“Like humility, generosity comes from seeing that everything we have and everything we accomplish comes from God’s grace and God’s love for us.
This Sunday we welcome the Rev. Felix Villanueva, the Conference Minister of the So California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ. Felix will be preaching during worship, then after a brief Social Hour, we will have a Question & Answer period in the Sanctuary. This is your chance to ask any questions you have about the UCC! This is also our final UCC discernment Sunday before we vote whether to begin the process of seeking transfer to the UCC.
A while ago my sister-in-law sent me this piece:
There Are Two Kinds of Legacy
When you die, your possessions will be distributed according to a will in which you allocated property to specific people. Objects left in a will are called a legacy.
But “legacy” also has a much deeper meaning.
In Jewish tradition, people write “ethical wills” in which they pass on to the next generation, especially their children, the gift of wisdom and good wishes. This legacy is far more profound and permanent than bequests of property.
There’s an old joke in clergy circles that’s often passed around at stewardship and pledge time. It goes something like this: “50 weeks out of the year we preach that ‘money is the roof of all evil.’ The other 2 weeks of the year, we ask them to give it to the church.”
For the last six months or so our congregation has been in an intense process of spiritual discernment. Spiritual discernment is the practice of listening and the process of seeking – listening for God’s word and seeking the movement of God’s Spirit in the life of the congregation. It is sort of the thing you need to do before you make a big decision that will affect the future of the congregation. Why? Because without listening for God’s voice we tend to make decisions only for ourselves – driven by our own minds and our own ideas.
This summer while attending the General Synod of the United Church of Christ (the national setting of the UCC), I heard a term I had not ever heard before and it caused me to think deeply about my life and my (current) position of privilege. That term is “Temporarily Abled Person.” The context in which this term was used made it all the more disturbing: it was a presentation on one of the UCC’s four commitments to inclusion in ministry called “Accessible to All,” sometimes shortened to “A2A.”
This Sunday we are celebrating World Communion, and we will read from the Scripture passage in Matthew 26 of how it all started. The night before his crucifixion Jesus had one last dinner with his disciples. Every time we celebrate Communion we are remembering that last meal. Eating dinner together didn’t look anything like what we are used to today. There were no utensils; you read correctly, no knives, no forks, also no individual plates or bowls. Nope, everyone shared one bowl – it was the custom of the time to serve meals in one large common bowl. Everyone sitting around the table would tear off a piece of bread which they would use as a scoop. Then, leaning forward, you would reach into a common bowl, scoop up some food, and then eat it.
I hope you’ll join us for our annual fall worship service and picnic in Griffith Park. Former WHPC member Garry Orange, who now lives in Las Vegas, began this great tradition and is coming in from Las Vegas to join us! Thank you Garry and we look forward to seeing you!
This Sunday we’ll be joined by our friends from Altadena Community Church, so it’s also a really special opportunity to worship with them and share stories about what it’s like to be a member of the United Church of Christ. We had a fabulous time at Altadena and we expect an equally great time together this coming Sunday.
THERE WILL BE NO WORSHIP SERVICE AT THE CHURCH THIS SUNDAY!
There has always been something about the Biblical story of the Ethiopian Eunuch that led me to suspect this guy was gay. But let me take us on a little diversion, then I’ll come back to this “gaydar experience” I had.
In the early 1990’s I was having a conversation with members of the gay and lesbian clergy association of LA that Rabbi Denise Eger and I formed. I shared with my colleagues that I was bored to death with explaining how the five “texts of terror” (the five primary passages in the Christian Scriptures that are used to oppress and denigrate gay and lesbian people) had no relevancy to our current understanding of homosexuality. From the conversation that ensued, I knew I had just spoken of a burden we were all carrying.
The way the Holy Spirit works in and through our lives never ceases to amaze me! At the request of many members, months ago I planned our three week series on Spiritual Discernment. People were asking me, “What is Spiritual Discernment?” and “How does it work?” So after talking with some of the most gifted people I know who lead ministries of spiritual discernment, I distilled it down to three main points:
1. Sensing God’s Call or Leading in our Lives – a process that often begins with an experience of “dislocation.” Something doesn’t feel right. I’m not content with where I am spiritually or personally. Something’s out of sync. That’s usually how it begins.
2. The second dynamic is about “releasing:” Letting Go and Leaving Behind so we can embrace the new.
3. The third dynamic is following where the Holy Spirit is leading you/us.
This Sunday we focus on the second dynamic: “Letting Go and Leaving Behind so that we can Embrace The New.”