Today, as a community and a church, we turn to God, coming together in our grief as we mourn the passage of a national leader and son of Baltimore, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings. Our hearts cry out in sorrow at the loss of this faithful servant, friend, and champion of justice. We...
Nineteen members from the Baltimore-Washington Conference began an immersion experience for a long weekend on Oct. 11 with instructions from the poet Ranier Maria Rilke: “Live the questions and your experience will become the answer.”
The border wall runs through Friendship Park in San Diego, California. Armed guards watch as families enter the space between two fences. On the other side of the fence, barely visible, is Tijuana, Mexico. The families come on weekends, to steal a few minutes, talking to loved ones through the...
At Christ Ministry Center in San Diego, they know that “anxiety is the opposite of faith.” In 2011, Christ UMC closed its doors and the Rev. Bill Jenkins re-opened the facility as a Ministry Center. The center houses a vast array of ministries and congregations, but at its heart is...
Every Sunday, as members of the bi-national Border Church worship together, a microphone allows voices and songs to be shared as prayers are raised from both sides of the border.
Working with migrants has taught Bishop Felipe Ruiz Aguilar humility. It’s also taught him things he never wanted to know. For example, he said, Mexican mothers putting their teenage daughters on “The Beast,” a train that will take them through Mexico to the US border. The...
Immigration policies stir up people's opinions and for many have become an issue of faith. Recently, Emma Escobar, the BWC's coordinator of Latino Ministries, led a group of United Methodists on a Border Immersion experience. Melissa Lauber sends postcards home to the people of the...
Opening worship at the 2019 Leadership Institute at the Church of the Resurrection near Kansas City featured a full orchestra and mass choir. Photo by Erik Alsgaard. The stained-glass window in the new sanctuary at the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, is massive. At 35-feet high...
A weapon is described as an instrument of offensive or defensive combat; something to fight with; a means of contending against another. Further, it is described as an implement that can be used with intent to inflict damage or harm.
