On the second day of the Matthew 25 Summit, the community again gathered itself at the New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton, Georgia, for a unique worship experience, in which gently evocative music flowed seamlessly into the creative force of the spoken word, the grace of liturgical dance, and again into poetry, song and silence.
Since early 2021, I’ve been participating in weekly book discussions via Zoom, designed to bring together all kinds of people for meaningful conversations, particularly about race, but also any other lines that too often keep us separated from each other. These book groups and other activities have been hosted by the First Presbyterian (of Salisbury, North Carolina) Race Task Force, which formed in 2019, brainstorming how they might promote such connections within and outside our congregation. In the book groups alone, co-leader Barrie Kirby estimates that 60–70 participants have been involved in at least one of the 15–20 book and video studies, some in all of them.
A powerful sermon by the Rev. Hodari Williams, team leader of New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton, Georgia, deftly set the stage for the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, who brought conference-goers to their feet with her opening plenary on the first day of the historic Matthew 25 Summit.
Growing up in the 1980s, the Rev. Hodari Williams was a fan of Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger comic books — especially Cloak, whose superpower was becoming invisible when he wore his robe.
Last September, just about the time of his 88th birthday, the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr. had a transformative experience. It was so life-changing that he wasn’t sure the people present at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. as well as many more online would want him to deliver his planned talk, “How Can We Heal Our Nation?” as part of the McClendon Scholar Program.
The Rev. Dr. Keith Albans, who served 16 years as the director of Chaplaincy and Spirituality at Methodist Homes in the United Kingdom, is something of a wordsmith. His prodigious abilities were on display during the University of Waterloo’s Conrad Grebel University College webinar, “It’s How You Say It: Exploring the Language and Imagery of Aging.” The hourlong event was recommended by the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministry Network and was attended by more than 100 people from around the world.
“Ladies and gentlemen: Elvis has left the building!” announced the Rev. Sara Hayden, the host of the New Way podcast, invoking the famous phrase used to encourage adoring hangers-on to stop waiting to get a glimpse of “the King” inside.
To learn more about what goes into successful intentional pastoral transitions, the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty turned to someone who’s recently undergone one: the Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner, who left Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago last May and is now senior pastor and head of staff at Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. Listen to Hinson-Hasty’s 31-minute conversation with Kershner on his “Leading Theologically” broadcast here or here.
The Congo Mission Network (CMN) is hosting its annual conference on March 14–16 at the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery Conference Center in Charleston, South Carolina.
Jamie Bruesehoff, a recent guest on “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast,” recalled the first day her transgender daughter, Rebekah, came to church as herself. The one person whom Bruesehoff feared might cause problems for her and her husband, the pastor of the church, made a beeline for her following worship.
