If you could change...A meditation on the mystery of Easter
by Pastor Bea

In our household we have a little joke. When I come home from work, I often announce that I am going to the bedroom “to change”. And whenever I make this announcement we jokingly speculate: change how? my gender? my temper? my personality? my looks? Will I still be recognizable when I emerge from the bedroom? But then I always reappear as the same old me, only with sweatpants and a sweatshirt instead of slacks and a blouse.

But what if I could really change? What if I could change more than the clothes I wear? In what ways would I want to change? What about you? If you could change, how would you want to change? And is it even possible? Can human beings ever really change? This seems to be an ongoing debate among the helping professions.

Sometimes people change if there is enough motivation, or if they have a good support system, or if the pain of staying with the old patterns becomes unbearable. Sometimes people grow and evolve as they encounter great challenges and overcome them. Sometimes people seek out therapy and counseling or learn behavior modification techniques. Sometimes people acquire new skills which help them overcome limitations. And moving into a new environment can bring about change as well. In all these many ways people sometimes move – by luck or intention – from an old self to a new one.

And in the midst of all of this the Gospel holds a strange and mysterious promise: That our future selves have already been created! They are ready for us to grow into, like a child eventually grows into that beautiful new outfit which is still several sizes too big.

This strange and mysterious promise is the promise of Easter. On Easter we celebrate not only the resurrection of Jesus, but also our own resurrection into a new life in Christ. In the scriptures we read that Christ died and rose again so that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who for our sake died and was raised. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, s/he is a new creation (or rather a new creature as the text says literally). Old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new (2. Cor. 5).

This new creation is not something magical or supernatural. It is a new way of living based on the teachings of Christ: A way of justice and compassion and forgiving. Already we can live this new way of life in the midst of our old. Sometimes we can manage it only a minute, and then the old ways take over. But as we help each other to stay more and more with the new way of living we become transformed over time. Slowly we become what we have already been created to be! That is the mystery and gift of Easter!

Lenten and Holy Week Schedule

Soup Song and Sacrament—Wednesdays in Lent We continue gathering Wednesday evenings in Lent from 6:30-8. We will are sharing a meal, songs and the Sacrament. Various groups are slated to prepare the soup; you can sign up to bring a salad or bread. A sign-up sheet is in the entry area.

Fridays in Lent Every Friday throughout Lent we offer readings and prayers using the Stations of the Cross in the Sanctuary.

Welcome to our new members!

In March, we received 10 new members! Click here to read more about who they are.

ELCA World Hunger
by Shirley W.
Throughout this Lenten season, the Social Action Committee will be introducing some creative ways to raise money for ELCA World Hunger. ELCA World Hunger responds to hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world by addressing root causes. Through a comprehensive program of relief, development, education, and advocacy, people are connected to the resources they need to lift themselves out of poverty. Between 70-75 percent of ELCA World Hunger funds are spent internationally, and 20-25 percent are spent domestically.

Donations collected at the Wednesday evening, “Soup, Song, and Sacrament,” services will be given to support the work of ELCA World Hunger. Donations may also be made at any time during Lent by indicating ELCA World Hunger on your offering envelope. In addition, the Sunday School children will be leading a noisy offering on Palm Sunday, April 17th. Start saving your loose change for this special opportunity to involve the children in helping some of the 925 million people in the world who will experience chronic hunger this year.

To help visualize our fundraising efforts, for every $10 raised, the Sunday School children will be given a paper chick to decorate and house in the chicken coop located in the narthex. A $10 donation is significant because it could purchase 10 downy chicks to help a family in Mexico start an egg business, changing the course of their lives and breaking the cycle of poverty.

To learn more about ELCA World Hunger visit their web site: www.elca.org/hunger.

Fair Trade candy for Easter
by Chelesa M.
Why are we selling Fair Trade Chocolate candy for Easter? Since September 2002, fighting in Côte d’Ivoire, once regarded as the economic success story of West Africa, has claimed thousands of civilian lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. More than 40% of the Ivoirians now live in poverty. Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s biggest producer of cocoa, the main ingredient for chocolate. Yet few of the billions of consumers of chocolate around the world are aware of the role that the cocoa trade has played in the armed conflict and political crisis in Côte d’Ivoire in recent years. Global Witness’ report “Hot Chocolate: how cocoa fuelled the conflict in Côte d'Ivoire” shows how over US$118 million from the cocoa trade has funded both sides of the recent armed conflict in Côte d'Ivoire. Much of the world’s chocolate is grown in developing nations by poor farmers. 70% of the world’s cocoa production is grown in West Africa, with the Ivory Coast producing approximately 40% of the world’s estimated 6.5 billion pound crop of cocoa beans.

In 2006, Lutheran World Relief and other organizations invested in Divine, the first farmer-owned chocolate brand in the world. Kuapa Kokoo also owns shares and two of the cooperative’s members sit on the board. Kuapa has meaningful input into Divine business decisions and, as shareholders, the farmers receive a portion of the profits from Divine sales. By purchasing Fair Trade chocolate we are not apart of the above conflict and we are helping the farmers get a fair price and access to health, environmental, and educational benefits for their community funded by Fair Trade. For more information on this project visit lwr.org/chocolate.

FISH
by Shirley W.
Recently we received a letter from Madelyn Scocca, Coordinator for South Bay FISH thanking our congregation for their generous giving to FISH in 2010. FISH is an ecumenical program that provides food and services to those in need. As a congregation we provide two food bags each for ten families a month plus baby food and formula. This is done through your designated donations of food or money to FISH. At the end of the year we send them a check of the designated funds not spent. This year they were thrilled to receive $2500. With the economic problems they are serving more people. In 2010 762 families were served {up 51 over 2009}, this included 3345 individuals. They gave out 83 baby kits. In 2010 they spent $8978 on purchases of food and expenses for the program. The food we bag once a month is delivered to Transfiguration Catholic Church by the OFs where it is given out. A family can receive food once every two months if they qualify for the program. A list of the food we put in the bags is on the kiosk door and donated food can be put inside the kiosk. South Bay fish is very appreciative of our donations. Keep up the good work!

Other food programs we support are Second Harvest Food Bank and healthy ready to serve soups for Health Connection’s Food Basket Program for low income persons in our community who have AIDS or are HIV positive. The basket for soups and the Second Harvest barrel are near our bulletin board in the narthex.

It's time for Spring Cleaning!
by Steve W.
Our annual spring cleaning day will be Saturday, April 9th from 9:00 – noon. This is part of our preparations for Easter where we tackle projects that aren’t on our normal cleaning schedule. We’ll have a list of tasks but if you have a special area you would like us to address, please let the office know. One focus this year will be de-cluttering the facility. If you look around you will boxes and “stuff” piling up in corners, hallways and on shelves all over the building. We want to get this under control, by organizing or disposing of unneeded items. So, if you or your ministry have items stored about, please make sure they are labeled or let us know they are things you want to keep, otherwise they may be donated or otherwise disposed of. The more hands we have the lighter the work, so please consider coming and helping on 9th. A continental breakfast will be provided.

Second Mile Giving for April is PLTS

The 2nd Mile Giving for April is designated for our seminary in Berkeley, the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary or PLTS. The average annual financial need of a PLTS Seminarian is $27,676. Congregational gifts help make seminary affordable for future church leaders. PLTS was founded in 1950 and is the only Lutheran seminary in the western half of the United States. Some other interesting facts about PLTS:

• Phyllis Anderson, the seminary president, is the first female president of PLTS and of an ELCA seminary.
• Students receive four orienting perspectives guiding education include: Lutheran Identity, Multiculturalism, Public Sphere, and Religious Pluralism.
• 77% of PLTS students are studying to be pastors.
• The student population is nearly balanced with women and men.
• An equal numbers of students are recent college graduates and 2nd career students.
• The T.E.E.M. (Theological Education for Emerging Ministries) program has grown from 19 to 64 students in the last six years.

CGS is Turning the big 4-0!

CGS is going to be celebrating 40 years in May so please look into your old drawers for any pictures you might have of anniversaries, baptisms, weddings, or any other celebration that happened at CGS over the last 40 years. Please send your pictures in an envelope with your name on them so they can be returned to you in good condition after being scanned. Send them to Laura please.

Thrivent Builds night at the San Jose Giants game

Join Thrivent Financial and Thrivent Builds for a night at the ball park. The San Jose Giants will be playing the Stockton Ports May 14th. See Janet or Dave for tickets. Donations of any size will get you tickets to the game. Once in the game, being a special ticket holder, you will get a free hot dog and soda and other goodies. Habitat for Humanity will also have a large wooden beam where everyone can pound in a nail or two. Also available at the game, for a donation of $40, bbq chicken or ribs served on the Martinelli Deck, a designated patio area near the third base line. Take me out to the ballgame!

W.E.L.C.A.
by Suzanne B.
WELCA will meet April 17th after church to hear Jean discuss woman owned business. We will conclude organizing the chapter by adopting the constitution and electing officers. Final decisions are due on the Triennial Gathering in Spokane.

Yoga at CGS discontinued

Yoga classes at the church have discontinued. Our instructor was wonderful and many of us got so much from the experience. I, for one, will no longer think of yoga as just pretzel bending and “ohm-ing.” The instructor that came here has a studio of her own and some of us will go there to continue yoga. If you wish to as well, contact the office and we can give you the address.

Book Discussion Group

A book group is currently gathering after service on Sundays in the church library to listen to/read and discuss Karen Armstrong’s new book, “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.” All are welcome. Ms. Armstrong is a British Author with a degree from Oxford and has written over 20 books on religion including several on the world’s major faiths. The desire to be compassionate resides in all of us; Karen Armstrong spells out the steps. She claims that all of us, regardless our faith tradition, have developed our own version of The Golden Rule, “Do on to others as you would have them do on to you,” and that we all need to work on ways to cultivate and expand our capacity to be a more compassionate person in our every-day lives. The Charter for Compassion is her latest interfaith effort to promote these principles. The charter is guided by the Council of Sages, a multi-faith, multi-national group of religious thinkers and leaders; it can be viewed at http://www.charterforcompassion.org. Over 68,017 have affirmed the Charter so far.

April Good News

In this issue:

Pastor's article-If you could change...
Lenten and Holy Week Schedule
Welcome New members
ELCA World Hunger
Fair Trade Easter Candy
FISH
Spring Cleaning
Second Mile Giving-PLTS
CGS is turning 40!
Thrivent Builds night at the SJ Giants
WELCA
Yoga at CGS discontinued
Book Discussion Group