News for August 15, 2023
This Sunday, August 20: In-person service at 10am
Rev. Victor Floyd is our guest preacher this Sunday. Victor is an old friend of CHC, having been our first paid music director about 15 years ago. (He is an outstanding musician, by the way, voice and piano.) He currently serves as Minister of Spiritual Care at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, in a 4-way covenant with the UCC, of which College Heights is his local church of membership. So he's still connected to CHC!
In keeping with our summer theme (poetry in worship) and Victor's summer theme (trans people's rights, see article below), he is bringing us poetry from Joy Ladin (a trans Orthodox Jewish poet from NYC) and Padraig O'Tuama (a gay Irish Catholic priest).
Church Council meets after worship.
The Giving Sunday offering for August is for Our Church's Wider Mission (UCC), which provides basic support for churches, conferences and associations.
Recent sermons
Check out our YouTube page to see recent sermons. Go to our archive of slides to see bulletins and slides used during recent services.
Historic Lahaina UCC church lost
Waiola Church in downtown Lahaina was founded by Congregational missionaries in 1823; they just celebrated 200 years last May. The church building was gutted by fire in 1894, destroyed by high winds in 1951, and burned to the ground last week. This is one resilient congregation! If you want to make a donation to help rebuild the church, you can do so through the Hawaii Conference (of the UCC) 2023 Wildfire Relief Fund.
Victor in the news
Our very own Victor Floyd has been causing "good trouble" in the city! During Pride Month he organized and put on a Drag Queen Bible Story Hour at Calvary Pres, where he is a pastor. That caused hate-speech protestors to show up at the church on Sunday mornings, Bibles in one hand, mics in the other. Then of course Calvary responded with a big rally of support (image at right is from July 23; Victor said there were 30 first-timers that morning!).
Upcoming services and events
• Weds discussion group: Aug 23 (7 pm), Zoom
"Basic Bible Stories", continuing with the story of Moses. (If you missed hearing about Joseph, you can watch the movie instead.) Everyone is welcome to these discussions.
• Book Group: Sun, Aug 27 (7 pm), Zoom. Reading the book "Circe" by Madeline Miller. An imaginative reconstruction of the mythical character Circe.
• Women’s retreat: Sep 1-3, Pacific Grove
Contact Polly Moore for details.
• Smorgy lunch: Sun, Sept 10 after worship. Bring something to share.
• Worship & Arts. Sun, Sept 17 at 7pm on Zoom.
• Men’s retreat: Sep 22–24, Pacific Grove
Contact Roy Gesley for details.
Links and resources
• Lovely letter from Henri Nouwen to his friend Fred Rogers.
• Morricone conducts "The Mission" (by Morricone)
• Congregational Church of the Peninsula is holding its locally famous Chocolate Fest Oct 20-21. Click here for more info and a link to volunteer at the event.
Quote of the week
"The ancient Masters didn't try to educate the people, but kindly taught them to not-know. When they think that they know the answers, people are difficult to guide. When they know that they don't know, people can find their own way." -- Tao Te Ching
Weekly events
• Meditation group: Wednesdays at 7:30 am
In person at the church building.
• Sunday worship: 10 am
In person at the church building.
Image: Rev. Victor Floyd
