5/4/2020

After the seasons of Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, the lectionary texts for June narrate some of the ways God’s comprehensive love is displayed in the natural world, in the struggles of the matriarchs and patriarchs of the faith, in communities which grapple with life and faith, and in the calling of God upon all of creation to dispel fear with love. These sacred texts, and the Lord who speaks in and through them, draw us to deeper, wider, higher love – to welcome God and to welcome neighbor. In these challenging and unprecedented times of COVID-19, the holy God of holy Scripture reassures us that no virus can undo the viral love of the Lord.

4/20/2020

Typically, we would be celebrating graduations, gathering with friends and worshiping together. But of course, we’re in this new reality – a blend of staying home and attempting to figure out when it will be safe to leave again. It’s a strange and weird world.

4/17/2020

One Sunday morning early in my career working for the Foundation, I was worshiping at a church in a small southwest Michigan town. Visiting churches is something I get to do often in my role as Ministry Relations Officer.

4/6/2020

3/17/2020

COVID-19 is changing the way the world interacts and the church is not immune to those changes. Amid social distancing and shelter in place orders, many churches have either canceled worship or moved to a virtual form of worship. Pastors and sessions are looking for creative ways to be the church in a quickly changing landscape.

3/13/2020

3/9/2020

Called to minister in sacred moments

3/6/2020

Holy Week and Eastertide are not typically associated with stewardship. It is unlikely that Palm Sunday or Easter would be primetime for a sermon on stewardship. But in its larger sense, stewardship is everywhere in this sacred season: in our gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice, our awe at God’s incalculable blessings, and our commitment to a lifelong calling to service in the Spirit.

2/18/2020

2/11/2020

Editor’s note: We asked Minner Serovy, ministry relations officer for the Presbyterian Foundation, to reflect back on her career in ministry within the PC(USA). She retires at the end of February. She’s provided us with some terrific and hopeful observations.

1/30/2020

These next five Sundays in March, we sojourn into the sacred season of Lent, as the Spirit of the Lord prepares us for the cross of Holy Week, the silence of Holy Saturday, and the victory of Easter. The psalms and the Gospel readings go hand-in-hand as the former sings reflective words that glorify the Lord, and a corresponding Gospel reading that narrate a formative sacred encounter in which God’s mighty hand and outstretched arm of love and restoration are on full display. Enter this Lenten season with prayerful intentionality, both in personal devotions and in community. This is a special time for sacred encounters with the Lord who sojourns with us, who forges in our hearts and in our lives a deepening and broadening wellspring of joy through the trials and troubles of life in the real world.

1/17/2020