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  South Hayward Parish workers preparing a breakfast for those  looking for work on Tennyson Avenue.

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Martin Luther King’s Birthday was celebrated

in Hayward by many friends.

 

About Our Minister

 

Our Pastor, John Wichman, came to Westminster Hills in May of 1993. Ten years later he was asked how he felt about working with what he describes as Òthis wonderful collection of disciples in this exciting and vibrant community”

"I write this as I sit in a community garden in a poor neighborhood in a midsize city in the San Francisco Bay Area. This garden is the joint effort of an interfaith coalition and the neighborhood collaborative of which it is a part. This small garden is tilled, planted, and harvested by 20 diverse neighborhood households: Afghan, Mexican, Guatemalan, African-American, single parent, same gender, Euro-American, Vietnamese. It is a real symbol of the vibrant potential of the global reality of what is urban America. Its existence and the dynamic of its creation is a real vision of the reign of God, or the communal expression of Divine or corporate presence of Christ in this world. This becomes the reference for describing the characteristics of any church or organization where I would want to work. It actualizes all the theologizing conjecture, biblical interpretations, doctrinal pronouncements about the vision toward which we strive as people of faith. In other words, a congregation whose mission is informed by the dirty and calloused hands, creatively challenged minds and open compassionate hearts.”

“I have herded cows in Spanish in Cuba. I have cursed rats in Cantonese in Chinatown San Francisco. I have sung New Yorican Doo Wop in small town night clubs in Puerto Rico. I have served the Eucharist on the run from the migra in avocado fields of southern California. I have case-managed developmentally disabled Spanish speaking school age children and recovering addicts. The closer I am to people who represent the rainbow of humanity, the happier I am. And I do what I can within the limitations of my musical skills of Afro-Cuban leanings to weave the rhythms of this colorful garden Earth into the celebration of life and its Giver in worship, even and especially by the River of Babylon.”

 

Andé’s Thoughts

 

My Church is Dreamy…

 

I was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling with this peaceful feeling hovering around me.  It felt so good.  I had just woken up from a slightly odd, but nonetheless, pleasant dream.  It went something like this:

 

              I was on the side of the freeway getting out of an old white van.  Some of us were busily putting on bright yellow rain gear.  We were approached by a stranger walking along (yeah I know it’s the freeway, but it was a dream so work with me here).  The stranger looked at us quizzically and asked what we were doing?  I replied with the eagerness of a small child on a field trip that we were…going to church.  After the stranger left, we all trekked down to the beach and began to clean the area.  The thoughts throughout my dream were that I wanted to be a part of a church that acted on their teachings.  I could feel the joy of that child on a field trip bubbling over me in my dream and I was so happy to have found my church.

 

In reality, I hadn’t thought about church in years and all of a sudden I have this dream.  I realized that my dream summed up what I desired in a church, even before I knew the desire existed.  Funny, how God works. 

 

Time passed and about a month later, John offered his church sanctuary to a few of us that wanted to build an altar for Dia de los Muertos.  His beautiful wife, TereZa offered to help us with the altar.  She provided colorful items and an invigorating energy that brought life to the table for the dead.  John asked if I wanted to perform a dedication ceremony and open up a circle?  Of course I would! 

 

The evening of the dedication, people showed up that I didn’t know.  Hmmm.  I didn’t understand who they were or how they heard about the altar?  When I started the dedication, everyone crowded around the altar intently.  We each introduced our loved ones to the group and in that process, bonded.  This is exactly how an altar is supposed to work, however I had never experienced it with these folks, so I was very intrigued.

 

John explained these people were members of the congregation.  When I heard this, I realized; these people let me, a stranger, into their Presbyterian home to practice a native, non-Presbyterian tradition.  These people not only welcomed me, but they sat down and shared their food, their family and their tears with me.  I was a stranger with a foreign tradition that they not only asked about but took part in.  I knew at that moment, that this was my kind of church.  These people were acting on their church’s teachings as freely and simply as they were passing the bread.

 

That was the beginning of our tradition that has since evolved into a Dia de los Muertos Altar/Day of the Dead Pot-Luck Dinner.  So now I welcome you as I was once welcomed.  The altar will be built by Wednesday October 24th  and open for contributions until the Pot Luck Dinner on November 1st at 6:00 PM. Please feel free to participate however you feel comfortable.

 

Andé Peña