A massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon on Tuesday has left at least 100 dead and more than 4,000 people wounded. The cause is still under investigation. Mission co-worker and World Mission’s regional liaison for Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, the Rev. Elmarie Parker, has been coordinating with partners in Beirut. She has been sheltering-in-place in the state of Washington since March. Her husband and fellow-mission co-worker, the Rev. Scott Parker, was in Beirut, where he is sheltering-in-place and escaped injury. Global partners in Beirut have reported property damage but no deaths. Scott Parker said the blast felt like an earthquake. Officials said the blast registered as a 3.3 magnitude earthquake that could be felt as far away as Cyprus. Elmarie Parker was contacted Tuesday by the Rev. Joseph Kassab, secretary general of the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL), who reported that there is some minor damage to their building, but no injuries. He had … [Read more...]
Lamar Williamson Jr., a Presbyterian pastor, educator and mission co-worker dies in North Carolina at 94
The Rev. Dr. Lamar Williamson Jr., beloved Presbyterian pastor and educator and a former mission co-worker in the then-Belgian Congo, died peacefully on July 11 in Black Mountain, North Carolina. He was 94. In his obituary, his family lovingly described him as “first and foremost, a man of God whose love of the Lord was seconded only by is love of his wife and family, all enriched by his love of knowledge and his extraordinary wit.” A native of Monticello, Arkansas and a veteran of the U.S. Army, he enrolled at Union Theological Seminary (now Union Presbyterian Seminary) in Richmond, Virginia, receiving his Master of Divinity in 1951. In 1948 he was a PCUS youth delegate in the first General Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Amsterdam. He married Ruthmary Bliss in 1949 and they had their first child, Fred, in 1950. In 1952 he earned a Bachelor of Theology in Montpellier, France. He then served as pastor at Hilton Presbyterian Church in Harveyton, Kentucky. He … [Read more...]
Bearing witness: Presbyterians to host Week of Action
LOUISVILLE — As the country continues to reckon with its history of racism and oppression of Black and brown people and take steps toward healing, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is planning to host a Week of Action Aug. 24-30. The week will provide a variety of ways for Presbyterians and other individuals to show their support for the Black Lives Matter movement and those who tend to be marginalized by society because of their race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. “The Presbyterian Church cares, knows what’s going on, and we’re beyond just making statements,” said the Rev. Shanea D. Leonard, the lead organizer of the Week of Action. “We’re hoping that anyone that is willing to and able to will get involved in some way.” The Week of Action is a collaborative effort by the Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA), the Office of General Assembly (OGA) and the Administrative Services Group (ASG). The Week of Action “is an endeavor to provide a public witness that … [Read more...]
PC(USA) offers guidance on baptism, ordination during the pandemic
LOUISVILLE (PNS) — The Office of the General Assembly and the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Office of Theology and Worship have together prepared a statement on the sacrament of baptism and services of ordination and/or installment during the COVID-19 pandemic. On baptism When local authorities and medical experts determine it is reasonably safe to do so, hold baptisms in a suitable outdoor location with a pastor or commissioned pastor, a ruling elder representing the church’s session and the one being baptized, including family, if applicable. Others can take part and bear witness via livestreamed video. Attendees should wear masks, wash hands and check temperatures. Coronavirus tests might also be administered a few days after the service. Maintain safe distances during the service, only entering into somewhat closer contact for the act of baptism itself. The water can be poured from a vessel at arms-length, which allows for maximum distance between the candidate and the … [Read more...]
New York church to devote $200,000 to ‘reparations’ with housing help, anti-racism training
(RNS) — A historic New York City church has decided to devote $200,000 — about a tenth of its budget — to provide housing assistance and youth anti-racism training. The Rev. Jacqueline Lewis, the African American leader of the multiethnic Middle Collegiate Church, said the initiative is a way for her church to make amends. She noted that the church began after Dutch Reformed settlers bought the land that eventually became Manhattan from the Lenape, a Native American nation, in an unfair transaction. Its early clergy also included slaveholders. “We are doing reparations,” she said of the plans for a portion of the church's $2.3 million budget for the fiscal year that started July 1. Half of the $200,000 is aimed at addressing the needs of New Yorkers whose CARES Act unemployment benefits may have been lost as of July 31, “so they don’t lose their housing,” she said. Many have lost jobs during the coronavirus pandemic and can no longer afford rent and mortgages. The other … [Read more...]
Stated Clerk says today’s generational culture is taking a different approach to racism
LOUISVILLE (OGA) As the U.S. witnesses protests and marches over the treatment of people of color, the Reverend Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), says today’s generation is taking its own approach to dealing with racism. … [Read more...]
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