February 6, 2018

Dear LABC,
As per usual, LABC is a busy place this week. African-American History Month is underway with Sydney Webster preparing to be our preacher this Sunday. Pastor Tanner is in New Orleans with the American Baptist Home Mission Society preparing for a mission trip this summer. I  am preparing to make a quick trip to Washington DC for the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday.
Our Bible Studies continue. Flick Flack meets on Friday. Forever Young gathers on Saturday. Preparations are underway for next week’s Ash Wednesday Vigils at 7-8 a.m., 12-1 p.m and 5-6 p.m.. There are abundant opportunities for worship, service, education and fellowship.
AAHM Wisdom – Often, as I read the newspaper, I am stunned by what people who identify themselves as followers of Jesus do and say in the name of their faith. In light of this often upsetting  observation, I have found the writings of Wendell Griffen, pastor of New Millenium Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Circuit Court Judge for the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Arkansas, to be meaningful.

“The ‘good’ evangelicals who place so much emphasis on knowing Scripture somehow have not benefited in their moral and ethical outlook from the examples of Shiprah and Puah, the midwives in Egypt who engaged in civil disobedience and refused to obey a royal order that they kill male Hebrew babies at birth (Exodus 1 :15-21). ‘Good’ evangelicals facing demands from xenophobic lawmakers about withdrawing public support for ‘sanctuary cities’ might open their Bibles to Joshua and re-examine how a prostitute named Rahab defied a governmental order to hand over two undocumented immigrants (Joshua 2). One wonders whether ‘good’ evangelical followers of Jesus who profess commitment to religious liberty will draw on the example of Rahab in the face of calls by policymakers to round up and deport undocumented immigrants living in the United States.” The Fierce Urgency of Prophetic Hope

Prayers of the Congregation

• All who are grieving
• All who are ill
• All who are traveling
• All who are making decisions
• All who are in search of housing and employment
• All who long for the healing of relationships
• Tyrone Mack for his granddaughter who continues in the care of the NICU at Kaiser Hospital San Leandro
• Camille Parker for her daughter Carolyn in Kaiser Hospital Antioch
• All immigrants and displaced persons
• All who live with anxiety and depression
• Kay Baxter for her family
• Sandra Dunn
• Zondra Martin for Marty
• Jo Robinson
• Ann Fields for her family
• Marian Halden and family as they mourn the death of Allan
• Edie Parrott as she moves to St. Paul Towers
• Thanksgiving with and prayers for Lauren Ng (Minister-In-Training 2003-04) as she begins a new assignment as a network strategist with the American Baptist Home Mission Societies
• LCC Teachers Teresita Arciaga and Joni Nomura