The Rev. Sharyl Dixon is now in her sixth year serving Kingston Presbyterian Church in Kingston, New Jersey. When she started serving the church — be it visiting the women’s Bible studies or shaking hands at the door after a service — Dixon realized that what she was witnessing, in different forms, was caregiving, whether it was for a spouse with dementia, ailing parents or children with special needs. Dixon realized there was a need to care for those offering care to others.
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?”
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 of out of a sometimes-senseless world.
Since 2009, the Nigerian government has been engaged in violent conflict with Boko Haram militants in Northeastern Nigeria. People’s homes have been burned along with their farming fields. Food, tools and other possessions have been stolen. And many women and young girls have been raped by the insurgents. Many have lost their lives.
More than 732 million people in India don’t have access to toilets, according to WaterAid, an international organization that focuses on water, hygiene and sanitation. This lack of access poses problems in particular for rural women and girls who are often obliged to wait until it is dark to defecate in open fields. Not only does this situation create physical discomfort, compromise sanitation and health, and damage dignity, but it also causes serious safety problems.
Fort Caroline Presbyterian Church, which I serve as interim pastor, is 60 years old and has long passed its “glory days.” It’s in the Arlington area in Jacksonville, Florida, a neighborhood in the midst of transition. When I arrived nearly four years ago as the part-time ecumenical pastor, we were worshiping alongside about 20 people. We have only two couples in their 50s; most worshipers are 70–98 years of age.
I graduated from seminary over 46 years ago and I have served in very large urban congregations, suburban large churches, campus ministry, hospital chaplaincy, congregations with schools and nursing homes — and in Miami, where about 70 percent of the folks are Latino. So, I have learned a great deal over my career that was never brought up in seminary. My thesis, therefore, is that all effective pastors need to be prepared to know and be aware of resources that the folks we minister to need to survive.
Dr. Janet Loman may be the perfect person to chair the Presbyterian Association of Musicians’ 50th anniversary fundraising campaign.
The goal of the “Thankful Hearts and Voices Raise” campaign is to raise $1 million in time for next year’s 50th annual PAM worship and music conference.
Dick Liberty wanted to teach voice at the college level. He was working on a master’s degree in vocal performance at Temple University, but he needed a job to pay tuition. An employment agency tested him, found that he had an aptitude for math, and sent him to accounts receivable at the Board of Pensions.
During six years in El Salvador as a mission co-worker with the Joining Hands Network, Kristi Van Nostran worked to bring people to a common table and create a network to support ongoing efforts around justice and food sovereignty. Now she is working with two Southern California presbyteries to once again walk alongside her Central American brothers and sisters.
