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.
“The advent of a new liturgical year offers congregations and church leaders a fresh opportunity to engage the Matthew 25 vision of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),” says the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell, associate for worship in the Office of Theology and Worship in the Presbyterian Mission Agency.
The Rev. Dr. Kathryn Threadgill, associate director for Theology, Formation & Evangelism, has accepted a call from Columbia Theological Seminary to become its vice president and dean of Student Formation and Campus Culture.
To the psalmist’s question “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” the Rev. Ron McKinney had a ready answer Wednesday during an online Chapel service for the national staff of the PC(USA): “How can we as Native Americans not sing our song? We are not in a foreign land. We are in our own land.”
For clergy and others called on to proclaim God’s word and organize meaningful worship during Advent and into Christmas Day — which falls on a Sunday this year — it may feel like Emmanuel can’t come soon enough.
Beginning with Advent, preachers, music leaders and the people who hear them each week will enter a year with Matthew’s gospel, thanks to the Revised Common Lectionary, which turns the focus to Year A beginning Nov. 27.
On Wednesday, the Rev. Dr. Kimberly Wagner offered up the Rx that pastors preaching and leading congregations might well need the most during this time of trauma: practical advice from someone who’s been there, and who’s clearly researched and thought deeply about what trauma can do to individuals and faith communities.
Commissioners and advisory delegates at every General Assembly will tell you a highlight is worship, which is always thoughtful and inspiring, appealing to both the eye and the ear.
The Rev. Adriene Thorne, leader of First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, has been voted in by the congregation of The Riverside Church in the City of New York as the eighth senior minister in the church’s history. Thorne is the first African American woman to serve as senior minister. She will begin her post on Oct. 1.
