New mid council moderators and vice-moderators were given a 12-item to-do list as part of a workshop during the Moderators’ Conference last week, along with guidance provided by April Davenport, the PC(USA)’s General Counsel.
“I think the impact in our presbytery is what I like to call ‘expanding the we.’ Who we are goes beyond the established churches that have been here but expands with different people and new communities, immigrant communities, places all across the Greater Atlanta region,” said the Rev. Aisha Brooks-Johnson, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta, who described how 36 new worshiping communities allow the presbytery to be “diverse, unique, inclusive and creative.”
“We collect experiences, and we want to know good news and challenges you are dealing with,” said the Rev. Tony Larson, who along with the Rev. CeCe Armstrong is Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024). Larson was speaking to a room full of teaching elders during a Saturday workshop at the Moderators’ Conference, held last week at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky, and attended in person and online by about 130 moderators of mid councils in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The ground beneath us is off kilter. This is a scientific fact with spiritual resonances. This planet tilts on its axis. On the Earth, we are never perfectly upright, and so we experience uneven periods of light and darkness. As we approach the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, our days shorten. This is the reality for those Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico during Advent. We are drawn further and longer into darker nights.
Two rampaging squirrels break the silence of the thick forest as our group of 30 walk on a road made from tens of thousands of hand-laid bricks recovered from a landfill. Ahead of us, on the crest of the road, stood another group. Under a canopy of long-leaf pines and hardwood trees was an old woman in a wheelchair, a young girl, three adult women, a boy, two young men, and Marcus Briggs-Cloud, who I had only met virtually before. All were wearing clothing incorporating multi-colored Maskoke patterns. The two young Maskoke men held their two-foot-long wooden stickball sticks in front of our group, gently enforcing an invisible barrier. Across the gap between our groups, Marcus gave a traditional welcome speech in the Maskoke language for 10 minutes. Then we were asked to state the intentions behind our presence on their land.
#GivingTuesday, a global day of giving which this year falls on Dec. 3, is not only a day when Presbyterians are invited to be radically generous on behalf of a world in need, but it is also an ideal time for the PC(USA) to step back in time to learn about the past toward securing a more hopeful future.
Isabella Pérez Sanchez has always believed in miracles. How could she not?
If there’s one thing that convinces the Rev. Jihyun Oh that she ought to say yes to a call, it’s “when a call scares me a little, a call I cannot do without God’s help.”
Kathy Lueckert, president of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation since 2019, has announced she plans to retire Jan. 31, 2025, and return to the staff of Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas.
During Trans Awareness Week, ACQ+E, the Advocacy Committee for LGBTQIA+ Equity, an advocacy committee for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), recognizes our trans and gender non-binary parishioners, clergy, educators, chaplains and friends. We see you and, during these difficult times, we stand with you in accordance with the teachings of our church.