June 13, 2011
After tomorrow’s PICO action in Sacramento I will be away from the church for two weeks. Karen and I are taking a cruise to Alaska. We are very much looking forward to seeing the beauty and splendor of the Puget Sound, the Gulf of Alaska and the state of Alaska.
While I am away Dale Edmondson and Pastor Tanner will be our preachers, on June 19 and June 26 respectively. Dale is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his ordination. He was ordained at the First Baptist Church of Bakersfield on Pentecost Sunday in 1961. Ally will be preaching for the first time since receiving her PhD. from the Graduate Theological Union.
I will return to the pulpit on July 3. Joining in me in the proclamation of God’s love will be Rabbi Jackie Mates-Muchin from Temple Sinai and Imam Victor Shakir from Masjid Tasbeeh. In celebration of the religious freedom that is our birth right as American citizens we will speak to the theme of extending God’s radical hospitality to all. God’s hospitality to all is an extension of God’s love and justice. In the words of theologian Miroslav Volf (writing in Allah: A Christian Response) this is important because, “If Christians and Muslims (the author elsewhere includes Jews in this discussion) agree that God is both loving – beneficent toward all and merciful toward transgressors – and just, bridges between them can and ought to be built, and extremism loses religious legitimacy. Love and justice are divine and therefore ultimate values. All human practices must be measured against these values.”
Prayers of the Congregation
- Thanksgiving with the San Francisco Baptist Church on the ordination of their pastor, Naw San Dee KD
- Bette Pancoe – Summit South
- Idella Berry
- Lisa Dahms – recovering from pneumonia
- Pat Hughes for her brother Richard
- All who are traveling
- The passage of a just and responsible state budget
- An end to the killings on the streets of Oakland
- The passage of a just and responsible city budget
- Cathy Glover for her friend Terresia
- Jackie Washington and Teresita Arciaga, LCC employees
- The American Baptist Biennial in San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Dick Ice, recuperating at home
- Barbara Bowman for her father
- Steve and Carol Leichter
- Jack Travis and Carol Norris
- Bonnie Sato – chemotherapy
- Roy Browner and Al Johnson – celebrating their anniversary
- Thanksgiving with our graduates and their families
- Phil and Gloria Meads for their daughter, Joy
- Kay Baxter for her family
- Ann Fields for her family
- Tess Benin for those she cares for
- Sheila Sims for her parents
- Doris Evans for Jenny Leche and family, Charlotte Evans and caregivers, Merlin Edwards II and family
- Susan Joachim – Alta Bates Hospital
- Cherie Smith for her son Alex
- Alean Saunders-Coffey for her friend Hilda
May Peace be your Companion,
Jim H.
(There will be no Midweek Message next week)