Next to the entrance of Lucy Janijigian’s apartment is a drawing that her granddaughter made. It depicts Janjigian, her granddaughter and the words “My grandmother helps orphans in Armenia. She inspires me to hep other people.” Her granddaughter has pigtails. Janjigian has a superhero cape. Read more »
April 23, 2018
Once a refugee, now a hunger advocate
Next to the entrance of Lucy Janijigian’s apartment is a drawing that her granddaughter made. It depicts Janjigian, her granddaughter and the words “My grandmother helps orphans in Armenia. She inspires me to hep other people.” Her granddaughter has pigtails. Janjigian has a superhero cape. Read more »
More than 220 Presbyterians have gathered at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., for Compassion, Peace & Justice Training Day, which kicks off Ecumenical Advocacy Days. The annual gathering brings Presbyterians together to engage in issues of national and international interest. The theme for this year’s event is “A World Uprooted: Responding to Migrants, Refugees and Displaced People.” 
A joint commission of Turkey’s major Christian denominations has published a historic book of Christian doctrine, receiving the unprecedented endorsement of all the nation’s Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, Syriac and Protestant churches. 
The Rev. Leslie Vogel, a longtime mission co-worker, has answered the call to serve as Presbyterian World Mission’s new regional liaison for Guatemala and Mexico. She begins her new duties June 1. 
Writing a will is “an act of love and responsibility,” says Sherry Kenney, a ministry relations officer with the Presbyterian Foundation. A will enables you to designate guardians for any surviving dependents and to determine how your assets will be distributed. Without a will, the probate court will make those decisions. 
May Friendship Day, a Church Women United initiative, is most often celebrated on the first Friday of the month of May. May Fellowship Day began in 1933 after two Christian women’s groups planned gatherings based on similar concerns: child health and children of migrant families. These groups united and over the years, eventually became what we now know as Church Women United. The May celebration has been continually observed since 1933 and each year the theme identifies a shared concern of Christian women and their communities. In 1999, Church Women United changed the name from May Fellowship Day to May Friendship Day. 
Poet T.S. Eliot once wrote, “The Church must be forever building, and always decaying, and always being restored.” Through these words, our worldview of the church changes. It is an understanding that the church will continue to have life and vitality. From age to age, the church will continue to grow. This contrasts with the natural cycle of all living organisms, a life cycle that involves decay. Since the beginning of “church,” we have seen an endless cycle of decay. Be hopeful, though — the church is always restored! It is restored not through our human hands and effort, but by God. 
God of solidarity, thank you for your arms that stretch across this broken world. We are grateful for this work and witness. Encourage them. Bless them so that your word may be spread far and wide. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 
The Rev. Buddy Monahan, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Odessa, Texas, and corresponding member of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board as chair of the Advocacy Committee for Racial Ethnic Concerns (ACREC), died March 27 in Odessa from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. He was 52.