Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Pastor’s Blog”
Keith Calara, Barbara Barrett and I have been leading a class for people interested in church membership. The first week our guest was Dianne Mahler, who provided lunch and asked each one in the group to identify a passion. The next week Pat Hitchcock and Michael Herzog shared about spiritual practices (“means of grace”) that help us stay connected to God. Last week our guests were Dorothy Northey, Bonnie Andersen, and Dottie Lee, who explained the history of our Sanctuary Ministry.…
“The Christian faith is one of death and resurrection, of death and new life, and there’s a sense that there is something beyond the next step. I don’t believe for a second God’s declining or God’s going anywhere. It’s just that the structure we’ve created that is the American church and all of our associated property, frankly, is going to change.”
Gone for Good? Negotiating the Coming Wave of Church Property Transition
by Mark Elsdon
Two weeks ago our congregation hosted the Napa Valley Community Foundation here for an event called “Can We Get An Amen for Housing?”…
The Church Council has voted to create a free community lunch at our church on the last Sunday of every month. The first lunch is Sunday, January 28th at 11:30am, The Church Council realized the need for our congregation to eat and fellowship together, and that the last Sunday of the month can be when money is low for others in our community.
We’ll take flyers around the neighborhood and post on social media, inviting the community to eat lunch with us on the last Sunday of every month.…
This Sunday is Epiphany, Intergenerational Worship, and Communion. We’re beginning a new worship series, “Known and Called”. After the celebration of the birth of Jesus, we move into a season of hearing the stories of people discovering and recognizing the identity of Jesus. In the time from Epiphany to the beginning of Lent, we will discover the depth of who Jesus is, and by extension who we are called to be as His followers. How are we known as followers? What identifies us in such a way that others see an unmistakable likeness in us? …
Everyone needs an appreciation Sunday and a basketful of care and kindness! Thank you so much to our Staff Parish Relations Committee and everyone who expressed their love and appreciation for me on Pastor’s Appreciation Sunday! Being in ministry with all of you is a gift ~ and I hope that I often remember to tell you how much I appreciate you.
The news is hard right now, and we feel the grief and horror of war, whether or not we’re watching CNN.…
I’ve been thinking about Ata and Adam Manasra, friends from Palestine, who visited us here in July. I’m heartsick about the violence and retaliation in the Holy Land, and I’m praying for all innocent people, especially children. When the Bosnia War started – and stories of ethnic cleansing were in the news – I asked my pastor what we could do about it. “Don’t let it happen in your neighborhood” was her puzzling and unsatisfying answer.
I realize now that it’s easier to solve world problems rather than our own.…
“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; God’s the One who will
keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all.” Proverbs 3:5-6
Change gives me a stomach ache. Each time I’ve received a call from a District
Superintendent with the words, “The Bishop is appointing you to _ church” my
stomach hurts. I don’t want to move, change, start again.…