Once a year, Old South Church (UCC) packs up handbells, brass choir, cookies, coffeepots, wastebaskets and more and heads across Boston to their original meetinghouse for worship. The congregation has in its DNA a predisposition to “mouth-off” as the British derided them. They spoke up against slavery, spoke up for
Continue readingThe president of the congregation sent an email indicating 650 people attended the service. Mike, Tim Reed and I were in attendance Friday night at Temple Beth Israel for Shabbat. It was called Solidarity Shabbat and Jewish congregations around the nation gathered, inviting the communities in which they live and
Continue readingSoutheast of downtown Los Angeles are five (now 6) small cities where blue collar/white collar middle class, mostly white families raised their children until the early 1970s. I grew up in this part of LA County. In a matter of one decade the neighborhoods changed due to countless sociological factors
Continue readingEvery time we step into sacred time and space, it is an invitation to immerse ourselves in the presence of God, in whom we live and move and have our being.
Continue readingThe 14th amendment became law 150 years ago in July 1868 and over night, 4 million former slaves became citizens. Opposition to the new law became a broader campaign against the federal government. One of the states that resisted the most was California. California was a free state but refused
Continue readingDear Millenials, You are not the first generation to be called whiners and you won’t be the last.* You are not the first generation to be called unpatriotic because you questioned out loud the domestic and foreign policy of your country and you won’t be the last.* You are not
Continue readingIt hits a deep nerve, this news. As I listened to pieces of the report, it hit a deep nerve. For years, reports of child abuse by clergy in the Roman Catholic church in a diocese in Pennsylvania were covered up. According to the grand jury report, over 300 priests
Continue readingIt’s been 30 years. I’ve served First Christian Church of Pomona for more than half my life as associate pastor, acting pastor, senior pastor, pastor. I have little stickers a friend gave to me close to 30 years ago that read “There’s nothing sinister about a woman minister.” My husband
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More than 800 people who were unsheltered died on the streets of Los Angeles County last year. There is a deeply held assumption that people living on the streets “choose” to live there. Do they choose also to die there? Two unsheltered people died near our church. The people we
Continue reading~Whose Skin Am I In?~ Christians consider Jesus to be the incarnation of God: the embodiment of God. Some Christians are so bold to consider the invitation of Jesus to “come and follow me” as an invitation to allow our lives, even our very bodies to embody God. Jesus’ coming
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