assistance

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: Andover Tornado Help

On Friday, April 29, 2022, a tornado hit Andover, Kansas. The next Monday I reached out to the Presbytery of Southern Kansas to see how, or if, the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) might help.  In the last decade our congregation has given physical supplies and financial gifts to the PDA.  We’ve packed buckets and hygiene bags and given to the One Great Hour of Sharing offering.

I learned that for PDA to have actual “boots on the ground” we needed to have a PDA infrastructure of local presbytery volunteers already in place.  We did not have that, but fortunately other faith groups and non-profits did, and they jumped in with clean-up help.

The good news is that our presbytery applied for a grant from PDA, and we received $7500 that went to the United Way of the Plains to help people get back in homes.  While many people had insurance, some were under-insured, and there were uninsured or under-insured renters who lost everything, and the United Way is working with all of them.

We are grateful that through our connectional church we could help facilitate this gift.

-Catherine NB

Prayer: A Class, A Conversation, An Experience

prayer

What is prayer? Why do we do it? How do we do it?

These are questions that pastors hear from time to time. If you’ve ever asked any of them, consider coming to a two-week class led by Pastor Catherine Neelly Burton. The class meets on Tuesdays, July 26 and August 2 at 6:30 pm in the Grace chapel.  Together we read prayers, talk about prayer, raise our questions about prayer, and we pray.

What Does the Church Have to Say About Race? Confession of Belhar Study

Some described the summer of 2020 as a summer of racial reckoning, others as a summer of racial unrest.  As individuals, as a church, and as a society we learned the names George Floyd and Brianna Taylor.  We saw protests nationally and right here in Wichita.  Members of our congregation committed to reading articles and books and watching movies related to race.  We gathered and discussed.  Corporately we have not talked much since then.

Yes, our book club has read and discussed books related to race and religion.  Individuals in our congregation have certainly done this.  This summer the Christian Discipleship Team invites you to a study of the Belhar Confession.

At first glance, a study of one of the confessions in the Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA) Book of Confessions may not sound like it has anything to do with race, but it does.  The Belhar Confession comes from the Uniting Reformed Church of South Africa.  It was written in the early 1980’s as a statement of faith and as a form of protest against the sin of apartheid.

We studied this confession after the PCUSA approved it and added it to our Book of Confessions in 2016.  This summer we do the same study but through the lens of what has happened in the United States since then.  Does the witness of the Uniting Reformed Church of South Africa have a word for us today?

The study takes place on Sunday mornings at 10 am in the Parlor.

The dates are:

  • July 17
  • July 24
  • August 7
  • August 14
  • August 21
  • August 28

There is a book for the class, and the cost is $5.  Books are available on Sunday mornings or in the church office.  If you can’t come to all of the classes, that’s okay.

Questions?  Contact catherine@mygpc.org.

 

Ecumenical Lord’s Prayer

Ecumenical Lord’s Prayer

During the month of June we use the Ecumenical Lord’s Prayer translation in worship.  Like many of you, I (Pastor Catherine), love the Lord’s Prayer that we say each week in worship. It is in my bones. I am not trying to take this away from us, and we return to it in July.

The reason for using the Ecumenical version in June is to remind ourselves of the expanse of God’s church. We begin June with Pentecost Sunday when the Holy Spirit is poured out and the church of Christ begins to take shape. In celebration of the ways the church takes shape in the world, we use this translation this month.