PW's Gathering Quest continues!
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February 5, 2024
A Joyful Journey
Save the date for the 2024 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women!
Welcome to the Gathering Quest, a Joyful Journey to PW Community and Celebration
“Do everything in love,” based on 1 Cor. 16:13–14 (NIV), is the theme for the 2024 Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women. (“Do everything in love” could be considered the foundation of our PW Purpose!) For the next 6 months, you will receive, in your inbox, a Gathering newsletter like this one! Each newsletter will provide content that matters—updates, a devotional reflection, promotional materials, answers to questions, and lots of fun—all about the CWG!
Presbyterian Women’s Churchwide Gathering (CWG) is celebrated every three years! In 2024, the CWG will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, August 8–11. Plenary and large-group sessions will be held at the America’s Center Convention Complex. Gathering attendees will receive a special conference rate for hotel rooms at the Marriott St. Louis Grand (across the street from the America’s Center), which will house other Gathering programming and opportunities (i.e., shopping and dining!). Save these dates, share these dates, and plan to joyfully join Presbyterian Women in an exciting, faith-filled time of renewal, connection, and fun. An online option will be available, as well, with a select menu of options. Gathering registration opens March 2024. FAQs are a click away!
Visit presbyterianwomen.org/gathering for full details. And don’t forget to share your enthusiasm for the Gathering on social media! #PWGathering #2024ChurchwideGathering
Reflections of Love
Mary Jorgenson
CWG Exhibit Hall Team Chair and
Coordinator of the Silent AuctionCalled to Love
As we ponder the words, "do everything in love," it becomes evident that love must be present in all areas of our lives.
In our relationships, we are called to love one another as ourselves. We are to encourage, support, and lift each other up, showing God's love through our interactions with friends, family, strangers, and even enemies.
In our churches, love compels us to approach decisions with integrity and compassion. It means we must put aside our own desires sometimes and be part of an encouraging congregation where everyone can thrive.
In the world around us, love opens our eyes to the needs of people who are marginalized, oppressed, and hurting. Love compels us to take action to bring hope and healing to a broken world. Love inspires us to stand for justice and to advocate for the voiceless—all to the glory of God.
Living a life led by love is not without challenges. Our humanity can lead us to act selfishly and respond to situations with impatience, anger, or indifference. Love must be a conscious choice we make each day. We decide to love, even when it is difficult or inconvenient.
When we look to Christ, who is the ultimate example of love, we find the strength and grace to overcome our weaknesses and walk in love.
Prayer:
Gracious God, thank you for the powerful reminder to do everything in love. Help us, Lord, to embrace your love as the guiding principle in every aspect of our lives. Fill us with your Holy Spirit and empower us to love one another as you have loved us. When challenges arise, may your grace sustain us and enable us to respond with patience, kindness, and compassion. Let us be known by our love and reflect your heart to the world around us. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Churchwide Gathering Registration Opens in March!
Just a head’s up: Churchwide Gathering registration opens in just a few weeks! Look for additional details in the March Gathering Quest! For a safer experience, don’t click on other online offers but instead book your hotel reservation in one of three ways:
- Visit the Churchwide Gathering Website and click the link in the FAQ section.
- Call (877) 303-0104; an automated greeting will indicate that you have reached the Marriott.
- Call the hotel directly, which is best if you are using points: 314-621-9600 (ask for the reservation department).
"Do Everything in Love" Day!
During this season of candy and fanciful cards (and bluebirds too!), let us celebrate God’s love for us and our treasured Presbyterian Women through action and prayer on Presbyterian Women’s “Do Everything in Love” Day, inspired by the 2024 Churchwide Gathering theme (1 Cor. 16:13-14)
“Do Everything in Love” and show your support of Presbyterian Women—your sisters in Christ and our shared PW ministry that provides a faithful and caring community for us to live and love and thrive.
Show your love …
- Share your PW love story
- Send a lovely bluebird-and-hearts greeting
- Support PW’s Annual Mission Fund with a financial gift or send your check made payable to Presbyterian Women to Presbyterian Women—Remittance Giving, PO Box 643652, Pittsburgh PA 15264-3652 (note: “Do Everything in Love”)
P.S. Daily themes for the CWG will explore the many aspects of love we are blessed to express. And guess who’s accompanying us to the Gathering? A bluebird or two (perhaps a flock), that’s who!
Gathering Spotlight
Rev. Dr. Rhashell Hunter, who faithfully served as Director of Racial Equity and Women’s Intercultural Ministries, Presbyterian Mission Agency, for 14 years, remains deeply engaged in the mission and ministry of Presbyterian Women. In fact, since her retirement, Rhashell has been quite busy writing the 2025-2026 PW/Horizons Bible study, Finding Resilience, Joy, and Our Identity in Jesus Christ (working title).
Rhashell D. Hunter
2025-2026 PW/Horizons Bible Study author
African American History Month
Black History Bulletin, African Americans and the Arts. ASALH.
African American History Month (aka Black History Month) has been observed each February in the United States since 1976. We want to hear how you or your group observe this celebration. Click here to email us your story. The 2024 theme for African American History Month is African Americans and the Arts. If you need ideas, click here for suggestions.
However you choose to commemorate African American History Month, let this be a time to celebrate the African Americans who enrich our communities, our churches, our country, and world.
Program Book Ads
As you consider your 2024 plans, of course you are considering attending the 2024 PW Churchwide Gathering in St. Louis, August 8-11, 2024! As in Gatherings past, Presbyterian Women can honor one another, lift up memories and ministries, or even promote an upcoming event by purchasing a space advertisement in the Program Book. Learn more and find the form by clicking here! (You needn’t be a design expert or wordsmith! PW staff can assist.)
Saving Challenge!
Save $2.80 a day for 12 months to put toward your Gathering expenses. Each email in the Gathering quest series will include a Churchwide Savings Calculator based on this challenge, so you can see where you are or how much to save to "catch up"!
If you began saving after the first Gathering email was sent on August 5, 2023, you should have at least $518.00 saved toward your Gathering expenses. There are 184 days until opening plenary, so let’s keep our piggybanks and Mason jars nourished with Gathering coins and bills!
Want to peek and see just how many days, hours, minutes and seconds? Visit presbyterianwomen.org/gathering to view the Countdown Clock to the 2024 Churchwide Gathering!
Gathering Promotional Materials and more!
Bookmark the Churchwide Gathering promotional materials page, where you will find past Gathering Quests, the map, videos, and lots more! The webpage will be updated with promotional items as they become available, so be sure to check back often! Be sure to check the 2024 PW Churchwide Gathering website for more information.
PW Share Challenge
The Share Challenge winner for last month is Carol Day.
Thanks for sharing!
The PW Share Challenge makes it easy for you to share these emails with others (and perhaps add your own sentence or two about the Gathering because, let’s face it, not every PW knows about the Gathering). Simply use the forward button, located on the bottom of this email. One randomly chosen person who forwards the email will receive a small token of appreciation and a bit of celebrity on the next email.
Trivia Challenge
We’re so excited that the 2024 Churchwide Gathering is going to be in-person that the Trivia Challenges for the next few issues of the Gathering Quest are about the last time the PW CWG was in-person. The questions are getting harder; here's a two-parter.
Download an answer sheet you can fill out and bring to the Gathering. Details about where and when to turn it in to come!
- Question: Which current co-moderator of the PC(USA) also spoke at the last in-person Churchwide Gathering?
- Bonus Question: Which Broadway star is a family friend?
A Little Gathering Fun!
A Grateful Heart for PW Word Scramble
The February puzzle is for lovers, word lovers, that is! Unscramble 14 clues to unveil a mystery phase that reminds us of our joy in PW community.
Download "A Grateful Heart for Presbyterian Women Word Scramble."
Presbyterian Women’s Annual Mission Fund (the Mission Pledge) makes possible every mission, program and resource of PW. Give now to support Presbyterian Women’s witness in the world.
Presbyterian Women’s Build a Bouquet FUNdraiser celebrates individuals and ministries that help Presbyterian Women bloom in many spectacular ways! Honor that special person (or two or three!) who has played a significant role in your life—through nurture, friendship, support or care—with a virtual bouquet that will build Presbyterian Women’s Annual Fund, the soil from which every PW ministry grows. Bouquets given will bless thrice: funds received will support PW; will honor a friend; and virtual bouquets will be displayed at the 2024 PW Churchwide Gathering!
After you give online, you'll receive a link to several floral cards that can be downloaded or emailed as a symbol of your gift. Visit presbyterianwomen.org/bouquet to learn more.
