PBPC Announcements

PBPC Family, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17). These three words are thrown into a laundry list of encouragements from Paul at the end of his letter to the church in Thessalonica. But these are anything but throwaway words. It is a beautiful vision for a life of prayer but one that also seems, well, entirely impractical. Pray without ceasing? There are lot of other things I need to do throughout my day. Tasks that must be accomplished. Errands that must be run. Conversations, both challenging and enjoyable, that must be had. Does Paul reasonably expect us to be praying in the midst of all these things? I don't believe I've lived into Paul's invitation here but I've been deeply encouraged by the experiences of others who have sought to pray without ceasing. One teacher for me has been Brother Lawrence, who was a dishwasher in a monastery in the 1600's. The story and writings of Brother Lawrence are contained in a small, simple book, " The...

PBPC Family, This Sunday is Pentecost where we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit given to the church. Here is a blessing by Jan Richardson from her book Circle of Grace. It is inspired by Acts 2:4, "All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages." BLESSING THAT UNDOES US On the day you are wearing your certainty like a cloak and your sureness goes before you like a shield or like a sword, may the sound of God's name spill from your lips as you have never heard it before. May your knowing be undone. May mystery confound your understanding. May the Divine rain down in strange syllables yet with an ancient familiarity, a knowing borne in the blood, the ear, the tongue, bringing the clarity that comes not in stone or in steel but in fire, in flame. May there come one searing word - enough to bare you to the bone, enough to set your heart ablaze, enough to make you whole again. Grace and Peace, Pastor Calvin "You Can't Wrap a Sp...

PBPC Family, Prayer is powerful and it is also mysterious. Sometimes, God surprises us in the ways God answers prayers. I recently ran across a story that highlighted this truth. On November 14, 2022 an associate pastor of a church in Nigeria was kidnapped. The kidnappers contacted the church and demanded a 400,000 naira (equivalent to $900 dollars) ransom for him to be safely returned. The church fasted and prayed for their pastor and for the kidnappers schemes to be brought to light and justice. The church was able to collect the funds and negotiate the pastors safe return. Then, on November 30, the pastor and his wife (8 months pregnant at the time) went to the bank to withdraw money to purchase baby clothes in preparation for the birth of their child. The lines at the bank were long so the pastor told his wife to wait inside while he went outside to get money from the ATM. While outside, he was kidnapped again and held for ransom, this time for 200,000 naira (roughly $430 dollars)....

PBPC Family, I had a moment at the Fervent Prayer gathering on Tuesday night last week where I thought, " I've made a huge mistake." The evening started out simple enough. A few people from PBPC and myself showed up at 6:30pm for dinner. We met Christians from other local churches and shared a lovely meal of pizza and salad. As people finished eating, we transitioned to our time of prayer. Andy Madsen from Reunion Oakland and Steve Nation from Oakland Worship Center set the stage for the evening: our time of prayer would be framed by Jesus' quotation of Isaiah 60, "The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me..." Throughout the evening, different people would come forward, introduce the next image in the passage, and use that as a launchpad for prayer in small groups. The first person stepped forward and read, "The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me." He spoke of the practice and symbolism of anointing others with oil; it is a sign of God's presence...

PBPC Family, Tonight, we will be joining with other churches in Oakland to wait on God and intercede for our town together. We will be using Jesus' inaugural sermon in Luke's Gospel as our framework for prayer: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..." In this sermon, Jesus stated 7 different things the Spirit of Lord was doing in and through him. We will use those 7 things as a launching pad to guide us in our collective prayers. Together, we will pray as a large group and in small groups of three people. We will be praying with other churches that have a variety of backgrounds and spiritual traditions. Some will be more liturgical, preferring written and historical prayers. Others will be more charismatic, comfortable praying with spontaneity and in public. For some of you, this may be a comfortable space. For others, it may be challenging and discomforting. I do hope you can join us, either in person or via Zoom. And if you aren't able to join, I hope you can stil...