Ash Wednesday — which falls this year on Feb. 14 — marks the beginning of the season of Lent, a 40-day period of prayer, fasting and self-examination which culminates in Holy Week and the celebration of the resurrection of the Lord at Easter.
Now that they’ve turned the corner on Advent and Christmas, preachers are, ready or not, turning their attention to Lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 14 and runs through Easter Sunday, March 31.
Each Saturday during March, people gathered at each of Mid-Kentucky Presbytery’s four African American congregations to hear the stories of each congregation, including its heritage and ministry.
Wanting to impress on the preachers in his Zoom audience Wednesday the importance of garnering helpful listener feedback following their sermons, the Rev. Dr. Chip Hardwick offered up the words of a very popular preacher from back in the day: Jesus himself.
Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, turns 300 this year, and the congregation plans a year-long celebration. On Sunday, worshipers meeting both in-person and online heard an inspiring and heartfelt sermon from one of its favorite sons, U.S. Senator Chris Coons, D-Delaware, who deftly put into historical perspective the church’s lengthy history.
Ahead of Sunday’s opening of climate talks to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, the Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette has written “The Climate is Changing,” new lyrics set to the hymn “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.”
Norcross Presbyterian Church in Norcross, Georgia, held a dedication ceremony during Sunday worship to mark the return to its original house of worship — built by its congregation more than 120 years ago in 1899.
The Rev. Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, a Presbyterian hymn-writer and the parish associate at First Presbyterian Union Church in Owego, New York, has written new lyrics to an old hymn for the people of Afghanistan.
As modest as they are talented, three Presbyterian hymn-writers shared their sources of inspiration and some of their favorite hymns Sunday during a webinar called “When in Our Music God is Glorified,” put on by the Presbyterian Writers Guild. About three dozen people attended. Dr. Anita Coleman, a writer and former professor who’s vice president of the guild, moderated the hour-long webinar.
