A Weekly Witness: Thoughts on Ministry, Justice, and Life Together from your Presbytery Leader “We incubate what we celebrate” I will never forget these words spoken at the 221st General Assembly in Detroit, where I sat as a commissioner in 2014. These words remind me just how important celebration is in our lives of faith. Take a look at…
A Weekly Witness: Thoughts on Ministry, Justice, and Life Together from your Presbytery Leader Like you, I am saddened and crushed by the start of the school year beginning with a mass shooting. The late Presbyterian activist and pastor James E. Atwood first introduced me to the image of rising gun violence being like a flood that rises…
A Weekly Witness: Thoughts on Ministry, Justice, and Life Together from your Presbytery Leader I am going to take an opportunity to let you in on a little secret that very few church people will say out loud: I love meetings. Yup. I said it. (Please don’t groan! Wait, don’t go anywhere, stay with me! Don’t close your friendly reading…
I love that our presbytery makes space for education hour. This last Thursday at our presbytery gathering in Washington, we were blessed to have Rev. Dr. Aaron Stauffer, Associate Director of the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, lead our education hour. During his presentation, he posed a wonderful challenge to our ministry communities…
Reentry can be a jarring feeling that most pastors feel when we return to our offices after times of leave. No matter whether it is vacation or other forms of leave, there is a weary anxious energy over the wonderings of “what did I miss while I was gone?” It can be very hard to “stop thinking about work” even…
On May 3rd, the presbytery approved 12 weeks of medical and family leave for our presbytery leader to have an intentional time of recovery. The following was posted on Ryan Landino’s personal Facebook page on July 17th, as Ryan’s leave was coming to an end. The following is shared to catch everyone up on those reflections! “Hi friends. First, I…
“The Presbytery as part of the Body of Jesus Christ understands itself as a Christian community seeking a balance of worship, business, education, fellowship, and service.” – 1.4a Manual of Operations The Gathering Planning Team is gearing up for our August 22nd Presbytery Gathering at First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood, and we are extremely excited for an inspiring day…
Every once and a while Presbytery Leader Ryan Landino will share reflections inspired by partnership and accompaniment with the ministries of the presbytery and what we are all experiencing in the news. May we feed each other hope, joy, and inspiration! I have always had an interest in film—I love the choices filmmakers, directors, and editors make in order…
Hello friends! At our last presbytery it was announced that our next presbytery gathering was going to be hosted at a location called the Delmar DivINe, which was met with an understandable chorus of “huh, what’s that?” After we got everyone’s attention so dramatically, unfortunately, our reservation at the Delmar DivINe location for our April 13th presbytery Gathering was double…
It was such a thoughtful gift! A 12-inch candy cane, root beer flavored, from a colleague who owns a candy shop. The problem I had was where do I keep it until I get home and put it safely on my Christmas tree. (Spoiler alert: do not keep it in your car in below freezing temperatures.) It happened in slow…