August 9, 2016

Dear LABC,
Monday was a trying day for the Hopkins family. Our youngest son Ethan was involved in automobile accident suffering a compression fracture of his lowest vertebra. While no surgery appears to be needed, he is in significant pain and faces an extended recovery. He is currently in Eden Hospital in Castro Valley. With him, we greatly value you prayers and concern.
This coming Sunday I will continue my “Dangerous, But Life-Giving Verses” sermon series preaching from John 8: 1-11. This passage is one of the of the compelling biblical stories found only in the Gospel of John, that of the Woman Taken in Adultery. Her high-minded accusers, in an effort to humiliate her as well as trap Jesus in some theological error, bring her to him and ask that he determine her fate. Rather than join in the mob and sanction her execution he says, “Let of those of you without sin cast the first stone.”
These are dangerous, but life-giving words. They are dangerous if we hear Jesus denying the existence of sin or implying that we are not accountable for our actions. They are life giving if they free us from a life lived in judgement of others, a life formed by a spirit of condemnation or an existence shaped by messages of self-denigration.

Prayers of the Congregation

• Jesse Guiton for her great niece, Valentina, born only four months into her mother’s pregnancy
• Ethan Hopkins and family
• The Keener family for Jessica (health concerns)
• The Harrison family as they settle into their new home
• Mary Karne for her daughter, Maryla
• The tense situation in many communities between the police and members of the community. May justice lead to peace.
• The people of Mexico in the aftermath of flooding and mudslides
• Ted and Doris Evans and family
• Warren and Camille Parker and family
• Charlotte Myers for her sister Myrna (hospice care)
• Zondra Martin for her family
• Kay Baxter for her family
• Tyrone Mack for his family
• Ann Fields for her family
• Jo Robinson (health concerns)
• The millions of citizens of planet earth that live in desperate poverty. We pray for a better way.
• Irene Jennings, Edie Parrott, Francis Graham, Phyllis Nutting and Edna Dorenzo, Henry Lee, Virginia Damretzky – we wish they could be in church with us
• Safety and Joy for all participating in this weekend’s All Church Retreat
• Thanksgiving and a job well done with and to our New Orleans travelers
• Thanksgiving for all the members of Lakeshore who minister outside the walls of the church

Announcements

Soup and Study resumes on Tuesday evening, August 16 at 6:00. Our first theme will be “The End of the Beginning,” a consideration of the ending of each of the four gospels.