September 27, 2011

Greetings to All,
The weekend ahead is full of many good and worthy events.  Some thoughts about them:
Friday evening at 6:30, September 30, our OCO committee events everyone to a screening and discussion of “Waiting For Superman.” There is a direct connection between quality public education and hope for a quality future.
Saturday afternoon, October 1, at 2:00 everyone is invited to bring their animal companions, or pictures of their animal companions, to the front steps of the church for our annual Blessing of the Animals. This short service recognizes that that our relationship with these friends is a profound one. In “Alex and Me” an account of a 30 year long relationship with a Gray Parrot named Alex, author  Irene Pepperberg writes, “We are not superior to all other beings in nature.  The idea of humans’ separateness from the rest of nature is no longer tenable.  Alex taught us that we are a part of nature, not apart from nature.”
On Sunday, October 2, our month long recognition of Diversity Month begins.  Our theme this year is “Radical Hospitality.” Radical  Hospitality is a biblical concept rooted in the belief that each of us are guests in God’s world and that we are to extend to each other hospitality in keeping with this understanding. A key verse in this regard is 1 Peter 4: 9. (Be hospitable to each other without complaining.)
My sermon on Sunday is entitled “Radical and the Communion Table.” I will quote Sara Miles.  “The church doesn’t own Communion.  it’s God’s meal.  That made it possible for me even to take Communion in the first place.  It also made it possible for me to look at the church not as a way to divide people from each other, but as a way of joining people together.”

Prayers of the Congregation

• Al Johnson and Roy Browner – have been victims of some hateful actions at their apartment complex
• The work of our Lakeshore’s OCO Committee (LOC) to improve public education
• The ministry of the American Baptist Seminary of the West (The Board of Trustees is meeting Thursday-Saturday)
• The ministry of Church World Service
• The ministry of American Baptist missionaries around the world (We participate in the World Mission Offering in October)
• The ministry of Lakeshore Children’s Center.  Prayers for staff, students, board members and their families
• All who are mourning
• All who are traveling
• All our shut ins
• The residents and staff of Grand Lake and Piedmont Gardens
• Michael Sumrall, recovering from surgery
• Thanksgiving for a successful Shoreline Stroll
• Thanksgiving for all who are working on the Nominating and Budget Committees
• All health care workers and hospitals
• This list seems incomplete so prayers for everyone I am forgetting
• The families of Lakeshore in all their magnificent diversity
• Thanksgiving with Tyrone and Latrice on their wedding anniversary

Announcements

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year is on Thursday.  A beautiful Rosh Hashanah tradition is to dip a piece of apple into honey symbolizing the hope that the new year will be full of sweetness. While this is being done this prayer is offered “Blessed are you, Lord, our God, king of the universe who creates the fruit of the tree. May it be your will, Lord our God and God of our ancestors that you renew for a us a good and sweet year. Amen.”