“I didn’t know how to be where I was,” award-winning poet and essayist Dr. Tim Lilburn said in a public Zoom lecture recently held by Union Theological Seminary in New York City. The lecture was the fifth public forum of The Insight Project, which is described on its website as “a multi-year program series that seeks to put theology in conversation with a wide range of partners in the humanities, social sciences and the natural sciences.”
Indonesia is a nation consisting of tribes with cultural and religious diversity. In Java, where I live, the majority of the people are Muslim.
When my mother died at the age of 81 on Nov. 3, 2021, young women in the village made flower arrangements called “rencong” at the front of our house. Before the coffin was lifted up, they put the rencong on top of the crate.
In delivering Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary’s Greenhoe Lecture Wednesday, the Rev. Dr. Duane R. Bidwell — a member of Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery and Professor of Practical Theology, Spiritual Care and Counseling at the Claremont School of Theology — gave both in-person and online attendees a moving preview of a book he’s completing on pediatric hope.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Helen Keller observed that “faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light.” And John Calvin wrote faith is “the firm knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us.” While none of these definitions are fully complete, each gives us a glimpse of this Christian cornerstone, much like the beginning of Hebrews 11, which affirms that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for.”
Many people understand the church from the concept of community: a group of believers with a heart composed of faith that embraces liberation; welcomes diversity; preaches God’s good news; and has love, compassion and care for people in need. However, the church’s history shows us that there has been a continual struggle to be that community that practices God’s good news.
It’s back to school time, and for parents that means helping children sharpen their pencils and charge their laptops in preparation for the first day. For children it means adapting to new morning routines and getting back to a studying and test-taking rhythm. And for pastors, it’s that wonderful time of year to bless school backpacks. While blessing backpacks is popular in big and small churches, it is only the start to what congregations can — and should — be doing to engage more deeply with local schools. According to Dr. Irvin Scott, a faculty member of Harvard Graduate School of Education, backpack blessings have grown over the years because they provide a relatively hassle-free, easy-to-execute outreach to families. “It’s a good first step,” said Scott, with emphasis on “first.”
“Engaging Matthew 25 Through Film – Building Congregational Vitality” is a video guide that helps the reader answer the question: What is congregational vitality?
For the past five decades, the Rev. Jim Wallis has been exploring the complexity and possibility of two of his favorite words, “justice” and “faith.” On Wednesday, Wallis, the founder of Sojourners magazine who now directs the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University, delivered a talk at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., exploring whether American democracy is even possible given the threats to voting rights, civil rights and any number of other challenges Americans are facing.
Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, Delaware, turns 300 this year, and the congregation plans a yearlong celebration. Worshipers recently heard an inspiring and heartfelt sermon from one of its favorite sons, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, who deftly put into historical perspective the church’s lengthy history.
