As Al Jarreau once sang it so beautifully, We’re in this thing together!

Last Sunday was a beautiful example of our togetherness, with SCC’s uniquely talented spiritual life team leading us in a worship service; revealing to us one body with many parts that makes us Skyline.

This prayer by Jane Medema, recently a new member, embodies the message of Sunday’s service:

“You, Beloved God, you have gathered our separate hearts and minds, our different stories, and our surprising array of gifts, into one family. We once again offer our lives to you so that we may be strengthened for our daily journeys.” 

Jane’s a member of our spiritual life team.  Special thanks to each member of this team for their superhero gifts! 

As part of the service, we joyfully welcomed three amazing superhero new members, Tim, Jerri and Shaun, whom I encourage you to get to know! Please read more about them below!

This Sunday the superhero gifts continue as Tim Carter -our brand new member, David Guerra, and others  join together in creating a fabulous family friendly worship service.  It features several Martians visiting planet earth trying to understand what Thanksgiving and gratitude are.  They encounter a very upset giant turkey (Mr Tim Turkey).  Join us as we explore the deeper meaning of gratitude and Thanksgiving as an intergenerational community, and bring your friends and your appetite for fun! Also, please bring your pies for the Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless (see Paula Byrens) and your donations to ACCFB!

See you Sunday!

Nearly every week, at some point in the service, Pastor Laurie tells us, “Whoever you are, and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.” Sometimes, I let the sentiment fly by, but sometimes, it hits pretty hard.  That’s a profound statement.

Whoever you are… we’re all different; different backgrounds, experiences, tastes, foibles, flaws, and gifts.

Wherever you are on your life’s journey… since we’re all different; how could our journeys be the same? We come from different places, walked different roads, taken different wrong turns, and scaled different mountains.

I hope you will join me and the Spiritual Life Team this Sunday at Skyline as we explore what it means to be a pilgrim on that road and as we welcome new members who’ve decided to join Skyline to walk that road with us.

Article by Tom Manley, Spiritual Life Team

Sunday, October 21 – Sunday, Nov 18

The ACCFB barrels are in the church sanctuary and in the preschool from till 11/18.  Please donate non-perishable, healthy food such as:

• Canned Tuna                              Canned Chicken            Quinoa
• Natural Peanut Butter              Nuts and Beans              Brown Rice
• Canned Soup (low-sodium)    Whole Grain Cereal       Oatmeal

The food bank serves 1 in 5 residents in Alameda County.  Thank you for making this happen!  Contact Pastor Laurie through the office, 510-531-8212   office@skylineucc.org.

Sun, Nov 4 • 11:45 am

Interested in putting down some spiritual roots at Skyline? Are you considering becoming a member or official friend of the church?

The next New Members/Inquirers Class will be held Sunday, Nov 4, 2018, in the Sanctuary after the 10 am service. Come learn more about the United Church of Christ , Skyline and how to get involved. Rev. Laurie will lead and there will be time to ask questions. Anyone interested in learning more about the church is encouraged to attend, whether or not you decide to join.  Childcare is available if you let us know in advance.

Joining Sunday will be Sunday, November 11 during the 10 am service.

For more information, please contact Pastor Laurie at the office – 510-531-8212, office@skylineucc.org.

Last week, we focused upon the miraculous sacredness and the growing scarcity of rich fertile soil.  In light of this perspective, Skyline’s Green team encourages your support in signing this petition:  for decades, oil and gas drilling has devastated Creation and harmed some of the most vulnerable communities in our state – polluting our air and water, and sickening thousands of people. We encourage you to sign this letter to tell Governor Brown it’s time to phase out oil and gas drilling in California. Many thanks, Skyline Green Team!!

Also, we celebrated our  20th Annual Blessing of the Animals, honoring the Feast of St Francis. Please enjoy the photos at the end of this letter! 

This week we focus on the sacredness and preciousness of water. Nobody thinks about water. Until there’s no more. Or, until-as is the case in the poor neighborhoods of Flint, Michigan-the tap water is poisoned. In that kind of crisis, we suddenly think a lot about water.

One of the deep spiritual truths that undergirds all of us is our connection with water. “Throughout human history, the quest for God has often been connected with a quest for fresh water,” Diana Butler Bass writes in her book, Grounded: Finding God in the World, A Spiritual Revolution.

 It’s a truth in all world faiths, Bass tells us, and especially for Jews and Christians:  The Bible begins with the deep, when God’s spirit sweeps over the waters. From wind and the seas comes all of creation. For Christians, the Bible also ends with water: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city.” The final scene in the book of Revelation is the river of God, the water that heals and washes away all sorrow. … Water in the beginning, water at the end. God is the Alpha and Omega of the wells, rivers and seas.

What role does water play in your life? When you are seeking place of renewal , do you choose to go to a river or lake or stream or the ocean?  Can you think of a time when water might’ve played at healing role in your life?   For me, as a child of the Ocean State, as someone who grew up sailing on Narragansett Bay, as someone whose ancestors lived on the shores of Ireland, water is life. Being near the water is in my DNA, the waters sing to my soul.

Join us for a refreshing, life giving worship experience in which we honor the sacredness of water, and are reminded that, as we do, we are God’s beloved children: “I love you, I am well pleased in you”. Also, join us after worship for an extended conversation about the sermon and about the sacredness of water!

Blessings, Pastor Laurie 

19th Annual Blessing of the Animals! 

Special thanks to Becky Taylor for her leadership in promoting, recruiting for, and supporting our 19th Annual Blessing of the Animals!  We were blessed with beautiful weather and wonderful visitors! Enjoy the photos!

SERMON SERIES: STAYING GROUNDED WHILE LIVING ON THE FAULT LINE

Dear Friends,

I’m back from sabbatical! 

I look forward to seeing you this Sunday!

I invite you to join me in the spiritual revolution!

This spiritual revolution rests upon a simple insight: God is the ground, the grounding, that which grounds us. We experience this when we understand that the soil is holy, water gives life, the sky opens the imagination, my roots matter, home is a divine place, and our lives are linked with our neighbors and with those around the globe. This world, not heaven, is the sacred stage of our times. (from “Grounded”, By Diana Butler Bass)

Have your views of God evolved over time? Mine have!  I “believe” less, but have more faith. I bet I’m not alone.

Do you find yourself seeking to stay grounded, while living on the fault line? Literally, as well as spiritually? Me too!

This fall, come believing as you do.  Find God, not in a far- away heaven, but here and now, within, between, and everywhere, more present than you ever imagined. 

Together, let’s open to the spirit of love and justice that shines within & around our sanctuary and radiates out into the world. Together, let’s co-create new things– new ways of talking about God, new ways of worshipping, new ways of connecting. 

Come, be inspired, be uplifted, and share your inspiration with others. Your presence matters. Being together matters.

Peace,

Laurie

P.S. It’s Homecoming Sunday– time to reconnect, and enjoy a celebration lunch after the service!

Photo by The Climate Reality Project on Unsplash

We will meet at Skyline Church, 12540 Skyline Blvd. at 9:30am and car-pool to Bart. 

The Climate, Justice and Jobs March is our voice for action before the Global Climate Summit in San Francisco, Sept.12 to 14^th, led by Governor Jerry Brown.

We are marching with other East Bay UCC groups, starting at 11am in the Embarcadero Plaza to the Civic Center in San Francisco. Please wear bright yellow, red or orange. Signs will be provided that say, “Climate: the Moral Issue of Our Time”   Bring water and food, dress for cool to warm weather. No signs are allowed that have wooden sticks.

Why Is Global Warming An Issue Of Faith?

People of faith realize that global warming and climate change are issues of environmental justice. For humans, those who are poor or unable to adjust will lose their homes to rising seas and be unable to grow food for their families.

For plants and animals, global warming means that many will not adjust in time and will become extinct, thus reducing the diversity and beauty of God’s natural creation, as well as causing permanent damage to the ecology of the earth.

“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am not sure that Dr.King was speaking about climate change, but the words from the great moral leader of our time are so relevant to our situation.   If we are people who strive to follow the words and actions of Jesus we must act now to turn this around.  How can we possibly justify not taking action?  What would we say to future generations that could possibly justify our inaction?   There are no good answers to that question.

The world has warmed more than one degree Celsius since the Industrial Revolution.  The Paris Climate Agreement hoped to restrict warming to two degrees.  The odds of succeeding, according to a recent study based on current emissions trends, are 1 in 20. The climate scientist James Hansen has called two-degree warming “a prescription for long-term disaster.”  Long-term disaster is now the best -case scenario.  [1]

The scientific predictions are that as ice melts on Antarctica and Greenland, sea levels will rise as much as four feet, thus displacing millions of persons who live and work and grow food near the coasts. Low-lying countries such as Bangladesh will lose most of their land mass, islands in the Pacific will disappear, and coastal marshes such as The Everglades in South Florida will be under sea water.  The number of refugees will multiply rapidly.

Photo by Boris Smokrovic on Unsplash

Our Earth home is a finite and fragile planet like no other.   Are we doing our best to be stewards of our Earth or are we the destroyers of our home? We are both.  We need to be leaders in this struggle, as caring loving people of faith, and be truly stewards.

Catherine Kessler, Skyline Church Green Team Chair.           

           From the UCC Website, here is a list of practices for individual action:

• Calculate the carbon footprint of your family and your congregation to determine a baseline for energy savings.
• Home: turn the thermostat down in winter and up in summer, insulate, get only the appliances you need and make them energy efficient, buy a smaller home or rent a smaller apartment, shade your windows, dry your clothes on the line.
• Transportation: ride a bike or walk more and drive less, purchase fuel-efficient and smaller vehicles, commute by public transportation, limit flying.
• Food: grow a garden for vegetables and herbs, support your local farmers through a CSA, limit packaging and waste, start a compost pile.  Eat less meat (it takes 15 pounds of grain to produce 1 pound of meat)
• Yard: plant native perennials rather than grass to limit mowing, buy an electric mower if you need to cut grass, recycle leaves and yard waste, plant trees for shade and heat reduction, start a worm farm, compost for soil enrichment.
• Education: explore websites and community resources for more ways to save energy and cut your carbon footprint, join our congregational “Green Team” to plan for action.
• Advocacy: write or call your elected officials at every level to inform them that global warming is an issue of faith and justice and that public policy decisions to address global warming are essential.

Links and Resources

• Measure your carbon footprint
• List of energy-saving appliances

[1] NYTimes Magazine,Losing Earth:The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change, by Nathaniel Rich,August 1,2018.