Thursday, November 07, 2013

A Prayer for the San Francisco Peninsula

I will listen to what God the LORD says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—but let them not turn to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land…Faithfulness springs forth from the earth…and our land will yield its harvest. Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.  Psalm 85:8-13

Before reading your regularly scheduled Gmail, would you please consider joining the body of PCC tonight at 7pm for our monthly prayer meeting?  We will be in the Worship Center.  Record the Stanford–Oregon game, (Stanford is going to win anyway!) and you can watch it after our time together! Now on to the Gmail...

On Sunday I chose not to go to church!  I was not alone; 14 key leaders (paid and unpaid staff) at PCC made the same choice! It's not that we were slackers; we gathered at 7:45am, huddled in a room and didn’t emerge from that room until 5:45pm. So while we didn’t go to church, our day was spent as the church, engaging all our hearts, souls, minds, strengths and spiritual giftedness laboring for PCC and for the Peninsula.

Most of you reading this will not be surprised to discover that there is so much more to PCC than Sundays. Sundays are the critical catalytic expression of our mission, but Sundays are not THE mission of PCC.  Our new Leadership Team (formerly called the Council) met with a fierce, courageous resolve to look through the eyes of faith into the future, beyond Sunday if you will, and lay the foundation to lead us strategically into that future.
Our worship gathering that morning focused on Psalm 85 and we imagined what Redwood City and the greater Peninsula would look like living within the favor of God. We asked God for the following from the closing verses of the Psalm:
  • That His glory may dwell in our land: The closest thing to God’s heart is God’s glory! It’s our only reason for existing as His children. As His church, we want it to be said that because of our existence, God’s glory grows on the Peninsula.
  • That faithfulness springs forth from the earth: I love this metaphor! We prayed that from the SF peninsula, because of PCC, faithfulness would grow.  Faithfulness is an endangered trait in our day--between people as well as between God’s creation and God.  We want to change the atmosphere in this area.
  • That our land will yield its harvest: The Bible speaks often of the metaphor of harvest.  We prayed that because of PCC, the Peninsula would yield a harvest of disciples and laborers (Luke 10:2) who experience grace, transformation and growth in Jesus’ name.
  • That we prepare the way for His steps: One day Jesus is coming back! Our hope is fully set on that day (1 Peter 1:13). In light of that, we prayed that PCC be aligned with preparing everybody on the Peninsula for the imminent return of Jesus Christ.
So now you know why I chose not to go to church!  In the coming weeks and at our annual congregational meeting on December, you will hear of the plans and intentions for the next 3-5 years, I think you will be excited. Until then, would you please join us in praying these four bullets from Psalm 85 over your life as well as over the people of PCC?
 
By the way, it is a testimony to the gifts and abilities of all the pastoral staff at PCC that all three Sunday gatherings didn’t miss a beat this past Sunday. This coming Sunday we continue our ID series, looking at the fact that in Christ, we are saints!  You won’t want to miss it. And while you are here on Sunday, walk across our brand new bridge that opened ahead of schedule!  Thanks be to God for that gift!

I love being your pastor!