Sunday, May 31, 2015

English Ministry News and Notes 2015-5-31

  • Charge Conference~ June 7th after service: Please stay after service to give your support and input for the adoption of the approved SPRB and BOAT compensation package for Pastor Emily’s return.
  • Many Thanks to Helena and Veronica for their superb organization of our Pentecost and Church Birthday celebration! Thanks to all who followed their lead in pitching in!
  • June 14th Party for Pastor Brenda: We will be having parallel worship beginning at 10:30AM which will be followed with a luncheon in honor of Pastor Brenda who will be returning to Philadelphia at the end of the month. Please connect with Peggy if you would like to contribute a salad or side dish!
  • AIF Family- Day Celebration~ June 21st: Please plan to attend our Father’s day/Graduation/Family Day Celebration with our Homework Club Family! Many volunteers from both the CM and EM are encouraged to sign-up to help with food and to commit to being a part of this outreach ministry! The sign-up sheets will be in the social hall today! Connect with Michelle Lu or Pastor Meina if you have questions!
    • 9:30 –10:30am - Parallel Worship
    • 10:30 - 11:15am - Preparation/Set Up (food and game stations)
    • 11:30 - 1:00pm - Light Lunch and Games
    • 01:00- 1:30pm - Mini Promotion Ceremony
  • Summer Adventures in Faith (AIF)~ Pastor Brenda has been busy preparing the lessons for our Summer AIF. If you are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 pm til 4:30pm, please connect with Becky or Donna to let them know you’d like to help! It’s fun and rewarding for all involved! This year’s theme is "G-Force"!

Peace With Justice Sunday

United Methodists are committed to social holiness. Our Social Creed asks us to take action against inequality, child labor, unprotected workers and other human rights violations. We practice Jesus’ Golden Rule (Luke 6:31) by advocating for peace and justice around the world, and our offer-ing on Peace with Justice Sunday fuels our efforts. Recently, Church and Society board members awarded grants to 15 Peace with Justice ministries in the United States, Belgium, Germany, Nigeria and the Philippines. Even the smallest grant allows recipients to dream big. And in those dreams, we protect the environment, prevent disease and educate children. We treat others as we want to be treated. The Board of Church and Society has named several challenges our denomination faces in responding relevantly to societal ills and global injus-tices. One of the challenges shares our mission most succinctly, "Speak forthrightly with a religious voice in a broken and hurting world."

Please add your voice. The change you encourage on Peace with Justice Sunday will surely change the world.

Your contribution encourages living a gospel of peace. The United Methodist Peace with Justice Sunday offering makes a difference through min-istries in the United States and around the world. Thank you for your generous gift!

To give by mail:
Send checks to: GCFA
P.O. Box 340029,
Nashville, TN 37203
Please put name of Sunday in note section.



Sunday, May 17, 2015

Worship Videos 2015-5-17

Chinese Choir
 
Chinese Sermon
 
English Sermon

English Ministry News and Notes 2015-5-17

Tour to the Holy Land with Rev. Elizabeth McVicker in January, 2016. An informational meeting is being held today after worship services at 12:45pm.

Pentecost Sunday and our church's 128th Birthday will be celebrated on May 24th with a JOINT worship service followed with a Potluck lunch. A through K : salads or veggie dish; L through Z : main course (meat dish). No dessert please! Church will provide! Please pitch in where there is need: setting up and putting away tables and chairs; food preparation, washing dishes and general clean up afterwards! Please connect with Helena if you have any questions!



Mildred B. Wong ~ A Celebration of her Life will be held on Saturday, May 30, at 10:30AM at CCUMC If you would like to share your memories at the celebration, please contact Cassie at cgwong2010@gmail.com or 510-533-6046. Mildred was dedicated to the youth of CCUMC for many years.

Bishops urged to speak out as group on racism by Heather Hanh

Edited version, please read the full version and letter available at UMC.org

United Methodist Council of Bishops Meeting, Berlin, Germany, May 1-7, 2015

United Methodist bishops must speak out against racism and address the anger that has sparked riots in Baltimore and other U.S. cities, the Council of Bishops president said in an emotional address.

"It is not enough for us to remain silent. We’re dealing with principalities and powers, I believe," Bishop Warner Brown Jr. told bishops on May 1. in Germany’s capital.

Brown, who also leads the denomination’s San Francisco area, spoke to a group that included 65 active and 26 retired bishops from around the globe. Brown also released a letter to all United Methodists asking them to join the council "in prayer, reflection and action toward overcoming the issues that sometimes divide our societies."

"Together we can find ways, appropriate to our social context, for healing the brokenness between us," Brown wrote.

As a pastor and police chaplain, Brown said he has known many law enforcement officers of integrity whose work "is so vital to human society." But he also urged his fellow bishops to recognize the anger so many feel after the deaths of multiple unarmed African-Americans and other young men of color at the hands of police and others.

"Video documentation has raised expectations in people that claims of wrongdoing will be seriously considered," he said. "So distrust grows because very few police officers have been held accountable."

Fifty years ago, he pointed out, it was common for the killer to be set free when a black man or woman was murdered. "There is a lot of pain, and the history of that causes a lot of pain to be pent up," he explained.

The church itself is not untouched by racism, Brown said.

In 1968 — a year that saw riots in many U.S. cities following the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — a newly desegregated and newly merged United Methodist Church promised to build "a new kind of church" where all people would be welcomed. But that promise remains unfulfilled, he said.

"Today there are still churches that don’t want a pastor appointed because of his or her race," he said. "There are still churches that aren’t open to being a fully inclusive community. There are some churches that still might send a visitor to that (African Methodist Episcopal) church down the road."

To go forward, the bishop suggested that part of the work "is to find a way we can live into the social holiness that must go hand-in-hand with the spiritual holiness — a life lived as a disciple of Jesus."

Monday, May 11, 2015

Sunday, May 10, 2015

English Ministry News and Notes 2015-5-10


Tour to the Holy Land with Rev. Elizabeth McVicker in January, 2016. An informational meeting to learn more about this opportunity to gain new understanding about our Christian heritage through a sense of history and place will be held here at CCUMC next Sunday, May 17th, 12:45pm.


Pentecost Sunday and our church's 128th Birthday will be celebrated on May 24th with a JOINT worship service followed with a Potluck lunch. A through K : salads or veggie dish; L through Z : main course (meat dish). No dessert please! Church will provide! Please pitch in where there is need: setting up and putting away tables and chairs; food preparation, washing dishes and general clean up afterwards! Please connect with Helena if you have any questions!


Mildred B. Wong ~ A Celebration of her Life will be held on Satur-day, May 30, at 10:30AM at CCUMC If you would like to share your memories at the celebration, please contact Cassie at cgwong2010@gmail.com or 510-533-6046. Mildred was dedicated to the youth of CCUMC for many years.

May is Christian Home Month

Theme for 2015: Families: Many Forms, Common Faith! Called to Justice
From United Methodist Discipleship Resources


In the book of Amos we read, "…let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream." (Amos 5:24, NRSV) Those words are both thrilling and terrifying. What is the justice we seek? How do we experience God’s justice? What do we see in the world around us that calls for God’s justice? And as families, what does it mean to be called to justice? For Christians, probably the simplest way to look at God’s justice is God’s desire for all to be treated as God would treat them. Think for a minute of what you know about the injustices in our world today. Here are some of the questions related to justice:

• Where is justice at school when children who are different in some way are bullied by others?


• Where is justice for those who have been abused and cannot face their abusers?

• Where is justice when there are those who work hard each day and do not have enough to support their family?

• Where is justice when older adults who can no longer care for them-selves suffer at the hands of caregivers? 

• Where is justice when those seeking freedom in a new land are ignored or vilified? 

• Where is justice when loved ones are randomly shot and killed in street violence?

These questions call upon all of us who claim the name Christian to examine our ways of living, participate in the study of scripture, and to practice justice in our homes, our churches, our schools, our workplaces, and our communities. We believe you can begin by supporting the families through observing Christian Home Month, using the suggestions here (umcdiscipleship.org/worship/church-civic-holidays/Christian-home-month) to strengthen the home as a place for living justly, and designating a day of prayer to pray that all families might be places of love, peace, justice, and hope.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Sunday, May 3, 2015

English Ministry News and Notes 2015-5-3

  • Tour to the Holy Land with Rev. Elizabeth McVicker in January, 2016. An informational meeting to learn more about this opportunity to gain new understanding about our Christian heritage through a sence of history and place will be held here at CCUMC on May 17th, 12:45pm.
  • Pentecost Sunday and our church's Birthday will be celebrated on May 24th with a JOINT worship service followed with a Potluck lunch. Mark your calendar!
  • Mildred B. Wong ~ A Celebration of her Life will be held on Saturday, May 30, at 10:30AM at CCUMC If you would like to share your memories at the celebration, please contact Cassie at cgwong2010@gmail.com or 510-533-6046. Mildred was dedicated to the youth of CCUMC for many years.
  • Pastor Brenda's year of ministry at CCUMC will come to a close at the end of June. She and her husband, Pastor Jim, will be returning to Pennsylvania in July. The next two months will be busy working on our Summer AIF program and transitioning to having Pastor Emily return from her maternity leave! We will be having a Parallel Worship on June 14th with a special luncheon to thank Pastor Brenda.

Michelle and Jeffrey Lu Share about First UMC Experience

Last Sunday, Ben, Aeri, Michelle, and Jeffrey visited First United Methodist Church in Fremont, to share the story of YCVM and how today, we have the Kumi Christian Visionary School in existence! Pastor William Chou presides at this church. He is the husband of Pastor Meina Ko. The following are reflections of Michelle’s and Jeffrey’s experience:

Jeffrey Lu: I had the amazing opportunity to share my experience of what I learned at Kumi, Uganda with the First United Methodist Church in Fremont, CA. Normally, I would give a testimony about my experience there and talk more about how I really felt. However, this time around I felt motivated to talk about my experience with the kids.
In a nutshell, I talked about how I truly saw God in the kids, and how they really changed my lives. If anything, the kids taught me way more things than what I taught them. I may have taught them math, english, and science, but they taught me things that I would never forget in my life - what it truly means to be thankful, what it truly means to care for others, and what it truly means to be a child of God.
Michelle Lu: I had the amazing opportunity to share a testimony at the First United Methodist Church at Fremont. Being able to share stories of the mission trip is always a blessing because having listening ears and open hearts is a great thing to have when it comes to sharing God’s dream. I felt welcomed and thankful that the congregation opened up to us and listened to each of our testimonies with open hearts. The sharing brought back memorable events on the mission trip. I miss the interactions with the children there, the food, the music, and Uganda overall. It reminded me how God can work in such wondrous ways through His people. How God can work through people and create something wonderful outside the four walls of the church. The theme of the sharing was hope; having hope for the future , and this covenant relationship that we have in Uganda, is hope for the children.