Up against some appalling facts — 119 Guatemalan women each day report a violent attack against them and nearly 62,000 women and girls 19 and under became pregnant during the first six months of 2018, many of them the result of rape — CEDEPCA, a longtime partner of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), was determined to empower girls in a new way.

Even before flooding from Hurricane Maria destroyed their home’s contents in 2017, Waleska García Castro and her family faced a human-made threat that could have caused them an even greater disruption.

Now that churches in South Carolina’s Trinity Presbytery have gone through the seven marks of congregational vitality, as part of their participation in the two-year Vital Congregations initiative pilot program, pastors are beginning to notice a difference in their congregations.

The gospel of Matthew tells the story of a man who entrusts a large amount of money to each of three servants and then goes on a journey. When he returns, he calls the servants for an accounting. Two of the servants have invested and made a profit. They are praised and rewarded. The third servant, motivated by fear, has buried the master’s money in the ground for safekeeping. This servant gets a scathing rebuke and is thrown “into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt.25:14–30, NRSV). What did this third servant do wrong? The story seems to say that he was judged harshly, not for losing the talent, but for failing to do anything with it. Fear of failure kept him from investing what belonged to the master for the master’s purposes. For this he was thrown into the outer darkness.

마태복음은 세 명의 종들 각각에게 많은 돈을 위탁하고 여행을 떠나는 주인의 이야기를 전합니다. 그가 돌아오면서 계산을 위해 종들을 부릅니다. 하인 중 두 명이 투자하여 이익을 보았습니다. 그들은 칭찬을 받고 보상을 받습니다. 두려움에 사로잡힌 세 번째 종은 주인의 돈을 안전하게 보관하기 위해 땅에 묻습니다. 이 종은 몹시 꾸중을 듣고 “바깥 어두운 데서 슬피 울며 이를 갈리라” 하며 쫓겨납니다 (마25:14–30). 이 세 번째 종은 무엇을 잘못했습니까? 그 이야기는 그가 달란트를 잃지 않음보다 그것으로 아무 것도 하지 못했다고 가혹하게 판단되었음을 말하는 것 같습니다. 실패에 대한 두려움 때문에 그는 주인의 목적을 위해 주인에게 속한 것을 투자하지 못했습니다. 이것으로 인해 그는 바깥 어둠으로 던져졌습니다.

El evangelio de Mateo cuenta la historia de un hombre que confía una gran cantidad de dinero a tres empleados y luego emprende un viaje. Cuando regresa, los llama para que le den cuentas. Dos de los empleados han invertido y obtenido un beneficio. Ellos son alabados y recompensados. El tercero, motivado por el miedo, ha enterrado el dinero del amo en el terreno para su custodia. Este empleado recibe una reprensión mordaz y es arrojado “a la oscuridad; allí tendrá tanto miedo que llorará y le rechinarán de terror los dientes” (Mt.25:14–30, TLA). ¿Qué hizo mal este tercer empleado? La historia parece decir que fue juzgado con dureza, no por perder el talento, sino por no haber hecho nada al respecto. El miedo al fracaso le impedía invertir lo que pertenecía al maestro para sus fines. Para esto fue arrojado a la oscuridad exterior.

David LaMotte was telling the story of Wesley Autrey, who was dubbed the “Subway Superman” and “Subway Hero” in 2007 after he saved a man who had fallen onto the tracks of the New York City subway while suffering an epileptic seizure.

There are two constants in life: change and Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. In Christ, we live and move and have our being. To be a follower of his is to be forever mindful of the cross, of death’s defeat — and of resurrection power. And, as Wendell Berry wrote in one of his well-known poems, “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front,” we, the church, are to “practice resurrection.”

Three Border Patrol agents answered pointed questions about their work during a near two-hour session last week with a delegation from the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

One day after hearing last week about the border experiences of three Border Patrol agents, the Presbyterian Mission Agency delegation learning about issues along the U.S.-Mexican border and in Guatemala heard a different take from the Moderator of the 1992 General Assembly.