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Aug 29, 2010
Dear friends-
One of my fa
vorite arcane bible verses is Jeremiah 8:20: “The harvest is over, the summer is past and we are not yet saved.” I might translate the final clause “and the revolution has not yet been completed” or on a more personal level ” summer is over and I haven’t lost the weight I needed to, in order to appear in a bathing suit at the upcoming Solano Stroll dunk tank on September 12th.” Still, the verse as is captures the feeling of a season’s passing, one in which I accomplished some goals, but not all of them. Fortunately, a new season begins just around the corner with all of the opportunities to achieve or revise past dreams and to experiment with living into new ones.
There is a palpable feeling on campus of expectation - new students are trickling in and former students are returning. Our new interns will begin in a few weeks and I am meeting with them to discern what they can learn from us in the upcoming year and what we can learn from them. I have taken a part time position as Director of Worship for the seminary, which is a great synergistic opportunity for me, our church and the school. I am excited to be working with two exceptional colleagues, the Rev. Anne Jefferson and Ms. Aeri Lee. I hope the creativity we enjoy on Sundays and that students experience on Tuesdays in chapel will contribute to a sense of revival on our little hill in Berkeley.
I hope you’ll join us this Sunday in the waning weeks of summer, to celebrate love and life and the ongoing passage of time. In my sermon I will draw on Luke 15:1-10, as well as several books I have been reading lately, including a novel by one of my favorite authors, Allegra Goodman, “The Cookbook Collector,” which captures the challenges of having a spiritual life in Berkeley and Palo Alto; a memoir by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali/Dutch politician and her experience growing up as female in a Muslim culture; “Jesus Freak” by local lesbian journalist Sara Miles, depicting the contradictions and the rewards of being a Christian with a feminist and liberation consciousness; and a strange little thriller in the noir detective genre, “Haiku” by Andrew Vachss. Bob Crocker used to call these occasional sermons “Pastor’s Book Chats”- but I promise to infuse it with my ever evolving sense of spiritual vitality, which is taking root and blossoming in the life of this church and this community.
Hope to see you Sunday!
yours, Jim