The Rev. Dr. Keith Albans, who served 16 years as the Director of Chaplaincy and Spirituality at Methodist Homes in the United Kingdom, is something of a wordsmith. His prodigious abilities were on display Thursday during a University of Waterloo’s Conrad Grebel University College webinar, “It’s How You Say It: Exploring the Language and Imagery of Aging.” The hour-long event was carried by the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministry Network and attended by more than 100 people from around the world.
Now that they’ve turned the corner on Advent and Christmas, preachers are, ready or not, turning their attention to Lent, which begins with Ash Wednesday on Feb. 14 and runs through Easter Sunday, March 31.
“Ladies and gentlemen: Elvis has left the building!” announced the Rev. Sara Hayden, the host of the New Way podcast, invoking the famous phrase used to encourage adoring hangers-on to stop waiting to get a glimpse of “the King” inside.
To learn more about what goes into successful intentional pastoral transitions, the Rev. Dr. Lee Hinson-Hasty turned to someone who’s recently undergone one: the Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner, who left Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago last May and is now senior pastor and head of staff at Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. Listen to Hinson-Hasty’s 31-minute conversation with Kershner on his “Leading Theologically” broadcast here or here.
A milestone in the run-up to the 226th General Assembly was reached on December 28, with the 180-day deadlines passing for commissioner and advisory delegate names to be submitted and applications for Stated Clerk of the General Assembly to be received.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Poverty, by America” will take part in the kickoff of a four-week book study being held next month by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The online weekly Chapel Service held most Wednesdays by and for the national staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) had three observances to mark: Monday’s birthday celebration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Matthew 25: Dismantle Structural Racism Sunday as well as Racial & Intercultural Justice/Presbyterians Affirm Black Lives Matter Sunday.
With less than a week to go, the conveners of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s first Matthew 25 Summit are excited about its intention and impact.
On Tuesday, Columbia University’s Dr. Obery M. Hendricks, Jr. , one of the nation’s foremost commentators on religion and the political economy, warned an online crowd the nation is “at such a dangerous point” that “if we don’t push back against those who weaponize the Bible very soon, they might just get the upper hand, and we and our descendants will suffer.”
The Congo Mission Network (CMN) is hosting its annual conference on March 14-16 at the Charleston Atlantic Presbytery Conference Center in Charleston, South Carolina.