In August of 2013, President Obama announced the possibility of military action in Syria. Our Syrian Church partners urged the Presbyterian Church (USA) to speak out against military action, arguing that the situation would only become more violent as more weapons were funneled into the country. Mary Mikael, our church partner from the Evangelical Church of Syria and Lebanon, came to Washington, DC and the Office of Public Witness organized visits with key members of congress and the administration. She asked them to give “Syrians a chance to live.”
“When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.” Luke 23:33
Even in today’s era of constitutional monarchies, royalty look to project power. They seek to rise above political skirmishes and to stay above the fray. Their thrones and crowns remind us commoners that we do not live in their rarified world. Kings and queens strive to project a non-anxious, detached calm from whatever troubles might be assailing their subjects.
As our society continues to age we hear more and more about the challenges of dementia. There are now about 5 million people living with Alzheimer’s in the United States today, and that number will grow. It has been called the Dementia Tsunami. Alzheimer’s disease is the most feared medical condition and there is still no cure. What starts as forgetfulness becomes increasing disability, disconnection, dependence and death.
As you are reading this, over 200 Presbyterian teaching elders are scattered throughout our nation and the world in service to church and country. These teaching elders serve in federal chaplaincy positions with the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Over the past few years, three members of my very Protestant extended family have become Roman Catholic. All of these conversions were undertaken with little or no contact with the other persons. These shifts have deepened the question that all of us face, particularly on Reformation Day: What is the future of Protestantism, particularly Reformed Protestantism?
This weekend marks the 25th annual National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths, uniting people of faith in common concern for problems like child poverty; in shared conviction that the God of love and justice calls us to the same; and in renewed commitment to reach out with love and to speak up for justice to improve the lives of children.
“The most significant change brought about through the industrialization of farming and the green revolution in the ’60s is the gradual and insidious alienation of seeds from the farmers. So we don’t have our native seeds and we are almost totally dependent on company seeds, which include hybrid and GM seeds.”
In 2008, Dorene Seidl, a beloved, long-term member of Briargate Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, was killed by her husband when she was attempting to leave their relationship of over 40 years.
That’s when domestic violence visited our church. It was heartbreakingly real.
A shared faith and joint worship are building a bridge that is helping two Denver congregations cross a racial divide. Central Presbyterian, a predominantly white congregation, and Peoples Presbyterian, a predominantly African American one, began this journey on Martin Luther King Day this year. Central members traveled the 2.3 miles that separate the two congregations to worship with Peoples. The following Sunday, Peoples visited Central.
Evangelism is all about relationships . . . .
In meetings with church leaders, I continue to grow in my faith and in what it means to follow Christ. Through these encounters I am going deeper into what I already know in my heart: that evangelism is good news, relational, messy, and takes time.
