The Weekly View

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Dear St. Luke Community,

In light of all that’s been happening across our country (and even in a few cities around the world), I’d like to offer you some resources as a way to begin morally imagining together the kind of world that reflects God’s intended creation.

Many of you have asked what can you do, and these resources attempt to address that. I offer them as tools for those who would like to educate themselves and an invitation into imagining together what the world can look like when all of God’s people are treated equally.

The first is a video, “Deconstructing White Privilege,” produced in 2018 by the General Commission on Religion and Race of the United Methodist Church.  This video was shown at our Presbytery meeting last September, and I found it extremely helpful as a way to begin. The speaker, Dr. Robin DiAngelo, is the author of a book called White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism. 

Another resource is this document, "Anti-racism Resources" which lists books, podcasts, and resources to links that will give you suggestions on what you can do.

Here’s a link to another video, "Moral Imagination," by very smart and articulate theologians and justice-oriented people from the Faith Matters Network articulating the term “moral imagination” and how can we re-imagine our social practices that affect the public square.

THIS SUNDAY

And finally, this Sunday is Trinity Sunday as well as Communion Sunday. Paul imagines a world where we greet one another with a holy embrace (2 Corinthians 13:11-13). And in Genesis 1, God creates. Imagination and creation are not just things left up to God. We are God’s co- creators, called upon to imagine and create the kind of world that reflects the Kingdom. The Kingdom is both already here now, but also not entirely fulfilled, because we’ve messed it up. As we imagine the weeks and months ahead of us, I suggest we stop thinking about when we will get back to normal and begin to imagine together what the new normal will look like. What new and imaginative ways of living together can we create for ourselves as a church and as a community?

See you Sunday on Zoom,

Nicole

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Dear St. Luke Community,

This Sunday is Pentecost. It’s the day we call the birthday of the church. It’s the day we celebrate the ways the spirit connects us as people of God. And so it seems it will be a great day to make it a party by combining Zoom worship with Sausalito Presbyterian Church and my good friend, the Rev. Paul Mowry.

Paul and I will both preach a shorter sermon and the format may change just slightly as he will introduce our church to some of the traditions of his church and we will do the same for them. There will be more faces to look at and breakout sessions after worship. Please wear or decorate with orange and red as we give thanks to God for the blessing that is the connectional Spirit sustaining us always.

See you Sunday on Zoom,

Nicole

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Dear St. Luke Community,

This was one of those weeks that reminded me of just how great Bible Study is. In fact, Beth called me after Bible Study to tell me it was the best it had ever been. And the reason? Because the pastor went into Bible Study with no enthusiasm around the scriptures and instead relied on the wisdom of the group to lead her. The discussion that took place was filled with insight, meaning and humor. 

So what did we decide for Sunday? Seems this Sunday you’re going to hear about the Devil! That’s something we just never do in Mainline Protestant churches in Marin county and I’m not sure what I’ve gotten myself into. At this point, all I can think of is Flip Wilson’s old routine, “The Devil made me do it!”

I plan on enjoying the next few days thinking about the concept of the little red being with horns and a pitchfork. But I also look forward to naming some of the ways that the concept of a force, whether outside of us or within us, tries to convince us that we’re not worthy of love or forgiveness. I suppose this force could work in the other direction as well, convincing us that we’re above reproach. This is going to be fun. 

See You Sunday,
Nicole