Blog Post by Rev. Cedric A. Portis Third Presbyterian Church – St. Louis Member of Presbytery Vision Team The overall health of a community is found in its schools, hospitals and churches which provide its mental, physical and spiritual care. One organization that is the connecting tissue between the three is the church. The church is considered a vital…
Blog Post by Rev. Dr. Kerry Allison Pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Ferguson It is said that Sir Paul MaCartney, bass guitarist and singer for the Beatles, was going through an extremely difficult time in the 1960’s. The Beatles were on the verge of breaking up. He was agitated, “living hard and playing hard,” as he put it. One-night…
Blog Post by Rev. Kathleen Henrion Interim Pastor at John Calvin Presbyterian Church, Bridgeton, MO Member of Gathering Planning Team and Presbytery Technology Consultant “Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?” These words sung by legendary Presbyterian Pastor Fred Rogers at the beginning of each episode of Mister Rogers Neighborhood welcome us into a…
Good people, A recent Post-Dispatch article (found here) is a sobering reminder of the depth and breadth of hunger and financial need in the St Louis area. I encourage you to read it together with the photos and captions that let us glimpse the lives of some of our neighbors whom the food pantries serve. Early in the pandemic, I…
Blog Post by Rev. Bill Perman Pastor of First Presbyterian, St. Louis (University City) Member of Commission on Ministry Last weekend my wife Deb and I were driving home from Chicago and we decided to listen to a Christianity Today podcast called The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. (https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/rise-and-fall-of-mars-hill/). Mars Hill was a megachurch founded in Seattle in 1996…
Guest blog post by Ruling Elder, Mike Willock Member of Second Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Missouri Every now and then a passage of Scripture springs opens in a new way – revealing something that was always there but was somehow hidden from view. That happened to me as I read the March 18 devotion from Luther Seminary. The passage was…
Guest blog post by Rev. Ellie Stock, Honorably Retired On this day, we Christians find ourselves in the second week of Lent, the liturgical season, remembering Jesus’ journey to the Cross and reminding us of our own calling to be followers of the Jesus Way, even to the Cross—the Way of giving one’s self intentionally, radically, fully, and unconditionally. Today…
Guest blog post by Rev. Dr. Bill Smutz, Interim Pastor First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood What to write? What to write?? My Presbytery colleagues are a discerning audience, so I want my words to be worthwhile, even meaningful. We’re almost a week deep into Lent, which is certainly a worthy topic. Following Jesus and an inner examination of faithfulness are…
Blog Post by Commissioned Pastor, Donna Schiro Trinity Chapel Presbyterian Church, Cuba, Missouri Walking into my daughter’s kitchen last week, I couldn’t help but notice the jigsaw puzzle splayed over the island top. I thought to myself, “This must be what God’s world is like.” God the master puzzle builder, working the tiny odd-shaped puzzle pieces of our lives into…
Blog Post by Rev. Vicky Michaels Grace Presbyterian Church Crystal City, Missouri Psalm 42 – The New Living Translation For the choir director: A psalm[a] of the descendants of Korah. 1 As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God. 2 I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand…