Peter's Message

Dear Friends,

By the time you read this, Easter will be around the corner. For me now, though, Lent is here and Lent is on my mind. No church season is more focused on spiritual growth. Often it’s couched in terms of sacrifice, of giving things up. In the past I’ve given up chocolate, desserts, even coffee – garden variety sacrifices. Frankly it has never done much for me. I go right back to my cravings feeling only temporarily righteous. I would tell myself that giving up such things for Lent is a reminder of what Jesus gave up, his life. This year, however,  I’ve thought more about why he gave up his life -- that we have fullness of life. More life, not less. So this Lent I’ve thought less about sacrificing and more about enjoying. Not that I’ve doubled my chocolate intake or stepped up my caffeine habit. Instead I’ve been noticing blessings. The scent of orange blossoms. Hugs from children. Hymns and songs on Sundays. The quiet courage of FPC members dealing with illnesses and setbacks. How things seem better after a good night’s sleep.

I’ve also been noticing items I’ve come across in my reading that have struck me as helpful and true. In an article by a favorite author, Richard Foster, I’ve learned a new term -- “heart-work” – how we go about purposely inclining ourselves toward God. It’s a centuries-old term actually. Foster quotes a seventeenth-century English Puritan, John Flavel, who observes that the “greatest difficulty in conversion, is to win the heart to God; and the greatest difficulty after conversion, is to keep the heart with God… Heart-work is hard work indeed.”

How true. Yet in opening ourselves to God through the practices of our faith – healthy habits such as worship, prayer, receiving the sacraments, showing compassion and justice (in ways large and small), providing hospitality, and listening to others – we engage in heart-work that is genuine and joyous. Richard Foster notes its effects: “We enter a new firmness of life orientation. We experience a life of unhurried peace and power. We begin seeing everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good. And most amazing of all is the abiding, unconditional warm regard we feel for all people.”

May we all be amazed by that. And may our church be known as a community of friends where all people receive the gift of an unconditional warm regard.

Yours in faith,

Peter

Special Gifts Campaign Carnival Is On May 17th
This is a friendly reminder to come one, come all to the Special Gifts Campaign Carnival!  The fun begins at 11:30pm on Sunday, May 17, in the downstairs courtyard. You DO NOT have to RSVP for this event.  Just come and have some fun!!! 

Kidney Needed by 54 year old Church Member Lea Williams 
      When your kidneys fail, you find out how much they do and how crucial they are.  Simply, with failed kidneys, your choice is dialysis or death.

      My kidneys failed because of a rare auto-immune disorder called Microscopic Polyangiitis.  With MPA, your blood decides that the lungs and kidneys are foreign and attacks them.   It's an immune defense gone haywire.

      My MPA diagnosis came in 2002 at the age of 54.  Since then, the disease returned--each episode damaging my lungs and kidneys a bit more. In October 2007, I got the worst news:  my kidneys had failed.  I forced myself to not cry and went into the hospital the next day.

      A year and a half after my kidneys failed and that I have been undergoing dialysis to cleanse my blood instead of my kidneys, I can't say that I've gotten used to it.  I spend three hours each dialysis session, four times a week. The 12 hours a week or 624 hours a year I spend in a chair with a machine whirling next to my body is depressing and unimaginable to most people. 

      Also, although I am on Medicare (automatically available to kidney patients), dialysis costs the patient, too.  At $950 per session, it adds up to $148,000 per year for which I have to pay.  And that doesn't count all the drugs.

      The one way to end the waste, unhappiness and expense, at this point, would be kidney transplantation.  Without a living donor, the wait (if I live that long) is estimated to be seven years.  That would be over a million dollars for dialysis.  Yikes!

      So I'm asking healthy men and healthy women, past childbearing age, to consider donating a kidney.  Your offer would be indescribably huge.

      Recent research has shown that people who have donated a kidney actually live longer than those who have two kidneys! Currently there are 16,000 people waiting for a kidney in California. In Los Angeles, which is the nearest place to have a kidney transplanted for me, there is a waiting list of 2,000 at UCLA and 500 at Cedars Sinai.

      If you want to know more before you make such a brave, generous offer, please call: 
UNOS, 800-292-9548; or
Cedars-Sinai Transplant Program, 310-423-2641 or visit www.matchingdonors.com.
      And, of course, feel free to talk to me - 805-965-8510. 
Thank you, Lea Williams 

PresbyFolks Visits Santa Barbara Zoo
On Saturday, March 28, our PresbyFolks group rode in the van to the Santa Barbara Zoo for a tour and lunch. The "behind the scenes" tour was led by Zoo Veterinarian Karl Hill, who gave us an hour-long, fascinating look at the surgery room, food preparation areas, gibbon areas, and other parts of a most incredible facility. Thanks to Dave Ardell for arranging this trip and to Cynthy Ardell for a most delicious picnic lunch. To find out how you can get involved in PresbyFolks activities, check our website page or call Juleine at the church 687-0754.

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Dr. Mary Mikhael Describes Work of Near East School of Theology
At a luncheon after church on March 29, Dr. Mary Mikhael gave an interesting overview of the work of NEST, the Near East School of Theology. This is a program supported by our Mission Outreach, and it was great to hear of the wonderful ways lives are touched through NEST programs. Dr. Mikhael presented the church with a beautifully embroidered Communion table cloth. Be sure to notice it this Sunday.

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Receptionist Carrie Bustillos Maintains Church Calendar
To find out what's going on at First Pres, all you have to do is check out our calendar. With our receptionist Carrie Bustillos taking on the work of keeping the calendar up-to-date, you are now able to see what's going on, where meetings are held, and lots more. Check out our calendar by visiting our website and clicking on the Calendar link.