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pandemic
The past year has been this odd dance of ever-changing realities and downright monotony. We have completely shifted how we live. From shopping to Sunday school, nothing is the same. All the while, this new way of living has meant staring at the same walls, the same Zoom screen and the same people day after day. Waking up to wonder what crazy thing happened while I slept, while at the same time realizing that today’s schedule will essentially look like yesterday’s, has pretty much sucked the creative lifeblood right out of me.
The pandemic has stretched the Church in many ways — but we are still very much … here. Although it was hard at first, we have expanded our thinking, and our doing, in new and innovative ways to close the distance and be together. We have continued to worship. We have continued to build and shape community; we have continued to take care of one another. And on top of all that, we have continued to come together to serve those in need; both here in our own community and all over the world. Despite the difficulty, struggle and loss, the Church continues to declare its presence in the world, through different means, certainly, but toward the same purpose.
It was almost exactly one year ago when Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo leadership called faculty and staff together to announce that the COVID-19 pandemic had made its way to Egypt — and that it was time for students to return home and faculty to prepare to teach online.
Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the United Nations’ 65th Commission on the Status of Women Tuesday, linking the status of democracy to the status of women as delegates from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Presbyterian Women watched online.
As we begin the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are reasons for hope, including vaccines approved for emergency use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Yet even 95% efficacy for a vaccinated individual means that, statistically, 19 out of 20 people are effectively covered against becoming seriously ill from coronavirus, but 1 in 20 is not.
COVID-19 has changed the Rev. Jane Pauw from the inside out.
This Easter season, one of the ways Covenant Network of Presbyterians is furthering its mission is to offer Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) preachers a week off from filling their virtual pulpit on April 11, the Sunday after Easter.
The Rev. Woong-Sik (Timothy) Chon, a visual artist and senior pastor at North Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lansing, Michigan, is passionate about the need for ministers to take sabbatical for personal and professional renewal.
Mama O is a wounded healer.
Her moment of greatest need intersected with the critical healing and support services provided by Black Women’s Blueprint, a civil and human rights organization specifically focused on the needs of Black women and girls since 2008. At 65 years of age, she is among the eldest survivors of sexual violence in the organization.
And now, she’s returning the gift.
Picking up on the NEXT Church national gathering theme, “Breaking, Blessing, Building,” Dr. Christine Hong wondered how people will come out of “survival mode” inflicted by the pandemics of coronavirus and racial injustice and rally for a future of blessing and building.
