August 5, 2014

Dear Lakeshore,
I trust that August has begun well for each of you. The end of July and the beginning of August was a busy time at LABC, with the funeral for Virginia Cheatham, the memorial service for Bob Daskam, the wedding of Kay Washington and Joshua Bonette and the Church Retreat. The week ahead includes a Wednesday meeting of the Pacific Coast Baptist Association Board in the Family Room and the Friday Wedding of Legacy Lee and Lauren Vandam in the Morcom Rose Garden.
On Sunday The Reverend Maxwell Vines, former pastor of Oakland First Baptist Church and former Association Minister of the Pacific Coast Baptist Association and I will share the pulpit and share some of the ways in which we continue learn, even as “well seasoned” ministers.
Our texts will be Psalm 85: 8-13 and Job 32: 6-14. The hope of the Psalm is that God’s work with Jewish people did not end with their return from exile in Babylon. In fact, it continued in new and creative ways as they re-established themselves in Jerusalem. In our dialog Max and I will proclaim that just as God was not finished working with the people then, God is not finished with us now, even as we continue to age.
Max will note that he is learning that:
1. Life has a lot of ambiguity.
2. The gospel is good news, not bad news with an escape clause.
3. The more we learn the more there is to know .
4. Too often Christians have needlessly complicated theology,,,but there are basically two things to be sure of ,,,
With you, I look forward to our interchange.
Peace,
Jim H.

Prayers of the Congregation

• Darlene and Dayle Scott as they continue to mourn the death of Darlene’s sister
• The Cheatham, Ash and Picou families as they continue to mourn the death of Virginia Cheatham
• Cameron Wilson as she continues to mourn the death of her father
• John and Pam Claassen as they continue to mourn the death of John’s brother
• Sheila Sims for her father
• Jewelle Gibbs for her the health of her niece
• Georgia Upshaw for Irene Jennings
• Karen Hopkins for her friend Connie and all who are looking for jobs
• Thanksgiving with Larry Sims for a strong recuperation
• Thanksgiving with Kay Baxter for Stacey (job hunting) and Jamie (new rehab program at Paradise Baptist Church)
• Celestine Bennett as she cares for her sister
• Connie Hector as she cares for her mother in law
• Ann Fields for her family
• Helen Roberson and family
• Barry Breaux for his  mom and his aunt
• Phil and Gloria Meads for June and Billy
• Dwight Dickerson for his family
• Al Johnson and Roy Browner (stability)
• The Milcoff family
• Peg Shaw (Piedmont Gardens SNF)
• The peace of our city
• Toni Daniels and all who are incarcerated
• All our college age and young adult members
• Sandra Dunn for her father
• George and Sylvia Lee
• Thanksgiving with Zondra Martin for family, church and community
• George and Sylvia Lee
• Mary Karne for her daughter Maryla
• Shirley Jones
• Steve and Carol Leichter
• Katrina Lau for her grandmother
• Margaret Oladoja and family
• Charlene Wolf for her mom
• Zondra Martin for her mom
• Crena Alexander for her mom and dad
• Jan Scott as she continues to recuperate
• Joan Thatcher recuperating from eye surgery
• A prayer for Iraq – may the chaos of civil war be replaced by the shalom of civil society
• Ken Kirkey for his father Ken Kirkey Sr., recuperating from cancer
• The immigrant children (and their families) being held at the border and at centers around the country
• All who are traveling
• Peace in the Middle East and comfort for all the grieving families. May the cycle of atrocity upon atrocity be broken.
• Thanksgiving for the strong financial support of the ministry of Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church
• Marie Johnson for Dahlia and Oscar (battling cancer), Doreen, Jamani, Amy and Kevin (unwanted workplace changes) and herself
• Thanksgiving with Kay Washington and Joshua Bonette and their families on their August 2 wedding
• Legacy Lee and Lauren Vandam and their families as they prepare for their August 8 wedding
• Don Johnson and Nicole Pallios and their families as they prepare for their August 31 wedding
• The Kachin people as they seek justice and freedom
• President Obama as he leads in troubled times
• The Evans, Edwards and Leche families
• Warren and Camille Parker for Glenora  Smith (aging sister) and George Brown (ailing nephew)
• Paul Keener for his mother who has been hospitalized
• Jeanne Robinson for her niece Kristen Fry as she returns to her ministry at Dwelling Places (work with children and their families)in Uganda
• Rowena Jackson for her family
• Thanksgiving with Patricia Butterfield on her daughter’s new job

We will take time in worship this Sunday to bless The Reverend Paul Keener as he prepares to begin a Minister in Training year at the First Baptist Church of Alameda.

Postscript — World War I

This week much of the world, particularly Europe, is commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the beginning of World War 1. It  is sadly ironic that this war was billed as the “War To End All Wars.”  In a New York Time op-ed titled “Known to God” Roger Cohen reminds us, “World War I erupted at a time when much of humanity was persuaded that rapid technological development, scientific progress and accelerated communications (connectivity in today’s parlance) had consigned warfare to the past. It was sparked by a single gunshot in Sarajevo, made possible by strategic miscalculation, and ended with the collapse of several empires, the world of yesterday demolished in an unimaginable bloodbath whose unsettled scores would soon produce another cataclysm.” It would seem that war does not end war. jh