June 4, 2019

Thanks to Sheila Sims and our Hunger Task Force for organizing another wonderful and meaningful Hunger Walk. They even saw to it that the weather was perfect! It was a joy to participate.

This morning I began reading “Why Religion? A Personal Story” by Elaine Pagels, a renowned author and teacher of religious history. Pagels, who has survived both the death of a child and the death of a husband, tells her story and of the help she has found in the non-canonical gospels like the Gospel of Thomas and The Gospel of Truth. She writes:

While urging us to seek a deep connection with reality, they (gospels like the Gospel of Thomas) encourage us to walk without a map, expecting turbulence and surprise: “Let the one who seeks not stop seeking until he finds; and when he finds, he will be troubled; when he is troubled, he shall be astonished.” And when asking where to start, we find another saying from the Gospel of Thomas: “recognize what is before your eyes, and the mysteries will be revealed to you.”

As we approach Graduate Recognition Sunday my prayer for our graduates, and for us all, is that we will not stop seeking and that along the way we will be astonished by  joy, grace and hope.

Prayers From Sunday

Alice Butler for her family (Jill, Ricky, Fletcher D., Raul J.); Marian Ott (health); Mary Karne for Maryla; Pat Hughes for Mary Ann; Larry Sims for Jerrell; Al Johnson and Roy Browner; Peggy Rogers-Tamayo for her family; Zondra Martin for her family; Peter Yuichi Clark (health); Edna Dorenzo (hospice care); Those devastated by the gun violence in Virginia Beach, Virginia; The Bresso family (grieving); Margaret Oladoja; Jim H. for his sister Sarah and brother-in-law Joel as they enjoy the wedding of their granddaughter Audrey; Thanksgiving with FBC Berkeley on its 130th Anniversary (Dale E. will be the Sunday preacher); Thanksgiving for the ministry of Katie Choy Wong (retirement celebration on Saturday); Thanksgiving for our graduates and their families