It is certainly disappointing, the Rev. Kate Foster Connors says.
By the end of Big Tent’s opening plenary session Thursday, the nearly 800 Presbyterians gathered in downtown Baltimore were crying right along with the Rev. Dr. Soong-Chan Rah, who told the faith story of his mother, a single mom who worked 20-hour days to support him and his three siblings despite kneecaps split open by a life of prayer on hardwood floors.
Now in her 80s, his mother is one of “the grandmothers and mothers who have prayed for the church on broken knees, have laid down their lives for the sake of their children — these are the stories we must lift up,” he said. “Don’t pray for a bigger building. Pray for broken knees before God.” The crowd gave him a standing ovation as his rousing talk concluded.