Berkeley Friends Church

05Jul 2013 by Pastor

This Sunday @BFC: Trustees, Sunday School, Tomi Nagi-Rothe speaking, special music, MOCE and more!

Events

Dear Friends: Here's what will be happening this Sunday, 7/7 at Berkeley Friends Church: We'll start off with the Trustees Committee, meeting at 9 AM. Then, at 10 AM, our Sunday School classes for children and adults will meet. In meeting for worship at 11 AM, we will be privileged to hear from our member Tomi Nagai-Rothe, who will share about her recent trip to Israel/Palestine with CPT, including a reflection on Luke 19:41-42. There will also be a special musical offering from Susan Angst, Wendy Remington Bowie, and Charles Blue. Fellowship time follows worship, and then the Missionary, Outreach and Christian Education Committee will meet at 1 PM. Also: next Sunday, 7/14, the Trustees are holding a special meeting for any interested members and attenders to look at potential…

27Jun 2013 by Pastor

This weekend @BFC: Movie Night, Knit & Crochet, Singing Ensemble, John Maurer speaking, & more!

Events, Movie Night

Dear Friends: Here are this weekend's events at Berkeley Friends Church: 1) Tomorrow, Friday, 6/28, is our monthly Friday Night at the Movies. This month's offering is the 2008 documentary At the Death House Door. This sobering film examines the state of the death penalty in Texas (which, just this week, executed its 500th inmate since 1976). We follow the remarkable career and spiritual journey of prison chaplain Carroll Pickett. Initially pro-execution, Pickett became an anti-death penalty activist after serving 15 years as the death house chaplain in the infamous "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville. ADMISSION IS FREE! Please invite your neighbors and friends. Refreshments at 6:30 PM, film at 7:00 PM. Discussion follows the screening. 2) On Saturday, 6/29, the Knit & Crochet Fellowship meets at 11 AM in…

20Jun 2013 by Pastor

This weekend @BFC: work day, worship, PECSC, visit to Lakeport

Events

Dear Friends: Here's what's happening this weekend at Berkeley Friends Church: 1) On Saturday, 6/22, we will have a Work Day to take care of the grounds. We'll be concentrating on trimming trees & bushes, weeding, striping the parking lot, and other outside tasks. We'll work from 10 AM to 3 PM; please bring your gardening tools and a brown bag lunch! 2) On Sunday, 6/23, things start at 10 AM with our regular Sunday School classes for adults & children. Meeting for Worship begins at 11 AM, including further meditations on covenant in the Gospels. Fellowship time follows worship, and then the Peace, Environment, and Christian Social Concerns Committee meets at 1 PM. 3) Plans are still in flux for a visit to the Secrest/Miche family in Lakeport on…

13Jun 2013 by Pastor

TONIGHT and this weekend @BFC: committees meet, CFC, worship, business meeting!

Events

Dear Friends: There's a lot going on in the next few days at Berkeley Friends Church and elsewhere. Here are some reminders: 1) This evening, 6/13, two of our committees will meet here at BFC: Missionary, Outreach and Christian Education will gather at 5:30 PM (there will be pizza), and Ministry and Counsel at 7:30 PM, or earlier if everyone has arrived. Please don't forget to join us if you're on one of these committees! 2) On Saturday, 6/15, we will host the quarterly meeting of the Christian Friends Conference--Western Region (CFC). You are invited to take part in waiting worship and Bible reading in the manner of Conservative Friends, and to share fellowship and an open discussion with Christian Quakers from around the Bay Area and beyond. 9 AM…

07Jun 2013 by Pastor

This weekend @BFC: Harvest Day, worship, Singing Ensemble, and more!

Events

Dear Friends: It's another active weekend at Berkeley Friends Church: 1) This Saturday, 6/8, is the bimonthly Harvest Day for the Berkeley Neighborhood Food Project. All of the donations from the various neighborhoods will be coming in to the Food Pantry that morning. Volunteers are still needed to receive, weigh, sort and store the donations! You can come by as early as 9:30 AM and there will be things to do through 12:30 PM. Also, if you're participating in BFC's "neighborhood" and didn't bring in your bag last Sunday, you're welcome to bring yours by any time between 10 and noon. 2) On Sunday, 6/9, we will begin at 10 AM with our regular Sunday School classes for adults and children, as well as the Quakerism class. We meet for…

04Jun 2013 by Pastor

Update and thank-you from CROP Walk

Events

Dear Friends, Today in the office we got a very nice thank-you note from one of the corrdinators for the Berkeley CROP Walk. Part of her message reads as follows: "The good work you do in supporting the Berkeley Food Pantry goes far beyond anything we have contributed, and we value your faithful dedication to feeding the hungry who line up at your door Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons. As of May 31, we have received donations totaling $28,116--one quarter of which will be shared by the Pantry, YEAH and Dorothy Day House. We hope that total will increase a bit in the next few months. Although it was difficult to get an exact count, there were over 250 walkers." We will post the card in the fellowship hall so…

31May 2013 by Pastor

This weekend @BFC: Trustees, green bags, Giuseppe Rensi speaking, MOCE and more!

Events

Dear Friends: Here's what's happening this Sunday, 6/2 at Berkeley Friends Church: First off, don't forget to bring your green bag with you when you come to worship! The Berkeley Neighborhood Food Project's bimonthly Harvest Day is next Saturday, and we want to bring all of the church's contributions together this Sunday in worship so we can give thanks together, and pray for all of the hungry folks in our community. So before you head out the door this Sunday, be sure to grab that bag full of food and bring it with you, and then when you get here, bring it into worship with you! Also, if you can come to help at the Harvest Day on 6/8, volunteers are welcome from 10 AM to 12:30 PM to weigh,…

23May 2013 by Pastor

This weekend @BFC: James’s Journey, worship, PECSC, and more

Events, Movie Night

Dear Friends: Here are this weekend's events at Berkeley Friends Church: 1) Tomorrow, Friday, 5/24, is our monthly Friday Night at the Movies. This time we present the 2004 drama James's Journey to Jerusalem. In his remote African village, young James is chosen to undertake a mission: a pilgrimage to holy Jerusalem. But Israel is no longer the Holy Land that James and his people imagined. Arrested for entering the country illegally, James's journey takes him through the cruel heart of our globalized economy. See attached flyer for more details. ADMISSION IS FREE! Please invite your neighbors and friends. Refreshments at 6:30 PM, film at 7:00 PM. Discussion follows the screening. 2) On Sunday, 5/26, at 10 AM, our regular Sunday School classes for adults & children will convene, including…

16May 2013 by Pastor

This Sunday @ BFC: Singing Ensemble, worship, Meeting for Business

Events

Dear Friends: Here are the happenings for this Sunday at Berkeley Friends Church: The Singing Ensemble will start things off with rehearsal at 9 AM. Then, Sunday School classes for children and adults, including the Quakerism group, will meet at 10 AM. We gather for worship at 11 AM, seeking God's presence together with an extended period of open worship, and the meeting and Ensemble raising their voices in joyful song. Our monthly potluck lunch follows worship; please bring a dish to share if you can, or a few dollars to help with the purchase of supplies. (If you are bringing something to eat, please also bring a list of ingredients so that people know what's in your dish.) Then at 1 PM, we will gather for Monthly Meeting with…

10May 2013 by Pastor

Thoughts from Dallas Willard

Reflections

Dear Friends: Some of you have already heard of the death this past Wednesday of this past Wednesday of influential Christian author and philosopher Dallas Willard, who left this mortal life at the age of 77, as a result of cancer. Dallas was personally known to many of the long-timers at BFC, through his having led at least one retreat for us in the mid-70s, and then later when he spoke at conferences that various of us attended. Dallas was an important leader in the Renovare Christian formation movement, which he helped to shape along with the movement's founder, Friend Richard Foster. Renovare has an appreciation of Dallas's life, with links to others, here. For those of us, like me, who never had the privilege of meeting him, there are…