Witness, Share and Evangelize: Minute for Mission: Giving Tuesday

Witness, Share and Evangelize: Minute for Mission: Giving Tuesday: November 30, 2021 Photo provided. Giving Tuesday allows us to celebrate what makes us proud to be Presbyterian. What does Presbyterian pride...

Justice comes for Ahmaud Arbery

Stated Clerk praises jury’s decision to convict

November 29, 2021

Mural of Ahmaud Arbery painted on the future site of the African American
Cultural Center in Brunswick, Georgia.  —Photo by Bubba73 licensed under
the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 Intl. License

We have seen this scenario play out over and over again. Armed white men taking the law into their own hands, shooting and killing an unarmed Black man. But now, we have a glimmer of hope. For Ahmaud Arbery, justice has come. Three men, a father, son and neighbor, stand convicted of murder, gunning Arbery down as he was jogging in a Georgia community.

For Arbery’s family, this is a victory, but we are far from the finish line. The court systems across this country are chock-full of cases just like this. Too often, people with a fascination for guns become judge, jury and executioner.

If we are to truly change the course of gun violence and racism in this country, we must change our way of thinking. Cities have become powder kegs for violence, motivated by an insatiable need to control. We must do better. We have to do better.

This is a wake-up call, church. God is calling us to stand firm on the injustices that face our families,  particularly people of color. We must step out of our pews and sanctuaries and go out into our neighborhoods and communities. The only way many will ever know of God’s love for them is if we show them. Let’s be the church. Only then will people see hope in the midst of despair, life instead of death, joy instead of hopelessness.

We are God’s Creation, all of us, not just a select few. If we choose to keep our heads in the sand, then what happened to Ahmaud Arbery will happen again.

Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II
Stated Clerk of the General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Witness, Share and Evangelize: Today in the Mission Yearbook - Baltimore church embraces the Matthew 25 vision

Witness, Share and Evangelize: Today in the Mission Yearbook - Baltimore church embraces the Matthew 25 vision: Knox Presbyterian Church uses varied programs to serve its neighbors November 29, 2021 Knox Presbyterian Church ruling elders Loretta Parris...

Change.org - Draining the Sacramento River

A new proposal in California will be draining areas of the Sacramento River and diverting them to a private reservoir. The proposal does not include protections for the Sacramento River salmon nor for the Tribes and fishermen that depend on them. To make matters worse, around 45% of California salmon are facing extinction. The group, Save California Salmon, started this petition hoping you can help save the river water for the animals and people of the area. Sign if you’re on their side. Stop Sites: Don’t Drain NorCal Rivers for A Private Reservoir 8,398 have signed Save California Salmon !’s petition. Let’s get to 10,000!

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Help us oppose the proposed 13,200 acres reservoir off of the Sacramento River. The new Sites Reservoir in Northern California would be the size of Manhattan could store up to 1.5 million acre feet of water, making it almost half the size of Shasta Reservoir. The reservoir would be owned by the private entity the Sites Project Authority, which is made up mainly of State Water Project (SWP) water contractors and irrigation districts. The authority is already offering new water rights in watersheds where five times more water is allocated than exists to powerful water districts, such as the Metropolitan Water District. A previously filed water rights application for the Sites project asked for 3 million acre feet of water a year.  MWF has stated it’s reluctant to invest in Sites if it can’t be assured it will be able to pull its water out of the reservoir when it wants to. This has lead many to believe the reservoirs would be used to fill Governor Brown’s twin tunnels.  The proposal includes inundating four creeks and adding new diversion pumps from the Sacramento River  in Red Bluff. It does not include protections for the Trinity River or Upper Sacramento River salmon, or for the Tribes and fishermen that depend on them despite the fact it will lower flows and impact water quality some years. Water rights held by Tribes and counties, and flows to advert fish kills in the Klamath River, are currently not protected in the Sites proposal. In theory these dams are supposed to mainly divert and store “surplus” water in winter and summer months, but they would also increase diversions and warm river temperatures in other times of the year. In truth, there is no “extra” water in this part of California, where up to 75% of the salmon habitat has been blocked by dams. Fisheries science has now proven that high flows during winter and spring are needed if salmon are to survive in California. High flows have many benefits. Flushing flows in high water years inundate floodplains, help out migrating salmon, scour out sediments and algae, move spawning gravel, and reduce fish diseases, all of which greatly increase salmon numbers. In fact, new flow science coupled with extremely low salmon returns has led the state water board to create plans to restore winter and spring flows in the Sacramento River. In the Klamath watershed, the Trinity Management Council, which the Hoopa Valley and Yurok Tribes are members of, is recommending higher winter flows in the Trinity River and a recent lawsuit has forced higher spring flows in the Klamath River to combat the C. Shasta fish disease, which killed the majority of juvenile salmon in recent years. Steps have also been taken to use Trinity River reservoir water for fall cold water releases to prevent large scale adult fish kills in the Klamath River during droughts. Restoring flows are needed to bring back salmon. The Sites Proposal threatens all of these actions, and it could not come at a worse time. A recent report from U.C.  Davis shows that over 45% of California salmon are facing extinction. Furthermore, the Klamath River is facing the worst salmon returns in history and wild Spring Chinook returns in the Klamath, Trinity and Sacramento Rivers last year numbered in the hundreds.

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Change.org - Free Billy the elephant

The LA Zoo has held Billy the elephant in poor conditions for 32 years, and thousands of signers want him free. Experts say his enclosure is too small, and the ground so hard that he will develop foot and leg abscesses. He lives in solitary confinement, and has displayed signs of severe mental illness – yet the zoo has taken no action. Sign to demand that the city council pressure the zoo to do the right thing and release Billy. Help us Free Billy, a bull elephant, who has been suffering in L​.​A. Zoo for 32 years! 12,525 have signed Ecoflix Foundation’s petition. Let’s get to 15,000!

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This petition is submitted to address the decades-long intentional and dishonest  mistreatment of Billy, a bull elephant who has been suffering beyond any human comparisons in the Los Angeles Zoo for the past 32 years.    TO START TO LEARN THE TRUTH, WATCH THE "FREE BILLY" TRAILER EXCLUSIVELY ON ECOFLIX.COM! https://watch.ecoflix.com/videos/free-billy Fully aware of his suffering and the much more humane alternatives which have long been available, the City Council and its Zoo systematically lies to the public and likely to themselves.  Imagine a human prisoner, locked in solitary confinement for over 32 years.  No court in the world would find that to be permissible treatment.  It is pure torture.  Then add the fact that this prisoner would have to be barefoot and stand on concrete, with no appropriate place to sit down.  Finally, add the requirement that this poor prisoner would have to perform tricks at the pleasure of the guards and would not be permitted any visitors or human company of any kind.  Is this inhumane treatment?  Without question!  It is no less inhumane for elephants, which are arguably more social than people, living in matriarchal families for almost all of their lives.  Yet, this has been the life of Billy for most of his 32 years here.  He was always the lone bull elephant, and only recently has he  even been allowed to touch another elephant at the Los Angeles Zoo.  Even so, not enough members of the Los Angeles City Council are willing to do a damn thing about it! But, in truth, the problems only start there. The Council claims it does not know the truth, willingly accepting Zoo officials’ lies, without digging any deeper to find the truth. They clearly pretend they do not have it, but the truth is: they do not care  about the truth!  Elephants don’t vote…and so long as they keep the truth from the people who do, they win, Billy loses.  The fact is that world class experts have flown to L.A., studied this Zoo, examined their elephants, and told them they are suffering because their zoo it is not fit for elephants.  But, the Council ignores the truth and allows the Zoo officials to lie to them.  Telling the Council that all of their elephants were healthy and well, they convinced them to pay $42 million dollars to “improve the elephant exhibit.” In so doing, the Zoo managed to lull the Council into ignoring the truth provided to them by independent, world renown elephant experts.   And so, mere days after giving the Zoo what it wanted, the truth was exposed.  The very elephant they assured the Council was healthy and well, died of a years-long battle with foot and legs abscesses and problems caused by the same horrific conditions which remain to this day.  As established by the trial record, the same terrible conditions remain to this day. The City Council seems to accept the Zoo officials’ lies because it pleases the people who provide them with political support.  Voters and donors apparently matter to them much more than the horrific, growing list of dead elephants in the L.A. Zoo, who do not complain and who cannot donate or vote. The City Council has a duty of care that requires far more than simply finding ways to sell tickets.  The charade they have created at the Zoo is plainly designed to justify, not redress the many years of neglect and suffering of their elephants.  Decades ago perhaps they could have been forgiven for their misguided actions towards Billy and other elephants who have already died in their care.  However, given what they now know about his daily suffering, including severe physical pain, growing emotional anxiety and decades of extreme isolation, there can no longer be any excuse for their inaction. With your help, Billy could be freed and allowed to go to a sanctuary, where he belongs.  With your help we can secure a better future for him.  He was born free.  That was stolen from him.  Now, the best we can do for him is to break him out of jail and help him live out his life in the peace of a qualified sanctuary, with other elephants.  He deserve to live in a place that will heal, not harm him. Almost all of the evidence about Billy’s suffering and the denial of this Zoo has been exposed in a new documentary, "Free Billy", now available on Ecoflix, the first nonprofit streaming video service for animals and the planet.  (www.ecoflix.com)  It chronicles his life of suffering in a facility that forces him to walk on a pathway which is quickly compacted by his weight, transforming it into the same hardness as concrete.  This was measured and proven by experts, under oath, in a courtroom in Los Angeles.  Billy is also tempted daily by grass and trees near the pathway he walks along. He cannot leave that pathway to browse on this greenery because all of these areas are hot wired to shock him if he gives in to his natural urge to act like an elephant.  Why?  The Zoo says that allowing him to eat the nearby vegetation, as he would do in the wild, would harm the aesthetics for visitors to the Zoo.  So, he must live between the buzzing of hot wires all around his pen, remaining on the compacted hard ground day in and day out.  Plus, he is regularly forced to perform tricks which he was taught through the use of unbelievably cruel methods. He knows all too well what the Zoo officials would do to him if he refused to perform on command.  So, day in and day out, he complies. All of these facts were proven in trial, and have now been documented publicly in “Free Billy” for the first time! Without action now, Billy will surely die in the Los Angeles Zoo like 17 other elephants before him.  You can help us save him.  How?  What can we do? First, we can all sign this petition and let the Los Angeles Zoo know that the world is watching and demanding humane action!  Free Billy to a sanctuary, now!  We must make it clear to the City Council and its Zoo that we are no longer in the dark.  We are no longer unaware of the life-threatening problems they have been concealing. They can no longer bury the truth.   The facts have now been publicly exposed in "Free Billy", including the official findings of the trial judge who concluded that virtually all of the Zoo representations about its excellent treatment of Billy and other elephants were plainly false. Without moving Billy to a sanctuary, and very soon, he will suffer more foot and leg problems, which are the most common cause of captive elephant deaths. The space provided for Billy and other elephants is not just grossly inadequate by comparison to the hundreds of miles they roam in the wild, it is far too small for their very survival!  The ground inside his tiny pens is rapidly compacted.  Foot and leg injuries associated with standing on hard ground are the predominant cause of captive elephant deaths worldwide. But truly, there is hope.  Two excellent sanctuaries are willing to provide a home for Billy.  One is PAWS, a well-known sanctuary in northern California, and the other is the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary (CWS).  CWS recently provided an amazing jungle home for Kaavan, another captive bull elephant, recently rescued and transported there from the Islamabad Zoo.  Kaavan is now blissfully enjoying his jungle home in Cambodia, with foliage very similar to nearby Sri Lanka where he was born. Meanwhile, Billy continues to suffer. He has long exhibited severe mental illness, routinely brought on by the isolation elephants routinely suffer in zoo and circus environments. Fortunately, Kaavan has now proven that transformational healing can and will occur if an elephant like Billy is provided with an adequate and enriching environment.  He and Billy are both from Southeast Asia.  Billy was born in Malaysia, and they are almost the exact same age.  Two bull elephants sharing a large jungle sanctuary would be a remarkably positive outcome for both of them. It is past time to let the Los Angeles Zoo and the Los Angeles City Council hear from all of us!  They need to understand that it is long past the time they should have released Billy. He has paid an unbelievable price for the crime of being captured as a four year old...essentially the same maturity as a four year old human baby..  It is time he is allowed to leave this L.A. jail facility.  Let him become an elephant again.  For everyone who is interested and willing to help, please sign this petition and let the Zoo officials hear your voice!  At the same time, please also let the City Council know how you feel about their willful indifference and ongoing dishonesty. If you go to www.ecoflix.com you will find an entire page of contact information for the relevant City and Council officials.  Make sure that they hear your voice and your earnest desire to convince them to free Billy now! Let us all raise our voices together.  Collectively we can be the change we want to see!  Billy needs us! This is likely his last chance for freedom.  Please help us help him! Billy deserves freedom!  Your support in signing this petition and sending emails to the City Council can be his magic ticket to freedom. Please do it now.  Help us Free Billy!

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At Change.org, we believe in the voice of everyday people. Is there something that you want to change? Start a petition today

We're asking for your support; here's why

During the coming month, we will be asking for your support. Here’s why we hope you’ll contribute:

These past several years, governments, along with the fossil fuel and other extractive industries, have steered the world toward a climate disaster - backed by the world’s asset managers and banks. These institutions are the cause of the emergency that hurts every person on the planet. Because of them, we are way, way behind in our collective response.

GreenFaith is unequivocal and resolute in organizing against these deadly forces.

We are grassroots and multi-faith. Because we are values-based, we stand for climate justice, which means that we are committed to prioritizing the rights and needs of the most vulnerable - but not voiceless - in the climate struggle.  

Most importantly, we truly embrace what our faiths teach us about protecting people and planet. This sometimes pits members of our grassroots community against the world’s most powerful institutions. I deeply admire their courage in standing up for what is right.  

Our work is rapidly, exponentially expanding.

In the past year alone, with our allies, we organized two global mobilizations with over 1,000 actions in 45 countries. Our hard-working team of organizers collaborates with local faith-based groups in North and Latin America, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Strongly rooted in our values and direct in our approach, we’re seeing a huge upsurge in opportunities for impact - a chance for justice to prevail.

Your financial support will unlock that impact.

Many of you have given in the past. In the next month, we’ll ask you to give again, as generously as you can.

For some of you, we’ll invite you to offer your financial support for the first time.

Together with you, GreenFaith is a powerful grassroots, multi-faith response to the climate crisis.

Thank you for being part of our community.

I hope you will support our work in the weeks to come.

In faith,

Rev. Fletcher Harper
Executive Director

WCC NEWS: Church of Sweden publicly apologises for abuse of Sámi people

During a special service concluding the Church of Sweden’s General Synod on 24 November, Archbishop Antje Jackelén made an official apology from the Church of Sweden to the Sámi for historical abuse. Church of Sweden Archbishop Antje Jackelén kneels before a group of Sámi representatives during a special service on 24 November in Uppsala Cathedral. Photo: Magnus Aronson/Ikon 26 November 2021 The service took place in Uppsala Cathedral in the presence of the General Synod, representatives of the Sámi and Swedish society, and international witnesses. Non-Sámi and Sámi People, as well as Lutheran church leaders from neighboring Nordic countries, encircled a flame at the front of the Cathedral as Jackelén referenced the Gospel story in Luke of the woman who suffered a crooked back for eighteen years. “As archbishop of the Church of Sweden, I stand before you, the Sámi, and confess that we have not engaged with you at eye level. We have been curved inward on ourselves, we have not stood up to racism and abuse of power. Our backs are bent by the guilt we carry. We have placed unjust burdens on you. We have burdened your ancestors with shame and pain that has been inherited by new generations.” Jackelén continued, “We cannot undo what has been done. But we can feel remorse for our part in Sweden’s colonial history. We can feel remorse for our inability and unwillingness to accept the truth and meet you at eye level.” The Sámi shared personal accounts of mistreatment, the colonialization of Sámi land and horrific boarding school experiences inflicted on the Sámi People. “The testimonies we have heard today confirm our church’s complicity in the abuse of the Sámi,” said Archbishop Jackelén. “The wounds, the pain, the shame, the self-loathing, the anger and the difficult memories are real. When we failed the Sámi people, we also failed our Creator. We have not been faithful in our discipleship. We have not been responsive to the presence of the Holy Spirit in Creation.” Warning that the church must not repeat the errors of the past, Jackelén urged, “While we wait, we pray to God and ask you that we may increasingly meet each other at eye level. That we do not repeat past mistakes. That we all let ourselves be touched by Jesus, who gets down on his knees to straighten those who stoop. Both those of us who bear the burdens of the victims and those of us who bear the burdens of wrongs committed in the name of the Church. Those of us who bear the perpetrators’ burdens of guilt and those of us who bear the victims’ burdens of suffering. So that we can recognize Christ in each other.” Gathered in Uppsala Cathedral for the service. Photo: Magnus Aronson/Ikon Members of the Sámi community attending the service described the event as the beginning of a long journey. "My hope and belief is that this apology will lead to a change," said Ingrid Inga, chair of the Sámi Council of the Church of Sweden. “I feel very humble to be part of this apology, and that it isn't just empty words from the Church. It comes with commitments and a ten-year process where they will be realized." In June 2021, the Central Board of the Church of Sweden decided that an official apology would be made to the Sámi. As part of the reconciliation process, work is also underway on eight commitments, and objectives for the Church of Sweden’s work on the process over the next ten years. A second public apology is planned during the Sámi church conference in Luleå in October 2022. Watch the full service from Uppsala Cathedral Archbishop Antje Jackelén has been engaged in work with the WCC for many years, and in 2018, she awarded the Plaque of Saint Eric by Church of Sweden to WCC central committee moderator Dr Agnes Abuom. Photo: Albin Hillert/WCC See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland

Change.org - Protecting babies

Parents all over the country depend on the Owlet Smart Sock to protect and monitor their fragile newborns, but the FDA just took it off the market. They say the tool is a ‘medical device’ and not a monitor. Caitlin credits the Smart Sock for saving her one-year-old daughter’s life. She started a petition pleading with the FDA to keep this on the market. Add your name if you believe the FDA should prioritize infant safety. Fight the FDA-Keep the Owlet Smart Sock on the market. Use your voice! 66,755 have signed Caitlin Needham’s petition. Let’s get to 75,000!

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The Owlet Smart Sock is a monitoring device for babies so that parents can track their heart rate and oxygen saturation while they sleep. Millions of babies die suddenly due to illness and disease, while all of those deaths cannot be prevented, this device is a way to keep an eye on your babies vitals during those early newborn days when they’re so fragile. Keeping this product on the market would ensure peace of mind for millions of parents and quite literally save lives by alerting parents to an issue before it’s too late. The FDA has come after the Owlet company and forced them to stop sales of the Smart Sock in the United States. I am one mom who’s life has been greatly impacted by this product. When my one year old was a newborn I fell asleep on my side nursing her one night as countless other mothers have. Thankfully she was wearing her Smart Sock. It went off alerting me to a problem and when I woke up she was pressed up against my side and under my breast. I can’t say for sure what would have happened had the monitor not gone off but I’m thankful it did. This is a product that has given peace of mind to millions of parents. There are other products and substances on the market the FDA could be targeting rather than a baby monitor that’s sole job is to provide peace of mind and help us keep an eye on our little ones. There are also other products on the market with these same capabilities. Please use you voice to help the FDA hear from the parents they’re actually affecting.

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