Letter from Greg, December 27, 2025

Friends, Members, and Guests:

I would begin my note this Sabbath by thanking you all for your faithful participation in Hollywood this past year. Despite the departure of Pastor Branden last Fall, your leadership rose to the occasion, and worked through months of intervening space and time before I was appointed Interim Pastor in March. We all worked through the uncertainties of process, and I want to thank you for choosing us as we chose you! Jill and I have loved our year here!

I would also thank those of you who lead, in particular. I appreciate your strength, dedication, perseverance and excellence! It's a joy to work with each of you! And a big thank you to all of you who support our church or ministries through tithes and budget offerings and select or special gifts. It means a great deal to be a part of a community where people do what they can. 

A special thank you to our paid staff. So much gets done because of you! It's truly amazing and we're all blessed for it. Thank you!

This week is the penultimate Sabbath dealing with Christmas themes. Today, we see the ways in which symmetries are used to help us understand the incarnational act of salvation, and the ways in which the story evolves "so that scripture might be fulfilled." There's so much that's prescient in our Gospel reading as we find Jesus seeking sanctuary in Egypt. I trust the irony is not lost in our context... American nationalism subsuming an image of Jesus that yields unsympathetic responses to the very idea of sanctuary, And no, I'm not going "political' here. It's just true that all theology is political, and the sooner we recognize this, the freer we can be.

Most of all, simply what to express my gratitude for this beautiful season of light and love.

Grace and Peace,

Greg