Minute for Mission: Holocaust Remembrance Day

Nurturing Hagar’s Community Church at the Washington Corrections Center for Women

April 7, 2021

One gesture, one story: Nina Weil survived the Theresienstadt and Auschwitz concentration camps. She was tattooed with the number 71978. Photo credit: U.N. – Gamaraal Foundation

Henry owned a parcel of land. He had bought a 100-by-100-foot lot in a dangerous part of town years ago hoping to make a profit when the neighborhood improved. For a time, he lived in the vacant building on the lot to chase away squatters and even got beat up a few times. Henry was a big man. What I remember most about Henry was the way he walked, with a purposeful stride, wearing a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. My partners and I had gone to see him about buying that piece of property. He was a tough negotiator, but eventually we came to an agreement.

Henry was a man of few words and when we did talk, it was all about work. But later when I called to say goodbye as I was leaving the company, I was surprised when he asked about my future plans and my family. After I told him, he volunteered that he had lost his parents and his siblings in the concentration camps. He was the only one in his family to survive. He said several times, “It was just horrible … too horrible to talk about.” There was a long silence. Eventually we wished one another well and hung up. Henry never had a family of his own, but we (and he) built 60 units of affordable housing for low-income families on that lot, with a playground in the back. He came to the opening ceremony.

With the passing years, there are fewer survivors to remind us about the horrors of the Holocaust. Henry is a witness to that horror. One person’s hell. One person’s anguish and unspeakable suffering. We live in the age of disinformation, fake news and conspiracy theories. Holocaust deniers and anti-Semitism are on the rise. For Henry’s sake, we must speak truth to power. 

Sue Rheem; Representative to the United Nations; Compassion, Peace & Justice; Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Anisha Hackney, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Mark Hare and Jenny Bent, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Dear God, may we not forget what Holocaust means and what the survivors of the Holocaust have suffered. May we speak for the strangers and neighbors in our midst, giving voice to the voiceless. May we work for your justice in the face of evil. In your Holy name we pray. Amen.   

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Today in the Mission Yearbook - A voice to affirm all people

Nurturing Hagar’s Community Church at the Washington Corrections Center for Women

April 6, 2021

“Prison Resurrection,” artwork created by Hagar’s Community Church. (Photo courtesy of Hagar’s Community Church)

The Washington Corrections Center for Women is both the largest and the only maximum and medium security prison for women in the state. It’s surrounded by barbed wire, and you have to go through five locked gates to get to the main population.

Inside this fortress of concrete and steel, thanks to the work of three dynamic Presbyterian leaders, a unique worshiping community has been planted — Hagar’s Community Church.

“The women I have the opportunity and the privilege to pastor to are wonderful and deeply knowledgeable about the Bible,” said Rev. Lane Brubaker, who leads Hagar’s Community Church. “They are learning that they are still indeed loved by God and are not defined by their worst mistake. But, rather, they are defined by their beloved.”

Olympia Presbytery worked over several years with Prison Congregations of America to set up the prison ministry. The Rev. Christine Long led the effort to plant a church that would provide a safe, open and inclusive place for women to worship inside the prison. It was finally established in January 2019.

Brubaker leads Bible study and worship on Saturday evenings. She handles a more contemporary service with music while her husband, Crawford, leads a quieter, contemplative worship time. The two simultaneous services were developed after talking with the women — some of whom needed time to quietly reflect after living in the general population, while others longed for interaction. But what’s perhaps most impactful is providing a place of acceptance.

“For some reason in prisons, groups and programs tend to be more conservative and not accepting of all orientations and gender identities,” she said. “We are a different voice that affirms all people, and we give them a place to be honest about who they are. I’m often asked, ‘Why are you so much more inclusive than the other groups?’ My answer is that it’s not just Hagar’s Community Church, but it’s what my denomination thinks.”

As part of her ministry, Brubaker spends several days every week behind bars. She offers six pastoral care groups throughout the week — from guided meditation and breathing practices to healing through music. She sees the first year of the church as just the beginning.

“We are helping women process and handle their incarceration through God’s love and guidance, and we want this to be a healthy, sustained ministry,” Brubaker explained. “There are some women who are incarcerated for many years, some for their whole lives. The dream of the presbytery when this started was that it would be a ministry that continues long into the future.”

The promise of a long-term ministry is there thanks to the support of congregations like Skyline Presbyterian Church in Tacoma and visionary church leaders like the Rev. Robyn Hogue. She saw the opportunity to provide for this new ministry that works toward reconciliation and expand the congregation’s vision of what God makes possible.

The church used its portion of the Peace & Global Witness Offering to fund Hagar’s Community Church and, as a result, has grown its Offering. Brubaker says the prison ministry would not be able to maintain itself without those financial gifts and that every congregation should be looking to expand outreach to places not yet considered.

“I think there’s a lot of room for more worshiping communities like this to be established,” she said. “That would be an awesome response to this ministry — that others would start doing this work, not just in prisons but in other places too. All of us should be listening to the call and listening to God to find where these worshiping communities are needed in all sorts of different, unique places.”

Bryce Wiebe, Director of Special Offerings, Mission Engagement & Support, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Denise Hampton, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)
Jieun Kim Han and Martin Han, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Lord, help us to be instruments of your grace: constant in our love, unrelenting in pursuing peace and faithful in working for all. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Global Mission: Lessons from the coronavirus pandemic

It is hard to practice solidarity in a crisis when you are stuck at home.

April 5, 2021

The Rev. Philip Woods is World Mission’s associate director for strategy, program and recruitment.

The pandemic has forced us to embrace digital technology (Zoom, etc.) like never before, but in many places that has looked a lot different to what it looks like in the USA.

Relying on cellphones and smartphones, text messaging and WhatsApp have been the digital platforms of choice for much of the world and have brought out a lot of creativity enabling worship, small group meetings (like Bible studies) and even college teaching to continue.

These fixes though do not get to the heart of the question of what we are learning from the experience of living with the pandemic. Global mission work is built around person-to-person solidarity, people immersing themselves interculturally to learn from and share with each other. Historically it was not solidarity, but colonialism, the subjugation of cultures and peoples. Over the years, though, as most of the world has developed significant Indigenous Christian communities, it has morphed into a way of journeying with each other, and the pandemic has really challenged that.

Positively, using digital technologies we have found ways of connecting more people much more cheaply and easily than ever before. This is a breakthrough that should not be lost. We have learned how to connect peoples and congregations across the world that have enabled many more people to have the world church experience.

Most of our global partners cannot afford to send people here, and many people in our congregations cannot afford to join a mission trip, so there has always been a lot of elitism and privilege in global mission work that has skewed it towards a simple, unquestioning charity model, viewed and experienced all too easily as the “haves” assisting the “have-nots.” This is not a healthy relationship, and certainly not an expression of mutual partnership.

As a consequence, we have struggled to escape, let alone understand the white supremacy that initially shaped global mission and continues to impact it today. The pandemic has opened things up a lot so that more people in more churches around the world can journey together, learning from, supporting and encouraging each other as partners in God’s mission. Entering into these journeys understanding that we all have something to offer and all have something to receive, we may be able to find ways to address the mistakes of the past that have led to and sustain the injustices of today.

Negatively, we have had to remain socially distanced, so that even when mission co- workers sheltered in place, they found themselves working from their homes like many of us have done.  It is hard to practice solidarity in a crisis when you are stuck at home. It is even harder when you cannot travel because of travel bans and restrictions.

Yes, we have been able to send money and continue other forms of support. Yes, we have been able to talk on the phone or Skype or Zoom or WhatsApp, but our ability to actually walk alongside our partners has been diminished. This has helped me to understand and appreciate more deeply the human dimension of journeying together, that life-changing Emmaus road encounter in which lives are transformed that is only possible through direct contact in a particular context opening hearts and minds to a whole new way of seeing things and being in communion together.

Going forward, these observations need to be held together. The pandemic has impacted and changed all of us. Global and local injustices have been more sharply revealed. We have found new ways of staying connected. Starved of easy human connection we have learned to appreciate it more fully and not to take it for granted. Privilege has been revealed in new ways. Learning from these things, global mission work will surely change.

The Rev. Philip Woods, World Mission’s Associate Director for Strategy, Program and Recruitment

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Rob Hagan, Presbyterian Foundation
Patricia Haines, Board of Pensions

Let us pray:

Lord, open our hearts and minds to the Spirit at all times. Help us to look and listen for opportunities to serve you. Ground us in the present and instill faith in us to face the future with hope and joy. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - The great bookcase reveal

Changing your worldview by what you are reading

April 3, 2021

The books on our shelves say a lot about who we are and the people who have influenced our thinking and perspective on the world. Ines Sayadi/Unsplash

I couldn’t wait for the livestream of “Take Me to the World” to begin. The show was touted as a once- in-a-lifetime Broadway event, featuring a star-studded lineup of performers coming together to celebrate the 90th birthday of Stephen Sondheim, the prolific lyricist and composer of such musicals as “Into the Woods” and “West Side Story.”

This being Broadway in a time of pandemic, however, meant that performers had to sing and stream from their homes, unwittingly providing viewers like me with an intimate look at life offstage. I soon found myself a newbie voyeur, straining my eyes for a better look at a vase on a desk or a family picture on the wall. But perhaps the most intriguing distraction was that of the unassuming bookcase. Was that really a book of ancient erotic Irish art? Was there even such a thing? I wasn’t alone in finding this all very entertaining. It didn’t take long for the media to pick up on this “bookcase as a backdrop” trend. The New York Times even ran a story on how the hottest quarantine accessory was now the “credibility bookcase” — a case filled with titles meant to impress. While it may be true that you can’t judge a book by its cover, these days it seems you can judge a person by their bookcase.

I never gave my book collection much thought until a retired pastor dropped by my office one day. Being new to the congregation, he wanted to get to know me. He wasn’t in any rush, however, to take the seat that I offered. Rather, he made a beeline to the bookcase and began scrutinizing the titles on each spine. There were a few scowls and a few smiles, but luckily no looks of utter dismay. When he was done, he thanked me for the visit. We hadn’t even talked. As he left, he said, “I now know all I need to know about you.”

What would your books reveal if they were scrutinized with the searching eyes of a voyeur or the sleuthing stare of a retired minister? Right now, if the video cameras were on my bookcase, you would see numerous books on 18th-century living skills, from open hearth cooking to quilting to growing a medicinal herb garden. You would see some theological classics that haven’t been touched in years. (Sorry, Karl Barth.) You would also see my whiteness. Yes, my whiteness. And you would agree with the conclusion that I have recently come to — that the one book on my shelf by Black theologian Howard Thurman is simply not acceptable. Especially today.

Books have the power to inform and inspire. They comfort and challenge. And they are a critical component in opening our eyes to those who have and are walking through the fires of hate and injustices. How do we expect to preach prophetically if we don’t open ourselves to hearing different viewpoints? As I look to create a more diverse reading list, I realize there is so much I do not know. There are stories from history that have not been heard, because history is sadly told from the perspective of those who hold the power.

My bookcase is far from credible. So, I am giving it a makeover. There are now the works of James Cone and Cornel West joining Howard Thurman in the theological section of the bookcase. I am also eagerly waiting for my womanist theology book to be delivered. On my 18th-century American shelf, books on Black Americans such as Crispus Attucks, the first to fall in the Boston Massacre; Salem Poor, known for his heroism at the Battle of Bunker Hill; and Lemuel Haynes, a Revolutionary War-era pastor remembered as the first Black man ordained as a preacher in the United States, are coming.

What we read says a lot about who we are. Books have the power to change us, and change is needed if we are to change the world. How credible is your bookcase?

Donna Frischknecht Jackson, Editor, Presbyterians Today

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Leann Gritton, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Janet Guyer, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

Lord, teach us to break bread with our newest neighbors. Teach us to share with and receive from our neighbors. Teach us to be open to differences, to tolerate new behaviors, and to meet you in the people you give to us. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Just passing by …

How do you hear Jesus’ calling you to follow him?

April 2, 2021

Garden of Gethsemane (Photo by Tammy Warren)

Has anyone ever come into your life to help you, just when you needed help and had nowhere to turn? Have you ever been that urgent helper for someone else?

For Jesus, that man was Simon, an olive or black-skinned African who had traveled hundreds of miles to Jerusalem from his home in the area of Cyrene, which is today a community in Libya. Simon, who was either Jew or Gentile (no one knows for sure), was just passing by the crowd headed toward Golgotha, or so he thought.

Simon of Cyrene had been written into Jesus’ journey to the cross by God himself long before Good Friday.

Being forced to carry the implement of death, the crossbeam already bloodied by the wounds of Jesus’ scourging, would defile Simon and make it impossible for him to enter the temple courts. Yet the soldiers were insistent.

So, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was compelled to pick up the crossbeam and follow in Jesus’ steps (Mark 15:21).

I believe this was one of Jesus’ final lessons. It’s a lesson for all of us passersby, a lesson as simple as “follow me.” Many believe this encounter with Jesus brought salvation to Simon’s entire household (Isaiah 46:11).

We are all born. We all die. Between birth and death, we are but passersby until we are transformed by encountering the risen Christ.

How do you hear Jesus’ calling you to follow him on this Good Friday and every day?

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” — Matthew 11:28–30

Tammy Warren, Communications Associate, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Paul Grier, Presbyterian Foundation
Laurie Griffith, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray:

Lord God, we have seen many Good Fridays and Resurrection Sundays come and go. Remind us anew of the extravagant sacrifice and excruciating death of your one and only son, Jesus. It is only because he took our diseases and bore our infirmities that we can stand firm through your mercy and love. Lord, we ask you to renew a steadfast love within us, as we fix our eyes on Jesus and follow him home. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Picking out a frame

Scripture, history and the present moment

April 1, 2021

the Rev. Ken Rummer

The canvas before us looks to be from a surrealist artist.

In the center, a figure in a beaked plague mask rides a green horse. To one side, bed-sheet banners with the message “No Job, No Rent” hang from apartment windows. To the other side, shirts on marching protesters bear the inscription “BLM.” And scattered through the scene are darkened churches painted upside down.

What frame goes with a picture like that?

Classic black with a simple profile? Elaborate gold over faux carving? Industrial chic with applied metal gears and a bit of rust?

I see pastors and church leaders trying to pick out a good one. I am trying, too.

Which verse of Scripture best fits our situation? Which Bible story parallels the present moment? Is there a chapter of history that frames the current crisis?

Are we wandering in the wilderness with Moses as he deals with people who are finding it hard and wanting to go back to Egypt (Numbers 14)? Or are we waiting for the edict of Cyrus that will let us exiles go back home and worship as we used to (Ezra 1)?

Are we being called with the prophet Jeremiah to symbolic action? And which should it be? Smash a new pottery jar to show that worse is yet to come (Jeremiah 19)? Or buy a field just overrun by the enemy as a sign that normal times will come again (Jeremiah 32)?

Do we sing with Avery and Marsh, “The church is not a building … the church is a people?” Or can we sing the Lord’s song at all in this strange land (Psalm 137)?

Are we being challenged to amend our ways and our doings (Jeremiah 26)? Could this plague be underlining a let-my-people-go message addressed to hardened hearts, both ours and Pharaoh’s (Exodus 9)?

Or, with the preacher of Ecclesiastes, is it time to mourn (Ecclesiastes 3)?

Jeremiah wrote to the exiles in Babylon that their return would not be soon. Is this the word we need to be living out: to plant vineyards and build houses and form families and settle in to this strange COVID-19 world because we’re going to be here awhile (Jeremiah 29)?

Is it time to choose the frame of science? To reprise the Dr. Salk polio story of the ’40s and ’50s by donating our dimes toward a vaccine against the virus?

Do we lift Martin Luther’s advice to pastors in German cities ravaged by the plague: carry out your calling, take care of your neighbors and utilize all available measures of protection and prevention (c. 1500)?

Have we beamed up into a Star Trek movie where Jim is debating with Spock the good of the many versus the good of the one? Is that how to frame the choices before us?

Or should loving our neighbor be the mandate for our moment? Jesus lifted this Leviticus contribution to the divine teaching as the second greatest commandment in the Torah (Leviticus 19, Matthew 22).

Is it time to remember that Jesus healed the sick and to believe that Jesus can do it again (Luke 4)? Is it time to channel the ministry of the apostles as recorded in the longer ending of Mark, praying for the sick and seeing them recover (Mark 16)?

Are we being invited to join Anthony and the first monastics in the desert (c. 300), leaning into isolation and separation from regular life as a spiritual discipline?

Or does Romans provide a better frame, helping us see ourselves as those who believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, not even a deadly virus (Romans 8)?

I’m finding quite a few frames to choose from.

And these are just the samples that caught my eye. You might discover one you like even better still stuck with a Velcro dot to the carpet strip on the slat wall of the frame shop.

Whichever frame you choose, get the little rubbery feet for the back corners. They really help when the floor shakes or the dust wand brushes past.

Ken Rummer, an honorably retired pastor, writing about life and faith from the Middle of Iowa by the High Trestle Trail

Let us join in prayer for: 

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff

Ken Green, Board of Pensions
Annette Greer, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Amen.