Presbyterians of a certain age can still sing — still do sing — the songs of Richard Avery and Don Marsh: “Every Morning is Easter Morning,” “Hey! Hey! Anybody Listening?” “We’re Here to be Happy,” “We are the Church,” and so many other songs, memorable for their catchy tunes and their lyrics embracing an authentic faith and calling for justice for all God’s children.
When the Rev. Dick Powell was tapped as a candidate for the job of president and CEO at Presbyterian Mo-Ranch Assembly, he had one demand: “If I can’t stay in the Board of Pensions plan, I’m not coming.” More than a decade later, Powell and every other full-time employee at the camp and conference center in the Texas Hill Country is a member of the Benefits Plan of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The Tooth Bus is a large bus outfitted with all the equipment needed to make and repair dentures. After over 10 years of visioning, fundraising and hard work by churches in the Presbytery of St. Augustine, the Tooth Bus has finally made its way to Jamaica. The plan is that the bus will be able to go most anywhere in Jamaica where there was a work site and have everything required to make dentures for those in need.
Validating loss and understanding our feelings is a concept not difficult to grasp during a global pandemic. But for mission co-workers the Revs. Nancy and Shelvis Smith-Mather, their 7-year-old son Jordan reminded them that sometimes you have to find the courage to lean into the pain to get through it.
As a young adult, I moved to New York City. I wanted to know what it was like to ride in a crowded subway right underneath another person’s armpit. I wanted to know what it was like to walk down a crowded Manhattan street and have to engage with some people who were well and some who were not so well, all co-existing together.
I recently learned a new word that I thought was appropriate for the year we have all just navigated together:
Tohubohu
toh-hoo-BOH-hoo
a state of chaos; utter confusion.
As in the U.S., COVID-19 has caused a huge disruption in the lives of families in Guatemala, resulting in lives lost, jobs vanished and plans put on hold. The Western Highlands, where the Association of Mam Christian Women for Development is headquartered, has been hit especially hard because of widespread poverty and nearly nonexistent health systems. As a result, high levels of chronic malnutrition and food insecurity in rural Guatemala persist.
During the final worship service at the recent Vital Congregations virtual gathering, the Rev. Shanea Leonard challenged nearly 100 participants to become co-conspirators in the work of the gospel.
Loneliness as a phenomenon is nothing new — nor is loneliness unheard of within the life of a congregation, especially among single adults and those who are housebound or in nursing homes. But with the new norms of social distancing, loneliness has taken on a new level of intensity for many Americans. In the United States some 35.7 million people live alone, or approximately one-third of households. This number has nearly doubled in the past 50 years.
Describing the Israelites’ passage through the wilderness in Exodus and Numbers as a metaphor for challenges the church faces today, Dr. William P. Brown took 160 people participating in the 2020 Vital Congregations Virtual Gathering on a journey into a place of great danger and extremes — a place where they can encounter God.
