PBPC Announcements

PBPC Family, This Sunday, we'll be worshipping alongside 4 other Presbyterian Churches for World Communion Sunday. This will be the third year we've gathered with our Presbyterian siblings and I love these services. They remind me that we are connected with many other Christians in the Bay Area. And on World Communion Sunday, we remember the worldwide Body of Christ gathered together at the Lord's Table. What a blessing that we are members of such a global, diverse, and expansive family. A few things to remember for this Sunday. First Pres Berkeley is at 2407 Dana Street. GPS will take you to the front of the church - the parking garage to the church is at 2420 Channing, Berkeley Service will begin at 10:00am. Please give yourself plenty of time to find parking. There is a parking lot under the church (entrance on Channing). We ask that if you are abled bodied, to please park in the Channing Parking Garage (2435 Channing) across the street from the church. There will be val...

PBPC Family, This Sunday marks the end of the Season of Creation. I've enjoyed the creation language woven throughout our liturgy, the songs that remind us of the beauty of this earth, and the presence of our pets in worship. All of it has been quite grounding (pun intended!). In our striving after God and cultivating a rich spiritual life together, it's helpful to remember that all of it takes place here, our feet on the ground, our bodies moving through the earth. We are a part of creation and our future redemption is wrapped up in creation's redemption as well. As we wrap up this Season of Creation, here are a few resources to help you continue to in delighting and caring for our world. Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist, has a wonderful weekly newsletter where she shares good news about creation, some not so good news about our changing climate, and some concrete action steps. I've deeply appreciated her writings. I recently finished reading An Immense World by...

PBPC Family, I missed being with you all on Sunday - we had a great time camping with friends in the Santa Cruz Mountains and it was also a weekend where I felt the need for church. Last week was a heavy, grief filled week for our country. Charlie Kirk's assassination. The release of the brutal video of Iryna Zarutska's murder. Another school shooting in Colorado. And this week, Israel's ground invasion of Gaza which will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis there.  I'm turning to a prayer written by Douglas McKelvey while holding all that is happening in our country and world. Grieving a National Tragedy O God who gathers what has been scattered. Shelter us now in the shadow of your wings. O Christ who binds our wounds, be our great healer. O Spirit who enters our every grief, intercede now for hurting people, throughout this broken land. Be present in the midst of this far-reaching pain, O Lord, for we are reeling again, at news of another loss of life that touc...