The small town of Lebanon (pop. 5,800) sits 70 miles southeast of Louisville in the heart of central Kentucky. Surrounded by lush farmland, the area is known as a hub for bluegrass music, manufacturing facilities and bourbon production. It’s also home to United Presbyterian Church, which hosted a prayer service last Friday in response to President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order on refugees and immigration.
While Presbyterians and more than 500 other clergy gathered in North Dakota in support of the Native American water protectors last Thursday, the Presbyterian Center in Louisville was the site of a prayer vigil held at the same time. The short vigil, organized by staff, allowed Presbyterians and others in and around Louisville to stand in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Congolese security forces clashed with demonstrators in the nation’s capital, Kinshasa, on Monday reportedly killing dozens. Further protests erupted in Kinshasa and around the country over the next several days. These seem likely to continue—or even intensify—as President Joseph Kabila nears the end of his second term of office without calling a national election to choose his successor.
You may not see them, but they pick the crops, sweep the floors, care for the children and elderly, build infrastructure, labor in factories, cook, and serve. They often have to leave their home countries and families to find a job. They send much of their earnings back home to their families.
For more than a century, the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church stood tall in the city’s Overbrook neighborhood. Now only the charred outer walls of the building remain after fire raged through the church early Monday morning.
A common religious conceit is that people turn to prayer only in times of difficulty and despair. In my time as a hospice chaplain, I have found that idea to be untrue. Often pain and grief seem to stifle one’s ability to connect with God in prayer. Prayer can seem both insufficient and overwhelming when trauma has pierced the soul. I am often called in to assist people in these times of spiritual disconnect.
This week, Presbyterian World Mission co-worker, Christi Boyd is helping to facilitate the Church of Christ’s (ECC) Women’s Department’s first Healing Hearts training event in Goma, North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of Congo.
After earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from the University of Washington and then landing a plum job at Amazon less than a year later, what more could a young software engineer want?
If you had a chance to share a cup of coffee with Jesus, what would you talk about? Young adults attending the 2016 Youth Triennium have the opportunity to imagine that conversation and record it into their personal journal at the Pause Prayer Center, a reflective and meditative antidote to the mostly high energy events that mark the triennial gathering held on Purdue University’s campus.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…. 2 Corinthians 4 God, whose… Read more »
