Today in the Mission Yearbook - A climate scientist’s case for hope and healing

New York Avenue Presbyterian Church hosts Dr. Katharine Hayhoe for an online talk heard by nearly 400 people

March 31, 2022

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe

Climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe says the most important thing we can do to fight climate change is to talk about it. That’s precisely what she did during a McClendon Scholar Program offered by New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. Nearly 400 people listened in.

Hayhoe teaches at Texas Tech University and is the chief scientist at The Nature Conservancy. Her new book is “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.”

During every talk she gives, Hayhoe hears some form of this question: What gives you hope?

“Whenever we talk climate change, we always refer to it as saving the planet,” said Hayhoe. “I am here to tell you something: the planet will survive anything we do to it. The planet does not need us. We need the planet. It’s about saving us, and by ‘us’ I mean human beings, human civilization and the many things living with us.” Hayhoe made the case that in Genesis 1, God gives humans “responsibility over every living thing on the planet: plants, animals and our sisters and brothers as well.” To care about climate change, we need to be only one thing, she said: a human living on planet Earth.

To determine what gives her hope, Hayhoe first landed on what doesn’t give her hope. Two things occurred to her: science and politics, the latter of which “fails us again and again.”

“What makes me the angriest and the saddest is that 3.5 billion of the [Earth’s] poorest people are responsible for 7% of the problem,” Hayhoe said. They are already marginalized, and they’re mainly comprised of women, children and Indigenous people “living in communities suffering from racism, marginalization and injustice.”

As someone who earned two graduate degrees in the field of climate science, “if I can find hope, you can, too.”

Real hope, she said, “recognizes the risks and understands what’s at stake. It accepts that success [overcoming climate change] is not inevitable or even entirely probably. But it provides a vision of a better outcome or future.” People with hope “can grab everyone by the hand and we can take them with us in that direction.”

The science offers a bit of hope, according to Hayhoe. How warm it gets depends on how much carbon we produce. “We are the ones controlling the train. We have agency,” she said. “We have the ability to choose our future.”

The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that “every action matters,” Hayhoe said. “Every bit of warming, every year and every choice matters.”

When she turns the question around and asks her listeners what gives them hope, it’s children and youth, she said, followed by adult leaders and advocates, technology and innovation, changing attitudes and education. Do people expect children to fix the problem? Emphatically they tell Hayhoe no, and “that’s why we are fighting,” she reported, displaying a photo of a protest sign bearing this message: “Fight climate change or else your grandkids will curse and disown you.”

“Children are a symbol of that bright light at the end of the tunnel,” Hayhoe said. “They are a reminder that there must be a future.”

People are willing to change if they feel efficacy, she said, the belief that what they do will make a difference. “The one thing we need more than hope is action,” Hayhoe said, quoting the young climate campaigner Greta Thunberg. “Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.”

Where do we start? It’s counterintuitive, she said, but it’s not with plug-in cars or solar panels or plant-based diets. “Those are good things to do,” Hayhoe said. “But do the one thing most of us aren’t doing: talking about it. … We don’t think it matters, and we don’t think there is anything positive we can do to change it.”

Hayhoe added: “Your voice can make a huge difference. You may not know it until later, or you might never know. We use our voice to talk about why it matters and about possible practical solutions. That’s how we change the world.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Debbie Miller, Assistant, Loan Operations & Investment Maintenance, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program
Martha Miller, Manager, Ministry Education & Support, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray

Dear God, blessed are those who add to the harmony of your world and encourage others to do the same. Thank you for drawing us into the circle of your love. Amen.

Join Us Next Month For Discovering Renewal at Montreat

It's Not Too Late to Register for Discovering Renewal

Discovering Renewal April 18-21, 2022 Register now “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

Our culture values hard work over rest. Burnout is rampant. Our jobs, obligations, churches often expect us to work relentlessly. Join us as we seek to discover renewal through activities as a way to be reminded that we can find this renewal in the most common of places. For this conference participants sign up for one specific activity track. Each day will begin with a devotion led by Brian McLaren and a challenge to use your chosen activity to find peace and renewal and to reflect on how to bring this back to daily life. Fill in your free time in whatever way you feel led.

Leaders and Tracks

Brian McLaren Devotion Leader Brian D. McLaren is an author, speaker, activist, and public theologian. A former college English teacher and pastor, he is a passionate advocate for “a new kind of Christianity” – just, generous, and working with people of all faiths for the common good. McLaren is the author of numerous books, including the award-winning A New Kind of Christianity, We Make the Road by Walking and The Great Spiritual Migration.

Aram Mitchell Track Leader - Intentional Hiking Walking as a spiritual practice is less about using your path for the sake of transportation and more about engaging the trail for ongoing transformation. Each day of this track we will spend time immersed among the elements of wild nature. With our senses in tune with the elements, we will saunter and reflect, exploring what it means to pray with our feet.

Mary Carroll Dodd Track Leader - Yoga Come renew your mind and spirit through the practice of yoga. Enjoy two different hour-long sessions each day. We will explore breathwork, movement, strengthening, and stretching as we seek to find rest for our bodies and souls. Then, take these tools home with you to incorporate moments of Sabbath into your daily life and achieve more balance.

Tanner Pickett Track Coordinator - Fly Fishing Western North Carolina has some of the best fly fishing on the east coast. Participants will have opportunities to fish on sections of up to four rivers over the course of this experience and practice contemplation during the quiet.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook - Bridging the (generation) gap

Speaker and author Missy Buchanan offers up lessons around an iconic bridge to the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network’s conference

March 30, 2022

Missy Buchanan

To illustrate how older adults can build bridges to young people through intergenerational ministry, author and speaker Missy Buchanan selected an illustration that was brand new when many of her listeners were youngsters — the Golden Gate Bridge.

“Seize the Season: Using Your Late Years to Build a Bridge to Younger Generations” was the talk that Buchanan delivered during the opening day of the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network national conference, which more than 100 people signed up to attend. A resident of Rockwell, Texas, Buchanan is both speaker and writer. Her most recent book is “From Dry Bones to Living Hope: Embracing God’s Faithfulness in Late Life.”

With a daughter and her family living in the area, Buchanan loves to traverse the iconic bridge connecting San Francisco with Marin County in California, especially as a pedestrian. On the day it opened for pedestrians only in 1937, officials expected 50,000 to walk across. Instead, 200,000 people showed up, some wearing roller skates.

“Bridge building is risky business. Is it worth it?” Buchanan asked, adding that “building bridges between generations is also risky business. Is it worth it?”

While the Golden Gate Bridge was under consideration during the depths of the Great Depression, many people thought its price tag was too high, that construction would prove too difficult, and that there were already ferries to take people from one side to the other.

Some people bring up similar concerns about intergenerational ministry, Buchanan said: it’s too difficult, we have more important things to worry about or we already have multiple generations in worship.

“What difference might it make,” she asked, “if older adults became intentional bridge builders?”

Buchanan asked conference attendees if adults 60 and older at their church knew the names of up to a dozen children and youth, both first and last names. Do they regularly initiate conversation with them?

And how about those children and youth? Could they name up to a dozen adults at the church who are older than their parents? Answering those questions “should tell you whether you have an intergenerational focus going in your church,” Buchanan said.

She said intergenerational ministry goes beyond “just seeing one another at church. Proximity does not equal relationship.” We may giggle at what young people say during the children’s sermon, applaud them when they receive their children’s Bible and buy tickets to their spaghetti supper to support a youth choir trip. But “do we know that the tall boy is being raised by a single mother recently diagnosed with breast cancer?” Buchanan asked. “Or that little girl who struggles with dyslexia?”

In Sunday school, children may make cards for nursing home residents who once faithfully attended worship services. Do the children know about the lives of those people receiving the cards?

“At church potlucks, we fill our plates and then we sit with our own tribes,” Buchanan said.

After examining the numerous challenges, much of it around loneliness, faced by members of Gen Z, who were born between 1997 and 2012, Buchanan offered up this quote from Professor William Willimon of the Duke Divinity School: “Growing up is too tough without some help from those with gray hair.”

“We can either complain about culture or we can impact culture by how we use our late years,” Buchanan said. “Let’s use our late years to build bridges. Our legacy must be what we invest in our young people.”

When you find yourself about to criticize youth and modern culture, “think about the uncertainty and fears you faced as a young person,” Buchanan suggested. “A humble spirit builds bridges between the generations … Sometimes a humble spirit means zipping it up and just listening.”

Or, as author Bob Goff put it, “Most people need love and acceptance a lot more than they need advice.”

Buchanan urged listeners to “think beyond our own grandchildren. They are a great place to start, and we pour our lives, time and resources into them. But we should never forget there are a lot of children and youth who have no older adults in their lives, or they aren’t a good influence. We must widen our circle to include more than our grandchildren.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Terri Milburn, Accounts Payable Manager, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Carla Miller, Customer Service Consultant, Communications Ministry, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

O Lord, you have called us to be witnesses to your love, grace and mercy to the ends of the earth. Thank you for your Holy Spirit, who gives us the courage and the means to do so. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Keeping the mission top of mind

Pastor gifts members with Matthew 25 verse

March 29, 2022

Korean Maryland Presbyterian Church members Courtesy of Korean Maryland Presbyterian Church

In Deuteronomy, the people are urged never to forget God’s laws. Remember them. Teach them to future generations. “Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deuteronomy 6:8–9).

While an ancient edict, there are still Jewish households today that seek to remember by mounting what is called a mezuzah onto their doorpost. Inside the mezuzah, which is a small container, is a piece of parchment with the words from Deuteronomy. As members of the household go about their daily tasks, they pass the mezuzah coming and going, and they remember.

While the congregation of Korean Maryland Presbyterian Church doesn’t have mezuzahs in their homes, they do have something for their walls: a framed picture with the Matthew 25:40 verse that reads, “Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

The frames were the idea of the Rev. Dr. Seung Yong Lee. Lee came to Korean Maryland Presbyterian from California in December 2019, just as COVID-19 was making its presence known. The virus might have thwarted the pastor from visiting his members, but it didn’t thwart his vision for the church to become an integral part of the community they were in. Korean Maryland Presbyterian is in the backyard of Washington, D.C., with the University of Maryland close by. It is an area ripe with ministry opportunities, Lee said.

In February 2021, having become one of the few Korean congregations to accept the PC(USA)’s invitation to become a Matthew 25 congregation, working to dismantle racism, eradicate poverty and revitalize congregations, Lee thought what better way to connect with his congregation than to visit (safely with masks) and talk more about what it means to do Matthew 25 work. According to Lee, “Most Korean American pastors visit the homes of members in early spring every year.” And so, after his official installation as Korean Maryland Presbyterian’s pastor in May, armed with framed verses, Lee began making the rounds. The pastor’s presence — and the frames — were both received warmly.

According to Lee, one of his deacons didn’t expect to get a frame. Both he and his wife were touched. Another deacon who lives in a nursing home enjoyed Lee’s visit and the gift of the frame. Lee hopes that the verse now hanging on his members’ walls in their homes helps them to “see Jesus” through those they encounter who are in need. “If a member encounters someone, he or she will recognize them as Jesus,” he said, adding that each frame he presented came with the heartfelt sentiment that it is “special for you.”

For Lee, the decision to have Korean Maryland Presbyterian become a Matthew 25 congregation was so that the mostly senior congregation — about 90% of members are seniors — can find a renewed sense of purpose.

“Matthew 25 challenges my church to be vital. We Korean Americans need to recognize the other ethnic groups near us. We need to reach out to the community,” said Lee.

Donna Frischknecht Jackson, Editor Presbyterians Today, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Eliane Menezes,  Mission co-worker serving in Guatemala, World Mission, Presbyterian Mission Agency
John Merten, Data Entry Representative, Relationship & Development Operations, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Good and gracious God, help us to be faithful with the good news that you have entrusted us to proclaim. Guide us. Inspire us to real and practical service to the least of Christ’s brothers and sisters, that we might minister to all according to their genuine needs. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Getting to the National Gathering

The 2022 Fellowship Community National Gathering With so many ways to get in and out of our nation's capital, we wanted to send along some tips for choosing transportation to and from the National Gathering. If you have any additional questions, please contact us. We look forward to seeing you soon! Airports • Reagan National (DCA)—approx. 9 miles to National Presbyterian and accessible via Metro (Blue line to Red line) - closest and easiest option • Dulles (IAD)— approx. 26 miles to National Presbyterian - fairly easy ground transportation options - second closest and easiest option • Baltimore (BWI) —approx. 36 miles to National Presbyterian - from BWI, you can rent a car and drive to DC, or you can take a MARC train to Union Station in DC and then switch to Metro to get to hotels. Note that while airfares may be cheaper to BWI, the distance, complexity, time, and cost of ground transportation should be balanced against fare savings. Metro RED LINE METRO • Courtyard Marriot Bethesda is a 5 minute/ 0.3 mile walk to Friendship Heights station • Embassy Suites is a 3 minute/0.2 mile walk to Friendship Heights station • National Presbyterian is a 10 minute/ 0.5 mile walk from Tenley Town station Parking There is plenty of free parking at the church. Discounted parking rates are included in hotel packages: • Courtyard- $10 discounted self-parking with in and out privileges • Embassy Suites- $26 discounted self-parking with in and out privileges • Doubletree- $15 discounted self-parking with in and out privileges  National Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC Tuesday, May 17th - Thursday, May 19th, 2022 Register TODAY Regular attendee pricing: $300 - now through April 30. Special rates available for spouses, seminary students, and small church leaders. Click below for details or email us with specific questions. More details Email us  ‌  ‌  ‌

Fellowship Community | 600 E. State St., Sharon, PA 16146