Please join us for MCC San Jose’s annual Candlelight Christmas Eve Service at 10pm on December 24. Our Christmas Eve service will feature lots of Christmas carols, including a chance to sing “Silent Night” by candlelight. We will also have some special solo performances, Marge Burns will play Grace Baptist’s organ before the service, and Rev. Mike will share a short Christmas reflection.
Our friends from Grace Baptist Church will be joining us for this service – everyone is welcome!
Need directions? Please click the following link for information about how to get to our new location.
Please join us for the Walk for AIDS Silicon Valley on Sunday, October 18. The MCC San Jose Choir will be singing for the opening ceremonies around 9:30am, and the step-off for the walk will be at 10:00am. The walk starts at Discovery Meadow, at the intersection of San Carlos and Woz Way downtown.
There will not be a morning prayer gathering on October 18.
Please join us at 7:30pm on Wednesday, September 16, for the return of our monthly Taizé services. Our September service will feature the deep and beautiful music of the Taizé Community and our choir singing Anton Bruckner’s “Locus Iste.”
This will be our first Taizé service at our new home. We are now sharing a building with Grace Baptist Church, located at 484 East San Fernando Street in downtown San Jose. Please click here for directions.
For a complete set of dates for our 2009-2010 Taizé season, please click the following link to visit our Taizé page.
Please join us at 6:00pm on September 13 for a rare opportunity to hear and meet Troy Perry, a pre-Stonewall LGBT rights activist. Troy has been a leading voice for LGBT rights for more than forty years. As part of his recent work, he was one of the original plaintiffs in the lawsuit which resulted in the 2008 California Supreme Court ruling which made marriage legal in California before the passage of Proposition 8.
Troy will be speaking as part of MCC’s first evening worship service at our new location, 484 East San Fernando Avenue in downtown San Jose (Grace Baptist Church). Please click the following link for directions to our new home. Note: unlike our previous location, our new space is wheelchair accessible and has a parking lot!
Please join us after the service for refreshments and a chance to meet Troy.
a reflection by Rev. Sky Anderson
People ask me all the time, “What is MCCSJ?” To me, the question ought to be, “Who is MCCSJ?” Probably the best way to explain what I am trying to say is by giving an example.
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a reflection by Rev. Michael Patrick Ellard
“Would you like to deadhead some flowers? Or would you like to rake some leaves in the labyrinth?” My guide radiated enthusiasm as she whispered to me, “Raking leaves in the labyrinth, that’s really huge!”
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a reflection by Shirley Colson
In my life, prayer has been essential. Prayer is the very air that I breathe, the water I need every day to live, and the very blood that flows through my veins. Prayer is a lifeline, if you will, to my Creator. A way I can speak to Him freely and praise Him as I feel He should be praised. Prayer is that special time that I have with my Creator that no one can touch or judge. Prayer is where I can speak freely because God knows me; I am His creation. Prayer is so important to me that without it I could not be me; I would be incomplete. Prayer has helped me in my life during the sad times, the hard times, and the joyous times. It has been and has become such an essential part of my life that I cannot be separated from it. Prayer is what I do and prayer is part of me.
As far back as I can remember, God has been my best friend. I learned from a very young age that God loves me unconditionally and that God would never leave me. Little did I know just how important those two statements were going to be in my life. As I sit here, I start to think back over my childhood and young adulthood and realize how many times God saved me. I learned that through prayer I had my own little chatline with God and I used it as a lifeline.
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