There are times when, as the spiritual leader of this congregation, I feel compelled to comment on events that are not only in the headlines, but that call for a faith response — Columbine; the war in Iraq in 2003; Donald Trump’s inaugural speech in 2016; the murder of George Floyd.
Today, I want to share some reflections and prayers regarding the war in Gaza, and response to it.
Read MoreOn Sunday, April 28, we bade farewell to the Shin family, and blessed them on their way to their new home in Los Angeles. As these events always are, it was bittersweet. A new, exciting professional opportunity awaits David, and new friendships and adventures will greet Sophia and Micah. We have known this family since before Micah was born. And we celebrated his birth and baptism with great joy and thanksgiving. Over the past almost-four years he has grown to become a wonderful member of our worshipping community. Godspeed, Shin family!
Read MoreAmong the many things that seem to be engendering big, noisy announcements in these internet-saturated days is the relationship between God (or no God) and history. You may have come across the idea of "dispensationalism", whether you know it by that term or not -- the idea that the God of the Bible has fixed a series of seasons or epochs through history, culminating in the "last days", when history will end.
Read MoreEarlier this year, and as an outcome of my annual performance review in 2023, I asked the ruling elders to prioritize two activities at MBPPC. These are:
Children and Youth Ministry
Financial Practices and Annual Review.
I am happy to report that we have made progress with both of these activities.
Read MoreWhat a joyful Easter Day we celebrated at MBPPC! It was a bonus that we had warm, sunny weather. But I think we brought our own light and warmth to the day celebrating Christ’s victory over all that separates us from the love of God, and the power of death to keep us from abundant, eternal life.
I want to thank the many people behind the scenes, who worked so hard to make the celebration a success:
Read MoreWaiting.
I have often thought that the most difficult of all spiritual exercises is waiting.
In the Hebrew Scripture reading for Easter Day, Isaiah 25:6-9, we read:
“…Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him so that he might save us” (Isaiah 25:9).
In the Book of Acts, we read this about the risen Christ, before he ascends to heaven:
“While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4).
Read MoreLast Sunday, I tried something new. At Communion, instead of leading the congregation through the long Great Thanksgiving, I omitted that and also did the Institution (the blessing of the Bread and Cup) in silence.
This was my own response to conversations I had with recently retied colleagues. Two of them, who do not know each other and with whom I had coffee on separate occasions in the past two weeks, said that they felt overwhelmed by words went they recently went to church as worshippers. One of them sent me this Wendell Berry poem:
Read MoreAmong the books I am currently reading is one titled “Mindsight” by a psychiatrist and pediatrician named Daniel Siegel. The book is about healing, in a word. It is about how we have the power literally to heal our brains through exercises that can bring flexibility, adaptiveness, cohesion, energy, and stability to our consciousness.
Read MoreAt the end of last Sunday’s sermon I shared a prayer written by Martin Luther in 1523. In my mind, it articulates grace very well. And it also, in this Lenten season of diligent self-reflection, names our need of God.
Also in my sermon, I quoted a translation of Matthew 5:3 that expresses the same theme very well. The most common translation of Matthew 5:3 is, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
This translation is, “Blessed are those who know their need of God, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
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