On October 19, a group of 14 — pilgrims, really — from the Synod of Lakes and Prairies arrived at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. As part of their civil rights journey through Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, they came to walk the grounds where history holds its breath, to witness a Presbyterian institution that bears the weight of the past with the dignity of the present and the promise of the future.
Many preachers get a little antsy about preaching on and around secular holidays, among them the Fourth of July, Labor Day, Mother’s Day — and that biggest secular holiday of all, Super Bowl Sunday. In their minds, the culture and the church ought to be kept at arm’s length from one another.
As the Rev. Shanea D. Leonard began to talk about radical welcome from Montreat Conference Center, they put on an apron and began to reflect on childhood holidays.
The early 1970s was a similar time of harsh political polarization, with issues of race and poverty a prominent part of our conversations and a Church wondering how to address them.
As a young adult, I moved to New York City. I wanted to know what it was like to ride in a crowded subway right underneath another person’s armpit. I wanted to know what it was like to walk down a crowded Manhattan street and have to engage with some people who were well and some who were not so well, all co-existing together.
Months before the annual observance of the bombing that rocked a congregation, a community and the nation, Sixteenth Street Baptist Church has been getting ready.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is partnering with the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. for a truth and racial justice initiative. A three-day gathering called “Unite to End Racism” will be held Tuesday through Thursday in Washington, D.C. The event marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in Memphis.
Today’s worship service at the chapel at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) offices was not your typical service. Following the call to worship, participants joined in a rousing prayer for justice that included excerpts from the Confession of Belhar in a rhythm from Ghana, West Africa. The prayer was led by Alonzo Johnson, director of Self Development of People, and his African drum.
In 1956, First Presbyterian Church in Montgomery, Alabama, decreed that no member of the “Negro race” would be allowed in its church. The present day congregation has spent the past two years repenting for this decision.
Do churches care about working people? The Social Creed for the 21st Century says yes. Right after its adoption in 2008, for example, it was invoked to support ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage. So how did the 33 churches in the National Council of Churches reach agreement to update the original Social Creed of 1908? The answer is threefold and gives us hope for ecumenical cooperation to advocate for working people.
