Fully Alive in God

  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard ( 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27; Psalm 130; 2 Corinthians 8:7-15; Mark 5:21-43 ) Do you have an outrageous hope in Christ? Do you truly trust that if you move forward in faith, God will guide you to a place of abundance? Alene and I have been in part spending quality time catching up on TV streaming during this pandemic time, and one series we just finished was called “Keeping Faith”. Set in Wales, it is the intense story of a woman who is a mother and a lawyer and it begins with her husband disappearing and leaving her family in a precarious financial situation. Not to mention he is mixed up with organized crime, so she has to engage with various figures all while trying to sort out whom she can trust. Family and friends speak to her like Job’s friends, implying that her marriage was suffering and that is why her husband left. More challenges come and she is always at the end of her rope, but every time she grasps on tight and finds some way to ...

  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard ( 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27; Salmo 13 0; 2 Corintios 8:7-15; San  Marcos 5:21-43 ) ¿Tienes una esperanza valiente en Cristo? ¿De verdad confía en que si avanza con fe, Dios le guiará a un lugar de abundancia? Alene y yo hemos pasado en parte tiempo de calidad poniéndonos al día con la transmisión de television durante este tiempo de pandemia, y una serie que acabamos de terminar se llama "Keeping Faith". Ambientada en Gales, es la intensa historia de una mujer que es madre y abogada y comienza con la desaparición de su esposo que deja a su familia en una situación financiera precaria. Sin mencionar que él está involucrado con el crimen organizado, por lo que ella tiene que interactuar con varias figuras mientras trata de averiguar en quién puede confiar. La familia y los amigos le hablan como los amigos de Job, dando a entender que su matrimonio estaba sufriendo y que por eso su marido se fue. Vienen más desafíos y ella siempre está...

  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4–11, 19–23), 32–49; Psalm 9:9–20; 2 Corinthians 6:1–13; St Mark 4:35–41) See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!  Today these words in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians go backwards and forwards. They are a quotation of Isaiah’s words at the end of exile and they are Paul’s words as he encourages Christians to look beyond the suffering of their moment and toward their freedom to come. And they feel somehow fitting, on this week when at least the vaccinated among us in California are freed of our masks, if and when we choose to be. Even more fitting, this Thursday Juneteenth was signed into a Federal Holiday. Standing in a federal building built by slave labor, our leaders signed the document and our nation came one step closer to healing from its history. If you are not aware of Juneteenth, it is a celebration of the last group of African American enslaved people to be freed...

  M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos, Oxnard (1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4–11, 19–23), 32–49; Salmo 9:9–20; 2 Corintios 6:1–13; San Marcos 4:35–41) Y ahora es el momento oportuno. ¡Ahora es el día de la salvación! Hoy estas palabras de la Segunda Epístola a los Corintios van hacia atrás y hacia adelante. Son una cita de las palabras de Isaías al final del exilio y son las palabras de Pablo mientras anima a los cristianos a mirar más allá del sufrimiento de su momento y hacia su libertad por venir. Y se sienten de alguna manera apropiados, en esta semana cuando al menos los vacunados entre nosotros en California seremos liberados de nuestras máscaras, si así lo decidimos. Aún más apropiado, este jueves se firmó el 19 de junio un feriado federal el día de Juneteenth. En un edificio federal construido por mano de obra esclava, nuestros líderes firmaron el documento y nuestra nación dio un paso más hacia la sanación de su historia. Si no está al tanto del Juneteenth, es una celebración ...

  (From the Earthseed website) M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos Oxnard ( 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13; Psalm 20; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10,[11-13],14-17; Mark 4:26-34 )   I received an interesting email this week. It referred to an article on the Roman Catholic Church and whether people were going to return to in person worship post-pandemic, now that many have been vaccinated. [1] Those of you who are formerly Roman Catholic know that Sunday mass attendance is considered an obligation for practicing members and soon the church will no longer see online attendance as filling that obligation. But regardless of that people’s lives have changed during the pandemic. Now they have new routines and attendance of church in person may or may not fit into that. The person who referred the article to me suggested that we cannot simply tell people that God loves them and expect them to attend church for that bit of news. He said that God loves you whether you walk on the beach or whether yo...

  (From the Earthseed Website) M. Campbell-Langdell All Santos Oxnard ( 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13; Salmo 20; 2 Corintios 5:6-10,[11-13],14-17; San Marcos 4:26-34 )   Recibí un correo electrónico interesante esta semana. Se refirió a un artículo sobre la Iglesia Católica Romana y si la gente volvería al culto en persona después de la pandemia, ahora que muchos han sido vacunados. [1] Aquellos de ustedes que antes eran católicos romanos saben que la asistencia a la misa dominical se considera una obligación para los miembros practicantes y pronto la iglesia ya no verá la asistencia en línea como un cumplimiento de esa obligación. Pero independientemente de eso, la vida de las personas ha cambiado durante la pandemia. Ahora tienen nuevas rutinas y la asistencia a la iglesia en persona puede o no encajar en eso. La persona que me refirió el artículo sugirió que no podemos simplemente decirle a la gente que Dios los ama y esperar que asistan a la iglesia para recibir esa notici...

  It’s all forgiven All Saints’ Oxnard Proper 5B, Mark 3, 1 Samuel 8, Psalm 138 The Rev. Alene Campbell-Langdell   One of my favorite scenes in the book by C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe , shows Aslan, the lion instantly recognized by all familiar with the Gospels as a symbol of Jesus, entering the castle of the wicked queen.   This queen had held the creatures that populated this fantasy land under her power for so long that no one really remembered any other possibility.   There were a few legends and prophecies about things being made right, but so many generations had lived and died under the queen’s rule of terror and oppression that no one could really imagine anything different.   Then Aslan comes along and inspires a few people and creatures to fight back, and while the queen is busy putting down that rebellion, Aslan enters the queen’s own house.   One of the ways the queen has kept her subjects under her power all this t...