Like great Black preachers from previous generations, including Dr. James Cone and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., modern-day prophetic preachers have two main jobs, Dr. Anthea Butler said during the first day of the online Festival of Homiletics: bringing solace to people in the pews in times of trouble and speaking truth to power.
The founding pastor of Brambleton Presbyterian Church, the Rev. Elizabeth Brookens-Sturman, remembers what it was like to establish a new Christian church presence in the area just beyond the Capital Beltway. That’s why she isn’t taking lightly Brambleton’s honor of being named the “best of” churches in Ashburn, Virginia, announced in a recent issue of a local magazine.
The 2022 version of Presbyterian Youth Triennium will feature a Matthew 25 framework, activities that will extend a full year following Triennium and enough innovation to send thousands of high schoolers and young adults scurrying to register — once registration goes live this winter.
Peter is to be the rock in which the church would be built upon, really? Outspoken and fearless in declaring Jesus’ message, let us not forget that Peter is the same person who cowered in denial when Jesus was about to be crucified. Still, after all is said and done, the proper focus is not Peter’s courage and lack thereof, but the fact that our Lord chose this fallible human as the touchstone of God’s intention to establish the community of the faithful here on earth. So, what can we say about this “church” in 2021?
Mental Illness Awareness Week is Oct. 3–9, 2021. As the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) notes, millions of Americans live with a mental health condition, and all of us are affected either directly or indirectly. This week provides a time for mental health advocates across the country to come together as one unified voice. See nami.org.
My tee shot gained altitude, a rare outcome and hopeful. But then it started to curve, bending more and more to the left. This was during the decade of my life when I played a little golf.
During my first year as a pastor, there were certain milestones I knew to look forward to. I looked forward to the first time I stood at the communion table and invited my congregation to share in the feast, and the first time I marked an infant with water and proclaimed how much God loved her in baptism. I looked forward to my first Christmas and first sunrise Easter service. But there were other firsts that I didn’t know about that caught me off guard with their beauty.
The International Day of Rural Women is observed on Oct. 15, the day before World Food Day, to bring attention to the “significant contributions [of women] to agricultural production, food security and nutrition, land and natural resource management, and building climate resilience.” This year’s theme is “building women’s resilience in the wake of COVID-19.”
It used to be that the first impression of a church was made at the front door. That first impression is now being made online. These days, people visit almost every organization virtually before having any further interaction. So, the question that needs to be asked is, “What message or image are you presenting to these visitors?”
The Rev. Dr. Allan Boesak, who co-wrote the Confession of Belhar, led what’s now called the World Communion of Reformed Churches and has lived a hope-filled 75 years despite facing down apartheid and other lesser challenges, asked the McCormick Theological Seminary Class of 2021 a pointed question during his address celebrating McCormick’s 187th commencement service: What does it mean to be the church on the inside of an empire in decay?
