Several Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission co-workers and other employees are moderating workshops and leading discussion groups at the People on the Move partner conference which convened Sunday in Rome, Italy.

The work of nominating a candidate to serve as the next Stated Clerk of the General Assembly continues this week, with the Stated Clerk Nomination Committee (SCNC) holding Zoom interviews with five candidates.

SCNC Moderator the Rev. Dr. Sallie Watson said that nine applications, “all from good applicants,” were received by the committee before the December 28 deadline, with applicants completing supplemental questions by January 10.

As always, it is difficult deciding on what were the best 10 films for the past year, especially when a few potential ones, such as Ava DuVernay’s “Origin,” have not yet opened in the Cincinnati-Dayton area. (A penalty for living in what Hollywood regards as “flyover territory!) However, we cannot wait, so below are the 10 out of the many fine films reviewed in Visual Parables this past year that illuminate spiritual and/or ethical issues.

As attendees prepared for the final morning of  the Matthew 25 Summit at New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton, members of The Many, the conference’s vocal instrumental group in residence, led those gathered Thursday in a time of centering, communal prayer.

During the first of two days of in-person meetings Thursday, the Unification Commission heard an update from Acting Stated Clerk the Rev. Bronwen Boswell on how a pilot program unifying communications ministries in the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency is proceeding.

Months in advance, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program has begun gearing up to welcome this year’s contingent of International Peacemakers and is now accepting applications from entities that would like to host them.

Drawing an insightful and inspirational Matthew 25 Summit to a close with worship Thursday, the Rev. Dr. Diane Givens Moffett asked those gathered at New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton, Georgia, and online to “consider with me” the thrust of her sermon, “Dream Driven.” View the sermon preached by Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, here. Her sermon begins 48 minutes from the end.

In an hour-long Matthew 25 Summit address that alternated between the historic and the prophetic, the Rev. Dr. William Yoo wowed attendees with a talk on the Matthew 25 church that never was and the Matthew 25 church that is here today. The 350 or so people in attendance stood and clapped and offered Yoo encouragement throughout his inspiring lecture, which can be seen here. Yoo is introduced by the Rev. Carlton Johnson at the one hour, 18-minute mark.

On the second day of the Matthew 25 Summit, the community again gathered itself at the New Life Presbyterian Church in South Fulton, Georgia, for a unique worship experience, in which gently evocative music flowed seamlessly into the creative force of the spoken word, the grace of liturgical dance, and again into poetry, song and silence.

The annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics in Chicago, Jan. 4-8, showed a great generational transition in the professors who teach religious ethics in seminaries, divinity schools, colleges and universities. The SCE is an ecumenical professional association of almost 1,000 members, including as many as 90 Presbyterians in recent years.