August 25, 2015

Dear LABC,
As we lean into the week the news is dominated by global economic insecurity and by the fires that are burning in all the western states. In the face of this  seemingly unrelenting unsettledness, the witness of former President Jimmy Carter in the face of his cancer diagnosis is heartening, encouraging and inspiring. Our member Roy Browner, now living in the Southern California, said it well in an email he sent after President Carter’s press conference last Thursday. “I am amazed by his faith and hope, and this at 90 years old.”
At the press conference President Carter told the nation that though his cancer has spread to his brain, “I am perfectly at ease with whatever comes. It’s in God’s hands.”
At his Sunday School class at Marantha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, this past Sunday Carter counseled his class on facing hard times. His instruction was, “Say, ‘God I’m really troubled and I ask you to give me  the strength to bear whatever I have on my shoulders and to take whatever comes to me.'”
In this unsettled week I think we will all do well to keep President Carter in our prayers, keep the image of him speaking honestly to the nation in mind and keep the prayer he taught before us.
Peace,
Jim H.
PS – Thanks to our Middle School Sunday School class for writing cards of encouragement to President Carter.

Prayers of the Congregation

• Kristen Wilson and family for her father, Peter, who is in hospice care
• The Sims family as they mourn the death of Frank Tregle (Funeral this Friday, August 28, at 11:00)
• Doris Evans (and family) as she recuperates from surgery
• Georgia Smith at Windsor Manor SNF in Concord
• Karen Okusu as she cares for her mom
• Sandra Dunn for her father
• Larry Sims for his sister Renee
• Sydney Webster as she recuperates from an injury
• All who are traveling
• All who are searching for work
• Everyone who is waking up thinking “Back to School!”
• The ministry of the American Baptist Seminary of the West
• Immigrants, refugees and evacuees world wide
• Joan Thatcher, health concerns
• Alean Saunders-Coffey for Luis Pantoja
• Helen Harrison for the Vazquez  family
• Rae Rita Thompson for her dad
• All fire fighters and financial planners
• David Holly on the 65th anniversary of his being rescued at sea after his ship, the USS Benevolence was struck the freighter SS Mary Luckenbach
• Ruben Artery as he grieves the death of his cousins Thomas and Pelingo
• Aaron Jackson, health concerns
• Joan Patten for Peter and Paula

Announcements

Pastor Tanner and Minister-In-Residence Okusu will lead our “Family Friendly Worship” this Sunday. The service will speak to all who are beginning new adventures and facing new challenges.
Mary Alice, our Church Administrator, has asked me to let you know that she is currently not able to receive emails at maryalice@labcoakland.org. The arrival of a new computer early next week will rectify the problem. Until then, if there are essential emails for her, please send them to me at jim@labcoakland.org and I will get them to her.