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Mission Yearbook
Social distancing as a way to flatten the curve of COVID-19’s spread has created many questions about how to maintain a sense of community while not physically coming together in one space. For Christians, though, the social distancing that resulted from the worldwide spread of a virus raises a pressing question: How do we understand ourselves as the church when we can’t meet in person?
As a pastor, I am fielding calls now about getting back into our sanctuary for worship. It seems this desire to get back to “normal” is becoming the new virus sweeping the nation. In a way I can understand the longing to return to worship in a sanctuary. I have a rural congregation with older members who have not been all that quick to embrace virtual worship. I’ll admit, though, I’m in no hurry to return to traditional church. I find something exciting in what God is doing with video devotionals and sermons.
Though in-person classes are suspended at Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan, faculty are doing all they can to ensure that the university’s more than 5,000 students are still receiving an education.
“It was a very painful but meaningful time to think again about what it means to live as a Christian and as an American in this world.” This was a comment from Dia, one of the Young Adult Volunteers (YAVs) from 2016–17, after we visited No Gun Ri, the site of a massacre of Korean civilians committed by U.S. soldiers at the beginning of the Korean War. Believing the civilians to be communists, the U.S. military killed 250–300 people, mostly women and children, from July 26 to 29 in 1950, attacking them as they sought shelter under a railroad bridge. Visiting this site is always painful for me. As a site coordinator who is also a Korean, learning about my own history that is related to the U.S. along with YAVs is a powerful and meaningful experience. Stories like these are often ignored or well-hidden, even though there are people who are still suffering from the wounds of these incidents to this day. Learning stories like this may lead to discomfort as we come to face a distorted tragedy. Nevertheless, I believe that we must uncover and retell the stories like this. History can teach us not to repeat gruesome mistakes and it can also teach us how we can live our lives more responsibly in our present day.
The coronavirus has inflicted any number of health crises on Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations — but in some tangible ways it’s also enhanced their ecclesial health.
“Crocodile’s Crossing: A Search for Home,” a new picture book from Flyaway Books, sensitively exposes readers to the struggles faced by refugees.
As technology continues to impact and influence our daily lives, Flyaway Books has released “Babbit and Joan, a Rabbit and a Phone,” a picture book that provides a balanced message about healthy technology usage.
Members of First Presbyterian Church in Winchester, Virginia, as young as 4 and as old as 84 years old recently participated in a program designed to eliminate hunger. The church has gathered twice in the past two years to pack meals for Rise Against Hunger, a program that turns pallets of food supplies into meals for the hungry.
Protest! Why would a 74-year-old retired PC(USA) pastor join in a protest in South Korea? The answer will come later. First, I must tell you I was part of a study group organized by the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and World Mission in November 2018. What an eye-opening experience. Along with my wife and nine others, we spent 12 days traveling from Seoul to the southernmost part of the Korean Peninsula and then north to the “demilitarized zone” (DMZ) where the 39th parallel divides North and South Korea. We learned about the so-called “forgotten war” in Korea. We were appalled to hear about the atrocities committed by all sides. We learned about the continuing tensions on the peninsula because the war ended with a truce and not a treaty. We heard about the hope of a peace treaty being signed this year, the 70th anniversary of the start of the “conflict.” Such a treaty could reduce tensions, making the outbreak of war much less likely.
Two years ago, I had eye surgery to restore my sight. As I glanced at the bottle that I use to put in contacts that give me my vision back, I noticed the writing was in Korean. It was a bottle that I had purchased in Seoul, during our Presbyterian Peacemaking Travel Study Seminar, and once emptied have used for these drops. It reminded me how easy it is to also lose sight of major issues facing our world today.
