In response to a referral from the 224th General Assembly (2020) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) for the Presbyterian Mission Agency to develop theological resources for how the church has benefited at the expense of Native American peoples, a consultation was held with Native American leaders at Stony Point Center in New York Sept. 13-15.
The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, who directs the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of Public Witness and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations and wrote “Unbroken and Unbowed: Black Protest in America,” published in February by Westminster John Knox Press, joined an online panel Tuesday as part of Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Just Talk/Talk Just series.
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 the most 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, held late last month.
Native American leaders in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from around the country met in person Nov. 4-6 in Farmington, Minnesota, for the first time since 2020 to discuss implementation of the repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery by the 222nd General Assembly (2016).
They came from north, south, east and west, speaking español (Spanish) and singing joyful alabanzas (praises), to gather in Orlando, Florida, to celebrate Encuentro X, the 10th triennial conference of Hispanic Latin Presbyterian Women (MHLP by its Spanish acronym).
When we read about the first band of Christ followers selling their possessions and “distributing the proceeds to all, as they had need,” (Acts 2:45), we clap our hands, lauding such noble sacrifice, but snicker under our breath, whispering, “Now that’s a bit too much!”
A minister, social ethicist and scholar has been chosen to lead a new endeavor by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to repair the damage done by structural racism and white supremacy within the church and around the globe.
To the psalmist’s question “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” the Rev. Ron McKinney had a ready answer Wednesday during an online Chapel service for the national staff of the PC(USA): “How can we as Native Americans not sing our song? We are not in a foreign land. We are in our own land.”
Most Presbyterians know that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the influential “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” But few know of her time spent in Cincinnati, where she was awakened to the horrors of slavery as a young woman.
In the first paragraph of his new book “What Kind of Christianity: A History of Slavery and Anti-Black Racism in the Presbyterian Church,” Dr. William Yoo includes this question first raised by the Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon: “Where was the Church and the Christian believers when Black women and Black men, Black boys and Black girls, were being raped, sexually abused, lynched, assassinated, castrated and physically oppressed? What kind of Christianity allowed white Christians to deny basic human rights and simple dignity to Blacks, these same rights which have been given to others without question?”
