A message from our pastor and teacher

Sunday, July 21 ~ Ninth Sunday after Pentecost ~~ "Worry Brain"

The next few Sundays are going to have an overarching theme: We are going to have a piece of special music that will be put into conversation with a scripture and sermon. The songs will be secular and sacred (we'll talk a bit about that false dichotomy in the sermon as well) but will have a clear positive message. This Sunday I will be providing both the song and the sermon. I will be singing "What I Got (Church Version)" by Sublime and preaching on "The Lilies of the Field" found in Luke chapter 12. "What I Got" is a colorful song and I've made a few edits to make the content a little more church-appropriate, but ultimately, it's a song about embracing love, letting go of worries and cherishing life. Also, it is a song that reminds me of Southern California, and I would play it a lot while living in Massachusetts to help with the homesickness.

The Scripture is one of my favorites, even though I find Jesus' teaching hard to follow. He tells us not to worry about what we'll eat, what we'll wear, about money and other material concerns. He reminds us that God provides for the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, and God will provide for us, too. He famously concludes, "seek first the kin-dom of God, and all these things will be provided to you." God does not ignore our needs, but responds to them, so we should trust in God's provision and care.

Sunday's Scripture

Luke 12: 22 - 31

Caring for Kin for July - School Supplies for Women of Faith

For the month of July, we will be collecting school supplies for Women of Faith, a local organization that assists refugees and migrants. Their most needed items are new backpacks and college-ruled notebooks, but other items such as pens, pencils, markers, and glue would also be appreciated.

Check your giving statement

Mid-year Giving Statements went out from Realm via email last Sunday so you can see what we’ve recorded as your giving through June. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to Erica at finsec@redlandsucc.org

Abortion in Historic and Biblical Context—Video lecture and discussion July 18

Please join us for the conclusion of our two-week series examining ancient biblical and secular ideas about abortion and human reproduction.

Please feel free to join us Thursday June 18, 7-8:30., even if you missed last week!

We will watch a 30 minute video lecture from Westar Institute titled “The Immortal Soul and Abortion”, led by renowned scholar Bernard Brandon Scott. Afterwards there will be a period of discussion.

Join us in person in the Garden Room (please note the room change from last week) OR online using the following link:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MjhjYzVjMDktN2ZlOC00NTJmLThkMzAtODc3MDdjOTI5MjQ1%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%224fffecf2-eef8-4367-bc9d-ae203f45d9b9%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%221cda893e-87c8-41e6-b201-631574b51919%22%7d

Tap on the link or paste it in a browser to join.

For more information, contact al_education@redlandsucc.org.

Rev. Joe Wants to Meet with You!

Rev. Joe wants to meet as many people from the church as he can in these first few months. He's open to invitations to coffee, lunch, or dinner or other gatherings, but there's also an opportunity to set up a 30-minute "Welcome Meeting" with him online using this link: https://calendly.com/jdzarro/30min. This is an informal meeting with no agenda other than to get to know each other better. The meetings can be in Rev. Joe's office at the church, or online via teams (or other video chat). He's also willing to talk on the phone. If the times don't work, or you would like to make other arrangements (like a home visit), just email Rev. Joe at joe@redlandsucc.org or call the church office at 909.793.3520.

Racial Justice reflection of the week

A decade. A whisper in the grand narrative of time, yet a chasm in the lives cleaved by the summer of 2014. It was a season punctuated by two names, two lives prematurely extinguished: Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Their deaths, separated by three weeks, became enmeshed in the grim chronicle of racialized police violence, a fabric knitted with threads of intolerance that stretches to today.

Two names, two lives forever bound by the shared brutality that ignited a nation’s conscience, exposing the raw, searing reality of unrestrained profiling and targeting. Their final moments—detonations of anger and grief—molded into what has become the clarion call of a people.

“I can’t breathe.”

“Hands up, don’t shoot.”

Source: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/michael-brown-eric-garner-mothers-still-fighting-for-justice

From the Environmental Justice Team

"As a matter of principle and international law, the U.S. should make its asylum standard responsive to the actual threats faced by individuals fleeing foreign invasions, civil war, gang violence and even rising sea levels and other climate disasters.

An expanded refugee definition is not the same as an open invitation to migrate. It would require applicants to demonstrate that they face inhuman and degrading treatment or serious threats to life or physical integrity because of a real risk of violence, or because of exceptional situations, such as natural or human-made disasters, for which there is no adequate remedy at home. Those criteria are more straightforward to assess than a 'well-founded fear of persecution.'”

Source: Bill Frelick, refugee and migrant rights director, Human Rights Watch, “Opinion: America’s definition of ‘refugee’ needs and update,” Los Angeles Times, 7/15/24, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2024-07-15/border-asylum-refugee-immigration

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

• July 18 - Study on abortion concludes. (see article above)
• July 20 - Summer Series begins (see article above)
• July 22 - 7:00 p.m. - Bible Study
• July 29 - 4 p.m. AFHS meeting
• July 31 - 1 p.m. - Mah Jong
• Aug 2 - 7 p.m. Women's AA meeting
• Aug. 3 - 10 a.m. - Summer Series, week 2

The church calendar is found at redlandsucc.org

Click on "calendar" in the red banner near the top of the page