A few years ago, the Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, wrote this prayer for Mother’s Day worship:
The spiritual disciplines of almsgiving, prayer and fasting (in Matt. 6:1–6 and 16–18) are linked with the storing up of treasures (in 6:19–21). The passage warns that if these spiritual exercises are done only to impress people, without God, they lose their meaning and we become hypocrites.
The Rev. Duke Dixon, pastor of Presbyterian Church of Easton in Easton, Md., part of New Castle Presbytery, returned from a sabbatical last summer feeling his congregation needed to pray — really pray — for its community.
Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis continues to break down walls between church and community. As an engaged urban partner, it is listening to, and praying for, the concerns of its people.
Ask nearly anyone who has served in the military about their chaplain, and you will almost always hear a positive story.
Since before the founding of our nation chaplains have served alongside those who have sought to defend our country and the values we represent. Chaplains are agents of peace, always present in the most trying of times — available to all, no matter the circumstance or the person.
It’s November. The air is full of politics across the United States, and the world will be watching to see whether the face of our country will change or will be one more edition of the same old, same old.
The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins, director of the Office of Public Witness, joined faith leaders from major Christian denominations to host a prayer vigil and rally in Lafayette Park in front of the White House on Wednesday. Their call to witness was to demand that the Trump administration stop slashing the refugee program and welcome 75,000 new refugees in 2019. The rally, sponsored by Church World Service, was held prior to the administration’s planned consultation meeting with Congress, which is expected soon, although no firm date has been set.
Tomorrow Presbyterians will join in prayer with other Christians worldwide to observe the Day of Prayer for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
What time do Korean churches gather to have morning prayer? Five o’clock in the morning? How could you possibly pray that early? It’s an ungodly hour of the day! This is the common response I get from non-Koreans asking about the prayer life in Korean churches.
Several years ago, I had an opportunity to visit Westminster by-the-Sea Presbyterian Church in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, for a Sunday worship service. I had always enjoyed my visits to this church, knowing that I would hear outstanding music and an excellent sermon by their senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Sumner. But I also heard another important message that day. Dr. Sumner spoke of the need for parishioners to attend to their physical health as well as their spiritual well-being. And on this particular Sunday, there would be an opportunity to do this by taking advantage of a free screening for skin cancer that a local dermatologist would be providing immediately after the worship service.
