Cromey Online

The writings of author, therapist, and priest Robert Warren Cromey.

Friday, January 13, 2012

HELP OUR IMMIGRANT NEIGHBOORS

HELP OUR IMMIGRANT NEIGHBOORS

Even Newt Gingrich calls for a more humane policy toward undocumented immigrants. In our neighborhood and in our parish we have seen undocumented immigrants forced to leave the parish and the country. The Mission District of San Francisco has been home to thousands upon thousands of Hispanic and LGBT immigrants for generations.

The statistics are daunting. Ten million undocumented immigrants reside in the United States. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, a non-partisan research organization, 35 percent of immigrants have been in the U.S. 15 years or more, another 28 percent have been here for at least ten years. About half are parents of children under 18 years of age. And 39 percent attend church weekly.

Undocumented immigrants are family loving, hard working, tax-paying, church going and deeply rooted in the U.S. These human beings need a pathway to legal status. At present there is no reasonable way for tax paying, hard working immigrants to become citizens. The present system would make the family leave their jobs and homes, exit the country, move elsewhere, apply for U.S. citizenship, and then wait on an average of ten years for a decision. That is no option for people who care about the welfare of their families.

The Rev. Gloria del Castillo and Richard Smith of our parish have worked hard to help change immigration policies to make them more humane and sensible.

Here is a specific way we can take a step to help in this process.

HELP STOP THE SEPARATION OF OUR FAMILIES

S-COMM (“SECURE” COMMUNITIES) is separating families by deporting thousands of people each year inn California.

Join Archbishop Niederauer, Bishop Justice, Bishop Otis Charles and other faith leaders and congregations from all over the state as we call on Gov. Brown and Attorney General Kamela Harris to help STOP the separation of our families.

Saturday, January 28, 2012 / 2:00 PM

St. Mary’s Cathedral (1111 Gough Street, SF, CA)

Sunday, January 01, 2012

HOW TO EVALUATE A SERMON

Here are some ideas to help listeners evaluate sermons we hear when we attend church. Preachers seldom get much concrete feedback from hearers. Perhaps people think it unnecessary or impolite. Some may feel they lack any criteria to judge a sermon.

Here are some items to help the hearers evaluate the preacher’s offerings:

Did the preacher have a point to the sermon? Did you get it and understand it? What was it?

Did the Biblical material used help make the point or obscure it?

Did you a have a “take away” from the sermon. Were you moved to an action?

Did the sermon touch you emotionally?

Did the sermon stimulate your thinking?

Jesus was a master storyteller. Did you hear a story? Was it connected to the point the preacher was making?

Did the sermon relate the gospel of Jesus or the teaching of the Bible to your personal, social, political, psychological or religious life?

What did you not like about the sermon. Example?

What did you particularly like about the sermon? Example?

If there is no time to give thoughtful feedback after the service, perhaps an email or regular mail letter would help focus your thoughts. Preachers can learn from what hearers think and feel about sermons. Sermons can best improve when preachers know how their words are heard and understood.