“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.” American composer George Gershwin clearly wasn’t thinking about life in the church when he wrote his 1930s song “Summertime.” For many congregations, summertime isn’t easy. Blue skies beckon people to mow, garden or hike rather than sit in a pew on a Sunday morning. Weekend getaways and family vacations also mean fewer volunteers available to provide child care, sing in choirs and host coffee hours. Read more »
July 5, 2019
Summertime ministry
“Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.” American composer George Gershwin clearly wasn’t thinking about life in the church when he wrote his 1930s song “Summertime.” For many congregations, summertime isn’t easy. Blue skies beckon people to mow, garden or hike rather than sit in a pew on a Sunday morning. Weekend getaways and family vacations also mean fewer volunteers available to provide child care, sing in choirs and host coffee hours. Read more »
When I was a pastor in Montgomery, Alabama, I was in a meeting with several community leaders and civil rights advocates talking about justice issues in the city and the state. We were gathered in one of the Sunday school rooms of a small Baptist church. Early in the meeting, I looked up and noticed a small poster on the wall that read: “What if God released his tapes on you?” 
Before she told the audience what Reproductive Justice is, the Rev. Shanea D. Leonard had to say what it isn’t.
“Most people think that it’s all about abortion, but it’s not,” Leonard said at the top of a Tuesday afternoon webinar, presented by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness (OPW) in Washington, D.C. “It’s so much more than that, but it’s inclusive of that as well. 
It was an honor like no other for Army Brig. Gen. Kenneth “Ed” Brandt. For the past 30 years, Brandt, an ordained PC(USA) pastor, has been serving as a military chaplain, providing enlisted men and women with a sacred space to make sense out of a sometimes-senseless world. 
Since 1998, children ages 6 to 12 have been gathering at Littlefield Presbyterian Church in Dearborn, Michigan, to work together to build peace at home, at school, in their communities and around the world. 
The siren went off at 3 a.m. Oct. 29.
“Anytime you hear the siren, that means there could be an explosion at the refinery,” said Emma Lockridge, whose home is just a few blocks away from the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Southwest Detroit.
So, she called Marathon and asked what was going on.
“Nothing,” was the reply, though she looked out of her window and saw, “red, billowing smoke.”
Lockridge decided to jump into her car and document the event on video, bursts of fire and smoke flaring onto the screen. 
Headlining the Presbyterian Youth Triennium’s music ministry is The Nettletons — PYT’s house worship band formed especially for this vibrant five-day youth-centered event. And while it’s not unusual to have a worship band at a church event, putting a band together for an event that occurs every three years can be a challenge. 
Next week, First Presbyterian Church of Succasunna is putting on a mission trip for the youth of the church without leaving the cozy confines of this unincorporated community in northern New Jersey. 
As a young Palestinian Christian woman living in the occupied West Bank, Muna Nassar sees those around her losing hope each day. But hope is just what she wants to talk about when she joins 13 other international peacemakers traveling the U.S. this fall speaking to congregations, mid-councils and educational institutions as part of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program. 
Many people say a trip to the Holy Land is definitely on their “bucket list.” It’s something they want to do, plan to do, hope to do — one of these days.
The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and World Mission have collaborated to lead a spiritual pilgrimage to the Holy Land every other year since 2014. The 2020 Mosaic of Peace Conference: Witnessing for Peace and Wholeness in a Land Called Holy is scheduled for March 15–28. Applications are being accepted online through Oct. 15, or after that should space allow.