“The moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love, we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others.” – bell hooks (Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations, 1994)
Broad Street Food Pantry in Columbus, Ohio, got its start in 1971 when women from Broad Street Presbyterian Church (BSPC) noticed that more and more people were requesting food from the pastoral staff and wanted to help.
At St. John’s Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, where the Rev. Dr. Theresa Cho and the Rev. Sam Lundquist serve as pastors, even Dolly Parton — or at least her look-alike — might well show up for worship during a Sunday celebrating Pride Month.
Friends and family of a passionate and prophetic Presbyterian pastor recently gathered at Broadway Presbyterian Church in New York City to share their gratitude for the life, faith and hard work of the Rev. Dr. Robert Laird Brashear. Watch the service here.
The Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies is a consortium of three universities — the Universitas Gadjah Mada (a non-confessional state-owned university), Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga (a state-owned Islamic university) and Universitas Kristen Duta Wacana (a private Christian university) — all located in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Things are different at DOWNTOWN CHURCH in — you guessed it — downtown Columbia, South Carolina.
The church is located in a former energy facility for the State Hospital, and it features an open floorplan, stained concrete floors, large rolling garage doors and no branding of the church on the brick exterior.
When we read about the first band of Christ followers selling their possessions and “distributing the proceeds to all, as they had need,” (Acts 2:45), we clap our hands, lauding such noble sacrifice, but snicker under our breath, whispering, “Now that’s a bit too much!” We eye their sudden dispossession as fanatical, what uncouth cults do: they sell everything and go up to the mountains because they are cocksure of Jesus’ return date and time. We have (and have had) many Christian-freaks/fringes who abandoned human society to welcome the end of the world, only to return poorer. Here we are, 2,000 years later, and the human society is still humming, and money still matters, so let’s live out our faith in “decency and order.”
They came from north, south, east and west, speaking español (Spanish) and singing joyful alabanzas (praises) to gather in Orlando, Florida, to celebrate Encuentro X, the 10th triennial conference of Hispanic Latin Presbyterian Women (MHLP by its Spanish acronym).
From celebrating World Wetlands Day and engaging in community advocacy to raising butterflies and growing herbs and spices, Dorchester Presbyterian Church in Summerville, South Carolina, shows love for God’s Creation.
The inspiration to write his 2021 book “Our Angry Eden: Faith and Hope on a Hotter, Harsher Planet” came, of all places, during a meeting of National Capital Presbytery, the Rev. Dr. David Williams told Presbyterians for Earth Care during a recent Zoom conversation. Listen to Williams’ talk here.
