Resources for Advent

Here are some Advent resources I am really enjoying reading during this season:

The Advent Door: written by minister and artist Jan Richardson. I’ve been introduced to her blog by several friends. I continue to find her artwork and words to be inspiring on my journey through Advent.

Following the Star: a combined project of several organizations. My favorite youth camping organization, PASSPORT originally started this site and it has been expanded to include other denominations as its supporters. I really find this meaningful and love the music.

Peachtree Baptist Church: this is the church I served while I was in Atlanta, GA. The members of the church compile an Advent resource to be used each day during Advent. I’m really proud of this resource and the depth of reflection around the scriptures. I’m thankful for this congregation in so many ways and love what they have produced!

Advent Intentionality: This is the article i referenced Sunday in my sermon. It is written by my dear friend and minister, Emily McGaughy. Hope you read it!

We’ve had a wonderful journey of Advent thus far in worship. This past Sunday as our worship focused on PEACE, I particularly felt God’s spirit move among our congregation. It was a wonderful thing to experience as we consider how we might be peacemakers in this world. Won’t you join us this Sunday?

Thanksgiving Feast

We had a great time on Friday, November 20th gathering with our ministry partners. We enjoyed good food, great fellowship, and wonderful music. We had the opportunity to meet lots of folks and all total there were 41 in attendance!

Here are some pictures highlighting the event:

We are very thankful for all of our ministry partners. We hope to have an event like this again real soon.

Join us for the First Sunday of Advent tomorrow!!

The End of the World…

As We Know It… This song by REM has been running through my head this week as I prepare for Sunday’s worship. It’s the first Sunday of Advent which begins with this passage from Luke. This passage is known as a “little apocalypse”. We believe that Luke took the ideas of Mark and explained them a little differently. What is he trying to communicate to his listeners about the end of the world?

Wait. We’re on the first Sunday of Advent. Why are we talking about the end of the world? Come and see!

I’m dreaming of …..

turkey, ham, and all the sides! Why? Because we are having our Thanksgiving Dinner tomorrow night! We’ll gather with our ministry partners at 6:30 pm and enjoy an evening of fellowship, good food, and giving thanks. Join us and rsvp to me through email at pastorleann@gmail.com.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Friday, November 20th, 6:30 pm

Turkey, Ham will be provided by the church but please bring a covered dish to share!

RSVP to let us know you are coming!

See you tomorrow night,
Pastor LeAnn

Worry Not

I have been going through my office and trying to organize closets lately. Recently, when clearing some old magazines and journals I haven’t read in a while I ran across a story that was originally published in the August 12, 2008 (yes, I needed to clean out!) edition of The Christian Century. In the column for the week titled, Faith Matters, author and pastor Barbara Brown Taylor wrote a piece titled “The Upside of a Downturn”. When she wrote the piece, I would imagine that she had no idea, like the rest of us that we would still be facing such bleak economic times. Our unemployment rate in California is over 12 %. Her article was as striking to me now as when I read it last August.

This Sunday, our passage challenges us to do the direct opposite of what our current reality is causing in this world. We will be taking a look at Matthew 6:25-33. Jesus urges his followers to turn their eyes on the things of God’s kingdom and not the things of this earth. Jesus reminds us to consider how creation is cared for (lilies, birds, etc) and be reminded of how much God cares for us. Instead of being so focused on ourselves and our current situation, let us look outward and seek things that are important to God.

I think we are all prone to worry. Yes, I must confess! I’m a well-known worrier! It’s human nature to worry when things are often beyond our control. However, we can hand our worry over to God and trust that God cares for us.

At the end of the article, BBT writes, “If the gospel is true, we have nothing ultimately to fear. Whether the present economic downturn is temporary or a sign of things to come, we have not begun to explore all the life we will have left when the money is gone.”

Do you need some encouragement this Sunday? Need to be reminded to worry not? Join us this Sunday, November 22nd…You will be glad you did!

Risky Business

I’m late in getting this post up this week.

Our passage this week is found in Mark 12:38-44. If you have been in church long at all, you’ve probably heard this passage preached a time or two. It’s traditionally called “The Widow’s Mite”. As I think about this story and the sermons I’ve heard during the years on it, I think most of them have to do with stewardship.

I’m not one who likes to preach about stewardship (re: money) in the church. I’m the first advocate for stewardship of time, talents, gifts and I’ll preach on those topics quite often. Money on the other hand is hard for me to talk about in church. In college, I attended a Baptist church where ALL the pastor did was talk about money. In many ways, I think my resistance is because I don’t want to be one of those kinds of pastors! He scared people into giving to the church. My hope is that we will make conscious decisions about how we spend our money and what it means to give to the ongoing work of God’s church.  It’s really a serious issue. I consider giving (or tithing) to be a spiritual discipline in many ways. It isn’t always easy but it’s an important practice to maintain.There, that’s my stewardship sermon.

Now back to our scripture for Sunday, while I do think the widow was making an offering that day in the temple, is that why Jesus really highlights the story? What do you think? What is the significance of this woman and her offering to you?

We’d love to have you join us this Sunday at 11:15 am at 6350 Rainbow Dr. in San Jose, CA for worship and an opportunity to hear more about this story!

Lessons From the Cistern

This Sunday, November 8th in worship we’ll be looking at the passage from John 4:5-42. It’s one of my favorite passages where Jesus encounters the woman at the well. I’ve always loved this story but it was a few years ago while working with pastors in Ghana that I had a new lens to look at this scripture through. Each day, as I walked with the local pastors to the church or village hospital, we would pass women (young women) who were gathered at the local cistern. Many of them had to travel great distances in order to get fresh water that would be used for cooking, washing clothes, bathing children, etc. It was a communal activity.

A young Ghanaian child carries water back to her village.

To encounter the story about the woman who was by herself at the well in Samaria seemed a bit odd at first. We learn that it was the middle of the day, the worst part of the day to be gathering water too. These details in the story are just a glimpse of what the writer gives us to help us understand this woman’s plight in her society. She was not welcomed when the other women gathered. It seems to us that she is the outcast.

Jesus sits with her and has a conversation.

Read the story here. What do you hear in this story? What are the lessons you are learning from the cistern?