One half of the draft report being written by the Special Committee on Per-Capita Based Funding & National Church Financial Sustainability will be put to the vote this week, with the report’s second half, on the future of per capita funding, expected next month.

Filmmaker, pastor and presbytery executive the Rev. Ryan Landino closes his most recent “Pastor Ryan’s Sixty Second Sermons” video, which he calls “It’s a Wonderful Church,” with a variation on the capper to a certain Jimmy Stewart holiday film standard: “Teacher says every time a church pays its per capita, an angel gets their wings.”

Existen innumerables citas, consejos y esloganes relacionados con escuchar y conocer la historia de otras personas. La que más está presente en mi cabeza es la cita de la novela Matar un ruiseñor de Harper Lee. En esta historia, el sabio abogado defensor y padre, Atticus Finch, ayuda a su hija Scout a navegar el nuevo año escolar. Atticus le dice a Scout «Uno no entiende a los demás hasta que no considera las cosas desde su punto de vista; hasta que no se mete bajo su piel y camina con ella por la vida». El padre de Scout estaba ayudándola a entender las historias de otras personas: un concepto que ella no entendía hasta mucho más adelante en el libro.

다른 사람의 이야기를 듣고 이해하는 것과 관련된 수많은 인용문, 조언, 어구가 있습니다. 제가 기억하는 것은 Harper Lee의 소설인 To Kill A Mockingbird의 대사입니다.  이 이야기에서, 지혜로운 변호사이자 아버지인 Atticus Finch는 어린 딸 Scout가 새 학년도에 적응하조록 돕고 있습니다. 아티커스는 스카우트에게 “ 너는 그의 관점에서 사물을 고려할 때…  상대방의 옷을 입고 걸어 볼 때까지 결코 그 사람을 이해하지 못한단다” 라고 말합니다. 스카우트의 아빠는 그녀가 다른 사람들의 이야기를 이해하도록 돕고 있었습니다. 그것은 그 책의 후반부까지 그녀가 이해하지 못하는 개념이었습니다.

There are innumerable quotes, pieces of advice, and catch phrases related to hearing and knowing someone else’s story. The one that sticks in my brain is the line from Harper Lee’s novel, "To Kill A Mockingbird." In this story, sage defense attorney and father, Atticus Finch, is trying to help his young daughter Scout navigate a new school year. Atticus says to Scout, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb in his skin and walk around in it.” Scout’s dad was helping her understand the stories of others — a concept that she didn’t grasp until much later in the book.

When I was a child in East Germany in the 1950s, oranges were hard to get. This was still the case when we had our own young children in the 1970s and 1980s. But in all those years one of the special things about Christmas was that we were able to buy oranges! We labeled them “Christmas quota oranges” and they came from Cuba. We rather loved them for their juicy sweetness even though they had a leathery surface and chewy flesh inside. And we learned later those oranges were originally a variety not meant for eating, but for juice production.

I got off the train after a four-hour ride along the Pacific Ocean and headed to the exit to be met by a pastor from Bunun Presbytery, an aboriginal presbytery on Taiwan’s east coast. I was on my way to lead the fourth pastors retreat in three weeks.

Jonesville First Presbyterian Church has always prided itself (and still does) as being a congregation of warm and welcoming Christian worshipers. The church, which has 120 members and an annual budget of slightly over $150,000, has always welcomed strangers with enthusiasm.

Like a lot of people, I look forward to Christmas. It is one of the most meaningful times of the year. But being from the Caribbean, our Christmases are a little different than the typical American celebrations.

New Castle Presbytery’s mission statement condenses the Matthew 25 invitation into 13 words: “Sparked by grace to transform the church for the good of the world.”