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Mission Yearbook
The men were taken first, and then the women and children were brutalized. Witnesses saw the Euphrates run with blood, and women plunged into the river to escape the terrors of the desert march.
Less than a mile apart in Princeton, New Jersey, Nassau Presbyterian Church and Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church have a long history as PC(USA) congregations in this historic community.
It’s been more than 50 years since the first Earth Day (1970). Spurred by concerns from that time period about oil spills, polluting factories, and dangerous chemicals being used regularly (described in Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring”), thousands of college students and concerned citizens came together in mass rallies, across political lines. Later that year, the United States Environmental Protection Agency was formed, and federal environmental laws soon followed: the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act. By 1990, Earth Day began to be celebrated globally. The first United Nations Earth Summit was held in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro.
Along the trail by the creek, maple leaves flash red against the yellows of the ash trees. It’s quite a show — and a confirmation that the chill in the air means business.
A recent online Matthew 25 gathering focused on welcoming the stranger. The 80 or so participants learned from two Presbyterians who are currently working hard to carry out Jesus’ command to do just that.
A common table prayer opens with “O Lord, make us truly thankful for that which we are about to receive …”
It sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? But isn’t there something a little strange about that prayer? I mean, why would anyone pray that way?
Seeds planted by mission co-worker Dan Turk and the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM), a longtime global partner of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) World Mission, are beginning to bear fruit.
“Unstable connection.”
Those two words have taken on a deeper meaning in the past couple of years, haven’t they? For many, the words “unstable connection,” “weak connection” or worse, “lost connection,” are synonymous for an online meeting that has become frozen or dropped off. These dreaded words, popping up on a phone or computer, mean whatever is being offered isn’t getting through. It isn’t able to be shared. The connection is in jeopardy.
Maundy Thursday was the start of what is known as the Easter Triduum — triduum, which is Latin for “three days.” Three days, which include Good Friday and Holy Saturday, in which before we get to the joy of the resurrection, we are reminded how quick we are to betray, to cry “crucify him” and to sink into the depths of despair when we are left in the limbo of loss.
In the Pacific, subsistence farming on land and subsistence fishing remains a foundation of livelihoods across our sea of islands, as well as a source of income. Climate change induced extreme weather (storms, cyclones/hurricanes, droughts, floods, etc.) and salt-water inundation from rising seas has already had a major impact on our plantations and farms.
