We’re beginning to identify with the Psalmist who wrote, possibly during a long illness: Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror. My soul also is struck with terror, while you, O Lord—how long? (Psalm 6:2-3; see also Psalm 13) Laid off, furloughed, […]
In last week’s Messenger, I put out the challenge that we should not be satisfied to get back to normal, after this Covid-19 shut down is over, but rather, look forward to a new normal, a bigger and better normal, that God wants to bring us to. Then, this morning, I heard NY Governor Cuomo […]
That’s the feeling we have as we wait helplessly for the COVID-19 disease to work its way through our communities. Sometimes we have a feeling of dread — that the next phase will mean more deaths, that it will directly impact our family, that it will mean the collapse of the economy into a depression. […]
Because our religious traditions follow different calendars, Passover and our Christian Holy Week don’t always coincide,* but this year, when they do, is a good time to reflect on how they are related. It all started when God called a middle eastern tribe, known as the Israelites, who had been slaves in the Egyptian Empire […]
During these weeks when we can’t meet together in a normal worship service, we’ve tried to use on-line social media to create an inspiring virtual service at our usual meeting time, 11 am Sunday morning. We’ve done our best to keep all the familiar elements of our service — welcome, praise songs, announcements, receiving the […]
Maurine Georgiades has been part of the broader ABC family since the early 1950s. She’s now 93 years old and is pretty much homebound because she has severe respiratory problems and is dependent on breathing support. In the past few years, one of the church’s TLC groups has been meeting at her home to include […]
Dear Altadena Baptist Family, The state of California has issued their “Safer at Home” request. This means that, going forward, we will not be meeting in the church building. But that won’t stop us! Because the church is really all of us, united in spirit wherever we are, and we can still take care of […]
These days, watching the stock market fall is almost as scary as watching the number of coronavirus cases rise. There has been quite a bit of talk about a looming recession, and some economists are saying we’re already in one. Yesterday, I heard the word depression used to describe where this financial roller coaster is […]
Dear Altadena Baptist Family, Updates from governmental organizations, health organizations, local schools, and large churches throughout L.A. have led us to a few difficult, but (we hope) wise, decisions, in consultation with our Deacon Board. We do not take these decisions lightly, but we want to act in the best interest of our church family […]
This is the title of our Pre-Easter (Lenten) sermon series which began last Sunday. These will be studies based on the “Upper Room Discourse” of Jesus, as recorded in John 14 through 17. These are a series of important teachings Jesus shared with his disciples when he knew that “his hour had come to depart […]