Come as you are! Everyone welcome … In-person or on Zoom.
R E A D I N G S
🔆Ezekiel 34:15-31 🔆 Matthew 6:19-34
S E R M O N
🔆“Sustainability and Innovation” – The Rev. Dr. Max Lynn
M U S I C
PRELUDE … Pastorale, J.S. Bach (1685-1750)
INTROIT … Easter Flowers Are Blooming Bright, Austin C. Lovelace (1919-2012)
HYMN … How Great Thou Art
ANTHEM … The Song of the Tree of Life, Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
HYMN … All Good Gifts
OFFERTORY … Nun ruhen alle Wälder, (Now all the woods are sleeping) Johanna Senfter (1879-1961)
HYMN … Seek Ye First
POSTLUDE … Pièce pour sortie, Louis Maingueneau (1884-1950)
Join us for Coffee Hour immediately after the service.
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A N N O U N C E M E N T S – – – – – – –
Berkeley CROP Hunger Walk
The annual Berkeley CROP Hunger Walk is today, Sunday, April 19 at St. Mary Magdalen at 1:30pm. The Berkeley CROP Hunger walk supports Church World Service (CWS) and Dorothy Day House. These non-profits operate food programs, emergency response assistance, as well as longer-term solutions like enhancing food security and providing sustainable safe water supplies. You can register and learn more about the walk by visiting the walk’s website: https://events.crophungerwalk.org/chw/team/st-johns-presbyterian-church-3 or by contacting Greg Rising.
Upcoming St. John’s Sunday Forum – SAVE THE DATE
Take a break after worship for 5-10 minutes, then come back for a conversation:
• April 19 –Dr. Ron Amundson, professor of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley, will discuss Prophets and Wizards, two different approaches to addressing the environmental crisis. Prophets call us to a simple, low-impact life, while Wizards focus on technological innovation. What are the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches?
• May 31 – AI & Humans. How Will We Relate? Spend an hour with Dr. Braden Molhoek, Director, Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS), and Ian G. Barbour, Assistant Professor of Theology, Science, Ethics, and Technology at the Graduate Theological Union. AI is changing our relationships (including humanity’s relationship with God and with the rest of creation). How we think theologically about AI inspires new questions of ethics, virtue, and creation. For example, is AI made in the image of God or of humans? What would its designers say? What do we say? What implications does the answer to this question have for our future and our relationship to AI? Come learn more in an engaging and timely Education session.
• Leon Malmed, child Holocaust survivor on YouTube: The St. John’s March 17, 2024 Sunday Forum Zoom presentation with Leon Malmed, Holocaust survivor, may be seen on St. John’s YouTube page. It runs 53 minutes, but the main part starts at 5 minutes and ends at 23 mins. It is a most enlightening story of two French Jewish youngsters who survived the Holocaust. When Leon was 4 ½ years old, his parents were arrested and deported to Auschwitz, never to return. He and his sister were cared for by a French family whom they grew to love. Later, Leon served in the French Air Force for four years when drafted during the French-Algerian war in the 1950s. Leon currently competes in national cycling competition in the 85–89-year-old division. He lives in South Lake Tahoe. There is also a shorter 15-minute YouTube video produced by the Genocide Remembrance Project, The Promise: a Story of Holocaust Survival – Leon Malmed Leon is friends with St. John’s member, Julia Oversloot, whose parents were recognized as “Righteous among the Nations” for sheltering Jews during WWII.
From SJ members Priscilla & Henry Couden: ‘Sara Sings’ concerts
Dear Friends and Family … I want to catch you up with Sara’s latest ongoings: Since Christmas, and the Messiahs, Sara sang around the country. She sang in the Detroit Opera’s Handmaid’s Tale and came back at the beginning of March to sing for Portland Baroque. Returning to the Bay Area, Sara sang a magnificent Bach St. Matthew Passion with many other wonderful soloists and the San Jose Symphonic Choir. In early April, Sara will be travelling to New York and Boston to sing. Locally, here are her performances:
April 26 – Berkeley’s Cantata Collective at St. Mary Magdalene, 5pm
May 3 – Arias Kidding – a joint project with soprano Kate Offer at the Unitarian-Universalist Church, San Francisco, 1:30pm.
June 19, 21 – Festival Opera – Handel’s Alcina – Berkeley
August 2, 8, 15 – West Edge Opera – Handel’s Rinaldo – Oakland, 2pm & 8 pm.
Looking forward to the Fall, which will include Suor Angelica with Livermore Opera, Mozart Requiem, and Ars Minerva’s Andromeda! We hope to see you at as many of these events as possible! Looking forward to a great year.
QR Code for Giving Money to St. John’s
One can now donate via PayPal for weekly giving and special events. Simply scan the PayPal QR Code in our bulletin or church lobby. All donations are tax-deductible. Thank you for your continued support.
Earth Day Prayer Meditation
Join the California Interfaith Power & Light organization on this Earth Day for a special Interfaith Earth Day Prayer as part of Faith Climate Action Week. On Wednesday, April 22 at 12pm, people of many faiths will gather in reflection, prayer, and shared commitment to care for our common home. Across traditions, spiritual communities are rising to meet the climate crisis with moral courage and collective action. Together, we will honor the sacredness of Earth, lift up prayers for healing and justice, and reaffirm that people of faith are leading the way in protecting creation for future generations.
On the 30-minute Zoom gathering, we’ll take a moment to slow down and be together in a reflective space. In addition to the interfaith climate prayer “We Hold the Earth” that we have used for about a decade now, we’ll have prayers from the Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish traditions. Click here to register.
Interfaith Prayer for Our Climate
We hold the Earth. We hold brothers and sisters who suffer from storms and droughts intensified by climate change. We hold all species that suffer. We hold world leaders delegated to make decisions for life. We pray that the web of life may be mended through courageous actions to limit carbon emissions. We pray for right actions for adaptation and mitigation to help our already suffering earth community.
We pray that love and wisdom might inspire my actions and our actions as communities. . . So that we may, with integrity, look into the eyes of brothers and sisters and all beings and truthfully say, we are doing our part to care for each other and the future of the children. May love transform us, and our world, with new steps toward life. Amen. – GreenFaith http://www.greenfaith.org/