There were gulls in the background – or so they told me. I could only see a building.
This evening brought my second Skype presentation on behalf of the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations.
The Agape House Campus Ministry at the University of Illinois in Chicago invited me to join them for a conversation on The Theology and Praxis of Doing Good. The conversation specifically explored how we live our faith in the public sphere.
I had the opportunity to share what the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations does: equipping Presbyterians for global discipleship and advocating for peace and justice in the name of Jesus in the United Nations community guided by policies of the General Assembly.
I talked about my faith journey and my call to minstry. I shared that it is crucial to remember and proclaim and live that Christians engage in ministry in the public sphere out of our faith in Jesus Christ.
The group talked about opportunities for living their faith. They identified a number of ideas:
- watching the interactions between people to ensure that people are treating one another with dignity and respect
- participating in campus groups that work for social justice
- advocating for state legislation
- supporting the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America and similar organizations
- taking part in events such as the CROP Walk
The conversation provided me the opportunity to reflect on how and why I have engaged in ministry in the public sphere – and to do so in a familiar place – I had been a field education student in campus ministry based at Agape House when I was a student. It was great to return – at least in a virtual sense.
Hopefully this fall or early winter, Agape House will bring a group to New York for a seminar. There may well be gulls over the East River.
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