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minute for mission
September is a time of change. The leaves change colors as the weather cools. The days are shorter and the shadows longer. Summer breaks are over, and kids are settling back into a new school year. At church, Christian educators, pastors and volunteers are diligently preparing for another program year, which kicks off on a Sunday often referred to as Rally Day.
In his poem “In the Soul of the Serene Disciple” Trappist monk Thomas Merton flips the reader between two vantage points of a shared condition — one in which “poverty is a success” and one where it is “no achievement.” That poverty could be a success in any way is a difficult premise to accept. When we think of poverty, we think about a crushing system of social and economic deprivation that isolates and destroys lives. That is a reality for too many and a challenge that the church is called to help address. But the discipline of Christian poverty, in which a disciple might willingly give up a life of excess and extravagance in order to better focus on all that God provides, is another thing altogether.
What’s the use of the Social Creed for the 21st Century? Yes, the Social Creed gets cited in books that deal with ecumenical social ethics, but how many read those after they leave seminary? Well, actually, Cynthia Rigby’s book “Promotion of Social Righteousness” (2010) did get broader circulation, and it reprints the Social Creed as the key illustration of what the church stands for in its social witness. Her title is one of the six “Great Ends of the Church” and it means both social justice and public integrity.
Today, several congregations close to Stony Point Center, many from the Hudson River Presbytery, will host the
2019–20 YAV class for Commissioning Sunday. This day acts as a reminder to both the Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) and our Church that we do not go alone in God’s mission.
Starting this reflection about youth in the church while an Old Testament king is on my mind might seem like a strange place to begin. My “today” mind is full of the images I am enjoying on social media of young people participating in summer mission immersions, camps, service projects and other summer activities. But my “writing” mind is thinking about what King David, has to offer us about youth in the church and the world. David, who is buried in the city he helped establish, once stood as a young man, among his sheep, in the shadow of a giant enemy, with his best friend, Jonathan, with his music and poetry and indeed, with his God. That part of his life, along with his leadership, his goodness and his … not so goodness, is all part of his legacy.
As we look ahead to the final weeks of summer, we’re reminded that a seasonal shift is upon us. Our Sunday newspapers are littered with ads that boast the best “back-to-school” sales, as our grocery stores beckon us to stock up for “one last summer BBQ.” With cooler, less humid days on the horizon, we prepare to say goodbye to summer and to welcome autumn and all that it brings.
Today at 8:15 a.m., the exact time that the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945, the Peace Bell at the Hiroshima Peace City Memorial Monument will ring. Residents of the city, whether at the Peace Park or elsewhere in the city, will pause for a minute to pay their respects, to pray for peace and to remember the horrors of war and of nuclear weaponry. Now, 74 years later, this moment of attention still seems like a sensible and prudent thing to do.
On a recent Sunday morning, I learned about the ancient Japanese art of kintsugi. It happened during the children’s time, when the leader held up a broken vase, a cherished family heirloom, that had been glued back together. And rather than a careful repair job that made the vase look like new, the broken places on this vase were highly visible, actually accented with what looked like raised golden paint. When you looked at this vase, you knew that it had been broken, and exactly where it had been broken. Kintsugi teaches that broken objects aren’t things to hide or throw away, but to display with awe, reverence, pride and restoration. The gold-filled cracks of a once-broken item tell a story; they are a testament to a history.
“I have faith that God will dry up the Rio Grande so that I may safely cross,” he said. He had been on the journey from Honduras to the U.S. for a month and a half when we met him in a migrant shelter in Arriaga, Mexico. His teenage son was traveling with him. He told us about the pressure on his son to join a gang and the lack of lawful means to support oneself in his nation. He talked of seeing people murdered in the street.
How would you celebrate your 50th anniversary? Last year, the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM), a PC(USA) partner church, promoted free HIV testing at all of the events celebrating its 50th anniversary. FJKM President Irako Andriamahazosoa Ammi was tested publicly last August. Over 40,000 people were educated about HIV and AIDS, and 2,000 were tested during six events.
In 2012, the General Assembly made a bold commitment — to create an environment within the denomination that would lead to the flourishing of the existing church and the birth of at least 1001 new communities of worship and witness. The Presbyterian Mission Agency went to work creating a system of resources to support this call to equip presbyteries, help potential leaders discern God’s call, develop a system of grants, build leadership capacity and create a network of coaches prepared to accompany a new worshiping community through all the stages of development. As a result of establishing partnerships and collaboration with other North American denominations, the reach of these resources extends far beyond the PC(USA).
