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Building the kin-dom one prayer at a time: An invitation to prayer practices for the General Assembly

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Motel 6 famously advertises, “We’ll leave the light on for you.” A clever slogan that embodies a sense of hospitality and home, and in St. Louis the lights are already on in anticipation of the arrival of family for the General Assembly. It is a homecoming of sorts as denominational “relatives” from north and south, east and west, gather for a time of discussion, decision-making, reflection and worship. The connections between churches and leaders who otherwise would not cross paths is renewed or established, and we recognize one another as kinfolk. Although others stay back to tend the home fires, still we are one family, sheltering under the promise of the kingdom and kin-dom of Christ.  The theme for this year’s assembly – “Renewing the vision: Kindom building for the 21st century” – strives to emphasize this connectivity. Warmly captured by Isaac Villegas in “The Kin-dom of mi abuelita” (published in The Mennonite), he describes it this way: “God’s kin-dom looks like my … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA223 • prayer

Compelled to respond:  The 223rd General Assembly and climate change

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To work for the transformation of society The two of us have spent the last two years (and longer) working in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on overtures about climate change, with proposed actions including both divestment from the fossil fuel industry and a variety of other efforts to change individual and institutional behaviors. abby mohaupt (she prefers not to have her name capitalized) is the moderator of Fossil Free PCUSA (a grassroots movement focused on adding divestment to the other things being done to respond to climate change). Jim Allison has been active in the group trying to define alternatives and additions to divestment. It is not unimportant that Jim is an economist and former employee of a fossil fuel company, and abby is a Presbyterian pastor and activist, as well as a Ph.D. student in religion and climate change. With those kinds of credentials, it is perhaps not surprising that we do not agree on the particular question of divestment. However, we do agree … [Read more...]

Tagged With: fossil fuels • GA223

(Almost) 104 weeks later

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June 18, 2016, was the beginning of an excellent adventure. On election night at the 222nd General Assembly in Portland, Oregon, we declared that – if elected – we had two clear intentions for the next 104 weeks: to cast a vision of hope to the church we love and to hear your stories of faith. At this writing, those 104 weeks are soon coming to an end. As the first co-moderators of any General Assembly, we have found the experience to be life-giving and fun. Our former moderator/vice moderator teams shared responsibilities as well but – as co-moderators – our partnership has been more deliberate. We found that being friends prior to standing as co-moderators served us well in terms of working together and trusting each other. Occasionally we were specifically invited by name, but usually we divided the invitations according to our individual schedules. The two of us were rarely in the same place at the same time. One memorable weekend, however, we were both in Chicago on the same … [Read more...]

Tagged With: ga222 • GA223

Time’s up: Walking in pursuit of climate justice

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Guest commentary by Alison Wood, written for the Presbyterian Outlook in the midst of the PC(USA) Walk for a Fossil-Free World from Louisville, Kentucky, to St. Louis where General Assembly will be held.  We’re learning all kinds of things on the #walk2divest: It takes us two hours to walk five miles, with a snack break in the middle. Ten miles in a day is an easy goal; to finish 15 or more we have to push our pace a little. As a group, we like flavored potato chips better than plain. We learn that Casey often breaks out in dance, Ashley often breaks out in song and three people have broken out in poison ivy. We learn how to identify poison ivy. There are 14-25 of us on the Walk for a Fossil Free PCUSA at any given time. We are walking from Louisville to St Louis in preparation for the 223rdGeneral Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in pursuit of climate justice. The youngest walker has been 11, the oldest walker in their 70s. On the walk so far, we … [Read more...]

Tagged With: fossil fuels • GA223

Leveraging MRTI’s Christian witness to climate change

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Guest commentary by Kerri Allen We live in times where moral ambiguity can have devastating and even deadly consequences.  When it comes to the reality of climate change, there is no ambiguity of the disastrous impact of human degradation of the planet. Right now, the first government-funded climate change refugee resettlement is taking place in the contiguous United States.  Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana, the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw band of Native Americans, has lost 98 percent of its land since 1955.  Just in the past two weeks, a Harvard University study estimates that over 4,500 lives were lost as a consequence of Hurricane Maria. Well over a decade following Hurricane Katrina, white New Orleans has recovered; black New Orleans has not. See a pattern here?  The devastating effects of climate change are undeniable, as is this disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable communities throughout the globe. While the effects of climate change are black and white, the … [Read more...]

Tagged With: fossil fuels • GA223

Westminster Confession, revised

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Who remembers Benjamin Harrison? The 23rd U.S. president, Republican Benjamin Harrison served one term (1888-1893), wedged between Grover Cleveland’s two terms. The Indiana native’s high ethical standards brought him into office, and his support of disastrous tariff acts contributed to his downfall. Harrison welcomed six states into the union, created national forest reserves, modernized our Navy and provided federal aid to disabled veterans and their widows. He pushed for federal protection of African-American voting rights and federal financing of African-American education, although these efforts in the post-Reconstruction era were unsuccessful. Perhaps even less known is that Harrison was a devout Presbyterian elder. In 1900, responding to numerous presbytery requests for changes in our sole creedal statement, The Westminster Confession, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. appointed a committee to study revision. The appointees included popular New York … [Read more...]

Tagged With: GA223

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