White Christians who do the hard work of educating themselves and empathizing with the centuries of racial trauma their African American siblings have endured can produce hope and healing that’s badly needed, members of an online panel convened by Union Presbyterian Seminary said recently.
Sunday morning worship was long over with, yet the sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church in Gainesville, Florida, was filled with activity. Musicians setting their music stands at the right height. Singers warming up their vocal cords. Ushers greeting those who came for what would be an inspiring afternoon of a community showing their “Love in Action.”
Author and historian the Rev. Dr. Gary Neal Hansen, the author of the 2012 book “Kneeling with Giants: Learning to Pray with History’s Best Teachers,” used two hourlong keynote slots during The Immersion conference in part to offer attendees “a well-rounded diet of prayer.”
Professor Kristin Henning, who teaches at Georgetown Law, directs its Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative and wrote “The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth,” was a recent speaker in New York Avenue Presbyterian Church’s McClendon Scholar Program. More than 500 people from across the country registered to attend the online event.
The Rev. Dr. Luke Powery, Dean at the Chapel at Duke University and an associate professor at the Duke Divinity School, recently used the account of the Valley of Dry Bones found in Ezekiel 37:1–14 to remind preachers that sermons about resurrection must first encounter death in a real way.
“Tell the story of Center Church honestly: the good, the bad and the ugly.”
This guiding principle framed the Rev. Tom Moore’s workshop at Stewardship Kaleidoscope 2022. Moore told participants the story of Center Presbyterian Church in McMurray, Pennsylvania, showing the importance of honesty and transparency when it comes to the church and its finances.
“Evangelism means sharing the good news in relationally flourishing ways,” said Dr. William P. Brown, Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, recently.
It was Billy Taing’s candor that made for a memorable and moving webinar recently hosted by Princeton Theological Seminary’s Center for Asian American Christianity. Taing joined his fellow co-director with the organization API Rise, the Rev. Diane Ujiiye, for a discussion titled “Freedom? A Conversation About Incarceration and Being Asian in the U.S.” Dr. David Chao, director of the Center for Asian American Christianity, was the host. Listen to their conversation here.
“The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love, we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.” – bell hooks (Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations, 1994)
