Healthcare giant David A. Jones Sr. has died. The Louisville, Kentucky, native, who started out with one nursing home and created one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, Humana Inc., died Wednesday morning at the age of 88.
Jones, a Presbyterian elder, was a member of Louisville’s Highland Presbyterian Church, and was instrumental in convincing the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to locate to Louisville in the 1980s. He also sold the property to the church for $1. The old, dilapidated warehouses were converted into the church’s national offices.
People died and many more became extremely ill in the city’s 5-year-old water crisis that was still making headlines last week as the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance-produced documentary “Flint: The Poisoning of an American City” had its world premiere and opened in a chain of Michigan movie theaters.
The Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), is urging the U.S. Congress to take steps to protect millions of Americans from carbon monoxide in public housing. Nelson sent a letter this week to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, calling carbon monoxide one of the most dangerous threats facing people living in the units.
Whenever Jorge Lockward does a performance of the cantata “Manos Indocumentadas (Undocumented Hands),” a strange sensation comes over him.
Does enough exist? Is there ever enough time, money, sleep, love, faith, justice, energy or peace for us? Why does it feel like we are always lacking in these and other areas of our lives?
저는 봉사의 직무를 수행하면서 청지기 직분으로 여러 명의 장로와 회중들과 함께 일했습니다. 저는 장로님들로부터 청지기 직분 프로그램을 운영하는데 필요한 프로그래밍, 연간 계획 및 기타 관련 제안을 제공함으로써 그들을 도와 달라는 요청을 자주 받습니다. 저는 보통 몇 가지 나쁜 소식을 즉시 전달하며 이러한 요청을 해결합니다. 회중에 대한 청지기 직분을 정의하는 것은 일반적으로 밤사이에 이루어지지 않습니다. 실제로 청지기 직분을 완전히 다시 생각하는 데는 훨씬 더 오래 (몇 주 또는 몇 달) 걸릴 수 있습니다. 왜냐구요? 아마도 우리 대부분은 “청지기 직분” 이라는 용어를 너무 많이 사용하거나 잘못 사용했기 때문에 새롭고 흥미 진진한 방식으로 생각하기에 놀라운 여정이 필요하기 때문일 것입니다. 이 새로운 사고전환에서 시편 23편은 이 여정이 어떻게 보일지에 대한 몇 가지 핵심 요소를 간략하게 설명하는 기초가 될 수 있습니다.
A lo largo de mi ministerio, he trabajado con múltiples ancianos/as gobernantes y congregaciones en el área de mayordomía. Estas personas me piden con frecuencia que les ayude proporcionando programación, planificación de calendario y otras sugerencias relacionadas para rejuvenecer sus programas de mayordomía. Normalmente atiendo estas solicitudes entregando inmediatamente un poco de malas noticias; redefinir la administración para una congregación generalmente no ocurre de la noche a la mañana. De hecho, puede llevar mucho más tiempo, a menudo semanas o meses, para volver a imaginar completamente la administración. ¿Por qué? Quizás porque la mayoría de nosotros hemos tomado el término "mayordomía" y lo hemos usado en exceso/mal de una manera tan significativa que se necesita una peregrinación proverbial para pensar en esto de una manera nueva y emocionante. En este nuevo marco mental, el Salmo 23 puede ser la base para denotar un par de componentes clave de cómo podría ser este viaje.
Throughout my ministry, I have worked with multiple ruling elders and congregations in the area of stewardship. I am frequently asked by these elders to assist them by providing programming, calendar planning, and other related suggestions to rejuvenate their stewardship programs. I usually address these requests by immediately delivering a bit of bad news—redefining stewardship for a congregation typically does not occur overnight. In fact, it can take much longer—often weeks or months—to fully re-envision stewardship. Why? Perhaps because most of us have taken the term “stewardship” and overused/misused the term so significantly that it takes a proverbial journey to think of it in a new and exciting way. In this new mind frame, Psalm 23 can be the basis to outline a couple of key components of what this journey may look like.
The Worst Christmas Ever by Kathleen Long Bostrom and illustrator Guy Porfirio, and Katherine Paterson’s latest picture book, The Night of His Birth, are now available for purchase wherever books are sold.
The Presbyterian Association of Musicians (PAM) and Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC) have teamed up to offer a Confirmation course at the annual PAM Worship and Music Conferences at Montreat. This new offering, which utilizes the Big God, Big Questionscurriculum from PPC, provides an opportunity for churches or presbyteries with a small number of confirmands to engage in a high-quality Confirmation curriculum. Confirmands will also benefit from a larger class size and an intergenerational environment while still being able to be confirmed at their home church.