Happy New Year!!!! from The Board: Joy Goto, Randy Hill, Lee Marrs, Michael Williams, Rev. Craig Yoshihara I. Another year begins with the promise of better days to come. Yes, though the COVID virus is not through with us yet, we have learned a lot about it over the past two years, and know better how to guard ourselves and our community against infection. We will continue to adhere to our health guideline protocols, adjusting them as needed. Thank you all for your flexibility, understanding and cooperation as we strive to keep everyone healthy. II. Cheers to the New Year, to new hopes, new goals, new resolutions, and also, to renewed energy, renewed commitment, and renewed dedication in ourselves for our community and for our beloved Berkeley Methodist United Church. III. … [Read more...]
Craig’s Corner 2021 September
“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.” – Leviticus 23:3 Sabbath. Most of us don’t take enough of it and when we do, we often don’t rest as God intended. But rest is important. As much as our bodies need to rest to recharge and refresh, our spirit does, too. We rest our bodies every night and hopefully on the weekend, and scientists who study this still say it’s often not enough. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to get the recommended eight hours of sleep a night! Sleep quality is as important as sleep quantity and the more studies they do, the more they realize how much poor sleep quality can affect … [Read more...]
Conference News 2021 July
GCORR podcast Expanding the Table - Episode 2 available now"Expanding the Table" is GCORR's new podcast on practicing anti-racism. In episode 2, three Asian-American Christian theologians examine the history and current realities of anti-Asian racism in the United States and what every Christian should know and do. Our guests include: The Rev. Dr. Mai-Anh Le Tran, The Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Kuan, The Rev Dr. Boyung Lee https://www.cnumc.org/newsdetails/gcorr-podcast-expanding-the-table-episode-2-available-now-15291783 Children’s Worship for July 4Theme: Prayer Scripture: Luke 11: 1-4 This week Lamb-see-do greets and blesses the children; Momoko Tamaoki-Newsome from Sacramento Japanese UMC gives her last message as part of Children's Worship; and Mort sings a prayer … [Read more...]
News from Your Trustees
We wish to express our gratitude to Kevin Pon for his dedicated service to BMUC as he steps down from his seat on the Board of Trustees. His knowledge and judgement have been a great asset to the church. He will truly be missed in our endeavors, but we wish him God’s blessings as he turns his focus toward other matters. We hope to find, and invite, others to take up the challenging work of the church trustees.When you come back to church, which we hope will be soon, you will find a handsome new fence along the westside parking lot. A careless driver ran into the old fence in December. We were fortunate that his insurance covered the exact replacement as before. BUT, new!The upstairs unit of the church-owned duplex next door has been vacated, and is now being prepped for new occupants. When … [Read more...]
Craig’s Corner 2021 May
I’m excited about our future! Our Easter outreach was more successful than we had hoped for, reaching about 50 kids in our community – almost none of them from our church. We even had a few join us for Easter worship which was great, and we continue to touch people’s lives for Christ. Our Flowering of the Cross gave us a chance to see old friends and new for the first time in a long time at the church. And we hope that as we continue our outreach efforts we will see more people asking deep and meaningful questions. In the meantime, we have a few questions for you! If you would help us out and answer a short survey about coming back to in-person worship, it would be a great benefit to our Worship Team, our COVID Task Force, and hopefully to you as well. … [Read more...]
Craig’s Corner 2021 April
Moving On… As we approach Easter, I’m very excited! With conference approval, we will have some limited gatherings on site at the church. Like our upcoming Easter Egg Hunt and Flowering of the Cross! Please come and invite family and friends to join us as we slowly test the waters for a safe return. For more information go to www.bmuc.org/easter. Coming back will require much planning and hard work. Getting the church ready after over a year of being empty is more than just turning the lights back on. We have to thoroughly clean and sanitize the whole area. We have to fix things that need fixing. We need to inventory our “stuff” and figure out what needs to be taken care of. And we have to do all of this in a safe and socially … [Read more...]
Craig’s Corner 2021 March
It’s been a year… As hard as it might be to believe, it’s been nearly a year now since we’ve been able to worship together. The last time we were able to shake hands, give hugs, and eat together was March 8, 2020. Who knew it would be the final Chow Mein Sunday of 2020? Who knew it would be the end of choir practice at the church for 52 weeks? Who knew it might be the last time we saw certain smiling faces? We’ve lost family and friends. We’ve gone through political chaos. And we’ve had to face racial and social injustice on a level some of us have never had to face and others hoped we had left behind. But as tough as it has been, and even though we still have a ways to go, I am hopeful. We have proven that you don’t need a building … [Read more...]
Bring Treats for the Easter Egg Hunt!
We need your Easter eggs! Drop off filled eggs / Easter treats at the church before Saturday 4/3!Drop off by appointment; just contact Rev. Craig (craigy@bmuc.org)Each child / family will receive about 8 eggs / treats eachPlease stuff your eggs with individually wrapped items only We need your eggs! We are hoping for a great turnout for our traditional Easter egg hunt and want to make sure we have enough eggs for however many kids show up. It's okay if we have "too many" eggs. Can you really have too many by the way? Any extra eggs we have, we will donate to a local shelter. So don't be afraid to bring eggs to the church! Just make sure you drop them off before Saturday 4/3 so we have them in time for the event. https://youtu.be/oXwtKvkRyzs How to fill an Easter … [Read more...]
Craig’s Corner 2021 January
State of the Church 2021 Below is the report I gave to our charge conference about the events of this past year as we head into the New Year. Some of you have already read it, but for those who haven’t, I hope it will give you encouragement as we move forward. We’ve gone through a lot this year, but you all have been so faithful in maintaining our strong bond together. Thank you for your support as we adapt to our ever-changing circumstances and stay safe in 2021! Peace in Christ, Rev. Craig The journey of faith goes on… When the pandemic hit us in March, life in the church was rolling along. Our worship team had big plans for Easter! We had just had our Day of Remembrance Spam Musubi Cook-Off where Jill Israels’ Green Eggs and Spam was … [Read more...]
2020 Celebrating Christmas in the middle of a Pandemic and a Planetary warming crisis
As I sat down to update the article published in the December 2019 newsletter at [Jill’s request], I could not help but wonder at how fast time has flown! Today as we prepare to celebrate Christmas again, we find ourselves in the midst of a raging viral pandemic, an unsettled political situation and a climate crisis. As people of faith with the mandate to love God, love neighbors and to be responsible stewards of creation, in light of the challenging situation we find ourselves in, we all need to find ways to celebrate Christmas in ways that respond to God’s call as best we can. Once again, I am offering some suggestions to help us meet the challenges: First, to get COVID-19 under control so we can celebrate Christmas safely, let us set aside our political and ideological differences … [Read more...]
