HOLLYWOOD INDEPENDENT CHURCH - UCC

HOLLYWOOD INDEPENDENT CHURCH

 

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WELCOME FROM THE PASTOR

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Reverend John Varga, Pastor

WELCOME
MAY 2010

Dear Friends,    
 

Recently we celebrated Pacific Island Asian American Ministries (PAAM) Sunday. Once again it was a time for us to celebrate together our heritage and the history that has caused us to be who we are today. We share some of this history with many other Pacific Rim related cultural groups that are a part of our PAAM organization. Over the years we have begun to appreciate that we at HIC are no longer the mono-culture Japanese church we began as. Now we also have in our midst Hawaiians, Filipinos, Hispanics, African Americans, and a few Anglos. Further more we often have guests and visitors from still other cultures such as China and Guam. The reality is that we are clearly a Multi-cultural church. Yet in truth this may be easier to say than to do. While for many churches having so many different groups under one roof is the perhaps the first most difficult hurdle, since we have clearly accomplished this we are now onto other hurdles.

How can we take the time as a group to learn more about and appreciate the history, art, politics, beauty, and even differing spiritual histories of each other’s cultures so that we all might find our lives enriched and our spirituality deepened? While we do a great job of sharing cooking for one another and sharing recipes appreciating another’s culture requires one to go deeper. Just as once PAAM addressed our entire denomination about becoming more open to and sensitive to the tremendous gifts the PAAM churches had to offer, so now must we look to one another to find the hidden treasures in our midst. We here at HIC have a unique opportunity to be a model for the larger church of what a “multi-cultural” church can be.  
    
The early church had many difficulties due to the fact that in the midst of living out their spirituality ion the new “Way”, that Jesus had taught, they also found themselves overwhelmed by people of different cultures. While many (but not all) practiced the same faith (Judaism) they came from different lands and spoke different languages.  As “The Way” of Jesus spread through the land the early church was shaped by these differences. Yet as others saw the diversity it helped them know that there was room in this new movement for them as well. Some kept the traditional dietary standards while others did not. Worship practices reflected some of the home culture as well. Again and again we see the church growing and changing as it moves through the land.     
On May 23 we will celebrate Pentecost together, what many understand as the “birthday” of the church. On this day the magnitude of the multicultural nature of the church became clear as we read in the book of Acts 2:1-21. Let us take the opportunity on that day and into the future to not only lift up the living God we share in common, but also to celebrate the richness of our diversity and how each of us can find deeper and richer spiritual lives as we learn from one another. 
Blessings,

                 John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please feel free to contact me at any time. I will respond as promptly as possible.