At first glance, I thought the photo to the left was much too dark. But, after a second look, I noticed that the darkness of the background made the lights of the candles really stand out. “Actually, that’s perfect,” I thought, because isn’t that just what the gospel writer, John, tells us about the coming of Christ to the world: “The light shines out in the darkness, and the darkness cannot extinguish it.” (Jn.1:5). John refers to Christ as, “… life, and the life was the light for all people.” (Jn. 1:4) How do we bear witness to the light of hope that

God’s love incarnate offers to us and to our world? My son sent me a photo of the Nativity Scene at the Claremont UMC in southern California. I’m including it in this column. You see a picture of the Holy Family separated from each other be-hind chained-link cages. Is behavior that separates young children from their par-ents at least as dark as the dark background of the Advent wreath in the other photo here? Whether symbolically or literally, the birth of Jesus invites us, I think, to let the light of His love shine wherever and whenever we can or it’s needed. There’s no shortage of places to shine His light, is there? We will gather on Wednesday, Dec. 24, at 7 PM, for our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols. We gather just after the darkest night of the calendar year. We gather to bear witness that, in the Christ Child, a light has come who can pierce the darkness within us and in our world, when we open ourselves to seeing and receiving His light. I invite you to come and see the strength and beauty of a light shining in the darkness by attending this Candlelight Ser-vice. As we close the Service with the singing of Silent Night by candlelight, we also see the power that many small lights can have together: they can light up our entire sanctuary! If the weather cooperates, we’ll bring a bit of light to Bancroft Ave. by singing our closing carol on the sidewalk in front of the church. This will be the final Spire for 2019; so, as I offer you best wishes for a very Merry Christmas, I’ll also wish you a healthy and Happy New Year. I’d like you to also note that, after years of debate and conversation, starting in January, 2020, we will go to only one issue of the Spire per month. Those of you on-line will be receiving periodic “updates” in addition to the weekly one you already receive on Fridays. We will continue to sent paper copies of the Spire by US Mail to those who subscribe to it.

Grace and Peace, Pastor Myrna

PS: Please see page 4 for important news about the Christmas Offering which includes and update bout the Thanksgiving Offering. My Christmas letter should be in the mail next Mon-day. If you don’t receive it, and would like to, please contact the office right away. It includes the Christmas Offering envelope.

F a i t h M a t t e r s D e c e m b e r 1 3 , 2 0 1 9

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E

W e n e e d s p e c i a l m u s i c s i g n - u p s f o r t h e m o n t h o f N o -v e m b e r ! P l e a s e s i g n u p i n t h e b r e e z e w a y .

N O V E M B E R

S P E C I A L

M U S I C !

What Is a Music Director

Ministry? 3 A d v e n t D i n n e r 5

T h e o l o g i c a l D e c l a r a t i o n o f t h e W e s t e r n J u r i s -

d i c t i o n o f T h e U M C 6

Please let us know if you know of

someone who could use our prayers of

intention, so we can include them on

our list. You may also ask the Prayer

Chain group to confidentially pray at 1-

510-357-0770 or prayer@fumcsl.org.

Continued prayers of healing for our

or chronically ill, and those who are

recovering from accidents/illnesses, or

loss, including: Rich Bulman, Bob and

Gail Tanquary, Rev. Darrell Thomas and

Josephine Wolfgramm.

Kevin Johnson (Marie Wilson-

Johnson’s husband), who is under skilled nursing care as he recovers from a brain hemorrhage, several strokes, and surgery. Cards may be sent to 921– 92nd Ave.; Oakland 94603

Jasmine Verano (and her parents), who is in basic training and stationed at the Naval Base in Pensacola, FL. She was safe during the recent shootings at the base. We look forward to seeing her when she comes home for Christmas!

Condolences to Bessie Lee, whose brother passed away recently. You may send cards to Bessie at 950 Juana , #10; San Leandro, CA 94577

O u r P r a y e r s , J o y s , a n d T e a r s

B i r t h d a y s & A n n i v e r s a r i e s

December Birthdays:

2 Renie Ruelos 7 Kelly Fletcher 12 Mary Lou Smith 15 Zachary Worthington 18 Jeremy Worthington 26 Bruce Jensen

P a g e 2 CARING AND SHARING

P r a y i n g w i t h o u r H o m e b o u n d c h u r c h

Mary Lou Smith: 2480 Almaden

Blvd.; Union City, CA 94587

Bob Tanquary: 25919 Gading Rd.,

Hayward, CA 94544

Gail Tanquary: 1531 Court St.,

Alameda, CA 94501

Marie Watson: 962 Glen Dr., San

Leandro, CA 94577

Charles Dumm: 400 S. Broadway PL

#481, Tucson, AZ 85710

Barbara Gibbs: 2133 Nome St., San

Leandro, CA 94577

Charlotte McMahon: 1445 Linton St.,

San Leandro, CA 94577

Fred and Yoshiko Shinoda: 1290

Sherry Ct., San Leandro, CA 94577

26 Norman Chen 28 Pauline Telfer 28 Gregory Linde 31 Steve Price

If you have a birthday or

anniversary that you’d

like us to celebrate in The

Spire, add your name to

the Birthday and

Anniversary book located

in the back of the

Sanctuary, or contact the

office at 1-510-483-0606

or office@fumcsl.org

December Anniversaries:

11 Wendy & Stephen Quayle 22 Kolo & Audrey Liku 25 Silvi Tjiam & Hendy Wijaya 28 Benny P. Verano & El Leonora M. Verano

P a g e 3 OUR SHARED MINISTRY

C h u r c h C o n t a c t I n f o r m a t i o n Pastor: Rev. Myrna Bernadel-Huey

pastor@fumcsl.org

Note: Fridays are the Pastor’s day off

Office Manager: Marcelo Souza

1-510-483-0606

office@fumcsl.org

Custodian: Nancy Skinner

custodian@fumcsl.org

Youth and Children’s Ministry: Mele Afu

mele@fumcsl.org

Music Ministry

music@fumcsl.org

Prayer Chain- Confidential: Dawne Teske

1-510-357-0770

prayer@fumcsl.org

Wedding Coordinator: Judi Pitcher

wedding@fumcsl.org

One of the “behind the scenes” jobs that SPRC does is

creating job descriptions for each of our non-clergy

staff. If we are hiring because of turn-over in a posi-

tion, as with our current Director of Music Ministry

opening, we simply review the existing job description

and update it with any changes since the previous hire.

In 2018, when we hired Mele Afu as Director of Children

and Youth Ministries, we started a job description from

scratch. In either case, we think about our Congrega-

tion’s needs, and where a staff person might best direct

their energies. We think about the skills, education and

other qualities needed. We think about the salary, be-

ing mindful of the commitments we already have to our

Pastor, existing staff and programs, and the ongoing

utilities, supplies, repairs and maintenance expenses

associated with keeping our church facility running.

What will the pledges and weekly offering from our

Congregation support? Can we offer enough to be com-

petitive with what a candidate might receive in a similar

position? This process often starts in one of our month-

ly meetings and the discussion continues over

several days via email. These questions require prayer-

ful consideration and we take our time to consider

different viewpoints. I’m proud of the conscientious

work our Staff Parish Relations Committee has done on

each of the staff job descriptions.

Once the job description and salary are approved by

SPRC (and in the case of new positions, the Finance

Committee and Church Council), we publicize the posi-

tion on the internet (currently using Indeed); via our

Conference website; the United Methodist liaison at

Pacific School of Religion; and word of mouth. Some-

times, it takes a while to find the right person, as is cur-

rently the case with our Director of Music Ministry. We

appreciate Betsy Borruso stepping up to keep our choir

singing while we wait in anticipation for God to send us

just the right person! If you know of anyone who might

be interested in this position, please ask that person to

find our posting on Indeed.com, to contact the Church

Office for a full job description , and/ or to submit a cov-

er letter and resume to 1stumcsljobs@gmail.com.

Thank you.

I will be stepping down as Chair of SPRC in January, and

Audrey Liku will be the new Chair for 2020 (in addition

to continuing her roles as co-Lay Leader and Lay Mem-

ber of Annual Conference). Audrey has been an active

member of SPRC and is well positioned to lead the

group. I will continue to participate as Chair of Church

Council and look forward to staying in touch with you in

my new role.

What Is a Music Director Ministry? By Adele Dow, out-going Chair of Staff-Parish Relations Com.

I M P O R T A N T U p c o m i n g S p i r e N e w s

mittee, have any news to

share with the congrega-

tion?

Please send any news

and announcements to

the office by Monday of

Spire Week at the latest.

Send an email to

office@fumcsl.org to be

included in the next Spire!

Starting in January of

2020, the Spire will be

published once a

month.

Do you, or your com-

P a g e 4 OUR SHARED MINISTRY, ctd.

Monthly:

• 1st Sat: UMW, 10:00am

• 1st Tues: Trustees

• 7:00pm, Wesley Room

• 1st Thur.: Lay Leadership

Development

• 10:00am, Wesley Room

• 2nd Tues: Finance Committee

• 6:30pm, Library

• 2nd Sun: Staff-Parish Relations

• 12:30pm, St. Francis Room

• 1st Sunday of May

• 4th Sun: Church Council

• 12:30pm, St. Francis Room

R e g u l a r m e e t i n g s a n d g a t h e r i n g s

Weekly:

• Mondays

• Gentle Exercise class,

10:30am, Hale Hall

• Staff meeting, 12:30pm, office

1st and 3rd Mondays

• Wednesdays

• Meditative Communion,

12:15pm, Chapel (except 2nd

Wednesdays)

• Spire day (2nd/4th Wed.)

• Thursdays (Sep.-May)

• Bell Choir, 7pm, Lydia Room

(resumes in September)

• Chancel Choir, 8:00pm, Chapel

Sunday mornings:

• 8:40am, Adult Choir (Sep.-May)

• Children’s choir included on the 2nd

Sunday of the month

• 9:30am, Worship

• Communion, 2nd Sunday of the month

• Children’s Sunday school during wor-

ship, except on 2nd Sundays

• 11:00am, Adult Sunday School

• Mastering Mindfulness, St. Francis Rm.

• Bible Study, Library (on summer break)

• 11:00am, Children’s Choir (Sep.-May)

• Except on 2nd Sundays of the month

• Contact: music@fumcsl.org

Red Wagon food collection serves the Davis Street Family Resource Center. You may bring in non-perishable food items to share as part of the Offertory on any Sunday Morning.

The Interfaith Homelessness Network (IHN) hosts “April Showers” on the 1st, 3rd and 5th Sundays of each month at Creekside Community Church (located at 951 MacArthur Blvd. in San Leandro). You may donate athletic socks and men’s briefs in the barrels in the Breezeway, or with a check to the church with “April Showers” in the memo line.

S e r v i c e M i n i s t r i e s a n d A g e n c i e s W e S u p p o r t

We’re sorry to report that we received less than half of what we had budgeted to receive for this year’s Thanks-giving Offering a few weeks ago. Therefore, your Finance Committee and Pastor ask that you please dig deep as you consider your Christmas

Offering for this year to help us meet our budget, not just with the amount we had budgeted to receive at Christ-mas ($1500) (based on the receipts in 2018) but also to make up for the difference ($888) by which our Thanks-giving Offering was “short.” May God bless you as you consider your Christmas Special Offering. Thank you!

Yo u r C h r i s t m a s O f fe r i n g a n d o u r S p e c i a l O f f e r i n g s

FUN AT THE ADVENT “FEAST” & MUSIC PROGRAM ON DEC. 8 P a g e 5

At the “Feast”….

Enjoying the Music Program...

About 70 people gathered for our Advent Dinner last Sunday, fol lowed by a lovely Music Pro-

gram! See photos below of the fun afternoon and ear ly evening. Thanks to everyone who made

it such a specia l event! Our Christmas celebrations continue with Caroling to our Homebound

on Sunday, Dec. 22 . Meet in the Wesley Rm. at 3 PM. For more information, or to request carol-

ers, please contact Kent Kavasch at kavasch@sbcglobal.net, or cal l the church Office

(office@fumcsl.org; or 1 -510 -483-0606)

T h e o l o g i c a l D e c l a r a t i o n A f f i r m e d a t t h e W e s t e r n J u r i s d i c t i o n F r e s h U M C S u m m i t

The following declaration was presented to the Western Juris-diction Fresh United Methodism Summit on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019, received with enthusiasm by those in attendance.

Theological Declaration of the Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church And God promised: “I will pour out my Spirit on all peo-ple. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young will see visions. Your elders will dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17 CEB)

We believe that God’s Spirit is poured out onto all God’s people. We stand firmly within the best of our biblical and Wesleyan tradition in order to maintain a witness to the wideness of God’s grace in a broken world in need of Christ’s healing, liberating love.

In view of the decades-long discrimination of our LGBTQIA+ siblings and in light of the Special General Con-ference 2019, which approved—by a narrow margin—a plan that was not only largely unconstitutional but also has pushed The United Methodist Church off of its theo-logical foundation, we refuse to yield to a plan that replac-es grace with punishment and that abandons robust en-gagement of scripture to biblical literalism. We refuse to limit the movement of God’s Holy Spirit in the lives of all God’s beloved children. We stand firm in grace and love.

I. The Apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth grap-pling with divisions. Using the Eucharist, Paul alludes to their divisions but affirms that they are one body:

“Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? Be-cause there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all share the one loaf.” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17 NIV)

As one body in Christ, we affirm and pledge to proclaim—

• The power of God’s love and grace to create and up-hold an open, affirming, and inclusive church in which all God’s beloved children are welcomed and em-braced;

• The new church as a vibrant loving community in which differences of any kind—race, ethnicity, lan-guage, culture, sexual identity, gender, ability, nation-

•

ality—are affirmed as manifestations of God’s abun-dant and holy creation;

• A faithful church in which the sacraments of baptism and Holy Communion, as well as confirmation, ordina-tion, marriage, servant ministries, mission work, and leadership at every level, are open to all who are called by God and affirmed by the church, as wit-nessed by our Risen Savior and Lord;

• The historic doctrine and Wesleyan ecclesiology of The United Methodist Church, rooted and grounded in the Trinity, in which accountability is marked by covenant and grace;

• A theological task which requires the engagement of Scripture as encountered through the lens of tradi-tion, experience and reason, which allows for a breadth of faithful understandings;

• A church born of the living Word of God, open to the leading of the Holy Spirit through scholarship and life itself;

• A connectional church in vital mission to and with the world, for the transformation of the church and the world, partnering with the Holy Spirit to bring forth justice, peace, and vibrant health for the whole of the creation.

II. In the context of constant disputes and wars between nations and peoples, the 8th century BCE prophet Micah casts a vision of a world where fighting will cease:

IN THE UNITED METHODIST CONNECTION, P a g e 6

In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be

established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken. (Micah 4:1-4 NIV)

Therefore, with Micah we envision a different world and church where we will do everything in our power—

• To avoid doing harm to persons or the creation, spe-cifically to our LGBTQIA+ siblings;

• To resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they manifest themselves, including punitive, mean-spirited ways of engaging with one another, in the church and in the world;

• To repudiate anything that limits and mars the wit-ness of Christ in the world through hurtful discrimina-tory words and practices.

III. The writer of the Letter to the Ephesians reminds his community about faith that is grounded in grace:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NRSV)

Claiming this gift of God, we vow to stand strong in the practice of our faith and polity, grounded in our Wesleyan Way of Grace—

• To nurture God’s call in every person;

• To encourage Boards of Ordained Ministry to examine

the content of each candidate’s character and the gifts and grace they possess for ministry and not re-ject a candidate solely because of their sexual orien-tation or gender identity;

• To stand with our bishops as they ordain a new gen-eration of clergy for ministry;

• To celebrate the mystery of love that joins two people together and will continue the prerogative clergy have always had, to say yes—or no—to join couples in holy matrimony;

• To refuse to submit to or process complaints of pas-tors who marry same-gender couples or of pastors for simply being LGBTQIA+.

IV. God speaks these words to an ancient community liv-ing in exile through the 6th century BCE prophet:

“Don’t remember the prior things; don’t ponder ancient history. Look! I’m doing a new thing; now it sprouts up; don’t you recognize it? I’m making a way in the desert, paths in the wilderness.” (Isaiah 43:18-19 CEB)

Claiming God’s ability to do a new thing in our 21st century context as God has done in every important moment of history, we seek to become—

• The new church God calls us to be through amazing grace—beautiful, global, justice-seeking, faithful, and filled with joy!

• A new church singing together a new, new song which echoes the old, old story of Jesus and his love which we have loved so long!

To the glory of God!

P a g e 7 IN THE UNITED METHODIST CONNECTION, ctd.

First United Methodist Church of San Leandro

is a Christian Community of love,

following Jesus with our hearts and our hands.

We believe that every person is a child of God.

For more information, please visit us online at

www.fumcsl.org and on Facebook

Contact the Church Office at 1-510-483-0606

or email us at office@fumcsl.org

Hours: Monday-Friday; 9am-1pm DATED MATERIAL

Please Do Not Delay Return Service Requested

December 13, 2019

The Spire is published on the second and

fourth Wednesday of each month by the First

United Methodist Church of San Leandro.

The Spire is available online at fumcsl.org and

printed in the back of the Sanctuary. To re-

quest to be on the email or postage list, con-

tact 1-510-483-0606 or office@fumcsl.org.

Articles may be submitted electronically

at office@fumcsl.org.

All Articles Due by 9:00 am on the

Monday of Spire Week.

Sunday Schedule:

9:30 AM Worship & Children’s Sunday School

11:00 AM Adult Sunday School & (September – May) Children’s Choir

1600 Bancroft Avenue, San Leandro, Ca 94577 1-510-483-0606 | www.fumcsl.org