“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.
One of our planet’s worst earthquakes leveled Managua, Nicaragua, in December 1972. A medical doctor and missionary, Gustavo Parajón, raced to action. Within hours he had mobilized others to feed those left homeless. This ecumenical, Jesus-loving, outward-looking group called itself the Council of Protestant Churches of Nicaragua (CEPAD). Today and for most of its more than 40-year history, CEPAD has helped people feed themselves and avoid the need to emigrate.
This article is from the Fall 2016 issue of Mission Crossroads magazine, which is available online and also printed and mailed free to subscribers’ homes three times a year by Presbyterian World Mission. The issue was printed before Haiti was devastated by Hurricane Matthew.
Although the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina are now quiet following protests in response to the September 20 shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott by police, area Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastors say the historic and deep-seated sentiment that fostered unrest after this killing remains.
From the Pope to the Southern Baptist Convention, faith leaders across the globe have issued urgent calls to care for God’s creation, our global neighbors and future generations by conserving energy. Hoosier congregations are answering these calls. Last year First Presbyterian Church joined five other faith communities from Gary to Jeffersonville in applying for state grant funds to install solar panels on their church roofs. These five congregations—a community church, a Baptist church, a Friends Community, a Disciples of Christ church and First Presbyterian—installed more than 58 kW of solar panels, enough to supply one-third to one-half of each church’s electrical power.
Sa-wing! Bam! Whoosh! When you hit it just right, you know. Through years, decades, nearly two centuries of trial and error in the mission field, I think we Presbyterians may have found the sweet spot on this one. The way we are moving forward in mission involvement in Honduras is feeling like a step in the right direction, bringing a concrete, engaged way to be partners in mission.
The gravel road is mostly abandoned now. With only small spots of fallen snow and flurries along the way, one would not believe this was the same road that led masses of people to the world’s highest lift-served ski area at 17,785 feet. After navigating hairpin turns and watching the houses and farmland of the Bolivian “altiplano” (high plateau) become smaller and smaller (if one dared look over the narrow road’s edge), the Chacaltaya glacier, in all its nakedness, soon would be revealed. Today’s view of the glacier, however, is much different from that of years past. Now only a few small remnants of ice and snow remain.
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.
Hope for reconciliation between the United States and Cuba reached a peak when Barack Obama became the first sitting president in 88 years to visit the island nation. People lined the streets of Havana, chanting for the American president—an act that could have sent them to jail in another era.
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.
