Rector’s Forum @ 10:00 a.m., April 18, 2021: Looking Ahead – Emerging from the Pandemic at All Saints Church

Mike Kinman and Wardens discussed work being done by staff, vestry and other leaders as we look at emerging from the pandemic. We began to ask “what have we learned and are we learning during this pandemic time?” Topics included the vestry’s work on developing a racial justice lens for leadership and congregation, moving to the Circles structure for staff, conversations happening about coming back together for in-person worship, progress of staff searches … and there was lots of time to hear from you and address what is on your heart.

Sermon @ 11:15 a.m., April 18, 2021: To Love and to Cherish … Until We Are Parted by Death

“What if in every relationship in our lives, we recognized that we are bound together by sacred vows. That we would not embrace each other more if we are doing better, or richer or healthier and we would not discard each other when things got worse, or we lost everything, or became sick. What if every person we encountered, every relationship we had, we looked at the other and said “I will love and cherish you, until we are parted by death.” It sounds both wonderful and impossible. It sounds life-giving and, frankly, more than a little exhausting … until I remember that what this would mean is not only me having to care for every person this way … but every single person caring for me this way, too.”

Sermon by Mike Kinman from virtual worship at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, April 18, 2021 at All Saints Church, Pasadena. Readings: Deuteronomy 5:11–22, Psalm 78:1–7, Romans 13:8–10 and Matthew 22:22–33. Read the text of the sermon here.

Sermon @ 1:00 p.m., April 18, 2021: Recuerda que fuiste un esclavo / Remember that You Were a Slave

“Incluso como iglesia, vivimos con el miedo que genera el sistema de esclavos. Como iglesia, nos hemos convertido en un proveedor de bienes y servicios religiosos … y tememos no producir lo suficiente porque tememos que la gente se vaya y se lleve sus promesas financieras con ellos. No es el modelo de una iglesia fiel, es un modelo de negocios que ve los bienes más elevados no como un crecimiento humano sino como un crecimiento numérico y la trinidad impía de asistencia, edificios y dinero en efectivo. Y Dios nos está mirando.   Y Dios no está diciendo “Recuerda que fuiste un esclavo”. Dios está diciendo, “Te has convertido en un esclavo.” Tú has vuelto a la esclavitud de la que te rescaté.”

“Even as a church, we live in the fear that the slave system generates. As a church, we have become a provider of religious goods and services … and we fear not producing enough because we fear people leaving and taking their pledges with them.  It is not the model of a faithful church, it is a business model that sees the highest goods not as human thriving but of numerical growth and the unholy trinity of attendance, buildings and cash. And God is looking at us. And God is not saying “Remember that you were a slave.” God is saying, “You have become a slave.” You have returned to the bondage from which I rescued you.”

Sermon by Mike Kinman for Virtual Bilingual Spanish/English Worship at All Saints Church, Pasadena at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 18, 2021. Readings: Deuteronomio 5:11–22, Salmo 78:1–7, Romanos 13:8–10 y San Matteo 22:22–33. Read the text of the sermon here: in English and in Spanish.

Watch the entire 11:15 a.m. service and/or the entire 1:00 p.m. service from Sunday Morning Live on April 18. Follow along with the service leaflets here: 11:15 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.

Join us every Sunday during the Covid-19 era for Rector’s Forums at 10 a.m., when applicable, and services at 11:15 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Know that you are loved!

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