You might have noticed that more people are wearing orange lately. This is not a fashion trend but a movement that began in 2013 as a grief response by friends of a young victim of gun violence. It has grown into a national day, then weekend, then month (of June) to raise awareness about the horrific cost of gun violence. Towns and cities, schools and churches, individuals and clubs are urging us all to wear the bright color that hunters have long worn for safety. It is one small step in bending the moral arc of the universe toward justice.
In the midst of the Covid pandemic, when the efficacy of new vaccines was still unknown and many churches were not back to worshiping inside, the Rev. Aisha Brooks-Johnson, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, issued an invitation for congregations to join the Vital Congregations Initiative (VCI). The Rev. Katie Day, having accepted her call to Pleasant Hill Presbyterian Church in Duluth, Georgia, during the pandemic, remembers that her congregation was still worshiping in a parking lot and conducting meetings on Zoom.
The tenor of Lent is one of “complicated joy,” according to the Rev. Carlton Johnson, Associate Director for Theology, Formation & Evangelism for the Presbyterian Mission Agency.