A book published last month by Westminster John Knox Press, “Fractured Ground: Preaching in the Wake of Mass Trauma,” offers help to preachers and community leaders who are called to speak and respond to mass trauma.
Addiction issues have been challenging rural America for years, notes Dr. Burton Webb, President of the University of Pikeville.
Now, as a person with deep family ties to eastern Kentucky, he’s in the position to help.
The Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has named the Rev. Lori Neff LaRue as Vice President, Education. Since joining the agency six years ago as Director of Board University, Neff LaRue has greatly expanded well-being support for members of the church benefits plan, including throughout the Covid crisis, when she reimagined educational offerings to provide support remotely.
Good partnerships are good for all the partners. At their best, partnerships blossom into healthier communities beyond the partners. This is true for marriages, friendships, working relationships, and the missional work of the church. A good partnership makes us good for the world.
The most recent exegesis ordination exam has resulted in a deluge of concerned and critical social media comments from clergy and others saying that requiring seminarians to exegete one of the most difficult texts in the Bible, Judges 19:1-30, “The Levite’s Concubine,” has caused many candidates for ministry to be re-traumatized after suffering previous harms.
The Rev. Charlie Gross, who’s honorably retired from Donegal Presbytery, signs his emails with “Extravagant Blessings!” You get the feeling he wrote the book on Christian encouragement.
In fact, he did.
The year 2022 saw crowds returning to theaters after the Covid disaster, though not as large as before. However, James Cameron’s “Avatar” sequel again drew huge receipts, reaching as of January 23 over $2 billion world-wide, surpassing the receipts generated by “Top Gun: Maverick.” Of the two it is Camron’s film that made my Top Ten List because the latter was merely an escapist film waving the flag of nationalism — no doubt a well-made, exciting film but one running counter to Christ’s boundary-breaking teachings of love and acceptance.
After 20 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, a global pandemic, protests against racial violence, and frequent shootings, more Americans than ever are living with the effects of trauma. The good news is that Jesus was born and died in a traumatized world, and his story speaks forever to wounded people worldwide.
The idea for the new podcast “Forging Faith” being offered by First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak, Michigan, was hatched two years ago when a church member told his pastor, the Rev. Emma Nickel, that the church should try it.
