Surrender to Christ
This week's gospel is the call of the disciples. Jesus calls to us too, and following Jesus means leaving our own agendas and plans behind. Following Jesus always involves some measure of surrender to God-in-Christ. Our friends who live out 12-Step programs know this as Step 3: "to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God." But a healthy spiritual surrender doesn't render us robot-like. Read more about spiritual surrender in the writings of Thomas Merton.
Transition
It is amazing to find a great teacher. We are lucky if we have one or two in our whole lives -- those talented sparks of light that open the world up and clear the path. Pastor Elane O'Rourke was just such a teacher and leader, and gave us her energy, direction and wisdom for nine years. Her legacy is a church that is a lot like family, that has Christ at its center, and that genuinely welcomes everyone on their journey no matter where they are. We will miss her and her beautiful family, Reverend Bran Scott and little Elizabeth (she of the shoulder shrug).
Pastor Elane's last service with us was October 30, 2011.
We wish them all great happiness and continuation of their many gifts in Tennessee, and expect to hear great things they are doing there.
For us, the church family moves on and forward. We have the resources of the UCC Conference and the experience of many members who have gone through a selection process -- there is every confidence we will find someone who will develop our church as fully and ably as Pastor Elane did.
For a UCC church, it is normal to not immediately hire a replacement minister. Wisely, the UCC recommends we hire an "interim minister," someone who is fully ordained and specially trained to come in after the departure of a permanent pastor and who steers the church toward a complete understanding of what kind of minister they need next. We have been working with our conference partners to begin interviewing for our interim in November, with confidence we will have them in place near the first of the New Year.
From November through January, we have asked loved and familiar preachers to come in as substitutes to celebrate, teach and care for us during the holidays.
If you have any need for pastoral care, please call (408) 378-4418 and we will connect you with one of our many congregation members who will help.
And as always, please keep this church in your prayers.
Recent Sermons
This list includes the latest 10 sermons available in PDF or Audio (podcast/MP3) formats. A complete list of sermons available are shown in the Media Library
You can subscribe to free podcasts of the sermons through iTunes® using
this link 
or click on one of the sermon media files below to launch your prefered media viewer.
 | Any Calls? Preached on Jan 22, 2012 by Rev. Richard Corson [Length: 21:45] |
| Answering the Call Preached on Jan 15, 2012 by Rev. Evelyn Vigil [Length: 16:23] |
| Did You Hear What Happened At the River? Preached on Jan 08, 2012 by Rev. Richard Corson [Length: 19:57] |
| Story - The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey Preached on Dec 25, 2011 by Susan Hough [Length: 17:14] |
| Let It Be Preached on Dec 18, 2011 by Rev. Evelyn Vigil [Length: 11:07] |
| Anointed to Action Preached on Dec 11, 2011 by Rev. Evelyn Vigil [Length: 12:31] |
| Making the Way Straight Preached on Dec 04, 2011 by Rev. Evelyn Vigil [Length: 15:29] |
| Keep Awake Preached on Nov 27, 2011 by Rev. Evelyn Vigil [Length: 10:38] |
| A Bountiful Harvest - Praise and Thanksgiving Preached on Nov 20, 2011 by Rev. Richard Corson [Length: 22:41] |
| What Did Jesus Believe? Preached on Nov 13, 2011 by Tucker Larson [Length: 20:18] |
| It's Hard To Say Goodbye Preached on Nov 06, 2011 by Rev. Richard Corson [Length: 23:05] |
As the sun warms our buildings, we're making the sun work more efficiently for The Son: Solar panels have now been installed! We have committed to “greening” our operations, and this gets us one step closer to being good stewards of God’s creation.
See pictures of our Solar installation and our Solar system status.