Here we are, in April, beginning another month of sheltering in place. What a time we are living through!
Even in the midst of this there are blessings. Among them has been the blessing of communicating with you through social media: worshiping, studying, praying and yes, even sharing birthday celebrations and happy hours together.
I am grateful to the virtual teams within our faith community, rising up to offer all kinds of support within and beyond us. I hope you were able to join the zoom crowd who worshiped online this week. If you missed it, you can find it here on our website. Many of us are using zoom for the first time, and here’s a helpful tutorial to get started. You can always call me on my cell phone! All of our computers are facing buffering challenges due to the overload on various platforms and the internet in general, please be patient.
Last Sunday, the 29th of March, I lifted up the theme of grief, so I want to offer a helpful article for you to better understand your own experience of grief.
Please continue to check our weekly email, our Facebook page, and our website for updates.
This Sunday is Palm/Passion Sunday— please find a palm, or a leafy branch, or a symbol of gratitude for praising the heroes of our time, and bring it with you for our service. And, before you sit down to participate in the Zoom service (here’s the link), please have ready nearby elements of food and drink to share in our agape meal, remembering Jesus and all those we love that we wish were here with us, and all those in need, especially during the pandemic. Finally, David G. is leading a Zoom Children’s time at 11:30 – read more here.
Prayer for today:
You have been our strength, O God.
At the beginning of the day you brought us from darkness into light.
At the ending of the day you lead us from busyness into stillness.
In earth’s cycles and seasons you offer us new life and fresh beginnings.
Be our strength this day and the strength of new beginnings in our world.
Be our help, O God, and the help of those who cry out in need.
~ by John Philip Newell, excerpt from Celtic Treasure: Daily Scriptures and Prayer
Prayer in music & videos:
Inspiration
We are in the season of praying in crisis, holding back nothing from the God who invites us to come, naked and vulnerable, just as we are, holding nothing back from the One who loves and knows us better than we know ourselves Be encouraged in your time of prayer in the days ahead. I encourage you to join us for 1 PM contemplative prayer on Friday: Zoom Meeting, M
There is a beautiful poem, which captures the essence of intimate, naked vulnerability before God in prayer, entitled the Guest House, by the Sufi poet, Rumi,
I leave you with Rumi’s words:
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
Photo by Paolo Nicolello on Unsplash
To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven… Now is the time for “shelter in place” here in the greater Bay Area. It is a time to refrain from embracing, i.e. physical distancing. And more than ever, it is a time for social and emotional connection.
Skyline is utilizing Zoom.us for our virtual worship services and weekly gatherings. All events will use the same zoom link. You can access the events on your computer, your smart phone, or a regular phone call.
Sunday Worship and the weekly gatherings will all be at this zoom link:
https://zoom.us/j/716026467
Meeting ID: 716 026 467
Dial in by phone 1-669-900-9128
Dial in by phone: 1-346-248-7799
I’d like to share with you, especially in this season of searching for leaders and policies that represent and protect all people, these words of the Executive Minister of Justice and Witness for the UCC, The Rev Traci Blackmon:Dear God,
As serious as I know the Coronavirus is…
I wish Poverty was classified as a deadly virus so the world would respond to the deaths of the 2.6 million people who die annually in the US alone with precautions to contain its effect and protect the most vulnerable among us.
I wish Racism was classified as a deadly virus so the world would begin studying its origin and its mutations and investing adequate resources in developing a response to completely eradicate the effects of this disease on all citizens, globally.
I wish Sexism was classified as a deadly virus so that literally 50% of this world’s population might receive the attention, investment, and escalation of time and resources necessary to remove it from society.
I wish Homophobia was classified as a deadly virus so those showing symptoms could be effectively screened and, if infected, quarantined to protect the rest of us from getting sick.
I wish Transphobia was classified as a deadly virus so that we might actually work to save lives by stopping the spread of this disease.
I wish Xenophobia was classified as a deadly virus so that we would finally isolate the right people instead of those just seeking a safe place to lay their heads.
Basically…I wish the pain, silencing and marginalization of so many were enough to move us to panic mode…with daily updates…and urgent precautions…and monetary allocations…dedicated people at every level…working together like ALL of our lives depended on it…because they do.
I wish we were as ready and willing to wash our souls as we are our hands.
Hear my prayer, oh Lord.
And grant my request.
May we wash our hands, and our souls!
Blessings upon your week, Pastor Laurie
As a child, I loved October as the fall foliage in New England transformed from tender green to fiery crimson and gold.
But seasons change and so do we.
Two years ago, on Oct 24th, my father died, letting go, like a leaf, falling gently to the earth. In his memory, I had planned to attend a retreat, starting the evening of Oct 24th, in Geyserville. That very same morning, Oct 24th, a PG&E transformer ignited a fire, during the deadliest of the Diablo winds. The epicenter, of all places, was in Geyserville. Had it been a day later, we would have been among the evacuees. The child within me asks, “was Dad watching over me?”
This time we were spared, while others were not. The Kincade fire is only 5% contained at the time of this writing, while others have started… and the Diablo winds continue, with more to come.
It feels as if we are living in a war zone. We try to carry on… as best we can… yet we are living with a sense of foreboding… because the Diablo winds will get worse. They say this is becoming the new normal for us.
We are glued to the news… or trying to limit our intake of it.. worried that the fires may ignite here, haunted by memories of ever closer encounters with fires…
I find myself haunted by the recurring dream that our beautiful Skyline church has burned down…that we are standing at the foundation in prayer, grateful for our lives, looking out over a charred East Bay Regional Parks, sharing photographs of this once beautiful place, filled with so many happy memories, where so many couples have come to get married and preschool children once played, and people once worshipped. Haunted by the reality that our beautiful sanctuary looks out at Mt Diablo.. We must face it… the Diablos..
God of life, we come again to this terrifying season of fires..
We pray for those who have lost their homes and businesses,
We pray for the people evacuated and those who shelter them,
We pray for those whose power has been cut off,
For those in nursing homes, and children with school cancelled, and life disrupted.
We pray for the firefighters.
We pray for ourselves,
to have the courage to face the diablos of the world,
the forces behind the winds of war, violence and destruction.
Give us the courage to do our part.
Inspire us, with the breath of life, to transform these diablos
into the winds of healing and peace.
Inspire us to transform this world into a place
where all people are safe from harm,
now and forever
amen.
Psalm 139 is a breathtakingly beautiful testament to God’s constant, intimate presence in our lives. “If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.”
Music, Prayer, Meditation, Candlelight, Silence, and Labyrinth Walking 
Wednesday, March 6, 7 – 8 pm
Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent for many in the Christian church. The forty days begins with the imposition of ashes on the foreheads of the faithful. For many, it is deeply moving to reclaim this powerful ancient ceremony.
During the service, we will listen to and join in singing Taize chants, a form of meditative chant and silence, to quiet the mind, open the heart and feed the soul… time of quiet and solitude in the presence of God. A few words sung over and over again reinforce the meditative quality of prayer.
Leaders for the Evening:
Rev Laurie Manning and Music Director Benjamin Mertz
You are welcome, whoever you are and wherever you are on your life’s journey.
Photo by Matthew Huang on Unsplash
Lloyd Stone and Georgia Harkness, UM Hymnal, No. 437
This is my song, O God of all the nations,
a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
but other hearts in other lands are beating
with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
For all who die in war
We lift up our hearts
For all who live in suffering in the aftermath of violence
We lift up our hearts
For all who give their lives in smoke and flame
We lift up our hearts
For all who go on in honor of the dead
We lift up our hearts
For all who have served
We lift up our hearts
For our country and our world
We lift up our hearts
For a planet that will find peace
We lift up our hearts
For the young and the innocent
We lift up our hearts
For the weary and war torn
We lift up our hearts
For those who would pray
We lift up our hearts
For those too angry to cry
We lift up our hearts
For all of us, for the many names of God
We lift up our hearts
We lift up our hearts
Shanti, shalom, peace, sa laam.
Amen.
