I'm posting this for the simple reason of getting the word out that there is real Confessional Lutheranism in the East Bay. (Unfortunately, I have tried a few other websites for adding us to the list, but I seem to have this "black hole" effect with those websites. It's getting rather comical.) So here we go.
If you are within commuting distance to Richmond, CA, haul your butt over to:
Mount Zion Lutheran Church
5714 Solano Avenue
Richmond, CA, 94805
510-233-2299
email is: mtzionlutheran@sbcglobal.net
Our pastor is Rev. Tim Beck, and you can call him and say "LuLu sent me."
The he will say, "Oh my God, there's more like her coming...", hang up the phone, and run.
No, I'm kidding. And if you have no background in this stuff yet, hey, I didn't either. It's stuff out of the Red Hymnal mostly, and I still screw up where to sit and stand. Don't worry about it.
Service is at 10am, and there's a class on the Book of Concord at 8:45, then a detailed Bible study until 9:50. Not the usual, 'read the chapters and let's all BS about what it means to you' kind of Bible study, either.
Every Wednesday night at 7:30 for about 20 weeks from now, there is a Confessional-Lutheran-Reformation-Chatechism-study, runs until about 9 or 9:30pm. Some guest pastors will be coming later, too. And I usually make fudge or pasta salad or something.
The sanctuary is mauve, as is the bible study room. And the chairs....the pews....the carpets....but the people aren't. Hell, they let me in.
So the heck with the "clearing house", hopefully people will Google it here. Yay!!
Roundtable 43: Ordination and the Call (Smalcald Articles III X)
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At the time of the Reformation, it was important for there to be a renewed understanding of the extent of the authority of the Church's bishops and other aut...
1 month ago
19 comments:
LuLu,
I can't express how happy I am that you found a new church home, and a good one at that. It's too bad CA isn't in my plans for the near future; I'd love to come and visit.
When I posted this, I thought that it was too bad you didn't live around here, you would dig this place! Even to visit every once and a while.
I hope your church works things out....
So, how far is CA from Kuwait? Hmmm...nope, won't work. It's even too far from MO. LOL But I'd love to find a church like that.
LuLu,
Good to know! We in Southern California (well, who WERE in Southern California) just figured there was a vast black hole north of Ventura. Well, heck, that's how So Cal views No Cal anyway...
:)
Honestly, I am so encouraged by what I am hearing about confessional churches springing up in Cal/Nev/Hawaii.
So, what tint of sunglasses would I have to wear, if I came for a visit, so as not to have mauve permanently scorched into my retinas?
BTW, our new pastor (installed at the beginning of Sept.) is going thru some thick heavy basic doctrine stuff, too, and I'm loving every minute of it. We're doing Koehler's "Summary of Christian Doctrine." He says it took him two years to cover it all at his last church.
Rebellious Pastor's Wife - ha ha! That's how we think of So Cal! Seriously, whenever one of our members moves down their for jobs or schools or whatever, they can't seem to find a church within driving distance.
I know of a couple, but they tend to be more than an hour's drive away from where people end up.
There's a bunch around the bay area, but they are still also outnumbered vastly by those who are falling into the trap of "seeker sensitive" crap.
oops. there, not their - i used to not do that!
Red,
LCOS, Grace-SM, Messiah-Danville, Mt. Zion-Richmond...that's four out of what, maybe 50?
Where else?
(For you folk not in the area, the Bay Area is the armpit of the left coast of Synod.)(As it is politically.)
Ed, those are the other churches we share stuff with, and one of Red's pastors is coming up here for one of the talks.
Yeah, I thought it would bring encouragement to the folks who wish to see this happen!!
Southern Cal has got nutty Cwirla and Dago Donofrio, so they are good with them anyway. ;-)
The ones you mentioned plus: Trinity - Palo Alto, Our Savior's - Pacifica, Rollingwood Lutheran - San Pablo (although they're without a Pastor right now), Hope Evangelical - Fremont (just joined in English district)
Good Shepherd - San Jose and Trinity - San Jose are both questionable. They always used to be confessional. I know both their pastors and know Pr. Bestul considers them very good men. I think Good Shepherd still uses TLH even. A couple of families have joined us recently from there. One specifically said because now they are letting girls acolyte. Trinity, I'm not sure about, but their pastor has served as backup when we had only one pastor and he was on vacation.
I feel like I'm forgetting a couple more, but for sure the four I mentioned at the top are quite confessional.
The Bay Area's problem is that we're chock full of "new and novel" programs and they are willing to try just about anything. Plus a couple of the largest churches that also have schools are quite church growth oriented. Sadly, our school closed, but it was draining the church to half a mil a year where we were struggling to pay bills. And we had only 7 or so students above grade K committed to the following year. Our area, the neighbors sign up for JK and sometimes K and then go to public schools because they are so good. Grace San Mateo has a school, but I understand it's shrinking too for much of the same reasons. :(
LuLu, in So Cal there's a Pr. Hodel as well. From what I hear, he's confessional too. I also know his brother - the opera singer turned professor.
Well,
Cwirla - Hacienda Heights, Hodel - San Juan Capo, and Donofrio - Pasadena have all been mentioned. (Donofrio pastors at my husband's first congregation...he paved the way for him. They weren't confessional, and had a long history of extreme liberalism. They were confessional by the time my husband was called elsewhere. It takes a lot of love)
There also is Matthew Payne in Covina (or West Covina) Wiley Smith in Redlands (if you want to talk inland empire), First Lutheran San Fernando, Canoga Park Lutheran (but they are vacant, I believe), Shawn Stamm in Quartz Hill, Grace Ventura, Redeemer - Huntington Beach, I believe Gloria Dei is the one in Escondido, and Paul Wilweber in San Diego. There are others in SD, but it is a new development. I also know there is at least one more in the San Fernando Valley, but I don't know the name. My cousins just started attending. So, you might have to drive 25-30 miles to get to a good church, but they are there. And I am sure there are more.
One thing to realize also, is that different churches may be at different places in BECOMING confessional, and so sit down, take a look around, and learn what direction they are GOING, not insist on them being everything all at once. If they are heading in a confessional direction, the pastor would LOVE your support and encouragment. California is a confessional frontier, and GREAT things are happening. But you can't expect to walk in the door and find a clone of Cwirla's or Hodel's church right off the bat.
Look for solid doctrine and solid basic practice, and be tolerant of some things that you may not like. We had people that hated the LBW in our pews, but we WORSHIPED out of the bulletin, and they'd leave (they were a small congregation and didn't want to make a huge hymnal expenditure until LSB came out). We didn't have many kids (sometimes, just mine)...but if the families that came in had stayed for a couple of months, we would've had a great Sunday School. I don't like female acolytes either, but they aren't the mark of the anti-christ ....get enough boys in there to do it and give the girls another place to serve! Plenty of good confessional pastors would put that battle WAY down on their list of importance. Too many struggling confessional pastors know the heartache of trying so hard, having the hope of new people walking through the door and at first giving he assent, and then finding some thing, usually not associated with good doctrine or solid practice, drives them back out within weeks or months.
I would be curious to know if the people who are changing congregations told their pastor of their concern regarding acolytes. Often, people just disappear. I hope they did at least do that. If you must leave or have a problem, talk about it with the pastor before shopping for a new church! "I don't want to hurt his feelings" or "I don't think it will make a difference" is not a valid excuse...it is a false assumption - and a Christian responsibility.
Anyway, that was my rant for the week (as if I could limit it to only one)
I am so thrilled that the confessional community is growing in San Francisco (and everywhere else, too!) Woohoo!
Red,
Thanks for the clarification. Congregations I SHOULD have thought of, Particularly Trinity-PA and Rollingwood-SP.
Hope-Fremont is a new one to me. Is that a former WELS congregation?
Schools can be a drag. We're still plugging along at Zion-Piedmont after a couple of tough years. Enrollment is down again, and tuition is up again(!), and staff salaries have been frozen for two years. But we have a very active recruitment program administrator and the situation isn't critical...yet.
Yeah, half a mil can play havoc with a unified budget!
There also is Matthew Payne in Covina (or West Covina)OMG! How could I forget him!!! He's a "son" of our congregation and when visiting his family attends services here. I also had a little girls crush on him when I was 12-13. He was a cute artist at the time :D
I totally get your rant, and I hope they spoke with the pastor regarding that issue to. It's our Pastor's job to do that, and I'm certain he suggested they do that, but whether they did or not is not up to me. I think they voiced their concerns before leaving and were told "sorry, we don't have enough boys". (at least that's what i heard-ugh, i'm gossiping) I agree... get more boys in there and there won't be that issue.
Ed, Hope-Fremont was not WELS as far as I know. I believe they were independent the last few years and may have been with something else before that... or non-existent. Fremont was/is a growing community, so maybe they grew with it. Their webpage doesn't have history on it, so I couldn't find out.
As for our school, it wasn't just the budget, but a lot of other piddling things (and one i consider not so piddling, but jmo) and it was a hard decision discussed over several years, but it's gone and it doesn't look like a possibility of restarting unless the community around us changes a bit. We're trying in that respect, but have only had success with VBS.
EC: we are reading the Small Catechism that is annotated by Koehler. I haven't seen this one before. It has more stuff, pretty good.
By the way, any shade of glasses would help. Man, in the fluorescent bulb lights, the color is just making me violent.
Red:
That opera singer must be the one you and my pastor were referring to. (There are about three "Bohemian" Lutherans now!)
BTW, I think I am coming to your church for some talk in October....I will let you know.
RPW, I like what you said in the last comment of yours, too!
Emmanuel in Orange is solid with TLH worship. Pr Dargatz is a good friend.
BTW: I'll be heading out to San Jose next for OSCON '09. I'm hoping for a more positive church experience than what I went through last August.
That's right, I second a vote for Pastor Dargatz. He was my husband's professor at Concordia Irvine, which also possesses some VERY good confessional theologians.
Carol, I can't view your comments on your blog, I keep getting the 404 wiener dog.
Keep me in formed when you get over here!!
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