May 7, 2013

For the first time I am writing a Midweek Message as a grandfather. Dashiel Phillips was born on Saturday May 4 at 1:52 p.m. Mother Kristen, Father David, and baby are all doing well as are Grandma Karen and Grandpa Jim.We are so appreciative of your love and prayers. They were, and are, sustaining, encouraging and life giving. I am sure that my life will change in many ways as I live into my identity as Grandpa Jim. Already I notice that while I have rarely been content to simply sit, I find myself looking forward to simply sitting and holding young Dash.
This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day. Writing for the National Geographic News Brian Hardwick reports on the history of Mother’s Day. He writes, “Before the brunches, before the gifts and greeting cards, Mother’s Day was a time for mourning women to remember fallen soldiers and work for peace. When the holiday went commercial, its greatest champion (Anna Jarvis) gave everything to fight it, dying penniless and broken in a sanitarium. Of course, Mother’s Day marched on without her and is today celebrated, in various forms, on a global scale.”
I share this bit of history not to say “Don’t take your mother to brunch” but to urge us all to remember that Mother’s Day was originally founded as time to stand with mother’s past and present whose greatest longing was that their children  live in a world free from war and violence.
As part of of our worship we will read from Paul’s Prayer found in Ephesians 1:15-23. In his prayer one of the petitions is that “I pray . . . that you may know what is the hope to which called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.” I will endeavor to make clear that a world free from war is most certainly a part of the hope to which our Creator calls us. A world in which mothers do not fear their children falling victim to violence is undoubtedly part of our inheritance among the saints, a consequence of God’s immeasurable greatness even now being made known on our behalf.

Prayers of the Congregation

• Prayers for those whose bodies need strength and healing – Bette Pancoe (The Rehabilitation Center of Oakland – formerly Rounsville Convalescent Hospital, Sybil Alexander, Charlotte Evans, Doris and Ted Evans,  Carol and Steve Leichter, Cecil White, Joni Nomura, Sandra Dunn, David Broadnax,  George Lee for Sylvia, Edna Dorenzo, Virginia Damretzky, Al Johnson, Jamie Reid, Kay Baxter’s friend Abbott, Rae Rita Thompson’s father, Celestine Bennett’s son Richard, Dave Gattey’s brother Phil and sister in law Linda, Cherie Smith for mom,  Jim Jefferey, Jesus Portillo for Spanky and Willie, Joe Abrams for his father, Jeanne Robinson for Linda Ng, Cynthia Nelson, Myra Saxton for a friend diagnosed with lymphoma, Peg Shaw for a friend, Patricia Butterfield for a friend
• Prayers for those who are aging and their loved ones who care for them – Sandra Dunn for her father, Theresako Harris for her aunt, Larry Hutchings for his mother, Marc Harrison for his father, Sheryl Gattey for her mother, Ruth Smith, Naomi Nutting for her mother, Karen Hopkins for her father, Connie Hector for her mother in law
• Prayers for those who are grieving – Helen Roberson on the death of her mother, Cameron Wilson for her family as they mourn the death of her Uncle Larry, The Ferguson family on the death of their father Art, The Bass family as they mourn the death of Gene, Sandra Dunn on the death of her cousin Clovis, Cecil White on the death of Father Mark Catalana of San Jose
• Prayers for our loved ones who are facing significant challenges – Kay Baxter for Stacey, Georgia Upshaw for her friend Ginny, Toni Daniels for her family, Margaret Alexander for LaShaya and family, Joan Patten for her son Peter, Rowena Jackson for her son Paul, Barry Breaux for his family, Mary Lee, Max Powers, Ann Fields for her family,  Steve Reimer for his son Greg, Declan Brown for his friend Lewis and family, Cathy Leaks for Rodney Leaks, Cordia Lee for Elysse and Elijah Green IV, John, Paige, Erica and Elijah Green III and herself, the Sims family, Zolette Hooks for her family, Zondra Martin for her family, Phil and Gloria Meads for Phillip Oliver
• Prayers for our community- Our students, teachers, school employees and families, members of the police and fire departments and their families, medical care workers and their families, Tyrone Mack for Mrs. Moore, All who will participate in the PCBA Spring Conference
• Prayers for people we don’t know who  are facing challenges we can’t imagine- For our Kachin brothers and sister, those who are incarcerated, all who are affected by gun violence, the people of Haiti, the people of the Syria, the people of the Korean Peninsula (both South and North, the families of those who died in the limousine fire on the San Bridge
• Prayers of gratitude – For the Ministry of our Hunger Task Force, with Bonnie Sato,  with the Phillips and Hopkins family on the birth of Daschiel, with Marie Johnson and family on Donnie’s engagement, with Declan and Shelia Brown for the beautiful roses Karen Hopkins has growing in the front of the church
• Prayers for ourselves – May each of us know that we are counted among God’s beloved

Announcements

If you have fresh flowers you would like to bring to church to help decorate the Sanctuary in honor of a mother in your life please do so this Saturday. Paige Bence will be working on decorations after the PCBA conference ends at 3:30.
Developing your leadership skills on your to do list? Participate in the Pacific Coast Baptist Association’s  “Promise and Perils of Leadership” Conference at LABC this Saturday, 9-3:30.