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Matthew 25
The response to the Matthew 25 invitation continues to be embraced by congregations and mid councils, even through a pandemic and times of social unrest. Or, just maybe, because of those things.
As the reality of COVID-19 set in, it forced the postponement of the UKirk Collegiate Ministries Association’s national gathering until 2021.
When General Assembly Co-Moderators Ruling Elder Elona Street-Stewart and the Rev. Gregory Bentley were elected on Saturday, June 20, they were immediately given the option of moderating the first-ever, fully-online 224th General Assembly (2020) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from their respective homes in the upper Midwest and the Southeast.
In light of what New Way podcast host the Rev. Sara Hayden describes as “the new round of organizing, strategy and action sparked by the most recent, shocking, continual — and yet unsurprising — anti-Black violence of our time,” the podcast of the 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement has begun a new season focused on racial injustice and faith.
The ministry of presence is important in God’s mission. Yet even when a global pandemic causes cancellation of short-term mission trips, congregations and presbyteries in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are showing care and compassion in creative and urgently needed ways from afar.
2020 will certainly be remembered as a year of full disclosure for the United States. A tiny virus too small for the eye to see has disclosed and exposed the grave injustices and disparities that exist for Black and brown communities across the nation.
Tracey King-Ortega was recently asked to preach virtually on Matthew 25 at her home church, St. Peter’s by the Sea Presbyterian Church in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
If a sacrament may be defined as a visible sign of an invisible grace, in a similarly sacramental fashion, God’s grace and love are on abundant, if mostly virtual, display through ‘Links of Love,’ a colorful paper chain representing Presbyterian generosity across the denomination, country and globe.
Launched in April 2019, Matthew 25 is a bold vision and invitation to actively engage congregations in the world around them. The invitation was launched before the COVID-19 pandemic, before the social unrest in the fight for justice and before many churches realized how important they were without their buildings.
Elona Street-Stewart, executive of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, and the Rev. Gregory Bentley, pastor of Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama, were overwhelmingly elected to be co-moderators of the 224th General Assembly Saturday.
