A “peace movement” is taking place throughout Mid-Kentucky Presbytery. Its origins are found in Scripture for sure, but the movement has gained momentum largely in response to COVID-19.
Vacation Bible School at Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis will “bee” different, in a hybrid way, this year, according to organizers. Although “maybe 75” children were expected to take part, more than 150 children — ages 4 through fifth grade — have registered for in-person VBS, and more children will participate online, June 21–25.
A Garden Remembrance Memorial has been installed on the front courtyard of the Presbyterian Church of Dover, 54 S. State St., Dover, Delaware. It’s a temporary tribute, a space for healing, reflection and prayer to honor the lives of more than 1,600 Delawareans lost to COVID-19 from March 2020 to the end of May 2021.
The year was 2009, the place was Yei in what is now South Sudan, the newest country in the world. I was a mission co-worker serving as the first principal of RECONCILE Peace Institute, and our first class of students had arrived. The student body included about 45 church and community leaders from a dozen or more ethnic groups on opposing sides of a two- decades-long civil war. They had come to Yei to take courses in community-based trauma healing, peace studies and conflict transformation.
Six years ago, Nohemi Cuéllar and her husband, the Rev. Dr. Gregory Cuéllar, used a tried-and-true method to launch a ministry that helps young immigrants entering the U.S. through South Texas to express their stories, their fears and even the faith that’s sustained them.
Presented by the Presbyterian Hunger Program, the Rev. Dr. Patricia Tull, an environmental theologian and author of “Inhabiting Eden: Christians, the Bible, and the Ecological Crisis,” led more than 50 participants through an online presentation highlighting her and her family’s journey toward building a zero energy home located in Henryville, Indiana.
Each year, on a Sunday during Lent, Presbyterians take a day to celebrate the mission and ministry of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People (SDOP).
Just how powerful is prayer? On Sunday morning I was greeted by an email from a colleague at the Presbyterian Mission Agency with these words: “May you feel the love and receive strength from all the prayers coming your way this day.”