Experiencing The Word
Schools are looking for chaplains, but the understanding of who – and what – chaplains are varies widely
By Bryn Mawr College President Wendy Cadge and the school’s Director of Research Amy Lawton There is an ongoing push
Brooklyn’s Black church choirs persist amid attendance decline, gentrification
Choirs that once packed Brooklyn sanctuaries now sing to smaller crowds as pandemic-era streaming lingers and gentrification reshapes Black neighborhoods.
Gullah Geechee elders work to preserve sacred songs passed down by enslaved ancestors
By Luis Andres Henao ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Minnie “Gracie” Gadson claps her hands and stomps her feet against
‘God understands us’: Inside a Nigerian church where deaf people find faith and community
By Ope Adetayo LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — It is like any other church in Nigeria‘s megacity of Lagos. A lectern faces rows
ELCA elects first Black presiding bishop, calls Israel’s action in Gaza a genocide
The Rev. Yehiel Curry, bishop of the ELCA’s Metropolitan Chicago Synod since 2019, will serve a six-year term as presiding
‘I just couldn’t stop crying’: How prison affects Black men’s mental health long after they’ve been released
Black men who have been incarcerated have elevated rates of PTSD, depression and psychological distress, research shows. By Helena Addison,
Apache women seek court intervention as federal land is turned over to copper mining
By Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press The transfer of federal forest land in Arizona to a pair of international
Religious parents awarded $1.5M after Supreme Court win in LGBTQ+ books case
The settlement will signal to public schools that parents should have ‘the final say’ on their children’s education, wrote Eric
Joseph Smith portrait at Morehouse sparks debates over slavery, polygamy and Black history
On Feb. 1, the Smith portrait was unveiled at the chapel named for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. at
‘I am somebody!’: Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader who ran for presidency, dies at 84
‘I don’t think Jesse Jackson saw his political life as something different from his call from God as a preacher,’
‘We’re praying with our feet’: a year of pro-democracy prayer vigils in New York
As New York braces for a large-scale deployment of ICE agents, the vigils imposed themselves as a hub for the
Black history is America’s history
We still see efforts to roll back civil and human rights for Black people in America. Opinion By Jim Wallis
Bible Verse
AUGUST 2026
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
1 John 3: 1-3, 16-18
Pray
AUGUST 2026
- That God's Word will remain true and undefiled by man and his devilish schemes.
- For strength, protection and encouragement for senior citizens as they navigate through health challenges, generational differences and financial woes.
- For our children, that God's presence, wisdom, and blessings will infiltrate their lives, helping them grow spiritually, emotionally and physically.
- For the world's hungry, homeless, displaced and widowed.