Are you prepared for an earthquake or other disaster in the Bay Area?  Yes, I know, it's a depressing thought, but a realistic one as well.  Experts strongly recommend that every household have a three day supply of food, water, and other necessities stored in case of such an event.  It is also very important to have contact information for loved ones in case everyone is separated at the time.  If you need help assembling a disaster kit, please let Kent Fong know.  He has volunteered to help our church families and individuals make sure they have what is needed to survive a crisis.  Be prepared!

Also, check out this link for more detailed info:

72hours.org

I hope you were able to join us for some or all of our Holy Week activities.  We had a really nice Church of the Nations Palm Sunday service and meal- you can't beat worshiping in lots of different languages and knowing that even though we may be different, we share a common faith.  

The Good Friday service was a meaningful time of prayer and reflection, preparing our hearts for Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday.  Thanks to everyone who brought food to share and joined us in celebrating new life.  Easter weekend marks one of the single most important events in church history and the reason we gather as a church to worship God.  

Stay tuned for upcoming events, the foremost of which is our annual Memorial Day weekend church retreat!  We will be traveling to Redwood Christian Park in Boulder Cree, California to spend a weekend worshiping, learning, hanging out, and having fun. If you haven't already made plans to come, what are you waiting for?   

During the season of Lent, which is the period of time from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, our church family will be embarking on a journey of taking 30 minutes a day to listen through the whole New Testament.  A generous grant was given to Cooperative Baptist Fellowship for the purpose of providing free MP3s of the New Testament to churches in an effort to encourage Christians to enter into the story more deeply and meaningfully.  This initiative is called You've Got The Time! and encourages all participants to take the time every day to go on this journey together.  Our church will be distributing the MP3s with instructions in the next two weeks.  Please join our church family as we listen to God's Word together...beginning on Wednesday, February 17th!!!

The Advent season at NABC was a great time of worship and fellowship as we prepared our hearts together for the celebration of Jesus' birth.  One of the highlights of the year is always our Church of the Nations Christmas service and this year was no exception.  The Japanese, Cantonese, and Arabic congregations joined us in worship as well as some new guests, a Karen church from the San Leandro area.  They came with Rick and Leta Sample and it was such a joy getting to meet them.  What a blessing it is to experience worshiping God in so many different languages!

It was also wonderful to have the youth instrumental ensemble leading us in worship, they are very talented and did a fabulous job.  

Looking forward to what God will do in this new year and we hope to see you soon! 

The Christmas season can be a hectic one with all the stress of shopping, Christmas parties, school holiday concerts, and let's not forget about the added traffic.  It's easy to forget what this time of year is even about- yes, we know it's about the birth of Jesus Christ, but we don't allow ourselves to really take that in and experience it.  I've posted the lyrics to this song before, but it's worth repeating- it always helps me to open my heart and mind to the beauty of Advent:

Welcome to Our World by Chris Rice

 Tears are falling, hearts are breaking

How we need to hear from God

You've been promised, we've been waiting

Welcome Holy Child

Welcome Holy Child

 

Hope that you don't mind our manger

How I wish we would have known

But long-awaited Holy Stranger

Make Yourself at home

Please make Yourself at home

 

Bring your peace into our violence

Bid our hungry souls be filled

Word now breaking Heaven's silence

Welcome to our world

Welcome to our world

 

Fragile finger sent to heal us 

Tender brow prepared for thorn

Tiny heart whose blood will save us

Unto us is born

Unto us is born

 

So wrap our injured flesh around You

Breathe our air and walk our sod

Rob our sin and make us holy

Perfect Son of God

Perfect Son of God

Welcome to our world 

 

What a beautiful and precious reminder to pause and be still, being reminded of what a precious gift God has given to us and how much God loves us.