Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard Presbytery Leader choward@glpby.org On this long Fourth of July weekend, I did it! I finally got it done! I finished my book filing project that I’d been putting off completing all year. It all started when I purchased a software program that catalogs books on my iPhone. All I have to do…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard Presbytery Leader choward@glpby.org It feels good to worship. If feels comfortable. One of the pleasures of attending worship either in person or online, is hearing a message to reflect on, listening to singing that sooths the heart, and participating in prayers that lift the spirit. Many people see church as a respite:…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard Presbytery Leader choward@glpby.org In March my spiritual director fell in his home and suffered a serious head injury. This led to a brain bleed, stroke, and paralysis. After days in a coma, Chuck was revived with serious physical and mental impairments. One week ago today he passed away while in hospice care.…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard Presbytery Leader choward@glpby.org After the Civil War, white Americans controlled economic and political systems that resulted in lynching, Jim Crow, Black Codes, white citizens’ councils, poverty, racial profiling, school to prison pipeline, and mass incarceration. Even today we continue to prolong racial inequality through codifying white supremacy. We apologize for being…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard Presbytery Leader choward@glpby.org “We repent that we have failed as an institution and as individuals to use our voices to abhor and end lynching, segregation, and racial profiling. We regret our generations of silence on these issues so that we could maintain a comfortable life in our churches, homes, and communities.” An…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard Presbytery Leader choward@glpby.org I have a great-nephew named Gabriel Montgomery Howard. Five-year-old Gabe has my middle name, bright round eyes, and infectious laugh. When I imagine a future for Gabe, I try not to see him being pulled over without a cause and forced out of a car. I do not want…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard Presbytery Leader choward@glpby.org Participating in worship during COVID-19 has been a different experience than most of us are used to. Many congregations are doing online worship either live with Zoom or Facebook live, or recording worship and presenting it on various online platforms. When our shelter in place began in early March,…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard Presbytery Leader choward@glpby.org In a meeting with rural pastors yesterday, I learned something new. It’s called floating. Apparently, this is when a person gets in a canoe, raft, or other floatable device and floats down a river. Being raised near lake Michigan, I have a difficult time imagining groups of people just…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard Presbytery Leader choward@glpby.org Racism does not shelter in place. It does not work from home, but continues to dissect and disintegrate values and life in America. COVID-19 has revealed the contours of America’s structural racism. Like a pencil rubbing a nickel under a sheet of paper, this pandemic is bringing out details…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard Presbytery Leader choward@glpby.org Each week several of you join me and the staff at noon for a Zoom lunch meeting. We meet with different groups of people in our presbytery: rural pastors, new pastors, youth and Christian educators, transitional pastors, and clerks of session. Sometimes, we have lunch with all pastors! These…