Dear Ones! We have just finished an amazing meeting of the Synod of Living Waters in Franklin, Tennessee, complete with 22 Commissioners, 26 Corresponding members, and 7 visitors. We began with worship, led. By Rev. Wayne Steele, Mr. Doug Marshall, Mr. Michael Snoddy, and Rev. Dr. Victor Aloyo, President of Columbia Theological Seminary. After two …
Elder Carol Copeland, Synod Moderator Carol Raby Copeland was born in Athens, Alabama where she now resides with her husband of 60 years, Steve. She is the mother of one son Matthew and Gigi to two grandsons. Her hobbies include cooking, flower arranging, boating on Elk River, reading and listening to Americana music. Upon graduating …
Rev. Ann Laird Jones Soon we will move to a new season, as the liturgical year comes to an end and begins anew. Advent: a liminal season of waiting, watching, wondering, hoping. How do we imagine finding new words to express what we believe?! What about discovering new words to express who we are, …
“Be always kind and true” I have been working at Montreat Conference Center, a gathering place for Presbyterians, for most of my life. In the 7th-8th grade era I made coffee for conferences my father directed at the Board of National Ministries for the former PCUS. In college I worked on the auditorium crew, setting …
Rev. Ann Laird Jones, Synod Moderator Dear friends! We are quickly approaching the beginning whispers of General Assembly 226, which meets June 25-July 4 in Salt Lake City. These beginning whispers that GA is coming bring me the same glee and joy I feel when I see spring’s newness, summer’s fullness, autumn’s richness, winter’s wisdom. …
By Ann Laird Jones Our Synod may be made up of 12 different Presbyteries, myriad of regions, 4 states, all kinds of accents, customs and people, but on January 22 we were of one accord: iced in! Carefully made plans for the Synod meeting, including worship got stuck in the snow. Hours before the start …
By Rev. Ann Laird Jones Like all good celestial collision paths, Christmas Eve 2023 brings the incarnational arc as close together as imaginably possible. In the morning on December 24 we wake up to Advent 4. By afternoon we are zooming towards Christmas Eve. Purple paraments yield to white. The now-complete circular Advent wreath …
