NEWS BRIEF
RNS-Ash Wednesday: No touching! Consortium, churches share ideas for celebrating Ash Wednesday in a pandemic
(RNS) — On Ash Wednesday, many churches mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent with the imposition of ashes. That presents a problem in the midst of a pandemic when health experts have advised people to avoid touching their faces and coming in close proximity to others. Some churches haven’t met since the pandemic first upended life during the last Lenten season. Enter an ecumenical group of clergy, theologians, liturgical scholars and public health experts who have released guidelines for safely observing Ash Wednesday — which falls this year on Feb. 17. By Emily McFarlan Miller. 900 words. (category: a)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Prior-Oped: Still Baptist and evangelical
(RNS) — Over the past few years, in the midst of the turmoil the church and the country are enduring, I have received countless messages of pain and lament from fellow evangelicals (and especially Baptists), asking me what to do, where to go, whether to stay in the church or to leave. I understand that many have been hurt or betrayed by the institutional church. And while my wounds are not as deep as those of so many are, I now count myself among them. I don’t always know what to say to people in their pain. But one thing I do know to say is, “The bride of Christ needs you. Don’t abandon her to those who exploit and abuse her. Christ loves his bride too much for us to let her go.” By Karen Swallow Prior. 1,125 words. (category: k)