"WAFUDOGS" - April 21 & 22

Come and support our food booth at the San Francisco Cherry Blossom Festival on Saturday & Sunday 11am-5pm. We will be selling "Wafudogs" (Hot dogs served with a Japanese flare!) Check them out!! This is a Pine Fundraiser - we can use your help and support.

Sanctuary Clean-Up Day

Come and "Fung Shui" the sanctuary on Saturday, May 19th at 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Find out what is stored in the cabinets, drawers, shelves and behind closed doors in the sanctuary. Get read for Spring!

Worship Commission Meeting

There will be a Worship Commission meeting on Sunday, April 15th, 12:30 p.m. in the Lounge. Anyone interested is welcomed to attend. - Lynn Barbaree, Chair.

CA-NV Philippine Solidarity Study Group

Interested in learning more about the human rights situation in the Philippines? The CA-NV Philippine Solidarity Task Force of the UMC will be hosting Study sessions every first Saturday of the month. It is a time for education and reflection which informs our faith in action. All those interested are welcome, no matter what your level of knowledge of the situation or history.

The next one will be on Saturday, May 5 at Pastor Jeanelle's home. For more information please email her at pastorj@pineumc.org.

Relaxation Techniques

Soko Bukai is inviting all church folks to a session led by Rev. Stina Pope in Meridian Tapping, a valuable, effective, and simple relaxation technique.

Sei Ko Kai (Christ Episcopal Church) on Pierce & Clay on Sunday, May 6 at 12:20pm. There will be a light lunch at 11:45am before the program. For more information, please contact Pastor Jeanelle.

Message From The Pastor

I hope that this season of Lent gave you much opportunity to deepen your spiritual walk with Christ - from remembering our mortality on Ash Wednesday, mourning on Good Friday, to wards resurrection on Easter Sunday. We will be celebrating Easter at Pine with a combined (Japanese and English) Worship Service that includes Communion, Flowering of the Cross, and the reception of new members into our church family! We will also be having special activities, snacks and an Easter Egg Hunt for children. It’ll be a great time for family, for those living away from family, and for those who have non-traditional families, to come together as one big family in Christ.

Speaking of coming together as family in Christ, the General Conference (GC) of the United Methodist Church is coming up in Tampa, Florida. GC occurs every four years. Delegates, composed of clergy and lay, come from all over the US and the Central Conferences (Africa, Europe, and the Philippines) to wrestle with legislation of the United Methodist Church. This means changes to the UM Book of Discipline, Book of Resolutions, and Social Principles Our Annual Conference nominated our very own Emily Alien to be a lay delegate to GC. This means she will be able to vote and have voice for very important legislation. It’s a privilege for us at Pine to have one of our members represent!

I will also be going as an observer-monitor for the NFAAUM (National Federation of Asian American UMs), sponsored by the NJAUMC (National Japanese American UM Caucus). I will not be able to vote, but will be observing how people will be discussing legislation - who gets to speak up, what arguments are being raised for and against proposed legislation. There will be a send-off for us on Sunday, April 16 during worship. If you’d like more information on GC, such as what are controversial or pressing issues this time around (i.e. LGBTQ inclusivity, restructuring of our de nomination, clergy guaranteed appointment, etc.), please do not hesitate to ask, It is part of our commitment in participating to keep our congregation informed. We will be having a GC Report back some time after we return.

Pine is also looking forward to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown in SF. Pine’s own Megumi Yoshida is a nominee for Cherry Blossom Queen. I hear she isn’t the first from Pine, but it has been a while. Thanks to her participation, our faith community has come together in supporting her, has given us more investment in the festivities, and will benefit our first-time Wafudog stand, headed by Prosper Chee and Daniel Goto. Our presence at the Cherry Blossom Festival will be a reminder to the community that Pine is still around, active, and a vital part of the community.

Last month, one of our members, Narissa Lee, had a showing of her short film, “The Arrival,” in the 2012 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Her film features a few members of Pine and is a satire on LGBTQ inclusivity in an Asian American church. It lets the wider community know that Asian American Reconciling Churches do exist. Although Pine is the main church featured, the film mentions the steadily growing number of Asian American Reconciling Churches in Aldersgate UMC, Buena Vista UMC, and Berkeley Methodist United.

As Lent comes to a close, we see that activity at Pine is going to pick up quickly. I pray that Lent has been a restorative time to prepare us for new, resurrected energy in our ministries as a community and in our faith lives as individuals. I also pray that we are all able to find time, in between all these activities, to allow ourselves times to connect with God, so that we can continually find that comfort, strength, hope, and patience to keep walking the walk of being a loving, faithful, and embracing community.

Pastor Jeanelle