California

During the last week of January I was able to attend the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators meeting in San Jose, CA.  I jumped at the opportunity because I had never been to California!

I flew in a day early to attend a religious tour of San Francisco.  It was an amazing day seeing sights that most people will never see.  

We began at the Cameron house named for Donaldina Cameron.  This woman was instrumental in helping young women who were brought as slaves from China to the USA in the 1800's.  She brought them to this house to rescue them and then taught them life skills to be able to get a job or to get married.  Before women could even vote in the USA the Presbyterian Women were lobbying Congress for help with these refugees.  The building and the stories were amazing.

Next we went to Chinatown and had some time to look around and shop.

We headed to Grace Cathedral next which is a central landmark of the city and we met with the rector there who gave us an amazing tour.  There was an art installation while we were there that was literally so moving!  It was done by an artist in residence and it is thousands of pieces of paper with people's prayers written on them.  As the air and the light move through the sanctuary the prayers swirl about. 

We went to The Ferry Building next which is the building where the Ferrys come into the city.  It houses 30 artisan food vendors and we enjoyed meat in a cup and various wild olive oils among other things!

The piece I was really waiting for was our trip to St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church.  I recently read the book Take This Bread by Sara Miles which is set in this church.   In the book, Sara tells of her own conversion story from an atheist into an Episcopal priest all through the sacrament of communion.  She takes a fresh hard look at Christianity.  Her strong tie to the meal at the table inspired her to turn their sanctuary into a weekly food pantry which raised lots of criticism but she prevailed and started feeing 300 people a week around the communion table.  

Here is the inscription on the communion table

(did not the Lord share the table of publicans and harlots? So then... do not distinguish between worth and unworthy, all must be equal in your eyes to love and serve)

The church dome is decorated with around 200 saints chosen by the congregation.  The saints are dancing and they include all sorts of people who made an impact on our world.  Gandhi, Isaac Newton, Desmond Tutu, MLK and more.  All of them are dancing and Jesus is in the center of the dance.

The baptismal font is outside and is water pouring out of a rock.  The symbolism of this is that the choice to be baptized is a choice to go out into the world and live out your faith.

The sanctuary is set up as a moveable area so people can discuss and dialogue and move during worship.  There is an eclectic blend of traditions and collections from all over the world.

More views of the saints.  It was such an inspiring day to see how so many people live out their faith in different ways... oh and the yummy food!

The next day my meetings didn't start until 3pm so I rented a little car and drove through the redwoods to the coast.  Here are my toes in the Pacific at Santa Cruz:

 

I decided to head back to San Fran because I didn't get to see the bridge or Fisherman's Wharf.  I finally found the bridge (driving was WILD!) and it was too foggy to even see any red!

I walked around along the waterfront and had some shrimp salad and coffee.  I stopped at the Boudin bakery to look around and saw all of these cool animal shaped breads!!!

I headed back to San Jose to begin the conference and I enjoyed 4 days of workshops, worship, speakers, and fellowship.  There is so much work to do in the church, but it's so exciting all at the same time.  Here is a plenary with Bruce Reyes-Chow and Brian McClaren.

When I got back to my office in West Chester I was greeted by some of the world's most famous teeny boppers... thanks youth group!