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Monday, July 6, 2026: Jesus Came for Everyone The brilliant British missiologist Lesslie Newbigin said these words [in Genesis 12:1–4] addressed the greatest heresy (or dangerous idea) in the history of monotheism. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed .- Genesis 12:1–4  Because of this scripture many people understand being blessed by God as an exclusive matter , Newbigin said, as if God blesses some to the exclusion of others. But no, Newbigin says. From the very beginning in the creation story in Genesis 1, when God blesses all creation - both day and night, both land and sea, both plant and animal, both animal and human - God’s blessings have been universal, because that is who God is and how God lives, an overflowing fountain of blessing. When God calls Abraham (then ...
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Sunday, July 5, 2026 Announcing our celebrants for the last half of 2026, and a Meditation:  Everyone is Chosen: Who Do You Say We Are?    For the theologian Diana L. Hayes, the question “Who am I?” is a central question for people of faith: Who am I? I am a child of God, whether black, brown, yellow, red, or white, because race does not exist in God. Nor do other divisions exist in God, not those of Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, or other, because God is God for all of humanity, however God is named…. We are all created in God’s own image and likeness, a creation that God declared to be good without caveats.  Why am I here on this earth at this time and place? To help bring about God’s kin-dom by recognizing and, more importantly, by affirming my co-createdness with all of humanity and thus the presence of God in all with whom I come into contact. I am called, as all are called, to contribute to the rebuilding of … a community in which all are welcome. Those who are...
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Tuesday, July 2, 2026:  Our Lady of Nagasaki lead us to love and peace As the anniversaries of the Trinity Test (July 16) and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 6 and 9) grow near, we must be aware and inform others that the risk of a nuclear war is greater today than it has been since 1986.  There are no nuclear weapons limitation treaties, no treaties about monitoring nuclear developments, and most of the nuclear powers are posed to modernize and expand their nuclear arsenals. (France has already promised to increase its stockpile of nuclear warheads.) As we pray to remember the victims of past nuclear weapons, let us pray for our present and the coming future. Prayer Sr. Diane Smith, CSJLA, a member of the Pax Christi USA Disarmament Working Group, has written this litany to Our Lady of Nagasaki: Remembering the devastation of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, we turn to you, Our Lady of Nagasaki, to comfort the suffering and sorrowful. Protect us from the ongoing threat ...
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Sunday, June 28th, 2026: Join us Today to celebrate the Liturgy for the Feast of the Sacred Heart. --  A liturgy  created by Mary and Ed Sunday, June 28th, 2026: Join us Today to celebrate the Liturgy for the Feast of the Sacred Heart. A liturgy created by Mary and Ed We start at 3:45 with a community greeting followed by liturgy at 4:00 Potluck following the liturgy Join us In person at Christ Church United Methodist 1717 Yulupa Avenue, Santa Rosa, California 95403 or on Zoom using this link: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573?omn=81768824354 Passcode: 1234 Meeting ID: 519 315 8573 Passcode: 1234 One tap mobile +16699006833,,5193158573# US (San Jose) +16694449171,,5193158573# US Liturgy for the Feast of the Sacred Heart We tirelessly and ceaselessly search for Something, we know not what, which will appear in the end to those who have penetrated to the very heart of reality.  – Teilhard de Chardin “Teilhard’s vision of Christ is the beginning and the ...
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Saturday, June 27th, 2026: Join us tomorrow, Sunday, to celebrate the Liturgy for the Feast of the Sacred Heart. A liturgy  created by Mary and Ed Saturday, June 27, 2026: Please join us tomorrow  - Sunday the 28th of June  for our Emmaus Community Celebration.  We start at 3:45 with a community greeting followed by liturgy at 4:00 Potluck following the liturgy Join us In person at Christ Church United Methodist 1717 Yulupa Avenue, Santa Rosa, California 95403 or on Zoom using this link: Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5193158573?omn=81768824354 Passcode: 1234 Meeting ID: 519 315 8573 Passcode: 1234 One tap mobile +16699006833,,5193158573# US (San Jose) +16694449171,,5193158573# US Liturgy for the Feast of the Sacred Heart We tirelessly and ceaselessly search for Something, we know not what, which will appear in the end to those who have penetrated to the very heart of reality.  – Teilhard de Chardin “Teilhard’s vision of Christ is the beginning and ...
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June 19, 2026: Juneteenth:  “We have simply got to make people aware that none of us are free until we’re all free, and we aren’t free yet.” -  Opal Lee, "Mother of Juneteenth" On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce the emancipation of all enslaved people. The event took place more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the April surrender of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to Union forces.  This is what became known as Juneteenth. A holiday, long celebrated in many African American communities, that takes place every year to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Texas and the other Confederate States of America. On June 17, 2021, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was signed into law. Juneteenth, also known as Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, and Black Independence Day, became designated a federal holiday in the United States to comme...
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Wednesday, June 17, 2026:  In 2021 I went on leave from the Society of Jesus, after 31 years in the order. And for the first time in my life, I started to go to gay bars.   In 2021 I went on leave from the Society of Jesus, after 31 years in the order. And for the first time in my life, I started to go to gay bars.  It was kind of terrifying. I’d spent so much of my life avoiding not only gay bars but the parts of town they were found in, as though simply being in the vicinity of a gay bar might get me in trouble with my order or church authorities.  In part, my decision to go on leave had emerged from the realization that any time I met openly gay men, I instinctively avoided them, because I was afraid they would see me for who I am.  So simply walking into a place which would identify me as gay was a big, scary step. Once inside I found myself over my head in so many other ways. What was I to say that I did for a living? I could say truthfully that I had been ...
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