Human beings often forget that all life is sacred.
On this day in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) declared the sacredness of all human life due to its “inherent dignity” and its “equal and inalienable rights.”
During each of her nearly 20 years working for the United Nations, Dr. Azza Karam, now secretary general for the organization Religions for Peace, would take in “the awe-inspiring moment” along with prime ministers and presidents as the U.N. General Assembly got underway each year.
Those gathered in Karlsruhe, Germany, for the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches focused on caring for Creation during a press conference that featured panelists hailing from places as far-flung as the Arctic Circle and the Caribbean.
When Margo Smith thinks about Black Mountain Presbyterian Church’s commitment to addressing food insecurity and other community needs in western North Carolina, she is reminded of an engraving inside the church’s sanctuary.
Members and friends of Second Presbyterian Church in Roanoke, Virginia, recently gathered for worship to celebrate the success of their Mission Build Campaign, which raised $1.7 million to construct or renovate four facilities stretching from across the street south all the way to the Dominican Republic.
Last summer, together with his partner, Troy, the Rev. Brian Ellison, executive director of Covenant Network of Presbyterians, crossed three countries off his bucket list with a visit to the Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In Latvia’s capital, Riga, they visited the new Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, which “tells the story of a healthy functioning democracy” in a country that was occupied from 1939–89 by first the Soviets, then the Germans and then the Soviets again.
That’s what the Rev. Dr. Cynthia Rigby, the W.C. Brown Professor of Theology at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, asked the people attending the recent Covenant Conversation at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Oklahoma City. Rigby was the keynote speaker.
This past summer, 1001 New Worshiping Communities ministry kin-dom community hosted its first kin-dom camp for LGBTQIA+ youth ages 12–17 living in Texas and other states in the Synod of the Sun.
For the Rev. Jennifer Burns Lewis, “love makes room” is the umbrella of her theology. Along with Micah 6:8 — to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God — it is the shaping framework of her work as the vision and connecting leader of the Presbytery of Wabash Valley.
During the last two years of Covid and other global crises, progress against the HIV pandemic has faltered, resources have shrunk and millions of lives are at risk as a result. This year, UNAIDS is challenging us to tackle the inequalities and inequities in HIV prevention and treatment. Inequity exists between countries and within countries. In Madagascar, only 15% of those infected with HIV know their status while in the U.S.A., 87% of those infected know their status. Both countries are striving to reach at risk populations.
