Worship Schedule | Special Events | Classes & Meetings | Past Events | More
Worship Schedule
SUNDAY MORNINGS AT 11:00 AM
April 4: Easter Sunday
Dr. Dorsey Blake & Dr. Kathryn Benton
Dr. Carl Blake, Musician
Special Music: Fellowship Church Choir
April 11
Guest Speaker, 11:00AM: Dr. Nobuaki Hanaoka*
Dr. Carl Blake, Musician
2:00PM Peace Forum (see Events for details)
April 18
Dr. Dorsey Blake
Annual Membership Meeting
Welcoming guests from Epiphany Episcopal Church in Odenton, MD
April 25
Dr. Kathryn Benton
Dr. Carl Blake, Musician
May 2
Dr. Dorsey Blake
Lawrence Sumpter, Musician
May 9: Mother’s Day
Guest Speaker: Dr. Arisika Razak*
Dr. Carl Blake, Musician
May 16
Dr. Dorsey Blake
Dr. Carl Blake, Musician
May 23
Dr. Kathryn Benton
Dr. Carl Blake, Musician
May 30
Dr. Kathryn Benton
Dr. Carl Blake, Musician
June 6
Dr. Dorsey Blake
Lawrence Sumpter, Musician
June 13
Dr. Dorsey O. Blake
Dr. Carl Blake, Musician
June 20
Dr. Kathryn Benton
Dr. Carl Blake, Musician
June 27
Dr. Dorsey O. Blake
Dr. Carl Blake, Musician
* See below for details
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Special Events
Mother's Day: Sunday, May 9, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Arisika Razak, CNM, MPH, Guest Speaker
 Arisika Razak, CNM, MPH, is an Associate Professor and Program Chair of the Women's Spirituality Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies, in San Francisco, California. For over twenty years she provided midwifery care to indigent women of color and their families in inner city Oakland and the greater San Francisco Bay Area where she served as a home and hospital birth attendant, hospital based nurse-midwife, health care administrator and health educator. She has led spiritual and healing workshops for women for over two decades, and currently leads meditation workshops for women and men at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland.
Arisika is a contributor to numerous books and journals, and she presents at national and international conferences on the subjects of women’s health and healing, embodied spirituality and movement and multiculturalism and diversity. Her teachings incorporate diverse spiritual traditions, women's health and healing, and contemporary liberation movements. Her film credits include: A Place of Rage by Prahtibha Parma which showcases the work and struggles of African American women activists Alice Walker, June Jordan and Angela Davis; Fire Eyes by Soraya Mire, the first full length feature film by an African woman to explore the issue of female genital cutting; and Who Lives Who Dies a PBS special on health care services to marginalized and underserved populations.
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Classes and Meetings
ENGAGED SPIRITUALITY GROUP
All are invited, Sunday mornings from 9:45 - 10:50 AM, as this popular and powerful group continues! Sessions are free of charge and drop-ins are welcome. Please join us on Sunday Mornings and volunteer to lead a class on your favorite subject related to engaged spirituality.
Currently the topic for discussion is the book, On the Back of a Buffalo by Rev. Nobuaki Hanaoka. Rev. Charlotte Myers and Ellen Anderson are leading this class. On the last Sunday of the month, Gary Gach will present: Introduction to Mindfulness, Meditation for Our Engagement with Life. His practice is in the tradition of Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh, who coined the phrase "engaged Buddhism."
For more information please contact Rev. Myers at the church.
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PROGRAM STEERING COMITTEE
The Fellowship Church Program Steering Committe is developing several new programs that will be launched this fall and through the end of the year. Please check this website in the coming weeks for those announcements.
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MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
The Membership Committee is chaired by board member Mike Brown. Our ongoing theme is "Building Beloved Community" and the committee’s efforts will center around this intention. Please join us and help us strengthen the membership of Fellowship Church.
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CALIFORNIA INTERFAITH ALLIANCE FOR PRISON REFORM
Is undergoing reorganization and will resume meeting in January 2009.
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Past Events and Activities
Fellowship Theater Guild Presents: "Underneath the Lintel"
March 26, 27, 28 and April 2, 3, 4, 2010
Fridays & Saturdays at 8PM / Sundays at 4PM
 What would you do if you held the clues to a timeless mystery in your hand? "Underneath The Lintel" by Glen Berger explores just that question about a librarian who finds a late book in the overnight slot and becomes determined to track down the offender especially since the book is 113 years overdue. A clue scribbled in the margin of the book and an unclaimed dry-cleaning ticket takes him on an adventure that spans the globe and the ages.
Veteran actor and longtime member of Fellowship Church, Felix Justice, plays the Librarian in this one-act play, directed by M. Tyehimba. Produced by Jonal Productions in collaboration with Best of Cabaret. Tickets $20. For more information: 415.608.9613 or jonalproductions@yahoo.com
Purchase Tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/99607
For directions to Fellowship Church please click HERE. Persons with special needs should call in advance for information about accessibility. Thank you.
Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Rev. Nobuaki Hanoaka, Guest Speaker
 Rev. Nobuaki Hanaoka has ministered in the United Methodist Church throughout his career serving the Sacramento UMC, Epworth UMC in Berkeley, Calvary UMC and San Francisco UMC in San Francisco. He has been a leader in the reconciling movement and influential in creating a safe place to worship for LGBT people at Bethany UMC in San Francisco.
Hanaoka was born on Dec. 25, 1944 and was a baby when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. He noted that the city was the site of the largest Asian Christian population, stating over 8,500 Christians were incinerated in the blast. The radiation he suffered has created health issues, but hasn't stopped him for being a staunch advocate for social justice with a focus on LGBT issues.
Nobuaki Hanaoka grew up as a Christian in the predominantly Buddhist culture of Japan. After finishing his seminary training in Japan, he traveled to the United States for additional theological studies. He has since served the Church as pastor for 35 years, mostly in Northern California. He is now retired, but remains active through writing, speaking and teaching. His main passions are for world peace, human rights, inclusiveness in the church, and interfaith dialogue. He is the author of On the Back of a Buffalo, the book currently being studied in Engaged Spirituality and will be a guest for the class on this day.
Sunday, April 11, 2010 at 2:00PM
Howard Thurman Interfaith Peace Forum: "Manifestations of Peace: Learning from Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Islam"
Featured panelists are: Dr. Jo Sanzgiri, Starr King School of Religion; Imam Khaled Hamoui, Islamic Society of San Francisco; and Dr. Dorsey O Blake, Dean of Faculty at Starr King School of Religion and Presiding Minister of Fellowship Church.
Join the discussion of how different faith traditions are working to manifest peace in individuals and communities and how to build effective inter-faith collaborations that can make a difference in communities today. Subsequent forums on June 13, and September 12, will focus on collaborations that are already having an impact and how to build on these successes.
Sunday, March 21, 2010 at 11:00 AM
Dr. Randall Bailey, Guest Speaker
Special Bible Study: March 22-24 at 7:00 PM - All are welcome!
 Randall C. Bailey, PhD, is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Hebrew Bible at Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. He has a special interest in the Pentateuch, historical books, and the new methods of interpretation. Dr. Bailey concentrates on ideological criticism, especially considering the ways race, class, gender, sex, and power intersect in the biblical text. He contends that theological debates often begin with appeals to Scripture to support the theological claim of the proponent, as though the biblical text does not hold contradictory positions on the subject. This is seen in the ways slavery was debated in the 19th C., the ways ordination of women was debated in the 20th C. and the ways rights of LGBT's are debated in the 21st C. In essence both sides of the debate appeal to either the same passage, arguing the other side is "misinterpreting the passage" or go to different passages as though the passages proposed by the other side of the debate are not in the text. They all say, "The Bible says..." as though that ends the debate.
Instead of this strategy, Dr. Bailey argues that becoming aware of the conflicting positions in the biblical text on subjects helps model for us how to approach such theological debates. In other words, the fact that contradictory passages and theologies have been canonized in the biblical text, sometimes in the same book of the Bible, models for us how we can be in community with people and groups, with whom we are in disagreement theologically. In essence, the biblical text shows us that we should make space for differing theologies and understand the differing ways of approaching the subject, so that we don't demonize those who think differently. In this way, we can also help people, who feel they have to live by the biblical text, see there are options beyond adhering to internalized oppression. In other words, women don't have to buy into the patriarchal ideologies nor do same gender loving people have to accept negative views of themselves, since there are alternative positions to be found in the text itself.
During the three days Dr. Bailey will be with us, he will be helping us engage and develop skills to uncover these conflicting theologies and biblical positions and to see how they can be explored to help us find ways of liberative living in our day.
Some of Dr. Bailey’s most significant publications are “Academic Biblical Interpretation among African Americans in the United States ” in African Americans and the Bible: Sacred Texts and Social Textures; “The Redemption of YHWH: A Literary Critical Function of the Songs of Hannah and David”; “And They Shall Know That I Am YHWH: The P Recasting of the Plague Narratives in Exodus 7-11”; David in Love and War: The Pursuit of Power in 2 Samuel 10-12; Yet with a Steady Beat: Contemporary U.S. Afrocentric Biblical Interpretation, ed.; and The Recovery of Black Presence: An Interdisciplinary Exploration: Essays in Honor of Dr. Charles B. Copher, Jacquelyn Grant, co-editor.
Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 11:00 AM ~ Mother's Day
Dr. Carol Lee Flinders , Special Guest Speaker
 Carol Lee Flinders received a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, specializing in medieval studies. She then spent fifteen years writing about natural foods, co-authoring the popular Laurel's Kitchen cookbooks and writing a weekly syndicated newspaper column.
In 1990 Carol returned to her field of study and wrote Enduring Grace: Living Portraits of Seven Women Mystics. Subsequent books include At the Root of This Longing: Reconciling a Spiritual Hunger and a Feminist Thirst and Rebalancing the World. She has taught courses in mystical literature at UC, Berkeley, and at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. She is currently a Fellow of the Spirituality and Health Institute, Santa Clara University and serves on the Board of Directors of the Foundation for the Advancement for Women and Religion. Carol is currently visiting faculty at the Sophia Center in Culture and Spirituality, Holy Names University, Oakland.
Carol's latest book is Enduring Lives: Living Portraits of Women of Faith In Action (Putnam/Tarcher). It profiles four contemporary women that she believes live and work in the "spiritual mother-line" of women like Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Catherine of Genoa.
Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr., Special Guest Speaker
Recipient of the Howard Thurman Award
Musical Inspiration: Branice McKenzie (vocalist), Dr. Carl Blake (pianist), Pope Flyne (percussionist).
 Rev. Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. is Pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ (TUCC) in Chicago, IL. Under his leadership, Trinity grew from 87 members to over 8,000. He and his congregation have made pilgrimages to Africa, welcomed women leaders and gay members and made Trinity a social force with over 70 ministries addressing an array of community needs. Wright takes seriously not only the call to worship but also the call to take action as mandated by the Gospel. An outspoken community leader, Wright has been vocal in making once-taboo issues, such as AIDS, a priority within the African American church leadership and service. His commitment to political activism, coupled with his dedication to the African American sermonic tradition, has made him a highly sought-after speaker nationally and internationally.
Rev. Wright holds a Doctor of Ministry Degree from United Theological Seminary, a Master’s degree from Howard University, an additional Master’s degree from the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is recognized as a leading theologian and pastor and has lectured at seminaries and universities across the United States and around the world.
Wright is the recipient of numerous awards, including three honorary doctorates and three presidential commendations. An accomplished musician and author, Dr. Wright has written four books, numerous articles and was named one of Ebony's top fifteen preachers. In addition to national and international ministry, he serves on several boards of directors and committees. Married to the Reverend Ramah Reed Wright, Wright has five children and three grandchildren.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON RECITAL SERIES ~ 2:00PM
March 1, 2009: Violinist, Pezhman Fatahi & Pianist Carl Blak
performing works by Bach, Schumann, Sarasate, Saint-Saens and Piazzola.
April 26, 2009: Cellist Kim Cook & Pianist Carl Blake
performing works by Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, Villa-Lobos and African American Spirituals.
• Pezhman Fatahi is a commanding artist who is a product of musical institutions of his native Iran. He subsequently studied in institutions of higher learning in England and Germany. He has performed to impressive acclaim throughout Iran, Israel and Germany, where he currently resides.
• Kim Cook is an international concert and recording artist whose playing has been characterized by The New York Times as "a wide assortment of ravishing colors and textures." She has performed in many parts of the world and has been acclaimed for her numerous first-rate recordings with European orchestras. Currently Ms. Cook is Professor of Music at The Pennsylvania State University.
• Carl Blake is an internationally acclaimed pianist who received the Doctorate of Musical Arts from Cornell University. He is a two-time recipient of the Fulbright Senior Scholar Award. Currently he teaches piano and music theory at Oakland School for the Arts and is one of the music staff members at Fellowship Church.
Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Sr. Bernie Galvin, Recipient of the Howard Thurman Award
Special Guest Speaker
 Sister Bernie Galvin, cdp, Founder and Director of Religious Witness with Homeless People, is a Catholic nun and a member of the Sisters of Divine Providence. Sister Bernie earned both her B.A. and M. Ed. from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas.
Sister Bernie’s ministry history reflects a deep, long-term commitment to social justice issues, particularly as they relate to working people and to poor and homeless people: After 17 years teaching junior high students, she began full-time community organizing throughout the South – Louisiana, Virginia, West Virginia and the Carolinas. She organized sugarcane field and mill workers in Louisiana, as well as textile workers, state mental health workers and nursing home workers throughout the Appalachian states.
In 1993, Sister Bernie founded Religious Witness with Homeless People, a grassroots, activist, interfaith policy-advocacy coalition in the San Francisco Bay Area after bearing witness to the intensified suffering of homeless people under the newly adopted and rigorously enforced Matrix policy of San Francisco.
In 1999, Sister Bernie initiated Religious Leaders’ National Call for Action on Housing, a project of Religious Witness, which collaborates with Housing America to influence the increase of the Federal housing budget for low-income housing across the nation.
Up until this year when she went on sabbatical, Sister Bernie served as Director of Religious Witness with Homeless People and Organizer and Coordinator of Religious Leaders’ National Call for Action on Housing.
Sister Bernie has been the recipient of numerous awards, including: 1995 and 1999 San Francisco Bay Guardian Local Hero Award, American Jewish Congress Menches in the Trenches Award, Regional Pax Christi U.S.A. Peace Award, 1998 and 1999 Metropolitan Community Church of San Francisco Saints Alive Award and the California Legislature's 2004 Woman of the Year Award (District 13).
13th Annual Howard Thurman Convocation
Sunday, October 19, 2008 at 3:00 PM
* Please note there is no 11:00 AM worship service on this day
Captain James Yee , Speaker
and Recipient of the Howard Thurman Award
 Captain James J. Yee is a former US Army Chaplain and graduate of West Point who served as the Muslim Chaplain for the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba that would become controversial for its treatment of detainees designated as "enemy combatants" by the U.S. government. While ministering to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Captain Yee advised the commanders of the camp on detainee religious practices and objected to the cruel and degrading abuses to which the prisoners were subjected.
After being officially recognized twice for outstanding performance, Captain Yee was arrested and imprisoned in a Naval brig for 76 days in September 2003 while being falsely accused of spying, espionage, and aiding the alleged Taliban and Al-Qaeda prisoners. He was held in solitary confinement and subjected to the same sensory deprivation techniques that were being used against the prisoners in Cuba that he had been ministering to.
After months of government investigation, all criminal charges were dropped. With his record wiped clean, Chaplain Yee was reinstated to full duty at Fort Lewis, Washington. He tendered his resignation from the U.S. Army and received an Honorable Discharge on January 7, 2005. Upon separation he was awarded with a second Army Commendation medal for "exceptionally meritorious service."
Chaplain Yee's gripping account of his Guantanamo experience and struggle for justice has been recently published and is entitled For God And Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire. The Washington Post called it "required reading for all U.S. officials waging war on Islamist terrorists." For this work, Yee received the Exceptional Communicator Award from New America Media in Jan 2006.
12th Annual Howard Thurman Convocation
Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 3:00 PM
* Please note there is no 11:00 AM worship service on this day
Leslie Feinberg, Speaker and Recipient of the Howard Thurman Award
Music provided by the Lucy Kinchen Chorale and by Dr. Carl Blake
 Leslie Feinberg is a long-time activist and an award-winning author. Ze is also a political journalist and a managing editor of Workers World newspaper. Ze is a national steering committee member of the LGBT Caucus of the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981; a member of Pride At Work, AFL-CIO; and an associate member of the Steelworkers Union. Feinberg is a founder of Rainbow Flags for Mumia and a national organizer for the International Action Center. Feinberg has also been involved in Camp Trans and has been awarded an honorary doctorate from Starr King School of the Ministry for transgender and social justice work. [Photo credit: Marilyn Humphries]
The Lucy Kinchen Chorale was first established in 2001. Dedicated to renewing awareness and appreciation of the Negro Spiritual, one of America’s original and most beautiful art forms, the Chorale is committed to reaching out and touching the hearts and spirits of all. Ms. Kinchen was also the founder and Music Director of the Laney Concert Chorale, which appeared in it’s first “Let Us Break Bread Together” concert with the Oakland East Bay Symphony in 1998. Members of the Lucy Kinchen Chorale personify the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of the greater Bay Area. Celebrated for their inspirational, passionate, and deeply moving performances of the Negro Spiritual, the Lucy Kinchen Chorale is also noted for other repertoires.
Sunday June 17, 2007 at 2:00 PM
The Howard Thurman Forum Series: Conversations with Spiritual Visionaries
Presents: Matthew Fox, PhD
The Howard Thurman Forum Series offers public programs with globally respected spiritual thinkers who echo the values Dr. Thurman championed during his lifetime: building community, social justice, racial and religious reconciliation, and spiritual formation.
Our inaugural guest, Dr. Matthew Fox, is the author of 28 books and a former Dominican priest. He holds a doctorate (summa cum laude) in the History and Theology of Spirituality from the Institut Catholique de Paris. Professor Fox was the founder of the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland, and served as its president and a member of the board of directors for nine years. He is currently lecturing, teaching and writing, and is president of the nonprofit he created called Friends of Creation Spirituality.
Dr. Fox will also be our guest speaker at the 11:00 AM service for worship on June 17th. His topic is: "In Search of the Divine Masculine." We hope you will join us.
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Sunday, August 19, 2007 at 2:00 PM
The Howard Thurman Forum Series: Conversations with Spiritual Visionaries
Presents: Fred Alan Wolf, PhD
Our second guest, Dr. Fred Alan Wolf, is a physicist, writer, and lecturer who conducts research on the relationship of quantum physics to consciousness. He is the author of 11 books and received the National Book Award for Taking the Quantum Leap. He is a member of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Collegium of Scholars. Professor of physics at San Diego State University for twelve years, Dr. Wolf has appeared in several films (including "What the Bleep Do We Know?"), as the resident physicist on The Discovery Channel's "The Know Zone," and on many radio talk shows and television programs across the United States and abroad.
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Sunday, December 2, 2007 at 2:00 PM
The Howard Thurman Forum Series: Conversations with Spiritual Visionaries
Presents: Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD
Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCSF, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and recipient of the Institute for Health and Healing’s "Pioneers in Art, Science, and the Soul of Healing Award." She is a former board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women, and the author of numerous books. She brings an emphasis on the question for meaning and the need for a spiritual dimension in life to all aspects of her work, while also taking into account the powerful effects of archetypes within us and family and culture upon us.
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Sunday, February 3, 2008 at 2:00 PM
The Howard Thurman Forum Series: Conversations with Spiritual Visionaries
Presents: Angeles Arrien, PhD
Dr. Angeles Arrien is an anthropologist, educator and award-winning author. She lectures globally on the relevance of indigenous wisdom, conducting workshops that bridge cultural anthropology, psychology, and mediation skills. Dr. Arrien is an associate professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies and the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, and the founder and president of the Angeles Arrien Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education and Research and a Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences. She is the author of The Four-Fold Way and Signs of Life, winner of the 1993 Benjamin Franklin Award. Arrien has received honors from organizations all around the world including three honorary doctorate degrees. For more, please visit: www.angelesarrien.com.
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Sunday, April 20, 2008 at 2:00 PM
The Howard Thurman Forum Series: Conversations with Spiritual Visionaries
Presents: Belvie Rooks
Belvie Rooks is the co-founder, with her husband Dedan Gills, of Growing a Global Heart: Building Sustainable Bridges, an educational consulting group that uses media and dialogue to support the building of socially just and environmentally sustainable communities and organizations. A noted writer, educator, and producer, she is Vice-President of Project Development for actor Danny Glover's Carrie Productions. Ms. Rooks is the executive producer of "Watts Up! Demaria's Journey from Watts to Bali to the Frontiers of Consciousness," a film featuring Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other global visionaries. She piloted the innovative educational curriculum "Hey, Listen Up!" in South Central Los Angeles, encouraging inner-city youth to explore some of the critical social and environmental issues impacting their lives and their communities. Ms. Rooks is co-chair of the board of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, serves on the board of the the Jesse Smith Noyes Foundation, and on the board of the Institute of Noetic Sciences where she also hosts the regular teleseminar ConverZations that Matter: Frontiers of Race, Cosmology, and Consciousness.
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Sunday, June 1, 2008 at 2:00 PM
The Howard Thurman Forum Series: Conversations with Spiritual Visionaries
Presents: Van Jones, JD
Van Jones is a lawyer, civil and human rights activist working to combine solutions to two of America's biggest problems: social inequality and environmental destruction. He is the founder and president of the nonprofit organization Green for All, and the co-founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and ColorOfChange.org. Mr. Jones was the catalyst behind the national Green Jobs Act of 2007, providing $125 million in funding to train 35,000 people a year in "green-collar jobs." His awards and honors include the Reebok International Human Rights Award, the international Ashoka Fellowship, selection as a World Economic Forum "Young Global Leader," and the Rockefeller Foundation "Next Generation Leadership" Fellowship. Jones has served on the boards of the National Apollo Alliance, Social Venture Network, Rainforest Action Network, Bioneers, and Julia Butterfly Hill’s "Circle of Life" organization. He is presently advocating for a national "Clean Energy Jobs Corps." This multi-billion-dollar federal initiative would put hundreds of thousands of people to work rewiring and retrofitting the energy infrastructure of the United States. For more please visit: www.vanjones.net
The Nonviolent Teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
with Dr. Dorsey Blake, instructor
Four Week Workshop: Wednesday Evenings, Feb. 7 - 28, 2006
Saturday Intensive: Feb. 17th, 10:00 AM- 5:00 PM
(CEUs available for MFT, LCSW, RN)
These classes are open to the public. For information and registration contact:
California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS)in San Francisco www.ciis.edu/publicprograms/spring07/sp07feb.html#blake
Connections between spiritual foundation and growth and the quest for radical social reconstruction, as exemplified in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., comprise this meaningful workshop. How did King become a great 20th century visionary and leader? What influenced his life? How did he clarify his vision? What spiritual disciplines or tools of the spirit did he employ to deepen his resolve? How did he sustain his commitment to a dream larger than his capacity to fulfill it? What were some of the dynamics between his leadership and the response of his community? What can we learn from his life regarding nonviolent strategies, effective organizing, and the capacity of the human spirit? Exploring these questions and the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will provide insight into how we can inspire and institute nonviolent social change in today’s world.
California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)
1453 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415.575.6100
www.ciis.edu/publicprograms
"The Psychology and Metaphysics of A Course In Miracles"
A special lecture presentation with Dr. Jon Mundy
a.k.a. "Dr. Baba Jon Mundane" (standup philosopher-commedian)
Monday, Feb. 26, 2007 at 7:00 PM in Thurman Hall
$15 with e-mail (info@fellowshipsf.org) or phone reservation (415.776.4910),
$20 at the door ~ No one turned away who cannot pay
Dr. Jon Mundy is a lecturer in Philosophy at SUNY (the State University of NY), a standup commedian, the co-founder and Senior Minister Emeritus of Interfaith fellowship of New York City, publisher of Miracles magazine, and the author of eight books. He will discuss what A Course in Miracles teaches, why it works, and how it differs from traditional Christianity. Jon was introduced to A Course in Miracles by its scribe, Dr. Helen Schucman, in 1975. Dr. Schucman served as Jon's mentor until her death in 1981.
Fellowship Theater Guild Presents the West Coast Premiere of ~
Starring Kim Nalley as Billie Holiday
With Lady SunRise, Ed L. Gillies III, and T. Hall
Directed and designed by Courtney Brown
Friday's & Saturday's ~ July 7 - August 12, 2006 at 8:00
Sunday's ~ July 16, 23, 30 & Aug. 6th at 3:00
Through the 1940s, when New York City reverberated with jazz, Billie Holiday soared like a meteor. As the decade opens she's on top of the world: young and beautiful, happily rehearsing for a Swing Street night club show, squabbling with her mother, flirting with her new lover. Seven years later her mother is dead, her man is gone, she's lost her right to work and her grip on reality — but she's still a knockout singer. San Francisco jazz star Kim Nalley is Lady Day in this West Coast premiere of a trip back in time to the golden age of American music.
Admission $25 - $35 donation
Come by Hyde St. cable car or 19 Polk, 47 or 49 Van Ness, or 45 Union bus
and get $2 off tix paid at door (with valid MUNI pass or transfer)
For more information please visit www.fellowshiptheater.org
Reservations (415) 305-3243 or e-mail fellowshiptheater@yahoo.com
Tickets are available on-line at www.TheaterMania.com or (toll free) 1-866-811-4111.
Fellowship Theater Guild
2041 Larkin St., San Francisco (between Broadway & Vallejo)
For directions and parking information, click here.
Read Reviews in Berkeley Daily Planet and San Francisco Bay Times.
A Special Service for Worship
Sunday, Jan. 14, 2007
“Prophecy in America: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."
with Felix Justice
On January 14, 2007, Fellowship Church's own Felix Justice will present his critically acclaimed exploration of the life and struggles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the centerpiece of our 11 AM service of worship. Mr. Justice's career as an actor and director spans more than three decades and he is renowned for his inspiring portrayal of Dr. King.
Following Mr. Justice's performance will be a showing of the documentary film: "At the River I Stand" that chronicles a two-month long strike by 1,300 Memphis sanitation workers over wages and working conditions. The strike is transformed into a national movement and leads to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s involvement and assassination. King is arresting in his prophetic commitment.
About "Prophesy in America":
It is April 3, 1968. Reverend Martin Luther King is in Memphis. Having delivered his visionary "I have been to the mountain top..." address just a few hours earlier, he now appears before an audience of his closest friends and colleagues in the struggle for human rights. Certain that a recently-received death threat will be acted upon, he offers an emotional final testimony to the purpose and direction of his life's work.
Welcome to "Prophecy in America", actor/director Felix Justice's acclaimed dramatic collage based on the writings and sermons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Presenting a "tour de force" one-man performance, Justice virtually transforms into the slain civil rights leader, recreating all of his power, vision and emotion. In the play, King speaks of his beginnings in the civil rights struggle; how, as a young pastor, he was introduced to fear, and how, through prayer, he comes to terms with it. He dwells on the importance of non-violent direct action, both physical and tactical. With the dark eloquence of condemnation he considers the Vietnam War and what it represented. And in a stirring finish, he bids his friends farewell, and asks them to carry on.
What emerges is an insightful and memorable portrait of a modern day prophet.
The father of four, Felix Justice grew up in Florence, South Carolina. Joining the Air Force after he graduated from high school, he spent four years as a cryptographer before turning to acting in 1960. It was a decision due in part to Dr. King himself; in 1960 Justice had the "visceral experience" of witnessing Dr. King speak at the Sports Arena in Los Angeles. For Justice it amounted to a "conversion" of sorts to the power of the spoken word.
Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Justice is a long-time member of The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples. His acting credits include "Blues for Mr. Charlie,""Henry V,""High on Pilet’s Bluff," and "The River Niger." He has directed productions of "The Trials of Brother Gero,""Companions of the Fire,""Luv," and "The Blood Knot." Justice also tours college campuses nationwide in a performance with long-time friend Danny Glover, entitled "An Evening with Martin and Langston."
"Prophecy In America" premiered in 1981 at San Francisco’s Lorraine Hansberry Theatre to critical acclaim. It has since toured widely in the United States and in Africa.
Fellowship Church's 11th Annual Howard Thurman Convocation:
October 15, 2006 at 3:00 PM
"Beloved Community: Truth & Reconciliation"
This year's keynote speaker will be the Rev. Nelson Johnson, a lifelong advocate for social and economic justice, addressing the subject "Building Beloved Community: Truth and Reconciliation." His presentation will include his ongoing work with Greensboro North Carolina’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, modeled after South Africa’s remarkable non-vindictive, non-vengeful process for healing the country after apartheid.
Following his talk there will be a panel discussion that will include: Rev. Johnson and Joyce Johnson, Beloved Community Center of Greensboro; Laura Magnani, American Friends Service Committee; Shirley Strong, California Institute for Integral Studies; and Dr. Dorsey Blake, Pastor of Fellowship Church.
The Howard Thurman Award will be presented to Rev. Nelson Johnson and his wife Joyce Hobson-Johnson, because of their significant contributions in realizing the vision that guided Thurman's life and work.
Musicial inspiration for this special event will feature Dominion a cappella ensemble, directed by Valerie Brown. We will also be joined by internationally recognized pianist / composer / arranger, Ms. Jacqueline B. Hairston.
The Fellowship Theater Guild proudly presents
The San Francisco Premiere of:
"Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train"
by Stephen Adly Guirgis
directed by C. J. Verburg
with Peter Fitzsimmons, Jaime Gutierrez, Felix Justice, Hector Osorio, and Nell Schwartz
TWO ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES:
Friday, October 14 & Monday, October 17, 2005
8:00 PM
How many plays have you seen lately that confront issues of faith, morality and the essential nature of what it is to be a man without drowning in their own expansiveness? Guirgis's masterly achievement is that he not only negotiates these
broad themes, but that he is able to layer his story with equal parts humor and passion, and without becoming didactic, precious, sentimental.
-- Les Gutman, Curtain Up
Fellowship Theater Guild is proud to announce the San Francisco premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis' award-winning drama Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train. Shows begin July 22 and run weekends through August 20 at Fellowship Church.
Crime, like politics, makes strange bedfellows. Thrown together on Riker's Island in New York City are an angry young bike messenger, a born-again serial killer, a cynical public defender, and two prison guards. Each passionately clings to his or her conceptions of "good" and "evil" while clashing, sometimes violently, with the others.
Hailed by the New York Times as one of America's best young playwrights, Guirgis dares to tackle weighty issues about justice, betrayal, free will, and moral responsibility. Enthusiastically received in New York, London, and Edinburgh, this expansive drama has challenged theatergoers to look beyond night time television's neatly wrapped crime and punishment ethos and explore the poetry of shades of gray.
"Fire-breathing ... [a] probing, intense portrait of lives behind bars ... Whenever it appears that Jesus is settling into familiar territory, it slides right beneath expectations into another, fresher direction. It has the courage of its intellectual restlessness .... [Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train] has been written in flame."
-- Ben Brantley, The New York Times
The San Francisco Premiere of Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train is directed by C.J. Verburg, former head of the Provincetown Playwrights' Workshop and Provincetown Theatre Company. The cast includes Bay Area notables and Fellowship Theater Guild founding members Felix Justice, known for his nationwide performances as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Peter Fitzsimmons, who will appear this fall on the History Channel as Gen. Colin Powell and inventor Garrett Morgan. For more information click here.
The Ninth Annual Convocation
Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Fellowship Church
Sunday, October 24, 2004 at 3:00 pm
"IN SEARCH OF COMMON GROUND"
Arleigh Prelow's documentary film portraiting the life's work of Dr. Thurman
We are honored to invite you, your family and friends to our Ninth Annual Convocation as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples.
On this special occasion Fellowship Church is pleased to welcome Ms. Arleigh Prelow, independent producer and documentary filmmaker, who will preview and discuss her groundbreaking feature “Howard Thurman: In Search of Common Ground.”
The film chronicles the life, work and spiritual journey of Dr. Thurman, co-founder of Fellowship Church and a preeminent spiritual leader named by Life Magazine as one of the twelve great preachers of the twentieth century. It is the story of a man's quest to inspire unity, and challenge an America divided in color and in soul.
Ms. Prelow is this year's recipient of the Howard Thurman Award. Inaugurated in 1997, the award is presented each year to an individual whose life embodies Dr. Thurman's search for and proclamation of authentic community despite socially imposed barriers to unity. Past awardees have included the Honorable Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Dr. Julius Scott, and Dr. Daniel Collins.
The 3:00 Convocation Service will also feature musical inspiration by Mr. Johnny Land and friends, and will be followed by a buffet reception.
Roy Campanella II Speaks on “Media and Democracy”
General manager of KPFA radio will be the guest speaker at the Church for The Fellowship of All Peoples on Sunday, January 23, 11:00 A.M. A writer, producer, and director of films, Mr. Campanella brings a wealth of talent, interest and expertise to his new position. Highly acclaimed by Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Campanella is committed to the Pacifica agenda of progressive and creative community broadcasting.
Dr. Dorsey Blake, Minister of Fellowship Church, stated: “Mr. Campanella is profoundly concerned, as we all should be, about the role of media in protecting our constitutional democracy, a democracy steadily eroded by those committed to a right wing agenda. This is a moral issue of great significance that should rally the progressive faith community.”
Son of integration pioneer and Hall of Fame baseball player, Roy Campanella, Roy Campanella II is an all-star in his own right, having produced and directed TV movies, primetime episodes, and independent documentaries, including the award-winning “Brother Future.”
Black History Celebration: Advancing the Legacy of Timbuktu
Imam Musa Balde will be the guest speaker Sunday, Feb. 13, at the 11 a.m. worship service at the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, 2041 Larkin St., San Francisco. He will describe his critical work in saving, restoring and advancing the legacy of the renowned African learning center at Timbuktu.
“There are 700,000 manuscripts in Timbuktu and surroundings that are on the verge of being lost if the appropriate action is not taken,” Imam Balde stated. “These manuscripts represent a turning point in the history of Africa and its people. The manuscripts of Timbuktu are a living testimony of the highly advanced and refined civilization in sub-Sahara Africa.”
“Before the European Renaissance, Timbuktu flourished as the greatest academic and commercial center in Africa,” he explained. “Great empires such as Ghana, Mali and Songhai were proofs of the talents, creativity and ingenuity of the African people. The University of Timbuktu produced both Black African scholars and leaders of the highest rank, character and nobility.”
Dr. Dorsey O. Blake, presiding minister of Fellowship Church, called Imam Balde’s work “a contribution of great significance not only in correcting negatives images of the African past but in giving due recognition to the Golden Age of commerce and learning that actually began to develop as early as the 9th century.”
Since 1996, Imam Balde has served as imam of the Islamic Center of Alameda. He is also the founder of the Timbuktu Educational Foundation (TEF) and its president and CEO. During the past few years, Balde has made several trips to Mali to investigate the conditions of the manuscripts of Timbuktu. It was during one of those trips that TEF was able to gain legal rights of custodianship of these historical documents from the government of Mali and the official authority of the city of Timbuktu.
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The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples was founded in 1944 by Dr. Howard Thurman and Dr. Alfred Fisk as the nation's first interracial interfaith congregation.
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