A Message from Mark The Church and Its Social Impact Mark McCormick, General Presbyter In a recent essay in the Presbyterian Outlook entitled, “Church, country and the crisis of moral imagination,” Jennifer Butler argues that mainline Protestants have an important role to
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A Message from Mark Of General Assembly, Glad Ministry, and God’s Faithfulness Mark McCormick, General Presbyter The past two weeks have been an exciting and grueling time for the commissioners who were sent to the 227th General Assembly of the Presbyterian
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A Message from Mark  May 12, 2026 Hopefully Mark McCormick, General Presbyter   What comes to mind when I mention HOPE? Some might have noticed that I have been ending my email communications with “Hopefully,”. I have been thinking about
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A Message from Mark  4/13/26 Is This Real Life? Mark McCormick, General Presbyter   The question has been asked so many times in wildly various scenarios. “Are you for real?” There was a well-known video of a little boy in
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Ponderings of the General Presbyter of the Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley Sue Westfall March 30, 2026   Blessings in this most Holy of Weeks as we observe Jesus’ last week of life and his redemptive death before his glorious
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November 4, 2025     “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1   If you were to come to my apartment at
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October 6, 2025     “Generosity is not what God wants from us. It is what God wants for us.”   Yesterday, we joined the global church in celebrating worldwide communion. I love the communion tables on this day resplendent,
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September 8, 2025 I was invited to attend a Summit last week in Minneapolis entitled “Faithful Futures: Guiding AI with Wisdom and Witness.” The Summit was an ecumenical collaboration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal
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July 14, 2025 Sue Westfall   Yesterday, the Common Lectionary served up as the gospel lesson, Luke 10:25-27. The parable of the Good Samaritan. Many of the preachers in this presbytery preached powerfully on this passage lifting up the pivotal
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May 20, 2025   Christ is Risen. Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! Greetings and blessings in this Eastertide. We see signs of resurrection life such as at our presbytery assembly last week when we experienced the extravagant hospitality of our
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April 21, 2025   Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! The Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ with glorious music, stirring sermons, Easter egg hunts, and the ancient tale of that first Easter
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March 25, 2025   When Jesus drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” (Luke 19:41ff) I am writing in the third week of
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December 2, 2024 With the lighting of a single candle yesterday, churches all across the presbytery ushered in the season of Advent – a season of hope, faith, joy, and love. My prayers for a meaningful season for all who
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Nov 4, 2024   Tomorrow, November 5, 2024 is a momentous day for our nation and the world as we the people elect a new president and congress. I don’t know a person who is not ready for this campaign cycle
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October 7, 2024  I would put the pastors (including our Commissioned Pastors) in this presbytery up against any group of clergy in any presbytery anywhere in this country. The Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley is blessed to have outstanding pastors
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September 9, 2024     Greeting, friends,   Are you registered to vote? Do you have a voting plan?   The summer is over, both Political Conventions have taken place (with a surprise twist for the Democrats) and we are
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August 12, 2024     Greetings Friends,   For my Pondering this week I thought I would share with the whole Presbytery my report for our meeting on Thursday at Mountain Brook Presbyterian Church. I am interested in your thoughts.
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July16, 2024 Thank you to all the commissioners and ministers who attended the specially called meeting (via zoom) of the presbytery last Friday. We had well over a quorum to conduct the business at hand. The business was to authorize
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