There is a point in “Flint: The Poisoning of an American City” where we have seen and heard how the Michigan city’s water system was contaminated with lead and the many ways in which public officials caused or allowed the tragedy to happen, and it’s easy to ask, “How has nobody gone to jail for this?”
In the wake of recent shootings in Gilroy, Calif., in the Texas communities of El Paso and Odessa and in Dayton, Ohio, and with the advent of the Season of Peace, the Compassion, Peace & Justice Ministry programs of the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) are providing congregations and mid-councils a robust package of resources to help congregations put thoughts and prayers about gun violence into obedient action.
As Hurricane Dorian bears down on the North Carolina coast, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) stands ready to respond and already is responding to the devastation the storm left behind in the Bahamas.
“Flint: The Poisoning of an American City,” a production of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s Story Productions, will have its world premiere in the heart of the city whose story it tells.
In 32 seconds, a lone gunman in downtown Dayton, Ohio, injured 27 people and killed nine, including his sister. This mass shooting happened back to back with another shooting 13 hours earlier on Aug. 3 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. In that rampage, 22 people died and 26 were injured.
The pastor glumly ordered a salad with dressing on the side. Her lunch companion wondered whether her friend would rather have had a greasy hamburger instead. The pastor’s sour mood, though, wasn’t about healthy food choices. It was about the choice her session had made to lock the doors during Sunday morning worship.
The morning of Aug. 7, the Rev. Steven Bryant of First Presbyterian Church in Canton, Mississippi was leading a Bible study on the book of Exodus, noting God’s preference for helping the widow, the poor, the stranger, the person in a foreign land.
“We didn’t know that outside, these horrible events were transpiring,” Bryant said.
“Trigger: The Ripple Effect of Gun Violence,” produced by Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s Story Productions, is now available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is taking a strong stand against a reported proposal by the administration of President Donald J. Trump to slash the number of refugee admissions to the United States to zero in 2020, and the church is urging members to make their voices heard.
