World Community Day began in 1943 as a day for church women across denominations to study peace. After World War II, leaders of denominations felt that they should set aside a day for prayer and ecumenical study.
Some symptoms of racism might be obliterated with a wrecking ball approach, but a new Synod of the Sun network aims to help dismantle the structure and proactively remember grim events of the past, including the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921.
With the coronavirus continuing to infect scores of people daily worldwide, the number of people experiencing acute hunger is expected to skyrocket globally, and some partners of the Presbyterian Hunger Program say the economic ramifications of the pandemic already are hurting the ability of people around the globe to feed themselves and their families.
Count on a former architect to see the flaws in existing structures and work tirelessly and faithfully on ways to redesign them.
Such was the compelling draw for the Rev. Dwain Lee, pastor of Springdale Presbyterian Church, when an invitation to endorse an interfaith prayer vigil in Louisville’s Central Park came across his virtual desk.
From an early age, the Rev. Dr. Darrell Guder knew he was going into ministry. In fact, in grammar school he envisioned himself in the mission field in the South Pacific.
A couple years ago, at our family Thanksgiving gathering at my sister’s house in Virginia, I brought a variety of blank notecards, envelopes and stamps.
I asked each person in the family — young and old — to write a note to themselves and to include anything they wanted: joys and concerns, thoughts about our get-together, goals for the year ahead — anything at all. I explained that I would keep the notes for a year before dropping them in the mail. “It will be a surprise when you receive your note back,” I said. “You’ll recognize the handwriting and remember you wrote the note to yourself last Thanksgiving.”
Beth Mueller got a note from a man who saw the virtual choir of international peacemakers video she created for the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and had a question.
“He wanted to know how we got all those people from around the world to sing at the same time on Zoom,” Mueller said, laughing.
When the Rev. Carol DeVaughn welcomed the congregation of Faith Des Peres Presbyterian Church to virtual worship on a recent Sunday, those watching could hardly believe what they were seeing.
Nearly 400 people recently gathered virtually to share with one another the good things God is doing through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Matthew 25 invitation, which seeks to build congregational vitality, dismantle structural racism and eradicate systemic poverty.
Hardly a day goes by without the Rev. Brad Munroe receiving a call from someone wanting to make a donation to help Native Americans in the southwestern United States, many of whom are struggling to cope with poverty and the weight of COVID-19 and its economic fallout.
