This is it. The hard conversation. You’re prepared to lead your church group in the difficult work of antiracism. You’ve researched the perfect book. You’ve got the webinar cued up. You have your difficult but necessary questions prepared. But have you done your own work?
When white supremacist groups announced plans to hold a demonstration in the nation’s capital to mark the one-year anniversary of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, many were concerned the day would descend into violence as it did in 2017.
Forest Hill Presbyterian Church has always been progressive, according to Pastor John Lentz. The Cleveland Heights, Ohio church found itself having to make some tough decisions in the past year when a woman in their community faced deportation.
A year of service, a lifetime of deeper questions. One of the many ways the Young Adult Volunteer (YAV) program hopes to challenge participants is through the forming and continual reshaping of the program’s own concepts about service. This is done best when young volunteers and local people of faith walk together to encourage, challenge and inspire one another.
Attendees of the Presbyterians for Earth Care Conference have wrapped up a week of conversation and tears around the struggles of Native Americans and the continued environmental threat to the Columbia River Gorge along the Oregon/Washington state line.
It was partly cloudy and windy on Monday, as Be’sha Blondin, with the Yellowknife Tribe, led a “Fire and Water” ceremony along the river banks at Celilo Park. Joined by attendees of the Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC) Conference, Be’sha sang to the east, west, north and south and along with the rest of the group, poured water and placed a piece of tobacco into the river.
Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech that provided the foundation for this year’s theme at Compassion, Peace and Justice Training Day. Speaking at the Riverside Church in New York, King provided a connection between the war in Vietnam with the civil rights movement.
Hundreds of thousands of people will be making their way to the nation’s capital in the coming days, not to take part in the presidential inauguration, but to send a clear message to the new administration that “women’s rights are human rights.”
