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Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front - by Wendell Berry

                                  The first poem in the shoe!

Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more

of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery

any more. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something they will call you. When they want you

to die for profit they will let you know. So, friends, every day do something

that won't compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free

republic for which it stands. Give your approval to all you cannot

understand. Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest. Say that the leaves are harvested

when they have rotted into the mold. Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus that will build under the trees

every thousand years. Listen to carrion - put your ear

close, and hear the faint chattering of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts. So long as women do not go cheap

for power, please women more than men. Ask yourself: Will this satisfy

a woman satisfied to bear a child? Will this disturb the sleep

of a woman near to giving birth? Go with your love to the fields.

Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts. As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind, lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail, the way you didn't go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.

Marriage Equality Ratified in PCUSA -

to Become Effective 6/21/15

Tuesday, March 17th, the 86th presbytery voted in favor of amendment 14-F to the PCUSA Constitution, thereby insuring ratification of the amendment.  The vote now stands at 97-42-1. Amendment 14-F to the Directory for Worship of the Book of Order changes the definition of marriage from "a man and a woman" to "two people, traditionally a man and a woman" and thus opens the door to same gender marriages in the church with the full blessing of the church.  Eighty six out of 171 presbyteries needed to vote to ratify the amendment, which passed at our 2014 General Assembly.   

The vote on Marriage Equality aligns the church's constitution with a reality that has long been true: both same-gender and opposite-gender couples have been living in relationships that demonstrate covenant faithfulness, shared discipleship, and mutual love. We rejoice that all couples can now see those relationships solemnized before God and the Christian community in marriage, at the discretion of ministers and sessions.  Presbyteries will continue to vote on the amendment over the next few months, and the change will become effective June 21, 2015.

One Great Hour of Sharing Offering will 

be taken on Palm Sunday

A gift to One Great Hour of Sharing enables the church to share God's love with our neighbors-in-need around the world providing relief to those affected by natural disasters, providing food to the hungry, and helping to empower the poor and oppressed.

Feeding the hungry, helping people build up their own livelihoods, responding to disasters-these are all ways that your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing are changing lives, changing communities, and changing the world.

 

When we give this year, we give in faith-knowing that staff in the three One Great Hour of Sharing programs will be responding in Christ's name to the cries of our sisters and brothers throughout the next year. We trust that they will respond as they did in West Africa in the wake of the devastating Ebola crisis: immediately, directly, and through our partners wherever the emergency occurs. But equally important, we know that they will remain in areas of devastation long after the news cameras have moved elsewhere as they continue rebuilding both lives and communities.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance "Out of chaos, hope"

Presbyterian Hunger Program "Alleviating hunger and eliminating its causes"

Self Development of People "People investing in people"

For more information visit:  Special Offerings

Fellowship time is organized by your Deacons, but we rely on everyone pitching in to help. While each Parish is assigned a month for Fellowship, that time may not be convenient for your schedule. So now you can sign up online! Just click here and pick a Sunday that's most convenient for you.

April 2015:  Marie Ongaro's Parish

Sign up now before the good slots are all taken!

3rd annual "Church in the Redwoods"

Sunday, June 14th @ 1:00 pm

Samuel P. Taylor State Park - Redwood Group Picnic Site

BBQ available and kept going by the Peltzmans'. You provide what you want to BBQ and bring a dish to share. Water, iced tea, and decaf coffee will be provided. Other drink selections welcomed; there will be an ice chest available. We will plan to have an early dinner together and a camp fire after.

Other suggestions:

See you there!

Elder Linda Peltzman, 

Membership Nurture