Montclair Presbyterian Church

Friends,

On the fourth Friday of June I participated in an ecumenically-organized march though East Oakland. The group wasn’t huge—we numbered 24—but the impact was powerful. We held signs calling for an end to violence and the ethnically-diverse group of us walked through a neighborhood that has seen far too much violence in recent decades. As we walked together we came to know folks from other faith communities and the people we met along the way seemed genuinely appreciative for our presence among them.

I loved the time I spent on the walk because it helped me feel as if all of Oakland—not just the hills—was my new home. I loved meeting my new neighbors. I loved walking alongside my new partners in ministry. I loved walking with the MPC folks who invited me to join them on the walk, and I hope more people will come along when the walk happens again, this time on July 25. I will be on vacation that Friday, but I plan to walk whenever I am in town on a fourth Friday, and when I walk, I would love to walk with you.

***
On another, unrelated issue: on Sunday, July 6, I preached about the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s recent divestment from Caterpillar, Hewlett Packard, and Motorola. In the sermon I mentioned that our denomination divested from these corporations because they currently are profiting from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, but I didn’t give details (Caterpillar produces bulldozers specifically designed to knock down Palestinian homes, HP provides high-tech logistical support for Israeli roadblocks in the West Bank, and Motorola supplies communication systems specifically tailored for the Israeli Defense Forces occupation of the West Bank). After celebration some of you wanted to know more about what these three businesses are doing in the Holy Land, and so for more information on the reasons the Presbyterian Church has divested from these three corporations, I invite you to follow the link below to a pair of opinion pieces published on the Tikkun website. Tikkun is a progressive Jewish organization whose work I have admired for years. Here’s the link: http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/perspectives-on-presbyterian-divestment.

God’s Peace,
Ben

Family Camp was wonderful.

On our last day at Lake Tahoe, my daughter, Mimi and I rented a double kayak and we decided to paddle out to the part of the lake where the color of the water reaches is deepest blue. I have no idea how far out it was, but we were paddling for the better part of a half hour when we decided, finally, to turn around. After looking at a map that marked the depth of the water in Tahoe, I know that the bottom of the lake was some 1500 feet below us, and I can report that when we reached the bluest part of the lake, we felt as if we were paddling through liquid sapphire. The water’s hue was as deep as the lake its self and the lake’s surface didn’t reflect the sunlight so much as it refracted it. It was magical.

I have visited Tahoe on several occasions, and have always looked up at the mountains, which are spectacular and inspiring. Even while on the lake, I’ve always looked up. But this time, I’m glad I looked down into the water and encountered the beauty I’d missed because I was too preoccupied with looking into the distance.

I think there is a spiritual lesson here. In our lives it’s good to take a long view, to contemplate the beauty that awaits us in the distance, to have aspirations, goals and ambitions. But it’s also important to be delighted by the beauty and mystery and wonder that can be found in our more immediate surroundings. This is a good thing. After all, we’re not always able to climb the mountains we see in the distance, but we can find the beauty that abides nearby.

Now that we’ve all come down from Tahoe let’s help each other remember this: we live in a world of wonders, filled with beauty and adventure, and frequently the wonder and beauty and adventure are to be found in far off places. But not always. Sometimes the best place to find beauty and mystery and adventure is right beneath the kayak on which we are sitting.

Dear Friends,

This Sunday is Pentecost, which is one of my favorite days on the Church calendar. Pentecost is the day that traditionally is considered the birthday of the Church, but I love Pentecost because the story of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the followers of Jesus reminds us that our faith ties us to Christians around the world.

At Pentecost we remember that those of us who celebrate our faith on Sunday mornings in Montclair are connected spiritually to people of faith in places like Bolivia, Borneo, Belgium, Botswana and Bora Bora. Pentecost challenges us to be aware of how we are related to God’s children everywhere, to think globally and to consider how our actions and attitudes affect them, especially those who live in poverty and those who are victims of violence and neglect.

At Pentecost we also are challenged to consider how we might learn from and be blessed by our fellow children of God who live in far off places. Pentecost reminds us to seek wisdom and spiritual strength from those whose languages and cultural backgrounds are radically different from our own. Pentecost is an invitation to get out of our comfortable routines and to take a journey with keen faithful awareness across the world’s vast spiritual geography.

One way to demonstrate our connection to Christians around the world is to wear the color red on Pentecost Sunday. I understand this is a tradition in various places around the world (the one time I was overseas on Pentecost people certainly were wearing red in Church), but also, when you wear red to celebration on Sunday you will enhance our worship experience. The Celebration Committee will be decorating the sanctuary in Pentecost red, and by wearing red you will increase the impact of the committee’s creativity, which, in turn, will help tell the story of the day of the Church’s birth when the power of the Holy Spirit taught the followers of Jesus to speak in every language under the sun.

I’ll see you Sunday. I’ll be wearing a red bow tie.

Salaam, Paz, Paix, Ruh, Pace, Namaste, Mir, Shalom, Peace,
Ben

Dear Friends,

I want to say how excited I am that our congregation is on the cusp of installing solar panels on our church property.

For sixteen years I served a congregation that had the distinction of being the first certified “green business” in Santa Clara County, and the first congregation in the Presbyterian Church (USA) to be recognized officially as a green business. Compared to company that fabricates silicon wafers, for example, it’s easy for a Church to be a green business, but still it was a lot of work. We modified our water usage, we changed out our light fixtures for more efficient models, we got rid of our more toxic cleaning supplies, but for us solar panels were just a dream.

We were ideally located for panels and we had a lot of property that could have been used as a solar farm. We even had a south-facing roof with a perfect slope, but for some reason the nexus of financing and willpower never came together for us.

And now here I am in Oakland, and you are making this dream come true, for me anyway.

Solar panels are good for the earth because they generate power without burning fossil fuels, but on a church they also make an important spiritual statement: we, as people of faith, are doing what we can to live gently on the earth God has given us as a home. We are honoring the creator by refusing to soil the creation.

I really hope our solar panels will be visible from the road, for just as our steeple informs the community a congregation worships at our church, so solar panels would bear witness to the earth-honoring values that guide our spiritual life. I don’t know if solar panels will cause people to flock through our doors on Sunday Morning, but I do know that when people of faith use tangible actions to pledge fidelity to the things of God, important works begins.

Thank you for being the kind of congregation that wants to go solar!

Very Best,
Ben