Minute for Mission: Hiroshima Day (Nuclear Victims’ and Survivors’ Day)

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The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, also known as the Genbaku Dome, is the only building that survived near the center of the first atomic bomb explosion on Aug. 6, 1945. It stands there today, preserved just as it was right after the blast.

I was not alive to bear witness to the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. My understanding of those events was primarily shaped by two sources: history lessons in school and the stories my family recounted of their lives during U.S. involvements in war. My grandparents and elderly family members offered precious glimpses into what it was like to live through and after the tragic events of Aug. 6 and 9, 1945. 

My family wove stories of both tragedy and joy, prosperity and suffering, heartbreak and resilience. It fills me with gratitude to carry the role of messenger of my ancestors’ experiences. Yet, reflecting on the horrific bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki stirs anger, sorrow and conflict within me regarding the rationale of the U.S. behind that decision. 

Nuclear Victims’ and Survivors’ Day commemorates the day that generations of lives, and their stories, were cut short. While I know these souls and stories are safe in the arms of God, I wrestle with the weight of these lives that were taken to justify ending a war. I ponder the histories that were never told, the wisdom that was never passed down, and the art that was never created. Even today, what stories are too daunting or too intense even to begin to articulate from this harrowing time?

The biggest question I wrestle with of all is this: How do we, more than 80 years later, honor those lost stories and wrestle with our place among these complex narratives to move toward reconciliation and a future of peace without fear that our stories will be ended too soon?

When ruminating on these lofty questions, I turned to Psalm 34 for guidance. 

The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;

    He delivers them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted

    and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

When we cry out about the horror of war, God will be crying alongside us. I have no fear when these stories are recounted because I have faith that God was suffering alongside those who lost their lives that day. I have faith that God was mourning alongside the hibakusha survivors in Japan and the downwinders in the American Southwest. I have faith that God is singing the songs of the ones who were lost right alongside us as we sing. I know that our loving and merciful God will be right there next to us, guiding our way and holding our hand, as we learn, grow, and fulfill our call for justice and peace.

Psalm 34 continues:

Turn from evil and do good;

    Seek peace and pursue it.

We are taking steps toward peacemaking and reconciliation when we take the time to learn about the histories and lessons of peace instead of letting them be forgotten. When we remember and tell difficult stories for generations to come, we are doing a courageous act of truth-telling to understand our past, so we don’t repeat it. When we share stories and histories, we are carrying out God’s call to seek peace and pursue it, working for a world where peace is guaranteed for all of God’s children. 

Grace Kromke, Peacemaking Fellow, Office of Public Witness

Let us join in prayer for:

V. George Waters, Ministry Relations Officer, Development Office, The Presbyterian Foundation
Donyale White, Accounting Clerk, Accounts Payable Office, Administrative Services Group

Let us pray:

Holy and Gracious God, we thank you for the stories that endure and your comforting presence in our troubled and aching hearts. Help us to carry out the memory of those who lost their lives and had their stories cut short, not as a burden, but as a sacred promise of truth, trust and peace. Guide us as we seek justice, pursue peace, and work toward reconciliation in a world still longing for unity and harmony. United by love, we lift up your name and the name of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Amen. 

Mission Yearbook: Three people and an organization are honored by Presbyterians for Earth Care

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Photo by Beth Jnr via Unsplash

Presbyterians for Earth Care (PEC) recognized three individuals and an organization for their exceptional environmental achievements at PEC’s virtual Annual Gathering.

Dr. William P. Brown, the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, received the William Gibson Eco-Justice Award for his long-term dedication to teaching and preaching on environmental issues in the Old Testament.

He is a co-founder of Earth Covenant Ministry, an organization of Presbyterian churches in the Atlanta area that later became part of Georgia Interfaith Power and Light.

Arkansas Interfaith Power and Light (AIPL) was presented with the Restoring Creation Award for working in community gardens and backyard gardens for more than a decade. Many of the garden locations have been on church properties, where congregations have been engaged.

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Dr. William P. Brown

Drew Hill and Hudson Davis received PEC’s Emerging Earth Care Leader Award for showing exceptional promise as future leaders. Hill, a young adult from Santa Fe, New Mexico, is passionate about social progress, protecting the environment and serving the public. From an early age, Davis was captivated by prehistoric and modern animals and the sanctity of nature.

Brown has received numerous awards, grants and academic chairs. In addition to teaching and preaching on environmental issues, Brown has written 12 books and was editor of “Engaging Biblical Authority.” He is currently completing a major commentary on the Psalms for the “Old Testament Library Commentary” series for Westminster John Knox Press. Next will be a commentary on Genesis 1–11 in the new Interpretation series, also to be published by WJK Press. He has assisted with writing Creation care overtures for previous General Assemblies.

AIPL’s network of growers had 21 community garden locations, seven new partners, and several small backyard gardens in low-wealth communities. AIPL has involved a total of 74 interns, trainers, and students and has engaged more than 22,000 people each year to learn about growing some of their own food in sustainable ways.

AIPL provides 13,725 pounds of nutritious fresh produce and other food items to food pantries and no-cost markets. A total of 43,300 pounds of organic matter was diverted from landfills over a two-year period. AIPL interns also shared organic waste from the organization’s gardens with chickens at on-site coops and added organic matter to onsite compost bins. AIPL is reaching even more people in more low-wealth communities by awarding 10 $2,000 grants.

Davis is a 24-year-old scientist serving the Mammoth Site, located in Hot Springs, South Dakota. As the assistant science educator, he lives out his childhood dreams of being a paleontologist while getting to pass on the power of curiosity about the natural world to the next generation.

Davis embodies his faith while teaching about the amazing world we live in. He runs classes and tours at the site and leads the summer camp program, a free weeklong program. During the summer, he’s a supervisor for the Mammoth Site’s Internship Program, helping mentor 6–8 college paleontology students. Hudson also helps design exhibits for the museum and dig for fossils of ice-age animals in local caves.

Hill is a young adult from Santa Fe, New Mexico, passionate about social progress, protecting the environment, and serving the public. Raised in the community of First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe, Hill was a youth deacon and ruling elder prior to graduating from high school, working as summer staff at Ghost Ranch Education and Retreat Center and serving as a PC(USA) Young Adult Volunteer in Washington, D.C.

He received a Bachelor of Philosophy degree at the University of New Mexico, graduating in 2024. He was a Young Adult Advisory Delegate during a previous General Assembly. Since completing his degree, he has worked as a district staffer for U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez of Las Cruces.

Hill has worked with the Advocacy Committee on PEC overtures for the 2026 General Assembly and serves on the Advisory Committee of CANOPY, the Creation Action Network of Presbyterian Young Adults.

Presbyterians for Earth Care (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Matthew Warmbier, Administrative Assistant, Trust Services, The Presbyterian Foundation
Renee Warner, Operations Administrator, Operations, The Presbyterian Foundation              

Let us pray:

Merciful God, continue to work through your people to nurture those you are calling to serve your people and work for justice and peace. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Faith leaders honor retiring Lutheran bishop in West Bank

Local and international faith leaders, including a contingent from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) led by the Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly and Executive Director of Presbyterian Life & Witness, turned out to Talitha Kumi German Lutheran School  in Beit Jala, West Bank, to celebrate the many years of ministry of Bishop Dr. Sani Ibrahim Azar, who leads the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.

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Well-wishers fill the chapel at Talitha Kumi school in the West Bank to honor Bishop Dr. Sani Ibrahim Azar. (Photos by Rich Copley)

During a two-hour service of worship and thanksgiving, speaker after speaker rose to praise Azar, who completed his ministry at the school he attended as a youth. Talitha Kumi, which means “Little girl, get up!” is named for what Jesus told Jairus’ daughter according to Mark’s gospel in order to raise her from the dead.

“I started here as a child and I will end — not my life, but my ministry — here in the place where I started,” Azar said. He recalled worshiping alongside his father and a few of his fellow students who had a hard time praying for the forgiveness offered in the Lord’s Prayer.

“He helped me learn to forgive others as God forgives me,” Azar said of his father. Now, “I have to think twice about praying sometimes, because when I pray, God answers.”

He said his hope for the church “is that God is the one with whom we are connected, filling our needs and saving our souls.”

“This is also my school — my home for 12 years,” said Bethlehem Mayor Maher Canawati, who offered remarks and a gift for the retiring bishop. Talitha Kumi has helped “living stones” in the Bethlehem community for many years, Canawati said.

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Brass for Peace plays as part of Friday's worship service at Talitha Kumi School.

The Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, Christian Kopp, called Azar a bridge-builder and declared him “an honorary Bavarian for life.”

The Bishop of the New England Synod in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Nathan Pipho, said that shortly after his election as bishop, Pipho’s predecessor scheduled a Zoom meeting for him with Azar. “Of all he did to prepare me, putting Bishop Azar on my list was the top of his list,” Pipho said, thanking God that Azar has been “the hands and feet of Christ.”

“Be with him in retirement as you have so clearly been with him in his ministry,” Pipho prayed.

A retired pastor noted that under Azar’s leadership, Muslim and Christian students “have gotten to know about each other’s faith,” she said.

Yehiel Curry, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, gave Azar a Bethlehem star, which “is nothing new here. It represents the light that shone when Jesus was born. It also represents the light in Palestine.”

“From your siblings here, I want you to know there is a pretty good delegation here,” Curry said. “All of us from the ELCA want to say thank you.”

The PC(USA) contingent was in Jordan and Israel-Palestine to meet with partners, renew friendships and learn in partners’ context. 

Talitha Kumi School serves children in grades K through 12 growing up near Bethlehem in a challenging economic and political situation.

The school includes a kindergarten, a community college, a boarding school for girls and a large guest house. It’s currently home to 700 students. About 30% of students are Christians and 70% are Muslims. About 100 students attend the Talitha Kumi Community College.

Empowering girls is one of the school’s core aims. Talitha Kumi is a pioneering co-educational school in Palestine, providing a setting where boys and girls have been able to learn side by side for many years. About 90% of the students live in the West Bank and the remaining 10% live in East Jerusalem and other Palestinian enclaves.

For almost 20 years, the school has been training students as mediators. Talitha Kumi follows Palestinian curriculum in elementary school and adds German as a foreign language in second grade. Learn more here. 

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

Let us join in prayer for:

Judy Walton, Vice President, Lending Services, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program
Laura Wampler, Operations & Rights Associate, Operations, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

Let us pray:

Good and great God, you meet us in everyday life and call us to extraordinary experiences. Help us to hear your call for our lives and to answer in faith, “Here am I; send me.” We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pastor's Life - Love

Loving People of Other Faiths by Charles Wiley, Ph.D. I enjoyed reading “God is big enough to hold all of our curiosity, doubts, joys, and fears” by Rev. Adriene Thorne (Pastor’s Life, June 2026). I, too, have deeply appreciated dialogue and friendship with people of other faiths, particularly with Muslims and Jews. And my day-to-day life is filled with encounters with Buddhists from Myanmar, who oversee businesses in my city, Muslims who have become friends because of our participation in formal dialogues, and several rabbis whom I count as close friends. I am grateful for these relationships. When I think of how I approach other faiths, I realize I almost always do so in the midst of relationships. Many years ago, I made a comment in a seminar that another student found troubling. She blurted out, “But you’re speaking from a Christian perspective.” To which I replied, “It is the only one I’ve got.” One of the joys of interfaith encounters is that we bring our whole selves into the conversation, and we are pleased when our conversation partners bring their whole selves as well. My commitment to Jesus Christ is at the center of my whole self. I have sometimes found that in formal dialogues some Christians are often consumed with finding common ground before the dialogue begins. I tend to practice a simpler approach: the only requirement for dialogue is a willingness to talk. Common ground, if it emerges, will rise up within the conversation.

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Charles Wiley, Ph.D. serves as Vice-President of Philanthropy at Day1, having previously served at Columbia Theological Seminary as Director of Leadership Support where he also taught theology and history. In addition to serving in various pastoral roles, for 21 years he served with distinction at the Presbyterian Church USA Office of Theology and Worship. Charles earned his Ph.D. at Princeton Seminary, his M.Div. from Duke Divinity School, and his B.A. from Davidson College.

Featured Resources

Church Financial Leadership Grant Program Grants are available to assist pastors to attend continuing education opportunities which will help them in leading their congregations toward financial and missional vitality. These grants can be used to help with half the cost to attend Stewardship Kaleidoscope or the ECRF program. More Information

Continuing Education Institute in Partnership with NEXT Church Zephyr Point and NEXT Church are partnering to hosting a continuing education institute in October. This education experience helps ministry leaders assess congregational needs, evaluate resources, and develop practical strategies. More Information

Mission Yearbook: Vicar challenges audience to practice joy as spiritual resistance

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Rev. Lizzie McManus-Dail delivers keynote at 2026 Montreat College Conference. (Photos by Kristen Gaydos)

The Rev. Lizzie McManus-Dail stood before hundreds of college students, holding up medieval manuscript images of the Virgin Mary — not cradling the infant Jesus, but beating the devil with a stick.

“This is probably not the picture you would find in Hobby Lobby underneath a nice throw pillow that says ‘joy,’” she told the crowd during the opening keynote of the 2026 Montreat College Conference. “This is what it is: taking a spear right through the evil and the sin and the death and the tyranny.”

McManus-Dail, vicar of Jubilee Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas, delivered an address titled “How to Practice Joy When the World Is Falling Apart,” delving into the conference’s theme of “Strains of Joy.” She returned for a workshop where students engaged the same themes while creating art projects.

McManus-Dail began by distinguishing her understanding of joy from easy happiness. She recounted standing at a funeral for a beloved 90-year-old family member and hearing the liturgical proclamation “Alleluia. Christ is risen.”

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College students show off their creative works made during Rev. Lizzie's workshop.

“Even at the grave, we make our song: Alleluia,” she said, explaining that the word literally means “praise God.” The priest, who has walked with parishioners through traumatic deaths and experienced profound loss in her own life, argued that joy is most critical precisely when it feels impossible. She described joy not as a feeling that happens to us, but as “looking for God's abundance in the face of the world's scarcity.”

Drawing on research by Brené Brown, McManus-Dail identified joy as “the most vulnerable human emotion” because “when we feel joy, we want to immediately clap up, put a little wall around it.” She challenged the audience to reject what she called the world’s commodification of joy — the idea that happiness can be purchased through control, consumption or isolation from pain.

McManus-Dail shared her experience of giving birth via C-section, describing the visceral sensation of lying on an operating table “like being on a cross” while bringing life into the world. A phrase from her friend came to her: “To bring life into this world, you must face death.”

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Jacob, a college student from Statesboro, GA, said he appreciated the theology explored at the Montreat College Conference, especially in Rev. Lizzie's keynote and workshop. 

Ten years ago, four of McManus-Dail's family members — her aunt, uncle and two cousins — were killed in a plane crash. McManus-Dail spoke of how creativity became a spiritual practice of resistance. “To face death, you must bring life,” she said, inverting her earlier phrase. 

“Creativity in the face of anti-creation, participating in the midwifery of God in the face of everything that tries to kill God and us — that is Christian joy.”

McManus-Dail turned to Mary as an exemplar of joy in the face of suffering, noting her title as “Our Lady, Queen of Heaven and Empress of Hell.” She read Mary’s Magnificat from Luke 1, emphasizing its themes of social reversal: “God has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.”

Medieval Christians facing plague and political oppression, McManus-Dail explained, depicted Mary defeating evil with fierce strength rather than passive submission. She described an act of creative resistance in her transformation of her chasuble, a liturgical garment McManus-Dail wears. The pink chasuble was transformed with Rit dye and decorated with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and sequins from her late aunt’s craft supplies.

McManus-Dail closed with a warning and an invitation. “Tyrants,” she said, “want nothing more than for us to think about them, that every headline, that every thought, that everything we think about, talk about and dream about to be about them.”

“They are not our story,” she said. “They are not the whole story.” She urged students to practice “small acts of creation” daily as resistance against despair. “Joy has teeth,” she declared. “Joy is a spiritual discipline.”

“I love the theology,” said Jacob, a conference-goer from Statesboro, Georgia, who specifically asked about the story behind the pink chasuble. Jacob has been following “Rev. Lizzie” on Instagram and TikTok for years.  He said he loved the part of her keynote “when she was talking about that within God, God is community within itself.” Jacob also loved the premise of McManus-Dail’s book, “God Didn’t Make Us to Hate Us.” “God didn't need to create us but chose to create us as uniquely special,” said Jacob.

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

Let us join in prayer for:

Michael Wade, Production Clerk, Hubbard Press, Administrative Services Group
Donald Walker, Executive Vice President & Chief Investment Officer, Investments, The Board of Pensions          

Let us pray:

Gracious God, where there are countless reasons to be hopeless, overcome them all, so that the world may see communities of people come alive, reborn and renewed in Christ’s name. Amen.

Minute for Mission: College and Young Adult Sunday

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Ukirk (Gini Norris-Lane)

It’s often hard to imagine what Presbyterians were like 60, 75 or 100 years ago. The world was in a very different place in 1925 than it is in today, and there were very different things going on in 1950 than in 1965.

But what each of these years has in common is that Presbyterians were inspired to invest financially and spiritually in the spiritual, intellectual and emotional formation of young adults on college campuses across the country.

The Koinonia Center at the University of Oregon in Eugene celebrated its 100th anniversary last November. UKirk Tallahassee, originally begun as a Westminster House, celebrated its 75th anniversary in October. The United Campus Ministry at the University of Arkansas celebrated 60 years in its building in fall 2024, and over 75 years of ministry at the university. And UKirk TCU and UKirk Maryland each celebrated first anniversaries the following academic year. 

Presbyterians then and now still believe that nurturing the faith and development of young adults during a pivotal season of life when they are discovering their place in the world — and the church — and discern their future careers, develop lifelong friendships and often choose who they will marry is vitally important, not only for the young adult but also for the world that God so loves. On behalf of the PC(USA), the national UKirk organization connects, equips, and empowers this ministry so that local collegiate ministries and the broader church can help young adults experience and explore God’s inclusive love and be empowered to live for the flourishing of all Creation.

College and Young Adult Sunday is a day set aside to lift up college students and young adults in prayer, bless their journeys, and commission them to discover the gifts God has given them to serve the church and the world. Let us give thanks for the many ways God has made an impact in the lives of college students over the past 100 years!

The Rev. Gini Norris-Lane, UKirk Collegiate Ministries

Let us join in prayer for:

Tonia Trice, HR Generalist, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group
Stephanie Vasquez, Manager, Global Language Resources, Administrative Services Group

Let us pray:

Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; glory to God in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always! Amen. — Ephesians 3:20–21 (CEB)

Mission Yearbook: North Carolina church helps fight hunger

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Beulaville Presbyterian Church members join with Rise Against Hunger to package thousands of meals. (Credit: Rise Against Hunger staff)

On March 15, 2026, Beulaville Presbyterian Church in Beulaville, North Carolina, crossed a milestone of partnership with Rise Against Hunger by packaging their 100,000 meals. We have, over the years, partnered with what was Stop Hunger Now, which is now Rise Against Hunger, working to fight against hunger in the world. We have crested that 100,000 mark through invested work of packaging 10,000-plus meals at packaging events.

Folks come in and prepare for the event by washing hands and donning a hairnet. There are stations set up where rice, dehydrated vegetables, soy and vitamins are sealed in airtight packaging, preparing it for travel to lands near and far battling hunger daily. These events of packaging have been opportunities for all ages of our congregation to work together, from the 3 to folks in their 80s. The intergenerational work has enhanced the relationships of all in our church.

As we have embarked to worship differently during fifth Sundays, Rise Against Hunger packaging events have empowered us to be a part of a larger group working effectively to diminish the effects of hunger plaguing our world. These events have not completely eradicated hunger in the world but are working to meet needs of many while we still strive to understand how to eradicate hunger in all homes and lives. 

Rev. Richard “Hank” Bellomy; Beulaville Presbyterian Church; Beulaville, North Carolina

Let us join in prayer for:

Cuong Tran, Mail Clerk, Mail & Print Services, Administrative Services Group
Blaine Crawford, Relationship Manager, Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program                  

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, thank you for the gift of food, shelter and home. Challenge us to find ways to extend this gift as we work together to create just, sustainable communities for all. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.