Bay Shore Church - Sermons and News from Bay Shore Community Congregational Church in Belmont Shore, California.

Local author Laura Hillman; a Holocaust survivor was saved from death in a concentration camp by being on Oskar Schindler’s list. She will be our guest speaker in worship on June 15. Her book, “I Will Plant You a Lilac Tree” now in its eighth printing, will be available during coffee hour for sale at our cost. Save June 15 on your calendar. Middle & High school students will remain in worship that day to hear this special speaker.

Roy Bowen, Al & Marilynn Sykes, soul of Bill Robertson, Rich Elliott, Mike, all caregivers, victims, families & friends of cyclone in Myanmar/Burma & the earthquake in China, Bob Guerrero, Ben, thanks to God for answered prayers, God’s Grace, infinite love, & the promise of each new day, Judith Solorio, Danny Fairley, Bob & Sally Holemeyer, Carmen Sperry, Liz, Susan, all travelers, John Armstrong, Al & Esther Watts, Nita Painter, Doug Incledon, Amy Jensen, Kay Billings, Jan O’Smidt, blessings of good health results for surgical procedure this week, Betty Outten, Laurie Turley, Bob Elkins, Mary Ann Sandiford, protection for service men & women & their families, thanks to God for His blessings & a beautiful day, quick healing, soul of Dorothy Wallace, soul of Richard Cowan.

For the past ten years, I have had the pleasant responsibility of interviewing seniors at one of the eight high schools in the Long Beach area. The Kiwanis Club of Long Beach presents scholarships each year to two seniors at each of the schools. The scholarship presentation was made just a few hours prior to my writing this on May 20.

I know that a number of other charitable organizations in our city to which some of you belong provide similar scholarships, as does the Bay Shore Friends Club of our church. (See article on insert.) The Kiwanis Club’s emphasis is not solely on scholarship, but equally on demonstrated leadership. We want to recognize not only students’ educational accomplishments, but also their participation and leadership skills through school, church and community groups and events. Other groups’ scholarships may support those entering certain fields, such as drama, music, design, science, etc.

Some of the sixteen seniors who received scholarships at today’s luncheon have overcome obstacles that might have stalled others. One boy is the youngest of ten, and the first in his family to head off to college. One girl’s parents had to return to Mexico for a month to handle a family emergency when she was a sophomore. One month stretched into six. All the while, she ran the household back home, while maintaining As in all her classes. Some come from families without two parents to support them. In last year’s interviews, a senior, whose father had to take time out to retrain for another career, asked the boy to become the family breadwinner for a while. The boy continued to excel in school while working up to a managerial position in a fast-food establishment.

There are college and vocational school students who work their way through college. On any campus are a great number of students of every age who go to school at the same time as maintaining a full-time job and/or raising a family. For those of us who “sailed” straight through our higher education without some of those constraints, hats off to those who persevere in the face of many competing demands.

Speaking of graduates, it is time to start turning their names into the church office. If someone in our church family is graduating from high school, college or graduate school, let us know in the office. Give us their name, where they’re graduating from, where they’re going on to school, or, if completed, career plans. We like to list them in a June Carillon each year.

I know it always does my heart good to see the accomplishments of those who set their minds to prepare themselves for a future in our world, both through their faith and formal education.

Charlie Ensley
Senior Minister

May 25th – Bay Shore is fortunate to have among its musical instruments a seven foot harpsichord with two sets of eight foot strings and a buff stop (a rank of felt dampers that can be placed lightly against the strings). The instrument will be used for the prelude and during the service to accompany Megan O’Toole. The music for the prelude will demonstrate the three distinct sounds of this harpsichord: a single eight foot string for the first movement of the piece; a single eight foot string with the buff stop for the slow movement; and, the two eight foot strings sounding together for the last movement. We are grateful to Carl Duckworth and Ron Gagliano for their talents in building this exceptional instrument dedicated to God’s glory and given for the advancement of Bay Shore’s music ministry.

May our worship together in word and song nourish God’s love within each of us.

Within the past week, at least four disasters have occurred in our nation and the world. First there was the typhoon hurricane in Myanmar, killing tens of thousands. Next came a tornado in the Midwest, wildfires in Florida, and on Tuesday, a major earthquake in China, again killing a mounting number of people. As I mentioned in my prayers last Sunday, I am bothered to think that relief was sent to Myanmar, but because of a hermetic attitude on the part of their government, relief efforts were initially turned away.

It is remarkable in this country that when a disaster strikes—anywhere in the world—people want to respond. We saw that a few years ago when the tidal wave hit in Indonesia at Christmas. Currently, our government and charitable agencies like the Red Cross, Church World Service, World Vision and others are seeking to help in both Myanmar and China. Sometimes, because those charitable agencies are 1) already at work in certain areas, and 2) are not connected to a government, they have more initial success in providing aid.

We are horrified and sit transfixed in front of our televisions viewing the devastation. In some areas of China, 80% of the buildings are destroyed. Caring people, not only from the U.S. but throughout the world, reach out to render aid, whether monetary, medical, shelter, clothing, or long-term aid down the road when reconstruction and replenishment of agricultural resources begin.

Somehow this says to me that we might see ourselves not just as residents of Long Beach (or some adjacent city), not just residents of California or only as citizens of the United States of America. We sense ourselves to be global citizens, and strive to make lives better in far corners of the world among people we will never know, and might never visit.

I believe I see the hand of God in all of this. Not that disasters are “acts of God” as insurance policies like to claim. The message of the Genesis creation story, a portion of which we will hear this Sunday, entrusts everything and everyone that God created to the care of those of us who arrived here last on this planet Earth.

Charlie Ensley
Senior Minister

We will be serving the hungry at Christian Outreach in Action next Wednesday, May 21st. This month we have had a generous donation of Hamburger Helper. Please pick up a box or two this Sunday, May 18th. The only other item required is 1 lb. of hamburger per box. We also have a special brownie recipe. We need cooks and servers. Many hungry and homeless at COA know when Bay Shore is cooking, and look forward to our meals!

Thank you,
Melinda, Peggy and Linda

that our church is used by many other community groups? This spring, while the site of the Lagoon Playgroup is under construction, the preschoolers meet daily in the youth center and Christian Education wing. Weekly we host a Cocaine Anonymous and two Al-Anon meetings. On May 4, the adult spelling bee was held in the sanctuary. On May 10, the CSULB Chamber Choir had a concert there, and this Sunday afternoon the LBUSD Command Performance concert will be held here. On May 10, Justin Rudd hosted a charitable donation recognition dinner in the youth center. He holds the annual father-daughter and mother-son dances there.  Boy Scout troop 105 and a men’s basketball group meet in the youth center. Several local music teachers hold their recitals in the sanctuary each year. Weddings and memorial services for non-members are held there and in the chapel.

Jennifer Jordan, our new office manager, began Monday, May12, and overlapped this past week with Katy Collins. Jennifer will be taking her lunch from one to two o’clock, so there will be coverage in the office between Noon and one o’clock.

Fourteen 9th, 10th and 11th graders from the church were confirmed during worship on May 11. They worked with Charlie Ensley six Sunday afternoons since last September, and attended two weekend retreats at Sky Forest and Pilgrim Pines.

This Sunday, we will receive new members into our fellowship, as well as enjoy the Children’s Choir presentation of The Tale of the Three Trees. Immediately following worship will be the Annual Meeting of the Congregation, in which we will hear reports from the various commissions, and elect new officers and commission members for those whose terms are expiring. Nominated officers are Richard Landes, Moderator; Melinda Wells, Moder-ator-elect; and Linda Sumpter, Registrar. A quorum of 60 members is required to transact business.