Out of the Ash By Rebecca Lindsay A blast, a catastrophic splintering that snapped titan trunks like asparagus in a cook’s hand— On that fateful day living wood shattered screaming as it fell, radiating outward from the epicenter of a mountain gone mad. Ash snowed, reigned, sifted into pockets, crevices, creating instant desolation that… Read more »
January 31, 2017
Speak Out
Out of the Ash By Rebecca Lindsay A blast, a catastrophic splintering that snapped titan trunks like asparagus in a cook’s hand— On that fateful day living wood shattered screaming as it fell, radiating outward from the epicenter of a mountain gone mad. Ash snowed, reigned, sifted into pockets, crevices, creating instant desolation that… Read more »
Genesis to Revelation in 90 hours Kentucky’s Bible-reading marathon crosses finish line for the second consecutive year By Tammy Warren It was the voice of my friend Ed, reading Scriptures about the Bible character Job, that touched me most. Ed is battling cancer, and yet he braved the cold wind and rain to join… 
Help! Our pastor is leaving! Effective transitional (interim) ministry By James E. Roghair “We can’t waste any time! Everything will fall apart.” When a pastor leaves a church, the inclination of the congregation is to take off on a mad dash down one of two paths. It might rush to replace the pastor with… 
Stables, superheroes and stories Narrating life as it goes By Jennifer Frayer-Griggs My three year old sits in his carseat and incessantly talks all the way to preschool. Everyday. It makes me crazy. It’s too early for this, and he’s distracting me from the NPR newscast. But, he never relents. He’s gotten to the… 
Challenge and change Sudan partners offer kids a bigger view of church By Sean Brubaker On a Saturday afternoon last summer, the usual crew of neighborhood boys were riding scooters up and down the avenue outside the church. When they saw the parking lot fill up they stopped to see what was going on. They have learned… 
The blood and the river By Jose Luis Casal Dedicated to the victims of the massacre in Orlando and their families When the blood becomes a river flowers bloom from dead bones. And life emerges beyond the homophobias and hatred speeches from “plexi-glass Christians” without any hopes. When the blood becomes a river fertilizes life… 
Big Events Call for Big Responses Gathering in Cleveland draws a crowd By Mary Robin Craig As the Republican National Convention here in Cleveland came to a close, I spent a couple of hours downtown, wandering around to take pictures and to soak up the atmosphere – for the most part cheerful, hospitable, and relaxed. Three… 
Meeting people where they are Church youth connect with people who are homeless in their community Submitted by Dallas Thompson The theme of this month’s print magazine is connections (see the magazine). On the blog we are celebrating they way churches are connecting with their communities. If your church has a story to share, send… 
Will what happened in Portland stay in Portland? Practicing our polity at home FROM THE EDITOR: Here on the Presbyterians Today blog we post thoughts from many different points of view. One of our goals is to think about who we are as a church and engage in respectful conversation about what we believe, what… 
War and Peace: A short reflection A veteran’s view of peacemaking By Charlie Pratt The deliberations in the 222nd General Assembly’s Peacemaking and International Issues Committee were long but exciting. As an observing student, I tried my best to keep quiet during the debate on overture 12-06, “Risking Peace in a Violent World: Five New Peacemaking Affirmations.”…