Make Your Bed

by Jennifer Ruth Lynn Garrison

There [Peter] found a man named Aeneas, who had been bedridden for eight years, for he was paralyzed. Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; get up and make your bed!” And immediately he got up. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. – Acts 9:33-35 (NRSV)

I have an app that grants its users virtual rewards for performing real self-care tasks. “Wake up!” it chirps at me each morning, followed by “Make your bed!” and “Enjoy a shower!” I complete these and a couple dozen other tasks and then click a button. With each task, a little fake confetti explodes joyfully on my phone screen and I collect a few fabricated gemstones. Even though I know it’s an algorithmic celebration, not a natural one, the dopamine hit with each of those confetti explosions is real.

I wonder what Aeneas’ dopamine response was to his healing. He had been bedridden for almost a decade when Peter commanded him to jump up and perform a little job. I wonder if, for the rest of his life, he associated his healing with making his bed. If so, was this little chore a celebration every day? Or, in time, did both the healing and the task become commonplace? What did it take for him (or really for any of us) to rejoice daily in both the miraculous and the mundane? My ultimate goal is to train my brain to associate my morning tasks with a tiny high so I can just bypass the app altogether. But in the meantime, I’m going to click “finish writing” on my phone and celebrate. 

Prayer
Healing Friend, guide us to naturally rejoice in it all, every single day. Amen.

Rev. Jennifer Garrison (formerly Brownell) is a writer, spiritual director and pastor living in the Pacific Northwest. Her published work most recently appeared in the book The Words of Her Mouth: Psalms for the Struggle, available from The Pilgrim Press.

Advent 2024: Carrying the Blessing (All the Way)

This blessing knows how to bide its time, to watch and wait, to discern and pray until the moment comes when it will reveal everything it knows, when it will shine forth with all that it has seen, when it will dazzle with the unforgettable light you have carried all this way. —Jan Richardson

One of our favorite choruses at UCH for the Advent season is “Emmanuel” from the Chalice Hymnal: “Emmanuel, Emmanuel, His name is called Emmanuel, God With Us, Revealed in Us, His Name is called Emmanuel.” (Chalice Hymnal #134)  

Matthew leads early on in his Gospel with Isaiah 7, “A young woman shall conceive and bear a son and will call his name Immanuel” Emmanuel is not a common word in the Bible - but it’s an important one because Matthew tells us that in addition to being called “Jesus” that Jesus shall also be called Emmanouél (Ἐμμανουήλ), which means God with us — in the present moment. 

The word often used for revealing (or revelation) in Greek in the New Testament is ἀποκάλυψις (apokálypsis), translated — according to Strong’s — as “through the concealed.”  An apocalypse is a disclosure of knowledge, a lifting of the veil or revelation. In religious contexts it usually refers to bringing something hidden to light.

As that chorus has floated around in my head in recent days, alongside my grief and anger, I have found myself asking: How is God with us right now? What is being revealed in us right now? How are we being called to give birth in the light of Christ in the world right now?

We will bring these questions into our Advent and current events container as we explore four powerful points of revelation in the traditional Advent scriptures: Ancestral Lines (Matthew’s Genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1), Threshing Floors (an image in John the Baptist’s Apocalyptic Preaching Matthew 3), Finding Voice/Utterance under Duress (Mary’s Magnificat Luke 2), and Standing in Integrity/Wisdom in the face of Injustice (The Magoi/Herod. Matthew 2).

I look forward to being with you for the four Sundays of Advent, and the Christmas Eve Service @ 6:00pm PT on Sunday, December 24. Message us for the link to join live, or find us on Facebook for the sermon livestream.

– Rev. Jeanne

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show

The entire Bay Area, and especially The Tri-City area is so historically rich!  We have become aware of some of that richness, thanks to Bill Ralph who gathers enticing, and little-known facts about events, historic spots, key persons, their dreams and hopes, and brings them to life for us to marvel at the courage, foresight, and results of some of our predecessors’ efforts. Since we have received many positive comments about those articles, we are featuring a column each month entitled “Historic Snippets.”

Cody’s advance staff traveled into the Bay Area weeks ahead of the Wild West Show caravan to begin obtaining licenses, and renting fifteen acres of open space for upcoming performances in San Francisco, Oakland and in San Jose. In addition to beginning publicizing the upcoming events, the staff also made arrangements for the purchase tons of flour, meat, coffee and other supplies for up to five hundred cast and crew members, hundreds of show-and-draft-horses, a couple of elephants and a small herd of buffalo. The epic show traveled from town to town with two trains, fifty flat cars loaded with wagons, box cars, cattle cars, sleeping cars, power and commissary cars. The outdoor traveling show also carried its own grandstands and acres of canvas-covering to seat twenty thousand spectators,

At its peak in the late 1890’s plainsman, scout and showman  William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody’s Wild West Show was making hundreds of performances a year and traveled over eleven thousand miles in the United States and in Europe entertaining millions of eager attendees. Cody traveled to Northern California with his extensive cast, crew and huge menagerie several times between 1877 and 1913.

As the orator boomed the script and Cody’s cowboy band created mood setting music in the huge outdoor arena, the stereotyped-cowboy and native American performers would kick-off their two-hour series of highly anticipated well-known skits, tableaux and demonstrations. The riding of the Pony Express, Indian attacks on wagon trains, stage coach robberies, a buffalo stampede and the grand finale re-enactment of Custer’s Last Stand were interspersed with shooting, roping and riding demonstrations by headliner star performers including the famous Annie Oakley. Following the elaborate show comprised of hundreds of costumed performers, trained animals and the appearance of Buffalo Bill Cody himself, the entire show would be struck, loaded back onto the trains and moved overnight to the next town where the complex choreographed operation would be repeated.

With the general fading of interest in the “old west”, smaller audiences, increasing costs and a four thousand dollar a day overhead, and the growing popularity of motion pictures and professional sports, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show made its final Bay Area appearance in 1913, just months before going bankrupt and disbanding. True to nature, showman and entrepreneur William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody immediately went about getting into the motion picture business by seeking backing to shoot and distribute The Indian Wars, a five-reel silent film.

Belvoir Springs Hotel

The entire Bay Area, and especially The Tri-City area is so historically rich!  We have become aware of some of that richness, thanks to Bill Ralph who gathers enticing, and little-known facts about events, historic spots, key persons, their dreams and hopes, and brings them to life for us to marvel at the courage, foresight, and results of some of our predecessors’ efforts. Since we have received many positive comments about those articles, we are featuring a column each month entitled “Historic Snippets.”

Nestled on the hillside above Mission Blvd. across from downtown Niles and hidden from view by trees and bushes is the Belvoir Springs Hotel, one of several hostels serving the busy Southern Pacific depot at the turn of the last century. Giles and Nana Chittenden purchased the one hundred- and five-acre parcel and flowing spring from Jonas Clarkin in 1884 and built a large three-bedroom farmhouse.

Over the years the Chittendens developed a profitable fruit and nut orchard, dairy, and vegetable farm west of Sulphur Springs Ranch and adjacent to John Rocks’ California Nursery Company.  

With the beauty of the surroundings and Nana’s welcoming charm, they added a summer camp for friends and travelers, and guest rooms in the farm house basement to board school teachers and railroad employees during the winter months. When a fire destroyed much of the original building the Chittenden’s took the opportunity to replace it with three-bedroom a twenty-two-room craftsman style hotel they named Belvoir Springs (French for “Beautiful View”).

Niles was a sleepy agricultural community when Gilbert “Broncho Billy” Anderson and the cast and crew from Chicago’s Essanay Film Manufacturing Company arrived in town in 1912 with many of the troupe temporarily staying in tents on the hotel grounds.

As they found permanent housing, a who’s who of silent screen stars continued to visit the Belvoir Springs Hotel for lunch or dinner. Marguerite Clayton, Anderson’s leading lady, lived at the hotel, while Anderson, Augustus Carney, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, James Gleason, Edna Purviance, Ben Turpin and Charlie Chaplin could be spotted making their way from the studio on Niles Blvd., crossing the Southern Pacific tracks and Hayward-Mission San Jose Road and strolling up the shaded driveway to the hotel to dine and unwind after long days of cranking out fifteen-minute westerns and comedies.

The Essanay Studios closed in 1916 after four short years and the troupe left town just as quickly as they had arrived. Nana Chittenden decided to retire the following year and the once flourishing hotel changed hands multiple times in succeeding decades. The acreage was sold off piecemeal and the hotel allowed to fall into disrepair.

In 1994 new owners undertook a major renovation of the historic Belvoir Springs Hotel and its remaining grounds to create an upscale special events and extended stay venue. However, as of this date the website appears to be abandoned and the ambitious venture unsuccessful. Now a private residence, the historic hotel with the “beautiful view”, sits on the hillside above Niles, out of view and unknown by passing motorists on Mission Blvd.

Stewardship & Gratitude

How vibrant is your outreach to others as you continue to be “Light for the World” and “Salt for the earth?”  Such a wonder-filled responsibility we have received. . . What is it you really care about? How does that make a difference in your life?

Stewardship and gratitude can be expressed in many ways.  We opened our November Journey Notes issue with this poem by our own Pamela Blank. 

The Beauty of Wrinkled Hands

Thank you God for my wrinkled hands I see and use each day,
It’s a gentle reminder of life I’m living and to be grateful in every way.
Each wrinkle is a memory, as the years pass by for me,
A long life is such a gift, that many do not get to see.
So, each morning as I wake and my hands have daily chores to do
May I feel blessed for every wrinkle, knowing life is a gift from You.

A Tale of Two Clocks

by Marchae Grair | published on Dec 2, 2019

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years,and a thousand years are like a day. – 2 Peter 3:8 (NIV)

I grumbled as I shuffled to the outdoor trashcan after cleaning up my dog’s millionth accident. I reached for the doorknob of my apartment and couldn’t get in. I had locked myself out and my partner was asleep. I had such a long to-do list for the morning that I immediately started berating myself. How could I finish unpacking in a timely manner if I accidentally dedicated an undetermined amount of time to creeping around my house, seeing if I could get my partner to let me in? Where would I reallot my regular morning session of worrying about things I couldn’t change?

After about fifteen minutes, I accepted my fate. I was wedded to my front stoop until my partner found me.

And then, I saw the kind face of the woman collecting cans from neighborhood receptacles and the gentle gaze of the man who wanted to make sure she made it up the hill without losing her cart. I saw my next-door neighbor for the first time, as he wished me a great weekend. I met a sweet neighborhood dog, whose excitement eventually made my dogs bark and led to my partner finding me.

I would have missed so much of a beautiful morning working on the things I thought couldn’t wait, chasing time and simultaneously hoping time didn’t catch up with me.

I’m so thankful for the reminder that God’s time isn’t about my tasks or to-do lists. God’s time is about the interconnected breaths and moments that remind us we all belong to each other.

Prayer

Dear God: Keep resetting my clock to keep me mindful of others and closer to You. Amen. (Marchae Grair)

FESCO

As Autumn moves along, we begin to think of falling leaves, and eventually, harvest time and gratitude.  It’s a good time also, to be grateful for the way FESCO (Family Emergency Shelter Coalition) walks along with and provides resources for families to recover those things we often take for granted like electricity, running water and a place to call home.  Perhaps, you too have faced the trauma of being “One paycheck away from homelessness.”  Be inspired by FESCO’s vision and practical resources. 

– Jackie F.

FESCO’s Mission: We know that quality, affordable housing is scarce and nearly impossible to find. As a result, many of our friends and neighbors have found themselves in unexpected situations, which can include couch-surfing, temporarily living in their cars, or in even less stable conditions. Our mission is simple and complex: to end homelessness.

We accomplish this goal by assisting homeless and low-income families and individuals to secure permanent housing, using approaches that instill or restore dignity, self-respect and self-reliance, so that families, individuals, and the community are strengthened. Since 1986, FESCO has built a community of organizations and people, just like you, that pool our resources to give these families a fighting chance though:

• Emergency Shelters

• Transitional Living Homes

• Supportive Coaching and Access to Resources Like Job Training

Find out more and support FESCO’s Programs.

Transitions Group: The First Thursdays of the Month

Please invite friends and loved ones you think would benefit from this circle of support and wisdom. We use poetry as a container and do talk about spirituality and the divine, and our format is very ecumenical and welcoming of all. I’m grateful we have this opportunity to offer each other the big-hearted spiritual journey support that is one of our core strengths at UCH.  We are using Jan Richardson’s book The Cure for Sorrow: Blessings in Times of Grief to guide our conversations.

Message us here for the link to join or with any questions.

California Nursery Company

In 1884 John Rock and four business associates purchased the Jose de Jesus Vallejo Adobe located on five hundred acres of rich alluvial soil near Alameda Creek in Niles, and established the California Nursery Company. Rock was an experienced nurseryman with three successful operations on Coyote Creek in San Jose and planned to focus the new site on wholesaling grape vines, ornamental plantings, roses, fruit and nut trees to California’s flourishing agricultural industry. He worked with Luther Burbank and other West Coast plant breeders in introducing new horticultural hybrids and within a few years listed nearly five hundred varieties of fruit trees, seven hundred ornamental shrubs and two hundred and fifty roses in his widely distributed mail order catalog.

The booming California Nursery Company, an occasional location for Bronco Billy silent western films, was commissioned to landscape a portion of the grounds of San Francisco’s Pan Pacific International Exposition in 1915 by providing four hundred Canary Island Palms to line the fair’s grand promenade. CNC also received a gold medal for its immersive redwood forest exhibit, attracting the attention of William Randolph Hearst who selected the Rock’s Niles based operation to landscape the grounds of his fabled San Simeon castle.  

Ownership of the nursery changed hands several times after Rock’s passing, and in 1917 George C. Roeding, proprietor of Fancher Creek Nurseries in Fresno, purchased California Nursery Company. George Jr. took over management from his father in 1926 and at the time employed as many as one hundred fifty workers, reached annual sales exceeding $200,000, and had customers located around the world.  Roeding guided the nursery through the great depression by scaling the grounds back to two hundred and sixty acres and receiving the assignment of landscaping the approaches to the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge.  California Nursery Company became a destination for local gardeners and aspiring horticulturists in the 1940’s and 50’s with up to five thousand attendees to the Annual Spring Bulb and Summer Rose Shows. The City of Fremont restored the Jose de Jesus Vallejo Adobe in 1975 and began the creation of the twelve-acre California Nursery Historical Park at the corner of Niles Blvd. and Nursery Avenue that now attracts curious visitors to its informative entry plaza, heirloom rose garden, towering palm trees, eclectic forest, shaded pathways and rich history.

A milestone in our ministry outreach!

Hello Everyone,

This Sunday we will be going “live” for my sermon on Facebook for the first time! (Live: means that anyone can watch it that wants to-during or after.) This has been something the Tech Team has wanted to do for a while, and Ashley has been hard at work making it happen in recent days. It is not easy to get Zoom and Facebook to play together. But Ashley is demonstrating that it is possible. This will drastically increase our outreach potential.

Ashley will be with us during worship and driving everything behind the scenes- including managing folkx that have comments or want to chat on the livestream about what I am saying. We need for everyone on Zoom to make double sure you are muted during the sermon so we can get the best sound possible and avoid echoes and delays. Also be aware that the reflection portion of worship (after the sermon) will not be livestreamed (at least yet). That is something we can talk about doing as we go.

Your Tech Team is excited about this upgrade in our outreach and also grateful to Ashley for navigating all of it.  We invite you to pray for this new outreach endeavor. And we’ll see you in Zoom worship on Sunday (Message us here to join live!). 

-Rev. Jeanne and the UCH Tech Team

New Bible Study Course: The Holy Land Revealed

with Professor Jodi Magness, Holy Land Archaeologist
Thursday evenings at 5:30

Comb through the rubble of an ancient citadel in the City of David, the contents of a rock cut tomb in the Kidron Valley, correspondence from caves in the Judean desert, and other remains from one of the most important regions in the history of civilization.

Delivered by archaeologist and award-winning Professor Dr. Jodi Magness, “The Holy Land Revealed” helps you relive and encounter life in the ancient Holy Land through the lens of archaeology. These 36 lectures are your change to get up close and personal with ruins, artifacts, murals, documents, and other long-buried objects that will take you deep beneath the pages of the Bible.

Dr. Jodi Magness is the Kenana Distinguished Professor for Teaching Excellence in Early Judaism in the Dept of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has excavated throughout Israel and Greece and has codirected excavations of the Roman siege works at Masada and the Roman for at Yotvada.

Each night we will be viewing a 30-minute lecture and having discussion afterwards. I will also be bringing relevant scripture to the conversation that highlights the sites and artifacts Dr. Magness is discussing. I look forward to being with you.

P.S. This course has lots of graphs, and pictures. Here is the video preview so you can take a look. It’s the perfect time to join us if you have been thinking about it. Please contact me with any questions.

-Rev. Jeanne

Faith & Democracy: Confronting White Christian Nationalism

What does a Christianity look like that is not deeply tied to racial injustice and White Christian nationalism, forces captured in the images of the January 6, 2021 insurrection? With a national election just around the corner, how might Christians live into a richer narrative that underscores the nonviolent legacy of Jesus?

Join us for an intimate, online conversation with three renowned thought leaders on the current state of Christianity in the US. Our guests Gary Dorrien, Obery Hendricks, and Grace Ji-Sun Kim are internationally known for their insights on the Christian faith and the role that it can play for those committed to democracy, peace, and social justice. (Follow the links or see below for additional information about our guest panelists.) The Christian Century's editor/publisher Peter W. Marty will serve as moderator. 

Sponsored by the Christian Century and the D.L. Dykes, Jr. Foundation, this conversation will explore the challenges that the growing presence of White Christian nationalism poses to congregations and people of faith and conscience.   

Note: This is an online only event and requires registration.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PANELISTS:

• Gary Dorrien is the Reinhold Niebuhr professor of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary and professor of religion at Columbia University. He is the author of 24 books that range across the fields of social ethics, philosophy, theology, political economics, social and political theory, religious history, cultural criticism, and intellectual history. His books include American Democratic Socialism: History, Politics, Religion and Theory and Breaking White Supremacy: Martin Luther King Jr and the Black Social Gospel.

• Obery Hendricks is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Democracy Collaborative in Washington, DC. He is the author of the bestseller The Politics of Jesus: Rediscovering the True Revolutionary Nature of Jesus’ Teachings and How They Have Been Corrupted. A widely sought after lecturer and media spokesperson, Dr. Hendricks’ appearances include CNN, MSNBC, CBS, Fox News, Fox Business News, the Discovery Channel, and PBS.

• Grace Ji-Sun Kim is professor of theology at Earlham School of Religion. She is the author of 24 books including When God Became White and Surviving God (co-written with Susan Shaw). Grace is a series co-editor for the Palgrave Macmillan Series Asian Christianity in the Diaspora and has served on the American Academy of Religion’s Board of Directors. Grace hosts the Madang podcast.

Mission Pass

Except for several low-level passes, travel between east and south bay communities with California’s inland valleys has always been thwarted by the coastal range of hills. Dublin Pass through Castro Valley and Niles Canyon in Fremont are busy routes.  However, one of the Bay Area’s toughest commutes is Interstate 680 between Fremont and Pleasanton where motorists are funneled through Mission Pass and over the infamous “Sunol Grade”. Unaware of its storied history, tens of thousands of people travel this route daily connecting the valleys: Livermore, San Joaquin, Central, and Sacramento with the South Bay’s “Silicon Valley”, through the natural gap in Mount Hamilton Range near Mission San Jose.

The Ohlone people settled in this region thousands of years ago in permanent villages near marshes and springs, collected shellfish from the bay shores, hunted abundant migratory waterfowl and established a trail through the natural low-level pass below Mission Peak for trading with inland tribes. Spanish explorers Pedro Fages and Padre Juan Crespi were the first Europeans in 1772 to cross the Pass, later used for clandestine inland expeditions by Spanish soldiers. Jedediah Smith restocked supplies and made wagon repairs at Mission San Jose in 1827 before traveling east through the pass. Two years later Kit Carson traveled the same route after trading furs with the missionaries for fresh produce. John C. Fremont’s California Battalion camped at Mission San Jose and mapped Mission Pass in 1846, staying long enough to be enthralled by the region’s beauty and Mission Valley’s fertile soil, and making an unsuccessful attempt to purchase the entire region.

Following the discovery of a gold at John Sutter’s lumber mill in 1848, hordes of hopeful prospectors disembarked eastern sailing ships in San Francisco and made their way to the village of Mission San Jose where they purchased food and supplies for the trip through Mission Pass to Stockton, the jumping off place for reaching the gold camps of the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Automobile gas stations and garages began replacing buggies and blacksmiths in the early 1900’s and at least six Mission San Jose gas stations and several towing services served motorists heading east through the pass. Fig Tree Station, named for several of the vintage trees planted on the site by Spanish Missionaries, opened in 1925 with two outdoor gas pumps on the gravel roadside. A repair garage, covered fueling area, and restrooms were added in the 1940’s. Through the years the humble little roadside station has provided petroleum products from Mobil, Standard, Flying A, McMillan and Tidewater. Now a Chevron property, with roots in Mission San Jose for 99 years, it patiently serves the local community as well as anxious commuters backed up for miles, unaware that they are following in the footsteps of the Indigenous people, Spanish Missionaries, Trail Blazers, and 49’ers.

Vacation, Empty Nest Syndrome, and Hope

Returning from vacation usually means coming back with renewed energy and happy memories, (even though we know the return also means unpacking, doing laundry, putting away items, answering emails, etc.!)  Ah, yes, but the MEMORIES REMAIN!

Sometimes, we come back to face an “Empty Nest Syndrome” even though our adult children left home years ago, or perhaps because our children- still-at-home are moving into an unknown we never had to face. 

Empty Nest Syndrome occurs anytime we are involved in the process of change, whether that change is happening around us or within us.

At UCH we experience a nest, empty of how it used to be: of Bingo games, potluck suppers, flea markets, and other gatherings.  However, we balance out that sense of “emptiness” with the reality that we have come very far in building a foundation utilizing technology enabling us to reach the hearts of others city-wide, nation-wide, and world-wide through Zoom – something we did not even imagine 10 years ago. 

Although we might not see dozens of new faces appearing at our worship service, we know that our outreach of Transitions Groups, recorded sermons, Bible Study, Healing Circle, Guided meditations, Podcasts, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram etc., are touching the hearts of others by the responses we receive.  And isn’t that what church is about, anyway: providing outreach avenues where people are encouraged and inspired in their own relationship with the Holy One.

Awareness of an empty nest syndromes always calls us to look deeply at our values and their relationship to the reality we are living in now.  It calls us to grow through problem solving.  It calls us to renewed hope in a God who is still speaking.

We can, therefore, rejoice because an empty nest of “what used to be” is being filled in another way – a way we had not imagined.  This is a time for hope and encouragement – because “we are not done yet.” This a time to remember that our God is a God who provides what we need as we continue moving forward into the Unknown of this marvelous Journey of Faith.

Changing Seasons

Autumn does not officially begin until September 22 this year, but there seems to be a hint of it in the air already. Even though sometimes within our own journey we experience winter in the midst of summer, and spring in the midst of autumn, seasons are great reminders of the importance of our own growth cycles.  Seasons also remind us of beautiful realities we seldom notice. 

Yard Trees

Hardly noticed
since you’re always there
silently amid rustling leaves
breathing in
    my breathing out
and breathing out
    my breathing in

Unseen symphony
graciously offering
graciously receiving.

May my grudge
of raking your leaves
become a simple song
of gratitude.

— by Jackie Freitas

Resources on the threat of Christian Nationalism

“When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross” — Widely attributed to (but never confirmed) to Sinclair Lewis

From a recent interview with Rev. Jeanne Loveless, here are a series of resources about the very real threat of Christian Nationalism in the United States:

• Book Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez More info

• Book The False White Gospel by Jim Wallis More info

• Video Series White Nation Under God by Jemar Tisby Watch here.

• Documentary Bad Faith with William Barber Watch here.

• Podcast American Idols and Book American Idolatry by Andrew Whitehead

• Documentary God & Country Watch here.

• Toolkit A Preacher's Toolkit for Confronting Christian Nationalism by Rev. Rebecca Littlejohn More info.

• Statement Christians Against Christian Nationalism Read and sign here.

---

Share this: This 5-minute video is from interviews conducted with Rev. Jeanne in May 2024 talks the rise of Christian Nationalism and why she’ll never tell you how to vote from the pulpit.

PFEFFERMINZ

You would never guess that on a quiet street in the industrial section of Hayward, California in an unassuming factory building is one of the world’s largest collections of candy dispensers and an assortment of rare and banned toys. The only clue that something unusual is inside are the twenty-foot-tall fiberglass Muffler Man and Western Cowpoke standing guard outside.

 Originally sold as peppermint lozenge drops in 1927 by Austrian Edward Haas as PEZ (short for the German name pfefferminz for peppermint) the sweet product evolved into a compressed brick shape breath mint containing sugar, corn syrup, plant-based fat, flavoring and coloring was sold as an alternative to tobacco and packaged in a cigarette shaped dispenser. PEZ candy mints were first introduced to the United States in1955 in packages of twelve and marketed to children in manual plastic dispensers with the heads of Santa Claus, Popeye, Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck. The PEZ company built a factory in Orange, Connecticut in 1973 to handle the increasing demand for their mint products while having the highly desirable collectable dispensers produced in Hungary and China. Billions of PEZ candies are consumed annually in nineteen flavors and through the years have been packaged in several thousand different highly sought after dispenser designs.

 One of the world’s largest private PEZ dispenser collections, outside of the company’s Visitor Center in Orange, Connecticut, is located in The Hayward Toy Museum. More than world’s 2400 unique and rare dispensers dating from the 1950’s are on display along with the original Mr. Potato Head, first Barbie Doll and first Comic Book, as well as an assortment of “banned” toys. Remember Lawn Darts?

 The Hayward Toy Museum is the passion of the owner of Bell Plastics and takes up a small portion of his National Avenue factory location. His private PEZ and toy collections along with a display of giant fiberglass figures are open to the public. Check the Hayward Toy Museum website for more information.     

How have your childhood memories of things you enjoyed and games you played, influenced what you do and who you are today?

She Wrote a Long Letter on a Short Page

Long letters are easier to write than short ones.  Long letters allow me to ramble on and on – choosing topics as I go, and never ever running out of ideas to include.

But I have only a short piece of paper on which to condense what I learned that year as an apprentice in the artist studio - I who knew nothing about what to call different shades of purple, blue or green, whether textured paper was more appropriate for water colors or acrylics, or whether the biggest secret to a good oil painting was to let one layer of paint dry before applying the next.

 All I know is that the apprenticeship taught me more about Ife, more about balance and harmony, about doing and waiting, about seeing the spaces between the leaves and branches of the eucalyptus tree. 

 So perhaps my short letter is that each of us, in our own way, is artist of our own “canvas” of life as we transform the secrets of painting into developing the picture we are becoming.

Historical Ramblings: Francis Marion Smith (1846-1931)

Chances are that you have never heard of Francis Marion Smith. It’s more likely that you are familiar with the names of Jack London, Robert Luis Stevenson, Domingo Ghibelline, Charles Crocker, Joaquin Miller and Anthony Chabot. All are East Bay pioneers that once called Oakland home.

 Smith was known as “Borax Smith”, the highly successful founder and owner of the company that produced 20-Mule-Team Borax, the household cleaner made famous as the sponsor of the popular Death Valley Days TV show. As a young man seeking mineral wealth, Smith discovered a high-grade deposit of borate in the Great Basin Desert in 1872 and with his brother staked claims and established a primitive borax processing facility.  

Within five years, Smith was regularly shipping thirty-ton loads of the cleaned and concentrated borax crystals in large wagons, pulled by the now famous 20-mule teams, to the nearest Central Pacific Railroad siding one hundred and sixty miles away. Over time financial success allowed Smith, the “Borax King” to buy out his brother, purchase additional productive properties in the region, and replace the slow and cumbersome mule shipments with his own railroads. 

 In 1893 he commissioned the construction of the Pacific Coast Borax Company refinery in Alameda, CA, the first reinforced concrete building in the country, to process the mineral into household and commercial products under the 20 Mule Team brand. With the surge of income from his Borax business Smith formed a partnership with Frank Havens developing projects including extensive Key System lines, an urban and suburban commuter train, ferry and streetcar system serving the East Bay. 

Smith and his wife Mary moved from the Nevada desert to Oakland in 1881 where he managed operations of his expanding business empire from their large estate, Arbor Villa. Located near MacArthur and Park Blvd. on thirty-five manicured acres, their three-story extravagant Oak Hall mansion contained forty-two rooms including fifteen bedrooms, a ballroom, bowling alley and attached conservatory. The grounds featured tennis and croquet courts, stables, a small zoo with deer and rabbits, greenhouses, a variety of guest houses, and a signature five story water tower and observation deck with views of the Bay and San Francisco. The Smiths were active in Oakland’s charitable and community events often making Arbor Villa available for fundraising activities, as well as supporting his first wife’s desire to provide homelike accommodations for orphaned girls by financing, constructing, and operating thirteen residential homes.

 After suffering a major stroke at the age of 82, Smith and his wife moved from their mansion to a smaller residence near Lake Merritt. He began selling off parcels of Arbor Villa, however the stock market crash of 1929 eliminated potential buyers and following his death in 1931 at the age of 85, his prized mansion was demolished. Francis Marion Smith, miner, business man, railroad builder and “Borax King”, buried along “Millionaires Row” in Mountain View Cemetery, is not well known in Oakland but has a 5,915-foot peak in the Amargosa Range of Death Valley named Smith Mountain in his honor.  

Puzzles & Problem Solving

Problem solving and making choices are like putting a puzzle together.

In a crossword puzzle, it’s very helpful to recognize where the horizontal and vertical words cross each other (share the same empty box.)  For example, suppose the horizontal and vertical words share the same beginning box (letter) – i.e.  both of them start with the same letter.  The horizontal clue is “close” (which has 4 empty boxes to fill.)  Now, “close” can either mean to “shut” or “to be near something.” Which should you choose – “shut” or “near”?  The vertical clue is “not ever” (5 letters.) That answer would be “never”.  So, you can clearly conclude that the horizontal answer to “close” in this instance is “near” not “shut”.

Perhaps you enjoy putting jigsaw puzzles together.  How do you handle the pieces you pour out of the box onto the table?  Do you look at the picture first before starting.  Or do you prefer the adventure of being surprised by the picture?  Do you form the border first to build a frame to put the picture into, or do you cluster the pieces by colors first and create small patches you can fit together?  Maybe you prefer solving puzzles which contain only numbers?  Those puzzles, too, have various ways to begin the solving process.

The important thing that any kind of puzzle teaches us is that although there are some guidelines and commonalities to puzzle-solving and problem-solving, there is no one way to accomplish the completion of the picture or the finished product. 

So, too, there is no one way to grow in our relationship with each other or with the Holy One.  What are the unique ways you resolve situations when faced with decision making? Are you at peace with your current “method?”  Are you so boxed in with how you have always solved problems that you completely miss the opportunity to understand that your “clue” might have more than one meaning when looked at from a different perspective?

Blessing on your Journey as you continue to move into the unknown, even though you cannot see the entire picture all at once, even though some of the pieces do not seem to fit into the scheme of things, even though you have asked for insight and answers that do not seem to be arriving. 

Remember, you have made the journey thus far, through many ups and downs, through many unknown and seemingly impossible situations.  Yet, here you are today, able to read this article.  The Holy One has not abandoned you in the past, and will continue to be with you as you move through trying to make sense of the various clues along the way.  You are not alone in this Adventure called Life.