Mission Yearbook: The Rev. Dr. Maisha I. Handy is inaugurated and installed as 12th President of McCormick Theological Seminary

McCormick Theological Seminary recently inaugurated and installed a native of Chicago, the Rev. Dr. Maisha I. Handy, as its 12th president. She is the institution’s first African American president and its second female leader. Handy is the founding pastor of Rize Community Church in Atlanta and served the past 24 years at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, most recently as interim president and professor of Religion and Education.

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The Rev. Dr. Maisha I. Handy

The joyous three-hour installation, which was also livestreamed, took place in the church where Handy grew up, First Baptist Congregational Church of Chicago. A Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Handy called It “a joy” to “foster meaningful connections and co-create a vision with a community’s enduring history of 195-plus years.”

“We are actively moving into our future,” she said, “led by God’s Spirit, through collaborative storytelling and strategic planning.”

Storytelling was on display throughout the service. A highlight was an enstooling ritual by Dr. Itihari Touré, senior director for Major Grants for Program Development at McCormick Theological Seminary, and the Rev. Dr. Melva Sampson, teaching professor of Preaching and Practical Theology at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity.

The stool came from the Asante people of West Africa. Touré called it “a scared symbol of leadership.”

The two scholars also led a purpling ceremony in which they poured red and blue liquid into a bowl to produce purple, “the color of royalty, courage and visionary leadership,” they said. “The ritual of purpling honors the lineage of womanist scholars who came before us, stand alongside us and will come after us. … We are being called into a holy disturbance that will ultimately bring about greater justice and liberation.”

Before Handy took her place on the stool, she was wrapped in purple Indigenous fabric. “By seating yourself, you embody the practice of purpling,” Touré and Sampson told Handy, “changing the red of transformative vision with the blue of nurturing stability. May the blue energy protect you, uphold you and steady you, such that you lovingly guide McCormick and all our community toward deeper bonds of friendship.”

“May the red energy disrupt you when necessary, speak truth without fear and serve as a beacon of change that draws us ever closer to liberation. As you sit upon this stool, we charge you to protect the tradition, even while you propel us into our futures. Nurture us with compassion even while you name the injustices. Tend to the community even while you bring the fire of creativity and transformation. May you feel the hands of the ancestral women … and all the womanist leaders pressed gently but firmly on your shoulder.”

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Dr. Stacey Floyd-Thomas

“As you take your place in the lineage of McCormick leadership, may your leadership restore, balance, dismantle oppressive systems and call all of you” they told those assembled, “to a shared journey of ministry.”

David H. Crawford, who preceded Handy as McCormick’s president, offered a prayer, reminding Handy “there will be days when grace and gratitude seem in short supply, days you will wonder, why did I take this job? At McCormick, we know to trust the journey. Gracious God, give President Handy the perseverance to allow her to trust the journey. May the work fit the rhythms of [Handy’s] soul. May you have the gift of encouragement,” he told Handy, “building in them the confidence to follow the call.”

“We have been a seminary of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) since 1829, and a progressive leader in the Reformed tradition,” said the Rev. Amy Pagliarella, chair of the seminary’s Board of Trustees. “We are ecumenical, urban and cross-cultural.” Pagliarella read the constitutional questions to Handy, then led her in the oath of office. After that, Pagliarella gave the crowd the words they’d come to hear: “Dr. Handy, child of God, daughter of this congregation, today it is an honor and a privilege to add an additional title to your name. It is an honor and a privilege for us to officially recognize you as President Handy, the 12th president of McCormick Theological Seminary.” Those in attendance stood and applauded.

Watch the three-hour service here.

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

Let us join in prayer for:

Maria Perry, Manager, Synod of Boriquen (PR), Plan Operations, Board of Pensions
Lisa Pesavento, HR Generalist, Presbyterian Foundation   

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ, your sacrifice came in dying. May ours come through living — in the shadow of the cross. Amen.

Mission Yearbook - 1001 New Worshiping Communities associate says, ‘Everything is breath’

When the Rev. Jeff Eddings took a first four-month sabbatical in 2014 from his thriving new worshiping community in Pittsburgh, he stopped checking his email account, opened up an alias email called “sabbaticaljeff” and read only from the book of Ecclesiastes. His only agenda was to seek more spaciousness and to be more present to the moment. In his time away, he set aside quality time with his wife and took his boys, who were teenagers, to several national parks. The drive from Pennsylvania to the Western states enhanced his sense of spaciousness and how it spoke to a deep need of the soul.

Eddings, associate for coaching and spiritual formation for the 1001 New Worshiping Communities movement, recently spoke to his colleague, the Rev. Sara Hayden, on the “New Way” podcast. Listen to their conversation here and here.

For the 12th season of “New Way,” Hayden spoke with leaders and innovators about practices that deepen what Howard Thurman described as “the sound of the genuine” in their lives.

Against the vast plains and the solid mountain ranges, Eddings considered the wisdom of Ecclesiastes that everything one constructs is meaningless, even schedules. Rather than embracing nihilism, Eddings sought spaciousness even in this realization.

“Everything’s vanity,” Eddings said of experiencing the world through reading Ecclesiastes, refraining from grind culture and refusing to get caught up in his news feed. “It could be translated as absurd.” But then Eddings stopped intellectualizing and let his body translate the eternal ephemerality of time passing by.

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The Rev. Jeff Eddings

“But I prefer breath, because that just feels like, well, everything is actually not meaningless. Everything is filled with meaning, because breath is a moment. It roots us in our bodies. It’s here, in space, in time. Be here now. It helps us to, like, be present to ourselves. Breath. Breath. Everything is breath,” pondered Eddings.

The artifice of modern life and the arbitrariness of preoccupations codified in busy schedules and obsession with productivity began to fall away as Eddings explored the meaning of Sabbath and continued to intentionally observe ways to unplug and relax.

“What I think the gift of Sabbath is for us is a complete invitation to be fully present into the space,” Eddings told Hayden as he began another sabbatical this year, taking several months away from his position with the Interim Unified Agency. According to Eddings, sabbaticals and Sabbaths require planning and intention. In 2014, he worked with mentors to shape how he thought about Sabbath and how he could succeed in breaking away. This year, he set up a Sabbath Innovation Lab with cohorts of new worshiping leaders and pastors to explore the internal and external obstacles to taking time off to abide in the Divine. These groups met twice a month on Mondays for special workshops on contemplative practices and have read two books together: “The Sabbath” by Abraham Joshua Heschel and “Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto” by Tricia Hersey. Reviving his old moniker “Sabbatical Jeff,” Eddings produced videos for the participants in the Sabbath Innovation Lab, reflecting on several practices and ideas he has incorporated into his embrace of living Sabbath.

In the groups, Eddings has given and received wisdom about what it means to embrace our identity as human beings loved by God in an economy insistent on our surrendering as “human doings.” Hayden and Eddings discussed the importance of “Sabbath snacks” and “Sabbath values” to carve out space and intention each day and week to practice simply being.

Ultimately, Eddings imagines Sabbath not only as making space in our lives to be held by the spaciousness of divine love but also as holding this space of Sabbath within us. He identified the transformative presence of “a person of peace” in the world and the feeling that they can communicate and offer Sabbath to others through their ability to be with others in the moment.

“We all know, like, that person of peace,” said Eddings. “When they come into our space, it immediately helps us to be more a person of peace. We can breathe in their presence in a different way.” They’re probably practicing Sabbath “in some form, in some shape.”

Beth Waltemath, Communications Strategist, Interim Unified Agency (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Ceara Pepaj, Product Manager, Flyaway Books, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation
Derrick Perkins, Mail & Print Supervisor, Administrative Services Group (A Corp) 

Let us pray:

God, your compassion for all your children is reflected in the lives of so many people in your church. We thank you for their quiet faithfulness as they minister, each in their own way, to those around them. Amen.

Minute for Mission: Father’s Day

“Father” imagery and language has been a topic of theological discussion for the past quarter of a century, at least.

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The writers of “A Brief Statement of Faith,” the confession created at the time of Presbyterian reunion, addressed the matter this way: “We trust in God, who Jesus called Abba, Father.”

A popular book when I was in seminary, some years ago, published by the then Westminster Press, was “Is God the Only Reliable Father?” by Diane Tennis. It continues to provide important food for thought for me.

Plus, we know right now that fatherhood, and all manner of cultural and social issues, are hot topics of conversation, some more beneficial than others. Bruce Springsteen’s “My Father’s House” speaks to these eloquently.

I think about all of these things, including my own father and grandfathers, now gone. I think about my own experience of fatherhood, and where I’ve done OK and where I’ve fallen short. I think about those whose memories are not so fond, or whose experiences are not so positive, or those who have sought — unsuccessfully — to become fathers.

That’s a lot to overlay on any one particular holiday.

All of which is to say, Happy Father’s Day to those for whom this is a good day. I hope the day is filled with gratitude and joy for you and those you love.

And perhaps, along the way — and with a sense of gratitude — this day can include a gift to the Presbyterian Giving Catalog. It will for me.

Our theme this year is “Celebrate Your Dad, the Giver: A Gift That Fuels His Passion.” Your gifts will support commitments and themes that are very important on this day, and that reflect the best of paternal values:

• Building communities → Support for farming tools or water systems.
• Teaching and mentoring → School supplies or teacher training.
• Caring for family → Hygiene kits or food relief.

These commitments were important to my dad, and they are to me. I hope I have imparted those values to my children. That would be a terrific Father’s Day gift!

I invite you to join me in supporting them.

John Wilkinson, Vice President and Director, Stewardship and Funds Development

Let us join in prayer for:

Charlene Peacock, Reference Archivist, Presbyterian Historical Society 
Lyndsey Peaks, Housekeeper, Stony Point Center, Interim Unified Agency 

Let us pray:

God, thank you for your presence and for your listening ear during every season of our life. Continue to care for your people as we do our best to minister to the ones you entrust to our care. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Project explores systemic issues and insidious practices

The harsh realities and simple yearnings of children living in a homeless shelter drive home the urgency of “Evicting the American Dream,” a powerful new documentary from Counter Stories Productions.

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Director David Barnhart speaks at a screening of "Evicting the American Dream" at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Alex Simon)

The documentary, which is intended to be a resource and conversation starter, is expected to be a catalyst for change. A resource guide is available to accompany the film.

“I don't know how you can't get fired up after seeing this, and I think the genius is highlighting the stories of the children and hearing it from their perspectives,” said the Rev. Denise Anderson, director of Compassion, Peace & Justice ministries for the Interim Unified Agency. “It really is the embodiment of listening to voices long silenced, and who is more silenced in our systems than children?”

The documentary delves into systemic issues and insidious practices that can lead to families being forced out of their homes and make it harder for them and others to secure new housing.

“The voices amplified in this documentary bring up a fundamental question for all of us: Why do we continue to develop and support systems in this country that do not prioritize our children?” said director David Barnhart of Counter Stories Productions, which is part of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance. “Recent statistics have shown that a record number of children face homelessness in the U.S., and we hope that Presbyterians can join these voices to speak out, engage locally in their communities, and be a part of the movement for change.”

Dr. Katherine Rowell, a sociology professor at Sinclair Community College who co-produced the documentary with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), agreed that eviction and homelessness are topics that faith-based communities can rally around.

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Sinclair Community College Professor Katherine Rowell speaks about the documentary at the Presbyterian Center. (Photo by Alex Simon)

“Eviction is a preventable problem with education and action,” she said. “People are being evicted for very small dollar amounts.”

“Evicting the American Dream” was filmed in Dayton, Ohio, where community partners helped to lead and shape the project.

“All of our work is rooted in relationships and listening, and we don't go (into a community) with an agenda,” Barnhart said during a preview screening at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville. “We de-center ourselves and let the community partners guide us.”

Rowell brought the idea of making the film to Barnhart after they got to know each other in 2017 through the Dayton Film Forum, which featured some of his prior documentaries, “Locked in a Box” and “To Breathe Free.” For Rowell, “Evicting the American Dream” is a form of public sociology and part of her life’s work.

Early on, “I started volunteering at a shelter in Dayton, and at that time, Ronald Reagan was president, and there was a bunch of federal cuts,” Rowell said. “It's a little bit painful for me as a sociologist and someone who was trying to effect change to realize that the problem is worse in some ways (today). … The fact that we're seeing increases in (homeless) women and children is disturbing to me.”

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The Rev. Denise Anderson, director of Compassion, Peace and Justice ministries for the Interim Unified Agency, said the documentary is "the embodiment of listening to voices long silenced." (Photo by Rich Copley)

One of the issues highlighted by the documentary is that an eviction filing can be like a scarlet letter “E” that is so feared that some renters, just to avoid it, will endure substandard, dangerous housing or a shelter.

Though landlords tend to have legal representation, people facing eviction often do not, making it harder for them to defend themselves, the documentary notes. The blemish of having the “E” on their record can make it difficult for the renter to get a new place and can even follow the household’s children into adulthood, Rowell said.

The documentary is coming out at a time when many people are concerned about the direction of the country, the ravages of poverty and racism, and the dearth of affordable housing.

“Systemically, the current corporate takeover of our federal government mirrors the dominance of a few institutional investors who dominate the housing industry,” Barnhart said. “Using algorithms, profit margins, and spreadsheets as their guide, these few corporate landlords have pushed the ‘American Dream’ of a single-family home out of reach for so many families. Collectively, we will all have to stand up to this wider corporate dominance and privatization that will only benefit the few and devastate our communities.”

Darla Carter, Communications Strategist, Interim Unified Agency (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Sean Payne, Research Services Supervisor, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Tabatha Peach, Trust Administrative Assistant, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray:

Loving God, thank you for giving us more opportunities to serve better and love more genuinely. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: How Presbyterian Disaster Assistance supports communities in Puerto Rico

During its recent annual in-person meeting, the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) met with community partners in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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Estrella Santiago Pérez speaks to MRTI committee about Project ENLACE del Caño Martín Peña in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Photo by Gregg Brekke)

The site visits allowed committee members to hear firsthand from people who have suffered from environmental disasters and people-made problems. MRTI staff and committee members listen and learn at these engagements and seek ways to advocate for communities as they work with companies on environmental and human rights issues.

Following its business session at the PC(USA) affiliated Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico, and presentations on the social, political, economic and theological environment by Emilio Pantojas, a sociology professor at the University of Puerto Rico, and Dr. Gonzalo Alers, a New Testament professor at the seminary, committee members met with two PC(USA)-supported community groups.

Beginning with Fideicomiso del Caño Martín Peña (Martín Peña Canal Land Trust) and Proyecto ENLACE, a Presbyterian Disaster Assistance partner project, committee members saw the effort that is restoring the canal connecting the harbor lagoons around San Juan. Environmental Affairs Manager Estrella Santiago Pérez described the dramatic turnaround that has happened because of the cleanup and restoration effort, and toured portions of the canal and surrounding communities with MRTI committee members.

“We have eight communities that are basically dissected by a T-channel called the Caño Martín Peña,” Santiago Pérez said of the area that has been home to San Juan’s working poor and had suffered a century of environmental neglect. “This project seeks to restore the environmental ecosystem of the Caño Martín Peña, which is also part of the San Juan based ecosystem through its dredging and channelization, but it also seeks to provide infrastructure housing and also promote socioeconomic development within the communities of the Caño Martín Peña.”

The project’s comprehensive development plan began in 2002 and encompasses infrastructure, sanitary, power, transportation, and stormwater improvements, as well as socioeconomic development and ecosystem restoration initiatives. Santiago Pérez says its goals are to restore the ecology of the Caño Martín Peña, reconnect the communities with the water, provide resilient and decent housing, and foster economic development opportunities for the residents.

Three primary project partners, including the “G8” governing boards from each of the affected communities, and 12 grassroot organizations expect the project to be completed by 2032.

“A beautiful element of this type of community planning tool is that it is a visualization of what the communities want for themselves,” Santiago Pérez said. “What these communities look like once the priorities are implemented will be a restored canal with mangroves surrounding it, similar to what it used to look like originally, because this is a wetland with recreation components. There are some proposed water plazas and recreation areas where the communities can enter the canal. Just imagine people taking a kayak from these communities all the way to San Juan or to Carolina.”

The land trust component of the project has purchased properties and resolved title issues that has allowed residents to remain in the community without fear of relocation. A surge in outside investment in response to a favorable tax shelter environment following Hurricane Maria has resulted in inflated land and housing prices. Through the land trust, residents individually own their houses and the right to use the plot of land where it is located. The trust also collectively owns 200 acres of land that was previously government property.

“The Presbyterian Church came at a very vulnerable time for the communities after Hurricane Maria. We were facing multiple challenges,” Santiago Pérez said. “We already had challenges before the hurricane, but definitely Maria exacerbated the vulnerability of the communities in terms of access to water and electricity.

“PDA came in when we needed them. … We deeply appreciate the commitment that PDA has shown the communities and that we know shows other communities throughout the U.S. and the world.”

MRTI was created in recognition of the PC(USA)'s unique opportunity to advance its mission faithfully and creatively through the financial resources entrusted it. MRTI implements the General Assembly’s policies on socially responsible investing — also called faith-based investing — by engaging corporations in which the church owns stock.

Gregg Brekke for the Presbyterian Foundation (Click here to read original PNS Story)
 

Let us join in prayer for:

Sunkyoo Park, Associate, Adult Curriculum, Korean Language, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation 
Brent Paschal, IS Specialist, Presbyterian Foundation 

Let us pray:

Lord of Creation, help us to live in Job’s words: “Ask the animals, and they will teach you … and the fish of the sea will declare to you. … In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being” (12:7–8, 10). Amen.

Mission Yearbook: Online Lost and Found Church service for Presbyterian Peace Fellowship shares prayers for those who are incarcerated

Lost and Found Church, an online ministry of Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, recently featured numerous insights from the Rev. Dexter Kearny, of the One Parish One Prisoner program offered throughout the state of Washington by Underground Ministries. Kearny is also a member of Presbyterians for Abolition Working Group.

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Photo by Charles Rabada via Unsplash

One Parish One Prisoner trains faith communities “to be welcoming spaces for those coming home from prison,” Kearny explained. Scripture “has a lot to say about prisons,” in passages including Matthew 25 and Hebrews 13. “Paul wrote nearly all his letters from prison,” Kearny noted. “Nearly all the disciples were imprisoned, as were many from Presbyterian Peace Fellowship as they stood up for their beliefs.”

Nearly 2 million people are incarcerated in the United States, more than any other country. About 79 million people in the U.S. have a criminal record, and 113 million have someone in their immediate family who’s been incarcerated. Over the past five decades or so, populations at state and federal prisons in the U.S. are up 800%. “Prisons are a sickness in society,” Kearny said, “one which we have been unwilling to heal from.”

He asked those gathered for the online service: What are things you find difficult to bring up in church settings? Kearny went first. He and his spouse, also a teaching elder, had been serving a congregation in the Evergreen State for a few years before they connected with a person who’d been incarcerated. When that occurred and the church welcomed the person, a woman “whose son had been in and out of prison for several years” opened up about that reality, saying that before this person arrived, she didn’t feel she could bring up her son’s history in church. Another woman shared that she herself had been incarcerated as a younger person. “She felt safe because we had engaged with a formerly incarcerated person,” Kearny said.

“We’re all sinners. We’re all on a journey toward Christ’s example of unconditional love,” Kearny said. “People trust us with their stories and their struggles, and it makes us a more honest and healing community. It can be a person formerly incarcerated or a person brave enough to say, ‘I don’t have it together.’ It opens up the space to participate more broadly in the body of Christ.”

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The Rev. Dexter Kearny

One Parish One Prisoner uses John’s account of the resurrection of Lazarus to get faith communities to talk about how to welcome those who were formerly incarcerated. As a discussion starter, Kearny displayed two works of art: “Jesus Raises Lazarus to Life” from the JESUS MAFA Project in Cameroon, and “The Resurrection of Lazarus” by Giovanni di Paolo.

The Lazarus story “lines up really well with the way a lot of people coming home from prison feel,” Kearny said. “They have been cut off from community and now they’re getting a second chance. Are they celebrated and welcomed?” Or, like Lazarus, “are they told [even by family members], ‘You’re too stinky. Get over it and get a job, and don’t cause any trouble.’”

In John’s gospel, Jesus orders the stone removed and for Lazarus to come out. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “All right, community, we’re going to do this miracle together,” Kearny said. Jesus then orders those gathered to unbind Lazarus and let him go. “Jesus says, ‘Get closer. Get so close you could smell him and hug him, and unbind the layers holding him tight,’” Kearny said.

We may consider the “inner work needed to do the healing” among the formerly incarcerated, Kearny said, healing from mistrust, addiction, anger, co-dependency, resentment and running away from problems. Then he smiled. “Of course, in our churches we don’t have any of those problems,” he said. What we do find is this: “When we get close enough to smell and hug, it opens up healing and our own transformation.”

Kearny closed the service by praying for “for those in our prisons, for those who have no hope of release and for those who are moving to their release date.”

“Surround them with a community who will walk alongside them,” Kearny asked the Almighty, “not as someone who stinks, but as someone who’s worthy of a hug.”

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

Let us join in prayer for:

Josh Park, Manager for Korean-Speaking Councils, Interim Unified Agency  
Sung-Joo Park, Relationship Manager, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program 

Let us pray:

Lord God, open our hearts so that we hear your call. Amen.

WCC NEWS: WCC extends condolences to people of Graz in wake of school shooting

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is extending condolences to the people of the Austrian city of Graz, after 10 people died in a school shooting, along with the alleged shooter. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC 11 June 2025 At least a dozen others were injured after the shooting on 10 June at a high school. Of the ten victims who died, nine were students, ages 15-17, and one was a teacher.  World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed solidarity with the people of Graz, especially with those who lost loved ones in the attack.  “As we walk with the Graz community and churches in their pain and sorrow, we will pray God’s strength for you as you carry the anguish and the scar of this terrible violence,” Pillay said.  Austria has declared a three-day national period of mourning, and held a nationwide moment of silence for the victims at 10 a.m. local time on 11 June.  The city of Graz sits in southern Austria, in the Styria province. It’s the second-largest Austrian city by population, with about 300,000 residents. See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland