During the 32 years since my ordination as a Presbyterian minister and mission co-worker, I have engaged in many not-so-ordinary activities of ministry.
The chain of events that first introduced me to Virginia Laparra was set into motion on Ash Wednesday, March 2. What has happened since then has pushed me far outside my comfort zone. My pastoral visits with Virginia have stretched me greatly in my own lifelong journey of faith.
Like the prophet Nehemiah’s efforts to rally the people to work together to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, the nonprofit multi-ethnic, multi-faith justice organization Lee Interfaith For Empowerment (LIFE) has worked for the past decade to mobilize efforts of the faithful to address important justice issues in Fort Myers, Florida.
Though she’s the reentry pastor of Hagar’s Community Church, the Rev. Riley Pickett has never been inside the Washington Corrections Center for Women. That’s because Pickett’s ministry begins when residents of the largest women’s prison in the state of Washington are released.
The Peace & Global Witness offering — one of four annual special offerings of the PC(USA) — supports peacemaking and reconciliation ministry worldwide.
At age 16, Kalief Browder found himself on New York’s Rikers Island, awaiting trial for a crime he said he didn’t commit. Returning from a party in the Bronx, Browder was accused of stealing a backpack holding a credit card, an iPod Touch, a camera and $700. At his arraignment, he was charged with second-degree robbery. Bail was set at$3,000. Browder didn’t have the ability to “bond out” — pay the fee. He would spend the next three years in jail before being released, with his charges dropped.
The Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis was delivering an impromptu sermon at the end of a long, hot day riding around Western Kentucky on a bumpy bus when she turned to the story of a leper who approached Jesus. “The leper said, ‘If you choose, you can heal me,’” Theoharis said. “‘If you choose, you can heal me.’
Nancy Wind, the leader of the new worshiping community Isaiah’s Table in Syracuse, New York, She recently partnered with the Matthew 25 Farm in Central New York. Its mission is to give away fresh vegetables and fruit to those in need in their neighborhood.
At age 16, Kalief Browder found himself on New York’s Rikers Island, awaiting trial for a crime he says he didn’t commit. Returning from a party in the Bronx, Browder was accused of stealing a backpack holding a credit card, an iPod Touch, a camera and $700. At his arraignment, he was charged with second-degree robbery. Bail was set at $3,000. Browder didn’t have the ability to “bond out” — pay the fee. He would spend the next three years in jail before being released, with his charges dropped.
By the eighth grade, Kimo had stopped showing up for school. He preferred the beaches of western Oahu or the island bus system that took him away from the frustrations of the classroom. It wasn’t long before alcohol and drugs replaced surfing and bus riding as distractions, followed by a career of petty theft and assault. When he was 20, Kimo was shipped off to a private prison in the Arizona desert, contracted by the state of Hawaii to house its prisoners.
