intersections

Remembering Michelle Ho

The Hollywood Church has really been grieving this week. This past Sabbath, March 25, a family from our Thai congregation was involved in a very serious car accident while traveling home from church. The tragedy is that the youngest passenger in the van, 10-year old Michelle Ho, was killed. She was a quiet, sweet girl. He just celebrated her 10th birthday on March 23rd and was baptized this past May. She was frequently found helping my wife corral our 2-year old and keep her from running into the parking lot. She was deeply loved and will be sorely missed.

There will be a memorial service in the Youth Chapel of the Hollywood Church at 2:30 pm this Sabbath, April 1. The funeral will be held on Friday, April 7 at 10:00 am at the Thai Adventist Church in Redlands. Please contact Pastor Somchai for more information (email or call 323.428.6727).

The Desmond Doss legacy

Desmond Doss, a WWII hero and the very first consciencious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor died last Thursday at the age of 87. He was one of the most well-known and well-respected Seventh-day Adventists of recent times. Many of you who read this blog knew this a long time ago. Monte Sahlin wrote about this at his blog. All the major newspapers wrote long obituaries. The Los Angeles Times commited over half a page in this past Sunday's newspaper. The Washington Post ran an obituary on Thursday, March 23. Doss is the subject of a documentary entitled, The Conscientious Objector, and a book entitled, The Unlikeliest Hero.

The recent attention Doss has received has effectively revived a dying commitment to non-violence among Seventh-day Adventists. But even in his day, Doss stood out.

A book endorsement

There's a new book coming out in a couple of weeks from Signs Publishing Company in Australia where my mate, Nathan Brown, is the editor. It's a collection of wonderful essays by Jim Coffin, pastor of the Markham Woods Adventist Church near Orlando, Florida. Jim is married to an Aussie and spent a number of years in Australia as the Editor of South Pacific Record.

You can click on the picture to get a better look at the cover. If you can't read it very well, here is the endorsement I wrote for the book -

James Coffin brings the skill of an experienced writer and the heart of a pastor to the challenges of living and leading in an increasingly postmodern world. This collection of essays is an enjoyable read, but embracing the challenges he presents will be more difficult.

The book should be available in the Adventist Book Center in the US before too long.

Community of Character

Sabbath, March 18 - Part 11 of 13 - Pursuing a Compelling Vision. In this message we begin to explore the witnessing life of the church. This message focuses on the quality of the congregation's life together as the first and primary witness to the world. This message is in two parts - not sure what happened.

A Community of Character, part 1

A Community of Character, part 2

Hollywood Church Teams Up with LA Voice

Yesterday, Sarah Hubinsky Phelps, associate director of L.A. Voice, joined us for worship and spoke for part of the service about the way Hollywood Church could action its vision of being a Eucharistic, cross-shaped, poured out community for the sake of Hollywood. Following worship she met with a small group of leadership from the church to talk in deeper ways about how our church can partner with other congregations in Hollywood and Los Angeles to affect deeper change at a systemic level.

One such project that will happen in the very near future involves helping get an important measure on the November ballot.

My Sabbath morning

This is what I was greeted with as I was getting dressed for church this morning. Exciting stuff. We live on a very busy road and the fender-benders abound. This time, a pickup truck tried to avoid hitting someone who slowed suddenly. After skidding for about 50 feet, he slammed into the back of my car. My car then hit the car in front of me. Who knows where this will end up, but I was definitely late this morning. Totally missed the class I teach on Sabbath morning.

How Worship Shapes Us

In Search of Public Space

At the end of my sermon entitled, A Community of God's Friends, I spoke about the loss of "public space" in society and the possiblity that the church could imagine itself as a the agent of that public space - public good. Brenton wrote a comment that challenged me to go deeper on what was, in that sermon, almost a throw away comment. So I also posted a comment in response to Brenton. This post is an attempt to go deeper.

The photo is of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown Los Angeles. In the foreground is the plaza of the Los Angeles Music Center, home to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theater and more. It is a beautiful urban, public space.

Tom Fox remembered

This is a kind of old news now but I wanted to make you aware of several things related to the death of Tom Fox. I'm not going to write much here but encourage you to visit a few sites that will tell this remarkable story and highlight the degree to which so many people don't understand the gospel mandate for peace.

Tom was a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams. He was in Iraq as a peace activist. He was captured on December 4, 2005 and was confirmed dead on March 10. Adventist Peace Fellowship had this short story about Tom's death.

Incredibly, Cal Thomas, conservative syndicated columnist has this to say about Tom's sacrifice. Chris Erdman, a pastor in Fresno, wrote this on his blog. I think Chris's comments are so explosive and right on.  What do you think?

UPDATE (03.23.06) - Today we awakened to the wonderful news that the remaining three CPT hostages have been released without shots being fired! Also, in the comments below, Terri mentions an article in Sojourners' email newsletter (which, if you don't receive, you definitely should. Sign up at www.sojo.net). Anyway, click here to go to the David B. Miller piece.

Miroslav Volf conversation online

The Emergent Theological Conversation with Miroslav Volf that I attened in February was recorded and is now available in MP3 format on the Emergent-US website. You will be blessed by listening to these recordings.