July, 19, 2011

The central Scripture in our worship on Sunday will be Psalm 139. In the ancient hymn that is the psalm we hear these words of wonder and joy “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
In my sermon, which is titled “A Physical Faith,’ I will note that the Psalmist experiences God’s presence in his bones, breath, brains and bowels.  His faith in God is not the mental acceptance of some well crafted and long debated statements about God. Rather, it is an “in this body’  experience. He is not saying “join me in believing.”  He is saying “join me in living.”
In “An Altar in the World” Barbara Brown Taylor quotes Duke ethicist Stanley Hauerwas.  His words serve to emphasize the physicality of our faith. “Christianity is not a set of beliefs or doctrines one believes in order to be a Christian, but rather Christianity is to have one’s body shaped, one’s habits determined, in such a way that the worship of God is inevitable.”

Prayer of the Congregation

• Carol and Steve Leichter
• Bette Pancoe (Summit Hospital)
• Leona Sims and the Sims family
• Bonnie Sato on the death of her friend Camille
• All our shut ins
• Ann Fields for her family
• Doris and Ted Evans for their family
• Mary Karne
• Sandra Dunn for her cousin Clovis
• Thanksgiving with Phil and Gloria Meads on a California job for their daughter
• Joan Thatcher for Phyllis Deer
• Paige Bence for her niece
• Carol Travis and family as they continue to remember Jack
• Barbra MacNair for her brother
• Margaret Alexander for LaShaya
• Arnold Anderson (SNF at Baywood, Castro Valley)
• Pat Hughes for her brother
• The Kachin people in Burma and in the United States
• Paul Keener for his mother
• Idella Berry
• Lisa Pound for her husband
• Al Johnson and Roy Browner
• Helen Harrison for Bill B. and Vilma C.
• Susan Joachim
• The ministry of the Lakeshore Children’s Center, the Samaritan Neighborhood Center, the YMCA, Today’s Youth Matter and other programs that provide children and youth with safe and happy programs
• Richard Ice
• Dave Hawbecker as he concludes his pastorate and Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church (SF)
• Thanksgiving with Cathy Glover and John Alford-Leaks on  their wedding (July 23)
• Thanksgiving with John Classen on a succesful public action for improved access tp public transportation of high school students
• All who are traveling
• A solution to the debt ceiling debates in WAshington DC without cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security

Announcements

Pandamania, Lakeshore’s Vacation Bible Camp for Children begins on July 25.  There are still a few spots available.
A full program of opportunities for Christian formation and Community building continue throughout the summer.  Among them: Forum (Altar in the World), Adult Bible Study Class, Soup and Study, Wednesday Morning Prayer and Bible Study.  Check the Church Website www.labcoakland.org for more information
The Sanctuary Art Committee will meet this Sunday at 8:45 in the Library