intersections

Memorial Day peace service

On Memorial Day (May 26th) I'll be participating on the chancel in a prayer service at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, convened by the Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative. If you're in the LA area I hope you can join us. All the details are in the press release below...

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Franci Levine-Grater, Coordinator
Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative
francilg@myway.com
(626) 683-9400

Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative To Convene Memorial Day Interfaith Prayer Service
To Be Filmed and Broadcast Throughout the Middle East

Los Angeles, CA – April 29, 2008 – The Abrahamic Faiths Peacemaking Initiative (AFPI) will convene an interfaith prayer service on Monday, May 26, 2008 at 11:00 a.m., Memorial Day, at All Saints Church located at 132 Euclid Avenue in Pasadena, California.  The prayer service, which will be filmed and repeatedly broadcast via satellite throughout the Middle East thanks to the generous donation of a supporter, is intended to illustrate to the people of the Middle East that Christian, Jewish and Muslim Americans are working for peace and understanding between nations and faiths.  The event also provides an opportunity for people from throughout Los Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley to join together with like-minded worshippers in the pursuit of peace on a day that commemorates the tragic losses of war.

“Not all Americans support the current war in Iraq; not all Americans support war in general.  We want the people living in the Middle East to be exposed to an alternate point of view – Christian, Jewish and Muslim-Americans of faith are working hard for peace.  Many of us believe that our faith demands we seek peace and justice for one another, and we are striving, together, to make our voices heard and to assert that peacemaking – as a concept and an action – is absolutely central to Islam, Judaism and Christianity,” says Rev. Dr. George Regas, long-time peace activist and co-founder of AFPI, Rector Emeritus of All Saints Church and Executive Director of the Regas Institute.

Envision '08

There is a very exciting conference happening June 8-10 in Princeton, New Jersey called Envision: The Gospel, Politics and the Future. The focus will be Christian Engagement in the Public Square. Not unlike the theme of my post here and the upcoming Adventist Forums Conference (check it out here). Uncanny, huh?

I was going to post on this later, but I just realized that the early bird registration of rate of $99 ends today. It's an amazing deal because tomorrow it goes up to $249. My understanding is that a donor paid down the registration fee for the early registrants.

I wouldn't usually travel across the country for a conference where I'm not speaking, but this seems like something special to me. Also, my dear friend Samir Selmanovic of Faith House Manhattan, is co-presenting with Miroslav Volf on pluralism or something. Actually, I don't even care what they're presenting about. Whatever it is is worth hearing.

I'll say more about this in the future, but right now I'm just wondering if any of you are going to be there. If you are, leave a comment to that effect. I'd like to organize a 'meet up'.

This is so L.A.

Photos by Nathan Brown
My Aussie friend, Nathan Brown, was in town again this weekend. On Friday I took the day off and we just hung out. I love when friends visit from out of town because invariably I do something I wouldn't ordinarily do in the city. Nathan wanted to see the more "upscale" part of the city so, naturally, we headed off for Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive. That's where we saw this RIDICULOUS car! The funny thing is that as we took off from Hollywood I virtually promised Nathan at least one Ferrari sighting and possible more. We saw two Ferraris, two Rolls Royces (including this yellow one) a Bentley or two, and more $100,000+ Mercedes than you could keep track of.

From Rodeo Drive we walked around Westwood Village a bit and then spent the remainder of the afternoon at the Getty. What would your tour of the "upscale" part of Los Angeles included? (more pictures after the jump)

Reclaiming Outrage

Part 2 of a sermon given by Rabbi Ron Stern of Stephen S. Wise Temple on a recent Shabbat.

I've really been enjoying getting more involved in interfaith work here in Los Angeles. One of my new friends is Rabbi Ron Stern from Stephen S. Wise Temple (the largest Jewish synagogue in the Western US). Their congregation is one of the newest members in our LA Voice family. Here is a Rabbi who is a true inspiration to me.

Listen to a short sermon that he gave recently, Reclaiming Outrage (Part 1 & Part 2)

Cobalt Season kicks off Hollywood concert series

Ryan Sharp of The Cobalt Season talks with members of the Hollywood Adventist Church (click to enlarge) Photo by Kathy Khoo.

We had a great time with The Cobalt Season on Thursday night. About 50 friends and strangers gathered in at the church for a wonderful concert. For more pictures check out the church's Picasa album. All photos are by Kathy Khoo.

We were also graced by two songs from Corrinne May, to open the night. Corrinne will be playing a full concert (the second in our series) on May 29. Stay tuned for more....

Weekend Wrap-Up

Aaron Beaumont at the Hotel Cafe

On Friday evening a large group gathered to hear Aaron Beaumont play his unique style of "piano rock" at the Hotel Cafe with proceeds going to ADRA to buy goats, as Aaron said, from the Really Useful Gift Catalog. Aaron's a great artist. You can hear some of his music at his MySpace page. But you really need to see him in concert to appreciate the music fully.

California Poppies galore
Here's my wife amidst the poppies at the Poppy Reserve in Lancaster, California.

It was just meant to be. My friend, Scott Arany, went on Sabbath. So, on Sunday morning I was thinking about what we could do with our kids. I looked at the front page of the Sunday LA Times and there were the poppies. We braved temperatures in the low 60s and winds gusting in the 30 mph range.

Congrats, Rabbi Sharon Brous!

My friend Rabbi Sharon Brous was recently selected (again) as one of the most influential rabbis in America. She is the leader of the IKAR community. We met a year or so ago at an interfaith event at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. She is a young, emerging rabbi - part of the Synagogue 3000 movement that has many similarities to "Emergent" in Christianity.

In the recent Newsweek list of top rabbis in America, Rabbi Brous is listed...

9th of the Top 25 Pulpit Rabbis in America, AND...

30th of the Top 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America.

Mazel Tov, Rabbi Brous!

Hat tip: Bill Cork's Oak Leaves for drawing my attention to this. Rabbi Brous would never have told me herself!

Aaron Beaumont in concert

A friend of our community, Aaron Beaumont is having a concert on Friday night. Check out his music on his MySpace page and come out and support.

SONscreen fun

Click picture to enlarge

Well, SONscreen Film Festival turned out to be a great time. I got to meet people I've never met, reconnect with friends from around the country, and basically be inspired by an emerging crowd of young, talented filmmakers. We saw some really inspiring stuff along the way.

Of course, the highlight of the weekend for me was watching our worship team lead worship for the gathered group of festival-goers. I really enjoyed the opportunity to speak to the group and I think my message went over pretty well. I hope some of you that heard it might interact with it here. If you weren't at SONscreen, you can download the audio file below. I'd love to hear what you think.

Telling Our Stories (right click to "Save As") | More photos after the jump

See Stephen Eyer's post on Adventist Filmmaker.com

UPDATE: Here's another report by Adrian James from La Sierra University on the Spectrum Collegiate Blog.

I'm speaking at the SONscreen Film Festival

 

A week from today starts the annual SONscreen Film Festival at the Adventist Media Center in Simi Valley, California. This is festival bring Adventist Filmmakers together from all over the country and I would assume, from around the world.

My church and I are quite involved this year. Our worship team has been asked to lead the Sabbath morning worship and they asked me to give the message. If you're in the area you are invited to join in the worship service from approximately 10:00 am to Noon (all Sabbath AM activities are free and open to the public).

At least one of our members has an entry in the juried show and an entry in the pro show. There may be others of our members with entries as well.

It's an honor to be speaking on Sabbath. I hope I'll see some of you there.