The Rev. Edwin Gonzalez Gertz says Light of Hope Presbyterian Church in Marietta, Georgia, didn’t hesitate to become a Matthew 25 church. It provided them the language to articulate who they are.
Realizing that its closure was a real possibility, First Presbyterian Church in Winneconne, Wisconsin, called the Rev. Rose McCurdy as pastor to help the congregation find new life. One of its strengths was generosity toward local mission, but McCurdy sensed the congregation needed to extend its involvement beyond its community. When McCurdy picked up the Presbyterian Giving Catalog, she saw a resource that could help her struggling congregation in its quest for renewal. She saw the catalog as an avenue for increased mission participation, and the congregation’s mission committee agreed with her.
Living in Honduras this past spring and summer felt especially difficult and intense. What started as a labor dispute between teachers’ and doctors’ unions and the government became agitation against government corruption and economic desperation. Classrooms from elementary to university closed at various times, and taxi and bus drivers sometimes blocked streets and shut down cities. The U.S. Embassy was vandalized and partially closed.
The postlude played. I stood at the sanctuary door, greeting congregants as they made their way to coffee hour. On this day, though, I wasn’t sharing pleasantries as I shook hands, I was anointing with oil a hand of each person exiting the sanctuary, As I made the sign of a cross on each palm, I gave a blessing: Be the beautiful you God sees you to be.
Dec. 14 marks the seven-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy, when 26 people, including 20 first-graders, were shot and killed in their elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Many people thought that inconceivable event would be the tipping point in our public and legislative complacency following mass shooting incidents in this country. Sadly, since then we have instead grown increasingly numb, as these events have become the “new normal” and 600,000 Americans have been killed or injured by guns in the subsequent years.
“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” That’s how the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights begins. The declaration was drafted in response to the calamities and barbarous acts experiences by people all over the world during World War II. This year marks the 71st anniversary of this historic document in moral consciousness that has been a beacon of hope and purpose throughout the world. The United States was instrumental in this effort, and Eleanor Roosevelt was the driving force in the drafting the document that would become the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The stress of everyday living often blinds us to the blessings we enjoy. Thanksgiving Day, then, provides an eye-opening opportunity. It is an occasion to remind ourselves of the gifts God has given and to give thanks for them. Gratitude is a crucial component of Christian discipleship. Meister Eckhart, the German mystic of the Middle Ages, wrote, “The most important prayer in the world is just two words long: ‘Thank You.’ ”
Today marks the 31st anniversary of World AIDS Day, and Presbyterians are encouraged to participate as part of Presbyterian HIV/AIDS Awareness. This year’s theme is “Know your status.”
God of Heaven and Earth, as we fix our eyes on you, help us see as you see, hear as you hear, love as you love and serve as you serve. Renew us day by day until you call us to our eternal home with you.
I know this is a slight deviation from the beloved German Christmas carol, but you know how sometimes on a Monday morning you have a hymn stuck in your head from Sunday’s worship? I have one particular Christmas Eve etched into my childhood memories.
