The almost two-century-old sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church in Wetumpka, Alabama was destroyed Saturday when a tornado struck the town, which is northeast of Montgomery.
While sitting in a committee meeting in 2004, Tom Neal asked, “How do we help all our churches get involved in mission?” Since no formal system was in place within the Presbytery of Detroit at that time, he and others worked to create the Hands-On Mission Work Group (HOMWG).
The Food Center at Morrisville Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania opened more than two decades ago as an emergency resource. As the federal government shutdown dragged into its fourth week, volunteers there realized a new emergency was developing.
“Ron Workman, who is our treasurer, is the one who suggested we might want to look into offering food to furloughed federal employees,” says Carol Romano, operations manager for the food bank.
Compassion fatigue — that malady that many pastors, first responders and others in helping professions suffer that can leave them feeling isolated, tired, trapped or worse — can be overcome, and there’s help for those who, as the Rev. Dr. Dana Sutton put it, “are healing the world and need to heal themselves.”
It sounded like a good idea, at the time.
Raj Nadella, Assistant Professor of New Testament and Director of the Master of Arts (Theological Studies) Program at Columbia Theological Seminary, was presenting at a May 2017 conference in Bangkok, and immigration was a huge topic.
That got him thinking: “There had been conversations on the topic of immigration at the time, but a lot of them have been taking place in a piecemeal fashion,” Nadella says.
“There hasn’t been a real comprehensive, multidisciplinary conference that explores the issue of immigration not only from a theological perspective, but from a legal and historical perspective.”
If Luis Ramos Salgado had tried to ride the storm out in his home, he wouldn’t be able to walk down his street on this sunny morning.
“I’d be dead,” he says through a translator, standing in the kitchen of the only home he’s ever known in San Juan’s Caño Martín Peña area.
It’s a pretty port of call.
Mere blocks from where cruise ships pull into San Juan terminal, visitors can find enticing Old San Juan, with its mix of history, shops and restaurants, all open for business, even on a warm but quiet Tuesday night. Veering right, visitors can find conveniences such as bike rentals and a CVS pharmacy, all up and running.
“People go to hotels, Old San Juan and they see the stores open, lights … and they say, ‘Oh, everything is back to normal,’” the Rev. Edwin A. González-Castillo says.
Except it’s not.
For 25 years, Christians have gathered at both sides of the United States and Mexico border at San Diego and Tijuana to re-enact Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem before the birth of Jesus Christ in a service called La Posada Sin Fronteras.
