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Hello Church!
If you live on the Peninsula, I hope you’ve had a chance to get out and enjoy this beautiful weather. When I moved to San Mateo, I wasn’t expecting an October summer, but despite the warmer temperatures it has been a refreshing shift from the 100+ days and 90-degree nights of Texas. It’s been nice to pop outside to take a phone call and walk downtown for a coffee meeting or lunch. One thing I love about the CCSM campus is our beautiful labyrinth and Memorial Garden—an outdoor space that provides church members, friends and the community a place for reflection, comfort, peace, conversation, and the remembering of loved ones. Walking the labyrinth has been centering and peaceful. Sometimes I’ll meditate on a verse of scripture or listen to a daily prayer from a website called “Pray as you Go.”
If it’s been a while since you’ve visited the Labyrinth, or if you haven’t had a chance, I encourage you to check it out. There is no one right way to pray with the labyrinth, no one right prayer or speed of walking. It’s an invitation to embody prayer and take a break from all that is happening in our world as we let our whole selves be fully attentive to God.
As many of you are aware, All Saints Day is just a couple of weeks away. Our Latino Ministry will host a special worship service on the actual day (November 1) and this sacred time of remembering will be celebrated in our Sunday morning service on November 5. There are a couple of different ways you can participate in remembering and honoring your loved ones. We invite you to bring pictures of family or friends you would like to recognize for our Día De Los Muertos Altar that will be constructed in Kloss Hall this Sunday, October 29 and will remain up through November 5. You can also send in names of your loved ones to be remembered in worship on November 5. Please send those names to Zoe by Wednesday, November 1.
Looking ahead to this week, I hope you’ll join us in worship as we explore “The Great Commandment” in Matthew 22:34-46. We’ll have special music from both our children’s choir and bell choir, Besty Woodward and Phil Lind will share Stewardship Thoughts, and Kerry Lobel will share more about this week’s plate offering for the Standing Rock indigenous community of Little Eagle. I hope you will be able to join us in person or online this Sunday. Don’t forget—we also post our services on Facebook and YouTube, so you can worship with us any time throughout the week!
If you joined us for worship on this past Sunday, you might have been a little uncomfortable when I asked you to turn to your neighbor and say:
“You are made in the image of God.”
“You are a child of God.”
“God loves you…and so do I.”
Thank you for participating in this core—but not always easy—practice of the recognizing the Divine in each other, the Imago Dei. This practice of recognizing the Divine in one another, and in ourselves, is foundational to the work of justice and reconciliation we are called to do as Christians. You can take steps towards reconciliation and peace right here, from wherever you are reading this email.
I invite you once again to send a pre-written message to your elected officials through UCC’s “Just Peace Church” program HERE calling for a ceasefire and encouraging Congress to take immediate action for de-escalation in Israel and Gaza, and support steps towards a lasting peace.
You can also make a financial gift to help with humanitarian aid for people in Gaza, Palestine, and Israel through the United Church of Christ’s Wider Church Ministries HERE.
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