In January 1828, a bunch of men sitting in a palace in Mexico City signed the “Treaty of Limits,” a document that would set up the bureaucracy used to draw and then redraw the borders based on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and later the Gadsden Purchase. All of this led to an arbitrary line in the sand of the desert near the 31st parallel. Today we know that line as the international border between the United States and Mexico. In October 2018, seven adventurous souls from Hastings, Nebraska. made a trek to the 31st parallel and spent a week studying boundaries, borders, barriers and lines through the lens of their faith and through the stories of people living on both sides. What did we discover? God’s love, manifest through God’s precious children, transcends boundaries, borders, barriers and lines. Our team arrived in Tucson, Arizona, on a Saturday afternoon. Our Presbyterian mission co-worker Mark Adams lovingly greeted us, and we loaded in the van for the two-hour ride … [Read more...]
Hands and Feet initiative inspires Presbyterians to learn and serve in St. Louis
St. Louis - Stated clerk J. Herbert Nelson articulated a vision for the 223rd General Assembly well before Presbyterians arrived in St. Louis. At the 2017 Montreat College Conference, Nelson said: “I do not believe that the church can go into the General Assembly as it has in previous General Assemblies … spending expensive bills across the city sightseeing, and then leave the community no better than it was when we first came. If we continue to do that, we are committing a major sin. So beginning in St. Louis, we are starting something we call ‘Hands and Feet.’ We are going in with our hands and feet: to have teach-ins, … to do some work, make community gardens, do resiliency training … and the list goes on and on. Our test case will be St. Louis, we ought to perfect it by Baltimore [site of the 224th GA in 2020], and by Columbus [site of the 225th GA in 2022] it ought to be old hat.” With this vision, the Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency began … [Read more...]
Youth group serves in St. Louis as part of the Hands and Feet initiative
FERGUSON, MO. – When J. Herbert Nelson, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) put out the call for Presbyterians to come to St. Louis as part of the Hands and Feet initiative, Highland Presbyterian Church in Louisville responded. They planned a youth mission trip to St. Louis to spend a few days at General Assembly and a few more days serving with STL Urban Mission, an organization run out of First Presbyterian Church of Ferguson. STL Urban Mission along with Amen St. Louis, a ministry of Oak Hill Presbyterian Church located in the Tower Grove South neighborhood of St. Louis, were two sites identified by the Office of the General Assembly to host mission teams in the year leading up to the General Assembly, as part of an effort to engage more deeply with the host city. Doodle Harris, associate pastor at Highland Presbyterian Church, led a team of youth along with an adult sponsor to St. Louis on Saturday, June 16. They spent two days at with GA at the convention … [Read more...]
Spirited worship follows spirited assembly debate
ST. LOUIS – Following more than two hours of spirited debate over how the church should respond to climate change and fossil fuels, the General Assembly moved into a spirited worship service. The worship started with all gathered singing a hymn in unison that included the lyrics, “We are refugees together; all are wanderers welcomed home, greeted by God’s open arms with each unique but none alone.” The text for the hymn, “Draw the Welcome Circle Wider,” was commissioned for the 223rdGeneral Assembly and was also sung during opening worship. Following the call to worship, those gathered sang the classic hymn “Holy God We Praise Your Name.” Karl Hauser, pastor of Southminster Presbyterian Church in Crestwood, Missouri, led the call to confession, the prayer of confession, and the assurance of forgiveness, drawn from the new Book of Common Worship. Hauser swirled his hands through the water in the baptismal font during the assurance of forgiveness, continuing the theme of water … [Read more...]
Presbyterians put their hands together and stomp their feet for the Hands and Feet initiative at a concert by jazz musician Kirk Whalum
ST. LOUIS – On Thursday, June 21, the General Assembly was treated to a live concert by Kirk Whalum. This was billed as a celebration of the Hands and Feet initiative in St. Louis and a launch of the initiative in Baltimore. Stated clerk J. Herbert Nelson took the stage in a snappy blue blazer and bow tie to share opening remarks for the concert. He thanked Northern Trust securities for sponsoring the concert; because of their sponsorship, all of the proceeds from the ticket sales are going directly to the work of the “Hands and Feet” initiative. Nelson talked about the development of the Hands and Feet initiative and how it came to be in St. Louis. He said, “We came to St. Louis knowing what we were going to do and that’s the worst thing you can do.” Nelson acknowledged that they had to check their preconceived ideas and instead listen to local churches and partners on the ground. He led the audience in the chant: “Whose streets? Our streets!” Nelson said that those words were … [Read more...]
Good biscuits and the bread of life: General Assembly worship with Floretta Barbee-Watkins
ST. LOUIS – Water remained a central theme of worship General Assembly worship on Thursday, June 21. The opening hymn, “Take Me to the Water” set the tone for a worship service that incorporated water, children and reflections on table fellowship. The prayer of confession used the theme of bread and the mustard seed, which would be echoed in the assurance of forgiveness, Scripture and sermon. The Scripture for the service, the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven from Luke 13, were presented by video in the form of a children’s message from the book “Young Children and Worship.” Floretta Barbee-Watkins, pastor of The Avenue Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, preached a sermon that challenged the assembly. She noted that the purpose of preaching is to “distress the comfortable and to comfort the distressed.” Barbee-Watkins opened her sermon with an illustration about homemade biscuits and family dynamics, connecting immediately with those gathered. She … [Read more...]
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