Every year, an average of 200 Presbyterians gather in Washington, D.C. for Advocacy Training Weekend as an opportunity to worship, attend workshops and fellowship with other Presbyterians and Christian denominations. But this year’s attendance for Compassion, Peace and Justice Training Day is hitting record levels and people are still signing up with less than two weeks to go.
The invitations have been extended and this fall, 16 individuals will visit Presbyterian churches, mid-councils and other institutions as part of the International Peacemakers initiative.
The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY), a long-time Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) partner, is requesting prayers for victims of violence after several attacks by bandits from neighboring South Sudan in the past two weeks.
Presbyterians interested in learning more about climate justice in Central America will have the opportunity to see it up close this summer. The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and Environmental Ministries are co-sponsoring a travel study seminar to Guatemala and Costa Rica August 7–18, 2017.
The 61st session of the Commission on the Status of Women will soon begin at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Commission will meet from March 13 – 24 and the Presbyterian Ministry to the United Nations will once again host a group of Presbyterians interested in following the work.
Dr. Anthea Butler was stopped for driving while black in her late-model luxury car. As a flashlight shone on her boyfriend’s pale face, the police officer asked, “Did you pick her up somewhere?”
While water protectors, encamped near the confluence of the Cannon Ball and Missouri rivers in North Dakota, endure brutal winter weather, Elona Street-Stewart, synod executive of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, recounted her mid-November trip to the encampment, describing the camp, the work to prepare for the north’s raw winter, the sacredness of water and the role of the church.
Dr. Anthea Butler was stopped for driving while black in her late-model luxury car. As a flashlight shone on her boyfriend’s pale face, the police officer asked, “Did you pick her up somewhere?” The officer assumed that the car could not have been hers, and that her presence next to a white male implied sex trafficking. He overlooked the Ivy League professor of color in the driver’s seat to speak to her passenger.
As many as 200 people are reported injured at Standing Rock, North Dakota following an incident with law enforcement at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline construction overnight.
The election earlier this month revealed deep divisions in our country and raised many important questions for Christian people of faith as we look to our future as the Church. For many faithful Presbyterians, one of the questions facing us this week has a particular urgency: How can we navigate the tensions surrounding the Thanksgiving dinner table with friends and family who voted differently from us?
