Dear friends,

This Sunday we welcome back Garrett House, our ordination candidate and seminary student at Pacific School of Religion. In addition to preaching, both Garrett and his daughter Kendall will bring special music to enrich our service. If you have wondered about how the ordination process works in the United Church of Christ, here‘s a link to a good summary. 

I am preaching this Sunday at Metropolitan Community Church of Tampa, Fla. Over the years I have been fortunate to participate in the ordination process of over fifty students in four denominations, and I loved them all equally. But if I had favorites….Rev. Jakob Hero-Shaw would be one. I got to know Jakob when he was a student at Pacific School of Religion and I was working there as pastor of the campus church, where Jakob served as an intern. The occasion of this weekend is the Tenth Anniversary of his pastorate at MCC Tampa. I also preached at his installation a decade ago. Things are tough for queer people in Florida right now, and only getting harder with each passing day. Here’s a piece that Jakob wrote as things started to take a serious rightward turn two years ago. I’m looking forward to being there this weekend to bring a message of hope and solidarity to this celebratory event. At the same time I’m aware that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could result in the abolition of legal same-sex marriage, something we lived through here in California. The difficult reality is that this could happen again, and it is a genuine fear being talked about in LGBTQ and allied circles. Please pray with me that this is not what occurs. 

I’ll be back Monday as long as the evolving hurricane doesn’t interfere! I look forward to seeing you next Sunday! Plan now to stay after church on Aug. 24 to meet our new associate Conference Minister, Rev. Rhina Ramos, the founder of Ministerio Latino, a UCC nesting at Plymouth UCC Church in Oakland and with outreach to LGBTQ immigrants all around the Bay Area. 

At our recent United Church of Christ Synod, our denomination overwhelmingly voted to be an Immigrant Supporting Church, something in alignment with who we are and who we are becoming more so here at CCP. One thing I have noticed even with our core congregation traveling this summer, is that we are experiencing strong attendance, bolstered by the vigorous and talented music program. Every member of the team has made this possible, and I want to especially appreciate our Summer Cantor, Audrey Boyd. Be sure to thank the music ministry members when you see them this Sunday. Looking forward to seeing you soon, online or onsite. 

Praying for peace,

Pastor Jim

Dear friends,

A few weeks ago we had a Saturday retreat at which about a third of our regular congregants and leaders spent the day with local organizer Rev. Terri Echelbarger. Terri led us in a series of exercises that led us closer to articulating statements of our shared mission, visions and values. We couldn’t quite agree on a single statement, though we got closer and all of the conversations were valuable. 

Just this morning I remembered a chant I first learned in Boston that we often used at protests and marches nearly 50 years ago. Here are the words: “Building bridges between our divisions, I reach out to you as you reach out to me. All of our voices and all of our visions, sisters and brothers, we can make sweet harmony.” Here’s how a version of it sounds. This Sunday a trio will sing another song about community that I really love, and I know you will too when you hear Meggie Hoffman, Mary Beth Gray and Audrey Boyd singing One Voice by the Walin’ Jennys:

“This is the sound of one voice, one spirit, one voice. The sound of one who makes a choice. This is the sound of one voice. This is the sound of voices two, the sound of me singing with you. Helping each other to make it through, this is the sound of voices two. This is the sound of voices three, singing together in harmony. Surrendering to the mystery, this is the sound of voices three. This is the sound of all of us, singing with love and the will to trust. Leave the rest behind; it will turn to dust. This is the sound of all of us.”

Once I started looking and listening for it, everywhere I looked and all the music I heard in my body and spirit started evoking for me a phrase that surfaced at our retreat, and on which everyone present did agree. Our church is “a community of communities.” I experienced it in a series of shared meals, three days in a row. First at the church picnic with the other UCC churches on Sunday afternoon at Huddart Park. Then at the Peninsula Multifaith Coalition potluck which we hosted in our dining hall on Monday night, and again on Tuesday at the Good Hope Luncheon which we all shared this month in the CCP dining room. Come this Sunday when I speak on the theme of “A Community of Communities” and be open to hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling “A Community of Communities.”

With hope,

Pastor Jim

Dear friends,

Join us before the church picnic this Sunday as we gather in the sanctuary to pray for peace and to gather at the table where everyone is welcome. This week marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the ending of WWII. People have long debated the strategy of the use of nuclear weapons in that situation, but, since then, there has been widespread reluctance to use nuclear weapons ever again. The United Church of Christ has firmly rejected future use of nuclear weapons. You can read the history of our anti-nuclear position here: https://www.ucc.org/nuclear-weapons-abolition/.

We’ll enjoy the musical gifts of Emma Naomi Mye and Jeffrey Jones. I’ll preach about Luke 12:31-21 and this poem, Love Letter from the Afterlife, by the recently deceased poet Andrea Gibson. I hope to see you in church and at the picnic if you are able! RSVP for the picnic here: Click here to RSVP for the Church Picnic.

Praying for Peace,

Pastor Jim

Dear friends,
Join us this Sunday as we welcome Garrett House to our pulpit. Garrett is a long time member and leader at CCP. He’s about to enter his final year as a seminarian at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley. He’s also in the ordination process for the United Church of Christ, and we are his sponsoring congregation. We don’t see him regularly on Sundays because he works as the Director of Religious Exploration at the nearby congregation of the Unitarian Universalists of San Mateo. In the two years since I first met him I’ve noticed the transformation that has taken place in him as he engages his vocational journey. I was so proud last fall to hear him preach at the Seminary Chapel. Whether you’ve known him for many years, or more recently, you are invited to hear him this Sunday morning as he talks about Luke 11:1-13 and the Lord’s Prayer. Hope to see you!

Faithfully,
Pastor Jim

P.S.: Please join us for our Mission & Vision retreat this Saturday! And be sure to RSVP for the church picnic on Aug. 3 here: Church Picnic RSVP

Dear Friends,

I will be gone the next two weeks on study leave. Pastor Warren and Pastor Thomas are preaching the next few weeks, and we have great music lined up. Since college and beyond I have studied Hymnology and Hymnody (these are real words). It is my hobby- I have over 1000 hymnals in my personal collection. I’ll be learning and studying and doing presentations at two conferences. I will be at the Metropolitan Community Church General Conference in Scottsdale July 2-7 and at the Annual Conference of the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada in Detroit July 10-17. I’ll also get a chance to see both my adoptive and biological families in Michigan (where I’m from). I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks.

Yours in faith,

Jim