Prayers for Peace

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. - Philippians 4:6-7

Injustices and inequalities manifest as racism, discrimination, gender-based violence, economic disparities, and other issues. As a communal response to uplift these sorrows and support our neighbors near and far, General Minister and President, the Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson calls the church to a season of prayer. Prayer undergirds our witness, ministry, and advocacy as we work for peace and a just world for all.

This is an open invitation to anyone who feels called to offer a prayer to end violence in any manifestation, and to bring about peace. Share your prayers using the People’s Prayers for Peace form on this page. New prayers will be published on this page daily. Publishing is at the discretion of the National Ministries of the United Church of Christ and prayers may be edited for content and length.

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May is Mental Health Awareness Month.

The UCC Mental Health Network has sent worship resources to use during this time.  May 19 is Mental Health Sunday this year, but any Sunday is a great day to focus on mental health!  The following prayer was created by The Right Rev. Dr. Richard Bott, Moderator, United Church of Canada.

We recognize,
God of all life,
all people, all places;
that many of us continue to not understand
issues of mental health— our own, and that of others’. For so many broken reasons
stigma is placed upon folks
living with mental health difficulties,
building walls of isolation,
rather than the support and love of beloved community;
the support and love
of radical belonging;
the support and love
that Jesus exemplified,
over and over and over again.

Open our hearts, open our arms,
open the ways to knowledge
     and comprehension—
that all your beloved children
would find safe home, here.
Now.
Always.  

We ask this in the name of the One whose hands and heart always reach out, Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

- The Right Rev. Dr. Richard Bott, Moderator, United Church of Canada

Roadside Distractions: Pee Wee Golf

Known in various parts of the country as Miniature Golf, Mini-Putt, Goofy Golf, Midget Golf, Crazy Golf, or Putt-Putt, my brother Jimmy and I knew the wacky offshoot version of the grown-up game of golf as “Pee Wee” Golf. Jimmy was so enamored with the game in the 1950’s that he transformed a portion of our Castro Valley backyard into his own Pee Wee golf course and earning himself a Boy Scout Merit Badge. Typically, the game requires hitting a golf ball through a collection of themed barriers, silly obstacles, revolving windmills or rising drawbridges to sink the ball in the shortest number of strokes. Jimmy’s backyard course was designed and constructed in contoured dirt and featured an arched cement bridge.

Claims of creating the silly game can be traced to China in AD945, France in the 1400’s, Scotland in the 1500’s, and England in the early 1900’s, however one of the first documented American themed Minigolf courses was located in Mrs. Garnet Carter’s 700-acre resort “Fairyland Inn & Fairyland Golf Club” on Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga in the 1920’s. Each of the resort’s buildings were themed after familiar fairy tales while her “Tom Thumb” miniature golf course featured carefully positioned Garden Gnomes and a life size stature of Snow White. Unwittingly, Mrs. Carter launched a national minigolf fad that flourishes to this day.

We can recall seeking out the Fantasy Land Golf Course on early trips to Disneyland that featured a collection of diminutive park attractions, pirate themed courses at Lake Tahoe, and Santa Cruz Beach and Boardwalk’s indoor nautical course.  Closer to home was the Mini Golf Course on E 14th Street next to the Roller Arena in San Leandro, and the colorful dragon has been standing guard since the 1950’s creating new memories at the Golden Tee Miniature Golf Course on Castro Valley Blvd. Jim is still at it seven decades later transforming a pond at their home in the Sierra foothills into a kid-sized putting green for the great-grandchildren to enjoy.

Fore!     

Classroom of Faith

This week has been as full as last week, and I find myself both tired and energized. I know that sounds strange, but sometimes being energized can just plain tire you out. In Isaiah 54 around verse 17, as translated in “The Message” it says, “All your children will have God for their teacher - what a mentor for your children!”

I believe that God not only lives in me, but plays, acts, teaches, and reaches out through me. Am I bringing God the teacher and mentor to the people in my life and those I meet when I need to be out? While I pray about that, what comes to me is how my friends, family, and others whom I experience are bringing God to me, teaching me, showing me how uncomplicated and satisfying life can be, how honest and open life can be. I pray that I am doing the same for all of them and can only trust that what I do with and for them is done trusting that I am being guided by God. This can be exhilarating.

The thing is, doing this means working only from the heart. That is exhausting. It makes me look at how I am present with others. Why is it easier with some than it is with others? What I know is that some people have no expectation of me other than being there. Most of us, myself included are not always clear about expectations and because of this, we have to guess, imagine, decide, or ignore what we think is expected and this makes us hold back some. God is our Mentor and Teacher. Can we believe that?  Can we live that?  Can we allow that in our own lives?

I am graced to be able to be with the UCH Congregation and learn from you, and I am graced to walk with you in this life. I am blessed to have you in the same class with the best Teacher ever.

Historic Ramblings: East Bay Skies

Look, up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s super…. nope, it’s probably just a plane!  Seeing the steady stream of evenly spaced passenger aircraft lined up over Mission Peak on final approaches to busy Oakland Airport, I’m reminded that the skies over the East Bay have been the scene of many forms of flight since the mid-1800’s. Hot air balloon ascensions, experimental aircraft, gliders and daring barn stormers thrilled crowds at the turn of the last century. The Navy airships Akron and Macon based at nearby Moffett Field were a common sight over the South Bay. China Clipper seaplanes based at Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay made the first commercial flights to Hawaii.  Charles Lindbergh and Jimmy Doolittle always created a stir when landing at nearby Oakland Airport, and was the departure location for Amelia Earhart’s fateful flight. World War I Ace Eddie Rickenbacker once landed his squadron of biplanes in a vacant field in Irvington.  

Local residents were probably most aware of the busy skies during the war in the early 1940’s with the arrival of a squadron of US Army’s P-38 Lightning aircraft assigned to Hayward for use in training combat pilots and defending the region from a potential attack. The unique distinctive twin engine pod design and central single seat cockpit aircraft were easy to hear and easier to spot. The P-38 was developed for the United States Air Corps as a fighter-bomber for use as long range escort for medium and heavy-duty bombers, aerial reconnaissance missions, as well as for combat roles against enemy aircraft.   

The United States entered World War II before the City of Hayward could move forward with plans to build a municipal airport on land at the intersection of Hesperian and Russell Road (now Winton) purchased in 1939. The US Army took control over more than five hundred acres of the former tomato fields in 1942 and built two parallel paved runways, offices, storage sheds and barracks for the Army’s 355th Fighter Squadron. The airfield was declared surplus at the end of the war and was turned back over to the City of Hayward in 1947. The skies remained busy when the California Air National Guard moved to adjacent land for the home of the 61st fighter Wing in 1949 and served various flight training functions up until 1980. 

The East Bay continues to make a significant impact on regional aviation with Oakland and nearby San Jose International Airports serving millions of passengers annually. The Hayward Executive Airport is a busy hub for private pilots as well as for commercial enterprises including charter flights, medical transport, courier services and Bay Area traffic monitoring.  

Federal Aviation Administration’s Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center in the Centerville District of Fremont, one of twenty two control centers in the United States,  is responsible for the sequencing and separation of arrivals, departures and routes of flights assuring safe and orderly flow of aircraft over sections of California and Nevada, while the adjacent Oceanic unit manages international flights over huge portion of the Pacific Ocean air space, the largest in the world covering nearly 10% of the Earth’s surface. 

Yeah, my guess it’s probably a plane.   

Historical Ramblings: It's All About the Dirt

For more than a century between the mid 1800’s and mid 1900’s the alluvial plane at the base of Mission Peak that drained Alameda and Mission Creeks was one of the richest farming areas in California. On the rich fertile land where olives, figs and palms were first planted by missionaries, John Horner harvested wheat and potatoes, A.O. Rix grew almonds and there were acres and acres of apricot and plum orchards. The Gallegos and Los Amigos wineries had extensive vineyards, the Gomes family grew tomatoes for Rancho Soup, the Irvington Packing Co. was kept busy in season canning pickles from locally grown cucumbers, the Driscoll Brothers began a strawberry empire in the rich soil and longest growing season in the country, and George Roeding established the California Nursery Company, at its peak the largest ornamental nursery west of the Mississippi.

When the old fish hatchery at Yosemite’s Happy Isles was demolished and replaced with a Nature Center a large window was installed facing an enclosed native flower garden, pond and collection of established trees. Inspired to replicate the tranquil scene with our own “Little Yosemite” front yard we built a fenced enclosure blocking the view of the street and neighboring homes. One of our first planting was spindly three-foot-tall Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) native to the foggy canyons along the Northern California Coast, not Fremont’s hot and dry summers. Planted in the rich soil a few feet in front of our living room window forty years ago, the three-foot-tall tree with a two-inch diameter has grown to more than sixty feet in height with a circumference of nearly ten feet.

 Unlike it’s slow growing Giant Sequoia cousins (Sequoiadendron giganteum) of the Sierra Nevada range that take thousands of years to reach their towering heights, Mission Valley’s moderate weather, long seasons, high water table and rich former farmland soil is responsible for the astonishing growth of our coast redwood, and at this rate…. potential future National Park.

 It’s all about the dirt.

Signs and Markers on the Journey

Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat, mixed her wine, and set her table. She has sent out her servant girls to wave signs and call from the highest point of the city, ‘You who crave simplicity…Turn in here!’” 

— Proverbs 9

One of my favorite places on Christy’s family farm in Arkansas is the Native American Marker Tree. Native American travelers required natural sources of food and water, good navigational skills, and a method of marking trails. They didn’t have neon signs or GPS. So, one of the ways they provided signposts and markers for their journeys was by wrapping a leather rope around a green sapling, so in time, it would grow in an obviously unnatural way to point the direction to a nearby village, water source, or natural shelter. It would have been a welcome sign to weary Native American travelers—pointing in the general direction of something especially important—something that was key to their journey and survival. I’m delighted to report that Anthropologists are now recording the locations of these trees so they can be preserved, protected, and honored as the significant cultural and historical artifacts they are.

God is also perpetually dropping signs and markers in front of us trying to get our attention on the journey—signs that say, “Go this way at the Crossroads!” Or “There are things that will nourish you this way! Turn in Here!” Our work is to listen and to be willing to adjust course and turn when the time comes - and to tune our Spiritual GPS into “Still-Speaking God” mode- So we can notice those sometimes-subtle signs and markers on the journey. The world will attempt to distract us with Vegas-style, darkness-shattering, flashing bright neon signs, bells, and whistles that scream “Stop here!” “Feel good here!” “Log in here!” “Get it here!” (And have your Cash, Visa, or MasterCard Ready!)  But if we look carefully, beyond the clamor, deeper in the woods, into the deeper, quieter places, there are ancient, quiet, vine and moss-covered signs—signs that mark narrower but extremely rewarding paths. And there are twisted, well-worn, God-rooted markers that whisper directive and transformative words that point us toward spiritually transformative places called, “Forgiveness,” “Repentance,” “Justice,” “Compassion,” and “Stillness.”

The signs and markers of the Divine are present in the wilderness we are wandering at UCH. I invite you to tune in and learn to interpret those signs and markers. And when we have the good fortune of finding one pointing us in a new direction - let's cluster around it and celebrate the milestone (like we will be doing in our Congregational Gathering on Sunday). We are not going to stop for long. But we can rest, refuel, and regather at the crossroads. Then we will shift direction and follow God's direction down that wisdom path - a path that may seem very ancient. But is also completely new. I’ll see you on the journey. Many blessings as we travel the wilderness together.

Historical Ramblings: McIvor’s Hardware

A bustling village began growing up along the old Vallejo Road soon after the founding of Mission San Jose in 1797 providing services and goods to the nearby residents and wayfarers. Throngs of fortune seekers including John Fremont and Kit Carson passed through the village and over Mission Pass on their way to the gold fields in the mid 1800’s purchasing goods, and fresh Mission Valley grains, fruit and vegetables for their journey. By the end of the century Mission San Jose was providing a range of services including a hotel, general stores, boot makers, winery’s, an ample collection of Saloons, and horseshoe and wheel makers.  

The sounds of clanging and hammering from the forge at Frank Martin’s Blacksmith Shop on Washington Blvd., could be heard across the dirt street at the old mission and for blocks around. Burton and Maria McIver, newly arrived in Mission San Jose from Canada and sensing the need for the continuation of horseshoeing, the forging of rural agricultural implements and metal work on motorcars purchased Martin’s historic business in 1927.

Within two decades the smithing business had faded and the McIvor’s began a fledgling hardware department in the front of the shop creating “McIvor Hardware and Farm Tools”.  Son Bob joined growing family business in 1952 and encouraged his father to build a larger store next door and increase the hardware inventory to serve the newly formed city of Fremont and the growing number of contractors and do-it-yourself home owners. Bob and his wife Pauline ran the family business for nearly forty years before deciding to take the next step and create larger full-service Hardware business a block away on Ellsworth Street that was run by son-in-law Al Auer’s family in the final years.   

Frank Martin’s original Blacksmith Shop still exists on Washington Blvd. and is now home to Firestone Photography, the Blvd. And recently vacated former Mission Roasting Company building was McIvor’s second location, and their imposing stucco building on Ellsworth Street has been vacant since Blvd. And 2018, a victim of competition from nearby Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe’s. Sadly, the third and final location of McIvor’s ninety-one-year-old historic family business sits behind a chain link fence and is designated by the city ironically as “future residential housing”.

Along the Way

Standing empty-handed before a hungry crowd at the end of a long day, the disciples ask Jesus to disperse the multitude. Jesus has other ideas. The disciples probably shake their heads in disbelief, as they approach the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish. We know the story well, but sometimes overlook the significance of 12 baskets full of fragments. In other words, each disciple had to experience for himself, not merely observe, the awesome reality of gathering more that he started out with, even though in the form of fragments.

What does this story mean to you – since God is still speaking?  Was there a time in your life when you thought you just were not going to make it? And yet, here you are today, capable of reading and reflecting. So, somehow in the midst of feeling “hungry” and empty handed, you were fed courage and strength to struggle forward. 

Like the disciples, you too will be amazed if you gather the fragments of your daily experiences. Fragments are, after all, visible signs of an abundance often unrecognized. Can you allow yourself to bathe in the awesome reality of how you were “stranded” and then somehow fed, cared for, and rescued in ways you had not even imagined? Take a moment to cherish and relish your own unbelievable experiences.  Blessings on your time of reflection as you discover the miracles that have taken place in your own Journey along the Way.

Historic Ramblings: Mission Olives ("Gifts of the Earth")

There are two parallel rows of olive trees wide enough for two wagons to pass along Mission Blvd in front of Ohlone College in Fremont’s Mission San Jose District. Surprisingly, the hardy trees have survived several centuries during the regions flourishing periods of agricultural, residential and commercial growth. Planted on the sacred ground by the Ohlone people under the direction of Franciscan friars in the late 1700’s, these remaining trees marked the original shaded approach to the fourteenth Spanish Mission for travelers from the mission at Santa Clara. The attractive and productive trees were grown at each of the Spanish Missions situated about a day’s walk from one another along California’s El Camino Real by Franciscan Missionaries from the Mission of San Diego de Alcala.

 Just over three hundred unattended original trees were still surviving when the Dominican Sisters arrived at Mission San Jose in 1891 when they began harvesting the rich oil for sale to Catholic parishes throughout the Bay Area. Cultivation that was paused in 1965 for nation’s 35 years and has been resumed by the Sisters who harvest the ripe fruit each October and November from two hundred flourishing historic Mission Olives trees, the largest number of any of California’s twenty-one Missions.

 “Many hands go into the tending, harvesting, and bottling the golden oil, an activity that engenders great appreciation for the gifts of the Earth.”  

The prized olives are cold pressed, bottled and labeled in Modesto in California’s Central Valley by the Sciabica family, the nation’s oldest producer of cold press products. Extra Virgin Mission Olive Oil from the historic trees at Mission San Jose that once shaded missionaries, the Ohlone people, gold seekers and wayfarers is sold each November at the Dominican Sisters Annual Holiday Boutique.