healing Archives

Sanctuaries under construction

Posted August 19th, 2022

The rooms we occupy — those places where breath is taken, words are spoken and memories are made — are often taken for granted. They have four walls and a ceiling, reflecting the personality of the occupant or the traditions of an organization. But can rooms be more?

The kitchen is a holy place

Posted July 19th, 2022

When I came on board as a co-host of the “Food and Faith” podcast, I suggested to my other hosts, Anna Woofenden and Sam Chamelin, that I would love to have more people on the show talk to us about cooking. I wanted to hear how people connected cooking to their values, how the act of cooking can be meditative or reflective, and how people connect or reconnect in the kitchen to deepen family histories or discuss even deeper issues of heritage and race.

The new language of love

Posted July 19th, 2022

The pain from hurtful words can result in issues of self-esteem, or it may cause one to make wrong life choices. Words spoken to intentionally cause pain to another — or unintentionally — can chip away at the life God envisions for all.

Called to advocate for healing

Posted July 2nd, 2022

During closing worship Friday at the Presbyterian Association of Musicians’ Worship and Music Conference, the Rev. Aisha Brooks-Johnson encouraged those present, in person and online, to become advocates for healing.

Minute for Mission: National Day of Awareness & Action for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People

Posted April 26th, 2022

Indigenous communities have been struck by the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit people (MMIW) for decades. This epidemic is a systemic failure where Indigenous women are going missing and being murdered at alarmingly high rates with minimal justice. Within the past several years, the MMIW movement has brought awareness of this violence to the public’s attention. Still, there is much work to be done.

A climate scientist’s case for hope and healing

Posted February 25th, 2022

Climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe says the most important thing we can do to fight climate change is to talk about it. That’s precisely what she did during a McClendon Scholar Program offered by New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Nearly 400 people listened in.

Every hymn in ‘Glory to God’ is worth singing sometime

Posted July 22nd, 2021

One of the high points so far in my ministry within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been participation in the development of “Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal.” Although I came on board near the end of the hymn selection process, I had the honor of being involved in the preparation and introduction of this major resource of congregational song for the church.

The role of ritual in pandemic recovery

Posted June 25th, 2021

A worship liturgy to acknowledge our fatigue and grief and remind ourselves of God’s companionship, guidance and faithfulness.

Is healing at the core of our congregations?

Posted January 26th, 2021

As a seminary student I heard a constant refrain from our professors: Jesus came to preach and teach. It was the pretext underlying our whole seminary education as they trained us to preach and teach.

‘Voices of Jubilee’ encourages, inspires incarcerated youth

Posted January 4th, 2021

In the fall of 2018, youth at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center (BAJCC) in Chesterfield County, Virginia, asked to start a gospel choir. The request reached the Rev. Lauren Ramseur and the Rev. Ashley Diaz Mejias who, along with friends, collaborated to support the initiative. Ramseur and Mejias soon discovered that they were “doing church” — gathering twice a month at the correctional center for a community of worship. The group named themselves the Voices of Jubilee.