A nearly hour-long plenary to cap the second week of the Intercultural Transformation Workshops focused on the pain and trauma clergy and lay people alike have been carrying for the past six months during the twin pandemics of COVID-19 and racial injustice, including the killings of African Americans at the hands of police and Wednesday’s grand jury decision on the role of police in the killing of Breonna Taylor of Louisville, Kentucky, on March 13 in her apartment.
Leaders of churches in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can be pastoral, intercultural and even fun — but it’s rarely spontaneous. Those sought-after qualities normally require careful planning and even some buy-in from the targeted audience.