18 June 2025

Read about our preparations for the July Sabbath. Also, get informed about some important dates and events in Rock the Week. This and a lot more!

Building Bridges of

Inclusion, Justice, and Spirituality

No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey,

you are welcome here!

This Sunday at Shadow Rock

9:00 am

Childcare is in the Blue Room
Sunday School is on break until further notice, which may be next August 2025
Adult Spiritual Formation and Kindlings in the Multipurpose Room. We are looking at a comparative religions model.
Hospitality Cart with coffee and cookies in the Multipurpose Room

10:15 am

Worship in the Sanctuary (childcare is offered in the Blue Room of the Education Bldg., 10 - 11:30 am)

11:15 am

Sermon Reboot experience is OFF as we gather for our congregational meeting.

FYI. OFFICE HOURS FOR THE CHURCH ARE 9 AM - 3 PM MONDAY - THURSDAY

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

We are gathering ideas for the July Sabbath and want to share them with everyone. Please submit your recommendations for books, movies, entertainment, and activities to Pastor Ken. Some examples are member book recommendations submitted in earlier editions of RTW. You can host a chocolate tasting party, watch Forrest Gump, attend a concert, or see a play at Shadow Rock. You can go skinny dipping, visit museums, and eat all the strawberries you want. You can meet with a group of fellow Shadow Rockers and visit another church.

All of these things and more are possible because of our July Sabbath. Read the theological framework offered below and share your ideas.

THEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR WORSHIP JUNE 8-29

The practice of Sabbath Keeping is counter-cultural. It has several dimensions. It is not just a day set aside. It is an orientation toward life. The facets of Sabbath practice include ceasing, resting, embracing, and feasting. Sabbath is a holy practice for a day that reminds us and affirms that all of reality is holy.

Our Shadow Rock July Sabbath-Keeping is the most profound countercultural message we have. We are a WISE congregation, we married same gender couples before it was legal, we challenge traditional understandings of greeting card holidays such as Mother’s and Father’s Days, we offered sanctuary to people under threat of deportation, we celebrate diversity, and we strive to be an "economically just" congregation. We consider these things to be cutting-edge. They are small daggers compared to the deep practice of Sabbath Keeping. Our July Sabbath challenges the deepest-held convictions that shape our culture. It is the most cutting-edge ministry of our congregation.

The Sundays between now and July are for the preparation of our time in July, when we do not gather for worship and the office is closed.

June 22 Sabbath Embracing

Word About Life for Today

We are always either letting go or embracing. Embracing Sabbath values with intentionality and deliberateness will help us build a lifestyle of Sabbath Keeping. Embracing Sabbath values means we embrace the values of our community. We embrace inclusion, justice, and intimacy of Spirit as priorities that shape our life together and our individual lives outside the community. In making this choice, we prioritize time over space and giving over requiring. In response to the grace of God, we gladly embrace our calling in life, and in the fullness of healing brought by our relationship with God, we can embrace the wholeness of God’s shalom. Ultimately, all these Sabbath gifts enable us to fully embrace the world.

June 29 Sabbath Feasting

Word About Life for Today

There are eternal dimensions of our Sabbath feasting. Bring your awareness of the infinite with you when listening to music, considering beauty, eating food, and giving and receiving affection as ways to feed your soul. Resources for our celebrations. Sabbath ceasing, resting, embracing, and feasting gives you Sabbath joy.

This framework and the messages are informed by Marva J. Dawn and her book, Keeping the Sabbath Wholly: Ceasing, Resting, Embracing, Feasting. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.

Congregational Meeting JUNE 22nd After Worship Service

The agenda includes the election of new board members and a progress report on some of the key aspects of our transition.

Joe Botticelli rotates off the board this June. He has served as a board member and treasurer. We thank him for his service to our beloved Shadow Rock.

Also, we say goodbye and thank you to Marily Rampley who has served as president and past president.

New board members to be voted on are Ericka Luna, Roy Zaborowski, Liz Curry, and Phil Tackman.

Our Last Food and Fellowship Opportunity Will Be a Lu'au!

Aloha is a Hawaiian word that is more than just a greeting. It represents a deep sense of love, affection, compassion, peace, and the interconnectedness of all things.

Join us as we send ourselves off to the Shadow Rock Sabbath.

Anyone interested in helping by bringing something, setting it up, or cleaning it up, please call Liz Curry or email her. Remember, we are a nut-free campus.

June 29 Potluck Send off to Sabbath

SHADOW ROCKERS JOIN THE COMMUNITY ON NO KINGS DAY

Immigration Justice Work Is Happening!

At this point, we are offering the following ministries:

Legal Clinics for Know Your Rights
Financial Assistance for Legal Fees and Living Expenses
Support Group Meetings
Accompaniment
Safe Zone Launch Pad

WE ARE A SAFE SPACE

If you are seeking urgent assistance, a place to go, advice, a legal referral, or anything else, please contact Pastor Ken.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued support of our immigration justice ministries. This is one of the ways we advocate for inclusion, equity, and justice for all immigrants living in the United States, regardless of their immigration status. Our hearts have been touched by the friendships we have made through our work for undocumented people. We are truly blessed and promise to continue working towards positive change.

At this point, we are NOT offering the following ministries:

Sanctuary
Asylum Hospitality
Refugee Resettlement

Our next support meeting and legal clinic is August 3rd at 1 PM in the Multipurpose Room. All are invited. Please contact Pastor Ken about our important and quiet work.

Today's Immigration News

Perspective: "Let Us Not Remain Silent: Defending Dignity in the Shadow of Deportation" | Archdiocese of Santa Fe

Most Rev. John C. Wester, archbishop of Santa Fe, New Mexico, penned a letter urging the faithful to defend the dignity of immigrants in light of indiscriminate immigration raids. Catholic social teaching emphasizes the belief that all humans have God-given rights and dignity that should not be discounted. "We cannot remain silent when children are afraid to attend graduations, when workers are afraid to go shopping to buy the tools of their trade, when parents are not there when their children come home from school, or when the sick are terrified of going to the hospital, and worshippers are unable to pray together in church," the archbishop wrote.