News
Tuesday we learned that officers involved in the shooting of Jacob Blake will not be held accountable. This re-awakens the ongoing trauma so many of our fellow Black Americans experience after high-profile killings of people like Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.
Four long months, six listening sessions, twenty-three household survey responses, and two organizational analyses later, the first draft of our new Mission Commitment is finally here. We want to thank all of you for contributing to this process in so many ways.
As you know, for the past 3 months we have bene immersed in an effort to revise our Mission Commitment — the values, vision, mission, and priorities of our congregation. Since September we have engaged in a series of listening session, a congregation-wide survey, and one-on-one conversations with people inside and outside our church.
We exist not for our own survival, but for the good of the surrounding community. That’s why our mission is “to make disciples for the sake of the city.” We practice Christ’s teachings so that God’s will may be done, “on earth as it is in heaven” — so that daily bread, forgiveness of debts, and deliverance from evil might become a tangible reality in our community.
On the day before Thanksgiving, our youth parented with the youth ministry at Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad to assemble and deliver 250 sack lunches to homeless neighbors at Interfaith Community Services in Escondido.
One of our fellow congregants at OSC, Father Larry Hart, has generously agreed to share with us his latest book, Advent Meditations For a World on the Brink . Larry is a kind friend, a brilliant conversation partner, and longtime pastor serving as a priest in the Episcopal and then later, the Ecumenical Catholic traditions.
In this time of ongoing lockdown, Jenell and I want to offer you COVID-safe and spiritually meaningful ways to celebrate the upcoming Advent and Christmas season. Below you'll find 24 "family spiritual practices" beginning with Advent (Nov 29) through Epiphany (Jan 6). These are really just fun ways to use art, storytelling, prayer, gift-giving, and parties as a way to live out the the story of the gospel during this holiday season.
Why would anyone still choose church? With the extreme polarization of our society leading up to the 2020 national elections, you’ve probably noticed there is a growing disillusionment with religion in America. More and more people see church as the source of the problem, not the solution to our problems.
