“Jesus and Justice,” the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s first-ever Young Adult Advocacy Conference, got underway on an October Friday at the Presbyterian Center and online. Eighty young people registered for the free three-day conference, including an online cadre of about 30 young adults.
The 225th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) declared the years 2022 to 2032 to be the Decade to End Gun Violence and called on the church to recommit itself to the work.
After a deadly shooting at Westside Middle School near Jonesboro, Arkansas, David Gill and others pined for a way to aid students in their emotional and spiritual recovery. He began delving into the idea of holding a healing camp at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center, where he worked a few hours away.
When Kat Green first arrived at her current call as director of Children’s Ministry at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church in Severna Park, Maryland, recruiting volunteers was her first priority.
In the tradition of beloved writers including Frederick Buechner, the Rev. Dr. Anna Carter Florence has written “A is for Alabaster: 52 Reflections on the Stories of Scriptures,” recently published by Westminster John Knox Press. Carter Florence, the Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary, appeared alongside the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty of the Presbyterian Foundation on his show, “Leading Theologically.”
When the Rev. Dr. Cleo LaRue hears a sermon, he’s listening for four things:
• Was the biblical text central to the sermon?
• Was there a controlling thought or identifiable sermonic idea, or was it, as LaRue calls it, “pearls without a string?”
• Could you follow the sermon with your listening ear? “I am opposed to long quotes,” the former homiletics professor at Princeton Theological Seminary said. “It takes it out of your voice and makes it difficult to hear and follow with your listening ear. You have to write in conversational tone to engage your congregation.”
• Did the sermon make a claim on your life? “Are you preaching because you have something to say,” he asked, “or are you preaching because you have to say something?”
The Rev. Ruth Faith Santana-Grace, Co-Moderator of the 225th General Assembly, is also executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Philadelphia. On Oct. 8, she traveled to the heart of the mid council and a congregational cornerstone of the denomination to preach about First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia turning 325.
While Georgetown, Texas, may be best known as home to the famous “Christmas Stroll,” there’s no place in town Christina Bondesen would rather be at Christmas than at Georgetown’s First Presbyterian Church.
That’s home for her.
Churches rely on members with more money to power ministries that help those with less. Yet our attitudes about money can fuel or deplete our power to help ourselves and others.
It was up to the Rev. Dr. Jerry Cannon to wrap up the Polity, Benefits and Mission conference with preaching laced with both insight and inspiration, and Cannon did plenty of both during closing worship.
