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Mission Yearbook
“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.
When asked how the current pandemic changes the way he interprets Scripture, the Rev. Dr. Brian K. Blount speaks of hope in the midst of struggle.
The question of theodicy — divine goodness in the presence of evil — comes to mind, he said, citing the Old Testament trials of Job.
When members of the Christian Education Committee at Pisgah Presbyterian Church in Versailles, Kentucky, met to discuss options for their children during the pandemic, they decided to try something radical.
Whether it’s threats like climate change or a pandemic — or whether we feel powerless after news of another shooting or natural disaster — we live in a state of fear and constant vigilance.
This spring, Presbyterian churches, large and small, scrambled to get online using technology that they had either heard of, dabbled in or had been wanting to use in their own ministries.
By mid-March, COVID-19 began changing the way the world interacts, and the church was not immune to those changes. Amid social distancing and shelter-in-place orders, many churches either canceled worship or moved to a virtual form of worship. Pastors and sessions looked for creative ways to worship and to care for the most vulnerable church members in a quickly changing landscape. But what about financial stewardship during such a time as a pandemic – or any other event that would interrupt traditional modes of being the church?
