revsarah's blog

Hello Friends.  What a week it has been for us in southern California!  As far as I know, no one in our congregation has been directly affected by the fires, however I’m sure we all know someone who has been.  I have been getting daily updates from the Southern California Nevada Conference of the UCC and a call from Paul Hardwick of the Pacific Coast Baptist Association to make sure our church was safe.  I do know that at least a dozen of our UCC families here in So-Cal have lost their homes and many more have been evacuated.  All of our church structur

Hiya Fairview and Friends!  I write you this morning perched upon a bar-stool seat attached to what appears to be the only plug in all of John Wayne airport!  There are three of us hovering around it, trying to plug into our life-lines and get our computers up and running so we can stay connected to the world!  This strikes me as comical having just read my message to you last week in which I anticipated the wonder of nature in what we would experience at our church retreat –the clear skies, the crisp air, the tall trees!  And here I sit looking out onto gia

Hello My Friends!  I’ve got the mountains on my mind!  Tomorrow afternoon Fairview heads for the hills!  Our Church family retreat begins tomorrow evening and lasts through the entire weekend! I hope you’ll be there!   I am looking forward to inhaling a deep breath of fresh air, tilting my head upwards beyond the trees and gazing into the dark night sky and a myriad of stars shining points of light back onto the earth!  I cannot wait to smell the pines, to make crafts, and to hear Gina Notrica’s voice booming and her band jamming!

Hiya Fairview and Friends!  One of the things on my mind today is progressive Christianity.  This term is not always defined, partly because of the difficulty of defining it, and the often slightly controversial definitions surrounding it, and partly because of the fact that progressive Christianity is still defining itself.   I believe that progressive Christianity entails both theological and social justice components.

Jerry Falwell had an immeasurable impact on church and politics. Of course, the church has always been political, but Falwell made an impact on politics with a distinct Christian perspective. As Falwell defined himself, he helped to define and mold the religious right. His polarization of the Christian conservative, what he redefined as evangelical, allowed for an emergence of the progressive Christian.

Why is Theology on Tap so important? Isn’t just young people getting together to drink beer? Why should a church support this, let alone sponsor it?

Elton John said in The Observer magazine that religion should be banned because of what it has done to homosexuality. “I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. From my point of view, I would ban religion completely,” he was quoted as saying. I think that Elton John is correct in saying that the Church as an institution has not actively cared for the gay community, and in fact, more often than not, has condemned it. However, my denomination, the United Church of Christ, has long spoken out and “come out” in favor and support of the LGBT community.

Hooray! Fairview Community Church is the newest member of the United Church of Christ. On Sunday November 5th at a meeting of the Southern Association of the Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ at Irvine United Congregational Church, Fairview was unanimously and joyfully voted in as part of the United Church of Christ.

As you probably already know, I am a young female minister. I’m a member of Generation X. This last Wednesday evening at Fairview Community Church we held an event that focused on Generations. Each Generation sees the world through its own particular lens based on the circumstances that affected that generation as it has grown up in the world. Gen Xers, like myself, see the world very differently than say, The GI Generation. It’s as though we come from different cultures. We have very different approaches to work, relationships, even church!