News

Tuesday, May 15th: A Historic Day

Tuesday May 15th was a big day for our church. History was made. During the Presbytery of the Redwoods meeting, representatives of Northern California Presbyterian churches voted overwhelmingly to ignore and oppose Janie Spahr’s official censure for marrying same-sex couples in California during the five months that it was legal in 2008.

In a letter to Redwoods Presbytery Members, The Rev. Dr. Robert E. Conover writes: “Yesterday at our stated meeting, the presbytery voted by a 74/18 majority to express its opposition to the imposition of the rebuke to the ruling by the Presbytery Permanent Judicial Commission, and upheld by the Synod PJC and General Assembly PJC, that the Rev. Dr. Jane Adams Spahr had acted contrary to the Constitution of the PC(USA) when she conducted same gender marriage ceremonies…The motion was very thoughtfully crafted and carefully worded to express the presbytery’s opposition.  In other words, the vote of the presbytery was effectively a collective dissent by an overwhelming majority of members present…While the action of the presbytery yesterday does not undo the judicial decision, it does express the presbytery’s collective opposition to the imposition of the rebuke.  The position of the presbytery by yesterday’s vote is clear.  The decisions of the Presbytery, Synod, and General Assembly PJCs are also clear.  Does this create some ambiguity?  Possibly, but it is hardly the first time people of faith have been confronted by ambiguity, and I have every confidence that we will remain firmly grounded as we find our way through it…  Same gender marriage is at the forefront of society, national politics, and the church.  The Presbytery of the Redwoods has displayed repeatedly, and did so again yesterday, a way of being and behaving in the midst of challenging issues that is an example for both the church and the world: openness, grace and respect, even in the midst of profound disagreement and pain.  I trust this to be the way of Christ for the life of the world.”

Many newspapers are covering this important story. You can read a few of them them below:

LA Times: California presbytery defies church, backs minister in gay weddings 

Washington Post: Presbyterian churches ignore commission, won’t censure SF minister who performed gay marriages 

Marin IJ: Presbyterian church representatives refuse to rebuke former San Rafael pastor in gay marriage dispute

And the PCUSA begins to deal with some of the unknowns in the article below.

 PCUSA:  Redwood Presbytery votes to oppose GAPJC decision rebuking Spahr for performing same-gender marriages

And the story was also covered by KTVU, you can see the news broadcast below:

SAN ANSELMO: Church leaders refuse to sanction Presbyterian…http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/san-anselmo-church-leaders-refuse-to-sanction/vHJgJ/

Planting the Future…

Ash Wood, a Presbyterian living in Northern California, has just returned from a tree-planting trip to Afghanistan — his third since the age of 72.

“After 9/11 occurred and our government decided to go into Afghanistan, there was a lot of controversy — especially living here in San Francisco,” explained Wood — now 79 — in recounting the origins of a project now called Bare Roots.

“I was looking for something we might do at our church that could bring us together, that everyone, no matter their political leanings, could agree on and that would be positive,” Wood said.

Read the rest of this article on the PCUSA News and Announcements. 

Youth Reflection: Jared

We had to dig a French drainage system for the decomposing liquids from the compost to allow the liquid seeing from the compost to go in to a drainage trench. We dug a 1 1/2 foot deep trench with pick axes and shovels that let the liquids seep in to the soil.
We learned that scotch broom is an invasive species of plant that grows very fast and takes over other plants. Scotch broom over-populates an area and crowds out all natural nutrients in the soil. We removed a large growth of scotch broom by pulling it by hand and creating a large pile. The area we cleared could now be used in the future as a potential campsite.

My favorite activity was going on the cargo net which was over a creek and held up to forty people at a time!

-Jared

Read Zach’s reflection

Read Diana’s refelction

View photos

Youth Reflection: Zach

Our time at Westminster Woods was awesome. We learned about nature, met new people, and so much more. Digging the trench in front of the compost bins was demanding, but we worked hard and got it done. We also got rid of broom, an invasive species that takes nutrients from other plants. We needed to help our nature because we aren’t the only inhabitants. In fact, we found a scorpion, saw salmon fry, and honey badgers! Overall, I believe we should definitely go back to Westminster Woods.
-Zach

Read Jared’s reflection

Read Diana’s reflection

View photos

May 15th Presbytery Meeting

Welcome to Attendees of the May 15th Presbytery Meeting!

We are happy to be hosting you during the May 15th Presbytery Meeting. Click here for important information for your stay and travels.

Eco Mission…Accomplished!

Seven amazing mid-high youth and two brave adults ventured into the wilds of Westminster Woods over the weekend.  Their mission: to learn, to work, to grow, to pray, and to have FUN.

We took at look at a permaculture master plan.  We learned how to create a drainage ditch so that compost juices and rainwater have a way of soaking back into the ground.  (it’s all part of the plan) We learned to safely and effectively use a pickax and shovel.  We found edible plants growing wild and helped some herbs find new homes.  We pulled out non-native invasive species from the riverbank.  We threw a lighted Frisbee, played “Sandman” at the park, jumped on a cargo net above a creek, went swimming, hiked in the dark, and had a campfire with s’mores.

Somewhere in there we realized, “that the environment is a lot more important than I thought it was…”  We decided that taking care of the earth is important, “cuz it’s perdy,” and “SO IT LASTS.”  We also talked about having an eco-clean up day here at FPCSA and the need to go back to the Woods for more fun on the challenge course!

Check out our photos on Flickr (scroll down, right side, under “follow us” press the white box with a blue and pink dot)

Read Zach’s reflection

Read Jared’s refelction

Listen to Sermons Online!

Now you can listen to sermons on our website. Click here to check out our new Audio Sermons page!

I was so enthused by my Technology Class today (thank you to all my intrepid “students”) that I finally applied myself to the task of getting sermon audio posted to our website. There is always something to learn!

For now, you can listen to the Holy Humor service in its entirety. What a fantastic service that was! I was in Victoria with my dad, so I missed it. How great to be able to listen to it once i got back (thanks Diana for putting the CD in my mailbox). I’ve also posted another sermon from February that I had here on my desk. I will eventually post them weekly, moving forward.

Now, if you were in my class today, you will know how you can “subscribe” to these audio sermons as an iTunes podcast. Which means you can listen to them while you are out and about from your mobile device. It’s pretty straightforward, but let me know if you run into trouble. Just go to this page (click here), and you will be given a link to the subscription “feed.” It will download to iTunes. The next time you synch your device(s), the sermons will be there in your iTunes library.

Enjoy everyone. Let me know if you have questions, or if anything doesn’t work as planned, and I will figure out how to fix it.

Bare Roots Trip Report – Day by Day

Editors Note: On March 28th, people from our congregation and others left for Afghanistan to plant trees – to replace trees lost during decades of war going back to the invasion of Afghanistan by the Red Army in 1979.  You  can read more about our involvement in Bare Roots by clicking here. What follows is a day-by-day (or as often as computer connections are available) trip report being emailed back to us. Please keep these friends in your prayers.

April 18, 2012

Asma Eschen, co-founder of Bare Root Trees Project shares the following blog from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. They sent 2700 seed packages that were very welcomed. Photos will be shared soon.

Peace and Blessings to all,

Asma

April 11, 2012

Greetıngs from Istanbul, The Afghans 4 Tomorrow guest house Internet connectıon went down for our last 5 dayın Kabul, so that ıs why I sent no updates for a whıle.

We fınıshed tree plantıng on Frıday, Aprıl 6. 6,325 trees were planted by the communıtıes we worked wıth. On Aprıl 7-9 we took a 3-day road trıp to Bamıyan. Although ıt ıs only 130 mıles, ıt took 8 hours because the roads are basıcally mud for the last 70 mıles. We went up a fertıle narrow valley ın the Hındu Kush mountaıns through many small vıllages where oxen wıth wooden plows were tıllıng the land. The mountaın pass was at 12,500 feet wıth snow and mud. Bamıyan was ıncredıble. Even though the Talıban destroyed the two large Buddas, there were thousands of caves carved ınto the rocks where Buddıst monks lıved and many other ıncredıble sıtes, lıke a hıllsıde cıty destroyed by Kengıs Khan and never rebuılt.

All are safe and healthy. Marıta and Davıd flew to Istanbul on Aprıl 10 whıle all the other folks flew to Dubaı to make flıght connectıons.  We wıll be back Aprıl 22.

Peace, Dave

April 8, Easter Sunday

Related via Royce Truex  by phone as the Internet from Afghanistan has been down:  We finished our work Friday and are now on a road trip as tourists to Bamyan, some 150 miles from Kabul, and famous for huge statues of the Buddha carved in nearby cliffs.  We have seen to the planting of 6,300 trees. Everyone has been and remains healthy. We all leave Kabul on Tuesday, the 10th, and will arrive home at different times because of varying travel plans.

April 5, 2012

We are at the point in our trip when the days and the villages and schools we have visited start to blend together like a giant collage.  The experiences have been rich and the people have been so welcoming.  While I feel I am carrying a collective memory of our activities inside of me, I am sometimes so exhausted by the end of the day that it is hard to remember all that we did that day.

Five thousand trees have been planted so far in eight locations and 1,600 trees will be planted tomorrow.  Because we have established relationships with many villages, we spend most of our time nurturing those relationships and distributing trees and only a small amount of time actually digging holes and planting trees ourselves.

A good example is thevillage of Shahrake Mahajareene, which means “new town”.  During the time of the Soviet occupation, civil war, and Taliban government over six million Afghani refuges fled the country to Iran and Pakistan and lived in refuge camps.  In 200 7Iran and Pakistan started sending one million refuges a year back to Afghanistan a year, although there was nowhere to house them and no jobs.  When the Bare Root project came to this village in 2008 it had no electricity, water, or sewer service or school building.  Trees were planted there in 2008, 2009, and 2010.  We had no trees for them this year, but stopped by to give them 300 packages of seeds for vegetables.  We got to see the shade trees the community had planted on the outside walls of their compounds, and it was very satisfying to see they were growing well.

But much more satisfying was that when people noticed we were in town, all of a sudden the gates in the outer walls of compounds started to open because people wanted us to come inside and see how well the fruit trees they had previously planted in their courtyards were doing.  It is quite an honor to be invited into someone’s home, and it is especially rewarding when the reason is for them to say “thank you” and “God bless you for your gift of trees.”  By the way, there is now a school and electric power may be there soon, but water service is still needed and there are no plans for sewer service.  A hole in a concrete slap is the outdoor bathroom.

Every place we go has worked out a system of how they will distribute the trees we bring them.  Today we went to a school in a village about 15 miles from Kabul.  Two thousand students attend the school, with primary education in the morning session and high school in the afternoon.  The village worked out a system where all the trees were delivered to the school and then students take one tree back to their family when they go home.  We brought 1025 trees.  We planted 50 trees in the school yard and the rest went home.  Because some families have more than one student, the trees were enough for every family in the village.  It was a wonderful sight when school let out and a stream of children exiting the main door with 10-12 foot tall birch tree saplings over their shoulders.

We also have had education meetings.  Since Najib, our in country guide and partner, seems to be connected to everyone, when we have a meeting it is with a high level person.  Yesterday we had a 90 minute meeting the woman who is the director of the United Nations Human Rights Commission and an ex-minister in government to discuss human rights issues in Afghanistan.

All are healthy and well and absorbing each day like a sponge.  Have a wonderful Easter.  Despite the news on TV, Kabul is resurrecting from the bombed out remnants of the city we first saw in 2006 to a place where there is new construction on every block, 3 new bridges across the Kabul river, new modern buildings, solar street lights, and 500,000 refuges returning every year.

Peace, Dave

April 1, 2012

Saturday was mostly a time to recover from traveling for 36 hours with a 11 1/2 hour time difference.  However, we did have time to visit the National Archeological Museum.  There were some wonderful artifacts, my favorite being a beautiful tranquil woman Buddha statue from the 12th century.  I don’t ever recall seeing a female Buddha.

But the highlight was a 45-minute session with the Director of the museum, who has been there 45 years.  He told a moving story of how the museum was built up, had 80% if the aritfacts lost to looting in the civil war in the 1990s, started reconstucting the collection in the late 1990s, and then had the Taliban destroy most of the statutes with human or animal figures around 2000.  He was the person who had the prize pieces in their collection secretly shipped in 1988 to two different locations in ministry buildings in central Kabul and secretly stored in anticpation of civil unrest.  Part of this treasure was what went on world tour in 2006 and was in San Francisco three years ago.  It was a remarkable story and he was very generous to meet with us with no advance notice.  On display were some of the reconstructed statutes the Taliban had broken up, and you could not tell it had ever been damaged.

Today we planted trees in a location that is to be a new enlarged school for the deaf.  We rented a bus and took about 30 students from the existing deaf school to the new school location about 30 minutes away.  The new school areas is now an empty lot about 500 feet x 1000 feet with a 12 foot wall around it.  Most of the students were teenagers, but about 10 were younger.

After our opening ceremonies we brought the trees out of the truck with the help of the students and then, before we could say anything could be organized, tree planting chaos was unleashed.  The students were so energized they started digging holes every six feet before we had even decided what trees would go where.  They dug so fast its was all we could do to get the trees laid out by the holes (or where the holes were to be dug) so that we could alternate shade trees and fruit trees.  In less than 2 hours about 250 trees had been planted and pruned.  We had over a hundred trees remaining, which we took back to the school and gave to the students so each of them could take 2-3 trees home to their parents house for planting.  It was an amazing display of what energized teenagers can do.

We also planted roses at another school and then went to Asam’s uncle’s house for tea and snacks.  Somehow in the rush we had worked through lunch.

Today it rained, but according to the weather it should be between 70-72 degrees and sunny the next 5 days.  It never occured to me to bring sun screen.  Based on my last two trips I brought long underwear instead.

Peace, Dave

March 30, 2012

We arrived safely in Kabul flying through Istanbul and the other 8 folks with us are here after flying through Dubai.  In 2006 the airport had only one runway because the other one was cratered from bomb baths and the airport bathroom had  a hole in the floor for a toilet.  This year we walked up a new jet ramp into a new wing of the airport.  The main streets are paved with barriers down the middle, with all the cars on one side going in the same direction.  Much different that the “dodge car” the drivers played our first time here.

The main streets have trees planted on the sides which we saw being planted in 2008.  Two new bridges across the Kabul river just opened up last month.  Afghanistan had the deepest snow in 35 years, and the river is rising fast.  Kabul is looking much better.  The only more ugly part of Kabul is the 12 feet high concrete blast walls outside government ministries, defense installations, and embassies.  In 2006 they were not there because suicide bombings had not started in Afghanistan, although they had been going on for years in Iraq.

Tomorrow we will have a short day and visit places in Kabul where we have planted trees before. On Sunday, we will plant trees at an orphanage that is being constructed for blind and deaf children which has no trees around it and is a neighborhood around it with no tree.

Peace, Dave

Easter Sunday photos

Take a look at our Flickr account for photos from Easter Sunday. Just click the Flickr icon on the lower right of our website page under “Follow Us” (it’s the one with the blue and pink dot). Or click http://www.flickr.com/photos/fpcsa.

(If you have other photos to share, send them to Martha Joyce at marols@leapgroup.com).

Deacons’ Care Packages

Deacons were hard at work again this week sorting, labeling, and assembling care packages for our college-aged members. We sent brightly colored candy with a note decorated in cross stickers.  Boxes should be arriving around the country in the next few days.  Nineteen boxes were sent…now that’s spreading some Easter cheer! Thanks to everyone who helped pull this off–especially our youth helpers!