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Mission Yearbook
As a spiritual director, I’m often asked about my own spiritual practices. Meditation tops my list. There’s something about the intimacy of personal time spent with the ultimate divine presence that sustains me. While there are many forms of meditation, there’s none quite like meditating as I walk a labyrinth.
Health-care inequities that sicken and kill people of color undermine communities. Reducing those inequities will require working together to improve health-care quality, accessibility and affordability for everyone.
Certain stories are unforgettable.
Like this one, which was first told by the Rev. Mary Kay Collins at First Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia, in 2018. Before baptizing the sextuplets of Adeboye and Ajibola Taiwo, she spoke of the couple’s longing to have children. Introducing their story, she asked, “Is anything too wonderful, too great, too difficult or too tough for God?”
Three years ago, if you were to ask Austin, Texas, residents what they knew about Hope Presbyterian Church, chances are they would have remarked on the beautiful roses on the property. Not much would have been said about its mission — until now.
One early spring morning, I gazed upon my property that I had lovingly named “Old Stone Well Farm.” It was far from being a farm, but in my heart, I treasured its potential and held tightly to what I have come to call its “still-to-comes.”
Today, June 25, marks 72 years since the Korean War broke out. Throughout that June, skirmishes along the division border led to North Korean forces crossing the border en masse on the 25th. Most U.S. Americans believe the war then ended in 1953; however, only an armistice agreement was signed at that time. This means outright fighting in the war has paused, but the state-of-war itself has continued for 72 years.
The Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, a Presbyterian hymn-writer who has penned new lyrics to more than 400 hymns, has published her most recent hymn, “We Pray for Peace” to Finlandia, the tune for the hymn “Be Still, My Soul” and “This is My Song.”
Presbyterians have been stepping up to help Afghan families feel welcome in the United States, from providing meals and housing to helping children get registered in school.
Just outside of the town of Blacksburg, South Carolina, which is located about 40 miles southwest of Charlotte, North Carolina, sits a church with a unique rock exterior. It sits on a plot of land along Highway 5 across the street from its cemetery. There is perhaps no other church like it in the area, at least none that could match its solid-rock edifice that was built by Black men who left a permanent symbol in honor of God and their place of worship for future generations.
It makes a big difference how much time we spend looking forward to what’s coming our way, and how much time we spend looking backward at where we’ve been. At least it does in driver’s education. I remember my driver’s ed instructor telling us to look in our rearview mirrors once every two seconds — which seems like bad advice to give to a bunch of literalistic teenagers.
