2020.06.28 | Loaves & Fishes
A modern-day equivalent of the “Feeding of the Five Thousand” has unfolded in the Eden Area over the course of the past two months under the banner “UIY Cena Caliente,” or in English, “UIY Hot Meals.”
The program was born out of suffering.
Two counselors from Tennyson High School (Diana, who is employed by the Hayward Unified School District, and the other, Elizabeth, who is employed by La Familia) reached to me and asked me to sponsor one of the World House students, so that they could during the pandemic.
You see, the counselors were getting calls from their students asking them where they could get something to eat, because they couldn’t go to their low-wage jobs to earn a few dollars an hour to buy their own groceries and make their own food.
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2020.06.21 | A Father's Love
Today’s scripture reading is a story, a story that Jesus tells to answer a simple but challenging question posed by those who are beginning to oppose him and his ministry among tax collectors and others they heartily disapprove of: Why does he eat with sinners?
One way of understanding the story Jesus tells us is to compare and contrast it with other stories that address the same theme. I did a little poking around in the folktale collections online and found a Ukrainian folktale that provides a useful comparison to the story that Jesus told.
I’ll tell you a shorthand version of the Ukrainian story, which is called “The Ungrateful Children and the Old Father Who Went to School Again.” If you want to read the full story, check out the link I put in the bulletin to a book called Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales on the World of Tales website.
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2020.06.14 | DIVINE HUMOR
My favorite Chinese proverb goes like this: “If you want to hear God laugh, make a plan.”
I’m a big fan of planning, and I have the resume to prove it. I discovered the merits of planning at a young age, when planning proved to be helpful in keeping me on track as I was striving to overcome some personal hardships and better myself and my family's situation.
In high school, college, and especially in graduate school, I received formal instruction in planning, and experienced first-hand that sound planning was critical to success.
In the early days of my career, I was fortunate to staff planning committees in two different congregations and work with experts in the field of organizational design.
I have applied these habits and skills in the practice of ministry over the years, and have helped every organization that I’ve served to develop and implement strategic plans. In some cases, I have been an architect of more than one strategic plan.
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2020.06.07 | Imago Dei
I hope. I pray. That we have finally reached a “tipping point” in the United States of America in which a critical mass of people acknowledge that racism is alive and well, and deeply embedded in our culture--and they, that we, have got to do our part to name it and eradicate it.
Yes. I hope, and I pray that we have reached a “tipping point” in which enough White people are committed to consistently and persistently doing our own work of self-reflection, confession, and contrition, so that these heinous crimes, the militarization of law enforcement, the perpetuation of the school to prison pipeline, the profiteering of private prison systems, and the cycle of oppression that is grounded in White supremacy is undone.
Yes. I hope and I pray that enough White people--and people from every other racial and ethnic group in this country--will no longer tolerate a white supremacist in the White House.
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2020.05.31 | Fanning the Flames
The story of Pentecost is just a little too “woo-woo” for most Progressive Protestants to take seriously—at least at first blush. Think about it: a voice from heaven, tongues of fire, and foreigners saying and hearing things that may never have been said or heard before, and everyone comprehending—well, everyone, that is, except for educated, modern people like us. Right?
Most of us are left wondering what is the answer to Luke’s question: "What does this mean?"
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2020.05.24 | Paradise is Not Lost
On the news, this pandemic has been referred to as apocalyptic. I think this term is actually fitting- not in a zombie apocalypses kind of way but in the original meaning of the term. In the Greek, an apocalypsis, is an uncovering of something hidden. That’s what’s going on all around us.
This virus is laying bare the inequities in our communities. Making overt what was once covert. . .
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2020.05.17 | Being a Good Neighbor
Even as we shelter in place we have an opportunity to reach out to those we wouldn’t normally connect to: the homeless person, the man who collects recyclables, the tough-looking teenager walking the street at odd hours, the women wearing hijab, the orthodox Jew. From a safe distance, by a note or a letter, we can inquire about their well-being, offer our support, tell them about our food bank, or simply smile and wave hello.
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2020.05.10 | Spiritual Adulting
Today, we celebrate the Festival of the Christian Home in the United Church of Christ, and we celebrate Mother’s Day in our churches and in our homes, all across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua, Australia, New Zealand, India, China, Japan, the Philippines and South Africa.
This is an occasion when people pause to reflect on the importance of nurture and those who nurture us in our families of origins and our childhood homes and current homes. Increasingly, as an occasion to recognize, honor, and express appreciation to those in our families of origin (or our families of choice) as “Other Mothers” and “Community Mothers.
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2020.05.03 | Define Church
What is worship? Is it that ritual that we participate in on Sunday mornings in the main Sanctuary? Is it a Google Watch Party that we tune into at 10 a.m. on Sundays?
Does shared space and time matter anymore, given that Sunday worship is posted on the Church webpage, and you can hit play at 10 a.m. or 10 p.m. or any other time or day of the week?
Today, the COVID crisis challenges us to reflect deeply on what it means to be the Church as a people--a people scattered.
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2020.04.26 | Stay with Us
What the risen Christ has shown us this Easter season is two-fold: 1) while we are in dire need of a better wealth distribution, all people and corporations are capable of so much more benevolence than we have ever imagined and 2) we may, with the help of technology, be capable of working and living and caring for the most vulnerable in ways that are more protective of our natural environment, steward our limited resources, and result in a more equitable situation for all of God’s creation.
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2020.04.19 | Room for Doubt
Many of us were led to believe that doubt is incompatible with the Christian life, but I disagree. In fact, I believe that doubt—even apathy—can be a beneficial--perhaps even essential part--of a mature faith.
I believe that character whom we have come to know as Doubting Thomas has been largely misunderstood, and inappropriately maligned by many preachers who have presented him as a flawed apostle.
While it’s easy to understand how eyes and hearts gravitate toward this negative view of Thomas, several leading New Testament scholars argue that John had a larger purpose in mind when he put these words on Jesus’ lips: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
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2020.04.10 | Good Friday Stations of the Cross
What might our encounters with the experiences of Jesus‘ wrongful conviction and path toward his eventual crucifixion have to offer us in these days of pandemic? Watch this ecumenical service of meditation, reflection, and confession based on events in the life of Jesus leading up to his crucifixion.
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2020.04.09 | Maundy Thursday: Love One Another
This Holy Week, as we explore what Jesus’ death means to us, we face one of the most challenging facets of being progressive Christians. We practice a service-oriented faith, but we often shy away from talking about why we put service at the heart of our practice. We often jump to serving others because we’re good people who want to help. Sometimes our emotional connection back to Jesus is tenuous. You might find it interesting that every Gospel offers its own perspective on service and discipleship. In the Gospel of John, discipleship is a loving relationship with Jesus first, then from that love, action springs forth that demonstrates love for one another.
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2020.04.05 | Palm Sunday: Parade Ready
Mentoring is not easy work, but none of us is called to do it alone. God always intended mentoring to be a group project. Jesus always sent his disciples out two by two. As a religious community, Eden Church has been in this area for over 155 years helping families raise children, and helping our community mentor youth. During normal operations we offer ministries. . . The COVID-19 Crisis isn’t going to stop what we’ve always been doing. It’s just challenging us to find new ways to do it.
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2020.03.29 | Is There Life After Death?
All of a sudden, we not only had a public health crisis on our hands, we had an economic crisis, too. And, truth be told, most people--not just church goers--encountered a spiritual crisis. People who had never before given much thought to their own limitations, their eventual demise, and the afterlife were all of a sudden wondering, “What if I get this virus? What if it kills me? Where will I go, when I die?”
If you find yourself in this camp, or if you’ve ever given thought to these questions, then today’s message is especially for you.
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2020.03.22 | When Life Is Scary
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;
for you are with me. . .
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2020.03.15 | Those Kind of People
The Rev. Dr. Mary Ellen Kilsby, former senior minister at First Congregational Church UCC in Long Beach, California (1988−2000) was a bit of a legend in her own time. She was one of the first women to serve as senior minister in a large church in our denomination, and she was a guiding light for liberal Protestantism and progressive social justice work throughout her life.
One of my favorite stories about Mary Ellen has to do with her early advocacy for LGBT rights. She was one of the first five pastors in the UCC in California to lead her congregation through the Open and Affirming process in 1992, and she did it with style. For example, she suggested that her congregation celebrate their decision to become an Open and Affirming Church by entering the Long Beach Gay Pride parade in 1992. The Church Council agreed.
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2020.03.08 | All In
So, just for fun today...let’s celebrate our propensity for theological inquiry and our ability to question all of the answers that orthodox Christianity has shelled out by singing “the Hokey Pokey,” as printed on your bulletin insert.
You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out,
You put your right foot in, and you shake it all about.
You to do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about.
You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out,
You put your left foot in, and you shake it all about.
You to do the Hokey Pokey and you turn yourself around.
That’s what it’s all about.
It’s good to laugh at ourselves from time to time, especially in these days when everything in the news is so serious.
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2020.03.01 | How Do You Know….Good and Evil
We kick off Lent, the season of reflection on “where we have gone wrong” and repentance, with a little review of the story of Adam & Eve from the Book of Genesis and “how they went wrong” and got themselves kicked out of the Garden of Eden. I say a little review because today’s reading is just a short excerpt of the longer story, which can be found in Chapters 2 & 3 of Genesis.
I’d like to start by drawing your attention to three key facts about this excerpt. First, Adam, and later, after she is created to help him, Eve, are placed in the Garden of Eden “to till it and keep it.” The underlying Hebrew words indicate that when God “placed,” Adam & Eve in the Garden, God intended for them to “rest, settle down, and remain” there, caring and serving it together.
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