Worship Sundays, 10 a.m.
Whoever Who Are, Wherever You Are on Life’s Journey, You Are Welcome!

June 23, 2013
Message from Rev. B. J. Beu, “Rushing Headlong”
Music from James Grey & Pam Wicks
Scripture:  Luke 8:26-39

Sunday’s scripture reading from the Gospel of Luke recalls the story of Jesus freeing a strong man possessed by demons and the chains that the villages used to bind him. In today’s world, we are uncomfortable with the idea that people have demons. We speak of mental imbalance and disease. But whatever terms we use, we all suffer from our own personal demons. And just as the demons which were cast out by Jesus caused the pigs they entered to rush headlong into the sea to their deaths, our demons often cause us to rush headlong into forms of death: going numb through abuse of alcohol, or drugs, or pornography; or of avoiding intimacy through workaholism, or social climbing, or hiding behind masks. Yet, God is always there to set us free; always there to bind up our wounds; always there to lift us above the hatred we find in the world. See you Sunday.

Neighborhood Congregational Church is an Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ.  Holding in high value both inclusion and openness, Neighborhood Church welcomes all people to any and all events!  Neighborhood Church is located at 340 St. Ann’s Drive, Laguna Beach.  Free parking is available for all church events at the corner of Cleo and Glenneyre, across from Ralph’s.  Please call 949-494-8061 or visit the church website at www.ncclaguna.org for more information.

UPCOMING MUSICMay 19th… Cheryl Crandall and Doug Miller

We’ve been inspired recently in many blessed ways!

Earth Day, April 21, 2013
In celebration of Mother Earth, we danced, we drummed, we smudged, we prayed, we sang.  Blessed be!

Easter Sunday, March 31

On Easter Sunday, Neighborhood Church hosts a 6:30 a.m. community sunrise service at Alta Laguna Park suffused with Native American spirituality, including flute and drumming to the four directions, whose intersection forms a cross.  As the sun rises over the surrounding hills spilling light onto the Pacific Ocean, Neighborhood Church invites hikers, families, and seekers of God to celebrate the gift of new life and a new day.

Neighborhood Church’s festive Easter service at 10:00 a.m. on March 31 will be in the church sanctuary.  Poet John Gardiner, Musician James Grey and Pastor B. J. Beu will guide us to embrace the grief of Jesus’ death, to bring our doubts and our fears, and then experience the power of the resurrection. Come and feel the power of this message of hope in the midst of despair. Come and sing your praise. Come and find the joy of being called by the living God.

Reflect and rejoice as dancers and handbells call us to new life as we celebrate the joy of resurrection hope.  Handbell music directed by Jennifer Baker, choral music led by Pam Wicks, and familiar Easter songs for all will enliven the festivities.  Following worship, refreshments will be served across the courtyard in Bridge Hall and children are invited to join in the annual Easter Egg hunt on the Montessori playground.

Palm Sunday, March 24

The Passion of Jesus in Drama and Story
Featuring John Gardiner, B. J. Beu & Mary Scifres

This past Sunday, as Holy Week began, we remembered the final week of Jesus’ life. After the initial joy of Jesus coming into Jerusalem like a king on Palm Sunday, the mood shifts dramatically and everything starts to unravel. Shortly after singing Jesus’ praises as he rode a colt into the holy city, the crowds and even his disciples betrayed and denied him. Fickleness of heart and betrayal emerge at every turn. To avoid moving from the joy of Palm Sunday to the joy of Easter without moving through the anguish of Holy Thursday and Good Friday, today’s service focuses on the all too human trait of falling away when we should be following faithfully. Come and celebrate as the youth wave palm branches at the beginning of the service. Come and face the powerful emotions as we explore the depths of Jesus’ passion during this holy time.  In lieu of a sermon, local poet John Gardiner and NCC’s own Rev. B. J. Beu offered three dramatic dialogues between the disciples Judas and John.

 

We were inspired in January with a message from Rev. Carlos Correa ~ “Shining God’s Light” ~ based on Psalm 27:1

Thank you Carlos, for your inspiring words!

Carlos reminds us:  ”It is not always easy to shine a light inward to see the truth of our lives, so too it is not always easy to face the truth of the brokenness of our world.  Unfortunately, the concept of a “broken world” is as applicable to the world we live in today, as it was in any time before during human history, not just in a metaphoric sense but in a literal sense.  We live in a world in which millions of our fellow human beings are bound up in slavery, oppressed without freedom, from far-off impoverished countries to right here in California.”  In his short reflection Dr. Correa Bernier focused on one the aspect of one of the greatest moral imperative of our time: to loosen all the bonds that bind fellow human beings unfairly, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke as he speaks on the issue of sexual trafficking as an industry that thrives in the shadows, oppressing millions of women and men and children. Dr. Correa’s challenge to the audience is simple but forceful: We must allow God to be our light if we want God to also be our help.