Jazzy and Erina share creative reflections on the birth of Christ and its textured meanings for us in this present moment. Jazzy shares a "Black Love Letter," written to siblings of Palestine, Congo, and Sudan and wrestling with the reclamation of darkness as the womb of all creation.

Pastor Erina shares a poem titled "The Audacity of Birth," juxtaposing the birth story of Christ with the current realities of life for Palestinian siblings, particularly in Gaza and the West Bank.

Rev. Lynice Pinkard guest preaches for us from the lectionary, reflecting on Isaiah 61 and its promise of God's comfort coming to hopeless situations, broken bodies, and broken hearts. She reminds us that those who have lost out on everything are the ones called to rebuild, that the ones who've received comfort are invited to comfort.

Pastor Michael kicks off our sermon series by preaching on Isaiah 64, sharing the ways that God remains near to us and claims us, even when we fail and turn away. How might the promise of God's presence and nearness be comfort to us as we rebuild?

Pastor Erina closes out our fall sermon series by looking at the exhortation in Deuteronomy 30 to choose life. In the face of so many forces and impulses moving us toward death and destruction, how might we remember that the choice toward life is not too difficult for us or beyond our reach? How might we choose into this collective call together?

Guest preacher Nichola Torbett continues our fall sermon series by inviting us into God's vision for cities of refuge, found in Numbers 35.

How might cities of refuge help break cycles of trauma and violence by offering space for pause and ceasefire? How might we both seek and become cities of refuge as a way to transmute the suffering and violence of our world into love and freedom?

Pastor Michael continues our fall sermon series by preaching on the story of Balaam and Balak and what it means to receive prophetic movements of God from unlikely people and sources. How might this story challenge us to receive the prophets and priests among us today?

Our church Theologian in Residence, Barnabas Lin, continues our fall sermon series on life in the wilderness by reflecting on the risky and courageous witness of the 5 daughters of Zelophehad.

How do their testimonies reveal both the limits of the law and the hard work of peace? How might their memory serve as a blessing to us, granting us the persistence, creativity, and vision to keep pursuing that hard work of peace amidst all the forces of predation and violence in our world?

As part of our "Community Sunday" gathering (every 5th Sunday of the month), we took time to hear testimonies from Cindy Chan and Carissa Lee, about their current wrestling with faith and where God is showing up in their lives. 

Guest preacher, Rev. Sally Steele, continues our series with a look at Leviticus 25 and the Year of Jubilee. Together we explore this future-facing text that embodies God's call to love and liberation, equity and justice, for our own generation and for generations to come.