When Nora Leccese, who addresses domestic, poverty and environmental issues for Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness (OPW), first came to the office through the Emerson National Hunger Fellows Program she only expected to be there for five months.
In the eighth installment of Theological Conversations for 2017, the Theology, Formation & Evangelism ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) presents Redeeming Covenant: A Critical Reflection on Puritan Covenant Theology, Democracy and Racism in the U.S.
Having first visited South Africa in 1984, when the struggle against apartheid was reaching a crescendo, I was overjoyed to be present at the 222nd General Assembly (2016) when, after nearly a decade of study and debate, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) formally embraced the Confession of Belhar and acknowledged its profound capacity to illuminate our calling as followers of Christ.
The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), has penned a letter to PC(USA) congregations inviting participation in the Freedom Rising initiative.
High incarceration rates, widespread unemployment and low educational attainment among African American young men have led some observers to call them a “lost generation.” However, the Rev. Mary Susan Pisano rejects this description.
In a few weeks, many of us will make our way to a place we call home in observance of Thanksgiving, our most religiously secular and secularly religious holiday. Gathered around a table of plenty, we will partake and share, acknowledging God’s gracious bounty to all and giving thanks for it.
Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words at Glenville High School in Cleveland on April 26, 1967. Several things have happened that have had me mulling on this concept of “somebodiness” and how, 50 years later, MLK’s words here are still so strikingly relevant.
I can still remember my first encounter with an overt racist. I must have been 8 or 9, and my friend and I were in the back seat. Her mom was driving and started talking to me.
The neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, have helped renew attention on issues of race and ethnicity. Have Presbyterians’ attitudes and involvement in these issues changed with the times?
In God’s mission, we show our faith by our obedient service. In other words, as Francis of Assisi is believed to have said, “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.” This is the task and mission of disciples of Jesus — to let our lives speak for themselves of the gospel, and if necessary to use words to enhance and amplify our faith.
