If tears are a gift of the Spirit, then the Rev. Dr. Judi McMillan has been blessed. Even if some of those tears have been other than joyful. What began for the PC(USA) pastor 20 years ago with tears of happiness when she relocated from Nebraska to Michigan to accept a call as an associate minister at a large, non-Presbyterian church in a suburban university setting didn’t end as auspiciously as it had started.

An accomplished storyteller, the Rev. Dr. Ruth L. Boling returned last week to the place she earned her doctorate — Pittsburgh Theological Seminary — for an engaging hybrid discussion on “Season’s Greetings,” her book published ahead of Advent that features letters to modern readers from some of the biblical characters at or near Jesus’ birth, including the Lord himself.

With “Boomers and beyond” as his target audience, Chris Pomfret, the treasurer and a board member of the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network, led a webinar last week that helped Presbyterians in their “Third Thirty” — those 60 and older — to think about and hold conversations on what they hope to accomplish late in life. More than 60 people attended.

As far as Third Presbyterian Church’s Anti-Racism Task Force was concerned, the already overcrowded, post-Thanksgiving calendar was missing a critically important date for holiday shoppers.

“People may not be leaving religion behind as much as they are changing what being religious means,” the Rev. Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean told a group of 125 leaders of camp and conference centers affiliated with the Campfire Collective as part of the annual conference of the Presbyterian Church Camp and Conference Association (PCCCA).

For reconsidering the relationship between disability and spirituality, Georgetown University Professor of Jewish Studies Rabbi Julia Watts Belser will receive the 2025 Grawemeyer Award for Religion, the University of Louisville and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary announced Thursday.

As a hunger action advocate for the Presbytery of Eastern Virginia, Jessica Fitzgerald loves to collect goods for farm laborers and their families, particularly migrants and seasonal workers who contribute to the state’s agriculture industry.

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship launched its initial “Lost and Found Virtual Peace Church” gathering on Sunday. The online offering, which is scheduled for each Sunday during Advent plus Dec. 29, featured Scripture, music, Communion, meditation and a thoughtful homily by the Rev. Dr. Laurie Lyter Bright, PPF’s executive director. Register for upcoming worship services here.

As was first reported by Presbyterian News Service on Nov. 5, several ministries in the new interim unified agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be reconfigured, including the Theology, Formation and Evangelism ministry area, which serves presbyteries and synods as they support congregations and develop spiritual leadership across the church.

The Interim Unified Agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)  released its annual report on church statistics this month with no particular surprises. The numbers in the report reflect statistics from 2023, which saw a decrease in the number of members, ministers and churches across the denomination, in keeping with trends from recent years. Meanwhile, new worshiping communities saw an impressive rate of growth.