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Dear Readers,
Am I the only one who felt that January was extra-long this year? In any case, I'm glad that now we're well and truly into February and I hope your 2024 has gotten off to a solid start.
I also have exciting news to share! While it's disappointing that our timeline for re-launching the print magazine is taking longer than we'd hoped, we have nevertheless been working on a few key feature pieces that tell really important stories. We didn't want these stories to sit on the shelf gathering dust, so we've decided to release them digitally over the course of the year. And the very first one was officially published on February 6th!
Our first feature piece (linked below) is written by my colleague, Fred Tangeman, and explores the particular challenges of isolation and loneliness facing clergy serving in Mission Presbytery in central Texas. While this is a very specific context, the issues it raises affect clergy in all sorts of places. And of course, isolation and loneliness affect people who are not clergy too. It's a beautiful and important piece, and I hope you'll take the time to read it.
We're also hoping this piece sparks some conversation. In that spirit, we are hosting a live virtual panel discussion later this month on the Presbyterians Today Facebook page. I'll moderate conversation between Fred and the three pastors featured in his story. Together we'll tackle questions like: How can others support struggling pastors? And how can the church support anyone struggling with loneliness?
Join us on Thursday, February 29th, at 1pm Eastern/12pm Central.
Finally, we've also curated blog posts for this first 3 months of the year around the themes of "connection" and "community." While we chose these themes because they are also relevant to our feature piece, we've encouraged bloggers to interpret them broadly and write however they are inspired. The first two posts are already up on the blog and are linked below. Follow our PT blog to make sure you catch them all.
I'm excited about everything new we've got going on at PT, and all the big things to come! I hope you are too!
Layton Williams Berkes |
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Isolation in the Lone Star State |
by Fred Tangeman
Loneliness is an increasing problem nationwide. How are pastors in Mission Presbytery staying connected during their calls?
What Texas is to states, Mission is to presbyteries: one of the largest and most diverse in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), with dozens of congregations near San Antonio and Austin, and large swaths of countryside where farm supply stores and oil wells outnumber houses of worship.
Mission includes 120 churches in South Central Texas, an area stretching from the Rio Grande Valley north to the Hill Country. The presbytery lists 300 Teaching Elders and more than 19,000 lay members.
Of all the challenges facing its pastors, isolation is near the top, said the Rev. Dr. Sallie Watson, General Presbyter of Mission. Isolation and its shadow companion loneliness grew as a problem during the pandemic, but have long been issues in Mission owing to its size and turnover. Nearly 600,000 people moved to Texas in 2020—and that’s just from other states. Pastors factor into a constant internal and international migration. |
Mystery at the Heart of Community |
by Brandon Frick“The club no one wants to join” sounds so cliché at this point it’s almost laughable. But then there’s the matter of what got me into the aforementioned club: Stage IV Merkel Cell Carcinoma, a “rare and aggressive” cancer with a highly-unlaughable five-year survival rate.Now in year two, I’ve discovered there’s more to this club than the fact that no one applies for admission, and it’s reshaping how I view community. |
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God’s Gifts Used as Weapons of War in Palestine |
by Andrew Kang Bartlett
Last month I joined the ‘Mourning Choir’ in my hometown of Louisville despite being a mediocre singer at best. The Choir formed after the October 7 Hamas attack, the loss of 1,139 Iraeli lives, and the continuing loss of more than 25,000 Palestinians. This crisis period has brought Jews, Muslims, Christians, and others into community to profess our shared value for the life of every single person. While anti-Muslim and antisemitism incidents have increased, the time has brought people together to sing Ceasefire Carols, and to hold vigils, rallies and interfaith events all calling for a ceasefire and an end to the bloodshed.
Food and water are being used as weapons of war by the Israeli government, and so I desperately ask, “How might scripture help me and other Christians navigate the current catastrophe?” |
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