Today in the Mission Yearbook - A PC(USA) podcast culminates with the Matthew 25 vision as a whole

The limited-run resource connects lectionary texts to responses to poverty and racism and building congregational vitality

December 30, 2023

In its final series, the “A Year with Matthew 25 podcast” asks leaders to invite worshipers into reflection about how their congregation will focus the resources of its time, treasure and service.

“A Year with Matthew 25” connects readings from the Scripture with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Matthew 25 vision of building congregational vitality, dismantling structural racism and eradicating systemic poverty. The weekly podcast is a designed for devotional use and preparation for worship and is a great companion to the print resource “A Year with Matthew,” which draws on the Revised Common Lectionary Year A in order to help preachers, educators and worship planners attend to the three Matthew 25 foci throughout the Christian year. Both resources are produced by the Office of Theology and Worship within the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

The Rev. Dr. David Gambrell

The Rev. Dr. David Gambrell, associate for worship in the Office of Theology and Worship, produces the weekly podcast, which offers music, reflective questions and readings by leaders across the denomination. This fall, guest readers included Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri, Dr. Martha Moore-Keish, the Rev. Lisa Schrott, and Phillip Morgan, who presented biblical passages related to the theme “Glimpses of God’s Realm.”

“Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary culminates in a three-week sojourn in the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew,” said Gambrell, who recommends leaders use the podcast and the print resource to construct a sermon series on that chapter in Matthew’s gospel. “Matthew 25 consists of two parables and a vision of the last judgment. Together, these three passages conclude the fifth ‘book’ of Matthew’s Gospel, in which Jesus instructs his followers on ‘last things’ — how to live in light of God’s ultimate purpose for the church and for the whole Creation. As it is depicted in Matthew 25, this new way of life involves vigilant prayer, good stewardship and compassion for our neighbors.”

Kelly Abraham and the Rev. Derek Wadlington and the Rev. Becky Purcell anchor the final three episodes of the “Year with Matthew 25” podcast. While the previous weeks of the podcast have highlighted preaching opportunities around the three foci of the Matthew 25 movement, opening up lectionary texts in light of faithful responses to systemic poverty, structural racism or congregational vitality, the concluding series “relates to the Matthew 25 vision as a whole,” said Gambrell. “They seek to cast a vision for what it means to be a Matthew 25 church in the world today.”

More congregational resources on Matthew 25, including materials for Worship in a Matthew 25 Church, are available here and on the Matthew 25 app.

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: A Year with Matthew 25 podcast

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Mel Tubb, Mission Coordinator I, Advocacy Support, Executive Director’s Office, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Dan and Elizabeth Turk, Mission co-workers serving in Madagascar, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

God of peace and unity, fill us with your Spirit, so that we may be agents of peace and unity for all those with whom we come in contact. May we experience fully the peace of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - The director of the PC(USA)’s Center for the Repair of Historic Harms makes a pitch to attend the Matthew 25 Summit

The Rev. Anthony Jermaine Ross-Allam is the Rev. DeEtte Decker’s guest on ‘Being Matthew 25: Summit Edition’

December 29, 2023

The Rev. Anthony Jermaine Ross-Allam, director of the Center for the 

Repair of Historic Harms, speaks during a service held recently in 

Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by Rich Copley)

The Rev. Anthony Jermaine Ross-Allam, the director of the Center for the Repair of Historic Harms, will be among the workshop presenters during the Matthew 25 Summit being held at New Life Presbyterian Church Jan. 16–18, 2024, in Atlanta.

Ross-Allam, a minister, social ethicist and scholar, was the guest on “Being Matthew 25: Summit Edition,” hosted by the Rev. DeEtte Decker, communications director for the Presbyterian Mission Agency. Ross-Allam’s comments came during his recent time in Juneau, Alaska, when he and others were part of a PC(USA) delegation making apologies and reparation for the racist closure of Memorial Presbyterian Church in 1963. Watch the 16-minute broadcast of “Being Mattew 25: Summit Edition,” recorded and edited by Rich Copley, a multimedia producer in the PMA, here.

Ross-Allam said that repair and reparations are not interchangeable terms. Repair is what churches, universities, cities and family foundations can do “to deal with the most intimate and local level of harms.” Reparation can only take place at the national level, he said. The U.S. government must “listen to what Indigenous nations say that they require in order to be treated as sovereigns,” Ross-Allam said.

The name of the workshop Ross-Allam will lead at the Matthew 25 Summit is “The Case for Repair.”

“Repair is what we do on multiple levels. It’s the work of the people,” he said. Repair work includes “doing local activities that signal to the larger society that public opinion is shifting on the question of reparations.”

At the Center for the Repair of Historic Harms, “We acknowledge that we have to repair ourselves spiritually on multiple levels,” including “giving up obsolete theologies” and not “confusing fatalism with faithfulness,” he said.

“All of those things are the way that repair our damaged spiritual imaginations,” he said. Presbyterians “have to be humble and realize, yes, we are called both to justice and charity. But we’re not endowed enough economically to solve even the problems of racism that the Presbyterian Church has set in motion by itself, much less to address the larger global scale of reparation” owed to “people of African descent, people of many different groups.” When we do that, “we become partners in a process rather than competitors for the proceeds that might be garnered from a little bit of white guilt before that trend runs out.”

The Rev. Anthony Jermaine Ross-Allam is pictured during one of 

the historic events held recently in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by Rich 

Copley)

Matthew 25 asks us to do two things, Ross-Allam noted. The first is to do acts of charity. “But to really listen to the depth of that Scripture, it helps us understand that not only are we to continue to persist in acts of charity, but we’re also to investigate what is required of us to eliminate the need to continue to do those acts of charity,” he said. Racism, mass incarceration and systemic poverty “are not tragedies. They’re unnecessary crimes,” he said. Matthew 25 tells us to “visit the sick, feed the hungry, visit those who are incarcerated, and to be faithful to the incarnation of God and Christ.”

“We realize that while we continue to do those things, we also have to pay attention to what we are doing to cause people to be hungry beyond what tragedies may befall people.”

When Ross-Allam talks about reparations from a Matthew 25 perspective, “I’ll remind people that theological transformation and local acts of repair are indispensable for sending a message to society at large and our leaders that public opinion has shifted and that people will no longer tolerate an approach to racism, for example, that doesn’t take reparations seriously.”

“We’ll talk about the need to be humble and to be realistic about what we can achieve in terms of our local actions versus the witness that we can perform in public by doing local actions with the intention of signaling a shift in public opinion that will cause our inspired leaders to take notice that people are going to require something very different than what the people have required before,” he said.

“Reconciliation without reparation is a childish idea, but it’s a dangerous idea,” Ross-Allam said, “and I’m hoping that intelligent people have moved beyond that kind of fantasy are willing to get down to business.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Rev. Anthony Jermaine Ross-Allam is a guest on the ‘Being Matthew 25: Summit webinar

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Kate Trigger Duffert, Director for General Assembly Planning, Office of the General Assembly
Becky Trinkle, Project Manager, Administration, Communications Ministry, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Dear God, we give thanks for the way you continue to raise up voices from those who often do not feel listened to. May we be more attentive for your word from those who are often overlooked. Amen.

Advent Unwrapped: Happy New Year (When it Comes)

That's a wrap… Well that‘s a wrap folks. Congratulations! Despite sickness, impossibly high expectations, never-ending to-do lists, Murphy’s law, and insufferable cheeriness, we made it. Or, more specifically, Jesus made it. Now, as Howard Thurman famously said, the work of Christmas is about to begin: “to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among others, to make music in the heart.” The question that I often wrestle with is: how am I going to do this work of Christmas once the Christmas season is over? For the last two years, my Christmas work has been rooted in finding, nurturing, and supporting precious hope as I would any child. It is easy to go on a quest for something you are lacking. This year, I feel overwhelmed because there is such an abundance of needs (or things I am lacking). But I imagine that many of the people in our Christmas story felt overwhelmed, and with the help of others, they did great things. Perhaps I should take my lead from them, and I will start with the Magi, who went on a quest for the extraordinary in the ordinary, trusting that an epiphany will come. May we each seek and discover the extraordinary in the ordinary this year!

This Week’s Round-up Did you know that we have Christmas and Epiphany resources for the whole family, like the 12 Days of Christmas Activities and Epiphany Traditions? We have a lesson and carol service that is perfect for the Sunday after Christmas! And there are several worship resources on our Epiphany page, including worship liturgies, sermon ideas, and starters. Advent Blogs of The Week     This is our last week with our wonderful Advent Unwrapped contributors. In the latest blog from Stephen Milton, learn how the representation of the visit of the Magi has changed over time and how it might look in the future. Plus, visit our Facebook page for the final microblogs from Sarah, Michael, and Mini. Shout Outs!   Did you know about these two blogs? Creedal and Loving It by Rob Fennel and Ross Lockhart is filled with ‘good theology for regular people’ and David Giuliano both have blogs filled with food for thought, humor and inspiration! A special thank-you to the amazing Advent Unwrapped Team! Many sparkly, shining and amazing people have been working hard since May to create a collection of resources to help us faithfully engage with the reason for the season! Lastly a special thanks to you. Thank-you for being a part of our story and for trusting us with your inbox each week. It has been a true blessing to be on this ongoing journey to discover the Christ Child with you. To Consider   A reminder that The United Church has an appeal for Humanitarian Aid in the Middle East. Please consider joining us in writing your member of parliament (if you are in Canada), as we continue to pray for peace through the region. There is not a lot of time this year to discern the work of Christmas before Lent begins. While we aren't Lent Unwrapped, we still got you! Check out our new Lenten Devotional Act/Fast and stay connected on social media for more information. [Photo credit: Hosny Salah | DSPR] To Try     Wondering what to do with that growing pile of Christmas cards from years past? Why not make new cards to save for next year? We traced out and cut round circles around our favorite part of the card, glued it to blank cards, and then decorated with fancy markers and oil pastels. With all of the cardboard boxes and wrapping paper, we have been creating a gingerbread house that keeps on growing with all of the pretty packaging that we are unable to reuse. I would love to linger with you alittle longer, but I guess that is all for now. Until next year, may the grace of God, the love of Jesus and the abiding friendship of the Holy Spirit be with you, as we do the work of Christmas. Alydia Facebook Twitter Website Email Instagram YouTube LinkedIn   Your generosity enables the United Church to love, serve, and minister in the world. Make an online donation or learn more about your options to support the work of the church.

Copyright © 2023 The United Church of Canada, All rights reserved.

The Voice of the Martyrs - Christmas Eve Attacks in Nigeria: 100+ Dead

Christmas Eve Attacks in Nigeria: At Least 140 Dead

Dear friend, Christians in Nigeria are in urgent need of prayer. As Christians in Plateau state prepared to celebrate the birth of Christ, Islamists attacked approximately 20 mostly-Christian communities, burning homes and murdering residents. At least 140 people were killed, and many more are still missing. The hours-long attacks occurred in the country’s “Middle Belt,” between the mostly-Muslim north and mostly-Christian south, as suspected Islamic extremists from among the Fulani tribe used firearms and machetes on their victims, according to news reports. This is the worst attack on Christians in the area since 2018, and they need our prayer support. Here are some specific needs for prayer: Pray for healing of body and soul for those injured by the attackers. Pray for God’s comfort of those who have lost loved ones. Pray that God will give Christians grace to forgive their attackers. Pray that the attacks will cease. Pray that more militant Fulani Muslims will repent and place their faith in Christ. Pray that church leaders will have the strength and courage to continue serving their communities. Pray for front-line workers as they find practical ways to support affected Christians. Prayer is always the first thing our Christian family members request. Thank you for praying for Christians in Nigeria during their time of great need. In Christ, Jeremy Burton Vice President, Outreach The Voice of the Martyrs

The Voice of the Martyrs - The Promise and Hope of Christmas

The promise and hope of Christmas…

…is knowing Jesus is the true reason for the season throughout all the nations of the world. As we celebrate the birth of Christ this Christmas season, I want to thank you for continuing to stand with persecuted Christians around the world through your prayers, actions and generous giving. Christmas can be a time when Christians living in hostile areas and restricted nations are at increased risk. Enemies of the gospel know Christians are gathering to celebrate together the birth of our Savior. Please pray for the safety of our family members around the world during this Christmas season. Have mercy, O God, upon persecuted Christians everywhere who are willing to suffer the consequences for speaking your name in word and deed, in truth and in love. Grant strength and courage with joy to all who dare to live their convictions out loud. Amen. Many blessings to you and your loved ones this Christmas. Joyfully, Jeremy Burton Vice President, Outreach The Voice of the Martyrs

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Young adults at the PC(USA)’s ‘Jesus & Justice’ conference learn the basics of education advocacy

Their teacher was the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, convener of the Education Roundtable

December 28, 2023

The Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson leads a workshop 

during the Young Adult Advocacy Conference. 

(Photo by Nell Herring)

When the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson isn’t busy directing the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People, he’s convening the Education Roundtable, part of an initiative of the 221st General Assembly (2014) to Educate a Child, Transform the World.

Johnson led a workshop on advocacy and education as part of “Jesus and Justice,” the Young Adult Advocacy Conference held at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville.

The General Assembly’s most recent paper on education, “Loving Our Neighbors: Equity and Quality in Public Education (K-12),” approved by the 219th General Assembly (2010), is being updated, Johnson said, because “the church understands education is the key to learning and growing.”

“The basic assumption is the call to love our neighbor as ourselves challenges us to confront the evidence of racism and inequality in our public schools,” Johnson said. “We are called to be a voice for those with no voice — those left behind by certain education reforms and by the privatization of public schools.”

Presbyterians “have a long and rich history of commitment to education” for the “formation of faithful and reasoned lives” owing to “the importance of quality public education for the shaping of our common life,” he said. In addition, the “radical hospitality of the Lord’s Table compels us to welcome children in ways that transform their lives and the community.”

Johnson noted Presbyterian pastor and educator the Rev. Dr. Eileen Lindner has said more than once that “if we aren’t going to care for our children, we ought to stop doing baptisms.”

Young adults — indeed, anyone — can avail themselves of direct service opportunities including working with educators to replenish classroom supplies, tutoring, adopting an elementary school or classroom, filling backpacks with school supplies and snacks, starting or volunteering at an afterschool program, or providing weekend food for children and/or their families whose children qualify for free and reduced lunches at school.

There’s a host of resources, of course, for Presbyterians who want to become more involved in education advocacy. One that Johnson mentioned is the Red, Wine & Blue Parent Playbook, available here.

Systemic educational change, the ultimate goal for offering quality educational opportunity for every child, can be defined in this way, according to Johnson: “Working for societal transformation that addresses the root causes so often codified in our societal structures and institutions.” It’s a mission that “calls us as Christians to join God in shaping a world more consistent with God’s best intention for all people.”

“We can’t separate our advocacy from our faith,” Johnson said. “Like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we must integrate justice into what we’re doing.”

There are three things every church can do, he said:

• Celebrate and pray for educators one Sunday at the start of each school year.
• Encourage Christian education staff and volunteers, including Sunday school teachers.
• Meet the building principal of the public school nearest your place of worship.

Here are three things most churches can do, according to Johnson:

• Offer a sermon on education, knowledge, equity and the way of Jesus.
• Create a fund that can be used to reimburse teachers for their out-of-pocket expenses.
• Establish a school board liaison person or team. Host a school board candidates forum or a forum for others running for office.

Those on the Education Roundtable “have realized that direct service is important in providing concrete ministries that embody God’s compassion and commitment to meet the immediate needs of those who are vulnerable, discounted and marginalized,” Johnson said.

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Today’s Focus: Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson convenes Education Roundtable at the Young Adult Advocacy Conference

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Cuong Tran, Mail/Print Clerk, Mail/Print Center, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Tonia Trice, HR Generalist, Human Resources, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray

Righteous Father, let your Word be the foundation of our lives, our families and our homes; guide our young to maturity in every aspect of their lives. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - From white Jesus to Hispanic stereotyping, the PC(USA)’s Young Adult Advocacy Conference took on tough issues

The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins asks, ‘Are we going to be on the side of justice?

December 27, 2023

The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins gives the keynote address at the Young 

Adult Advocacy Conference. (Photo by Darla Carter)

During an advocacy conference for young adults, the Rev. Jimmie Hawkins used the traditional image of a blonde, blue-eyed Jesus as a symbol of the need to challenge the status quo.

Standing next to examples of that Eurocentric depiction, Hawkins asked, “Why is this the image of Christ in our church when we all know that Jesus did not look like this in no form, shape or fashion?”

Hawkins, the advocacy director for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), went on to say that it’s “a question that we’ve got to deal with because it’s a promotion of white supremacy. Everything good has got to be white.”

That was one of the issues raised in Hawkins’ keynote address during the Young Adult Advocacy Conference held online and at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville.

The Rev. Jimmie Hawkins interviews Louisville activist 

Melvin Boyd at the conference. (Photo by Darla Carter)

The conference with the theme “Jesus and Justice” was designed to teach young people, such as college-age adults and seminarians, how to stand up for what they believe in. It was hosted by the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations and attracted people from as far away as California and Iowa.

During his address, Hawkins acknowledged and praised young people for being involved in many of the movements that have arisen in recent years. For example, protests against a Muslim travel ban; the March for Our Lives, a gun control movement that sprang from a school shooting in Parkland, Florida; and waves of protests following the wrongful death of George Floyd, who was killed by police in Minneapolis.

Later, the audience heard from Louisville activist Melvin Boyd, who was interviewed by Hawkins about various topics, including what it was like to be part of local protests of the killing of Breonna Taylor in 2020. Taylor, an African American woman, was shot by police who had forced their way into her apartment on a drug investigation in a manner that raised many questions. Her death sparked a major outcry in the city and nation.

Ricky Santiago, local chapter president for the National Puerto 

Rican Chamber of Commerce, is interviewed by Flor Vélez-Díaz, 

a ruling elder who is the manager for digital process and social 

witness for the Office of the General Assembly. (Photo by Darla 

Carter)

The police officers’ actions received intense scrutiny and later resulted in a multimillion-dollar settlement with Taylor’s estate. Since then, a lot of bridge-building, networking and other community initiatives have taken place to try to improve community relations. But more progress is needed, Boyd said.

A second discussion featured Ricky Santiago, local chapter president for the National Puerto Rican Chamber of Commerce, being interviewed by Flor Vélez-Díaz, a ruling elder who is the manager for digital process and social witness for the Office of the General Assembly.

Santiago, who is also the digital inclusion manager for Louisville Metro Government, spoke on a number of topics, including making sure that no one is left behind in the digital age. “We need to make sure that all our communities are connected and that they have the proper skills to use technology,” he said.

He also stressed the importance of recognizing that people from Hispanic or Latino communities are not all the same.

“We tend to allow those in power to reduce us to a blanket statement of Latino and Hispanic, and we can no longer do that,” Santiago said. “We have to advocate and uplift leaders of those particular communities, so that it’s not just ‘Oh, Latino outreach.’ No, it is a specific outreach to that community, to Puerto Ricans, to Colombians, to Cubans, because only they understand their experience.”

He also noted that there are differences in the level of privilege, so it’s important to show up for each other, Santiago said. “Use your privilege to protect, right? And use your privilege to deflect.”

He said sometimes Hispanics are reluctant to speak out. “Those of us that have the privilege to rattle the cage” should do so “because if not, our community’s going to continue to be invisible.”

The Office of Public Witness and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations are part of the Compassion, Peace and Justice ministries of the Presbyterian Mission Agency.

 Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Today’s Focus: Rev. Jimmie Hawkins took on tough issues at the Young Adult Advocacy Conference

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Janet Toole, Vice President, Affiliated Markets, Board of Pensions
Joel Townsend, IT Help Desk Specialist, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray

Gracious God, you are right beside us. Help us to see the opportunities we have to be present with others and to be grateful for those who are present with us. Amen.