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I have been a church leader for over thirty years. During that time, I have been to my share of Synod Assemblies. At their best, the church gathers to worship, govern, create policy, elect Bishops and officers, educate, grow in fellowship, proclaim the Gospel and set a direction for the future. The best times are when folk can debate difficult issues with dignity, celebrate local congregations, listen, share the diversity of the area here the Assembly is held, reunite old friends, vote on resolutions and leave feeling blessed. The more difficult Assemblies seem to function without clear boundaries. Those speaking forget dignity, the voting membership is required to be in a large hall where loud angry voices boom with opinions, introverts generally do not have a voice. This year our Assembly will be held at a time when our Bishop is being requested to resign by the Presiding Bishop. Some of you have contacted me to understand the details of this request. I am including links to documents that are helping me to understand the situation. Thank you for your comments and questions. Please pray for Randy, Julia Jean, me, and all those who will be in attendance at the Assembly this week. I will send you daily updates on the proceedings while we are there. Please pray for the Sierra Pacific Synod of the ELCA as we discern and make decisions If you have questions or comments please call or text me at 360-270-0295 or email me at revjilliross@gmail.com.
Peace, Pastor Jill

Bishop Eaton’s statement <https://www.elca.org/News-an> Pastor Hazel's response. <https://revhazel.wordpress.com/2022/05/27/time-waiting-and-responding-to-one-another/?fbclid=IwAR3FLFmXHkRRQcz3HQqs0ceJ0nPfAagpbyKS8pLEtmDN_qrptS7BH92zIBg> The response from the Listening Team

<https://files.constantcontact.com/0ecc03bb001/fb465da9-64fc-4687-9af0-8b1684c33548.pdf?fbclid=IwAR29PW6yrts__iNgO6jcEnv6mv9COd2nSiQQJZdfw_KMNz0ppAs8ICExrng&fs=e&s=cl>

A huge shout out to Noriko, Theo, and their amazing brunch crew who decorated, prepped, cooked, served, and cleaned up the LIRS fundraiser brunch for Ukrainian refugees who will be settling in the United States. Also, a round of applause for all the musicians: Rey, Daniel, soloists, ensembles, and choirs for providing inspiring entertainment. And finally, special thanks to Wanda for sharing in a beautiful table display of her Ukrainian heritage. It was a Sunday of celebration, fellowship while focusing on social justice by raising awareness and funds for people who have been forever affected by war. As your pastor, it was a joy to share a meal with you in the Great Hall for the first time. Since we are able to gather again it is so easy to see what we have missed the past two years when we couldn’t gather because of Covid. Thank you all for making this church the vibrant and inclusive place that it is.
- Pastor Jill

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Blog

5/23/2022

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Newsletter Article for May 23rd, 2022
Jerry Clark

As most of you know we had a very successful Congregational Meeting on May 15th, 2022. CGS voting members, by acclimation elected four new council members and Treasurer.
Welcome to council Lynn Hunger, Margaret Valliant, Isabel Coste, Robert Teufel and for an encore as Treasurer Jean Hope! I think you will all surely make a positive impact by giving of your time and talent to our congregation. Thank you!
So … what does the CGS council do?
Guided by our constitution, the council serves as the board of directors for CGS, providing direction, guidance, and leadership. The council is responsible for many areas of our church life, ministries, worship, evangelism, fellowship, property, social concerns, stewardship, youth, policy decisions and practices, etc. Meeting once a month, things start with a beginning prayer, the reading of the Behavioral Covenant, approving the previous agenda minutes, discussing current and new business, reviewing action items, and ending with a closing prayer.
The remaining obligations include writing one newsletter article during the year and making announcements a few times during the year. Not too bad of a commitment, it's not like you have-to-do something like sing!
You don't need to have prior council experience to be a mover and shaker in church leadership. So, if you want to better understand what makes CGS tick, next time elections are held, consider being on council and make a difference!

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Pastor's Blog

5/16/2022

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We soon will enter the liturgical season of Pentecost. In the book of Acts (chapter 2), before Jesus ascended into heaven, he left the disciples with his word that the Holy Spirit would fill them. His word must have seemed abstract and even more mysteriously joyful when it came to pass amongst signs of fire, wind, people understanding languages other than their own as one voice. In these weeks leading up to Pentecost I will be praying for wisdom to understand the things that have changed over the past few years and will be looking how to be filled with a new Spirit as I and we live into a time when we can’t necessarily do things “the way we always did.” Covid isn’t quite in the news in the same way it was when the pandemic was at its height, yet with a rapid increase in cases in the Bay Area, we will all have to mindful if their needs to be a change of protocol to keep us safe. Hopefully this uprise will calm down and we will be able to gather and reclaim and rekindle some of the simple pleasures of summer like sitting in the garden enjoying each-other’s company and coffee or shared meals, time to travel, vacation and relax and the opportunity to have late evening light conversations in a leisurely manner. For now, I love watching the butterflies dance outside the office window, the fragrance of late Spring flowers, songbirds songs, and the rapid growth of all the plants as they bask in the light.

- Pastor Jill Ross

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Breakfast Fundraiser

5/9/2022

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To donate online please visit:

https://www.lirs.org/give-now

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Safe Car Park

5/9/2022

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SafeCarPark@CGS

The SafeCarPark@CGS is over, and the guests have moved to the next location. Thank you CGS community for your efforts and support of this ministry. During the month we hosted 18 guests including several families made up of fathers and sons, a few couples, and a group of refugees who had just arrived in this area.

The outpouring of assistance and love to this ministry has been tremendous. It is because of the efforts of the volunteers that it came together. Thank you, check-in/check-out volunteers, to those who donated snacks, beverages, gift cards and made cash donations, and to those who hosted the Monday night dinners. Thank you, to Comfort for keeping the area clean, to Pastor Jill for her support , to Christina for being the onsite representative and making sure that things ran smoothly, and to members of the Property committee who got things set up and in working order for our guests. Thank you to the groups that use the CGS property. Many made contributions to help our guests.

This is the fifth time CGS has been a Safe Car Park site. It is the first time we have hosted post-COVID restrictions, and we did learn a few new things. Our facility is now open to rental groups and other church communities. We learned that sharing space takes a bit of effort and communication is critical. Parking is a big deal, and we had to share our parking space while making sure that the Safe Car Park guests felt safe. Monday night meals were a hit. There was always plenty of food, so anyone who happened by was invited to join in. The guests felt the love and generosity of everyone.

CGS will host the Safe Car Park again in the fall, probably in October. The Silicon Valley Safe Park network, of which we are a part, may be adding a few faith communities as hosting sites. If this happens, we may work with the new sites to get things set up in new locations. Working together, we hope to continue to provide a safe place for those whose circumstances have them living in their cars and needing help.

If you would be interested in learning more about the Safe Car Park program at CGS and working with the team, please contact us.

Again, thank you CGS community for your support, love and prayers.
Sarah Janigian
Chelsea Byom
Kevin Visscher
Rachel Visscher

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Pastor's Blog

5/2/2022

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Last September, I began a 9-month course at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary on Climate Change. Twice monthly, via Zoom, I have met with colleagues from Africa, Central America, Asia, North America and Europe to learn from each other about how climate change is affecting local communities, and how local congregations are coming together to discuss and plan action on devastation that has change their daily living. This next two weeks we will be coming together via zoom to share. My project has been to use visual art as an expression to open up conversation about climate change. The issue seems to be so vast that sometimes it is hard to know how to enter in to talking to each other let alone making action plans. Something magical happens when folks are encouraged to tell story around artwork. My own project is only in its infancy. I have been and will be asking folk to reflect on something they care deeply about that has already been lost or changed by climate change then to express that loss with an image or poem. From there I hope to teach people how to organize, share resources and plan action around issues unique to their community. I have made a series of mosaics and paintings that I hope to curate into a traveling show. I also invited a group of artist friends to submit pieces and now have nine pieces to share submitted by four artists. Most of the mixed media artwork deals with the devastation caused by wild fire and some deal with animal extinction. The mosaic making group from CGS/Prince of Peace Lutheran that gathered during Lent helped me begin a large community mosaic that will weave together themes of loss around climate change. I plan to travel with this mosaic and have people add to it during talks and workshops to follow. I am very excited that I have been invited to PLTS to preach this month and share some of the artwork. I also will be giving a workshop at our Synod Assembly in Sparks Nevada in June. I ask for your continued support and prayers as the Spirit continues to bring life to this work.

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May 01st, 2022

5/1/2022

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The Call Committee (Randy Presuhn, Chair, Paul Thomas, Sarah Janigian, Matt Byom, Adolfo Ramirez, and Julia Tranchina) has finally submitted our Ministry Site Profile (MSP) (after approval by the Church Council) to the Synod. In addition, our references have been received by the Synod. (Yes, as part of the MSP, the Synod requests that we ask several people to submit references about us.)
Our Bishop, who is in charge of this process for CGS, will look at our MSP. Unless our Bishop has any questions for us, the MSP will be made available for pastoral candidates to view and decide if they wish to submit an application for the CGS position. Once those applications have been submitted, five candidates that are felt to be the best fit for CGS will be sent to the Call Committee (along with all their pertinent information). We do not have a time frame for this process, but we will inform everyone as these developments occur.
Once the five names have been received, the Committee will have an initial screening interview with each one via phone or Zoom call to decide which candidates we might wish to bring here for an in-person interview. If none of the five candidates seems to be the right fit, we can ask Synod for additional candidates to be sent to us.
Please continue to keep the Call Committee and its work in your prayers.

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May 31st, 2022

Pastor's Note

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Pastor's Blog

Breakfast Fundraiser

Safe Car Park

Pastor's Blog

May 01st, 2022

Christ the Good Shepherd

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