There is a fountain in Louisville’s Waterfront Park beside the Ohio River. It is an oasis for office workers and a treat for tourists in the heat of summer. Children splash with delight in the jets of water that spring up from the ground. And for members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Sacrament Study Group (2003–2006) it is a sacred place.
“If you reach out to people and provide a way for them to use their gifts, God will use that to build community.” That is what the Rev. Debbie Bronkema has learned the past two years.
On April 2, Good Friday, musicians and pastors will offer a gift to the church: an experience of the practice that has sustained them through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. John Weaver, a celebrated Presbyterian organist and composer, died Monday at the age of 83. His daughter, the Rev. Kirianne E. Weaver, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Ithaca, New York, described his passing in a Facebook post on Tuesday morning:
“Last night, in the small hours, Dad took his last breaths. It was the winding down of a clock, and we knew this moment was coming when the hands would stop moving; it was all peaceful and then came the dawn.”
After seeing the latest edition of Everyday God-Talk, the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell, associate for Worship in the Office of Theology and Worship, was filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude and rejoicing.
Around the time of national elections, the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell gets requests for resources of prayer and services of reconciliation. And Gambrell, the associate for Worship in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of Theology & Worship, said it’s especially true this year during a presidential election as divisive as any in recent memory.
When he first saw the Everyday God-Dance video, the Rev. Dr. Barry Ensign-George, the coordinator of the Office of Theology & Worship, said he loved it.
When the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell was asked to speak at the Presbyterian Youth Triennium last year, he knew it would be both challenging and extremely personal.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has just released “Returning to Public Worship: Theological and Practical Considerations” for congregations and leaders in the midst of making decisions about how and when to return to public worship in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah). First observed in 1951, this commemoration has become an international day of remembrance for those who perished in the Holocaust. It takes place on the 27th day of the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar, which occurs on April 20/21, 2020 (in Jewish tradition, the new day begins at sunset).
