Pride Sunday!

This Sunday morning, we are gathering to celebrate Pride Sunday at 10:15AM. 

Rev. Israel Alvaran from the Reconciling Ministries Network is our guest preacher and Pastor Dale will be leading worship.  

During our service, Pastor Sunae and our church’s Reconciling leadership team will be participating in the Oakland Pride Parade with their own exhibit; supporting and standing in solidarity with our LGBTQIA+ siblings.  We will celebrate loudly and proudly with our community! 

Pastor Izzy says, “LGBTQ+ Pride embraces the whole spectrum of sexual orientation and gender identity, but allies need to recognize that LGBTQ+ persons also have diverse intersecting, embodied identities. Intersectional Justice, therefore, is part of our Reconciling work.”

Come, friends!  Let’s draw close to God and to one another as we sing songs to God in community. 

Taizé

Friends, we are invited to a Taizé service this Sunday.  You are probably wondering, “What is Taizé service?”

Taizé is a prayer service (pronounced <tah-ZAY>). 

Taizé was founded amid the profound divisions and discord of the Second World War by Roger Schutz known to many as Brother Roger to foster reconciliation and peace.  Named for the monastic spiritual community in Taizé, France, this unique form of contemplation invites you into an awareness of God’s presence through chant-like songs, scripture, and silent meditation.

Taizé service differs from the feel and format of our traditional Sunday morning services – there is no preaching, no effort to teach, and no communion.  The lights are dimmed and candles are lit.  Our Taizé prayer service offer a simple and peaceful space to gather, reflect, and be still.

What is fascinating is that Taizé has become one of the world’s most important sites of Christian pilgrimage, with a focus on youth. Over 100,000 young people from around the world makes pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer. 

We invite you to our Taizé service this Sunday with a pizza and salad dinner at 5:30PM. 

Bring your family.  In worship, children’s activities will be provided. 

Come, friends!  Let’s draw close to God and to one another as we center ourselves in prayer, songs, and contemplation.

Singing Sunday!

With every change comes opportunities!  With major roof repair work at Lake Merritt UMC, we are taking this opportunity to worship differently the next two Sundays. 

This Sunday’s worship theme is “Sing!  Praise the Lord! For God has been good to us!”   (Psalm 126)   Our worship will be a “Singing Service” with a pizza and salad dinner at 5:30PM. 

Bring your family.  In worship, children’s activities will be provided. 

Matt Redman, one of the contemporary worship leaders shares, “In the end, worship can never be a performance, something you’re pretending or putting on.  It’s got to be an overflow of your heart… Worship is about getting personal with God, drawing close to God.”

Come, friends!  Let’s draw close to God and to one another as we sing songs to God in community. 

Rally Sunday

Celebrating Children, Youth, Music and Our Choirs!

Time is passing by so fast! Our kids are beginning a new school year which means new
backpack, new shoes and cloths, new books and stationaries, new classroom, teacher, and new friends. Not only that! We look forward to new hope and dream! What an exciting time!

After the summer break, our choir is coming back to usher us to the presence of God through music.

We want to bless this special season for our children and also our choir for their renewed effort in their calling.

Today’s gospel, John 4, we will be reflecting on Jesus’ interaction with an unknown woman at the well. Through her interaction with Jesus, she becomes a completely different person and begins to take risk! I am talking about “Faith” not in the sense of intellectual assent to doctrinal formulation but “faith” more in its biblical sense of trust, a living and active trust that makes it possible to take significant risks. We pray that our children will come to this kind of vibrant, trusting, risk-taking faith. Amen! Bring your family and friends! Join us this Sunday!

Come friends!

Climate Action:

What Can We Do?

Pastor Dale will be preaching on “What Can We Do?” 

Early 20th Century Canadian activist Nellie McClung wrote: “Let us do our little bit with cheerfulness and not take the responsibility that belongs to God.  None of us can turn the earth around.  All we can ever hope to do is to hit it a few whacks on the right side.”

 The “whacks” that we progressive Methodists of Christian faith can provide are rooted in the reality of the God who is immanent in all creation and the transcendent vision that God gives us of the wholeness of life.  As our actions on behalf of a liveable planet are rooted in this vision of sustainable life for all, we can imagine the radical changes that we must be part of implementing this decade and do them in collaboration with all people of good will.  Join us this Sunday!

Come friends!

Climate Justice:

Who is Most Impacted?

COMMUNION SUNDAY

Welcome to the third Sunday of the Climate Justice Worship series!  We were deeply inspired, informed, and challenged by Rev. Sharon Delgado’s message last Sunday about “What’s at Stake” with climate change and chaos.  Today, she will be reflecting on “Who is Most Impacted”.

Rev. Sharon Delgado writes, “The concept of climate justice acknowledges that rising global temperatures are devastating God’s creation, that those who didn’t cause the problem are most impacted, and that this injustice must be made right.”

Romans 8:22-23 says, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly”.   Rev. Delgado continues to share, “Creation’s groans are growing louder at this time of peril. We hear the groans of sea creatures who can’t adapt to the rapidly heating oceans. We hear the groans of wild animals of every kind, who are being forced by rising temperatures to adapt or perish. We hear the groans of people in island nations whose lands are being submerged, people in African nations suffering extreme drought and famine, people who live in sacrifice zones where there is no insurance or FEMA to fall back on, climate refugees fleeing disaster zones, children wondering what their future will be. We hear creation’s groans, and as part of creation, we ourselves “groan inwardly.”

Siblings, we must wrestle with this urgent problem of our whole creation suffering with climate change and justice.  Join us this Sunday.

Come friends!