Something is calling you, but you cannot see it. It leads you to a path and you follow it, until you come across a forest. You step to the edge and see nothing inside. It is neither dark nor light, but simply foggy. It is neither menacing nor inviting, simply mysterious. It is a path into the unknown. But something is pulling you toward it—something inside you that wants to keep going. And as you try to see where the path leads, you realize that the only way to know is to follow the trail and see where it goes.
Over the past few years, three members of my very Protestant extended family have become Roman Catholic. All of these conversions were undertaken with little or no contact with the other persons. These shifts have deepened the question that all of us face, particularly on Reformation Day: What is the future of Protestantism, particularly Reformed Protestantism?
Recently, I was invited to share my thoughts on the “big picture” view of my church. I had the honor of sharing in a panel with a group of Presbyterian pastors from the Middle East. As Christians they were the minority in their national culture.
As Presbyterians they were the minority among their Christian brothers and sisters. As such, they had to be intentional about nurturing faith in their youth, cultivating character in their families, and making disciples who could be the salt and light in their communities. And though I have no firsthand experience of the lives they live, I was struck by the beauty and challenges they faced in their journey of faith.
When we preachers are at our best, we study a Bible passage thoroughly as we prepare for each sermon. We usually ask a series of questions about the passage, most of which help us discover what this text says to the people who will hear the sermon. Recently I heard a presentation that challenged me to bring new questions to the text, to help encourage my listeners to respond in a particular way.
Jen Evans could not stop the tears when she saw a year’s worth of work come to completion at the 2016 Presbyterian Youth Triennium, a gathering of thousands of Presbyterian youth that takes place every three years at Purdue University. As one of the recreation leaders, she was responsible for creating a Hate to Hope Wall experience that was part spiritual reflection, part prophecy, and part art installation. A year in the making, the wall project encouraged youth to write notes of hope on cloth ribbons to cover hateful words and phrases that had been spray painted onto a wall built of pallets.
While the US and Cuban governments have only recently reestablished diplomatic ties, the Presbyterian Church has continually maintained a relationship between the two countries. Congregations will get an idea how that has progressed this month when the 2016 class of International Peacemakers visits the United States.
Three women have been honored with the 2016 Women of Faith Awards conferred by the Racial Ethnic & Women’s Ministries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The awards honor female members of the PC(USA) whose lives exemplify their Christian commitment through witness, service, and leadership. The 2016 Women of Faith awardees are:
When Rev. Eric Markman became pastor of Hartford Street Presbyterian Church in Natick, Massachusetts, 5½ years ago, several members warned him not to do anything with the church’s land. Hartford Street Presbyterian had been through a difficult and ultimately unsuccessful effort to create low-income housing on part of its nine acres of land-locked property.
For two decades Starmount Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina, has been actively ministering to families resettling in the community, with a special emphasis on children and youth. Part of that commitment has been partnering with families from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Bosnia, Syria, and Chad, to name a few.
This weekend marks the 25th annual National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths, uniting people of faith in common concern for problems like child poverty; in shared conviction that the God of love and justice calls us to the same; and in renewed commitment to reach out with love and to speak up for justice to improve the lives of children.
