Dana Owens

Like all our mothers, the Earth has rights and obligations we should respect if we are to “honor our father and our mother,” as one of the biblical Ten Commandments instructs us to do.

Since 1895, through catastrophic earthquakes and world wars, periods of civil and social unrest, and the holocaust of the AIDS crisis, our church has stood as a special sanctuary, offering refuge and reflection for San Franciscans in times of need.

It is such a sad irony that people created a powerful position in order to manage the nation effectively, but then the people who held such positions became drunk with power.

In John, Mary Magdalene does not acknowledge that she is speaking to Jesus until he calls her by her name. According to the Gospels, Jesus calls only 11 people by their name.

Swedenborg places strong emphasis on the mission of Jesus as redemption rather than salvation. It took me a while to understand the reason for this distinction…