Integrating Healing into a Parish: I believe that grace’s empowerment is present in all true healings, in deliverance of all kinds, and in any movement toward wholeness and love and freedom, however great or small. It is present in physical and psychological healing, in social and political reconciliation, in cultural and scientific breakthrough, in spiritual deliverance from evil, in religious repentance and conversion, and in the ongoing process of spiritual growth. It is present where love really grows. In every situation, grace enables us to make necessary initial changes and to continue, over time, to nurture those changes in creative, constructive ways. (Gerald May, MD)
This Sunday will be our next Healing Prayer Sunday. The Healing Prayer Team has participated in creating this liturgy and I trust you will find it very comforting and meaningful.
February 5 will be a Partnership Celebration Sunday. Our Partners in Lwamondo Parish, South Africa and in Laurel Galan, Nicaragua will share prayers and blessings with us on that day too. A truly Global Church affirmation! Members of Vukani Mawethu Choir will provide the music for that day. They are a joy you won’t want to miss.
Small and Tall Worship – our next Family Service especially designed for the children – will happen on Sunday, February 12.
Our Annual Congregational Meeting will be held on February 5 after worship in the Sanctuary. Your participation is desired.
What blessings have come through the Bible 365 experience. It was great to see all the class members gathered around the altar last Sunday. Our thanks to Pr. Elizabeth for her initiation and leadership of this class. The class stirred endless questions and new perspectives. It also confirms why the faith is not anti-intellectual or “blind” but a probing exploration or exposure of what it means to be human. Continue to ask the probing questions and expect surprising insights. Thanks to Pr. Elizabeth for all the gifts and challenges Bible 365 offered!
Fifty years ago Bob Dylan began singing in Greenwich Village and Peter Benenson, a British lawyer, founded Amnesty International – an organization dedicated to identifying and freeing political prisoners who are imprisoned for speaking their conscience. Aren’t you glad both opened their mouths, minds and hearts! Please keep all political prisoners in your prayers. Join Amnesty if you wish.
One Sunday morning a mother went in to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church to which he replied, “I’m not going.”
“Why not?” she asked. I’ll give you two good reasons,” he said.
1), They don’t like me, and 2) I don’t like them.”
His mother replied, “I’ll give you two good reasons why you SHOULD go to church:
1) You’re 39 years old and 2) . . . . . . you’re the pastor!”
The Picnic:
A Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic Priest met at the town’s annual 4th of July picnic. Old friends, they began their usual banter.
“This baked ham is really delicious,” the priest teased the rabbi. “You really ought to try it. I know it’s against your religion, but I can’t understand why such a wonderful food should be forbidden! You don’t know what you’re missing. You just haven’t lived until you’ve tried Mrs. Hall’s prized Virginia Baked Ham. Tell me, Rabbi, when are you going to break down and try it?”
The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin, and said, “At your wedding.”
“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.” (Martin Luther King)
Bible 365 concludes this Sunday and Pr. Elizabeth will be our preacher. Her homily theme will be: “Why I am still a devout Christian after being thoroughly deconstructed theologically and having every last shred of magical thinking wrenched from my hands by Bible instructors like….Pr. Elizabeth.” It will be a kind of Love Letter – and a joyful opportunity for people of faith who think, care, question and commit.
From our Seminarian Brenda Bos:
Tomorrow (1/12) will be the end of the first week of the PLTS cross-cultural immersion in Los Angeles. 17 of us come from PLTS, 2 from other schools in the GTU and 2 from Luther Seminary in Minnesota. Emily Truby-Weller is also here. We spent the first 4 days among the people of Holy Trinity Lutheran, a vibrant congregation of African descent. We enjoyed their spirited worship service which included lots of singing and proclamation. They have a terrific youth dance troupe and a gospel choir which several of us joined by standing up out of our pews, much to the surprise and delight of the congregation.
We are now living with Spanish-speaking families in working class neighborhoods. We attend three hours of Spanish class every morning, and will visit various programs of local congregations and social service organizations over the next 10 days. We are tired, but well cared for and learning so much about the different congregations in Los Angeles.
(1/16)We attended a poetry slam given by the homeless on Thursday night in a theater space downtown Los Angeles. The poems were intense, full of talent and truth and amazing. I learned a lot about the witness of those who have a very different life than us, including serious mental illness. Friday we attended a hip hop church, put on by the youth of several African descent congregations. It was spirit-filled, including a delightful “Bible Feud” game show, liturgical dance, rap and a sermon in spoken word poetry by a 15 year old which was breathtaking. God moves in the ways each community needs.
Seminarian John Brett will begin working with us in February when Brenda returns to us as well.
Katherine Beeler reports from the Youth Group’s visit to the Open Cathedral – a church for the street people of the Tenderloin in San Francisco sponsored by the Night Ministry (with whom I worked for 10 years): “It was a good experience for several reasons – it was a concrete way of seeing both the need and the love that radiate from the Open Cathedral community….someone commented on the way home, ‘I’d never seen anything like that before!’; it gave the youth a chance to connect as a group outside of church; and it tied in well with conversations about justice and mercy that we’d had earlier in the day. The focus on ML King during the service at Peace sparked a good discussion about the current racial and economic segregation in the Bay Area and elsewhere- they’re a sharp group!)”
The ANC (African National Congress) celebrates its 100th Anniversary this year. Did you know we have more black men in prison in the US today than South Africa had in its prisons during the height of apartheid? What does that mean to us?
Please keep in your prayers: BJ on the death of her mother, Lisa, Katie, April, Sheila, Diana, those with the flu, and our partners in Nicaragua and South Africa.
When shall the evening gathering of the Women of Peace happen next? If you have suggestions please let me know.
The Art and Spirituality Committee is evolving at Peace. Here is a comment from Bill Carmel on ‘Spiritual Inspiration: It is my opinion that most art comes from a personal spiritual place, something very similar to what Jung called the collective unconscious. Many artists describe their art experience/process as spiritual, but this is a small part of what interests me. I want to see art work where the content refers, in a cogent and accessible way, to spiritual ideas. It is so easy for an artist who makes abstract work to say that he or she had a spiritual experience in the making of it. While that is fine and valid, I become excited about the piece when it actually communicates the spiritual ideas to the majority of viewers. How does one communicate the idea of mystery? Not so easy.
Our thanks to Lois McGee for delivering our 2nd Gathering of Giving Tree Gifts!
Keep practicing the Abba/Imma Chi Prayer. 30 days of praying/practicing and you will experience a delightful interior shift!
Listen to KCSM (91.1 FM) during the last two weeks of January and you will hear that their Premium Gift for new subscribers is our Jazz at Peace CD! They asked to use it. We could never afford this kind of promotion throughout the Bay Area. God is gracious, don’t you think!
Work and play are opposites but leisure is the spirit in which we are invited to live our lives. The Chinese characters for Leisure are: Open Space and Sunshine. The Chinese characters for Busy are: Heart and Killing. Leisure is the essential ingredient which gracefully holds the demands and the joys of all our days. (Brother David Stendl-Rast)
Thanks to the Peace Council, Bev and all who could attend the Open House for such a relaxed and spirited day. Always good to simply be together.
Bible 365 with Pr. Elizabeth concludes on January 22. Join in these last wonderful classes! She will be preaching on the 22 too.
The Bahá’í Community of Danville would like to thank the Peace Lutheran Church community for their hospitality, love & support during the Interfaith Thanksgiving services. We hope that we can continue to work & grow together in the future. In service to humanity, Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Danville.
Shelter, Inc. would also like to extend their thanks for the 2nd Special Christmas Gifting to homeless families. Quite a generous response and the families are delighted.
Here is the link for you to use in learning the Abba/Imma Chi Prayer we experienced this last Sunday. We will soon create a 2nd video that includes the meaning of the series movements. You are invited to ground yourself and pray/practice this Lord’s Prayer three times each day. Outdoors in the yard, by the garden, among the trees will add lovely dimensions too. If you practice this prayer for the next 30 days (through the Epiphany Season to Transfiguration), you will enjoy a shift in attitude and energy. Our thanks to Elise and Kaleo for creating the prayer and Seminarian Brenda Bos for this video.
Congratulations to Kelly and Alan Krock on the birth of Aden!
Gratitude for your strong response to the Hospitality Sign Up request. Martha Mantei has agreed to take over the reins from Anita as the Coordinator. Many thanks, Anita, for making Hospitality such a tasty and connecting joy on Sunday mornings.
Zen (like the Gospel) describes itself as a mosquito sitting on an Iron Bull… it is utterly insignificant…but if its ‘spiritual bite’ ever gets through – everything changes for the bull!
“God of tender care, you have cradled us in goodness, you have mothered us in wholeness, you have loved us into birth: All around us we have known you, all creation lives to hold you; in our living and our dying we are bringing you to birth.” (Bernadette Farrell)
Bev and I and the Council hope you will be able to celebrate an Epiphany Open House at our home this Sunday, January 8 from 1 – 4 pm. Come and relax, children are welcome and enjoy the good cheer of new friends and old. Hope to see you then!
Epiphany: Wise Ones from the East will be joining us this Sunday….don’t miss out! Special Request: If you have Bells (of any size or sound) please bring them to worship with you for our final Christmas Season Celebration!
Sunday School resumes this Sunday – it’s the best Christmas and New Year’s gift to give our children! Bible 365 also resumes and the Countdown begins….only 3 more Sundays! You are free to join the class any one of these Sundays too. Educate the mind and stability emerges; educate the heart and the spirit soars!
Please keep in your prayers: Diana, Gloria (travelling in Europe), BJ on the death of her mother, Anila, Kelly and Alan who about to give birth, Lisa, Kersti, for our young ones who are searching for themselves, for adults who don’t know who they are, for those living with addictions, for Openness, Giving Hearts, Hope and Wonder!
If you have children’s clothes (any sizes) or adult coats or Christmas toys that you don’t need or want, please bring them to church this Sunday. Shelter, Inc. received two new homeless families on Christmas Day and we are trying to give them a bit of Christmas spirit and blessings that they really need. Thank you.
The Women’s Group will meet next Wednesday, January 11 from 10 – Noon at Peace. The Women of Peace evening group will decide soon when they will meet January.
The Jazz Church West presents the Steve Heckman Quartet this Sunday at 5:00 pm. Favorite pianist Gerry Grosz will be playing with this group.
And now the 12 Days of Christmas….which lead up to Epiphany – the Celebration of Light! Where do those crazy song lyrics (leaping lords, French hens, swimming swans, the partridge in the pear tree) come from? What do they have to do with Christmas? Recently I found out:
From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning – known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol was a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.
The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
The five golden rings recalled the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.
The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit–Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit–Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles’ Creed.
There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way.” (C. S. Lewis)
CHRISTMAS EVE WORSHIP
Saturday Dec. 24
Children and Family worship at 5 pm
Candlelight and Communion at 10 pm
CHRISTMAS DAY WORSHIP
Sunday Dec. 25
Worship at 9:30 am Please invite friends and family!
Special Request: If you have Bells (of any size or sound) please bring them to worship with you on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s!
The Christmas Pageant Rehearsal is this Thursday at 6:00 pm. Expect a wonderful Christmas Gift from our kids and Youth Group.
Thanks to all who contributed to our Giving Tree Gifts for Families in need. Over $1100 was presented for our Partnership Families in Laurel Galan, Nicaragua and Lwamondo Parish in Venda, South Africa. The staff at Shelter, Inc. was delighted by all the gifts for the homeless families whom they and we serve.
And thanks to our Youth Group for the Snowman Soup, to Margit Johansson for the Glogg, to Greg Grebe and all who formed the Tree Decorating Party, to Alexei Griesbach for his guitar music, to the chorus for the Magnificat, to Bill Carmel for his painting “Spark”, and Richard Caemmerer for “Corona – the Pregnant Cosmos”.
A word from Seminarian Brenda Bos:
I am going home to Los Angeles on Friday, December 16 and will be there through the month of January. Several years ago the ELCA made a commitment to multi-culturalism, and as part of that commitment, seminarians are required to have a “cross-cultural immersion” where we live among people from a different culture for three weeks. In January I will spend 4 days with an African American family in Los Angeles and worship in their Lutheran congregation, then spend 2 1/2 weeks with a Spanish-speaking family, worship in their Lutheran church and experience Los Angeles from their perspective. I look forward to reporting back to Peace and know I will miss you all while I am gone. Joyous Christmas! Brenda
Additional Blessing: Seminarian John Brett, a first year student at PLTS Seminary, has been assigned to work at Peace as our second Teaching Parish seminarian. John will begin working with us in February of next year. Look forward to meeting and working with him.
The Winter Solstice arrives on the 21st – the darkest night of the year. This is a precious time to Walk the Labyrinth and absorb the Peace Mosaic with open eyes and heart. (Can you guess which Mandala is in the center now?) Invite family and friends to walk the labyrinth and/or worship with you this Christmas.
Epiphany Open House: Bev and I and the Church Council invite you to our home on January 8 from 1 – 4 pm. You can join us for Jazz at Peace afterwards if you wish.
“Every midwife knows that not until the womb softens can the child find the opening to be born. Soften the treasure of your heart, my Friend, so that the opening may be discovered and the dark pain you carry may gracefully lead you to the never-ending grace.”
December 18 is Mary Sunday for us and promises to be a lovely liturgy with the celebration of the Magnificat. Our Giving Tree Gifts will be received (wrapped and with the Ornament taped on the outside – please see the stories below); you may choose to participate in the Christmas Tree Decorating Party (thanks to Bill Carmel and Ray Lewis for getting the tree up!) or Bible 365 or learn the Abba Chi Prayer in depth (Seminarian Brenda and Kaleo have just finished the video of our congregation praying the Abba Chi).
Christmas Pageant Service: Members of our Youth Group are helping design and coordinate our Pageant with the children of Peace for our 5:00 pm Christmas Eve Celebration. We will have a Rehearsal on Thursday, December 22 at 6:00 pm.
Christmas Eve Worship Schedule: 5:00 pm Children and Family Worship; 10:00 pm Candlelight and Communion.
Christmas Day – Carols and Communion at 9:30 am.
How fun to celebrate 15+ Birthdays of Gun, Maili and Marlene this past Sunday. What blessed Openings of Compassion they have shared with us over the years!
Gun was delighted to share with us her experiences in Liberia and the ongoing work of Lievstucket (a Swedish Women’s Organization) which has been assisting Immigrant Women for many years. These are the Signs of Hope upon which our world depends. Gun is now off on a journey to Israel. Safe travels.
Please keep in your prayers: Kersti, Nancy, Marlene, Lois, Liu Xiaobo (last year’s Nobel Peace Prize Winner who is still in prison), Leymah Gbowee (this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Winner from Liberia and author of Mighty Be Our Powers), Lisa and all those who pray for us.
Here are some of the background stories of our Giving Tree Gift Families this year whom we are supporting through Shelter, Inc.
Family TWO
Jesse, his sister Rebekka and her 2 daughters Faith and Bianca have just moved into the SJ-II housing program. Jesse is disabled and helps his sister care for the children. The two have been best friends since child hood and have always supported the others efforts to grow. Faith and Bianca are very smart and very artistic. Bianca loves to draw and dance and Faith loves to design clothes and cook or bake. Both girls like to help mom in the kitchen or garden and they are all enjoying their large yard in the new house.
Family Six
Jenna and her first baby just arrived at our emergency family shelter. Her baby boy is 3 weeks currently and will be almost 3 months old at Christmas time. Mom is 25 years old and adores her baby boy. Joseph is a very kick back calm little baby who rarely cries and is starting to focus on voices that he hears and tracks sounds with his eyes. Mom is very happy to be with SHELTER, Inc. and plans to make the most of her time with us. She has never had a place of her own and has spent most of her life being bounced from one family member to another in 4 month stays. She states that she has never had a place to call home since she was a tiny child and you might think that this kind of upbringing might bring her down, Jenna is one of the most positive people I have seen in a long time.
Family Seven
Lena and her 2 daughters are participants in the family rapid re-housing program. They have come to SI because they had to leave an domestic violence situation. When they left they were not able to take any of their personal belongings. She is very soft spoken and sweet with her 2 daughters. They are incredibly grateful to be in a safe and healthy place for Christmas.
Family Eight
Debisue is a young mother of 2 daughters aged 2 and 3 years old. She is pregnant with her 3rd child a boy she has named Jimmy after his father. Baby Jimmy is due any second literally, Debisue will have the baby within a couple of days and she is so excited to be having a boy after 2 girls. Debisue has taken a break from school in order to have her baby and take some bonding time after his birth. She is a full time college student at Western Career College in Concord with a few months left to earn her Nursing assistant degree and certificate.
I can’t thank all of you enough for the Surprise Birthday Parties after worship and at Jazz on Sunday! It was a most elegant and gracious way to turn 60. I am mindful of a phrase I used in an Advent Homily recently: Time is given to us not to keep a faith we once had, but to acquire a faith we need now. Thank you for your encouragement in my life and faith.
Several of you requested Poet Tomas Transtromer’s (Nobel Prize Winner for Literature this year) poem used this last Sunday.
Roman Arches
Inside the huge Roman Cathedral the tourists were confined in the mystery of twilight.
Vaults – mouths gaping wide open – beyond vaults, gave no gaze of the vastness.
Flickering candle flames.
There, the voice of an angel without face embraced me
whispering into my body-being:
“Do not feel ashamed of being human – breathe, bear, be proud of your dignity!
Inside of you, vault upon vault is opening up into eternity.
You will never be ready – and that is as it should be.”
Blinded by my tears I was jostled by the crowd into the sun-drenched piazza
Together with Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Mr. Tanaka and Signora Sabatini
….and within them vaults upon vaults beyond vaults were opening – endlessly.
“Why do we rush about…..looking for God who is here at home with us, if all we want is to be with God? Let us fly to our beloved homeland – from the noise that is around us to the joys that are silent and present within.” St. Augustine
Please choose an Ornament from our Giving Tree this Sunday. Your gifts will support: our Partnership friends in Laurel Galan, Nicaragua and Lwamondo Parish in Venda, South Africa; or hungry families in need in our County; or homeless families who are staying with Shelter, Inc. in Concord. Details will be given on Sunday. The gifts will need to be presented at worship on December 18.
Those who can assist Diana Keller with transportation to worship on Sundays (she lives off of Crow Canyon) are asked to contact our church office.
We will have a Christmas Tree Decorating Party after worship on December 18. Christmas Carols and festive goodies too.
The Sing-along-Messiah is presented on December 18 at 7:00 pm at the San Ramon Presbyterian Church on Alcosta Blvd. Tickets are $10. Go to www.srvmessiah.info for tickets or get them at the door.
Christmas Eve Worship: Children and Family worship at 5:00 pm; Candlelight and Communion at 10:00 pm.
Christmas Day Worship: 9:30 am. Invite family and friends to join you.
Jazz at Peace hosts Anton Schwartz and Inga Swearingen this Sunday at 5:00 pm. An utterly unique and daring sax and vocalist presentation. You will be amazed.
Personalized M&Ms with a lovely cat face on them….do you think Annie has enjoyed her birthday?
“A person has no alternative but to respond to the real setting in which one finds oneself, with a result that one’s prayer is necessarily fabricated from the various inner and outward components of one’s life…..prayer grows out of life. It is not an isolated department of life; prayer is the realization of the God-ward potential inherent in every life.” (Michael Casey)
Our Advent Season was blessed to begin with 4 baptisms this past Sunday. The faces of the children and their parents were a source of wonder and delight. How marvelous it was when they were presented with an array of candles. The music of Paul Scheffert and our Abba/Imma Chi Prayer gave space and grace to the Spirit’s invitation to be, breathe, read scripture, pray and listen during this Advent time of preparation.
The Women and Moms of Peace will meet again next Wednesday, December 7 at 7:00 pm at the home of Julie Gillespie and Judy Oliviera. The group will continue to reflect on Loved by God….but – Struggling to keep my own Strength. Pr. Margareta will be present to help facilitate the conversation. Future topics/burning questions can be identified as well. All the Women of Peace are encouraged to participate. Judy and Julie’s address is: 7552 Northland Ave in San Ramon. This is a great opportunity for “breathing time” into our lives and the season of Advent. If anyone wants to bring snacks, please let Julie and Judy know by Sunday, December the 4th. Further details will be in the bulletin.
Our annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Celebration at 7:00 pm was a gift to all the participants. Our thanks to Parisa Lo Bianco and the Danville Baha’i Assembly for hosting this service. Each of the congregations participating had a Youth Representative and Allison Winter represented Peace well!
Please keep in your prayers: Kersti Malvre, Diana Keller, Marlene Garrity , Nancy Carlston, Lois McGee and Martha Mantei , Fidel Taylor, the newly baptized, Seminarian Brenda Bos and her Committee, Chaplain Dwane Michael, and our Advent Season that we may have times of stillness as we ‘wait for the Lord’ in prayer, quiet, scripture reflection and meditation.
Meditation time is available for you on Thursdays from 5:45 – 6:30 pm. It includes sitting and walking meditation. Beginners are welcomed and instruction is always available.
“This life, therefore, is not godliness but the process of becoming godly, not health but getting well, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are on the way. The process is not yet finished but it is actively going on. This is not the goal but it is a true path. At present everything does not gleam and sparkle but everything is being cleansed.” (Luther)
The Baha’i Assembly of Danville and I-SRV invite you to our annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Eve Celebration at Peace on Wednesday, November 23 at 7:00 pm. You may bring canned good for our county Food Bank and Shelter, Inc. will receive our offering for the evening. The music and prayers of the evening always mark how special it is that we can share our gratitude with friends of other faith traditions. All are welcome!
Our Church Council will share a special report at worship this Sunday.
Kaleo and Elise Ching invite you to join them at 9:15 on Sunday for a brief practice and grounding for our Abba Chi Prayer which we will pray again in worship.
Your Giving Cards can be submitted this Sunday during worship.
Please keep in your prayers: Kersti Malvre, Diana Keller, Lisa, Sheila, Stacey Morris, Bronwyn, Fidel and Heidi, those grieving, the hungry, the homeless and the least among us.
About a dozen women came together for our first Quarterly Women and Moms of Peace Gathering. After tasty desserts Pr. Margareta shared reflections on Loved by God….but – Struggling to keep my own Strength. The real life context of the conversation made it a powerful contribution for all who attended. Another 6 – 8 people sent regrets. My favorite was: ‘I’d love to come but can’t because –that’s why I need this…..I am overextended!’
Hospice of the East Bay and Bev Harms invite you to brighten the Contra Costa sky during the holiday season by honoring the life of someone you know with a gift for a light on the hospice Tree of Light. Information pamphlets are available in our Gathering Hall. The ceremony at Blackhawk is on December 2 at 5:00 pm.
All upcoming events can now be viewed
on the Online Church Calendar.
You may access it by clicking here or by selecting "Church Calendar" under "Welcome and About Us" on the top navigational bar.
Sunday Mornings
Join us every Sunday morning for worship at 9:30 a.m. followed by a time of food and fellowship. Sunday School for ages three through 5th grade, along with our adult education program runs from 11:10 - 11:50 a.m. ALL are welcome!
Bible 365
an Educational Class with Pastor Elizabeth Felts
Sunday mornings after Worship. To download the year long reading plan click here.
Exploration and conversation about developing a Columbarium at Peace is currently ongoing. To learn more, go here
January 27, 2012 
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