What a powerful Pentecost Sunday we had fully led by our AAPI familia! I don’t know about you, but it felt as if Acts 2 was coming to life as we were all gathered in one place and the wind of God’s Spirit welcomed and embraced us. Our worship team led us in honoring multi-lingual worship in Tagalog, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese which beautifully disrupts the patterns of our imagination. Pastora Janette brought a faithful word of life, water, and fire to our body about the Spirit’s Christ-centering power! Our Tea Ceremony for Communion was sacred and meaningful created with care by liturgist Julie Yeeun Kim. The mystery of Christ was at the communion table. Alex and Alyssa lead us in this healing tradition while carving new paths towards God and one another will be something I will never forget. To serve one another tea and to slow down to eat our 떡 rice cakes was a new embodiment of how to belong to one another. Our refreshment table turned into a feast!

Thank you Macha for depositing the grounded Japanese benediction that I have repeated every day since. A phrase that carries a world of care and compassion. Thank you to everyone who hustled to make this day possible. I see all of your hard work! O-tsukare-sama!

AAPI Art Exhibition in Sanctuary

As an extension of our AAPI cultural celebration worship service, we introduced Chinese-Vietnamese artist, Phung Banh. Her work is dedicated to crafting immersive cultural narratives, with a focus on empowering BIPOC women and fostering spaces that celebrate diverse world cultures and raise awareness about social issues.

Our church is honored to exhibit Phung’s acclaimed Asian Celebration project, an ongoing series that highlights AAPI women from diverse cultures adorned in their traditional attire. Phung hopes to provide a platform for the AAPI community to rejoice in their cultural heritage and pay homage to their forebears. This project showcases a transformative power by inspiring others, nurturing confidence, promoting healing, and encouraging self-expression.

We invite you to experience this visual exhibition during our Sunday gatherings as an act of curiosity and solidarity, as we aim to reclaim and recenter the diverse cultural identities within our church familia.

Learn more about Phung and follow her work at instagram.com/pb.journal.

Hiring Update!

We’re officially pursuing a Director of Children and Youth Ministries! Read about this part-time role here and consider applying for the job. We’re asking our familia to pass this along to anyone you might see fit to jump in the journey with us! We have extended the application deadline for public-facing networks to May 31.

Remember: Sabbath Sunday – May 26th – No Service

We will not be gathering for a shared Sunday Service on May 26th. Instead, that will be a Sabbath Sunday for us as a church. If you’re newer to our rhythms, these are dates throughout the calendar year when we intentionally, and communally practice rest and care and play. And we even encourage one another to gather at shared tables outside of the walls of our church.

May the Christ-centering power of the Spirit infill your very breath, your work, your walks, your conversations, and your dreams this week! May the self-emptying love of Christ form us in this community of the Spirit that is our church familia!

Gracia y paz,
Inés