The Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) released its unaudited 2015 financial statement today, reporting a $3.4 million surplus on combined income minus expenses.
"Days pass and the years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles.” These words are recited at the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, but also work well as a prayer of confession for the rest of us—for our frantic lifestyles and chronic inattentiveness to the presence of God.
It is tempting to think that these challenges of time and busyness are a purely modern experience, but the Bible tells us otherwise. The stewardship of time and labor has always been difficult. In Old Testament times, as today, some people were compelled by poverty to work far more hours than was healthy, while others enjoyed a standard of living that depended on the overwork of others. Still, today, some of us are unable to stop working for reasons having nothing to do with economic necessity.
As Presbyterians and other Christian denominations gather in Washington, D.C. next month for Ecumenical Advocacy Days, they’ll be looking at a number of factors that inspired this year’s conference theme “Lift Every Voice!: Racism, Class and Power.” One that continues to resonate across the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA) is education.
Representatives from fifteen communion-members of the Alliance of Latin American Presbyterian and Reformed Churches (AIPRAL) and the Caribbean and North America Area Council (CANAAC) gathered recently for Gender Reading of the Signs of Times: Bi-regional Conversations with Accra +10.
The highly symbolic and contextual consultation was sponsored by the World Council of Reformed Churches (WCRC) and hosted in the Seminario Evangélico de Teología in Matanzas, Cuba.
A Sunday afternoon blast ripped through a crowded park in Lahore, Pakistan, killing at least 70 and wounding more than 300 people. Pakistani Taliban splinter group, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing it says targeted Christians celebrating Easter at the amusement park, although most of those killed, including 29 children, were Muslim.
미국장로교정서기가차별적노쓰캐롤라이나법의폐지를요구하다
그래디 파슨스
1977년 이후로, 장로교 총회는 LGBT사람들이 시민으로서의 자유와 평등권, 그리고 모든 시민들이 받아 마땅한 사회 및 경제적 차별로부터 법적 보호를 받는 것과 관련하여 그들에 대한 공정한 대우를 옹호해 왔다 (Minutes, PCUS, 1977, Part I, p. 174).
따라서, 우리는 죠지아 주지사 Nathan Deal이LGBT사람들에 대한 차별을 초래했었을 죠지아 법안 757에 대해 거부권을 행사한 것에 박수를 보낸다. Deal 주지사는 “나는 죠지아의 신앙 기반 커뮤니티를 보호하기 위해 우리가 어떤 사람들을 차별해야 한다고 생각하지 않습니다. 우리도 평생 동안 그 공동체에 속해 왔지만 말입니다”라고 말했다.
동시에, 우리는 노쓰 캐롤라이나에서 승인되어 법제화된 최근의 법안으로서 …
For more than a week, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) leaders have followed the path taken by Syrian refugees across parts of Europe as they escaped the war and violence in their own country. Holy Week for PC(USA) moderator Heath Rada and his team, has been met with heartache, encouragement and determination from the church and its partners.
Consumer culture has transformed envy from a moral problem into a marketing ploy, and in so doing, corroded our relationships with ourselves, our neighbors, our planet, and ultimately, with God. Drawing on examples of envy in literature, art, economics and popular culture, Envy: Exposing a Secret Sin shows the dangers of envy and suggests antidotes and practices for healing.
Since 1977 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church has advocated for just treatment of LGBT persons in regard to their civil liberties, equal rights, and protections under the law from social and economic discrimination that is due all citizens (Minutes, PCUS, 1977, Part I, p. 174).
Therefore, we applaud Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia on his veto of Georgia House Bill 757, which would have caused discrimination against LGBT persons. Governor Deal said, “I do not think we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia, of which I and my family have been a part of for all of our lives.”
God of heavy cross and empty tomb,
we pray for the people of Lahore, Pakistan.