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It’s not a Job, It’s a Calling

by Dale Flowers

At the recent congregational meeting held on February 14 via zoom, a vote was taken to affirm and renew my terms of call as your pastor.  I have always found the annual experience to be a moment of awkwardness.  Up to that moment I serve as moderator of the meeting but turn over the moderator role to the Personnel elder (Jere Jacobs this year) as Catie and I leave the room so that the congregation can openly discuss my employment status for another year.  Once the vote is completed someone comes to get us and invite us back.  I sheepishly return to the room, usually to a gesture of applause, and resume leadership of the meeting.  That was how it happened again this year although the room Catie and I waited in was virtual (separate from the zoom gathering) and the congregation was muted. 

In hindsight, I wish I had taken the opportunity to say thank you.  I count it an honor to serve as your pastor and your vote of confidence in my leadership renews my wholehearted commitment to be alongside you in partnership for the gospel.  I feel called by God to serve as your pastor, a matter for which I regularly seek God’s guidance and direction.  If I ever felt otherwise, I could not fulfill my role. 

We are blessed as a congregation to have a competent and committed staff who approach their roles with a similar sense of calling.  More than working a job to meet the expectations and satisfaction of an employer, our staff believe they are serving God in their respective roles and together—as staff and congregation— we share life and partnership in advancing the cause of Christ in this world.

Throughout the past year, as the effects of the corona virus persisted many businesses have had to downsize in order to survive.  Rather than assess the value of each position, Session chose to continue employing all of our existing staff. From a business and corporate viewpoint, the church is considered an at-will employer—meaning it can hire and fire without justifiable cause.  But that is not how First Presbyterian Church functions.  We are about ministry and mission, above merely meeting the needs of our own faith community.  It is this sense of calling which determines our identity and purpose that has sustained us through these past several months and will provide us with renewed vision and direction for an unfolding future full of challenges.

 
Sunday March 7
 
Pastor Dale focuses on Jesus’ declaration from John 6: “I Am the Bread of Life.”  As the first Sunday of the month we will observe communion.  You may choose to participate via the communion video online or share communion with others via zoom as part of our interactive worship.
 
10:00 AM Interactive Worship & Communion via Zoom

Zoom Link for Interactive Worship
 
Meeting ID: 813 7532 4243      Passcode: 579433


 

11:30 AM Fellowship via Zoom

Zoom link for 11:30 AM Fellowship
 
Meeting ID: 973 7870 7245    Passcode: 709119
 
 

First Kids

It’s never easy to wait. Whether watching the timer while brownies are baking in the oven . . . or waiting for things in the world to get better -- we all need PATIENCE.  Our elementary kids begin a new series Sunday of how God can help us wait until later for what we want now!  
 

The Color of Compromise Discussion Group

Wednesday, March 3 at 7:00 PM

March 3 Theme:  Making Race in the Colonial Era
and Understanding Liberty in the Age of Revolution and Revival


March 10 Theme:  Institutionalizing Race in the Antebellum Era/ Defending Slavery at the Onset of the Civil War

Video discussion facilitated by 
Michelle Huntley, Penny Cleary, Rich Mason, Donna and  Mark Thomas

 

Are you interested in joining the conversation about race? Consider journeying with us as we go through The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby. This work tells the history of race in our country thought the lens of the Church. Of this work Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile stated: “Tisby points courageously toward the open sore of racism - not with the resigned pessimism of the defeated but with the resilient hope of Christian faith.”

This material is available as: a paper book; an electronic audio book or eBook from the Sonoma County library; a DVD which can be purchased or loaned (by us) or available on a streaming network. The book and video cover the same material so any format you choose will give you plenty to join our discussion group. If you have questions about how to access this material in any of the formats or would like a scholarship to purchase this material, please contact Mark Thomas (707) 292-5788 or by email.

Your weekly (approximately 40 minute) investment will be to watch a short video (or two) or read or listen to a chapter or two before our Wednesday evening meeting. We will have discussion questions for each week and will use our time together to share our responses to this compelling material in conversations in community via zoom. We would love to have you join the conversation.




Literature Discussion Group

Sunday, March 7, 4:00 PM via Zoom  
 
The Vanishing Half “is an ambitious meditation on race and identity [that] considers the divergent fates of twin sisters, born in the Jim Crow South, after one decides to pass for white.”

Please note that this novel contains subject matter that some readers may be sensitive to including sexuality, gender issues, and violence. 

 



The Cosmic Christ: Paul’s Letter to the Colossians 

  Taught by Rev. Dr. Kent Webber

Monday, March 8, 7:00-8:15 PM via Zoom

                 Zoom Link for Class

Meeting ID: 843 4109 4365     Passcode: Letter  
     For previous class recordings, click here. 

 



Movie Discussion Group: Loving (PG-13)


Friday, March 19, 7:00 PM via Zoom

Loving is the absorbing and true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, whose 1958 arrest in Virginia for their interracial marriage led to a legal battle in 1963 that resulted in the Supreme Court's historic 1967 decision, Loving v. Virginia, which struck down Virginia's miscegenation law.  Please view the film in advance via Netflix or stream it on Amazon for $3.99.  We also have a few copies of the DVD for those who prefer.  To RSVP to join us and/or arrange a loan of the DVD, contact Allie Shoulders at 707-890-8010 or via email.

 


 

Caregivers Support Group


Thursday, March 11 at 6:00 PM via Zoom  

 Join Caregivers Support via Zoom

Meeting ID: 897 2757 4781
     
To use Zoom by phone for any Zoom call you may dial one of these numbers: 

+1 669.900.6833
US (San Jose)

+1 346.248.7799
US (Houston)

 For outside the US, locate your local number here.
     

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.  ~John 6:35

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