2016-1-31 Worship Videos

Chinese Choir

Chinese Sermon

English Sermon

English Ministry News and Notes 2016-1-31

• Lunar New Year Celebrations! We will celebrate the lunar new year together next Sunday, Feb. 7th. To best do so, we will worship in parallel with our Chinese Ministry brothers and sisters at 9:30 a.m. in the Annex. Following worship, we will feast potluck style. You are invited to bring a main or side dish (homemade or store bought) to share. The church will provide the dessert.
• Lent Begins on Feb. 10th - We will mark the beginning of the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday. You are encouraged to participate in a special worship service at 7:30 p.m. Our theme this year is "Community and Submission." We will reflect on questions about the kind of community our faith calls us to, and grapple with the spiritual practice of submission. Intrigued? We hope so. Worship will be followed by Sundays of Uniting Prayer (SOUP) - a time of sharing, prayer, and delicious soup. Please consider signing up to be a soup maker!
• "A World Worth Saving: Lenten Spiritual Practices for Action" - Each year, our adult Sunday School class explores one or more spiritual disciplines during Lent. This year, we will explore disciplines that take us out into the world. You are encouraged to purchase the book ahead of time and be ready to go on Feb. 14th. If you haven't yet participated in Sunday School...join now!
• Bring Beauty to the Sanctuary - you are invited to sign up to provide altar flowers each Sunday. You can do so by signing up on the sheet posted in the Annex hallway and giving $10 to Peggy or Helena. Thank you!
• World in Prayer: You are invited to check out the following page’s weekly prayer from http://www.worldinprayer.org/. It will help us be in prayer for world events as they are happening.

A Part of the Plan, Erin M. Hawkins

I have a friend who enjoys jigsaw puzzles. She continually searches for intricate, unique, and beautiful puzzles. One day I asked her, “Why do these puzzles fascinate you?” She thought for a moment and replied, “I love to be a part of the plan. I know that within the box lies a wonderful creation. To have the pleasure of forming the jumbled heap of pieces into the beautiful picture on the cover is a sheer delight.”

As I read this passage in which God calls Jeremiah to be a “prophet to the nations,” God’s purposefulness captures me. Verse 5 emphasizes a clear message: “I formed you; . . . I knew you; . . . I set you apart; . . . I appointed you.” Other biblical passages explore God’s activity in shaping us. Psalm 139:13, 15 states, “It was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. . . . My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”

To be formed, known, set apart, and appointed by God is a testament to God’s love for and faith in us. Jeremiah’s encounter reminds us that the Creator is not simply aware of our existence but is actively involved in our development and, most importantly, has a plan for each of us. God will not call all of us to be the “prophet to the nations,” but God calls us for equally important and life-changing work—acting as a companion to the sick and dying, being a drum major for justice in the face of oppression, demonstrating God’s preferential option for the poor, or raising up a new generation of world changers. As we respond to God’s call we become a part of a grand plan where our jumbled pieces are transformed into the beautiful picture God intends.

God, make us available to be instruments of your peace, justice, love, and compassion in a hurting and broken world. Amen.

2016-1-24 Worship Videos

Chinese Choir

Chinese Sermon

English Ministry News and Notes 2016-1-24

• We celebrate Laity Sunday today! We lift up and give thanks for all the ways that each of you are in service and ministry - within the congregation and beyond. May God continue to gift you with all you need - strength, joy, skills, and more - as you respond to God's call.
• Lunar New Year Celebrations! We will celebrate the lunar new year together on Sunday, Feb. 7th. To best do so, we will worship in parallel with our Chinese Ministry brothers and sisters at 9:30 a.m. in the Annex. Following worship, we will feast potluck style. You are invited to bring a main or side dish (homemade or store bought) to share. The church will provide the dessert.
• Lent Begins on Feb. 10th - We will mark the beginning of the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday. You are encouraged to participate in a special worship service at 7:30 p.m. Our theme this year is "Community and Submission." We will reflect on questions about the kind of community our faith calls us to, and grapple with the spiritual practice of submission. Intrigued? We hope so. Worship will be followed by Sundays of Uniting Prayer (SOUP) - a time of sharing, prayer, and delicious soup. Please consider signing up to be a soup maker!
• Looking Ahead: The Bridges District Revival will be held on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Community UMC, 1875 Fairfield Ave., Fairfield. Lunch will be provided and child care available. Registration deadline is Jan. 27. Suggested donation is $15 per person. Shall we send a team?
• World in Prayer: You are invited to check out the following page’s weekly prayer from http://www.worldinprayer.org/. It will help us be in prayer for world events as they are happening.

Many Members, Rev. Steve Garnaas-Holmes

The body does not consist of one member but of many. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you.” —1 Corinthians 12.14, 21

I God has so ordered the symphony

that all the different notes are indispensable.

Your gift may be a note of the melody,

shouted out by the trumpets

or it may be the harmony from the third violins,

subtle but changing everything,

or the oboe quietly offering a countermelody.

Each is part of the song.

II God is about healing, not wounding,

creating, not destroying.

Life for the body is its members joined,

not severed, not judged bad and good.

The healing of the world is the mending of its tissues,

the weaving together of its peoples,

all of us.

III The energy of the Spirit is harmony,

the togethering of different members.

The energy of judging and dividing

is the energy of evil.

The Spirit's loving energy is more powerful

than fear and separation.

All the gifts you have been given

are for the sake of the healing of the world.

Even the smallest gifts are mighty.

IV Everything belongs.

Your prayers, your conversations,

your riding a bicycle or a subway,

all are part of the symphony.

Religions are like that.

The observance of Torah,

the path to enlightenment,

keeping kosher, the hajj, the rosary, the fast,

the praise song, the compassion meditation,

each is a different gift,

but no less a part of the body.

Belong, and be at peace.

2016-1-17 Worship Videos

English Sermon

English Ministry News and Notes 2016-1-17

• Great Thanks for the all church work day crew, including AYSC youth! 
• We welcome back Rev. Deborah Lee and her colleague, Daniel Pinell, from the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (IM4HI) as we mark and celebrate Human Relations Sunday. Many are familiar with Rev. Deborah from her past preaching and teaching on immigration and our faith. This is a follow up to her last visit in which she shared about the latest work of accompaniment, specifically around housing needs and accompaniment teams. Since then, the Union City Small Group has been in discernment about the possibility of becoming active in some way. Let us listen and discern together! 
• Human Relations Special Offering - Your special offering will support the Community Developers Program, the UM Voluntary Services Program, and the Youth Offender Rehabilitation Program. Thank you for giving generously. 
• Laity Sunday - Next Sunday, we celebrate the call and ministry of YOU, the laity. We will hear from our lay leader, Becky Wong, about a new vision and new possibilities. Please plan to attend! 
• TED Talk Sunday School Series - Don't miss out on an exciting series utilizing TED Talks. We have explored vulnerability, listening from the perspective of an economic developer, and welcoming refugees. Next week we will engage innovation and decision making. Join in at 9:30 a.m. sharp! 
• New Church Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30—2:30 p.m. (closed for lunch between noon and 1 p.m.), Wednesdays and Fridays, 9:30— 3:30 p.m. 
• Looking Ahead: The Bridges District Revival will be held on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Community UMC, 1875 Fairfield Ave., Fairfield. Lunch will be provided and child care available. Registration deadline is Jan. 27. Suggested donation is $15 per person. Shall we send a team?

Faith Reflections on Solidarity and Accompanimen

Solidarity is the living out of this fundamental truth: that we are born for community, created to be members of a network of mutual care and mutual obligation. Solidarity is an act of recognition of the inalienable dignity of the ‘other’ (be that ‘other’ a person, a group of people or a nation). It sees them “not just as some kind of instrument, with a work capacity and physical strength to be exploited at low cost and then discarded when no longer useful, but as our ‘neighbour’, a ‘helper’ (Gen 2.18-20), to be made a sharer, on par with ourselves, in the banquet of life to which all are equally invited by God.”…We are all one family in the world. Building a community that empowers everyone to attain their full potential through each of us respecting each other’s dignity, rights and responsibility makes the world a better place to live…. It is extremely important to register that solidarity is a two-way street. It calls all, rich and poor alike, to work together, collaboratively, to end injustice and to give grounds for hope….Fundamental to this is the nature of solidarity as, firstly, a movement of the Spirit, a recognition of the other as brother or sister, as a child of God with inalienable dignity and value; secondly, a reaching out to affirm, to support and to receive from the other, a taking of risks in the light of this underlying belief and insight. 

-Pope John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 

Deep Solidarity requires a new sensibility, a new conversion, Dr. Joerg Rieger said. In fact, Rev. Sekou…talks about Rev. Lampkin who was injured by a rubber bullet shot by the Ferguson police. Rev. Sekou says when black people said thank you to her because she, a white person was engaging in the black people’s struggle, she replied, no, it is her struggle as well. She recognized that her own salvation as a white person is caught up in the salvation of African American persons, including that of Michael Brown. Deep Solidarity requires the middle class persons to understand that their salvation is linked to those who are homeless than to those who are in the 1% whom they may seek to emulate. Deep solidarity requires those of us who live in this great nation to realize that our salvation is linked with those who are here without documents, that they are indeed fellow travelers to be welcomed with hospitality and honor rather than be reviled and deported. Deep solidarity brings us to the understanding that those who are protesting, those who are struggling without jobs, without food and shelter and caught up in the prison industrial complex are our sisters and brothers, that our salvation is linked with theirs. Deep solidarity is the Theology of the Other on steroids. We need nothing less today. Solidarity is no longer a matter of the privileged helping the underprivileged. It is about understanding what we have in common and how we all need to work together to organize and to embrace a different power.” -Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, In the Context of Ferguson, a Theology of Deep Solidarity

Aeri Lee reports-back from KCVS

Misionary Aeri Lee reports on the progress at Kumi Christian Visionary School in Uganda

English Ministry News and Notes 2016-1-10

• Mission Partnership Report Back - Whether you've been following the partnership from the beginning or are brand new to it, you are invited and encouraged to be a part of the conversation and information sharing today over lunch. Bring your questions, ideas, and hopes. We will gather in the Annex at 12:30 p.m.
• All Church Work Day - Saturday, Jan. 16th. Please pitch in for regular up-keep and maintenance of our beloved spiritual home. The day begins at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 2:00 p.m. Come for a bit or stay the whole time.
• Human Relations Day, Jan. 17th - We celebrate one of the United Methodist Church's 6 special Sunday's next week. In addition to taking a special offering for the National Community Developers Program of the UMC, we welcome back the Rev. Deborah Lee and her colleagues from the Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights (ICIR). Since her last visit, the Union City Small Group has been discerning becoming more active in the work of accompaniment. Let’s join them in this discernment.
• Laity Sunday, Jan. 24th - How might God be inviting us into a new season? Should we be more concerned about changing and transforming? Where might we need some jumpstarting...as disciples, as a community? Let’s gather for a time to celebrate all the ways God calls us into service and we make ourselves available to be used by God.
• New Church Office Hours: These are the new hours for our church secretary, Theresa Leung: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:30—2:30 p.m. (closed for lunch between noon and 1 p.m.), Wednesdays and Fridays, 9:30—3:30 p.m.
• Looking Ahead: The Bridges District Revival will be held on Saturday, Feb. 6, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Community UMC, 1875 Fairfield Ave., Fairfield. Lunch will be provided and child care available. Registration deadline is Jan. 27. Suggested donation is $15 per person. Shall we send a team? 

An Abbreviated Timeline of Mission, Partnership, and Accomplishments: CCUMC, YCVM/KCVS

~2003 Aeri meets Silver Omakenyi, an exceptional musician and a passionate disciple, while teaching at the Reformed Theological College in Kampala, Uganda. Aeri visits Ngora, Silver’s home village, and discovers his care for orphaned children and hears his vision for a school for the most vulnerable.

2006 Aeri and Ben dedicate their wedding gifts towards Youth & Child Visionary Ministries (YCVM), the organization birthed to carry forth Silver’s vision, providing seed money to buy land for the future school. Others follow suit in the next few years: Dustin & Valene (wedding), Popo Margaret (birthdays), Leo & Helena (Popo May’s funeral).

2008 CCUMC as a body formally declares a mission partnership with YCVM. Foundation is laid for the future school.

2009 CCUMC sends 8 people on a Volunteers in Mission (VIM) trip to Kumi, Uganda where they meet the members of YCVM, hear for themselves about this vision for a school, and pitch in with bricks, mortar, and steel as the school building begins to take shape. The trip invigorates CCUMC’s involvement.

2010 CCUMC holds its first “Kumi Benefit Dinner” raising money to continue construction. The benefit dinner becomes an annual happening.

2012 Doors, ceilings, windows, and walls are added to the school building.

2013 Kitchen and 2 latrine buildings are built. CCUMC hosts its first ever “Mission Exchange,” bringing Rev. Martin Odi, longtime chair of YCVM’s Board, to the Bay Area.

2014 Kumi Christian Visionary School (KCVS) opens its doors in February with 1 student! CCUMC sends its 2nd VIM team, including members of Chinese Com-munity Church (CCC) in San Diego.

Today KCVS has over 200 students, 12 teachers/staff, and 3 nursery and 7 primary grade levels in operation. Praise God!

The Future Following God’s lead, we anticipate more wonderful things to happen!

Our mission partnership with YCVM/KCVS is an ongoing one. Through it, we seek to walk faithfully with God’s beloved in another part of the world, deepening our understanding and practice of what it means to love and serve the world God loves. It has not been without challenges: working with, communicating with, trusting others who are radically different than ourselves in a completely new cultural context is not easy. We are learning together! You are invited to participate in today’s lunchtime Mission Partnership Report Back where all questions are welcomed as we discern God’s guidance and movement together.

2016-1-10 Worship Videos

Chinese Choir

Chinese Sermon

English Sermon

English Ministry News and Notes 2016-1-3

• Adult Sunday School in January – in 1984, a conference was held where Technology, Entertainment, and Design converged. From there TED talks – short, powerful talks covering every topic imaginable was born. In January, we will explore some of these inspiring talks together and consider them from the perspective of our faith. Come, have fun, and learn!
• All Church Work Day – please plan to pitch in on Saturday, Jan. 16^th between 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
• Looking Ahead to January – Please note these special worship and learning opportunities
• Jan. 10^th – Aeri spent all of September in Uganda with her last week in Kumi. She will bring a word to us during worship and host a report back during the Sunday School hour at 9:30 a.m. Bring your questions, ideas, and prayers for our ongoing partnership with Kumi Christian Visionary School.
• Jan. 17^th – Human Relations Sunday: We welcome the Rev. Debbie Lee and her colleagues to worship. She will be preaching about the theme of accompaniment. There will be a special opportunity to learn more about accompanying families and youth seeking asylum. Please also remember that this is a special offering Sunday
• Jan. 24^th – Laity Sunday: We give thanks for and celebrate the ministry of you, the laity. Come, ready to hear a message from our English Ministry Council leaders.

My Little Faith Story by Cloud Cheung

So I’ve got a little faith story and it goes a little like this,

It’s a pretty cool tell-tale that you don’t wanna miss,

It started with my pops, my mom, and my sis,

The dog, the cat, and dad’s funny wish

One day, my dad got sleep paralysis,

And he said to himself, man! I gotta get outta this,

He thought it was a demon and seeked help from a church,

But every single day, it got a little worse,

He found this cozy little house that belonged to God,

Maybe this’ll work, he said, heck, why not?

He turned into a Christian and wanted to spread the word,

Like a dove to his wife and his two little birds,

One day, I came along with him to CCUMC,

A lame brick building was all I had seen,

I came into worship when I was in the third grade,

I thought it was boring and that it was just a long wait

Afterwards, my dad treated me to ice cream

But in my little 3rd grade mind, that’s all that matters to me

To the church came my sister, but not my mom,

So my dad asked her, hey, yo, what’s wrong?

She said she didn’t believe unless 5000 dollars came in the mail,

But little did we know, God never fails!

So the very next day. We opened the box,

My dad and my mom, they both got a shock!

Now my sister and I, we were too young to understand,

We didn’t believe in God, or the Promised Land

Some time had gone by,

And our family got baptized,

I knew that this meant, that I’m now a follower

A disciple, a grace spewing, faith praying hollerer

Around this time, I started going to camp

But my shallow narrow faith became an obstacle ramp

I went three years straight, and hated it every time

So I figured my dislike for camp, was finally at its prime

We still didn’t believe but we didn’t hate church

I don’t regret going, it was totally worth

I met many people, they were nice and all

But not believing while I’m in the house of God, felt really, really, really, wrong

A few more months later, my sister and I,

We got an invitation from Wendy, to dine

At this point in my story, I was twelve at the time.

We both accepted and with her we talked

We ate pleasant little burgers and had a little walk,

She asked about our faith and we told her it was small,

But she told us that God was her all in all

She asked us if we were spiritually active a lot,

She then asked me if I prayed to any Gods

I said I still do pray and I’m really alert

Asking God to see if maybe I should convert

Wendy had to leave to get back to college

And I continued to pray for a little Christian knowledge.

One day it hit, my faith was real

Jubilant, enchanted, is the way that I feel!

Four long years, is what it took,

For me to know God and fall into the Christian nook

From this point, I looked for a way to strengthen my faith

And I looked to the church, where my faith awaits

As time went by, my faith grew stronger

My spirit grew wider, deeper, higher, longer

Eventually I started to look for ways to serve

I acolyte, I videotaped and listened to the word

I joined the worship team, to rejoice in this land,

And eventually I even joined the worship team band

I looked for more ways to strengthen my faith

And one day, on a paper is where I saw my fate

Camp had returned, and I was willing to forgive,

Because God was beside me and with Him is where I live

Throughout the camp, my faith grew stronger than I could ever imagine

I never even thought that this could happen!

Now my little faith story is coming to an end,

I hope I didn’t bore you to death, my friends

Lord, here I am, and there you are before me

Let’s thank the audience for listening, to our little faith story.

2016-1-3 Worship Videos

Chinese Choir

Chinese Sermon

English Sermon

Cloud Cheung Confirmation