Any recounting of the journey of the children of Israel must include the story of the golden calf. It’s an important story because it reminds us of our own ways of traveling the journeys God has set before us. We want to claim our place among God’s chosen, and yet we cannot do so without owning our own failures as followers of a leader. We, too, have often found our spiritual leaders “up on the mountain” awaiting a word from God and, like Moses’ followers, have tired of waiting for epiphany that will provide us the answers we desire. We know what happens next.
News, media, information, publishing and the spiritual or divine are inseparable — digital or otherwise. This fact has been laid bare since the pandemic began. Churches have had to respond quickly to increased anxieties and new challenges, all while reimagining the ways we gather as disciples of Jesus. How can they worship and serve faithfully in a strange time, when we are not gathered in bodily presence?
The older we get, the more we begin to think, “My memory isn’t what it used to be.” With each successive decade, we seem to remember less, and less accurately, than we used to. Sometimes we look back and see what we want to see, rather than what really happened. We see this in Numbers 11.
For really good ideas on how to serve the faithful at Park Ridge Presbyterian Church in suburban Chicago, the Rev. Amanda H. Joria often relies on her mother.
One month after the Rev. Dr. Jason Brian Santos became pastor of Community Presbyterian Church in Lake City, Colorado, the small mountain town of 400 officially became a “gateway” trail town for hikers on the Continental Divide. It was already well known as one of the better towns to stop for those hiking the Colorado Trail, which runs from Denver to Durango.
Along the High Trestle Trail, berries settle on.
Elderberries hang purple from red branches, dressed like Red Hat ladies out on the town. Honeysuckle opts for Christmas colors, setting red balls among still-green leaves. And the clustered white berries of the local dogwood carry dark center spots that make them look like manic eyeballs.
Working for a just peace in Israel-Palestine can’t be left only to the governments, or even the diplomats. Sindyanna of Galilee, a Presbyterian Mission Agency global partner and grassroots group of Arab and Jewish women, is working together to share its vision of peaceful co-existence in the region.
Valentine’s Day is one of those commercialized holidays that boost the bottom lines of candy companies — and florists. But when I was a little girl, Feb. 14 wasn’t about flowers or even the chocolates in the heart-shaped box that my mother would put on top of my cereal bowl in the morning. (It was always a beautiful sight to see that loving gesture brightening what would have been just another ordinary wintry day for my brother, sister and me. I tried my best not to get into the candy before heading to school, emphasis on “tried.”)
