Mission Yearbook: Author and Episcopal priest discusses everyday objects of spiritual people

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The Rev. Laurie M. Brock, an author and Episcopal priest in Lexington, Kentucky, recently stopped by the virtual studios of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” to talk about her new book, “Souvenirs of the Holy: Encountering God Through Everyday Objects.” Listen to her 54-minute conversation with podcast hosts the Rev. Lee Catoe and Simon Doong here.

Brock said she has wrestled with the question, “What place are possessions taking in your life?”

While we’re not all called to be monastics, “I also think having so many things that you don’t even know what you have gets in the way of our relationship with God,” Brock said. “If you need 48 lip balms, go see a dermatologist. Something’s wrong.”

As Christians, we ought to be having a conversation with ourselves about how much is enough, Brock said.

A thing can bring us joy, Doong noted. “There’s a difference between that and you deriving joy from the purchasing and having something,” he said.

That’s true, Brock said, and advertising is largely to blame. “Advertising works on the simple belief that we’re going to tell people that they aren’t enough,” she said. “Compare that to the Christian message that you are enough, full stop.”

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“Not only are you enough, but you’re enough in your messiness,” she said. “You can’t buy your way to enough.”

Brock wondered if we can “stand up to the advertisers who are constantly telling us what is quite honestly an anti-Christian message, which is, ‘you’re not enough.’ God says, ‘no, you are, and nothing that you buy will make you enough.’”

“It’s OK to derive joy from things,” Brock said, “but the accumulation and the process of trying to be enough is never going to work for you.”

Catoe wondered: “What does it look like to look at material goods differently?”

Do more than just consider the price of things, Brock suggested.

With community-supported agriculture, “I know the local farmers. It’s a deep connection,” Brock said. “The money that I put into that is an investment in holiness and grace. What if I did that same process as much as I could” with everything else she buys, she said. We can start with the question “why?”

“Why is a powerful and holy question we don’t ask enough in our world,” Brock said. “Sometimes we Christians don’t think our faith walks with us as we walk into stores. It does, and it should dictate how we consume things and the things we keep around us.”

Noting that Brock’s book features a cast-iron skillet on the cover, Catoe said that image takes him back to his grandmother and great-grandmother. “An object can invoke the senses. I can smell their cooking,” he said. “Objects are the fingerprints of the past and of our loved ones. I think some objects can enhance our spirituality.”

“God is always speaking to us, wanting us to stop and listen,” Brock replied. “I have realized that everyday items in our lives have so much to say about love and how hard and complicated love is sometimes, and amazing and breath-taking.”

Every time she cooks with her own cast-iron skillet, which she inherited, “I know my grandmother and great-aunts are with us. The fat bonds with the iron, I think,” Brock said. “I am cooking with molecules that have existed for a hundred years.”

Objects can hold both memory and love. Sometimes the memory they hold is painful. “Filling our space with the things that matter give us a way to be present with God and those who have loved us through eternity,” Brock said.

Brock said she wonders what happens “when we as Christians begin to think about the things in our lives that have stories.”

“Not everything has one. Cheap faith? Cheap grace? Cheap is not generally good,” she said. “I think frugality is a wonderful value, but cheap drives down value.”

New editions of “A Matter of Faith: A Presby Podcast” drop every Thursday. Listen to previous editions here.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service, Presbyterian Life & Witness (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Ken Green, Church Consultant - Chicago, Illinois, Engagement & Church Relations, The Board of Pensions
Paul Grier, VP, Project Regeneration, Development Office, Presbyterian Foundation  

Let us pray:

May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Mother's Day Message 2026

Mother's Day Message from the General Secretary, Rev. Dr. Gina Jacobs-Strain, American Baptist Churches USA Office of the General Secretary Happy Joy filled Mother’s Day!   She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.” Proverbs 31:25-26   On this Mother’s Day, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to every mother for the many expressions of love, presence, and support that enrich our lives, our churches, and our communities. We honor mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, sisters, aunties and all who offer motherly wisdom, strength, and compassion in the lives of others. We celebrate the many ways love is shared, and lives are touched each day, reflecting the grace of God and sustaining hope across generations. We are also mindful that this day carries varied emotions. We hold in prayer those who grieve, those who have lost mothers and children, those who long to be mothers, those with complicated or painful relationships, and those whose journeys of motherhood are marked by complexity. May God’s abiding presence bring comfort, peace, and healing. May today be all about you. On behalf of American Baptist Churches USA, we pray that you will be renewed with joy and strengthened in spirit, knowing that your presence is a blessing in the world. Grace, peace and abundant blessings to you this Mother’s Day. Rev. Dr. Gina C. Jacobs-Strain General Secretary American Baptist Churches USA

American Baptist Churches USA | P.O. Box 851 | Valley Forge, PA 19482 US

Minute for Mission: National Day of Prayer

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Office of Public Witness (OPW)

“You shall have no other gods before me” — Exodus 20:3 

This is the first command in The Ten Commandments, the first thing that God spoke to the people of Israel at the base of Mount Sinai as they trembled in fear. 

With the Ten Commandments being one of the most rudimentary elements of our Christian life and witness, we may often err and neglect to sit with these words the Lord imparted to God’s people. The gravity of this commandment, this direct charge to stay far from idolatry, may be lost on us as a result. We may lose sight of where our hope lies, or of hope altogether. 

The National Day of Prayer gives us an important opportunity to reorient ourselves and communally remember who our ruler is. The idolatry of nationalism seems to be all too easy to fall into, particularly in the context of the United States, and particularly as love of God and love of nation seem to become more dangerously intertwined with each passing day. 

Our Reformed view of Christian engagement in the public square holds that we owe the government “our intercession, our active participation, and our prophetic critique.” (A Resolution on Honest Patriotism) Our duty to maintain a prophetic voice comes with a responsibility to speak clearly and loudly against sins committed by and brought through our government. We understand that our government will sin, and historically and presently will even commit grave evils that should bring us to our knees in repentance. 

True love of our nation, its leaders, and preeminently, our God, gives us a propensity to unshoulder any hesitation to speak out against the actions of our country, or any belief that our country or its leaders are above reproach. 

However, we do not only pray for our nation to admonish it. We continue to affirm that our civil governance structures are ordained by God as a function of fulfilling God’s will, glory and justice on Earth. We hold fast to the belief that good can come through our human, fallible structures of governance, and pray that this good may be realized. On this National Day of Prayer, we can boldly say we are broken-hearted and convicted citizens. Even still, we are not without hope.

Our faith and trust are not in military might. Our mission is not brought through violence, and our wars are not Holy. We recognize the danger of believing our country is in divine favor with the Lord. We reject idolatry of nation; both the idolatry which leads us to vicious arrogance, and the idolatry which leads us to despondency. We reorient our gaze and reaffirm our steadfast hope in Christ’s sovereignty and power to redeem all things. 

Elinor Hiller, Peacemaking Intern with the Office of Public Witness

Let us join in prayer for:

Denise Gray, Supervisor, General Ledger Office, Administrative Services Group
Katrinia Green, Controller, Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

Today, we pray for our nation. We pray for our leaders, that they would lead justly, compassionately and wisely. We pray for the health of our nation and lament the violence and vitriol we show one another. We pray for conviction and correction. We know that you reign over all the powers and principalities of this world. We trust that you work for good in all things. Lord, let us remember that you are not absent from these dangerous and difficult times. Our faith and hope remain in you alone. Let your will be done and your glory be revealed. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: 1001 gathering attendees explore forest church in Colorado

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The Rocky Mountains and atmospheric jazz led by Ike Sturm set the stage for forest church on Oct. 14 in Colorado. (Photos by Beth Waltemath)

Morning light recently streamed through the large picture window behind the chancel of Hyde Chapel at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado, casting a golden glow on the exposed wooden beams. The light illuminated the peaks of the Rocky Mountains beyond and silhouetted a herd of elk grazing on the lawn as ethereal praise songs filled the space, led by jazz bassist and composer Ike Sturm and a team of musicians who had never played together before.

The improvisational harmonies, layered with piano, harmonium and voice, created a contemplative atmosphere that invited worshipers into a deeper spiritual space at the 1001 New Worshiping Communities national gathering — setting the stage for a morning ritual that was both elemental and innovative.

“There were so many little nuggets of wisdom in those lyrics and the poetry,” said the Rev. Michael Gehrling, the 1001 New Worshiping Communities associate for recruitment and assessment. Gehrling transitioned the service from the gathering music into the time of reflection, introducing the morning’s worship leader, the Rev. Erin Angeli.

Angeli, co-pastor of the Commonwealth of Oakland near Pittsburgh, introduced an alternative form of worship known as forest church. Drawing from ancient Celtic practices and the book “Forest Church: A Field Guide to a Spiritual Connection with Nature” by Bruce Stanley, Angeli described how her community practices this form of worship as a trauma-informed, inclusive way to encounter God through Creation — what Stanley calls “God’s first Scripture.”

“God is dwelling out there all over the place,” Angeli said. “Taking the time to read what God has written into the land brings a connection to the Spirit that I have found hard to create in a classic worship environment.”

Participants were invited to venture outside and engage with nature through three pathways: awe, study and meaning-making. Some wandered in solitude, while others gathered in small groups to reflect together.

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The Rev. Gilo Agwa tells stories to other African pastors during forest church.

A group of African pastors, many of whom had immigrated from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, gathered around an unlit fire pit and chose to share stories communally. “We are Africans. We’re communal,” said the Rev. Princeton Abaraoha of the United African Presbyterian Church in Dallas. “In a journey, you don’t travel by yourself.”

Their reflections revealed how deeply nature informs spiritual wisdom in the lives of Africans. Pastor Edrine Ddungu of Sacramento Uganda Community Fellowship in California described taking young adult congregants to Uganda on “respite trips” to learn from its culture and nature. 

The Rev. Dr. Fred Mangeni, pastor of Jubilee International Fellowship in Wake Forest, North Carolina, shared how, during his time with the Maasai people in Kenya, he learned that it wasn’t necessary to build a church but rather to “create a space where they are,” for nature is their constant sanctuary as they migrate with the animals.

“You encounter the divine in your journey,” agreed Abaraoha, recalling how a Maasai leader once advised him to stay with the group because lions only attack those who stray from the line. The guide had urged, “Follow me. I am your way,” echoing the words of Jesus in John 14:6.

“That’s Maasai Scripture,” added Mangeni. “He didn’t have to read you the Gospel of John.”

“There is power in community,” Abaraoha continued. “You achieve more when you travel in community than when you travel by yourself.”

After 30 minutes, the musicians set up on the grass outside the chapel to call the worshipers back indoors to share their discoveries. Angeli invited those gathered to speak about what moved them.

One worshiper described feeling awe at a tree with both living and dead branches, still connected — a metaphor for resilience and spiritual sustenance. “Even when you feel like the life is sucked out, you’re still connected,” they said.

As the group reconvened in Hyde Chapel, Angeli closed the service with a prayer that captured the spirit of the morning: “Gracious God, hold up that sunlight for us just a little while. We thank you for these bright spots, for these times where you turn the kaleidoscope of life, and we can see, feel, smell and touch you in the world.”

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Life & Witness (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Denise Govindarajan, Associate Director, Digital Strategy & Information Systems, Administrative Services Group
Joanna Graf, Administrator, Finance, IT, Strategic Initiatives, The Board of Pensions

Let us pray:

Loving God, thank you for courage, creativity and perseverance. Give us health and strength in difficult circumstances. Shine your face upon all of us so your love will light our path. Amen.

More Information about the World Communion Offering

World Communion Offering Logistics This year marks the first World Communion Offering received on World Communion Sunday. We are so excited to be sharing this experience with you. Here is the important information you need to know. A Season of Preparation, Sept. 6–Oct. 4, 2026 Offering date: World Communion Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026   What to expect Standing Orders — orders will ship in late July. If your congregation had a standing order for the former Peace & Global Witness Offering, you will automatically receive a World Communion Offering standing order. Downloadable resources — a Leader’s Guide, video and other resources will be available on our website closer to the start of A Season of Preparation. Grant Announcements — We'll let you know when grant applications will open and how to apply for a World Communion Offering grant. Update your email preferences to receive grant information as it becomes available. Read our grant FAQs to learn more about the World Communion Offering grants.  Visit World Communion Offering Website Thank you for supporting the World Communion Offering! We are the Church. Together. If you have any questions, reply to this email or call us at (800) 728-7228, Ext. 5047.

Copyright © 2026 Special Offerings, All rights reserved.

Minute for Mission: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People

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Humanizing Through Stories (Photo by Madison McKinney)

The crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people (MMIWG2S) is one of the most urgent human rights issues facing North America. Across the United States and Canada, Indigenous women and girls experience violence at disproportionately high rates, shaped by the enduring impacts of colonization, systemic racism and social marginalization.

Although Indigenous women make up a small percentage of the population, they are vastly overrepresented among victims of violence. Many cases receive little media attention, and families often encounter barriers in law enforcement response and jurisdictional coordination. This lack of visibility has contributed to the movement’s rallying cry: “No More Stolen Sisters.”

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) joins others in recognizing May 5 as a National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people. This day offers an opportunity for prayer, education and public witness. It calls the church to remember those whose lives have been taken or remain unaccounted for, and to stand in solidarity with grieving families and communities.

For people of faith, this reality calls for both lament and action. Scripture reminds us that every person is created in the image of God and deserving of dignity, protection and justice. The church is called to listen to Indigenous voices, support advocacy for policy reform, and participate in efforts that seek truth, accountability and healing.

The inclusion of Two-Spirit people in this movement also reminds us that violence intersects with gender identity and sexuality, increasing vulnerability for those living at multiple margins.

As the PC(USA) engages in God’s mission, we are invited to bear witness — on May 5 and throughout the year — working toward a world where Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people are safe, honored and fully seen.

JoAnne Sharp

Let us join in prayer for:

Ashley Gibson, HR Assistant, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group
Sharon Dunne Gillies, Managing Editor, Presbyterian Women

Let us pray:

God of justice and compassion, we remember before you the lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit people. We grieve the violence, the silence, and the loss that weighs on families and communities. We confess that systems meant to protect — law enforcement, legal structures and social institutions — too often fail to bring justice or safety. Stir in us holy courage to name these failures and to work for change. Teach us to listen deeply to Indigenous voices, to honor the dignity of every life, and to stand in solidarity with those seeking truth and healing. May your Spirit guide us beyond words into action, that your justice may roll down and your peace take root in every community. In your holy name we pray. Amen.

Pastor's Life - The Call

Whether your church is mega or small, the call and the work matter the same by Rev. Lorenzo Small, Sr. A CNN article was recently sent to me regarding the success of a mega church in Atlanta that I will not name. The premise of the article was that this pastor has figured out how to reach young people in the thousands, while highlighting the continued failure of the mainline church in America. The article actually names the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as one of those failing denominations. Now, before I write the rest of this devotion, let me say that we, disciples of Jesus Christ, celebrate wherever God is at work and persons are being reached with the glorious gospel of Jesus regardless of size and denomination. However, I refute any notion that says God is only at work in these mega places. Furthermore, I refute any teaching that says unless we employ a particular strategy, we are doomed for failure. So today, I write to encourage and warn us one-talent pastors, that is, pastors who serve in communities like mine, Battle Creek, MI. Pastors who serve in places where the membership of these mega churches exceeds the population of your entire city. I am writing to us lest we become discouraged and, like the unprofitable servant in Matthew 25:14–30, fail to take seriously the call God/Jesus has given to us to be just as productive in our small places as our brothers and sisters in these big places.

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Rev. Lorenzo Small serves as Lead Pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Battle Creek, Michigan. He is a graduate of North Carolina A & T State University where he studied Finance. Following graduation, he moved to St. Paul, Minn., where he worked for a number of years in the corporate world (for such companies as 3M Corporation and Eli Lilly). While there, he felt the call to the ministry and was ordained as a Baptist minister. Following graduation from Union Presbyterian Seminary he was ordained and installed as pastor of Pleasant Ridge Presbyterian Church of Lancaster, S.C. Rev. Small is a board member of the Foundation for Reformed Theology. He previously served as pastor of First United Presbyterian Church of Charlotte, N.C.

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