fo good morning, welcome to mosaic. on behalf of my co-hosts, we welcome you into this new year. this begins my 19th year as co- host of mosaic and my good colleague and friend, asked mey to able t absay outhis is my 20th year to go along with 2020 but it is only my he19thdid about six times in that time was that he asked us to give a highlight

of some of the top lid secular stories of the previous reyears . i dioud that last year with two of my colleagues and friends and i'm inviting them again. reverend dale witherspoon. >> go morning. happy new year. >> great to have you and reverend jim hopkins on the good to be here. >> some people know your churches and know where you are but i did not ever ask you your family background and some of your family, i know you have spouses and you have children so tell us, beginning with you dale. >> i'm married to reverend debby witherspoon, also a united methodist pastor and she is working on her doctorates of ministry. i have two sons, teenagers, wesley, a senior and graduating

at the high school. a younger brother justice, who is a freshman at el cerrito. i have a brother and sister in the sacramento area. i'm a native san francisco sis can. >> wesley is in the audience. great to have you. >> and jim. >> karen and i, my i married nd years. we have three adult kids erin, a physical fair piz, kristen who is a registered nurse and ethan who is completing his program to be a journey man electrician in the electrical workers union. we have four grandsons, daschle, dayton, henry and hudson. and my pastor jim, my grandsons i'm hop pop. that is my identity. >> that is good. >> it is great to have you both. we have hood you before, but i wanted to give the audience

some of your background and your relationships with family and so forth so that very important. before we go on a break soon, one of the two top stories, what do you think are important from last year? >> jim. >> certainly the relationship of the even jell cal christianity, embrace of the president and their seemingly unfailing embrace of the president no matter what, is a story that needs to be examinend and questioned. >> 81%. >> he seems to fight for their causes and regardless of his inability to tell the truth, his absolutely immoral immigration policies, his misogyny, there seems to be very little that will separate him from his base and religious base. >> christianity, they seem to

push back on it. >> just at the end of the year, mark said come on, trust matters. how can we trust this person? and a lot of the leading evangelical voices said you but lock what he has done for us. the judges he appointed. his standing to be antiabortion. this is the best president we have ever had. >> dale, your story? >> along the same lines. impeachment and how much time has been spent dealing with the issues of impeachment and thinking about dr. martin luther king and how important character is. it seems in this impeachment, we're just overlooking character and immoral ty just dealing with the policies and so this impeachment fight is going to go into 2020. i think this is taking away from our government officials

caring for the people in our nation as the marginalized hopeless and impeachment has been a big story taking up the news. >> thank you both. we will be exploring further in the next segment. i'm so glad you're re. >>good to be here. >> please join us with dale witherspoon anjim hopkins of lakeshore baptist.

>> a dry start to the workweek but not going to stay that way. we're tracking the next round of rain.

welcome back to mosaic. the historian doris kern goodwin has said that leadership is five qualities. humility, empathy, resilience, self-awareness and self reflecttion. i think my colleagues have these qualities and so i'm glad they are here with us. dale and jim, tell us a little more about some of the stories of this past year that i thought were important to our society. >> i was reflecting on our conversation last year as we ended the year and a story that continues in the news is the shootings, the mass shootings. >> yes. >> and i think it has been intensified. we're having more shootings in places of worship and so it

seems like not a week goes by, we just had the shooting in texas the other day and it is bringing into question whether parishioners should be carrying firearms in a church or not. >> that is right. >> so that is still a disturbing as it is becoming a new normal. >> and it seems like from synagogues to mosques to christian communities. >> everyplace of worship, every faith. >> i don't understand some of the tribal live that makes for that violence but it is pretty prevalent in society and the world. >> yes. >> what about you, jim? >> that is a very important story and anti-semitism is an ancient evil that seems to be experiencing resurgence right now. we saw it with the shootings in pittsburgh last year and at the synagogue this year and the stabbings that at the chanukah

celebration in new york. >> and between religion and violence, it is a complex relationship that you would think religion would be a clear voice against violence, but we have also embraced it in a lot of ways. that is the next story. the sexual violence that continues in the church and in the name of the church perpetrated by church leaders on vulnerable members of their congregation. certainly, it is the catholics that have received most of the news, but the baptist church, southern baptist, number one, it is -- not just the southern baptist but the whole theology that funds to elevate male over female really makes us very vulnerable to that sort of abuse and in a biggs to address

the abuse. >> and united methodist with our not embracing the lgbtq community is a major issue with us and we still are blocking people, gay marriage to being open and inclusive in terms of ord din nation. it is a huge issue for us. >> it is a very huge issue. we had a special general conference in february of 2019 and the special general conference was on one issue and the vote came to the traditional plan to refeign the language of the not welcoming lgbtq into the church and continuing to have our clergy brought up on charges and trials and so as we enter into 2020, january 1, some of those laws prohibition will see if we're going to have more trials. there is lots of movement to resist in all kinds of ways to say no, all folks are welcomed into the church and when we

have our general conference in 2020 in minnesota, we will see how this falls out and if we can change the language or if there is going to be a split in the united methodist church. >> there is a tremendous struggle over the last 40, 50 years and now even here possibility of a split. >> lots of talk about dis affiliation, how to retain your property. what is that going to look like? that will bow a huge conversation for the united methodist denomination. >> what about jim, in your church? >> our church lakeshore baptist, we were dis fellowshipped in 1996 bay our regional body because we were charter members of the welcoming and affirming baptists, a little organization that said there is place for sexual minorities, theretheir friends and families and allies in the church. that was a hard period of time. i wouldn't wato go through it again, neither nt would i tr

it for anything. but those struggles, those questions, those s,are addressed week in and week out at congregations harm and small across the united states and it seems less a matter of pronounce the from on high but each congregation coming to accept the truth that in our pews, in our membership, in the beloved community, there is a xude range of healthy se e th expresotheonr day and i saw thi little book on the history of norstra dam. we know it was almost destroyed in april and the writer took a little of the history. i didn't know it bit in 1100 to men and women participated in the building of it and i think since 1803, the first time it did not have a christmas eve

service. >> i read that. >> so that struck me as one of the major stories. notre dame is a major faith and to see the smoke billowing up, that was almost destroyed. that was an a fact on the soul of a lot of folks. >> that is right. >> five years to rebuild they say. >> that is a long time. >> that is optimistic i would think. >> probably so. we're coming to the end of the segmentment anything else before we close and come back? >> certainly we need to talk about immigration policy. >> immigration policy. >> climate change. separation. child separation. immigration issue. >> okay. thank you for being with us. please join us in our next segment as we look at some further stories that have impacted our lives.

welcome back to "mosaic." i'm ron shisher. to w bookey have e of the top wa read that they highly recommend for you to read. jim. >> my favorite book this year has been gentleman in moscow, a sweet philosophy and russian history and human error actions. dignity. life in back crow america by chris arnaud is a good in sight into what is happening in a lot of lives across the united states of america. >> i thought i knew my books. i didn't know that last one. that is pretty good. and you, dale. >> on our prayer ministry on saturday morning we're reading a book written by brian mclaren

called naked spirituality in 12 simple words. we're in chapter 12 now an a porful ok and d some words that stuck itout, how we need to be able to say i'm sorry. how we live with honesty, humility and compassion. it is something our leadership of our nation is lacking, hugh mall ty and compassion is leading and causing more harm. so this naked spiritual ty is making us look at our own souls and how we have that walk of faith. >> he does a great job. >> he does. we just finished reading walking by faith. that was an excellent brook. >> i brought a few also. >> anything by him is outstanding. the priest. joan chiz sa tur, anything by her. now is the time. she talks about ing a spiritual

all of us. i told you'll talking to strangers, matthew chad well. malcolm chad well. excellent and this other one that is new, the color compromise by 'tis by as he talks us about how racism and slavery influenced the church. highly wreck blend. >> we edabout immigration and we talk about climate change. >> we were mentioning with immigration comes this whole terrible practice of family separation. how can that be morally, spiritually justified in any way, any shape, any form? regardless of party, regardless of background taking babies from their parents, come on. that should unite folks from across the religious spectrum. >> sure. >> one of the things you're looking alt folks and they are

going back 20, 30 years to find out today that they had a misdemeanor or some of the charges and using that as a basis to separate their kids where they lived a clean, decent, hard working life and a separation of families is unconscionable. some of our members say please do not talk about politics on the pulpit. you addressed that in an article recently jim. >> i wrote about how christmas really is profoundly political. there are taxes, there is empires, there is housing s. there is immigration. and christmas is political and a it is abshout the uplift of people. that is political. it is not partisan. it is not about any one party or set of policies, but politics is an ongoing

negization of negotiation of how we're going to live. that is pro foundly religious. >> greta. >> greta. anclimate. an just standing up for the climate and it is a generationnal movement. >> she is 16 and she sparked a consciousness of america canned and lilly tomlin out there onfroy days. we're trying to say this is a generational issue. we are trying to save the nation, the environment. a child shall lead them. so there is greta. there is get ta. similar to last year with the parkland, florida shooting. there were high school students leading so our young people are passionate about this country. >> that is right. i read where 7 million people have been misplaced because of environment and we know, amazon

concerned about and antarctica and all that. >> and all the fires. the fires especially here in california. all knees wildfires, the kincade and gettys fires and she has really sparked us to really try to address this in decades to come because there will be millions of people misplaced if we don't address this now. >> we have one more segment so we'll close out with a word of hope and inspiration which is what we try to do here. >> amen. >> thank you. >> please join us with dale with there spoon and jim hopkins in our last segment.

a compose eerie sently said tradition is not worshipping ashes but

preserving the fire. and i see that i hear that asof lkis is what my colleagues y ar taa few more words about our hopes for the future in this 2020. >> i was watching a comedy special with tiffany haddish the other day and she was trying to do some teaching. as she was closing out she talked about babies crying and how when a baby cries, people go to that baby and they either hug that baby, change the baby, feed the baby, they give the baby love. she was saying we have a lot of folks today that are hurting, adults that are hurting and we want to institutionalize them, criminalize them instead of going to them and just letting them know that they are loved, and giving them a hug, paying attention to them. i think for me we're get

together be more on avenue individualize stick society and we need to reclaim our roots. we have locks and gated communities so why are we fearing folks instead of understanding? we live together. get to know your neighbors on the right, and left and across the street from you. >> talking to strangers. >> yes. be a community. way seem to come together in times of natural disasters, fire, earthquakes but why do we have to wait for a natural disaster instead of getting to know someone new. >> jim. >> i love that. the power of community and the power of beloved community. as we talked about the top news stories of the year, we talked about the failings of religious communities and those are well documents but the enduring life giving power of faith communities, also needs to be

lifted up and noted. this is airing on january 12th. it is the baptism of jesus. jesus raised his hand, stepped in the waters and said i want to be in that number. that is the community i want to be with. to celebrate the power of our communities, to mitigate against loneliness, defined hope, deceit, justice, there are religious communities, christian, jewish, muslim, buddhists, across the around the globe and across the country that are doing wonderful things and are bringing people together to create the beloved community. >> that is wonderful my friends. that is whey e keep inviting you back. keep that spirit and tem us again where your churches are so people can worship with you. dale. >> eastern hill united methodist church. 3911 cutting boulevard. richmond, california. we have worship services at

8:00 a.m., sunday school 9:15 and 10:30 worship service. all are welcome. we have good room for you. >> lake-effect, corner of lakeshore and manda na in oakland. sunday worship at 10:00. bible studies 11 salon 30 sunday. 0 we 10y to live oug and weday the beloved community and welcome for all. >> amen. >> i hope you have been inspired by these two great pastors and all that they bring. we lost so many people this past year entertainers and actors and activists and on many levels. i thought of tony moore and the african-american woman who won the nobel prize forlit rature in 1993. she said great turealong

with great jazz music has threequalities. memory, history and imagination. >> yes. >> use our imagination as well as understanding our history and may our memories keep us tialive. thank you for joining us. i'm ron swisher.

live from cbs bay area studios, this is kpix5 news. the 49ers are one win away from the super bowl after beating the vikings. we'll show you how fans celebrated as the outcome of that game became clear. >> they are trying to track down several suspects they say robbed a safe way store at gunpoint. there is now a reward for help cracking the case. >> some oakland women who call themselves moms for housing get an offer of help from an unlikely source to try to fight a bitter eviction fight. whey the women are not interested. >> it is january 12th. i'm deaf differ.

devin fehely.