Tuesdays, at 10:30 am
You’re invited to join us for a conversation, facilitated by Pastor Laurie.
Pastor Laurie’s virtual Bible Study
Tuesdays. 10:30 – 11:30 am.
Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/901784352
Meeting ID: 901 784 352 One tap mobile
Dial in by phone 1-669-900-9128
This Sunday we recall the feminine face of God, Sophia (wisdom), often missing in religion. We need wisdom in this liminal time. May we be blessed with the birth of a new collective consciousness in all of our relationships and our interdependence with all people, with all of life, including our mother, the earth.
We will hear stories from various traditions, including Matthew Fox’s scientific poetic re-telling of the Genesis story, and a MiWok poem about our home, told to us by local environmentalist and story teller, Mary Ellen Hill.
This will be a child friendly service! Join us!!
Photo by Andrew Claypool on Unsplash
The wondrous transformation from the caterpillar into the new life as a butterfly includes the cocooning season, where your body literally becomes mush. You disintegrate. You lose shape. You lose everything that defined you as a caterpillar. You become goo. In meaningful ways, you die to what you were.
Photo by Suzanne D. Williams on Unsplash
But here is the miracle: inside that deathly mush are imaginal cells. These cells hold the vision of a future within them. When all seems lost and nothing that was known can be known as it was, the imaginal cells give us the vision for moving forward. They know that with the right conditions and a little time, a butterfly waits to be born.
Some of us these days, feel like mush right now. We are messy, fragile, unprotected, insecure, unrecognizable, disoriented, developing, transforming, imaginal beings. We are in that liminal space between what was and what can be. Our becoming something better on the other side of this is not guaranteed. But with the right conditions, with the awakening of people to the beauty of our planet and the intimacy of our connection to everyone and everything, we have the chance to become something new.
If ever there was a time for us, to become the new creation that God is calling us into, it is now, and I am grateful that we are together on this journey into new life.
Photo by Doug Kelley on Unsplash
The 50th anniversary of Earth Day is this Wednesday, April 22nd! It’s no coincidence that it coincides with the 50th anniversary of our beautiful sanctuary, high on the Skyline ridge overlooking the East Bay Regional Parks. Please join us as we honor Earth day, this Wed at 12 noon, with storyteller Mary Ellen Hill.
Here are more events, suggestions, and actions for our anniversary:
Back in the fall, plans were being made to pack Earth Day and the following two days with rallies, protest, and nonviolent direct action. With the pandemic, those plans have had to change. Gathering in groups is simply too dangerous for our communities. Now, the actions have gone online.
Here’s an overview of what’s happening each day:
This is all being done online. You can go to the Earth Day Live website to sign up for emails with details about this 3-day live stream and online mobilization. The live stream will include training sessions, performances, and appearances to keep people engaged, informed, and inspired, with speakers including celebrities, politicians, scientists, and youth activists.
Earth Day in California
There are also a whole series of online events happening in California. You can access a pretty comprehensive list of those here. And here is info about some Bay Area events:
April 22: Climate Strike – stories, indigenous voices
April 23: Divestment day – Stop the Money Pipeline
April 24: Political action & voter registration
Bonus Day – Saturday, April 25: Post-Earth-Day Virtual Party
I hope you’ll participate in some of these wonderful events designed to help us celebrate Earth Day and to encourage our continued commitment to caring for the earth.
May we continue to rise up in the Spirit of Easter!
Pastor Laurie
Weds, 4-22, 12-1:30 PM: 50th Anniversary of Earth Day
Sun, 4/26 11:15 AM: The Human Element Film Discussion – view the film this week
Fri, 4/17-Sun, 4/26: Faith Climate Action Week, Pray, Plant a Tree
This Sunday, Children’s Time has its own Zoom meeting!
We’ll meet Donkey Odie as he tells the story of Palm Sunday from his perspective. Grab a clean pair of socks as we all use our ‘palms’ to bring the story to life through sock puppets! We’ll also have a time of brain teasers, sharing and prayer.
Here’s a couple of coloring pages for parents and guardians to print. Children, can you color or decorate your picture and make it a work of art? Share it with us at the meeting!
Children’s Time Zoom Meeting Sunday, April 5 at 11:30 a.m. (PST)
Questions? Contact Pastor Laurie (revlauriemanning@aol.com) or David G. (cardinalis7@gmail.com)
From Pastor Laurie: Financial worries on top of it all.
The Global Economy
One of the areas of worry the pandemic is creating is about the economy. Unemployment claims in California have jumped to over 1 million according to a March 25 article in the LA times. I’ve talked with numerous friends who are worried about their jobs and others who are filing for unemployment. Here’s what you need to know according to an article in the NY Times on March 25. The stock market has plummeted for four plus weeks. Worries about incomes is causing activists and politicians to call for a moratorium on evictions and shutting off utilities. None of this is news to you.
Our Personal Economy
My concern is about how you are doing in the midst of this economic news. Some of us, in our faith community and extended communities and families, will be laid off or losing work hours. Some retired people in our congregation rely on investments for their incomes. If you are within one of these categories, you may want to reassess your giving to the church, at least for the time being, and adjust it downward.
If you have a salary that is going to continue as you work (from home or at your workplace), or if you have a reliable pension, please reassess your giving to the church, too. Only you might want to increase your giving, knowing that there are members of our church who need to reduce their giving.
Ways to Give to the Church if you are Able
If you’re wondering how to give to the church in these days when we do not have an offering plate to pass around, here’s your answer – from lowest tech to the latest app:
Finally, stay in touch! Dealing with the pandemic is stressful enough. If you are having financial stress on top of that, don’t face them alone. Let me know and we’ll do what we can together.
Peace, Pastor Laurie
Here is an excerpt from the Alameda County Public Health Department. Please review this valuable and timely information!
One of the advantages of being a smaller congregation in a large beautiful sanctuary, is that we can spread out! We’re also practicing elbow greetings, and making sure that we have plenty of tissue boxes on hand, and signs reminding one another to wash our hands for 20 seconds!! However, If you are sick, or at risk, (see the link above) I love you, and I want you to stay home. We will be recording the services (probably should have been doing this for years now, and will post on next week’s email as a link).
I invite each one of us to continue to practice gratitude for all the blessings we do have; to pray for the most vulnerable in the community; to pray for wisdom for our leaders at the national, regional and local levels; to take time to breathe deeply and to remember that the power of love casts out fear; to value the preciousness of life; to remember that you are not alone and that you have a faith community loving you and praying for you.
The psalmist left us these timeless words:
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.‘Be still, and know that I am God
And lastly, since ‘wash your hands” has become the clarion call these days, here is an excerpt about turning the washing of hands into a spiritual practice:
Photo by Curology on Unsplash
We are humans relearning to wash our hands.
Washing our hands is an act of love
Washing our hands is an act of care
Washing our hands is an act that puts the hyper-vigilant body at ease
Washing our hands helps us return to ourselves by washing away what does not serve.
Wash your hands like you are washing the only teacup left that your great grandmother carried across the ocean, like this water is poured from a jug your best friend just carried for three miles from the spring they had to climb a mountain to reach.
Like water is a precious resource made from time and miracle. (Dori Midnight)
May the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and mind centered on love.
Join Skyline Community Church in worship on Sunday, Feb 16 in a celebration of love, music and poetry!
We’ll have Special Music during the 10 AM worship service and a 30 minute set at 11:30 after fellowship with Rachel Garcia and Thu Tran, known as The Singer and the Songwriter.
from their website: Rachel Garcia and Thu Tran create music as vibrant and diverse as their multiracial backgrounds. Rachel’s rich, nuanced vocal delivery and Thu’s dynamic guitar arrangements provide the backbone for the duo’s eclectic and heartfelt songs that tell emotionally honest and compelling stories.
Their identities as mixed-race-Mexican-American and first-generation-Vietnamese-American (respectively) subtly inform the inclusionary, modernist perspective of their lyrics, which provide “smart commentary on social attitudes” (Pasadena Weekly), while their music and melodies cut across decades of classic American song forms, bending and blending genres to produce a unique sound with a fresh, clever and distinct approach to the classic traditions of American jazz, folk and blues.
Do You Love poetry? Please share your love poems with us for Valentines Day
Submit Feb 11; Poetry Collection available Feb 16
Why? Because, at the dawn of this new decade, we need love, we need poetry, we need your voice! So, let’s have a poetry sharing on the theme of love! It can be a poem that you wrote, or one of your favorites!
Why would you want to take part? For many reasons!!
- it’s safe – it can be anonymous
- poetry is alive, and personal
- we need your voice of love
- special prizes – donated by Charlie Holmes, to be raffled off among participants!
How Do I Write a Poem? https://www.poetrynation.com/article-categories/improving-your-poetry/
Please submit your entries by Tuesday, Feb 11th, noon to to office@skylineucc.org , where we will compile them. Contact Pastor Laurie with questions. Enjoy your poetry experience!
Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash
