Sunday*
9:00am Contemporary Worship Service
11:00am Traditional Worship Service
11:00 am Fellowship
Wednesday
6:30 pm Scriptures Study
*Communion
1st Sunday of Month
Church Description:
BE EMBRACED BY GOD'S LOVE!
WHO ARE WE?
A thriving community of faith, the United Church of Christ of La Mesa is committed to spiritual and intellectual growth in an atmosphere of love and Our vibrant, celebrative worship sparks the imagination, encouraging us to dream big dreams then live them. We welcome ALL people — tall, short, young, old, male, female, black, white, brown, yellow, single, married, divorced, widowed, gay, straight, Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal, moderate — from all walks of life, for we are ALL created in God’s own image. We are a truly diverse congregation who love one another as God loves us.
WHAT DO WE BELIEVE? WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT?
We’ll be glad to tell you but, before we do, you should know that we think how you live and what you do are far more important! You can usually tell what people believe by what they do — and we’d like a chance to let our actions and our lives speak for us. God is still speaking and we believe, with the late Gracie Allen, that we should never put a period where God has placed a comma.
WHAT DO WE DO?
Our Motto: "Doing together what we cannot do alone."
We Sponsor: Adoption Support Groups After-School Tutoring Bible Studies Book Discussion Charley Brown Children’s Center El Nido Apartments Global Mission Support Interfaith Shelter Worldwide Missions Religious Education San Diego Ecumenical Council Small Groups Ministry Substance Abuse Recovery Support Groups Women’s Fellowship Youth Group
Mission Statement
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
As the United Church of Christ of La Mesa we strive to: Love and understand the spirit of God as communicated through the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Grow with one another by accepting, supporting and loving through worship, service and fellowship. Demonstrate our faith through active involvement in our community and the world in all its diversity.
Statement of Faith
United Church of Christ Statement of Faith—adapted by Robert V. Moss
We believe in God, the Eternal Spirit, who is made known to us in Jesus our brother, and to whose deeds we testify:
God calls the worlds into being, creates humankind in the divine image, and sets before us the ways of life and death.
God seeks in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.
God judges all humanity and all nations by that will of righteousness declared through prophets and apostles.
In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Lord,God has come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the whole creation to its Creator.
God bestows upon us the Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.
God calls us into the church to accept the cost and joy of discipleship, to be servants in the service of the whole human family, to proclaim the gospel to all the world and resist the powers of evil, to share in Christ's baptism and eat at his table,to join him in his passion and victory.
God promises to all who trust in the gospel forgiveness of sins and fullness of grace, courage in the struggle for justice and peace,the presence of the Holy Spirit in trial and rejoicing, and eternal life in that kingdom which has no end.
Blessing and honor, glory and power be unto God.
Amen.
Toward the 21st Century: A Statement of Commitment
We, the United Church of Christ, look toward the twenty-first Century with anticipation. We trust God's promises. We are eager to respond to God's call. We believe that God does have more truth and light yet to break forth from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
A Church attentive to the Word
By God's grace, we will be an attentive church. We commit ourselves anew to listen for God's Word in Holy Scripture, in our rich heritage, in faithful witness, and in the fresh winds of the Holy Spirit so that we might discover God's way for us.
We are claimed in baptism as children of God, disciples of Christ, and members of Christ's church. Through sustained Biblical and theological reflection on the challenges, confusions. injustices, mercies and possibilities that confront us, we hope to discern baptism's claim so that we might be the faithful disciples these days require.
We want to remember whose we are. Therefore, we will be faithful in worship and study, attentive to the Word and nurtured at the Table. We will be a people of prayer.
We want to be faithful disciples. Therefore, we will relate our faith boldly to all of life's demands.
We want all people to know of God's gracious activity on our behalf. Therefore, we will share God's Good News so that God's way may be revealed, God's forgiveness received, and God's future affirmed.
A Church inclusive of all people
By God's grace, we will be an inclusive church. We commit ourselves to be a church for all people and, in Christ, we celebrate, affirm, and embrace the rich diversity of God's good creation.
We seek to be a fully inclusive community of faith, sharing bread and cup with all who see, in Christ, the way to our common future. We believe that God desires our oneness with all people, everywhere, and we long for the day when we may all be one.
We acknowledge that we are far less inclusive than we are called to be. Therefore, we will intentionally reach out into the world and lovingly invite all to Christ, and to participate fully in the ordering of our common life.
We acknowledge that we sometimes find it difficult to accept the gifts that others bring. Therefore, we will seek to be open to those gifts, affirm them, learn from them, and, at the leading of the Holy Spirit, be transformed by them.
We acknowledge that the world in which we live is far more diverse than we have hitherto imagined. We celebrate this rich diversity. Therefore, united in Christ, we will reach toward it in anticipation of God's reign.
A Church responsive to God's call
By God's grace, we will be a responsive church. We commit ourselves to be a church of justice and mercy and peace so that lives may be renewed, spirits revived, and worlds transformed.
So many of God's people suffer. So many are maltreated. God's good earth cries out in pain. Our world needs those who will pursue justice, show mercy, and seek peace. That is the church we hear God calling us to be. We want "to join oppressed and troubled people in the struggle for liberation . . . and to work for justice, healing, and wholeness of life." [Quote from the UCC Statement of Mission]
We envision a world wherein "justice will flow down like mighty waters." Therefore, we will stand alongside those who hurt so that the hungry may be fed, the excluded embraced, and the creation renewed.
We envision a world wherein mercy reigns. Therefore, we will heal the sick, encourage the weary, and support the dying.
We envision a world of peace for all people, everywhere. Therefore, we will be peacemakers so that hostilities and hatreds may cease and love, mercy, and justice prevail.
A Church supportive of one another
By God's grace, we will be a supportive church. We commit ourselves to strengthen Christ's body through renewed resolve and mutual support in our common ministries.
In the immediate days ahead, our servant church will face days of challenge. We will need dedicated pastors and teachers. We will need vibrant congregations. Only a people who share a common vision, who support each other whatever the cost, and who are committed, together, to strengthen Christ's Church for ministry will be equal to the task. We want to be that church.
We believe that a vital church is a covenantal church. Therefore, we will be supportive of each other and accountable to each other.
We believe that a vital church is a sacrificial church. Therefore, we will give sacrificially of our resources so that Christ's Church may be strengthened and God's people served.
We believe that a vital church is a "united and uniting church." Therefore, we will seek to embody the oneness of Christ's church through ecumenical commitment, witness, and ministries in Christ's name.
About this testimony
In 1993, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ adopted this "Statement of Commitment" as the starting point for four "seasons" of churchwide theological reflection on the future of our community of faith as we enter the 21st century. The statement underscores that the UCC seeks to be a church where all people—including those historically excluded by the Christian community—can find a home.
For more information about the United Church of Christ, go to: http://www.ucc.org.
Message from the Pastor
From One Servant to Many…
By Rev. Felix C. Villanueva
June 2010
Now I know that the LORD will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand. (Psalm 20:6, NRSV)
Psalm 20 was written “for the king,” the anointed of God. On one hand, it is possible to read this psalm as nothing more than ancient political propaganda. In other words, God is on our side and God will give us the victory. On the other hand, we could read the psalm from the perspective that God is the main character, not the king or the people. In other words, Psalm 20 is actually anti-militaristic. It calls us to submit our will to God’s will rather than pretend that our will is God’s will.
Communities of faith have always prayed for the leaders both at Church and in government. That practice and this psalm remind us that, while we look toward our leaders to guide us, our leaders must also look at the Divine for guidance.
Yet the psalm’s words also speak a message to those who follow the appointed leaders. The subjects of a righteous leader shall expect God’s justice. This way Psalm 20 become a prayer for both leaders and for those who are led.
The psalm urges us to pray for our leaders. But it also warns us against pride in any power except God. Those who rely on “horses and chariots” will “collapse and fall.” Only those who rely on the power of the name of God will “rise and stand upright.” The psalmist prays for both the weak and the powerful who understand and work for the fulfillment of that witness.
The weak will pray for and look for the fruits of justice. Those who seek justice will have at their disposal the resources of love, faith and hope. They will be informed by a longing for justice to prevail.
God’s justice calls for a victory that overcomes the world with the interests of God. To allow for justice that empowers the weak and overcomes the oppression of the unjust powerful, the powerful will need a well-developed sense of social sin. The weak will need an understanding of the often-used rhetoric of those in power to cover sin. God’s message will be proclaimed and accepted by the anointed of God, the righteous leader, who will seek words and actions that reflect true moral values, such as integrity, humility, peacemaking and justice for all.
Amen.
From One Servant to Many...by Rev. Felix C. Villanueva, May, 2010
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us -- and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. (1 John 3:16-20)
The author of First John defines love for one another as the foundational concept of his community. The Greek word used here is agape, which could be translated as “active goodwill.” The author associates love with taking action to meet physical need. How many times have we said, “Don’t tell me that you love me. Show me!” to someone?
The author goes a bit further to suggest that it is inconceivable that someone with an abundance of physical possessions could say that he or she loves those who are less fortunate and not share his or her possessions with them.
In addition, the text associates the act of love with a willingness to sacrifice oneself for the object of love. The author uses Jesus’ sacrifice as the ultimate example of this type of love. The writer expects that the true believers in his community will sacrifice themselves for the good of the world, even at the risk of losing their lives in the process.
As the church, we are called to demonstrate agape love through our actions as we meet the physical and spiritual needs of others. Through our faith, we have been given the opportunity to go that “extra mile,” to extend a loving hand to those around us. And we are called to show agape love to everyone, not just those who share our nationality, skin color, sexual preference or religion. We must manifest love if we seek to follow Christ’s example. If we claim we are followers of Christ and do not demonstrate agape love, we deny the foundation of our faith.
I pray that you discover this issue of Joys and Concerns to be exciting and promising as we continue working together to bring God’s realm into fruition.
From One Servant to Many...by Rev. Felix C. Villanueva
God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth." God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God's nature. He created them male and female.
(Genesis 1:26-27, The Message)
One of the things I like the most about living in Southern California is the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of the area. It’s hard to imagine that only a few years back, mixed racial marriages were illegal in the State. Although we have come a long way since then, there is still much more work to do.
The truth is that in God’s infinite wisdom we were created as unique and different as we could be, and yet, at the same time, we were created the same. That’s quite a paradox, don’t you think? By the same token, many of our perceived differences are acquired and they are not part of our genetic makeup. As a child growing up in Puerto Rico, I did not know what racial discrimination was. Although from different racial backgrounds, Puerto Ricans share the same identity regardless of the color of their skins. Sadly enough, I learned about racial discrimination and felt it in my own skin when I first arrived in the Continental U.S.A.
In the same manner we develop traits and behaviors that differentiate and sometimes separate us from one another. The opposite is also true: the more effort we put into liking things that are different, the more we grow. We are not born liking certain types of music, food or people. Those are habits and behaviors that we learn as we grow up. Sometimes we put a lot of effort in learning and acquiring those behaviors and habits. There is not accident that the greater effort we place in acquiring a new behavior or habit, usually the more we feel it is part of our nature.
This is nowhere so true as in our relationships. The more effort we place in connecting with one another, the more we receive. I am often saddened by the fact that many people don’t enjoy high quality relationships. That’s why often we settle for less than we deserve; sometimes we believe that that’s all we deserve. Each of us deserves to be wholly known by other people. At the same time, there is nothing scarier than being known by who we truly are.
When we meet one another fully and openly we learn about ourselves. When we withhold who we are from others, we cheat ourselves of the blessing of living life as God intended it for us. When we tear down the barriers that separate from one another, we discover the blessing of being in relationship and the trust that develops as we truly care for one another.
Someone once said, “Quality attracts quality.” This is never more true than in relationships. If we have trouble with our relationships, we should re-evaluate the traits and behaviors we have acquired throughout our life. Only then, can we strive to be more like what God intended us to be from the beginning. Amen.
From One Servant to Many...by Rev. Félix C. Villanueva (January 2010)
So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it. Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. (Colossians 3:12-15, The Message).
Like many of you, I like to start a new year doing a little self-examination and establishing new resolutions.For me, resolutions are guidelines that help me keep my life focused on the truly important things.However, sometimes I miss the mark and fail to accomplish what I have set out to do.But, failing to accomplish my goals does not translate into giving up.After every setback I refine and refocus and continue my journey.After all, that’s what grace is all about!At the end, the real goal, the only goal that counts, is that I share God’s unconditional love with others.
Maybe that’s the message the writer of Colossians is trying to convey when he describes the characteristics of a person for whom love is the main goal.The first series of parameters described have to do with inner strength: “compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline.”It has been my personal experience that I can easily accomplish these when there is someone in need. But I discover it is very hard to be compassionate, kind, humble and disciplined when I feel my personal safety, honor or reputation is at stake.That’s when I fail miserably at achieving these goals.I also believe that it is during those times when a threat is perceived, be it real or not, that the above characteristics need to flourish if I truly want to live a life that is driven by unconditional love.
“Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense.Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you.” These goals could be summarized as “be peaceful and thankful.”Living at peace with others is sometimes difficult.Will what I say and do promote peace in my family, my church, my community and the world?Will I, will God, be thankful for I how I treated others?
Sometimes we dream about how the world would look if we were to achieve peace and understanding among all the nations.However, we tend to forget that world peace will never be achieved if we cannot apply these principles in our personal lives. The song “Let There Be Peace on Earth” drives this point home:
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our Creator
Kindred all are we.
Let us walk with each other
In perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
With peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.
These should be our guiding principles if we are to live a life anchored in God’s unconditional love. Amen!
Happy New Year!
From One Servant to Many...by Rev. Félix C. Villanueva (December 2009)
The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me. He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken, announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners. God sent me to announce the year of his grace - a celebration of God's destruction of our enemies - and to comfort all who mourn, to care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. (Isaiah 7:1-7, The Message).
Do you know which is the ugliest four-letter word in the English language? Wait! And, do you know which is the “scariest” six-letter word? Change! Isaiah is telling us, the church, that if we wait for God we will be transformed! Maybe that is the reason why many churches tend to overlook the season of Advent and rush to celebrate Christmas.
See, there is no risk in watching a baby born in a manger with an angelical host singing and a celebration of cosmic proportions. Babies are cute and non-threatening. And when we become mesmerized by the baby Jesus we tend to forget that Advent is the season of preparation and expectation for the coming of Christ; a season of waiting and change.
We tend to forget that the baby grew up to challenge the cultural and religious establishment of his time. We tend to forget that in the process he made many enemies and that one of his so-called friends betrayed him. We forget that he was arrested, judged, condemned and murdered. And we forget that something happened and the one who once was dead, all of a sudden is being preached as alive! We forget that those who believe in his resurrection claim he would come back to restore order and justice in the world.
And in doing so, we tend to forget that Advent challenges us to examine our lives, to reflect on our need for God to enter our lives and to earnestly prepare for and eagerly await for the coming of Christ, in the celebration of the Incarnation and in Christ’s continual coming in our daily living. At Advent we practice waiting and risk change.
The Advent message is very simple: “Be watchful and alert.” As we watch and wait, we might want to reflect on:
· The individualistic mentality that keeps us from connecting with one another
· The temptation to rely on power and even violence instead of active nonviolence
· The tendency to accumulate wealth instead of sharing material resources
· The practice of judging things from the limited view of our culture alone
· The lack of a seamless, all-inclusive respect for life
· The excessive power of the media which limits our vision
· The lack of direct contact with those who are in need or are different than ourselves
Advent calls us to slow down so that we may be aware of God’s continuous comings to us and among us. Advent calls us to take time in our lives to simply be: to simply be with God - to sit with God and to look at our lives from God’s perspective. Allowing God to be who God is within us is learning to know God, not just knowing about God. This Advent may we consciously choose to live as if God’s presence invades us, invades all men and women, invades all human experience, invades every part of our lives. Amen!
From One Servant to Many…by Rev. Félix C. Villanueva (November 2009)
“Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you” (Psalm 33:22, NRSV).
“By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas (Psalm 65:5, NRSV).
I can’t believe it’s already November. Where has the year gone? For us here at UCCLM, November means Stewardship Campaign, budget, Advent and all the planning that comes with the Holiday season. Just thinking about it can make anyone, including your pastor, a bit anxious.
I need to remind myself that anxiety makes us lose focus, that fear makes us lose sight of what is important in life. So, I have to stop and make an inventory of the things that really matter: loving relationships, family, community, a sense of direction and faith.
The truth is we live in anxious times. In spite of all the promises, the economy doesn’t improve quickly enough. People are still losing their jobs and not enough new jobs are being created. It seems that everywhere we look there is “doom and gloom.” Hopelessness, it appears, is the feeling of the day.
I believe that as the Church we are in the business of hope. When the world is turned upside-down, our faith provides a message of restoration, strength and hope. What would become of humanity if we, too, were to fall into the anxiety and fear trap?
As we enter this season of thanksgiving and new birth, we are reminded that hope was born in the most unlikely of places, a stable. Let us not forget that the messenger of that hope was not the child of kings or rulers but the son of an unwed teenager and a carpenter. Let us not forget that the child grew up and lived a life which demonstrated what hope looks like. The blind were given sight; lepers were healed; the dead were brought to life. In other words, the hopeless were given hope and were restored into community life.
Out of the most unlikely circumstances, God makes God’s self present to remind us that, as long as we have faith, hope is never lost and that God is always near! Amen.
From One Servant to Many…by Rev. Félix C. Villanueva (October 2009)
“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace…” (Prayer of Saint Francis)
A few weeks ago, Linda Fellers (Fred and Ada Cicalo’s daughter) gave me a book which was part of Fred’s library. In a note she wrote, Linda said, “I found this book in my father’s library and thought its best home would be with you….” The book is entitled, Make Me an Instrument of your Peace: Living in the Spirit of the Prayer of Saint Francis by Kent Netburn (Harper-Collins, San Francisco, 1999).
Netburn begins the book by using the image being awakened by the sound of a bird singing. As the morning unfolds, other songs and noises join the bird in a beautiful melody. Then he adds, “I thought of an image a teacher had once offered me. God, he said, is like a great symphony in which we must all play our individual parts. None of us can hear the whole; none of us is suited to play all the parts. We must be willing to accept the limitations of the instrument we have been given and to offer up our voice as part of the great unimaginable creation that is the voice of God.
The author proceeds to talk about St. Francis’ love for music and how his song was truly a prayer to God. He says, “When Francis asks to be an instrument of God’s peace, he is bowing down before God’s skill as maker, as musician, as composer of our days, and offering himself up to be shaped in the form through which the voice of God can be heard.”
He concludes the first chapter by saying, “Most of us do not live special lives. We are seldom called upon to make great pronouncements or to perform heroic deeds. We fall in love, raise children, have heartbreaks, help those in need when we can. We go to our beds at nigh uncertain whether our actions have had any effect.”
“But when Francis calls us to pray to be instruments of God’s peace, he is reminding us to honor our own part in the music of creation, no matter how humble or great. He is reminding us that what we are asked to do may be no more than to offer a trill to the coming dawn or to play soft pure notes beneath the bright music of the violin. But if we humbly accept our part as a gift and play it well, we will have done our small part to help create the symphony of God’s voice.”
“…Francis reminds us that we are the reed through which the breath of God is blown, the strings on which the music of God is played. For this brief moment, he reminds us, our lives are music in the heart of God.” Amen.
From One Servant to Many...by Rev. Félix C. Villanueva August 2009)
Although a well-versed computer user, I am a recent newcomer to the world of Facebook. One of my nieces invited me to join, so I did. When I first signed up, my primary goal was to connect with relatives with whom I haven’t had contact for years - and with some I have never met. It was also an opportunity to stay connected with many of my high school classmates.
To tell you the truth, I don’t spend much time on Facebook, but many people do. Regardless, it is fascinating to read what people post on the pages. From what someone had for breakfast, lunch or dinner, to how much time they spend on the games and mind teasers the site offers, to what’s on their mind at one point or another, people share their lives with one another.
People build community, provide support to each other and talk about all kinds of things. One thing I have realized through my time on Facebook is how great a need for connection people have. But more than that, people have a need to be heard and accepted as they are. Sometimes, when I read some of the notes my friends leave on their pages, I wonder what’s their pain or what challenge they are facing. And, true, sometimes I learn things about people I’d rather not.
All this to say how important it is that we connect with one another. Sometimes we see each other at church, exchange greetings and pleasantries, then we go on our way without getting to know the other person.
Sometimes it takes getting on Facebook to really know that person. One problem with getting to know each other electronically, however, is that it takes away human interaction. No matter how hard I try, I cannot always put my feelings into words and sometimes there are no words that could describe how I feel.
I am encouraged by the fact that many of our UCCLM members not only connect through Facebook, but use the website to coordinate activities and get-togethers. And, many new friendships have been sparked by their electronic connection.
I thank God for the many vehicles we have available to show love and to get to know each other better. I hope and pray that we continue to show God’s love by any means available. Amen.
From One Servant To Many...by Rev. Félix C. Villanueva July, 2009)
“Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’" (Genesis 12:1-4, NRSV)
I have often said that my main goal in life is to become a blessing to others; to leave this world a little better than I found it; to help somebody as I journey through life. I also know that I am not the only person in this world who has this goal. What doctor has not dreamed of discovering the cure for cancer? What farmer or food scientist has not fantasized about a miracle crop to feed those starving around the world?
Even some of the most cruel tyrants set out, in the beginning, to help people, to seek a solution for a crisis in their time. Yet, in the end, many of us fail. In the end, so many people live their lives without concern about what their lives could mean to the world. Maybe the problem is not that people lose sight of their goals, perhaps the problem lies in the way we conceive our life’s goals in the first place.
I remember my days as a college student. Like many college students, I was a dreamer. I dreamed of world peace; I dreamed of the end of world hunger. And, somehow, I felt I was capable of accomplishing all that. I dreamed of becoming a great benefactor, or even a Nobel Prize winner. Then life and reality set in and I discovered that I had to grow up and set aside my adolescent dreams. With my lofty dreams set aside, I began the pursuit of my “true” goal: to find the key to personal happiness.
But as I grew older, I realized that becoming a blessing to others is within my reach and that such should be the goal for my life. In a strange way, I rediscovered the passion of my youth and my life was redefined.
Each one of us has talents, skills, insight and, above all, love to give, which, when dedicated to the common good, will leave this world much richer, because we were here. A good parent is a blessing, as is a faithful spouse or partner. A good teacher, sanitation worker, bus driver, musician or retired volunteer can touch other lives with laughter or with courtesy and consideration.
I look at my own life, my ministry, my play time, the relationships I cherish, and even those I put up with, and I ask myself what blessings might I share with them. I pray that I can focus on the needs of others as well as on my own needs. I pray that I can learn the lessons taught by Jesus: to understand that we are all made in such a way that we can find joy in one another; that we can only experience peace when we share our peace with others; that we can only receive life when we give it away.
The chances of me ever winning a Nobel Prize are pretty slim, but I hope I can always be a blessing
From One Servant To Many...by Rev. Félix C. Villanueva (June, 2009)
Then Moses went up to God; the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.” (Exodus 19:3-6)
Summer is upon us! Sometimes that translates to lots of sunshine and the occasional trip away from home. For many of us, this is the time to sit back and relax a little. For me, summer is also the time when I stop to reflect on the meaning of my life. The question in my mind during this time is: What do I want to do when I grow up? For, you see, I will turn fifty-three this summer. I have been a pastor for twenty-seven years and I don’t contemplate a change to that any time soon. So, what should I be when I grow up?
This question is not about which profession or career I decide to pursue, but about who I want to be. That’s the question the ancients had to answer on Mount Sinai. That’s the question God is constantly asking us. For me, on my fifty-third birthday this July, I would like learn to be kind to those around me. Not that I am not kind now, but I could use a little more kindness in my life.
I need to learn more kindness because kindness is next to holiness and it is through kindness that holiness enters the world. I remember watching the movie Gandhi in the theater when it first came out. Like most crowds, we were kind of noisy as, popcorn and Cokes in hand, we sat there waiting for the lights to dim. By the time the movie came to a close with the flames of Gandhi’s funeral pyre filling the entire screen, there wasn’t a sound or a movement in that entire theater. We had all been touched by kindness.
I want to learn to be kind enough, not just to play it safe with my life for my own sake, but to spend at least part of my life in total abandonment in God’s arms, for God’s sake, and for the world, and thus come truly alive. I want to be kind to others, to listen, to go beneath the words they speak for that unspoken hunger for relationship we all have with others and with God.
I want to be kind to myself, so I can show kindness to others. Amen.
Happenings
1. Wow, What a Day!
2. Auction 2007
3. UCCLM recipient of 2997 Eleonore & Oliver Powell Award
4. UCCLM Youth Plan Mission Trip to Puerto Rico
6. 50th Anniversary Quilt
One Man’s Struggle with Faith, Love and Gender Identity
The Open and Affirming (ONA) Committee of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa invites you to a showing of the movie Call Me Malcolm, the story of Rev. Malcolm (nee Miriam) Himschoot, the man Kevin Duchschere of the Minneapolis-St. Paul StarTribune said “may be the closest thing to a rock star in the world of Protestant ministry: young, brainy, charming, subject of a new documentary, recently married – and transgendered.
“… an amazing story of the human spirit and God’s spirit, and the liberating struggle to realize and express with confidence the marvelous gift of one’s truest sense of self,”* Call Me Malcolm will be presented at 5:30pm, Sunday, September 19, 2010 in Friendship Hall of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa, 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942 (619-464-1519, www.ucclm.org). The movie will be preceded by a potluck dinner – please bring a dish to share.
Everyone welcome! Popcorn provided.
*http://www.ucc.org/lgbt/callmemalcolm.html
UCCLM Starts New Study Group
Practice peace, joy, self-mastery and justice through meditation, silence, spiritual reading, contemplative prayer, simplicity, solitude, observing Holy Days and fasting.
Starting August 1, 2010, Sunday Morning Live! – an adult education class of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM) – will offer a new study program based on Brian McLaren’s Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices (copies available). All are welcome.
The group meets Sundays at 8:15am in the Library at UCCLM, 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942. For additional information, contact Dick Hatch, dick.hatch@gmail.com, 619-589-2087.
Annual Gathering 2010 - Spotlight on Félix
by Mary Domb Mikkelson
Michelle Palmer said it best (in her Facebook commentary) – “boo… Yay!... boo… Yay!... boo… Yay!... Yay!”
Félix – the Reverend Félix Carlos Villanueva, that is – is now Conference Minister Elect for the Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ.
He’s leaving UCCLM, leaving us.
We knew it was coming, of course, but suddenly it’s so very final…set in stone…irrevocable. And we are, in the words of Dick Hatch, in a state of “intense ambivalence.” Happy for Félix, proud of him, rooting for him… crying in our beer all the while.
Here’s how it went down at the Annual Gathering in Santa Ana.
Representing 78 Conference churches, 188 delegates and 104 visitors descended on the First Congregational Church of Santa Ana, ready to meet and greet friends old and new, worship, deal with Conference business and elect the new Conference Minister.
It was a time of whirlwind activity, one event piling upon another, one memory-making moment succeeding another.
For me – and, I suspect, many others – Annual Gathering 2010 will forever be encapsulated in those moments, perhaps especially those in which we connected, prayed, sang and laughed.
The last first. Humor…novelist Leo Rosten, author of The Joys of Yiddish, defined it this way – “Humor is the affectionate communication of insight.”
That works.
An example: in the question and answer session followed Félix’s “Candidate’s Statement” he was asked, “What’s the funny story told about your accent?”
Professing ignorance, he turned to Sherry (in the audience). Her “cue” produced a grimace and a sputtered “I still can’t pronounce that word!”
With that, he called her to the pulpit.
“Félix was being deployed to Iraq,” she explained, “so we went shopping for items he would need. One, he insisted, was a ‘wheezil.’ Not having a clue, I wandered the aisles, hoping to figure out just what a wheezil was. No luck. ‘I’m sorry, Félix,’ I said, ‘but I can’t find one. What exactly is a wheezil?’
“‘I need it for security,’ he explained, which didn’t help.
“I finally asked him to show me how one was used. He put fingers to his lips and blew…
“We bought the whistle.”
Connection – putting faces to names, greeting and being greeted, embracing and being embraced, talking and listening, sharing and learning…
Worship - water cascading into a basin from glasses held high…baptism reaffirmed; “Veni Sancte Spiritus” lingering in the air…Taizé music led by cantor John Hansen-Tarbox; prayer knots tied in a quilt…a gift for the new Conference Minister.
Having entered, rejoiced and come in, it was indeed a joyful - if concomitantly sad - two days. And we UCCLMers made the most of it, acknowledging praise for and answering questions about our Senior Minister, banding together in a front pew, plotting sabotage (“a filibuster, maybe?” “picket signs?” “a petition?”), making our presence – and our gift to the Conference – known. We cherished every moment with, every hug from, every success of Félix; were excited but not the least surprised by his vision for the Conference, his thoughts on “re-energizing our mutual ministry, supporting youth ministry, making church meaningful to young families and building community in diversity; his challenge to us to recognize that “church is not the sum of what happens in the sanctuary one hour a week” but, rather, “going out into the community and the world to transform it with God’s love.”
And, as Annual Gathering 2010 drew to an end, we nodded in heartfelt – and rueful - agreement when Mary Sue took the pulpit to say “You’re welcome!” to the delegates whose wise choice had just stripped us of our pastor.
“boo… Yay!... boo… Yay!... boo… Yay!...Yay!”
Riki Michele & Tim Tormey in Concert:
A Benefit for Supporting Alternative Solutions, Inc. (SAS)*
CONCERT AND SILENT AUCTION
Saturday, June 5th, 7:30 p.m.
Friendship Hall—United Church of Christ of La Mesa
Riki Michele and Tim Tormey joined musical forces a little over a year ago after their own life-long artistic ventures. Riki Michele grew up in music and has several major label CDs to her credit. Tim Tormey grew up in the LA music scene and has several independent CD releases under his belt. On June 5th they bring their brand of original acoustic music to La Mesa in a fundraiser for Supporting Alternative Solutions, Inc. (SAS), an East County non-profit agency dedicated to services for families and children with developmental disabilities.
Starting June 16, 2010!
A Weekly Summer Program: Overview of the Old Testament
What is the Old Testament?
Who wrote it? Why? When?
Why is it included in the Christian Bible?
What does it mean to us?
These are some of the questions to be addressed in the United Church of Christ of La Mesa’s Summer book study and discussion series, Overview of the Old Testament. Led by Dr. Dick Hatch*, we will learn when and where the stories took place, reviewing current scholarship, including archeological evidence and literary analysis of authorship. Perhaps most important, we will examine what the Old Testament can mean to us as progressive Christians.
The class will meet from 6:30-7:30pm, Wednesdays, June 16 – August 4, 2010, in Friendship Hall, United Church of Christ of La Mesa, 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942. Choice of book to be announced. For further information, please contact Dr. Hatch, dick.hatch@gmail.com.
*Richard A. Hatch, Ph.D., University of Illinois, 1969. Taught English at the University of Illinois at Urbana, Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo, and San Diego State University. Taught computer programming in C at San Diego State University and Mesa College. Author of twelve books on communication and computing.
Exploring Exodus, The Book of Names
Exodus, The Book of Names, is the theological foundation of the Bible, a look at Torah, the law of the Jewish people - and the way of life prescribed by that law. Through the story of Moses it presents a God who listens and grieves, whose mind can be changed - and who is a verb. Filled with spectacular visual effects (a burning bush, pillars of cloud and fire, thunder crackling on Mt. Sinai), Exodus tells the story of God’s covenant with the people of Israel – and their reluctance to keep it - through a series of conversations in which God talks with Moses and Moses expresses God’s wishes to the people.
Join the people of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa in learning more about Moses (who he was, who he wasn’t) and what his story offers the people of today - and about God as portrayed in Exodus (including why, in God’s own words, God is a verb!).
The 6:30pm class starts Wednesday, April 7, 2010 and will meet in the church’s Friendship Hall (5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942 – 619-464-1519, www.ucclm.org, pastorfelix@cox.net).
Everyone welcome!
Easter Service
Pastors Félix C. Villanueva and Mary Sue Brookshire join with the people of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM) in inviting you to share the congregation’s Easter worship service - 10:00am, April 4, 2010. Discover the extravagant welcome provided at the church where the front pews fill first! No matter who you are or where you are on your journey of faith, you are welcome here.
Experience anew the journey of faith in this dynamic cantata by Joseph M. Martin. Travel the dusty roads of Galilee, the ancient streets of Jerusalem and the path that leads to Calvary.
Come, let us walk together and we will follow the footsteps that lead to faith and beyond.
Footprints in the Sand will be presented by the Chancel Choir of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa (5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942) during the 11:00am Traditional worship service, Sunday, March 21, 2010.
The Gospel of Mark as told by Mark
Wandering from village to village, Mark the Evangelist and other storytellers spread the story of Jesus.
The United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM) invites you to hear that story in Mark’s own words, to experience the power of the Bible as oral tradition as Dr. David M. Rhoads, Professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, brings Mark to vivid life in a 90 minute DVD.
The program is scheduled in Friendship Hall at 6:00pm Sunday, February 14. We’ll have dinner together first so bring a dish to share.
As part of the San Diego UCC Partnership Annual Pulpit Exchange, the United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM) is pleased to welcome Rev. Dr. M. Scott Landis of Mission Hills UCC as its guest minister on January 17, 2010. The special blended program will combine aspects of UCCLM’s traditional and contemporary services.
All are invited. Come, experience our extravagant welcome!
It's Pie in the Sky Time: Buy a Pie, Support the Work of Mama's Kitchen
Thanksgiving is coming and the people of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM) invite you to let Mama do the baking this year! Three of our members, Barbara, Lee and Ken, are again helping Mama’s Kitchen raise money to provide nutritious meals for San Diego men, women and children affected by HIV/AIDS and cancer — 221,718 so far this year!
You can help by purchasing a pumpkin, pecan, apple, or sugar-free apple pie for $20 ($15 is tax deductable). These may be ordered online at www.mamaskitchen.org now through November 22 (please enter “UCCLM” on the Team Line) or from Barbara, Lee or Ken in Friendship Hall following UCCLM’s 10am church service on October 25, November 1, November 8 and November 15 (You’re welcome to join us in worship, too.) Pies may be picked up at the location of your choice on November 25th from 10:00 until 4:00.
The stories – Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Cain and Able, Noah’s Ark, the selling of Jacob into Egypt by his brothers – are familiar and beloved. They are also rich in literary imagery -- light breaks through darkness, land separates water, humans are "made in the image of God," Good is contrasted with evil, work with rest, night with day. Vibrant, compelling, Genesis is “the Beginning,” the “start of something big.”
The pastor and people of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa invite you to join us in studying the Book of Genesis, in exploring it from the perspectives of faith, history, linguistics and culture. Learn with us as we seek to better know our heritage and “grow” our faith.
This weekly study will start Wednesday, October 28 at 6:30pm. We meet in Friendship Hall. The church is located at 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942. (619-464-1519, www.ucclm.org, pastorfelix@cox.net)
Everyone welcome! Bring your Bibles, your thoughts and your questions.
Many Peoples, One Family:
UCCLM Celebrates World Communion Sunday
The choir in colorful ethnic garb; songs of faith in many languages, accompanied by instruments from around the world; the breads of many cultures: this is World Communion Sunday at the United Church of Christ of La Mesa.
Come, celebrate with us - and the people of churches everywhere - the diversity of Christian faith. Share with us – and them – the elements of bread and cup that unite us; the grace, love, forgiveness and healing they represent.
The service is at 10:00am, Sunday, October 4, 2009.
Whoever you are, wherever you are on your journey, you are welcome here.
The church is located at 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa, CA (619-464-1519, www.ucclm.org, pastorfelix@cox.net).
UCCLM Proudly Presents Sal de la Tierra in Concert
In a benefit for the Border Ministry of San Ysidro’s Centro Romero, the band Sal de la Tierra (Earth Salt) will appear in concert in Friendship Hall of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM) at 7:30pm on Sunday, September 13, 2009. The members of the band describe their vision as using music to sooth the heart; their goal to be the Earth’s salt, called to give flavor to all they do. They and the people of UCCLM invite you to enjoy their music and to “join us…to be a grain of salt with us.”
Centro Romero works to create a theologically based understanding of migratory realities, provide immersion and educational opportunities in Tijuana, Mexico and enhance awareness of the forces shaping lives on both sides of the border. (Centro Romero, 173 W. Hall Avenue, San Ysidro, CA 92173 – 619-428-8700, www.theromerocenter.com, immersions@theromerocenter.com)
Homecoming Sunday, a much loved annual program of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa, will be held at 10:00am, September 13, 2009. Combined this year with Christian Education Sunday, it is a day to welcome friends old and new and to celebrate the return of the Chancel Choir. It also launches an exciting season of Fall programs and Sunday School classes and honors UCCLM’s wonderful young people. A reception in Friendship Hall will follow the worship service.
We invite you to check us out. You’ll receive an extravagant welcome at “The Church Where the Front Pews Fill First!”
Decoding the Twelve Minor Prophets
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel are household words, their prophecies well known. But what of the so-called “Minor Prophets?” Were their words prophetic? Allegorical? Historical? Symbolic? The product of God-given visions? Or simply bad dreams? From Amos to Zephaniah, they shouted of God’s final, furious wrath, of the need to “consider your ways” and to “prepare to meet your God”– while occasionally holding out the merest specter of hope that disaster could be averted.
Were the sins of the people so terrible even the sanctuary of the temple could not shield them from a God capable of breaking every covenant made with them? Or was this hyperbole, a clarion call to return to God, and to do justice to the poor? What, exactly, were the Minor Prophets preaching? And what message, if any, have they for us today?
The people of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa invite you to seek the answers with them, to join Pastor Félix Villanueva’s new weekly class, “Decoding the Twelve Minor Prophets” – in Friendship Hall, 6:30pm, starting Wednesday, June 24, 2009. The church is located at 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa 91942 (619-464-1519, pastorfelix@cox.net). Everyone welcome! Bring your Bibles and your questions.
The Challenge of Community:
Must One Belong to a Church to be Christian?
The debate is long-standing – and frequently intense: must one be “in community” to be Christian? Citing the Apostle Paul and the “community” of the early Christians, proponents label non-churchgoers as “spiritual but not Christian.” “I can worship God and follow the teachings of Jesus” at the beach, in the mountains, anywhere,” comes the response.
Taking the dialogue to a new level, Pastor Félix C. Villanueva and the members of Sunday Morning Live, a study and discussion group of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM) , will tackle the topic anew, exploring it in depth. Planning stage talks suggest a wide range of views will be presented.
We invite you to join us, to bring your thoughts and questions to the table. “The Challenge of Community” is scheduled for 8:30am, Sunday, January 18, 2009. We’ll meet in Friendship Hall, UCCLM, 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa 91942 (619-464-1519, www.ucclm.org).
Everyone welcome!
“The Political and Religious Aspects of Islam”
Presentation at the United Church of Christ of La Mesa
The members of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa invite you to join them for “The Political and Religious Aspects of Islam,” a presentation by David Johns, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, San Diego State University. Comments will focus on how religion and politics interact in the Middle East. Some of the similarities and differences within countries and across the region will be examined.
“The miracle of Christmas isn’t the birth of a baby, but the reclaiming of human flesh, the declaration that humanity is an appropriate and honorable abode of almighty God.” -- Gene Robinson
The pastors and congregation of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa, “The Church Where the Front Pews Fill First,”invite you to share with them the joy of Christmas, the wonderment of God’s unconditional love. Join us for our 10:00am Sunday Service on December 21, 2008 and our 7:00 pm Christmas Eve Service December 24. You’ll find us at 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942 (619-464-1519, www.ucclm.org).
Everyone is welcome!
“Maccabees 1 & 2: Study & Discussion Group”
Starts December 2, 2008
The United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM) is pleased to announce an exciting new study and discussion topic, the Deuterocanonical (Apocrypha) books of Maccabees 1 and 2. An account of uprisings, temple desecration, armed resistance, Holy War, liberation and martyrdom, these books were written to bolster the morale of the Jews while recalling them to faithful obedience to God’s law and the Covenant made with them by God – and reiterating such sacred history as the creation of the world. The writer’s words will be addressed from theological, historical and linguistic standpoints.
All are welcome.
Time: 6:30pm Wednesdays, starting December 2.
Place: Friendship Hall, United Church of Christ of La Mesa, 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa 919-426-1946, www.ucclm.org
The Festival of Carols
A Joyous Christmas Cantata
The Chancel Choir of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM) invites you to share the music and joy of The Festival of Carols, a Christmas cantata by Joseph M. Martin.
Sparkling with classic melodies of the season – and new musical treasures, Festival blends tradition with innovation as it merges scripture and song. From “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” to “Fum, Fum, Fum,” the praise-filled melodies of the season ring out, touching, encouraging and inspiring the listener.
Festival will be presented during UCCLM’s 10:00am Sunday worship service, December 14, 2008. The church is located at 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa, CA 91942 (619-464-1519, www.ucclm.org).
All are invited – and welcome!
Sunday Morning Live:
Continuing Our Christian Journey --
Studying Other Faiths to Enrich Our Own
Sunday Morning Live, the United Church of Christ of La Mesa's (UCCLM) exciting new program will present two special events in September -- a discussion of Marcus Borg's The Heart of Christianity: Rediscovering a Life of Faith and a talk by Professor Babak Rahimi of the University of California at San Diego on "Islam 101: What Liberal Christians Should Know About Islam and Can't Read in the Papers."
The Borg Discussion will start September 14, 2008; Professor Rahimi's presentation will be on September 28. The group meets in the church's Friendship Hall on Sundays from 8:30 to 9:30 am. All are welcome! UCCLM is located at 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa 91942.
A Sacred Conversation About Race and Racism
You may have seen the ads…those United Church of Christ (UCC) “full-pagers” in the New York Times and USA Today. Written to address the maelstrom of media - and public - attention engulfing Trinity UCC in Chicago; its former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and current parishioner, Sen. Barack Obama, they recalled the church’s history, e.g.,
600 congregations formed before 1776 (from those predecessor churches emerged eleven signers of the Declaration of Independence)
first mainline church to ordain an African-American (1785)
its extensive role in the abolitionist movement
and challenged the church’s 1.2 million members to join in a sacred, comprehensive and on-going conversation about race and racism.
And that, it is hoped, will, in congregations across the nation, be “the start of something big,” a dialogue destined to spread from pulpits and pews into homes, communities and the corridors of power - and across the country.
Locally, the open and spirited exchange of ideas, a pivotal part of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa’s (UCCLM) third Sunday Impact! Services, was stressed on May 18 when Rev. Félix C. Villanueva opened the floor to everyone following his sermon, saying “Those are my thoughts. Now, what are yours?”
The challenge of the sermon was to “think about it!” – “it” ranging from the Creation story (no exceptions made when “all” were created in God’s image) to Abraham’s and Jesus’ heritage (the patriarch’s birthplace, Ur, lies in what is now Iraq, nor is it likely a blond, blue-eyed “Euro-Savior” evolved in that part of the world!) and Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch, a man with black skin and altered sexuality. Think about it, indeed!
This was followed by an open and spirited exchange of ideas. Questions poured out; parishioners turned in their pews, talking and, even more important, listening to those in the next row.
Among the thoughts expressed were
“All people are created equal…not just Americans.”
“The church’s role is to speak up, to call things as they are, to listen, to talk, to address fear.”
“We need to reach out more, not just wait for others to find their way to us.”
We spoke of how to handle meetings (and our feelings) without setting up barriers, of how to deal with the overtly prejudiced, of why the word “minority” rankles, of media biases. No topic was forbidden, none abused.
Asked about this approach, Pastor Félix responded, “Our church values intellectual inquiry. One of the great gifts God has given us is our capacity to think, explore, question and discern. At the United Church of Christ of La Mesa, we encourage and provide opportunities for people use that gift to its fullest.”
And so began the conversation.
Actually, thinking about it, that conversation commenced long ago (leave it to UCCLM to get a head start!) and great results are already in evidence. We are growing in numbers and diversity (age, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation) – and in God.
UCCLM is located at 5940 Kelton Avenue, La Mesa 91942. Sunday services startat 10:00am. Everyone is welcome!
"Shine, God's People "
Read About UCCLM's Accomplishments and Plans
Our church's responses to the UCC webite's "Shine, God's People" questions are now posted. They discuss what we are doing and have accomplished in five important areas and what we hope to do and accomplish in future.
Go to www.ucc.org. Use the pull-down "Church Stuff" (at top), going first to "Congregational Vitality" then to "Shine, God's People." Click on the latter. On the next page go to "Discover How Other Congregations Shine" (near the bottom of the page). On the next page you'll find all 10 of our responses to the Shine Questions - heading each of the stgments!
WOW, WHAT A DAY!
Well, we certainly gave the lie to Presbyterian pastor Charlie Shedd’s famous “The problem is not that the churches are filled with empty pews, but that the pews are filled with empty people” while validating his even better known radio sign-off, “God loves you and so do I and there ain’t nothin’ you can do about it!”
It was June 24, 2007. UCCLM was full. And casual to the nth degree; shorts, jeans and new blue and white church tee-shirts were the garb du jour. Excitement hovered in the air and cameras were “at the ready” as we settled in to, in the words of the opening hymn, “Enter, Rejoice and Come In,” to, as we then prayed, “step bravely into the future…God’s future.”
Joy was evident in our greetings to one another – hugs by the score! - and the gentle humor of the Children’s Sermon.
Then came the first of the day’s big moments, the commissioning of nine young people and their adult chaperones about to leave on a trip to Puerto Rico, their mission to work in an elementary school, an AIDS hospice and at their camp home.
“We will work with each other,” they – and we - sang, “we will work side by side…And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride…And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love…”
The congregation was, by now, really “getting into the act.” Then up to the bat came Billy M. to sing of knowing God and, even better, being known by God. And there we were, all on our feet and singing along.
By sermon time we were ready for some old-fashioned zeal, to be reminded that “the trouble with getting to know Jesus is that it means we also have to get to know, like and love Jesus’ friends – and have you noticed who Jesus hangs out with?” To be invited to become passionate for God, to be on fire for love and justice? To let go our own agendas and see things from a new perspective. To commit ourselves to a life of dialogue, to “listening all the way through, no matter how different we are and how much we disagree.” To be a people who accept and empower everyone who walks into our sanctuary, to see all of them as wonderful children of God.
And that was when UCCLM opened its doors wide, took a giant step into full inclusiveness – and God’s future, welcoming thirteen new members from a gay and lesbian congregation that recently folded. Led down the center aisle by their former pastor, who presented Félix with a shepherd’s crook symbolic of becoming their new pastor, they wore the tee-shirts of their new home. Accepting them, he asked God to “fill the church with your overflowing love.” New Bibles and hugs all around completed their reception.
The service drew to a close but the day was just beginning. A brisk walk across Jackson and it was all-church picnic time – food, fun and games galore – football, bocce ball, water balloon fights (soak the pastor proved a popular pastime). Lots of good conversation, too. Folks of all ages, children everywhere, church tee-shirts marking us as one people, laughter filling the air and our hearts.
“We look like a church, a real church,” was one participant’s happy summation.
And that we are. Wow, what a day!
2007 ELEONORE & OLIVER POWELL AWARD CONFERRED ON THE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST OF LA MESA (UCCLM)
The United Church of Christ (UCC) Coalition for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns conferred its 2007 Eleonore & Oliver Powell Award on the United Church of Christ of La Mesa (UCCLM) at the UCC Southern California Nevada Conference’s Annual Gathering, held June 1 – 2, 2007 at Community Congregational Church in Chula Vista.
In keeping with the theme of the Gathering, “Salt and Light: Shiny Spicy Faith,” the award was presented “for demonstrating a vision of inclusiveness in living out their mission in the local community” and commends UCCLM for “believing in, welcoming, loving and empowering all of God’s children” and for “living their motto: ‘Doing together what we cannot do alone.’”
The award, accepted by UCCLM’s Senior Pastor, Rev. Félix C. Villanueva, carried with it a plaque now on display in UCCLM’s Narthex. Pastor Félix and UCCLM Vice-Moderator, Shirley Savage, shared the good news and the plaque with their congregation during Sunday worship, June 3.
“This award was a surprise to our congregation,” Savage reports. “We are very honored and happy to receive it.”
Established by the late Oliver Powell and his wife Eleonore, the award evolved from their work in co-founding the UCC’s Parents of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Children (LGBT) and is presented annually to “UCC congregations that demonstrate a commitment to inclusive ministries.”
A faith community of over 130 congregations, the Conference celebrates “inclusive Christianity built upon the foundations of our historic Protestant denomination” that “welcomes a rainbow of people.”
In keeping with this tradition, UCCLM’s congregation, in Pastor Felix’s words, “welcomes ALL people — young, old, male, female, black, white, brown, yellow, single, married, divorced, widowed, gay, straight, conservative, liberal, moderate — from all walks of life, for we are ALL created in God’s own image. We are a truly diverse congregation who strive to love one another as God loves us. Our members live their faith and their commitment to God and extend God’s extravagant welcome to everyone. I am honored to walk with them and to share this award and the recognition it has brought our church.“
50th Anniversary Quilt - United Church of Christ (UCC) Conferences and local congregations were invited to submit blocks to be used in making a quilt celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the denomination, a project conceived by Anne Meyer of Lynnhurst UCC in Louisville, KY. Over 60 blocks from 20 states and Japan were received and the quilt was completed by Karen Oliver of Cox’s Creek, KY. Among the blocks – Row 1, Block 7 – is the vibrant “Let it Shine” sun created by Shirley Savage of the United Church of Christ of La Mesa.
POTHOLES, DETOURS AND TOOLBOOTHS: Stepping-Stones on the Road to Faith
Mary Domb Mikkelsons Monthly Column In Joys & Concerns
Potholes, Detours and Tollbooths:
Stepping-Stones on the Road to Faith
…a monthly column of poetry, prose and personal perspective
by Mary Domb Mikkelson
Finding Room at the Table
A Native American storyteller, having enthralled his audience with tales of the creation, summed up the saga with, “That may not be the way it happened but it is true.” That’s my take on the Bible. The truth within the message is the message and details shrouded in the cultural mores and understanding of the time - and distorted in translation - are irrelevant.
Jesus’ message was and is, quite simply, love, peace and justice. While he turned inside out many of the understood truths of Jewish law and custom, through his life and example he consecrated one, the love of others – all others. That beautiful commandment, to love God fully and one’s neighbor as oneself, is one tough law; Christ’s life, one tough act to follow.
But there it is. The question is what are we, as Christians,* going to do about it? How are we to apply it to the tumult of modern life, obey it when it challenges, even threatens, everything we cling to, claim as our just reward and right?
Jesus walked with, shared his life with, opened himself to society’s outcasts. He found room for them at the table, brought them into community, offered them new life – and he didn’t check their credentials or count the number of loaves and fish available to share.
Which brings us to the current rush to sanctify injustice by barricading America’s borders, denying medical care and education to “illegals,” punishing those who hire them, protecting our wallets and way of life - and to justify it all, often in terms of superiority with some variation of “My father came to this country from (pick a country) legally.” Hagridden predictions of the destruction of the American way of life generally follow, usually in financial terms. It’s not a matter of counting loaves and fish but of hoarding them, of rendering sacrosanct the sin of injustice.
A friend recently pointed out that Jesus said “The poor you always have with you,” adding that, like the man who could not give away his wealth and follow Jesus, we cannot do what God would do and citing the dire consequences he foresaw “if we did as Jesus asked and simply welcomed the foreigner.”
My problem with this is simply that I can’t seem to say, “if we do what Jesus asked…” but am, instead, fixated on “when…”
In his sermon/Connecting Voices article, “The New Jerusalem,” SCNC Conference Minister Félix Villanueva said, “How quickly we forget! Welcoming the poor and the tired, no matter where they come from, has been part of our “national DNA” since the beginning.
“For Christians this is an even more powerful mandate. The Bible goes into great detail to explain why welcoming and loving the “alien in our midst” is fundamental to our faith
“…We live in a time of rampant individualism. As the Church we need to stand for the value of community. At a time of intense consumerism we insist it is not what we have but how we treat one another that counts. At a time of growing isolation we remind our nation of its responsibility to the broader world, to pursue peace, to welcome immigrants, to protect the lives of hurting children and refugees. At a time when the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer we insist the moral test of our society is how we treat and care for the weakest among us. We are to be fearless in our witness to the New Jerusalem God is about to inaugurate.
“We are one people, all children of God. Ethnicity, economic class or gender do not matter. The Apostle Paul says that in Christ "there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female" (Galatians 3:28). To those who limit God’s lavish love, who see themselves as morally upright, the Gospel of Matthew says that God "makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (5:45). Whether gay or straight, Republican or Democrat, Christian or Wiccan, wealthy entrepreneur whom you envy or beggar on the street who repulses you, remember that in the Book of Acts Paul quotes a pagan poet to affirm that every person is God's "offspring" (Acts 17:28).
“The question for us then is: How can we love one another, care for one another and proclaim the Good News, especially when our faith includes the stranger and the immigrant? I don’t have the political answer for that challenge, but I believe our Christian faith is quite clear in this respect: we are to provide shelter, support and love to the migrants in our midst. We are to fight for the rights of those who are exploited, marginalized and singled out as subjects of discrimination. Christ has called us, his Church, to be the voices of these, our brothers and sisters. God is not a God of partiality or favoritism. God warmly welcomes every person from any nation. Let’s go out and do the same!”
Donna Schaper, Senior Minister at New York City’s Judson Memorial Church, put it this way, “Remember the prayer ‘Come Lord Jesus be our Guest and let thy gifts to us be blessed?’ Who is the host here and who the guest? Paul doesn't help when he talks about needing the Spirit to understand the gifts God gives us. Instead he hints that we may be missing something.
“Hosts are often more powerful than guests. In many congregations the old timers host the newcomers. We host immigrant guests or ‘native’ Americans and tell them what language to speak and how to behave at our table. My congregation used to give cooking lessons to Italian immigrants in the 1890's! Instead, Jesus has donkey ways, he enters our city as a guest, alerting us that we are each hosts and guests, givers and receivers, in the Spirit. The route to ending racism is here: it is receiving the gifts of the ones we imagine are only impoverished. We will need the full Spirit to fully understand who is who and who is really the "Hostess with the Mostest."
I’ve been told that my belief that not following Jesus in this is morally indefensible is an emotional one. No argument there. And that I don’t have a plan to “make it work.” True again. I have, however, a conviction that we can and must find a better way, must reject laws with the potential for profiling and dehumanizing, must challenge the perception that it is somehow ethical to deny sustenance, health and dignity to “the least of these” – and have a willingness to work and, yes, sacrifice, toward that end.
Let’s find room at the table!
_______
*Written from a Christian perspective but with the awareness that justice and caring for others are universal ideals.
Potholes, Detours and Tollbooths:
Stepping-Stones on the Road to Faith
…a monthly column of poetry, prose and personal perspective
by Mary Domb Mikkelson
Out of the Silence: Love and Aloha
The church was quiet, preternaturally so. I sat in the Narthex for a time, hesitant to intrude, to corrupt the silence with footsteps or a cough. And then it was eleven, the “last leg” of the Vigil, my time to “watch one hour,” to share the anguish of Gethsemane. Moving quietly to the chapel, I knocked, rather tentatively, and opened the door.
Patty greeted me with a smile and a small book, one she said I would find useful in my church work. “Good ‘Potholes’ material,” she explained. She was right.
As the door closed behind Patty, I took the watcher’s chair, said a brief prayer, opened Barbara Brown Taylor’s When God is Silent and started thinking about silence, quietude, stillness – an internal dialog destined to intensify over the next several weeks.
Taylor’s book addresses many aspects of speech and silence, from the risks of taking the pulpit (either literally or figuratively) in a world in which listening is an endangered art to the ramifications for humanity of having a “no-longer-chatty” deity and the terrifying power afforded those created in God’s image to “work” as does the God who “spoke” the world into existence.
Lots of potential columns…lots to think about…lots to learn.
Has God really gone silent, I asked myself. Voices from burning bushes are certainly in short supply these days, as are lightning bolts on the heights of Mt. Sinai, but…
We of UCC proclaim confidently that “God is Still Speaking,” reminding ourselves with our ubiquitous logo to “not put a period where God has put a comma.” We shouted that conviction recently with “Language of God,” the video that “went viral” on YouTube, blitzing the world with a tantalizing glimpse of the UCC – and the future God has opened before us, a future in which God’s voice is both heard and heeded.
Doing my “bit,” I posted and e-mailed it hither and yon – and garnered a number of interesting responses – from an on-line acquaintance’s decision to give UCC a try to a long-time friend’s “…raises questions in my mind. Is there never a period? Is everything a comma? Does everything and anything go???? Where is the keel to keep the boat upright and is there or not a rudder to take it someplace?”
That brought Taylor’s book once again to mind. “Language,” she declares, “is porous, not solid. Every word carries its own history inside of it. A word such as ‘charity’ does not mean the same thing now as it did a hundred years ago. Depending on a listener’s own history with the word, the hearing of it may evoke a glow of contentment or a flush of shame…say ‘Practice Charity’ and one person…will go kiss her rebellious teenager while someone else will start rummaging through his closet for old clothes to give away. A third, who is perhaps most typical of our age, will have no context for responding to the word at all.”
My friend’s questions inspired a number of thoughts. I reflected first on periods - God’s periods, that is. Two came to mind – the creation of humans (all of them, not just those “like me”) in God’s own image and the commandment to love God and one’s neighbor as oneself. No exceptions there and the rules of hospitality expounded both in Jewish law and the teachings of Jesus make it abundantly clear that both “human” and “neighbor” include everyone: the alien, the poor, the scorned, those set apart by custom and fear, those outside our comfort zones, EVERYONE. These periods to me are both keel and rudder, God’s way of steering the boat and keeping it - and us - upright.
God was and is far more openhanded when it comes to commas, as another friend reminded me in response to The Language of God. As evidence he cited God’s open-ended, comma-rich promise to keep talking (Matthew 7:7-8, 12, expressed here in the words of Da Jesus Book – The New Testament in Pidgin Hawaiian):
“Aks God, and you goin get um. Look, an you goin find um. Knock, an God goin open da door for you…So, wateva you guys like peopo do to you guys bumbye, make lidat to dem, same ting, now. Dis everyting dat God’s Rules say in da Bible, an everyting dat God’s talkas wen teach.” (Hey, folks… when Mary vacations in Hawaii, “Potholes” goes Hawaiian!)
As I see it, that openhandedness extends to chattiness as well. Chattiness? What about the aforementioned lack of burning bushes and lightning bolts? What about God being silent?
Might not God “speak” through silence to those who remember to “be still and know,” who open themselves to the One who walks with them “beside still waters?” In a world of noise, of lives defined and demarcated by the demands and clatter of electronic communication and the “need” to promote ourselves, might not God choose to slip in beneath our radar, speaking quietly to compel our attention? Works for shrewd moms and schoolteachers! Should be a “piece of cake” for “da Boss!”
Think about it. Think about the paths God has opened before you, the decisions you have received guidance in making, the moments when being alone with God has suddenly overwhelmed you, the times you have escaped the confines of the past and stepped timorously (or even boldly) into the unknown. Was not God talking to you, replacing your periods, your reluctance to grow, with gate-opening, world-expanding commas?
Back to periods. Da Jesus Book puts “Da Main Rule” (Matthew 22:37-40) this way:
“…Get love an aloha for da Boss yoa God, wit all yoa heart, an wit everyting inside you, an wit how you tink. Dis da first an mos important Rule God wen give us. An da nex Rule jalike dat one: ‘Get love and aloha for da odda guy jalike you get love an aloha fo yoaself.’ All God’s Rules, an everyting da guys who wen talk for God wen say, come from dese two rules.”
Hmm…a thought from the silence – two periods, two rules, many people - all of them God’s children.
I hear you, Boss. Love and aloha it is!
Potholes, Detours and Tollbooths:
Stepping-Stones on the Road to Faith
by Mary Domb Mikkelson
The Excitement of Sharing
In a recent “Stillspeaking Daily Devotional” (4/12/10), Donna Schaper, Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City, admitted that, “Every time I go through an airport check point, I become naughty. It seems we will do anything a person in a uniform tells us to do. "Take off your sweater." "Take off your belt." I fantasize that one day I will make a parody of obedience and just take everything off and walk through the gates of electronic insecurity unadorned. Obedience to security is making me insecure, in the same way that ads warning me about diabetes or heart disease flood me with worry that I might be sick.”
This but a day after Félix fulfilled David John’s request for a sermon on John 21:18:
“Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.”(NIV)
Compelled to remove a belt, led by a belt – a distinction without a difference?
Rev. Schaper expounded on wanting something more worthy than security, namely salvation and shalom; Félix on living life with an exclamation point.
Could it be they were talking about the same thing?
I recently saw expressed on-line an interpretation of John 21:18 - that Jesus was letting Peter know what kind of death he might expect, Peter not having satisfied Him of his response to the command, “feed my sheep.”
I’ll go along with the importance of “feeding my sheep” but as for the rest…Félix’s discourse on aging, its effects on both those aging and those who love and care for them and Rev. Schaper’s humorous outburst about airport security were far more meaningful and challenging. I started thinking about what security means to me, not in terms of locked doors and metal detectors but in living life fully and progressing in faith.
The “going” gets a bit sticky here but, as I was recently “advised” to quit over-thinking the nuances of my faith journey and to simply enjoy it – and hang on for dear life, I’m going to plunge right in…After all, as Helen Keller said, “God Himself is not secure, having given man dominion over His works!”
Félix stressed finding ways to remain productive and to serve as we age, thus adding excitement and satisfaction (exclamation points!) to our lives.
Reminded me of Daisy Moses, the rather rapscallion “Granny” on The Beverly Hillbillies. A feisty, shotgun-wielding old gal who hopped about frantically when frustrated or making a point and was known to take off after the “young’uns” with a broom or a freshly peeled switch, Granny was the namesake of the late folk artist, Grandma Moses. Other than age and appellation, the two at first glance appear to have little in common. And yet…self-taught, both enjoyed late-life success, Granny as an “M.D.” (Mountain Doctor) with an extensive knowledge of “yarbs” (herbs) and an uncanny ability to tell time by checking the sun’s position, Grandma as one of America’s most beloved painters.
A few days earlier a friend had kidded me about my late-blooming “career.” Since volunteering first to write a column for Joys & Concerns then to “help with the editing,” my life has certainly been full – and rich. Hmmm…a friendly “warning” - if you once offer to help, you’re ready for fulltime volunteer work (and there’ll be someone waiting to reel you in), a very good way to keep mind and body occupied (and stretched) and to help others - lots of exclamation points and, speaking of security, the knowledge of being needed and wanted.
Where, I began to wonder, was God in this…and in me? Was God directing my steps? Not the words I would use. Opening a path before me, yes, but “directing?” If I started believing in God’s active intervention in human lives, I’d soon be asking why God let this or that happen (Haiti comes to mind), why bad things happen to good people. And yet, at every step along the way, the right person has certainly appeared at exactly the right moment.
The funny thing about this journey of mine is that nothing changed, yet everything has changed. It’s this way: I’m still me, still far from at ease with some of the practices of faith, frightened by where I find myself, even more by the niggling thought that my talents are meant to be used in reaching out to others. That way, experience tells me, lies evangelism…fanaticism…all the “isms” I ran to UCCLM to avoid.
Another question for, another e-mail to Félix.
His response?
“There is a big difference between being a fanatic and being a committed person of faith. Christianity is supposed to excite us. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time. You are on the right track.”
Yeah, but…
On the heels of that e-mail came one from another pastor, my daughter Karen, relaying a recently discovered quote,
“Response by a monk to a man who had come to evangelize the Holy Mountain (Mount Athos in Greece) and asked the father if Jesus were ‘his personal savior.’
“’No, I like to share him.’”
Now that’s true excitement, true evangelism.
I thought of my niece Rosie, house-bound with MS, who tells me “Potholes” and Joys & Concerns are her connection to a “living, breathing church life.” And, yes, I’m happy – and, excited, to share my faith with her.
There you have it…
Guess psychologist Maxwell Maltz had it right when he said (however gender-specifically) that “Man maintains his balance, poise, and sense of security only as he is moving forward.”
Guess I’m finding out what true faith is all about…
Shalom!
Potholes, Detours and Tollbooths:
Stepping-Stones on the Road to Faith
…a monthly column of poetry, prose and personal perspective
by Mary Domb Mikkelson
Let the (Puzzle) Pieces Fall Where They May
I thought of Clarice during Félix’s 12/20/09 sermon. Sister Clarice, the AstroNun, that is. She passed away recently and both I and the world lost a dear friend. I remembered the day we – Clarice, my then 17-year-old daughter, Karen, and I – went fossil hunting on a beach near Cape Canaveral. We were in Florida as witnesses to the Apollo-Soyuz launch and were passing a few pleasant hours looking back into history before going on base to view the future. Among our finds were vertebrate relics dating back to the Eocene Period, some 56+ million years earlier. I also remembered Clarice’s tailored white shorts - and thinking she looked great in them – and how she enjoyed drinking bourbon and 7 later that evening during our German poker game.
What brought Clarice to mind that morning was Félix’s tale of escorting Mother Teresa through the streets of Mae-Sae-Sae, the “Sin City” of the Philippines (why does it not surprise me that he was the one assigned?) and of her reaching out (with love and a rose) to offer hope to a young prostitute.
Clarice…fossils…Mother Teresa…a rose…what was the connection? And why did my thoughts keep straying to the previous Wednesday’s spirited Bible Study discussion which, in turn, strayed far from Abram, Sarai and Lot, spiraling into animated dialog about whether Jesus was/is God Incarnate or the human son of God.
All of the puzzle pieces, it seemed, were now on the table but how did they fit together? Were there any “corners” with which to start a frame? Any straight-edged ones to give it shape?
Well, for starters, neither Clarice nor Mother Teresa fit “traditional” convent-centered patterns of sisterhood: Clarice worked for NASA, teaching students throughout America about the wonders of the Space Program; Mother Teresa, who believed in the spiritual goodness of poverty, spent much of her life ministering to the poor, sick, orphaned and dying in the sordid streets of Calcutta. And, as the stories above testify, neither was afraid to think – or step – outside the box. While I suspect that neither would go as far as my thoughts were now taking me, where they had been leading me for many a year, I think they might well have understood - perhaps in the manner of my friend Gretchen’s encounter with a monsignor. Learning she taught in a Catholic school, he asked where she lived then tried to guess her home parish. When she “confessed” to not only being Protestant, but Southern Baptist to boot, he replied, “Protestant, are you? Well, that’s okay. Some of them have souls, too!”
Back to those thoughts. Asked whether he believed Jesus was God, Félix replied he believed him to be the Son of God, the 100% human selected by God to, through his life and teachings, show us God’s love and what God wants of us.
The puzzle pieces began to fall into place. A line from “O Come, All Ye Faithful” - “Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing” – came to mind with new clarity and meaning: not God but God’s word in human flesh.
Jesus…Rabbi…Teacher…Son of God…Messiah. These I believe. Including “Messiah”– no stumbling block there. According to Jewish tradition, the word referred to a coming King of Israel (from the line of David) who would rule the tribes of Israel and usher in an age of global peace.
Félix spoke next of the one essential belief in Christianity. Not the birth, virgin or otherwise, of Jesus, not the crucifixion, not even, I would add, the divinity of the Babe of Bethlehem, but the Resurrection Event. Whatever those who encountered Jesus after his death saw, it was soul-stretching enough to change them, powerful enough to change the world. It was immediate, personal, God-given and real. Historical details aside, it blazed with truth. Christianity was born.
(That truth, by the way, is what Wednesday night Bible Study offers me as we think outside the box and dig into the Scriptures, peeling and paring them until the vital central core of living, blazing truth is revealed.)
The jigsaw was complete. There are many paths to God, many ways to look up, reach out and serve. Nothing wrong with thinking outside the box – with believing outside it.
May it ever be so.
Potholes, Detours and Tollbooths:
Stepping-Stones on the Road to Faith
…a monthly column of poetry, prose and personal perspective
by Mary Domb Mikkelson
Down the Rabbit Hole
A brief memo: Had I known then what I do now, this column might well have been named “Potholes, Detours and Tollbooths: Rabbit Holes on the Road to Faith.” And it wouldn’t have been amiss to note that the road occasionally passes through the looking glass.
Premiering during the Vancouver Winter Olympics, a catchy 30-second Carnival Cruises commercial entitled “Gangway” promised that, “Something funny happens when you cross over from land to sea. You become a different person. You taste foods you’ve never tried. You swim with animals you’ve only seen in an aquarium. And, somewhere out on the high seas, you get your first water wedgie.” As a dedicated cruiser (will soon take my 100th!), I could relate. Well, maybe not to the water wedgie, but…
To one wrestling with the transition from intellectual to wholehearted faith the words struck quite a different chord, echoing as they did the sometimes staggering challenge of that crossover.
“Challenge,” as I am discovering during my recently embarked upon Lenten journey, is the right word, albeit, I’m beginning to realize, rather too mild a one.
Ash Wednesday, aided and abetted by UCCLM’s columbarium chapel, brought this sharply into focus. The day started innocuously enough. Following a fills appointment in Tierrasanta, my Garmin and I traveled a new road (hmm, a precursor?) to UCCLM and found it a good one. The following e-mail, sent at 1:00am the next morning, captures what happened next:
“A friend told me the meditation/ashes brought her peace...then commented that faith should be comfortable.
“Should it?
“When I first sat down in the chapel, I was thinking (praying?) about the challenge of faith, hoping for "input" as to dealing with the way mine is evolving. "Did" the ashes and was suddenly overwhelmed - shaken, not soothed. If I could cry, I would have been...
“Intellectual faith is easier to deal with.”
Félix’s response arrived at 8:30am. Confirming my suspicions, my fears - and my hopes, it said,
“Each faith journey is different. Whatever you felt was what you needed to feel at the time.
“Yes, intellectual faith is easier. Walking the real faith journey is quite challenging. That’s why so many people don’t like it.
“I pray that this Lenten journey brings you to a wonderful place in your faith journey!”
Down the rabbit hole I plunged.
According to Lewis Carroll, Alice jumped in the White Rabbit’s hole “never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.” Speculation was rampant in Carroll’s day as to what would happen to someone hapless enough to fall through a hole passing through Earth’s center. The question had, after all, been addressed by such worthies as Plutarch, Francis Bacon and Voltaire – and correctly answered by Galileo. Assuming a hollow tube, the jumper would fall, faster and faster (increasing speed, decreasing acceleration), until arriving at the center (the point of zero acceleration), then continue falling (decreasing speed, increasing acceleration) until arriving at Earth’s other side. Round one of an almost endless series of bounce backs (air resistance would eventually strand the jumper mid-earth, but what a ride!).*
I know just how she felt. I was, after all, on bounce 7 or 8 (or was it 10 or 12?).
Ash Wednesday wasn’t the first time I had turned to Félix to guide me through the tumult of change. Not by a long shot. Only days earlier, in fact, I had almost literally grabbed him after church in my need to express a recent experience with prayer in that same chapel. Prayer, other than the familiar and rote, has long been outside my comfort zone. Too emotional, too unreasoning, too dependent making. And yet, one night before Bible study I found myself in the chapel and praying for the success of our two services, for the peace of reconciliation - actually praying real words, not just touching base with God in my mind.
Félix gave me, as he always does, his full attention.
Later I e-mailed my thanks for the talk and was thanked in turn for sharing. “It’s wonderful,” I was told, “to watch people grow in their spiritual journeys.”
I suspect that was when I finally understood that I was on a real journey, one which, however apprehensively (make that fearfully) I approached it, I was somehow committed to (stuck with?). What’s that Johnny Mercer song about irresistible forces and unmovable objects? Oh, yeah, “Something’s Gotta Give!” The “Force,” it appeared, was with me – and invincible.
Why the struggle? Why not just “relax and enjoy?”
Five years ago UCCLM gave me exactly what I had been seeking, a faith my mind could wrap itself around. “Potholes,” one fruit of that gift, has long helped me explore it, to marvel in its intellectual richness.
What I didn’t expect was that that transition, that move – that mind-boggling capitulation – to a liberal, progressive theology was but the first rabbit hole. Or that the inversion of the looking glass awaited.
Like Alice, I found the first rabbit hole rather enchanting (after the initial surprise wore off). Remember how she floated happily down, wondering aloud where she might emerge (New Zealand? Australia?), practicing mid-air a curtsy with which to greet a potential guide and wishing Dinah were with her (though worried whether, there being no mice in the air, the cat might have to make do with bats). In my case I was rather bemused, occasionally confused – and eventually ensnared - by “little things” – prayer stones, for Pete’s sake, among them. I made the trek to “use” one (take, concentrate on concerns, place in plate – along with those concerns) each and every week during our summer experiment with two services. For all the good it did…or for all the good I thought it was doing. It wasn’t until recently that I “got it.” I dutifully joined the queue (doing my bit, don’tcha know), took a stone and felt it warm in my hand. Maybe from the worry I found myself transferring to it? Don’t know but I do know I felt better when I returned to my seat. Now, having taken the tumble, having passed through the looking glass, having seen my inverted self, I’m able to believe it will happen again for me, even eager for it to do so.
Now, as I am writing this, come the Lenten spiritual practices in which we are preparing to immerse ourselves. I’ve tried some of them – Daily Examen, Taize and Lectio Divina, to little avail, finding it difficult, if not impossible, to call on – to release – the inner emotions involved, to relax and let my spiritual side take charge. As for the others – Mindful Eating, the Labyrinth, Walking Meditation/Body Prayer, frankly they sound like so much nonsense. Which is why I’m going to do them. The stone warmed up – or I let myself warm to it; maybe these, too, will ignite? If so, that’ll be a total inversion…
And those are just for starters.
There’s another side to the conundrum. I love my church work, my News Media Ministry. And I plan to keep on keeping on as long as body and mind allow. But what of this new need, the faith journey that is challenging me, sometimes scaring me. Where is it taking me? Will I be able to walk the path stretching out before me? Is being open to new possibilities, trying new things, sharing new thoughts and feelings enough of a response? I don’t know but I suspect I’ll find out one of these days. Maybe the next time I tumble down a rabbit hole or disappear through a looking glass? Félix, be prepared for the fallout…I’m going to need a guide (have curtsy, will follow).
_____
*Paraphrased from Martin Gardner’s note in The Annotated Alice
Potholes, Detours and Tollbooths:
Stepping-Stones on the Road to Faith
…a monthly column of poetry, prose and personal perspective
by Mary Domb Mikkelson
Smack Dab Into God’s Hand
A Riddle to Start the New Year:
What have new UCCLMers and Jonah in common?
At the start of the October 25, 2009 worship service, Doug Brunson asked all who had become UCCLMers since Félix accepted its pulpit to stand.Well over half the congregation rose, confirmation of a job well done.
I found myself thinking about Jonah’s attempted escape to Tarshish.
Theologians and historians are uncertain just where Tarshish was.Among the possibilities, according to Rabbi Meir Levin1, are Tarsus in Celicia, Asia Minor; Tartessus, a Phoenician settlement in Southern Spain and Carthage.Less specific is the suggestion that Tarshish, along with Pul, Tubal and Javan, was “one of the remote places that have not heard of Hashem2,”places figuratively “at the end of the world.”Levin supports the theory that Tarshish was located somewhere off the coast of Africa, citing 1 Kings 11:22 and 2 Chronicles 9:21, verses describing the arrival of ships from Tarshish following a three year journey, bringing with them ivory, apes and peacocks, items indigenous to Africa.An interesting sidelight:the Congo peacock was “unknown” until 1936, when a single feather was found.
Three years away…the “far ends of the earth” to be sure.A good place, in Jonah’s mind, to escape from God.God had a job for him, one he didn’t particularly relish, so offhe ran – to a place where, he may well have reasoned, God, being unknown, wouldn’t find him.
Came the storm and, whale, big fish or sea-monster notwithstanding, Jonah landed smack dab in God’s hand.So much for running away, for the sanctuary of Tarshish.Hashem was there, waiting for Jonah to hear God’s voice.As it says in Psalm 95:7 (“For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.Today if ye will hear his voice,”), God is always there, waiting.
What so challenged Jonah’s faith that he wanted to disappear from God’s radar?It seems God wanted him to deliver a message of pardon to the citizens of that “evil city,” Nineveh.Jonah, believing they deserved neither that pardon nor God’s favor, declared himself judge and jury – and fled.God’s grace squandered on the Ninevites?Not if he had anything to do with it.
The connection I had made between Jonah and our bulging pews suddenly crystallized.Jonah felt entitled to judge the Ninevites and ran from God; some of us, many perhaps, felt judged and ran to God…to God’s freely given grace, God’s benevolent care.
So why was I thinking of commas?
Sure, the UCC comma is pretty well known.Truth be told, I’m not a big fan of it.I love the story of its origin, words Gracie Allen wrote in a love letter to George Burns – “Never put a period where God put a comma.”That speaks to me, speaks to me of possibilities and hope, of love.The comma itself?Not so much.It is, for me, a matter of esthetics.
Then I discovered the comma used as logo of the 24th General Synod in 2003.Wow!That comma is an artistic rendering of God (a, to my eye, Mother God) holding the world and its people – all of them, surrounding them with compassionate care, with grace.Now that’s a comma!(Félix – may I use it on Joys & Concerns?Pretty please!)
That – God’s grace freely given to all - is what Jonah was running from and what we at UCCLM are running to!Think about it.Think about all those expectations God has of us:feeding the hungry, healing the sick, welcoming the alien, working for peace and justice, following in the footsteps of Jesus…you know the drill.In doing so, we are to bring the disenfranchised back into the fold, into community --not a separate but equal community but God’s community, our community – and not on our terms but, rather, on God’s terms.That’s our covenant with God – a covenant we are rushing to keep when we run to God.We run…even when we stumble and have to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off.We run…even when doubts assail and love falters.We are running to God, running smack dab into God’s hand.
God is waiting for us.May it ever be so.
1.“Yonah:Flight, Return and Redemption”
.“The Name” – used instead of “God” to show respect by not taking God’s name lightly
Potholes, Detours and Tollbooths:
Stepping-Stones on the Road to Faith
…a monthly column of poetry, prose and personal perspective
by Mary Domb Mikkelson
A Matter of Mirrors
Are your mirrors fickle, flattering you one moment, decimating you the next?Mine are.At times the young woman who resides in my body (somewhere) appears.Look again and every age line proclaims its presence.The thought that they were come by honestly is but little consolation.I think of fun house mirrors and the distortions – and laughter -- they produce.Hmm…might the young woman’s smile provide a clue?
The Science of Light’s Teachers’ Lab, “Fun House Mirrors Background” states that “Ever since Narcissus peered into the pond, mirrors have fascinated us.They show us what we want to see (and what we don’t), but they also surprise us.”
As I said, fickle!
Reflections (pun intended) on mirrored images run the gamut from that of Snow White’s vain queen --“Mirror, Mirror on the wall…” -- to the words ofSt. Paul (supposedly) in 1 Corinthians 13:12 -- "For now we see through a glass, darkly.”Both anticipate wonders to come.
The latter has an interesting linguistic history.Traditionally interpreted as “peering through a clouded windowpane,” its meaning changes dramatically when you consider the times in which the phrase was uttered and translated.When the King James Bible appeared, a “glass” was a silver-backed mirror.Study the original Greek and you’ll find dia spektrou (by means of a mirror).Greek mirrors of the time, which were of polished brass, provided rather poor images.Dr. Harris extrapolates that while mortals see themselves imperfectly (in brass, so to speak), in Heaven they will see themselves as they really are.Theology aside, the imagery (punny!) is thought-provoking.
Rather unexpectedly, I found myself thinking about it during Félix’s October 11, 2009 sermon, “You Have Arrived!”My mind wandered fitfully (sorry, Félix!), flitting from point to point (from a Zen Master’s inscrutable words -- “If you meet the Buddha, kill him!” -- to a fresh look at the camel and needle eye analogy) then, drifting into writer’s mode, alighting finally to ponder how the wealthy young man in Mark 10:17-31 saw himself.He must have felt very good, quite proud of himself as he truthfully replied that he had from his youth observed the law and God’s commandments.What a letdown when Jesus “pooh-poohed” his goodness as insufficient.Eternal life?Buddy, you’ve got to take the next step.And that step was a real wowser.
Letdown was followed by resignation.The young man sadly returned to a life he found unsatisfying.The cost of moving on was too great for him to accept.He could not live without his wealth.
Quoting from an article by Paul Wadell (in the October issue of Christianity Today Félix asked what in our lives would threaten our security if we were to give it up, what we were grasping so tightly we couldn’t open ourselves to the touch of God’s grace, the embrace of God’s love.Wadell contended that “Love is a way of seeing, and those who love us best see us best.”Jesus, he says, saw the young man as he truly was, in a way he was incapable of seeing himself.He was, it appears, viewing himself in a mirror of brass.
Other thoughts tumbled in, leading to some serious reflection.I felt rather like Alice pondering what the world is like on the other side of the looking glass – in an alternate world, so to speak, reading “Jabberwocky” by holding it up to a mirror.
Wealth isn’t the only tether binding us, holding us back.Among others Wadell lists as blocking us from participating fully in the reign of God are the inability to forgive, anger, bitterness, pride, jealousy, envy, excessive ambition, relentless self-promotion and obsession with success.
A couple of them gave me pause.
I thought about the things which tend to hold us in the present, the past among them…the safe, comfortable paths we follow, have long followed, long to follow indefinitely…the fear of taking chances, of risking loss and opening ourselves to change…those “injustices” on which we blame our imperfections…the “smoke and mirrors” obscuring our reality…our convictions, those “black and white” beliefs proclaiming our rightness…
The list is long, the bonds highly individual, reflecting our histories and experiences, the flotsam and jetsam of our lives.But all have in common the tentacles of excess, those things for which our need is irrational.Another mirror comes to mind, that of Tennyson’s Lady of Shalott:
Out flew the web and floated wide--
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me", cried
The Lady of Shalott.
William Harris summed 1 Corinthians 13 up as follows:
“The text of 1 Corinthians 13 is remarkable, a virtual hymn to transcendental Love, compactly couched in a short page of varied images sutured together so deftly that we are led inexorably to the crowning word: agape.The passage is so beautiful and at the same time so famous that it is imprinted in the memory of anyone who has had any exposure to Christianity, as believer or as non-sectarian student of religion…”
The English Standard Version of the Bible renders 1 Corinthians 13:12 as “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”
Surely 1 Corinthians 13:13 -- “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” -- is the mirror through which we, like Alice, can make sense of the Jabberwocky of life and finally understand, in Felix’s words, that “…we can only receive grace when we give up our lives to receive it.”
May it be so.
Church was a whole lot simpler when all I did was fill a pew on Sunday mornings – fill a pew, enjoy the hymns, daydream (and occasionally doze) during the sermons and catch up on the latest gossip before and after the service. No meetings, committees, boards, social events, work or worry, etc. – and, truth be told, very little interest in changing the status quo.
Trouble is, I didn’t manage to completely disconnect. I kept thinking about what I be
Church Events
August Calendar
August 1, Sunday
8:15 am Sunday Morning Live!
9:00 am Contemporary Worship Service
10:00 am Friendship Time
11:00 am Traditional Worship Service
12:00 noon Board Meetings: CE, MO
August 2, Monday
10:30 am Visitation Team
7:00 pm Bone-A-fieD Brass
August 3, Tuesday
9:30 am BYOT (Trustees)
Staff Meeting
7:30 pm Broken Strings @ Clares’
August 4, Wednesday
12:00 noon Youth: Feeding America
6:30 pm Book Study
August 7, Saturday
8:30 am CBCC Board Meeting
August 8, Sunday
8:15 am Sunday Morning Live!
9:00 am Contemporary Worship Service
9:30 AM Board Meeting: MF
10:00 am Friendship Time
11:00 am Traditional Worship Service
August 9, Monday
10:30 am Visitation Team
7:00 pm Bone-A-fieD Brass
August 10, Tuesday
9:30 am BYOT (Trustees)
Staff Meeting
7:30 pm Broken Strings @ Clares’
August 11, Wednesday
TBD Youth: Mission Beach/Belmont Park
6:30 pm Book Study
7:30 pm Church Council
August 13, Friday
10:00 am Prayers and Squares
August 15, Sunday
8:15 am Sunday Morning Live!
9:00 am Contemporary Worship Service
10:00 am Friendship Time
11:00 am Traditional Worship Service
12:30 pm Partnership Churches Picnic @ Emer- ald Hills Park
August 16, Monday
10:00 am Church Women Uniting Retreat
10:30 am Visitation Team
7:00 pm Bone-A-fieD Brass
August 17, Tuesday
Joys & Concerns Deadline
9:30 am BYOT (Trustees)
Staff Meeting
7:30 pm Broken Strings @ Clares’
August 18, Wednesday
12:00 noon Youth: Feeding America
6:30 pm Book Study
August 20, Friday
5:30 pm SDYCS Movie Night
August 21, Saturday
12:00 noon SCNCUCC: Tour of the Pacific Is- lands Luau-Queen Mary, Long Beach
August 22, Sunday
8:15 am Sunday Morning Live!
9:00 am Contemporary Worship Service
10:00 am Friendship Time
11:00 am Traditional Worship Service
August 23, Monday
10:30 am Visitation Team
7:00 pm Bone-A-fieD Brass
August 24, Tuesday
9:00 am Partnership Churches Meeting
9:30 am BYOT (Trustees)
Staff Meeting
7:30 pm Broken Strings @ Clares’
August 25, Wednesday
1:00 pm Youth: Ocean Beach, Hodad's & Farmer's Market
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