On Sundays, August 1, 8 & 15 we will receive our special Offering for our Sack Lunch program.

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This Sunday we will have a delicious, mouth-watering, fresh baked-bread, aroma filled service! Even in our carb-conscious culture, this is worth savoring!

There is a two sentence parable in the gospel Luke (and Matthew). It’s one of the few parables that Jesus used in teaching that obviously didn’t need to be interpreted. That’s the reason it’s only two sentences long! It also is not often the focus of a sermon or a service. But it is a powerhouse parable.

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Our Pastor, Dan Smith, is back and will be speaking and leading worship.

It is easy to trust in God, believe in God and follow God when things are going smoothly in our lives. But our lives are not smooth. Like a piece of yarn or string, our lives are often full of knots and tangles.

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Often the world of the Bible seems so far removed from our reality and daily experiences. Every now and then I’ll catch myself glancing over whole paragraphs when I’m reading a Scripture text – not paying much attention as the story unfolds. Yet, when I take the time, slow down, and take it all in, I realize that many of the stories in Scriptures are not that unfamiliar. Sometimes one will grab my imagination and transcend the thousands of years that separate us. Sometimes I’ll even discover myself in one of the stories. Someone once said the stories in Scriptures are more than just stories about people who lived a long time ago – they are also our stories.

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I came upon the sweetest video clip on YouTube in which six year old Kole complains to his mom that it is not fair that his nine year old brother is allowed more independence.

Poor little guy, we’ve all been there and as a parent I have had the same conversation countless times with my kids. It’s hard for a six year old to understand that mom is not being fair, but mom is doing the right thing. You cannot give a six year old and a ten year old the same responsibilities, freedom, and privileges. Let’s take the example of cutting meat with a butcher’s knife: It will help the ten year old to gain independence and self confidence, but the six year old? Well, most probably a visit to the Emergency Room! Yet, the six year old will rightly feel that s/he is being treated unfairly like a “baby.” That’s parenting for you! You cannot even deal with your children in the same manner, because they have different personalities, temperaments, strengths, talents, needs, and weaknesses. Instead of trying to treat my kids equally I try to treat them as individuals with their own specific needs. It may not be fair, but it is just.

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One time, Jesus was invited to eat at the house of a Pharisee, named Simon. While there, a woman from the city, who used to be a sinner, dropped by, uninvited, bringing with her a jar of costly ointment to anoint Jesus. But as she stood behind Jesus, she was overwhelmed with emotion and started to weep. So deeply was she moved; so many her tears, that it wet Jesus’ feet. This was not planned, she had no towel with her, and so she did the next best thing: she loosened her hair, and dried Jesus’ feet with her hair. Flabbergasted, I suspect, she then remembered the costly ointment she brought. Trying to regain her composure, she broke open the alabaster jar and anointed Jesus’ feet instead of his head as she had planned.

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This Sunday we will take a closer look at the second topic in our new worship series called “A New Kind of Christianity:” What’s your view of God? In a recent Gallup poll survey researchers found that although 91.8% of people interviewed said they believe in God as a higher power or cosmic force, they had four distinct views of God’s personality and engagement in human affairs. These four views were dubbed by the researches as Authoritarian, Benevolent, Critical or Distant. The Authoritarian God is seen as angry at earthly sin and willing to inflict divine retribution. The Distant God is described as a faceless, cosmic force that launched the world but leaves it alone. Some saw God as a Benevolent God who sets absolute standards for humans, but is also forgiving, while others defined God as a Critical God – the classic bearded old man, judgmental but not intervening or punishing.

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This week we will look at the story of Esther. The Book of Esther is a WEIRD Bible book. Why? Well, God is not mentioned in the book. Not even once. No one calls on God for help; no one prays to God, there is no praising or worshipping of God. And God’s self is absent in the whole story: God doesn’t appear or speak to anyone, not even through dreams or miracles – nothing. Nada. The book is like no other book in the Bible. Imagine that, a book in Scripture that doesn’t mention God! What is that all about?

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Yesterday (Wednesday) was the funeral of California Highway Patrol Officer Philip Ortiz, who died June 22 from injuries suffered in an accident on the 405 Freeway. Officer Ortiz, 48, was writing a ticket in the emergency lane of the 405 freeway when he was struck by a car and pinned against the sport utility vehicle he had pulled over. At his funeral Mass held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, one of the speakers said what so many others have said in the midst of tragedy and violent death, “God took Officer Ortiz home.” I thought to myself, “Is God Good? Or Is God violent?”

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Last week I shared with you from the Book of Judges, chapter 11, the horrifying story of Jephthah’s unnamed daughter. This week we will look at the book of Judges once again, but this time the story is dramatically different. It is the story of a woman extraordinaire; it is the story of Deborah and Jael who delivered the Israelites from oppression. The story is told in narrative form in chapter 4 of the Book of Judges and retold in poetic form known as “The Song of Deborah” in chapter 5.

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