Nearly 30 spiritual leaders recently gathered in New Mexico to show their support for threatened public lands sacred to Native Americans and for tribal sovereignty. The event, organized by the New Mexico Wildlife Federation and Creation Justice Ministries, brought together representatives from a number of denominations and groups, including Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, United Church of Christ and Jewish organizations, as well as several Native American organizations.
Let us be reminded also that our stance on punishment is in sharp contrast to our Christian gospel’s redemptive message of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation, as expressed in Luke 4:18; and that our salvation, individually and collectively, is linked to our treatment of those in prison, as declared in Matthew 25:41–43.
Near the end of a long corridor lined with classrooms and elaborate hand-painted murals of biblical scenes sits a small kitchen. The sign on the refrigerator says, “This is Leonor’s refrigerator. Please do NOT help yourself to her food.”
At a recent community reception in his honor, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly Stated Clerk J. Herbert Nelson II pledged that “we’re moving out of [the Presbyterian Center] because there’s a need to get out into the community to make partners so people’s lives are better.”
Longtime partners, supporters, current and former staff, and donors gathered recently to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Jinishian Memorial Program (JMP).
The announcement of a baby’s birth can tell you a lot about the parents.
Techy parents send out emails. Photographer parents send beautiful pictures. Artistic parents send out creative announcements. Traditionalist parents send out formal announcements on card stock. Royals like Prince William and Kate Middleton waited a few months before landing their son, Prince George, on the cover of celebrity gossip glossy Vanity Fair a few years ago.
For nearly three decades the Synod of the Covenant (Michigan and Ohio) has participated in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Mission to the USA program. The synod began participating in the effort, which links congregations in the synod with mission partners, in 1989.
If anyone has the right to think she had an extra-special connection to Jesus, it’s Mary. After all, she carried him in her body, birthed him in the stable and nourished him with her breast milk. As he grew up and engaged his ministry, she scolded him when he disappeared, commanded him at Cana, stayed with him when he hung on the cross and rejoiced in him when he rose again.
If your mother is white and your father is African-American, what race are you?
a. White
b. African-American
c. Before 1989, African-American
d. 1989 or later, white
Would it surprise you to learn that the answer is both c and d? For those who live in the United States, the race of a child as listed on a birth certificate has been based on a changing set of rules. If both parents were white, the child was white. Before 1989, if only one parent was white, the child was assigned the race of the nonwhite parent. Since 1989, the race of the infant has been determined by the mother’s race.
Laura Sheldon was on her way to psychology class at North Carolina State University when her phone rang. It was Marvin Dickerson, a member of her church — Clemmons Presbyterian — calling with exciting news.
She was the first recipient of a $3,000 scholarship awarded by the recently created Clemmons Presbyterian Youth Endowment, a permanent fund managed by the Presbyterian Foundation.
