This past summer, on the heels of bidding “Happy Retirement” to its executive presbyter, the Rev. Dr. Robert Foltz-Morrison, the Presbytery of New York City launched a search process for a transitional/interim EP ahead of an anticipated search for a “permanent” EP.
Every Thursday, I try to wear black to stand in solidarity with my siblings who are experiencing violence. Some days I forget, but working from home gives me the opportunity to correct it. But those who experience violence can’t forget, because they live with the trauma of it every day. What if we, in our daily lives, loved others like God in Christ loves them? Would we turn a blind eye to the violence and injustice we know is happening around us? What if we lived in a world that did not tolerate violence? What if the church stood as a voice against violence?
In a world that is becoming increasingly indifferent to religion, more people are wrestling with the existential questions our human nature brings about. What is my purpose in life? Is there really a God? How can God exist when everything seems so unfair?
Over a year after a tornado destroyed First Presbyterian Church of Mayfield, Kentucky, and much of the community, the disaster has left the church grounds virtually bare. But a sign gives a hint of a promising future.
The Four Chaplains stood on the deck of the USAT Dorchester on Feb. 3, 1943. Linked arm in arm, chaplains George Fox (Methodist), Alexander Goode (Jewish), Clark Poling (Reformed) and John Washington (Roman Catholic) sang hymns and offered prayers as the ship sank beneath the turbulent waves of the North Atlantic. Perhaps these courageous servants of God were comforted, even as we read in our Psalm, by knowing the faithful love of our Lord endures forever.
Ten pairs of trail shoes crunch up the carriage road. A dry August has browned trailside grass and prompted some early color amid the maples. Grasshoppers shoot off in all directions. A few monarch butterflies drift by in pursuit of milkweed. We are on our way to Elder’s Grove, an 8-acre stand of old-growth white pines that date to 1675.
Winter is no match for Americans who are weary of gun violence and who are determined to do something about it. From Dec. 3–10, from a frigid church parking lot in Cambridge, Wisconsin to a rainy day in Decatur, Georgia, church members and others fired up their chop saws to join the Guns to Gardens movement. Their goal? Transforming unwanted guns into garden tools.
Pastoral residencies — post-seminary experiences designed to enhance and broaden ministry capabilities of fledgling pastors — recently received a fond gaze back from some of the people who best know the programs, which are scattered around the country.
Indonesia is a nation consisting of tribes with cultural and religious diversity. In Java, where I live, the majority of the people are Muslim.
When my mother died at the age of 81 on Nov. 3, 2021, young women in the village made flower arrangements called “rencong” at the front of our house. Before the coffin was lifted up, they put the rencong on top of the crate.
In our church’s social media posts, we’ve noticed a trend: The single, static photo is declining in effectiveness compared to short video clips. Meta (the parent company of Facebook and Instagram) has been pushing “Reels,” which are videos less than 90 seconds long. There are two considerations in creating these Reels — technical aspects and content.
