November 29, 2016
Dear LABC,
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for the Hopkins/Phillips family as we traveled to Oregon for Thanksgiving Day and to be part of several memorial events for Karen’s mom over the weekend. Though the rain was ever-present the gatherings were beautiful and warm and the travel was smooth.
Though I miss being with you I don’t worry inordinately about being away and I already have a number of good reports about this past Sunday at Lakeshore. I am grateful that our community has so many capable leaders and that Advent at LABC is off to a good start. (I just poked my head in the Sanctuary. It looks wonderful! I hear that Jamie Reid was the ladder climbing hero.)
This coming Sunday, December 4th, is the second second of Advent. As part of our worship we will light the candle of peace. My sermon will be taken from Isaiah 11:1-10. In this text the prophet uses the imagery of the lion and the wolf lying down with the lamb to represent his defiant hope for the people of Israel.
There are many lines of interpretation in regard to Isaiah’s evocative imagery. On Sunday I will note that in his vision the lamb does not find peace by destroying the lion or eradicating the wolf. Instead, God makes a way for all to live in harmony. Mary DeMuth captures the significance of this passage when she writes, “We cannot love our enemies until we see those twin truths. God loves me. God loves them.”
Prayers of the Congregation
- All who are grieving
- All who are traveling
- Jeanette Paige as she cares for her father
- Jesse Lucas (health)
- Katrina Lau (health)
- The Wilkinson family for Gloria (Creekside Convalescent Hospital, San Pablo)
- Joan Thatcher (Piedmont Gardens, SNF)
- Sheila Sims for her mom, Helen
- All who are worried
- All who live with depression
- Thanksgiving with Helen Harrison on good news from a friend
- Rick Mixon for his sister, Charlotte (health)
- Kay Baxter for her family and herself
- Rita and Irene Jennings (Piedmont Gardens SNF)
- Rafael Soto for Sarah’s mom (health)
- Edie Parrott (health)
- Mary Karne for Maryla (health)
- Chuck Johnston for Nancy Strange (health)
- Sandra Dunn (health)
- Barbara Bowman (health)
- Sheryl Gattey (health)
- Jo Robinson (health)
- Jessie Guiton (health)
- Ruth Ann Crawford (health)
- Thanksgiving with the Picou-Broadnax family
- Our nation in this time of transition
- The Evans family
- The Parker family
- The Martin family
- The Fields family
- Monica Eppinger and David Menninger as they remember her dad
- Allison Tanner for her dad (health)
- Sydney Webster for her dad (health)
- Karen Hopkins for her Aunt Louann (health)
- The people of Cuba as they mourn and hope
- The people of South Korea in a time of political uncertainty
- The shocked and grieving students, faculty and staff of Ohio State University
- Those grieving the crash of a plane carrying a soccer team in Columbia
- Those affected (both sick and grieving) by the mysterious illness in Contra Costa County
- Justice for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Announcements
Today is Giving Tuesday. Please support a ministry or charity (other than LABC) that you believe in.