>> good morning. welcome to mosaic. i am ron swisher. it's always a pleasure. last month we kicked off lenten season with ash wednesday. i mentioned psalm 51 create in me a clean heart and renew spirit in me. i mentioned matthew 6. the emphasis was on, we put emphasis on our heart, in our life, our spirit these 40 days of lent which we want to be consecrated and dedicated to

our lord. it's a great privilege to continue that theme with my good friend and colleague. >> good morning ron. >> great to have you jim. >> it's really good to see you again. it's been too long. >> you are a good friend of mosaic. you have been here before. >> i have been honored to be here before and i look forward to our discussion. >> great. i know a lot of people know you in the bay area. there are always some guests seeing you for the first time particularly in my commune. tell us a little bit about your background. >> i have been honored to be pastor at lakeshore avenue baptist church for 26 years. i came in april of 1989. i am a native of salt lake city, utah, grew up in the mountain west, attended college of oregon and graduate of pacific university in fresno. i am a graduate of american

baptist seminary of the west. i spent six years as associate pastor at the great first baptist church of los angeles near downtown los angeles when i was there. we counted members from 28 different countries and our theme in ministry was international, interracial. i came to lakeshore in 1989. my family has grown up there. my kids are grown. my grandson is in the congregation most sunday mornings. >> tell us about lakeshore. >> lakeshore church is a very diverse congregation. we view diversity as a divine mandate. we have worked on it -- lakeshore became diverse racially in the late '50s,

early '60s. they helped an african-american family buy a home in the neighborhood contrary of the red lining going on in the real estate industry at the time. that opened the door for african-american families to begin moving into the neighborhood. they found a very welcome place at the church. we have probably a majority of african-american members, a good group of folks of asian heritage. for a long time we are welcoming of the lgbt community. diversity is a great joy. >> it's a great challenge. i would always hear about lakeshore because of the diversity. i have been in ministry 42 years. i know of your history. it's phenomenal. >> we celebrate christmas, easter. after that i think our biggest celebration is african-american

history month which we are just concluding. there is always regret as it ends because that's a great month. i always learn so much. >> a great history you guys give. as we go into rent tell us a little bit about lent. i had a member tell me i don't like this time of year because it's sad. i love christmas. i had never heard that before. what do you think? >> i think lent can be if misinterpreted despairing and despondent. lent recognizes that sometimes we need to do some preparation. if we are going to celebrate good things, we've got to do work to get there. lent has been a time of preparation for easter. it started as my understanding in the early christianity when converts to the faith were getting ready to be baptized. they would be baptized on easter sunday and lent was the

40 days, not counting sunday, from ash wednesday until easter, preparing for baptism, time to get ready. >> great start. we are going to have rev rant cell in the next segment. >> i look forward to it. >> thank you for joining us. come join us, lent and easter.

welcome back. we have been blessed to have jim hopkins with us and we are blessed to have you join us too. you are at the elmhurst united methodist church. >> yes. >> tell us about your background. >> for folks who don't know, you and i have a long history together. i was at easter hill when you

were there. something sparked in me. part of the journey is because i am visually impaired. going through the process of losing my sight, it's a degenerative condition called retinitis pitmentosa. i had a deep desire to understand the disease and condition and how i could show up and be of value. that's where god really began to speak to me. it was being in the congregation with you, listening to your great word. god moved in me to say that he had a higher calling for me. >> to see you years later, chaplain, pastoring churches. >> yes. >> part of our revival recently. >> yes. >> it's great to see that. >> it's a journey and a great journey. i should mention that part of my ministry is my full time job at kaiser at a chaplain. we did a lot of life care

planning. >> fantastic. you were here three years ago for easter. >> yes. >> it was a tremendous show. i have so many guests it's hard to get back to you. but i am glad to get back to you. >> i am glad you invited me. >> we had talked about lent in the beginning. i had mentioned sometimes people shy away from lent. they like christmas, see it as joyous. what is your view of less than, your opinion and thoughts? >> my view of lent is it is a time of deep reflection, a time of looking inward to see where it is that one wants to grow away from. there are a lot of things sometimes that we hear in society. oh i am going to give up chocolate. whatever it is, i say take an inward walk to see what behavior, attitude, thought that you might want to grow away from so you can shape yourself differently, being in

the winderness in that quiet place, a place of absence where there is silence, time to hear the soft voice, a time of growth and renewal. >> that's great. you were at the revival and your choir was and you said there is a song. what is that song? >> i give myself away. it's a praise and worship song. it centers you in that place to say i give myself away. my life does not belong to me, but it belongs to god. you come to a reckoning that i am here but by the grace. all of this is not by my control. but it's all divine. >> i remember paul daniels introducing saying we all need to sender. >> exactly. >> that's perfect for lent and

easter. >> exactly. >> this year at lakeshore my sermon series is a theme. i take spin classes to take myself in shape on the exercise bike. our instructor pushes us saying if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. that's the theme for lent this year. if it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. we are focusing on the gospel of luke where jesus says give up hypocrisy, pretending and acting, do some serious confession, exercise generosity muscles, put worry in the rear view mirror. we talk about what we need to turn away from and what we need to turn to. that's the same theme of girl carroll is emphasizing. if growth doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. >> do you have monday thursday

services, good friday services? >> we have a monday, thursday that we do with a collective of churches. it will be thursday evening before good friday. we come together and do foot washing. we have the lamb and sacred meal. it's a wonderful fellowship of many congregations coming together to just be in that wonderful place of sharing the word, hearing the story but again reflection. >> do you rotate that in different churches? >> we rotate the good friday cycle. we have been fortunate to host monday, thursday for a couple years. we are happy do that. that's our part. >> we have a monday thirsty service and just last year we introduced foot washing. i thought for a middle class congregation -- we offer a hand

washing option. our folks entered into it. the physicality of community, grace, hope. >> let me back up and say what is monday thursday? >> monday comes from a latin word that means the new command. jesus says this new command i give you to love one another as i have loved you. monday celebrates new command. >> good to know that. good friday. i know you participate. are you still doing that? >> you originated this community's good friday service, inviting some great preachers of the bay area to come and share the seven last words of jesus from the cross. that service continues. it's rich. there is good preaching, good

music, good community. it's a very important part of at least my holy week observance. >> i love the fact that we've had catholic priests, lutherans, baptists. >> men and women. >> you let us methodists in once in a while. >> they bring revival every now and then. >> good. >> your good friday is different. you have it at different churches also? >> we have it at different churches. this year we'll be partnering with easter hill in richmond. >> that's our roots. >> we have moved around. ash wednesday was celebrated at first united methodist. >> good. >> we just kind of move and take our sails to different places of the community to we can also know folks in that area and not just be with ourselves. >> very good. we're going to have another segment in a minute. i am sure people are

enlightened by your sharing, both you and jim are giving some great words to us all. we look forward to the next segment. please join us again with reverend carroll and reverend jim.

[baby talk] [child giggles] children: "i," "j," "k"... [telephone rings] man: hello? man: you may kiss the bride. [applause] announcer: a full life measured in seats starts with the right ones early on. car crashes are a leading killer of children 1 to 13. learn how to prevent deaths and injuries by using the right car seat for your child's age and size.

>> i hope you have been with us. we have listen talking about lent and easter. i want to know where these churches are so people can get there. >> elmhurst is located at 1659 83rd avenue a couple blocks off of international, as we say the cathedral. >> jim, where are you located? >> the corner of lakeshore and mandana, 3534 lakeshore avenue. >> great. good friday services again this

year for you carroll will be where? >> easter hill and richmond, 3911 cutting boulevard. >> jim? >> we participate in good friday service at taylor united methodist church in west oakland, 11th and addline. >> very good. you had another service coming up, palm sunday. >> i do. we have started an organic garden at our church. we took some land and started a youth community organic garden. what we discovered is that east oakland is a food desert. there are not fresh fruits and vegetables. there is high incidence of health crisis. we are trying to embark on healthy eating and really to cultivate growth and fertility in the area. on sunday the 29th of march we are having a worship in the

garden service. for folks interested in getting their hands dirty and soil turned over, you are welcome to come. >> you had the district plant that garden. >> we did. we started with the youth and the district built boxes. we have a water irrigation system, a com post section. it's just beautiful. we had salad recently from our garden and it was delicious. >> jim, i know you said palm sunday is still in the making with the children. >> palm sunday is a fifth sunday of the month. we have dedicated ourselves for almost a year now that every fifth sunday we focus in on a kid friendly, family friendly worship service to be sure that the message is geared to where the children are at. we are working on that for palm sunday. we don't quite know where we will go. it's kid friendly, family friendly services are great fun and great celebration. >> that leads us to easter.

what do you say about easter? so many people come anticipating, expecting. do you find it sometimes difficult to preach an easter message? let's start with you carroll. >> it can be challenging. it can be challenging. as you say people come with different expectations. my theology, womanist theology is always to open up and be communal and offer opportunities for folks to see themselves differently and to see god as unconditional and loving, not punitive. my message will be centered around ascension and rising, rising above circumstances and situations of the muddy water. where god is always calling us to, to rise. >> great. jim? >> if crucifixion represents the worst of human life, resurrection easter, represents

the best. my message is going to focus on the theme that things do get better. a message of hope that when jesus is involved, things do get better. >> that's great. both of you. easter is still some sundays away. do you have any text at this point? have you looked ahead to see what you might focus on? >> i was reading yesterday on that. i think i am going to use mark chapter 16, 1 through 8. the theme of getting better. the big stone got rolled away. things do get better. >> the end was feared. >> some things stay the same. >> that's good. >> one of the things that stays the same is jesus angelic messengers says jesus has gone away. you will meet him in galilee. one of the things that stays

the same is jesus continues to lead. >> carroll. >> i have was just thinking about the theme around genesis. >> okay. >> it is around hope, fate, the covenant god makes with us that stays the same. >> good. i like to her your sermons. i think everyone will come hear me. >> we'll have to buy tickets. [ laughter ] >> great to have you guys. we have one more segment. please join us at lent and easter.

>> you might be wondering when is easter? easter is april 5th this year. that might be communion sunday for some of us. are you looking forward to that? >> i am, i am. i think it will engage us deeper in communing with god in

that way of allowing that to nourish us. >> jim? >> i am looking forward to having communion on easter sunday because union is a celebration that sustains us in our hope. the bread and the cup keep our easter hope alive. >> good, good. i love what both of you have said about easter. any additional thoughts about the easter message that you feel people need to hear? why would they even want to come to easter service? >> i don't be grudge folks that come to easter and christmas service only. at easter and christmas the message of good news should be so clear. in a world that needs good news, easter is a promise that good news is abound. so come on out. >> i have a captive audience. i think really it's an opportunity to just, for me again, based on where i have

come from, it's to share the good news of god's unconditional love and god's continual cheer leading for us to move on, encourage yourself to go on and strive for higher heights and to not allow just the mondaines of life that can sometimes get you down and cause bitterness and disappointment. don't allow yourself to reside there. the good news is that god is always with us, always cheering for us. it's just my opportunity to remind them of that. then i say see you at christmas. >> that's good. jim, i see you smiling there. >> two sundays ago we had one of bay area's great preachers from the american baptist seminary come. she was talking about jesus and his ministry and the way he taught folks to shake your feet off, shake the dust of your feet and move on. in this world sometimes you gotta shake it off and move on.

easter is a proclamation that we are going to do that. shake it off and move on. >> not taylor swift's version. >> no, jesus' version. >> it gives us the opportunity too as the community to prove god right, to say that we can show up and show out for god. we can cultivate a different sense within ourselves just to grab it and run with it. >> very inspiring. someone in my ear said why don't you have a battle -- it's not about that. >> no. my concern is you put preachers in the same room they turn it into the american idol of preaching. we are not preaching against each other. we are working to the same goal of the good news.

>> amen. any final words? >> i'd like to just say as the buddhist thought let kindness be the religion for the season. knowing that god loves us unconditionally and god is always kind to us. we are kind to ourselves and extend that to somebody else. >> i always go back to mercy triumph over judgment. there is plenty judgment. let's claim what comes from our createdder. >> the buddhists are going to be having sacred text emphasis on graduate theological union in march. i think of the words. in our hearts, there is a blazing light that's not owned by the east nor the west. so no one owns the light. >> beautiful. >> not any religion, any denomination, or any religious

community. god. gandhi says god has no religion. it transcends that. in the gtu this wednesday, the sacred text lectures are coming up, since 1994, annual evening of exploring our faith. this is wednesday march 11 buddhism lecture, life of sacred text. you see the sculpture on the screen there and the display there. it's at 2300 ridge road in berkeley. it is a number of seminaries, can be as many as eight or nine seminaries that have worked together. carol and i are both graduates of one. >> i am happy to be chairman of the board of trustees. great school. >> great. we have lutherans,

episcopalians, jesuits. gtu, this wednesday, be there. we are grateful that you joined us. we are grateful for reverend carol and reverend jim. i think you got a real inspiring message today. thank you for being with us.

going to make you laugh...........3 comedians and a politician........that welcome to bay sunday. it is good to have you on board today. we're going to make you laugh. three comedians and a politician should get your sunday rocking. a familiar face in san francisco, he spent the last few decades lamb panozzoing just about every politician on planet earth. he is an author, columnist, political pundant. how is it going mr. durst. >> how is it going. >> what is this love of politics? >> i grew up thinking everybody read the newspaper. you had to be