A Note from Pastor Melinda

The difficulty and crisis of the world is overwhelming. It is virtually impossible to bear it without very deep resources. - Dr. Wendy Farley

The Good Table spiritual community will begin a six-week worship and study series this Sunday entitled “Beguiled by Beauty: Cultivating a Life of Contemplation and Compassion”. Email Pastor Melinda if you’re interested in joining us. Find out more about the series here.

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From the Garden

Bonnie’s Flower Power
Flowers are like children to me. Their faces change as they grow, their personalities come into focus. They can be silly, like bunny-tail grass, or saucy, like a Julia Child yellow floribunda rose. They can pop up suddenly, like an amazing three-foot tall lime-green Puya mirabilis. And they talk to me when I visit them in the garden. One says: "Here I am! Aren't I beautiful today!" Another says, "Hot hot hot. Water. Please." Another says "I wish I could move into the light."

Sunflower that came up in Bonnie’s Strawberry Patch!

Over the past few years, I've grown vegetables as well as flowers. They are good companions. Flowers attract native bees and other beneficial insects. Bees congregate by the star-shaped blue borage flowers and the long purple flower tufts of Wild Magic basil, then fly on to help pollinate the zucchini, squashes, pumpkins, and watermelon.

My oldest favorite child is the rose. When I was nine years old, recovering from pneumonia in the children's ward of a Georgia hospital, my mother brought me a single rose in a make-shift vase, a soda bottle covered in tin foil. My father could not visit at all: he was stationed in Iceland that year. My mom had two younger children at home so she could not stay long. The rose was her present and presence. Currently I am training a princess (Crown Princess Margareta) to climb up an arbor. She has a ways to go. I imagine her in full bloom, taller than me.

Purple Dahlia

Orange Dahlia

My newest favorite is the dahlia. My first attempts at growing dahlias in only a sliver of afternoon sun were terrible, really, but were good enough to encourage me to try again. We will see what September brings.

Just as I took portraits of my children while they were growing up, I take portraits of flowers in my garden. And like any good grandmother, I show them off to all who are willing! During this season of covid-19, I have been sharing #somethingpretty on Facebook to the public. For me, this is a spiritual practice. I am thankful for the abundance in the natural world of my backyard, and I hope to provide a pause, however slight, in the stream of frightening news. I look forward to the day we can gather in mass among the plants and flowers at our El Sobrante Good Table home. That day will come.

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In the Kitchen

We don’t know about you, but our zucchini is going gangbusters over here! One great way to utilize this squash is to turn it into noodles, or “Zoodles”! All you need is a spiralizer — a handy little tool that spins the zucchini into long threads. Here’s an inexpensive one: Cuisinart Spiralizer

My favorite recipe with zoodles is this one from Sugar-Free Mom: Zucchini Pasta Salad. It’s meant to be a mason jar salad, but you can easily eat it right after you make it. (Mason jar salads are fantastic if you want to make lunch to go, or prep a bunch of salads in individual portion sizes that will last the whole week in your fridge.)

Zucchini Pasta Salad with Avocado Spinach Dressing
by Sugar-Free Mom
Serves 2 (double the recipe if you’d like salads for the week or to serve more people)

INGREDIENTS

For Salad:
1 1/2 cups spiraled zucchini
1/2 cup shelled edamame
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

Optional:
1/4 cup feta cheese
2 tablespoons kalamata olives

For Dressing:
1/2 cup fresh packed spinach
1/2 ripe avocado
juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons Greek yogurt plain, 2%
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Courtesy of SugarFreeMom.com

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Spiral or shred or thinly slice zucchini. Set aside.

2. In a high powered blender, mix dressing ingredients until smooth.

3. Pour 1/2 the dressing into the bottom of 2 mason jars.

4. Add celery on top of dressing.

5. Add peppers on top of celery then top with edamame.

6. Sprinkle feta cheese then add tomatoes and olives.

7. Last place 1/2 the spiraled zucchini into each mason jar.

8. Cover and refrigerate. Last up to 5 days.

9. Once ready to eat, shake the jar vigorously then pour onto a plate. Toss with fork if needed to mix dressing.

Courtesy of SugarFreeMom.com

In Our Community

Pride This Year

During this season filled with protest in the midst of a pandemic, we also are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of LGBTQ+ Pride. Not really sure how great it will be to “march” virtually, but it is an important milestone for our communities. The Good Table UCC (Mira Vista UCC) became an “open and affirming” church in 1994 and has been marching with United in Spirit for over 25 years!

Personally, I am delighted that my dear friend and mentor Rev. Dr. Janie Spahr is an elected community grand marshal! This honor for her is way overdue and I’m glad we finally got her voted in! I have so many wonderful memories of Janie, but one that sticks out this year comes from a civil disobedience action in San Francisco on May 27, 2009 after one of the many negative court reversals leading up to marriage equality.

Janie, and a whole lot of interfaith clergy friends, including me, gathered at St. Mark’s Lutheran and then marched to City Hall and then sat down in the intersection of Van Ness and Grove. I chose to “hold the bail money” for my friends, work the press, and lead singing around the circle. Also, it was really hot that day to be in liturgical garb and we were a bit concerned about some of our elder clergy, including Janie.

As I scanned through the really mellow detachment of San Francisco police, I saw that a female lieutenant was in charge. I went to her and asked when they planned to start making arrests. She told me soon. I then pointed over to the clergy group and asked if they could be arrested first. I knew that it would make better press to have them arrested first AND I was also hoping to spare some of our elders from developing heat stroke. The SFPD lieutenant then looked again and asked me, “Is that Janie Spahr?” I told her it was and the cop lit up and said, “She was my youth pastor!” and rushed over to hug Janie and thank her for being there for her when she was coming out in high school. Janie was one of the first arrested that day.

Clergy protesters included: Jana Drakka, Michael Mallory, Jay E. Johnson, Dawn Roginski, Will McGarvey, Danika Askanidóttúr, Annie Steinberg-Behrman, Jane A Spahr (in purple cassock), Denis Letourneau Paul and Penny Nixon

Obviously, this is NOT the experience most people of color have with the police and this protest would not have been handled this way by most cops in most places. Like Janie, I know the value of white privilege — especially when dealing with cops. And plenty of LGBTQ+ folks have been brutalized by cops for years. But on that hot day in San Francisco, we saw a small glimpse of what “community-based” policing could look like, when cops look more like you and maybe even “know you” too. It was also a glimpse into what value diversity brings to all organizations. The church that allowed Janie Spahr to be a beacon of hope to a young lesbian was a better church. And the police department that put an out lesbian lieutenant in charge of an LGBTQ+ protest did a better job of serving the public, too.

This year’s Pride celebration will hopefully be more diverse than ever and will add a bit of rainbow to all of our protests for justice and peace.

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Erasing Medical Debt Campaign Update

We are so pleased to be able to say that our combined efforts with other East Bay UCCs, and generous support from our national denomination, have erased $4.4 million in medical debt for our neighbors in Alameda and Contra Costa counties! In this effort, The Good Table UCC gave $3,500.

“As a diverse group of churches, we all knew that medical debt was a big problem for the most vulnerable in our communities: the sick, the elderly, the poor, and veterans. In addition, we learned that medical debt seriously impacts the middle class, driving many families who were formerly stable into poverty. By forgiving this debt, we hope to give struggling individuals, and their families, a fresh start. “

You can read the full Press Release from First Church Berkeley here: UCC Churches Erase $4.4 Million in Medical Debt in the San Francisco East Bay

by Rev. Melinda McLain, Pastor for The Good Table UCC, and Kelly Knight, Marketing Manager

Spiritual Touchstone

On Sunday, June 14th, we marked 90 days since the initial shelter-in-place orders were originally issued by Bay Area public health officials. As a congregation, The Good Table UCC actually stopped meeting in person on March 15th, which made June 14th our “Fourteenth Sunday in Zoom”. Now that’s a liturgical season I never learned about in seminary! Plus, many of us have been participating in sustained Black Lives Matter protests since the horrible murder of George Floyd on May 25th, while wearing masks, practicing physical distancing, and paying attention to the new dynamics for protesting during a global pandemic. 

The past few months have definitely tested our individual and collective spiritual endurance. And as a pastor, I have heard the grief, rage, and hopelessness that this season of pandemic and protest has produced in so many. So what do you do to increase your spiritual endurance? Is it possible to develop those muscles like an athlete might develop their physical endurance?

Muir Woods, by Tom Emanuel

When in need of a spiritual boost, I often find inspiration in nature. And when it comes to endurance, our beloved local redwood trees are without a doubt the champs! As most know, these trees are some of the oldest living things on earth, with many trees living from 600 - 2000 years. How’s that for endurance!

But how do they do it? Turns out, they succeed in part because they live in groves where they draw strength and stability from one another. They literally cannot do this alone. And this strategy of creating an interlocking web of roots below ground also allows these trees to rise over 300 ft. into the air (over 30 stories high) — a feat of tremendous stability too.

The lesson for me from redwood trees is to focus more on getting (and staying) connected to neighbors in the community in ways that increase our collective endurance and stability. This has been extra challenging during the pandemic, but with some creativity, we can continue to build these strong networks and connections and our spiritual endurance and stability as well.

For more on this, please listen to my recent sermon, “Enduring Hope”, on Soundcloud:

P.S. Taking care of yourself is paramount during this time. Burnout is very real, and the anxiety, grief, anger, and overwhelm we’re all feeling is very real. Here is a great resource from The Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley: Four Ways to Feel Good on a Hard Day in Lockdown

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In Our Community

• We were sorry to hear the news that a real landmark business in El Sobrante, Thrift Town has announced that it will not reopen. Read more here: Thrift Town in El Sobrante Will Not Reopen

  Many Good Table members have been to protests in recent weeks. Rev. Theresa Hardy, Vice-President of The Good Table Café board of directors attended a Black Lives Matter protest in El Sobrante with her family. Several protestors were on horseback — very El Sobrante!

• One protest passed our site on Sobrante Avenue while Gavin Raders, Co-Founder and Co-Director of Planting Justice, our partner organization, was watering plants on the property. He turned off the water and joined in!

• Some good news: The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination, handing the movement for LGBT+ equality a long-sought and unexpected victory: New York Times coverage.

We’re proud of our members and our community for all they’re doing to make sure all people and all families have the same rights and protections. Stay safe out there!

By Kelly Knight, Marketing Manager for The Good Table

Welcome to our inaugural weekly communication, The Good Table At Home — a collection of recipes, gardening tips and ideas, spiritual touchstones, and community news. We’re hoping this helps us all feel a little more connected in these difficult and distanced times.

From the Garden

Some gardening tips for June:

• If you have rose bushes, now is a great time to cut them to ensure they’ll bloom all summer long. When you put them in vases, be sure the leaves aren’t touching the water (to avoid rot & stinky vase water.)

• Switch over to planting heat-tolerant lettuce varieties in the vegetable garden, and continue adding to your summer vegetables if space allows.

• Install bird netting to keep birds away from fruit trees and plants.

• Check your strawberry patch frequently for slugs, snails, and earwigs. Fertilize now for healthy plants and continued berry production. (And check out our strawberry shortcake recipe, later in this edition!)

In the Kitchen

The beginning of June always makes me crave Strawberry Shortcake. Strawberries are coming up both in my garden and at the market, so I decided to use them to make this wonderful, pretty easy recipe. It uses a simple drop biscuit for the shortcake, which only took me about 20 minutes to make.

Strawberry Shortcake
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen. If you’re looking for a gluten-free or dairy-free recipe, try this one from Gluten-Free Palate.

Ingredients

SHORTCAKES
2 1/4 cups (295 grams) all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons (40 grams) granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams or 3 ounces) unsalted butter, cold, cut into chunks
2 large egg yolks (you can also use one whole egg instead)
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (205 ml) heavy cream
3 tablespoons (35 grams) raw or turbinado sugar

TO FINISH
1 pound (455 grams) strawberries or mixed berries, hulled and halved if large
2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar, or more to taste
1 tablespoon (15 ml) fresh lemon juice (optional)
1 cup (235 ml) heavy or whipping cream

DIRECTIONS
Make shortcakes: Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, granulated sugar, and salt until thoroughly combined. Add butter and using your fingertips or a pastry blender, break it into small bits, the largest should be no bigger than a small pea. In a small bowl, whisk yolks with a splash of cream, then pour rest of cream in and whisk to combine. Pour into butter-flour mixture and use a rubber spatula to mix and mash it together into one cohesive dough.

Divide dough into 6 (for large, 3 1/2 to 3 3/4-inch wide and up to 2-inch tall) shortcakes or 8 smaller ones. I do this by pressing the dough somewhat flat into the bottom of the bowl (to form a circle) and using a knife to divide it into pie-like wedges. Place raw or turbinado sugar in a small bowl. Roll each wedge of shortcake into a ball in your hands and roll it through the raw/turbinado sugar, coating it in all but a small area that you should leave bare. (I found that the sugar underneath the shortcakes would burn, so better to leave it off.)

Place it, bare spot down, on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining wedges of dough. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly golden all over. Let cool completely on tray or on a cooling rack.

While cooling, prepare fruit and cream: Mix berries, 2 tablespoons sugar (more or less to taste), and lemon juice, if desired, in a bowl and let macerate so that the juices run out.

In a larger bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar to taste, or leave unsweetened, if that’s your preference.

To serve: Carefully split each cooled shortcake with a serrated knife. Spoon berries and their juices over bottom half. Heap generously with whipped cream. Place shortcake “lid” on top. Eat immediately and don’t forget to share.