2024.09.22 | Wonder Women
“Wonder Women”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Senior Minister & Executive Director
Eden United Church of Christ, Hayward, California
Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 22, 2024
Proverbs 31:10-31 | English & Español
Eden Church is blessed to be experiencing a growth spurt these days. You may have noticed. Not every faith community can make such a claim. This is because the pandemic has functioned as the catastrophic equivalent of a “blow across the bow” of their proverbial ship. And the United Church of Christ, Eden’s parent denomination has not escaped this phenomenon.
Our own Northern California Nevada Conference United Church of Christ has and continues to struggle mightily and we are not alone. Like most other Protestant judicatories in Northern California and across the nation we have suffered significant numerical losses. For example, our “Bishop” who we refer to as “Conference Minister,” the Rev. Dr. Davena Jones reported at the last Annual Gathering that we lost 24 congregations during the pandemic.
My recollection is that the number of congregations prior to the pandemic was roughly 125. So, then, we would have lost roughly 1/5th of our congregations since the Shelter in Place (March 2020). But that is not the whole story. To be fair and to accurately capture the whole mathematical story problem, one must also account for the fact that today our conference has about 125 congregations on the rolls. How is that possible?
Well, there’s a lot of ways for a preacher to answer that question. One way is to do the math, which is to say that we not only lost about 24 congregations during the pandemic, we must have gained about that many, too. So, to borrow from a man who married into our denomination--Samuel Clemens--”the news of our denomize may be greatly overstated.”
II
For those who may be wondering, we have benchmarks and data to prove it. Eden Church, is an anecdotal example of how Mainline Protestantism has been in decline for decades--if one defines “decline” by the number of members on the roles, people in the pews, children in the church school, offerings in the plate, etc., then these benchmarks tell everything one needs to know.
Stop and take a lookilu at Eden’s historical timeline posted in the breezeway between this Sanctuary and the Courtyard on the way to the “After Party” in Oliver Hall. There you will see the progression of our numerical growth and decline over the years, which mirrors that of other Mainline Protestant denominations.
Eden Church was founded in 1865, the year the Civil War ended. Our forebears established our congregation near an establishment called “Haywards.” It was a hotel built and run by a man with the same name who hosted prosperous residents from San Francisco who were eager to get away from the summer chill on the Peninsula.
The city of Hayward was established a couple of years later. Eventually a school district was born and unified several years later. Eden’s birth, infancy, and epic growth during the post-WWII era are well documented in the church archives and three-volume booklets that you’ll find in the Church Library. If you’re curious, you know where to look.
For today's purposes, I think it is more important that we explore and try to account for our recent resurgence/renaissance/renewal, in order to build on this success and help others do the same.
In addition, I recommend that every house of faith and spiritual community across our nation follow suit, because our schools, communities, government, and larger society will not improve without the nurture of our moral communities which contribute significantly to the social fabric of our society.
I’m not talking about the resurgence of one religion, such as Christianity, or the bolstering of an ideology dressed up in a false version of Christianity such as “Christian nationalism,” whose adherents can somehow read the Bible and follow a person who has been known to run across the street from his place of business, stand in front of a church holding a borrowed Bible upside down, and attract attention from the media so that he doesn’t have to purchase airtime to promote his candidacy.
III
No. I’m talking in our case about a resurgence of a church that’s built on the faith and fortitude of people who resemble the modern-day equivalent of a “Strong Person”--such as the archetype described in Proverbs 31.
Several examples abound in the pews today:
The members and leaders of Padres Unidos de Cherryland come immediately to mind. This group was founded by first-generation parents, mostly from Mexico, who have sought to reduce youth violence, improve food security, and promote strong public schools in the Eden area.
These parents, like many in other generations and demographic populations, understand that they are their children’s first and most important teachers. Consider the way that poet William Ross Wallace described the importance of a mother’s role and influence on their children’s lives in his poem, “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle,” published in 1865, the year that the Civil War ended, and Eden Church was founded.
IV
Profound as a primary caregivers role may be, we also know that parents cannot do this work alone. Children need a moral community in which to identify and learn language, narratives, core values, healthy habits, productive skills, various competencies, and the capacity to apply these to daily activities and communal life.
My feminist theology professor at Harvard Divinity School, Professor Sharon Welch, referred to these moral communities as “communities of identity and accountability.”
For these communities to be able to do their best work, we need more than a passing acquaintance with them. We must show up consistently and persistently for the children of our community in ways that shape, form, and reform our posterity.
One does not need to look far to see stellar examples of people who show up every day for our youth.
Dawn Coburn, our AV Technician, moonlights as Office Manager at Roosevelt Elementary School in San Leandro, where Todd Bove & Keith Smith’s children attended, and where they founded the Smith-Bove Family created a photo display for the whole school to illustrate that all families are welcome at their school. Why? Because if you don’t feel welcome at school, how can you learn?
Parent & Community Engagement Specialists like Rosemary Vazquez have been part of the social warp and woof of the Cherryland Community, the Hayward Unified School District, and beyond for decades, and she and many of her peers are notorious for the ways that they contribute to our neighborhoods. Consider for example, how Rosemary jumped in and helped Eden Church deliver hot meals for newcomer students during the early part of the pandemic, when businesses, the schools, and restaurants were closed.
Deisy Bates, our guest liturgist today, has been the lead language interpreter, union steward, and the most polite town crier in the public square, for as long as I’ve been going to school board meetings in Hayward. She is a model of how to handle yourself--especially in public--when one is on their last nerve over stubborn challenges that we all need to own and work on to resolve.
And how about our guest choir director today, Sandra Kay Iglehart. This isn’t her first rodeo. I met her several years ago when she was playing the piano for Bishop James Candy’s funeral. She played so beautifully, I went up to the piano after the postlude and asked for her name and contact information, and told her that if I were ever in the search for a music director again, I would be ringing her phone. Prior to helping out several churches in her so-called retirement, Sandra was the choir director at Tennyson High School, where Jose Avalos, a Mt. Eden and Cal State Hayward alum, is now serving on a provisional teaching certificate.
Ken Rawdon mentored José Avalos through his high school and college years, and brought him to Eden Church where he has regularly sung in our choir the past two years. Interestingly, Jose’s God Mother is here in worship with us, Julie Greenfield, today. Julie was for many years our school nurse at Cherryland Elementary. sShe is also a member of Congregation Shir Ami in Castro Valley, and was one of the founding co-presidents of the Eden Area Interfaith Council.
Julie introduced me--years ago--to our current school nurse at Hayward High School, Elise Jackson, R.N., who is worshiping with us today. In addition to being a blessing at HHS for our students, Nurse Jackson has also helped Eden Church with numerous COVID-19 vaccine clinics that Aysha and our staff organized and hosted during the pandemic. Elise and her husband, Wayne Jackson, who is a pastor, has obtained his secondary education credentials and is teaching English at HHS this year. Go Farmers!
There are others who could be named. In fact, go around this room, ask each person to introduce themselves and their role in their respective school community, and Dr. Jason Reimann, HUSD Superintendent, who is with us in worship today, and you will be very impressed by the remarkable ways that so many are quietly contributing to the warp and woof of our moral community that undergirds the Cherryland School Community, and our entire district.
Thank you, one and all, who are in our congregation today for your service to our children, our schools, our district, and our community. The work that we are about is quite the group project. More importantly it is holy work. God bless each and everyone of you for the vital part that you play in raising up God’s children in this place and time. Amen.