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Most of us have lots of questions about the Bible that we have parked somewhere and left to collect dust.

There are elements in the Bible that are challenging to accept (or sometimes even understand! Some of those parables…) given the experiences that we have had in our lives. This is not a wrong way to feel, and is important to explore to explore these feelings and thoughts and the questions they spawn. Questions that are hidden and not discussed are a barrier to our connection with Spirit.

During our current series, we are going to explore some of this. No question is wrong. Dana wrote this sample in the e-letter about the series:

• Is the Bible the Word of God?
• Does it promote violence?
• I am expected to literally believe that people passed through a sea that parted, or that Jesus really walked on water?

Here are some points about the Bible Dana shared to get us thinking.

👉🏾 The Bible is our stories about God, not God’s stories about us.

👉🏾 We take the Bible seriously, but not always literally.

👉🏾 God is still speaking; do not put a period, where God has put a comma

How do you feel about these? Do you agree, or disagree?

Join us for this series these coming weeks if you can.

Thanks to everyone from Urban Sanctuary that participated in Thursday’s protest outside of the Wells Fargo’s branch in San Jose, calling on the bank to stop funding Climate change and fossil fuel infrastructure projects.

Sharing some thoughts from Jim Thompson: “What we did Thursday was reach out to more than 200 people (and more than 300 on Friday) with flyers explaining why we were protesting at a Wells Fargo branch. We had positive conversations with lots and lots of people and we got a lot of reinforcement for what we were doing. We also picked up a bunch of people who wanted to get on our mailing list. This is especially important because we need to grow this movement.

A bunch of thank-you’s: To Sara Bruce who was ill Thursday (hope you’re felling better today, Sara) and unable to be present for making the text into a lovely flyer; Linda Lappin for running off a LOT of flyers on her home printer; Kevin Haley for adding pizzaz with his saxophone playing on Thursday; Stew Plock for doing an eerily effective job of being Oily Wells (& Doug Neilson for speaking for Oily); Sandra Hietala for going in alone to the WF branch to try to talk with the branch manager; Dana Bainbridge for a lovely blessing at Thursday’s conclusion; Rita Foster Sharkey for bringing so much energy to Thursday’s event; Ruth Priest for showing us that the 80s is a perfectly good age for protesting; Walter Hudson for bringing a friend to the Thursday event; Peter Wood for your idea about having conversations at branches about moving your money; Rush Rehm for an example of how to get a lot of people closing their Wells Fargo account at the same time; and many more individual acts of solidarity.

What we did on Thursday and Friday were part of a big movement that is building. Many of you signed letters to the CEO of Chase and 1,500 of them were delivered to his two homes last week. There are a lot of actions being take on behalf of the planet and many more to come as this is a year of action to stop the money pipeline: (https://www.stopthemoneypipeline.com/).”

12/24 at 5pm, 374 S 1st St, San Jose, CA 95113

Christmas at Stritch is fast becoming a favorite holiday tradition at Urban Sanctuary! This year on the 24 at 5pm, we’ll be enjoying a “jazz Christmas,” with readings about the season by members interspersed with Scripture. And of course, we’ll be singing carols together–classics like Angels We Have Heard on High, Joy to the World and The First Noel–not to mention enjoying free snacks! Come celebrate an urban Christmas with us, with plenty of time left that evening to rush home and put out cookies for Santa!

Arts and Spirituality Mini-Retreat

This Sunday, December 1, during worship time–that is, 10am-12:30pm–and with the help of the Coalition of Artists and Creatives for Compassionate Communities, we’re holding an “Arts, Spirituality and Activism Mini-Retreat!” This will be jointly led by local artists and activists and Urban Sanctuary, giving us all a great opportunity to build relationships and connect with the divine through creativity.

The schedule for the retreat is as follows:

1. Gathering Circle – with rhythm and drums (with the legendary PJ Hirabayashi!) we bring our voices together to call in the wisdom of our ancestors and to invite the Creative Spirit to open our imaginations
2. Contemplative Guided Meditation
3. Creative Workshops – a choice to go to one of the following workshops: Creative Writing, Stone Painting, Making Peace Cranes. All workshops will provide a chance to reflect, create and dialogue about around wisdom we can draw from to address the need to create more just and compassionate communities
4. Sharing of Our Experiences after the workshops
5. Closing with a Gratitude Circle and making an offering of our creations on a simple altar in the meditation garden

No RSVP needed. Don’t miss this opportunity to join the arts community in spiritual practice!