Adult Forum, 9:30 a.m.
Preparing for the Propositions
This Adult Forum will be an opportunity to review the Propositions which will be appearing on the ballot this Tuesday. We'll discuss them, explore the issues, gather collective wisdom, and raise questions. This is not a time of advocacy (though strongly committed perspectives are certainly welcome!), but a time of exploration.You're invited to bring any resources you may find helpful. Discussion Facilitator: Jennifer Davidson
Some Links you may find helpful:
Smart Voter by the League of Women Voters for nonpartisan election information.
California Church IMPACT ballot recommendations from the California Council of Churches' advocacy partner in ministry
Worship, 10:30 a.m.
Communion Sunday
Scripture: Ruth 1:1-18, Psalm 146, and Mark 12:28-34
Prayer for the weekend in preparation for worship : Through whom will you join us, O God, when we set out on paths not famiar? For whom would you have us bear your presence, when they feel abandoned? In turning us toward you, O God, turn us toward one another. Amen. Worship Leader: Trevor Hanbridge; Preaching: Greg Ledbetter on "Heart, Mind, Soul, Strength"; Choir: A Classic Communion.
Words for Meditation
A Grandmother’s Faith
They went together—those
wrinkled hands and tattered
book. And something in the
awe with which she held it
made me think she held
a sacred fire.
The old brass-bound Bible
came to her from her mother,
and hers before that, too,
through more generations than
I know how to reckon—faded,
cracked, worn with us.
I wonder how it felt to hold
the past within her hands—
how many broken hearts found
comfort there, how many searching
minds were fed; how many fears
were calmed in its reading; what
songs of joy were hummed over it;
what secret tears still stain its pages?
I loved to hear her talk to God,
and when she prayed, I sometimes
imagined I felt God near. It was a
very safe place to be—with God and her.
I liked her God, so wrapped up in the
small goings-on of daily life—not too
far away and busy with eternal
things to take notice of one small child.
The Bible became mine today, and
my smooth hands look somehow out
of place—and somehow right at home.
Like her, I hold the accumulated joys
and sorrows of my heritage and join
my life with theirs. There is a
strength to it—forged by faithful
living in the presence of a loving
God. The line still holds—all those
who have gone before, myself, and those
who are to come.
-Marie Livingston Roy
They went together—those
wrinkled hands and tatteredbook. And something in the
awe with which she held it
made me think she held
a sacred fire.
The old brass-bound Bible
came to her from her mother,
and hers before that, too,
through more generations than
I know how to reckon—faded,
cracked, worn with us.
I wonder how it felt to hold
the past within her hands—
how many broken hearts found
comfort there, how many searching
minds were fed; how many fears
were calmed in its reading; what
songs of joy were hummed over it;
what secret tears still stain its pages?
I loved to hear her talk to God,
and when she prayed, I sometimes
imagined I felt God near. It was a
very safe place to be—with God and her.
I liked her God, so wrapped up in the
small goings-on of daily life—not too
far away and busy with eternal
things to take notice of one small child.
The Bible became mine today, and
my smooth hands look somehow out
of place—and somehow right at home.
Like her, I hold the accumulated joys
and sorrows of my heritage and join
my life with theirs. There is a
strength to it—forged by faithful
living in the presence of a loving
God. The line still holds—all those
who have gone before, myself, and those
who are to come.
-Marie Livingston Roy
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