Margareth Valui
Family Life Pastor
October 2016

"At the very beginning, and all through the Bible, all through the stories about God and his people, there are stories about food, about all of life changing with the bite of an apple, about trading an inheritance for a bowl of stew, about waking up to find the land littered with bread - God’s way of caring for his people; about a wedding where water turned to wine - Jesus’ first miracle; about the very Last Supper - the humble bread and wine becoming, for all time, indelibly linked to the very body of Christ, the center point for thousands of years of tradition and belief. It matters. It mattered then, and it matters now, possibly even more so, because it’s a way of reclaiming some of the things we may have lost along the way." - Shauna Niequist (Bread and Wine)

Faith, Food, Fellowship and Fun are the words that jump out to me when I think of the Sunday Cooking Life Group! We are so fortunate to have gifted people, like Prof. Haze, Head of the Culinary Department at Mission College, who brings hospitality into our midst. We developed new friendships and deepened old ones as we learned and shared new recipes. Everything came to life as the Baptist chefs hustled about in the kitchen. It was very rewarding to eat together around the table at the end of the evening - kinda like Jesus and the twelve disciples!

Everybody who comes to the Saturday Potluck and Game Night loves it! Parents love it because it makes the kiddos play board games, like the good-old days. This translates into two-and-a-half hours of gadget-free time! Parents like it, too, because they can do some "adulting." The singles like it because it is a space and time to connect with other adults. It's a win-win evening for everyone!


Prayers and Squares
: The beauty of community living is exhibited when the church does what it is supposed to be doing. The sewing life group led by Patti Victorson have been busy producing prayers quilts. The photo on the right shows Harvey Fong receiving a blanket showered with love and prayers for Unice Chang, who is recovering from surgery.

A group of us from the church, led by Nicole Wiesen, went out into the community to become part of the 144 volunteers serving Silicon Valley Mobile Packing. We packed 36,504 meals in under 2 hours! We packed 169 boxes, each with 36 bags. Each bag feeds 6 people. According to Nicole, "God is great! There was a prayer at the end and it was powerful! We all laid hands on the huge pallet of food, and 144 volunteers linked together to pray over the food."

This fall's Life Group* theme is "Bear Fruit," based on John 15:5. I hope and pray that our faith is expressed through our action. There will be more opportunities to serve as we move into the harvest and Christmas seasons, like Sunnyvale's food-packing ministry and the San Francisco homeless outreach program. Let me know if you would like an opportunity to serve your fellow brethren or the community.

*We have 9 more weeks of Life Group left for the Fall trimester. We offer a variety of small groups, ranging from serious Bible study to special interests, as well as activities and skill development. You can still sign up by going to the Life Group page on our website: scfbc.org/lg.