledges at the end of the year to meet the needs of the church’s budget for the following year. Stewardship is a theological statement — a way of life. And it comes from believing that we are beloved children of God. 
Women’s Leadership Development and Young Women’s Ministries is a national ministry of the Presbyterian Mission Agency operating within Racial Equity & Women’s Intercultural Ministries (RE&WIM). The office provides resources and training programs to young adult women ages 18–35 considering leadership opportunities in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 
“I believe the church extends far beyond the congregation or building,” said the Rev. Mary Sellers Shaw. “I am called to build community both inside and outside the church.” 
I still visualize the words etched into a granite slab on a wall of Elmina, a stately castle on the coast of Ghana, constructed in 1482 by the Portuguese:
IN EVERLASTING MEMORY OF THE ANGUISH OF OUR ANCESTORS. MAY THOSE WHO DIED REST IN PEACE. MAY THOSE WHO RETURN FIND THEIR ROOTS. MAY HUMANITY NEVER AGAIN PERPETUATE SUCH INJUSTICE AGAINST HUMANITY. WE, THE LIVING, VOW TO UPHOLD THIS. 
Around this time last year, we met with a representative from Faith in Community Scotland (FiCS), an organization giving refugees and asylum seekers a platform to speak about their challenges and the treatment they had received from the United Kingdom’s Home Office. As newcomers representing the Young Adult Volunteer program in Scotland, we were excited to learn more about migration in Glasgow and the United Kingdom. The representative began our meeting with this sobering truth: All of the invited migrants refused the invitation because of their vulnerable status. In the parishes where we were accompanying the Church of Scotland, we were privileged to work with organizations attempting to bridge race, class and citizenship status. 
Today’s my favorite day of the year. The start of a new year always gives me a peaceful feeling and reminds me of a new box of crayons or a blank canvas, full of possibilities and hope. 
Dr. Jelani Cobb, a staff writer at the New Yorker, historian and the Ira A. Lipton Professor of Journalism at Columbia University, concluded a lecture before an audience at the University of Louisville Wednesday with a personal story that may say as much about race relations in the U.S. as the hour-long lecture that preceded his story. 
Down the street and around the globe, Presbyterians are committed to addressing the scourge of gender-based violence.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) states that “violence against women and girls is one of the most prevalent human rights violations in the world.” Noting that an estimated 1 in 3 women worldwide will experience physical or sexual abuse in her lifetime, UNFPA observes that gender-based violence “knows no social, economic or national boundaries.” For this reason, every year the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations facilitates the involvement of a PC(USA) delegation at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. This group shapes global standards on gender equality and the empowerment of women and is supported in part by gifts to the Peace & Global Witness Offering.