Friends, It’s hard for me to believe it, but Holy Week is hard upon us, which means that as soon as we’ve finished cleaning up from the auction and fundraising event on Saturday—something that, no doubt, will tire out several of us—we’ll be going right into the Church’s busiest week for the year. And it’s going to be great! There will be…

Friends, It is wonderful to be part of a community of faith that is so active. Sometimes I can’t keep track of everything that is going on in the life of Montclair Presbyterian church and I wouldn’t want it to be otherwise. In my experience a busy congregation is a happy and vibrant congregation. One thing that is keeping us busy is…

Friends, It is wonderful to be part of a community of faith that is so active. Sometimes I can’t keep track of everything that is going on in the life of Montclair Presbyterian church and I wouldn’t want it to be otherwise. In my experience a busy congregation is a happy and vibrant congregation. One thing that is keeping us busy is…

Reflection on Lent Our Lenten disciplines can help us become more like Christ.   Here’s a marker to see if we’re growing.  Are we growing in love?  Love of God, love of each other, love of ourselves.   Everything we do in our lives can move us toward living out the great commandment – love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul,…

Guest Writer Lynn Viale Our Lenten disciplines can help us become more like Christ.   Here’s a marker to see if we’re growing.  Are we growing in love?  Love of God, love of each other, love of ourselves.   Everything we do in our lives can move us toward living out the great commandment – love the Lord our God with all our heart,…

Friends, In the last few months, something amazing has happened at Montclair Presbyterian Church. Starting in November, our attendance in weekly celebration has been the same as or a little higher than attendance on the corresponding Sundays before the pandemic. This is phenomenal. Even without the challenges COVID presented to us, I would have expected our attendance numbers to be a bit…

Friends, During Lent this year I am going to be leading a class that I’ve long wanted to facilitate, but for some reason have never quite made happen. The class will be a primer on how to read the Bible out loud. This class is important for three reasons. First, for the most part, the Bible was written to be read out…

Friends, When I was four years old, my family moved from Los Altos Mendocino–and, specifically, to Furytown, one of Mendocino’s two historically Portuguese neighborhoods. I don’t think we lasted more than a year in Furytown before we moved to the hills above Little River, where I did most of my growing up, but while in Furytown I learned to identify and to…

Friends, I spent this last weekend at Mission San Antonio in the Santa Lucia mountains with a group of 18 MPC folk. It was wonderful—the last in a series of four seasonal retreats in a place I have loved since childhood, that has haunted my dreams for a couple of decades now. I’ve been wanting to do a series of seasonal retreats…

Friends, During the nine years I have lived in Oakland and worked as a pastor at Montclair Presbyterian Church I have felt a little bit lonely for ecumenical friendships. In my prior churches I had good friendships with the pastors who served the churches near mine, but here in Oakland that hasn’t really happened for me. I know a Scott Denman up…