This Sunday at Balboa Union Church
Worship Service at 10 a.m. – ALL ARE WELCOME!
Greeters: Grace and Gerry
Children’s Sunday School Teacher: Pastor Roland
SPEAKER: Sue Robbins
| First Testament Readings and Psalms | 1 Samuel 3:1-10 Psalm 139 |
| Epistle Reading | 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 |
| Gospel Reading | John 1:43-51 |
Her sermon Title is “Where Do We Want to Go?”
Sue Robbins will be the speaker on Sunday, and she will be talking about The Balboa Union Church and our direction for the future. In preparing her remarks, she drew from this scene in the classic children’s tale, Alice in Wonderland:
Alice came to a fork in the road. “Which road do I take?’ she asked.
“Where do you want to go?” responded the Cheshire Cat.
“I don’t know,” Alice answered.
“Then,” said the Cat, “it doesn’t matter.”
As a church that has come to a crossroads in 2015 – a church that wants its choices to “matter”! — Sue will offer some thoughts on the various “forks” presented to us along with some ideas about how we might proceed.
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From the Pastors Desk
Dear friends and members of our BUC:
In this beginning year we were shocked by a massacre in Paris. The big question is: Has this something to do with religion? There is no doubt; yes, this has to do with religion. I won´t say that religion is the center-force of this conflict. It is mostly a social and political problem which remains unsolved through many years and then becomes virulent. Adding religious aspects turn these problems into a “very spicy” issue.
Now I want to start my contribution with some thoughts about the matter of religions. This will be continued.
In Ecclesiastes 3:11 we read that “God has set eternity in the hearts of human beings.” This verse describes the fact that many human questions transcend our simple reality; questions like “Who are we as human beings? Where did we come from and where are we going to?” Just living our life is not enough for us. We seek for a meaning and a sense for our life and we care about our way of life and ask for ethical guidelines.
These questions lead us directly to the field of religion. Yes, we can understand religion as a human product. However the teaching of Ecclesiastes tells me that it is God´s will and the work of His Holy Spirit to keep alive in us the search to find something eternal. We are conscious about time and the fact that we are mortal.
In the book of Isaiah (2: 2) we read: “In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house will be the highest of all”. When this was written down the mountains were considered the thrones of gods and somehow they represent religions. There emerges now nearly automatically the next question: Which one is true? Every religion claims to be authentic and true. Therefore many people today express that here starts intolerance. But this is wrong, because a claim is what it is, a claim, a simple pretention that there can be only one truth. But nobody can proof it; we only can believe and confess it. But there is no proof. This requires us faith, patience and humility.
Here is the first point we all have to learn: Each religion is like a mountain and a mountain will be respected. We must enter into a conversation with others and witness of our faith and our experiences with god. Nobody can claim for privileges. As Christians we have to follow God-s one example: on Christmas he came down on earth to live with us in a human way, speaking, helping, healing, praying, laughing, weeping, and expressing love and understanding.
Christian faith shows us the way down, not climbing up searching for special events. Jesus became our brother and stays on our side.
With my best wishes for 2015
Reverend Roland
Upcoming Events
• Saturday January 17th 2015
Council Meeting in BUC Office 1:00 pm
• THIS SUNDAY:
• Sunday, January 25TH: PATIO SALE WEEK BEGINS!
3 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. The Property Management Committee will begin to pull out all the items for the Patio Sale to be organized and priced.
• PATIO SALE Monday Jan 26 – Friday Jan 30
9 a.m. to Noon: Property Management will be at the church EVERY DAY working on the Patio Sale. ANY AND ALL HELP FROM THE CONGREGATION WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!
• PATIO SALE Thursday night, January 29th
7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Worker Presale! Anybody coming to help price items for at least an hour will be allowed to purchase anything they wish. The Balboa Union Church patio sale is always a treasure trove of wonderful “stuff,” so please come out and help! You’ll be glad you did!
• DAY OF SALE January 31st:
Workers are needed to sign up for the 7:30 to 10:30 slot and the 10:30 to 1 p.m. slot. Sign-up sheet is in the Fellowship Hall! It’s great fun, and help is greatly appreciated!
• Sunday, February 1st, 2015
Annual Congregational Meeting