Today in the Mission Yearbook - Blooming out of season

Inspiration from an October iris

April 21, 2022

“October Iris” (Photo by Ken Rummer)

Along the trail by the creek, maple leaves flash red against the yellows of the ash trees. It’s quite a show — and a confirmation that the chill in the air means business.

Beside the trail, a low retaining wall holds back a strip of cultivated soil. The gardener lives in the townhome up the hill.

Through the summer, I enjoyed checking on what she had blooming there. Also on the wee gnome in the red hat, and the sign by one of the flowers that read, “I don’t remember planting this.”

But recently, approaching her garden, I was startled by irises blooming purple. These were irises that already bloomed back in May, and here they were, flowering again in the last week of October.

I’ve heard reports of similar sightings: lilacs re-flowering, honeysuckle adding new blossoms, spirea taking another swing at spring.

Is it a response to the previous summer’s drought? A side-effect of an unusually mild autumn? Another marker of a changing climate? An odd thing plants do sometimes?

The plant science voices I consulted offered support for all of the above. But it wasn’t the scientific puzzle that stuck with me. It was the sad joy I felt to see irises blooming in October.

Sad — because in our area a killing frost and the end of the growing season is overdue and surely coming soon. Joy — because the irises are blooming anyway, gorgeous flowers in royal purple.

In 2 Timothy 4:2, the student pastor addressed in the letter is urged to stand ready to preach “in season and out of season.”

I think I’m seeing that in the iris. Out of season, definitely, but blooming for all they’re worth.

And it’s not just plants that have caught my eye with out-of-season flowering.

Last year, I took part in a 150th celebration for the Platte Center Presbyterian Church in rural Union County, Iowa. If you check out their Facebook page from Oct. 10, you’ll see the crowd that came to mark the occasion. (I’m toward the left near the tree.)

The open-country church with a part-time pastor is down to 20-something in worship. What with bigger farms around them and fewer people per farm, the congregation is not experiencing a favorable growing season.

But they drew 170 to their party. And on the back of the red T-shirts they had printed for the occasion, they noted their mission projects — not past glories, but what they are doing in the present, and it was a long list.

That looks like blooming to me, the more remarkable for being out of season.

So now, with a nudge of inspiration from the iris and the Platte faithful, I’m wondering if there is some blooming we can do.

Conditions are not ideal. You know the list of what we’re up against.

But perhaps even now, as God gives us strength, we can pull off some out-of-season blooming. Perhaps, even now, we can dare to open our petals and unfurl our colors against a backdrop of autumn leaves.

The Rev. Ken Rummer writes about life and faith from the middle of Iowa by the High Trestle Trail. Additional posts are available here.

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Brent Paschal, Help Desk Technician, Presbyterian Foundation
Stephanie Patterson, Multimedia Associate/Designer, Presbyterian Women

Let us pray

Lord of abundance, help us to open our hearts so that we may pour out and receive blessings for you to multiply through your steadfast love. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Never a better time to welcome the stranger

Matthew 25 gathering focuses on what it takes to carry out Jesus’ directive

April 20, 2022

The Rev. Gad Mpoyo

A recent online Matthew 25 gathering focused on welcoming the stranger. The 80 or so participants learned from two Presbyterians who are currently working hard to carry out Jesus’ command to do just that.

The Rev. Gad Mpoyo, who hails from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is the organizing pastor of Shalom International Ministries in Clarkston, Georgia, one of the most diverse communities in the country. He’s also 1001 New Worshiping Communities’ associate for the Southeast Region. Carolyn Thalman is a member of the National Response Team for Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and a ruling elder at First Presbyterian Church in Winchester, Virginia.

Thalman said she first became interested in refugee work when her daughter served as a Young Adult Volunteer in Guatemala. That’s when she learned there are many people “who need to be somewhere else to be safe.” Providing safety and welcome “is not something that’s comfortable for me, or not in my realm of experience. This was a brand-new open door for me that changed the way I view the world,” she said. “Now I know there are a lot of people who are hurting that need help from those of us with the capacity to help. I am one of those people.”

FPC’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Dan McCoig, has told the church’s resettlement support team their efforts are “a way to build congregational vitality and encourage the congregation to step up and be involved,” according to Thalman. Church World Service has established an office nearby, “and I hope the excitement stays put as CWS continues its work in Winchester.”

Mpoyo said he felt a connection in Clarkston from the moment he set foot there after leaving his war-torn homeland and living in other African nations.

“It was confirmation that I had been called to be with people with similar experiences to what I went through,” he said, adding he’s always been inspired by the words of Deuteronomy 10:19: “You shall love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

When the pandemic forced the suspension of in-person education, including what was offered by Shalom, eight international students were unable to return home. The Mpoyo family responded by opening their home to the students, who remained there for about five months.

“That story embodies who we are and who we are called to be — people who seek the well-being of the community,” he said. “Our house is small, but we made sure to create a space where students would feel welcome.” Some of the students are gifted musicians, while others knew their way around video and audio challenges. All pitched in to help Mpoyo and his team transition to online worship services and educational opportunities. “In the midst of all that was happening,” he said, “we could worship God and extend hospitality to the stranger while still being a community.”

Susan Krehbiel, PDA’s associate for Refugees and Asylum, had two suggestions for forming pathways to extend welcome. One is to start the conversation with others in the congregation “and your neighbors,” she said. One way to do that is through an Advent study Krehbiel wrote with Amanda Craft, manager of Advocacy in the Office of Immigration Issues, called Preparing Welcome, designed to “help you think about what you might explore to be welcome” through four biblical texts: Isaiah 64:1–9, Psalm 80:1–7 and 17–19, 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 and Mark 13:24–37. The second pathway is one Krehbiel called “the relationship piece,” creating an inventory of the people and organizations doing similar work in the community. Don’t forget to check with the local school district, Krehbiel said: “Your high school usually knows the diversity” present in the community, she said.

Mpoyo said many PC(USA) churches hosting immigrant communities of faith are seeing their relationship differently than they once did. “If we shift our mind from ‘We are just providing a space’ to ‘This is our call together,’” we begin to see that refugees come with “luggage that is visible and invisible,” he said. The invisible baggage includes different ways of worshiping God, Mpoyo said. “We find the needs and gifts everyone brings,” he said. “Building around that, you can make deep connections.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Sung-Joo Park, Korean-Speaking Representative, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program
Sunkyoo Park, Associate, Adult Curriculum, Korean Language, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation

Let us pray

Merciful God, you have made us that we may cherish one another. Take the hatred from our hearts so that all may live in peace and justice. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Becoming truly thankful

Take the time to tell your story. The act alone can make us more generous children of God

April 19, 2022

Photo by Libby Penner via Unsplash

A common table prayer opens with “O Lord, make us truly thankful for that which we are about to receive …”

It sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? But isn’t there something a little strange about that prayer? I mean, why would anyone pray that way?

“Oh Lord, make us truly thankful …” This little prayer acknowledges that an attitude of gratitude is something that we cannot do for ourselves. We are unable to “make” ourselves “truly thankful,” so we pray for God to make us more thankful than we really are. So, how do we do that? How does a person become “truly thankful”?

Well, one way to help us become “truly thankful” is to remember our story — the story of our lives. We need to recall and speak the story of who we are, where we’ve come from and how we got to be where we are at present.

Now, on the surface, recalling our story seems like the easiest thing we can do. We just tell what happened, just tell what we did and what decisions we made at the time, and why.

But just start to do that, however, and you’ll discover that it’s not as easy as you thought. “Where do I begin to tell the story of my life? What do I tell? What do I not tell? What’s really important?”

This is a time for us to remember and retell our life’s story.

But the problem for most of us is that we live such full and busy lives today that we don’t have much time to remember, do we? Oh, we enjoy little moments of recollection now and then, morsels of memories that connect us to our past and our real identities.

We remember our story when we visit our hometown, or when we return for a class reunion, or when we clean out the garage, sit down for an hour with a photograph album or photos on our phone. But, by and large, our minds are too full; we are too preoccupied with the present to remember even a fraction of the past. We are too busy to recollect all the wonderful things stored — the stories — in our memories. We are so engrossed in the present, so mortgaged to the future that we don’t have time for the past.

But what happens to a people who forget who they were? What happens to us when we don’t make time to remember? What happens when we don’t tell and retell our stories?

Well, we become ungrateful. We forget that we didn’t always live here, in this moment — that we had an existence before the one with which we are struggling now. And so, we must pray, “O Lord, make us truly thankful for that which we are about to receive …”

In the name of Jesus Christ, let me invite you to share your story with those around you. As you sit there at the table, pause for a moment, and try to remember. Remember the people that you have met and loved along the way in your life. Remember all the places that you have lived, from your childhood home to your present surroundings, and tell your story.

You see, in remembering, we become grateful, and when we have an attitude of gratitude, we become generous children of God. Indeed, we are truly thankful.

The Rev. Chris Roseland is the Lead Mission Engagement Advisor for the Presbyterian Mission Agency, serving the Northern region of the United States. This piece was originally published on Where Your Heart Is … A Weekly Offerings Stewardship Blog.

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Cobbie and Dessa Palm,  Mission co-workers serving in the Philippines, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Josh Park, Manager for Korean-Speaking Councils, Office of the General Assembly

Let us pray

O God, our hope is in you, the One who sets the prisoner free, brings justice for the oppressed, and protects the orphan, the sojourner and all who are vulnerable. Invite us into your sacred work and strengthen us in doing it. For we ask it in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - Global partner planting seeds in good soil

Growing fruits and vegetables helps lift Madagascar out of hunger and poverty

April 18, 2022

Dan Turk works with students at the Ivato seminary. (Photo by Kathy Melvin)

Seeds planted by mission co-worker Dan Turk and the Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM), a longtime global partner of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) World Mission, are beginning to bear fruit.

In August, the FJKM General Assembly (Synoda Lehibe) voted to extend the work of the Fruits, Vegetables and Environmental Education program (FVEE) to all of FJKM’s synods in Madagascar, affirming the work to promote growing fruits and vegetables as means of reducing poverty and malnutrition.

Madagascar has one of the world’s poorest economies, with nearly 90% of its population living on less than $2 a day.

For the past 14 years, Turk and FJKM colleagues have taught seminary students how to grow vegetables and fruit trees. After graduating, most new pastors serve rural communities, where they not only grow fruits and vegetables to feed their own families but also teach the skills to others to help lift the community out of poverty.

When the seminary students graduate, they take with them a piece of paper from the FVEE that says, “Good for 10 fruit trees, redeemable any time in the next three years.” Many wait until their families are settled in their new communities before returning to the Ivato Seminary near Antananarivo to get their trees.

“My colleagues and I have long recognized that a shortcoming in our training program is that follow-up with the new pastors is insufficient,” said Turk. “The problem is that travel in Madagascar is very expensive (fuel costs over $4 per gallon), and the pastors are dispersed far and wide.  So, it is just not feasible to visit all the pastors who have received trees. But we keep our ears open and take advantage of opportunities to meet with pastors to learn about what they are doing.”

Turk said FVEE has spent years laying the foundation for the program, gathering a collection of promising fruit tree varieties, developing propagation techniques, setting up nurseries and planting orchards.

At a recent meeting of FJKM’s evangelism department in Southeast Madagascar, one of Turk’s FJKM’s colleagues, Rolland Razafiarison was invited to speak. While there, he connected with several former students, including Pastor Tafita from southwest Madagascar who had been influenced by a video Razafiarison made about the program to successfully grow tangerines in Beambiaty. Tafita received seven grafted citrus trees from FVEE. He started growing rootstocks using seeds from a locally available citrus and began grafting his own trees from the seven original trees. He eventually grafted 1,500 trees.

Though he has struggled to get the trees enough water and fertilizer, 700 of these trees are now producing fruit, with lemons and oranges the most productive of the trees. He is now sending fruit to be sold in Toliara, a large city 200 kilometers to the south.

Another seminary graduate who applied what he learned about growing trees is Pastor Laurius Velondeha from Dabolava in western Madagascar. He received four trees from his seminary allotment in 2017. He got more trees from the FVEE in January 2020 and additional trees from other sources. Now there are about 20 trees growing around the church. The mayor of Dabolava has asked Laurius to do trainings for people in the community and to provide trees for others to grow.

A few days after Razafiarison spoke at the meeting in Manakara, many of the same pastors went to the Mango Palace at Mahatsinjo for another training Sept. 28–30 for 28 pastors and 24 volunteer technicians. The goal was to train the group from the evangelism posts in areas of the country where mangos grow well.

“Many of the participants are from southern Madagascar, where many people are currently severely malnourished from lack of food,” said Turk. “Pastors Tafita and Laurius were among those who took part in the training. The trainees learned to grow and propagate fruit trees. They practiced grafting mangos and citrus. Each of the trainees took home six trees: three grafted mangos, a grafted avocado, a citrus and one other fruit tree. Many left the training with enthusiasm for doing more to use the potential of fruit trees, especially mangos, to help alleviate hunger.”

Kathy Melvin, Director of Mission Communications, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Scott O’Neill, Communications Strategist, Communications Ministry, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Mary Oxford, Senior Administrative Assistant, Leadership Development for Leaders of Color, Presbyterian Mission Agency

Let us pray

Gracious God, we thank you for the witness of the church. We ask that your mighty hand would uphold us and guide us as we seek to serve you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Minute for Mission: One Great Hour of Sharing/Easter

April 17, 2022

“Unstable connection.”

Those two words have taken on a deeper meaning in the past couple of years, haven’t they? For many, the words “unstable connection,” “weak connection” or worse, “lost connection,” are synonymous for an online meeting that has become frozen or dropped off. These dreaded words, popping up on a phone or computer, mean whatever is being offered isn’t getting through. It isn’t able to be shared. The connection is in jeopardy.

But simply stated, we fundamentally need to connect. People need to connect.

Through our Church, we connect, in whatever way we are able, with one another, and celebrate the many ways God connects with us. During Lent, we celebrate that God connects with us through Jesus’ resurrection and connects us with “those who have least” — that’s how Matthew 25 puts it — and that’s what One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) is all about. Connecting. People who experience oppression, need, loss or lack, those are the people Jesus connected with, the Bible says, and they are the people we are invited to connect with today.

OGHS is the largest way Presbyterians connect with one another, and with our neighbors in need. We join with people whose connections are, too often, unstable; people experiencing poverty, oppression, hunger and disaster. The Church offers gifts of prayer, understanding and support, by participating in ministries of poverty alleviation and natural and human-caused disaster relief, as well as self-development to ensure dignity for all.

Because of our gifts to OGHS, we connect with the Multicultural Alliance for a Safe Environment in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Together we unite to halt environmental degradation and its impact on the people of the Navajo Nation by assisting in a collaborative effort to secure access to clean water — and thus address the large numbers of birth defects, miscarriages and types of cancer impacting our neighbors there.

We connect with the Resource Center in Matamoros at the southern border of the United States who accompanies our neighbors who are seeking asylum due to economic problems, violence and corruption. Together, we share food, tents and blankets as well as a place for refugees to have access to legal teams, medical teams and social support services.

OGHS connects us with the Civil Society Coalition for Poverty Eradication in Northern Nigeria, where cycles of conflict and food insecurity have been a tragic reality.

For over 70 years, the offerings of thousands of congregations like ours have come together to participate in God’s healing, tending and growing to create a world where all needs are met. Through One Great Hour of Sharing … we stabilize, we strengthen those who are weak and we connect.

—Special Offerings

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Elizabeth Olker, Associate, Gender & Racial Justice, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Laura Olliges, Manager, Accounting & Internal Compliance, Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program

Let us pray

Heal us, oh Savior, that we might understand and grow our relationships with all those in need. Thank you for connecting us with one another and with you. Amen.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - International Day of Farmers’ Struggles is April 17

Pacific Islanders reinvigorate traditional food systems and community unity

April 16, 2022

Weeding the tomato plants. (Photo courtesy of PCC)

In the Pacific, subsistence farming on land and subsistence fishing remains a foundation of livelihoods across our sea of islands, as well as a source of income. Climate change induced extreme weather (storms, cyclones/hurricanes, droughts, floods, etc.) and salt-water inundation from rising seas has already had a major impact on our plantations and farms.

From 2020 onward, as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Pacific Island countries that depend on tourism were affected severely. Fiji, which is the largest of these countries, was affected badly, with laid-off workers in tourism-related industries, such as hotels and travel companies, turning to farming and fishing for survival.

The impact of the first wave of COVID-19 border closures and lockdowns was compounded by climate-induced extreme weather patterns (severe tropical cyclones). This reduced agricultural production, food, and incomes. Families and communities sought ways to increase their own households’ production of root crops, vegetables and fruits.

Urban families and communities were the most affected with limited space to plant. In the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga, the Pacific Conference of Churches with partners, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), developed two responses to support resilience to COVID-19 and food security through seedbanks (in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu) and urban foodbanks (in Tonga and Fiji) in the form of an urban-based farms with land belonging to the Tongan National Council of Churches (Tonga) and the Pacific Conference of Churches (Fiji). These urban foodbanks, managed and farmed by TNCC (Tonga) and PCC (Fiji) staff, provided fresh vegetables for families and communities not able to afford them from markets or grow them due to lack of access to arable land as well as those in care facilities (seniors, children).  

In rural communities, cultural safety networks and traditional food systems have been reinvigorated. In Fijian villages, the concept of Solesolevaki (community unity, reciprocity, trust and social capital) meant that every member of the community was valued and cared for, and that all worked collectively in farming plantations, fishing and other subsistence activities during the lockdown. As more Fijians found themselves unemployed due to the pandemic, they began to either return to their villages or utilize the practices of Solesolevaki in their urban communities.

The pressure of a capitalist market-oriented economy imposed on many Pacific developing countries, has led, over time, to a shift from the values of community well-being and a perspective of abundance, to one of profit and scarcity. Initially this influenced individual and community responses to the impacts of COVID-19: people in urban areas caught as much fish as they could, in case there no fish tomorrow; farming focused on short-term gain at the expense of the ecosystem. The practices of communal reciprocity, community unity and social capital had been replaced by individualism, materialism and selfishness.

The Pacific Conference of Churches Lomana Na Vulagi (Love the Stanger) Eco-Farm, established with support from the Presbyterian Hunger Program, seeks to model resilient, Indigenous farming techniques that are in harmony with the environment. Vulagi (Visitor or Foreigner) denotes the temporary tenure on Earth and recalls God’s exhortation to the Israelites on the lessons of hospitality and care to be learned from the experience in Egypt. The Eco-Farm is seen as an example to ecumenical and secular communities alike, throughout the region on how to put land to use in a sustainable, responsible and economically rewarding manner. This means the minimum destruction of trees and disruption of water sources, using available technology to reduce soil erosion, promoting organic farming methods for wellness and sustainability.

We observe the International Day of Farmers Struggles on April 17 every year to recognize the struggles of smallholder food producers globally and organize actions in support of food sovereignty and food justice.

Rev. James Bhagwan, Pacific Conference of Churches, Fiji

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Jenny Oldham, Administrative Assistant, Presbyterian Hunger Program, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Dayna Oliver, Associate, International Program Administration, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance

Let us pray

We continue to pray for those farming communities who have been forced by necessity to shift from Indigenous, ecologically sensitive farming to a capitalist, unsustainable model of farming, and development. We pray for the courage and wisdom to help us reweave our models of farming, community and faith, so that in difficult times, we are resilient, unafraid and being ecologically sensitive.

Today in the Mission Yearbook - These three days

A reminder of Jesus’ sacrifice

April 15, 2022

Maundy Thursday was the start of what is known as the Easter Triduum — triduum, which is Latin for “three days.” Three days, which include Good Friday and Holy Saturday, in which before we get to the joy of the resurrection, we are reminded how quick we are to betray, to cry “crucify him” and to sink into the depths of despair when we are left in the limbo of loss.

Pope Francis once said that the Easter Triduum is not just the apex of liturgical year in the church, it is the apex of our Christian lives. But when I look around, it seems these three days have lost their significance.

Perhaps it is hard to embrace the Easter Triduum because it comes just as signs of life are springing forth. Amid crocuses enlivening the brown grass yet to turn to green, the choir of birds resuming their early morning introit and the return of the peepers’ evening vespers as the sun sets, these three days ask us to walk with our suffering Savior and face realities we would rather not face. Among them:

Life is hard. Jesus knew that. He and his family lived as refugees early in his life.

Life can be unfair. Jesus knows that all too well. When Pilate asked who shall be pardoned, Barabbas, the ruthless criminal, or Jesus, whose only crime was trying to make a difference in the world, the crowd shouted for the criminal to be released and for the innocent to be put to death.

Life comes with problems. How are we going to feed 5,000 people? The rough waves are going to capsize our boat. We have no more wine for the wedding banquet, only water. Jesus heard them all and attended to each and every one.

Life comes with confrontations. Jesus had his share. When he saw the three-ring circus known as moneychangers and other vendors in the Temple, Jesus confronted them, overturning their tables and giving them all a piece of his mind.

Life comes with betrayals. “The one who dips with me, will betray me,” Jesus said. And Judas, his friend, did just that, turning Jesus over to those seeking his life. Yet, even with Judas betraying him, Jesus mandated his friends to love one another.

Life comes with a cross looming on the horizon. Jesus knew that and while asking for “this cup to pass” was given strength to take that hard walk to death, trusting in great faith that no matter what, God was with him. We need not fear the cross or shun it. Rather, if we stand at the foot of it, we will be given strength. We will also hear the most powerful words this world needs to hear more often: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Life comes with Holy Saturday silences. Like Jesus’ friends, life will bring those moments to us where we will sit stunned and dazed and wonder, “Will I ever smile again?” But before we rush to feel happy and whole again, we must allow space to process, to cry and for God to mend our brokenness as only God can do.

These three days are significant. They remind us of all that Jesus went through for us. They remind us that while joy and sorrow dance together, it is joy that will always take the lead. For that is our God — good and gracious and mighty to save. The “Alleluia, He is Risen” is coming. But right now, there’s a cross standing on a lonely hill, beckoning you and quietly asking, “How will these three days change you?”

Donna Frischkneht Jackson, Editor, Presbyterians Today

Let us join in prayer for:

PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Emily Enders Odom, Communications Specialist, Mission Engagement & Support, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Jihyun Oh, Director, Mid Council Ministries, 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.