August 23, 2011
Thank you to everyone who has checked in with me regarding our trip to Kansas. It was both safe and pleasant. We got Ethan set up at Ottawa University. School has begun. His first class was College Algebra at 8:00 on Monday morning. Karen and I were favorably impressed by the University and are both prayerful and cautiously optimistic.
The central Scripture in worship this coming Sunday will be Romans 12: 1-8 in which we read the words, “So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” My sermon is titled “That’s My Church.”
In the sermon I want to explore the difference between attending church and belonging to the church. While I certainly I don’t want to be negative about people saying of Lakeshore “That’s where I go to church,” I want to be very positive about us all saying “That’s my church.” Further, I also want us to be clear that our focus as a congregation is, in the words of Wade Clark Roof, “touching people’s lives instead of gaining new members.”
Prayers of the Congregation
- Bette Pancoe (at home)
- Virginia Cheatham
- Barbra MacNair for her brother
- All who are traveling
- All who are grieving
- All of our students
- All of our teachers
- All of our shut ins
- Ann Fields for her family
- Gloria and Phil Meads for their family
- Margaret Alexander for her family
- Bonnie Sato
- Alean Saunders-Coffey for her aunt
- Carol and Steve Leichter
- The people of Libya, may they now freedom, justice and peace
- A resolution to the ongoing enmity between Israel and the Palestinians
- Mary Karne for Mildred
- Kay Baxter and family
- The Evans, Edwards and Leche families
- The peace of Oakland
- Members and Friends of Lakeshore who live outside the Bay Area
- Stan Benson
Announcements
The Nominating Committee will meet this Saturday from 10-12 in the Library. Pastor Tanner will lead this first meeting of 2011. We want to help the Committee, and those whom they ask to serve, to embrace the understanding that the nomination process is a spiritual process of discernment and formation. This understanding is an expression of our Long Range Plan which emphasizes both leadership development and the creation of capacity for ministry.
Homecoming Sunday will be September 11.
The Oakland Police Department is urging residents to be cautious about wearing gold jewelry. As the price of gold increases there has been a corresponding increase in people being robbed of their gold jewelry.
California Assemblymember Nancy Skinner recently mailed every congregation in her district information about several federally funded programs for people in danger of losing their homes in foreclosure. Call 888-954-5337 or go to www.keepyourhomecalifornia.com
Comment
The memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall in Washington D.C. will be dedicated this Sunday. The design of monument is inspired by a line from King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech: “Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.” For people of all races King’s dream is a source of hope. However, for many people of all races, the mountain of despair is very real and very steep. We will take a pause in the worship service on Sunday to reflect on these realities and to pray that our nation will not confine King’s vision to the grounds of his fine memorial.