Sunday Special | EP 31

Happy Sunday, Friends!

Today we continue with the story of Moses. There's no burning bush this time, but there are some other crazy elements and acts of God. We also tell you how you could act out the story at home with your family because acting out scripture is one way to really experience it in a new way. We pray you have fun getting into character!

TALK IT OUT

  • Recap: What did Moses tell the Israelites when they were afraid, and what happened?

  • Check In With Yourself: How did you feel as you heard the Israelites complain, and how did you feel when God saved them?

  • Wonder: What are you wondering right now as you think about the moment God parted the Read Sea through Moses?

APPLY IT

  • Acting out the story is one way to help engage more of your senses. Try to really imagine what it would have been like to be different people in the story. If you do act this out at home, don't be afraid to pause and ask questions or share what you are wondering about in the moment!

  • To help you remember that God is with you in the most impossible of circumstances, you could make a painting using your footprint like the picture below! Here are the simple steps:

    1. Dip your foot in paint and then make a footprint on paper with your heel at the top, OR you could trace your foot on a piece of paper using a pen or pencil. This will become your Moses.

    1. Next draw some water on the left and right side of your foot. 

    2. Then add a staff and anything else to Moses' outfit. 

    3. Write either a verse from the story or a reminder from the story that you want to keep in mind the next time you are afraid. Some ideas: Remember to trust God! Just be quiet; God will fight for you! or God can do the impossible!

footprintmoses.jpg

We love you and are praying you have a wonderful Sunday!

Much love,

Pastors Lindsay and Mary




FBCP Families | 30

Hi, Friends!

My heart is still SO full from last weekend! Seeing our families with kids in person was such a gift and food for the soul. Thank you for all those who were able to come out and worship in the park with us—we thank God for the special families in our church who make FBCP even more special!  

If you joined us last Saturday, then you heard us announce that we are in the process of planning a chance for our families with kids to wear their costumes and safely show them off on October 31st. Stay tuned for more details as we continue to plan. We want to be sure we are in compliance with local guidelines and restrictions to keep everyone safe and be able to continue to worship together. We will send out the final details as soon as we have them!

Sunday 

KIDS

Last week we saw Moses talk to a bush that was on fire, and this week Moses finds himself in another seemingly impossible situation involving water, a high-speed chase, and that staff he always carries around. Keep an eye out for this week's kid video!

YOUTH

We had a blast in the park with our youth last week, and Chip shared such a good word on what it means to be rooted in Christ and pursue a personal relationship with Him.  We will be back to our Zoom gathering this week at 2PM. Here is the meeting link that you can use to hop on the hangout. We can't wait to spend time with our youth! 

At Home

Make Postcard Art

If you have a budding artist at home, they might want to create a postcard that will support the US Postal Service and be added to a collection and online gallery. It's an initiative started by two artists in hopes of educating folks about the USPS and democracy. Happy drawing!

More Family Time (Singing)

Looking for some new tunes to sing as a family? Check out this fun album called More Family Time by Ziggy Marley featuring tons of other artists. You can listen to it on various apps or watch animated music videos on YouTube. Get your dance party on!

Sending you so much love and virtual hugs!

With gratitude for you,

Pastor Lindsay & Pastor Mary

Cynthia

Canticle of Creation

In the beginning, Lord my God,
You alone existed: eternally one
Yet pregnant in the fullness of unity.
Full to overflowing,
You, Father of All Life, exploded outward
In a billion bits and pieces.
Your word became flesh,
Whirling in shining stars, shimmering suns
And in genesis glimmering galaxies.
You, my God, spoke
And Your Words became flesh:
In sun and moon, earth and seas,
Mountains and gentle hills,
Rolling rivers and silent streams.
You, my God, spoke
And Your Words became flesh: in winged bird, in deer and elephant,
In grazing cow, racing horse, and fish of the deep.
Your Words, so unique and so varied,
Filled the earth also with rabbit, squirrel and ant.
And all Your Words were beautiful,
And all were good.
From each of these Holy Words
Arose a prayer of praise and adoration
To You, their Creator
And Wondrous Womb.
'Praise You," rang out the redwood,
"Blessed be You," chimed in the cedar,
"Holy are You," prayed the prairie grasses.
From all four corners of this earth,
Rose up a chorus of perpetual adoration.
O Sacred Spirit, O Divine Breath of Life,
Unseal my ears that they may ever listen
To Your continuous canticle of creation;
Open my heart and my whole self,
To sing in harmony with all its many voices.
Teach me to commune with Your first Word made flesh,
Your creation,
That I may be able to unravel the wondrous words
Of Your second Word made flesh,
Jesus,
Through whom, with whom, and in whom,
I may see myself as another Word of Yours made flesh,
To Your glory and honor.


- Author Unknown

Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon

St. Francis of Assisi

Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord, All praise is Yours, all glory, all honour and all blessings.

To you alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.

Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all weather’s moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.

Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,
So useful, humble, precious and pure.

Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You my Lord through our Sister,
Mother Earth
who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon for love of You and bear sickness and trial.

Blessed are those who endure in peace, By You Most High, they will be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.

No second death can do them harm. Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,
And serve Him with great humility.

 

A Message From John Jay

Other Updates

Friends In Deed Food Drive

Friends In Deed has shared some needs they have for their food pantry in order to round out the meal packages they offer. This week you’re invited to bring one jar of peanut butter to Drive-In Church on Sunday to help supplement their supply. They don’t need any of us to bring items in bulk, but if we each bring a jar that will go a long way to help them provide full meals to folks who need it most.

 

The Wave

Have you been missing your church family and all the fun we have when we are together? Then we invite you to join us this week for The Wave, a new opportunity to socialize with one another on Zoom. It’s super fun and very informal. We play games, laugh, and have fun seeing each other and cracking jokes. Join us this Thursday night at 7:00PM for a chance to hang out with people who have been missing you! We’ll send out a Zoom link this week over text and email.

 

Sad News About Randy Hasper

In case you are not receiving email updates from our regional American Baptist office, we want to be sure you are aware of the tragic news regarding Steve Hasper’s brother.

Please pray for the family of Randy Hasper and The Refinery Church

In 1 Corinthians 12:26, the Apostle Paul wrote about the body of Christ. He said, "If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it." A part of our American Baptist family is suffering. On Friday, September 25th Randy Hasper, the recently retired pastor of The Refinery (formerly First Baptist Church of Chula Vista) was in a single-car accident and died.He served The Refinery Church, for about ten years before retiring in March of 2019. He led a remarkable turnaround of that historic church reversing decades of decline and, by God’s grace, seeing new life through conversions, baptisms, upgraded facilities, and numerous new ministries.

He is survived by his brother Steve Hasper (who served in our region as the pastor of Granada Hills Baptist Church and First Baptist Church of Pasadena), their father, Ernest, and Randy's wife, Linda, daughters Rosalind and Laurel, her husband Jon and their four-month-old daughter Rosalee, his first grandchild.

Please pray for Randy's family, The Refinery Church, and all those who loved Randy. The Hasper brothers have been an integral part of our regional family and we offer our heartfelt sympathy to Linda (Randy's wife), Steve and Joyce and pray that they will sense God's presence in this time of loss.

 

THIS WEEK’S TRACKS

FBCP Families | 29

Hi, Friends!

We are so excited for our worship in the park tomorrow for those with kids! Please read on for all the details and important info for the morning. 

An Important Word for Parents

Pastor Mary and I absolutely adore your kids and you. We have missed you terribly. Beyond terribly! And there is nothing we would rather do than hug you 'til you pop! But in this season, we as a church have committed to doing all we can to keep one another safe as much as possible. It feels like the most loving thing we can do right now, and in order to keep doing worship in the garage and fun events in the park, we have to maintain best practices for safety. That means we can't hug you, as much as we desperately wish we could. So, we are asking parents to have a good conversation with your kids before tomorrow so they know what to expect and are reassured how much we love them even though we can't run to embrace them. We have a few things we will do to make it fun and easy to greet one another, and we appreciate your help in keeping everyone safe.

Reminders and Details for the Morning:

  • Plan to arrive around 10:15AM to settle in and greet one another! We plan to start the service at 10:30AM, and the program will last about an hour.

  • When you arrive, enter the Union Street gate. We will be there to greet you and guide you to your family circle in the grass, where we encourage you to settle in and wave to your friends as we get ready to worship!

  • Remember to bring reusable bottles filled with water to stay hydrated! We are doing our best to care for creation and avoid lots of extra plastic bottles. We will, however, have snacks that have been safely packed for each family who would like one.

  • Please bring your parking ticket for validation.

  • Thanks for wearing your favorite masks! We'll have extra on hand if you forget yours.

  • Don't forget to bring a towel or blanket to sit on.

We hope you'll join us for this chance to worship and have fun together safely in our green space!

Sunday 

Kid Video

This Sunday we won't have a kid video since we'll have live worship on Saturday! We are praying for a worshipful weekend for all. 

Youth in the Park

Last week we had a really meaningful conversation with Ken Fong about race and biology and how it relates to racial justice. This week we are excited to invite our youth to gather with safe distance and masks in our church park! Plan to come during the drive-in church hour for a fun time together. Enter off Union Street around 10:15 or whenever your family arrives for worship in the garage. (And get excited because Chip will be leading our devotional time!)

JUST FOR FUN

October is here! Check out these fun DIY activities and experiments to get you in the mood for fall and Halloween (and sharpen those design and science skills while having fun).

Sending you so much love and virtual hugs!

With gratitude for you,

Pastor Lindsay & Pastor Mary

The Wave #2!

We invite you to join us again this week for The Wave, a new opportunity to interact with one another on Zoom. We play games, laugh, and have fun seeing each other. Join us this Thursday night at 7:30PM for a chance to catch up with people who have been missing you! 

See Pastor Gretchen’s video for some jokes about Chip and fun reminders for this week’s Wave!

Zoom Info

Join Zoom Meeting by computer: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89956415087?pwd=aFlPaUdvWnVUbjFNaUpKcUZoNG5SQT09
Meeting ID: 899 5641 5087 Passcode: 346798 
Or call in by phone:  +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 899 5641 5087 Passcode: 346798 

Sunday Special | EP 29

Happy Sunday, Friends!

Today we have a video with a riddle for you to solve in the next week and a reminder about our upcoming Liturgy for Families with Kids next Saturday! 

Solve the Riddle

After watching the video, do you know what all of those strange things have in common? Hint: Remember this all relates to our friend Moses! If you can tell Pastor Mary what they have to do with each other when you come to our Liturgy for Families, she will give you a prize!

Daily Examen with Five Fingers

Last week we shared some ways to breathe and pray using your fingers as a guide. This week we have another way you can look at your hand and five fingers to go through a simple daily examen that kids can learn easily. Just choose a finger for each part to help you take it one thing at a time. You could do this at bedtime to help close out the day and settle into God's peace.

1.  BREATHE 

Start by looking at your thumb. Take a deep breath in and out, and imagine filling the space around you with God's love. Center yourself and know that God is present. Ask for God to give you wisdom and understanding.

2.  BE GRATEFUL

Then trace your index finger and move to a time of gratitude. Begin by expressing gratitude to God. Ask yourself, what am I most grateful for today? Or, if I could relive one moment, what would it be? Or, which moment made me feel loved? Or, what little things did see, say hear, feel, experience that made today so good? 

3.  FEEL

Now trace your middle finger. Think back about what you felt at specific moments today—like joy, frustration, boredom, anger, empathy—and what God might be saying through those feelings. Did you feel safe to express your feelings? If not, how can you do so now? Do you need to forgive someone or ask for forgiveness? How might you learn and grow based on the experiences of the day?

4.  PRAY

Next trace your ring finger. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to pray about whatever it is that God thinks is particularly important. You might simply choose one thing from the day to pray about. You might talk to Jesus about your actions, attitudes, feelings and interactions and ask for direction, share a concern, express thanksgiving, etc. 

5.  LOOK AHEAD

Finally, trace your pinky and think about the day ahead. When you think about your day tomorrow, how do you feel? Are you nervous? Excited? Worried? Why? How could you ask God for help and hope? Say a prayer for peace as you sleep and for God to make you ready for tomorrow.

Adapted from Training Happy Hearts

We hope you can find ways to pray and review your day with God. We miss you and love you!

Much love,

Pastors Lindsay and Mary



In Pasadena as it is in Heaven

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