Pastor’s Column

May 21, 2026

My dear church family,

This Sunday we will join with our partner congregation, the Alameda Korean Presbyterian Church, to celebrate Pentecost. Please remember that the service starts at 11:00. Also, wear red as a reminder of the Holy Spirit dancing on the heads of the disciples like flames of fire!

Our Old Testament scripture is from Ezekiel 37 where God commands the old, dry bones to get up and live! I have entitled my sermon, “Can These Bones Dance?” as a way to explore both the gift and the responsibility of receiving the Holy Spirit in our lives. As a special treat, two dancers from the “Wings of Shalom” will be with us to evoke the movement of the Holy Spirit as they dance with their large flags.

This will be a wonderful Sunday to invite neighbors and family members to attend with you. The sanctuary will feel full as both congregations come together. The theme will be joyful and, God willing, impactful. The service will have more music than usual and, of course, the dancing will be beautiful

The above picture is of a church in the 9th Ward of New Orleans taken by Bruce Johnson. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005. Heavy rain in 2007 caused further damage to the already ravaged city. Bruce and others from this congregation were on a mission trip in 2008 when Bruce spotted this church.

The dilapidated sign asked, “Can these bones live?” It continued with the words of the prophet Ezekiel relaying the words of God who said, “Watch this: I’m bringing the breath of life to you and you’ll come to life.”

Bruce shared the photo with me many years ago. At the time, the FPCA congregation had been through some tough years. Bruce had been a member of the congregation for decades and remembered the wonderful years of a large and active congregation. Now he wondered if FPCA was heading for shuttered windows like the New Orleans church.

I am grateful to God that FPCA never did get to the point of “dry bones.” God has sustained this congregation and has blessed not only those who worship here, but the community around us.

Author Joyce Rupp wrote the following poem based on the Ezekiel scripture.https://odtd.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Joyce-Rupp-Holy-Spirit.ODTD_.pdfAs you read it, I encourage you to imagine the Holy Spirit’s involvement.

 “May I Have This Dance”

there I am in Ezekiel’s valley,
one heap among many,
just another stack of old, dry bones.

some Mondays feel this way,
and Tuesdays, too,
to say nothing of Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

lost dreams and forgotten pleasures,
sold like a soul to a gluttonous world
feeding on my frenzy and anxious activity.

but just when the old heap of bones
seems most dry and deserted,
a strong Breath of Life stirs among my dead.

Someone named God comes to my fragments
and asks, with twinkling eye:
“May I have this dance?”

the Voice stretches into me,
a stirring leaps in my heart,
lifting up the bones of death.

then I offer my waiting self to the One
who’s never stopped believing in me,
and the dance begins

Enjoying the dance,
Pastor Cindy

1 Rupp, Joyce. May I Have This Dance, Notre Dame: Ave Maria Press,1994, pg. 11-12.