Island United Church of Foster City

06/15/2026

No true effort is in vain. Look at the fields over there. The grain sown therein has to remain in the earth for a certain time, then it sprouts, and in due time yields hundreds of its kind. The same is the case with every effort in a good cause.

— Badshah Khan in Nonviolent Soldier of Islam by Eknath Easwaran

To Practice This Thought:
Sow some grain for a good cause, and don't concern yourself with results.

Celebrate with us Sundays at 10:00 am in person, Zoom or Livestream. iucfc.org
Weekly Communion

Rev. Michael Cronin, Pastor



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Grain-fields near Arboll - geograph.org.uk

06/14/2026

“There’s this beautiful connection between our own, creative fire and the fire of the Divine that burns within each one of us — that fire of compassion, the fire of kindness and love that we bring to the world.”

—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone: A Creative, Online, Self-Study Retreat with the Elements


How does the fire of the Divine burn within you? How does it intersect with your creative fire?

Celebrate with us Sundays at 10:00 am in person, Zoom or Livestream. iucfc.org
Weekly Communion

Rev. Michael Cronin, Pastor



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Campfire and sparks in Anttoora 3

06/14/2026

You're Braver than You Believe
Maren Tirabassi

[Then Jesus said,] “But I say to you that listen: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” - Luke 6:27 (NRSV)



There are always bullies, I think as I look at the two preschoolers. Maybe one of these kids will be bullied; maybe one will bully someone else. Certainly, both will choose to challenge a bullying situation or stay quiet. They will learn soon about the concept “enemy.”



They will be taught to avoid enemies. They will be taught to fight enemies. But love enemies?



I’m babysitting the two children, so I ask, “What programs can they watch? On what kind of screen? For how long?” That question ranks in babysitting importance alongside tree-nut allergies, pacifiers at naptime, and what-should-happen-when-they-hit-each-other.



When the answer comes back “Paw Patrol,” “Stinky and Dirty,” or “Winnie the Pooh,” I ask why, because it seems a really random selection.



Mom replies, “No enemies.” I still look blank, because she continues, car keys in hand. “I want my kids to see things that inspire them to be courageous and resourceful without fighting villains. They’re not too young to want to be rescuers and learn it’s okay to be rescued, but not because there’s some evil Skeletor, Scar, Ursula, or even Boris Badenov.”



It makes me think.



It will be easier to help them (and me, too) love enemies the longer I hold off labeling the-people-who-do-bad-things-to-me-and-those-I-love as aliens rather than people. Reading or watching stories about helping in tough situations that are villain-free but involve rocks blocking a highway, a chicken stranded on a water tower, or a birthday forgotten, builds resilience and problem-solving.



“You're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” (AA Milne)



Prayer
God, teach me the kindness of Piglet and help me look at my world with the “what if” ingenuity of a cartoon garbage truck, so that I can choose love and helping.

Celebrate with us Sundays at 10:00 am in person, Zoom or Livestream. iucfc.org
Weekly Communion

Rev. Michael Cronin, Pastor



Image: Taken on 7 April 2022, 18:18
Paul from Hacketts Cove, Canada
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06/14/2026

Gathering with our sibling churches CCSM - Congregational Church of San Mateo United Church of Christ, Congregational Church of the Peninsula and College Heights Church, UCC to celebrate San Mateo County PRIDE Initiative and San Mateo County Pride Center and sharing the love!

Happy Pride, San Mateo County! 🌈

Today we joined our United Church of Christ friends at the San Mateo County Pride Festival to celebrate the genderfull, joyful, fabulous, and diverse expressions of the Divine in each of us.

What a gift to spend the day surrounded by love, authenticity, courage, and joy. Happy Pride, beloveds! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈✝️🕊️❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

06/12/2026

No Turning Back
Vince Amlin

The Israelites said to Moses, “Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” - Exodus 14:12 (NRSV)



You know that red bubble in the corner of your apps telling you how many unread emails, ignored messages, or missed calls you have? There’s a term for what it’s doing.



Persuasive design. All the ingenious little ways our technology has for keeping us engaged. Likes that provide a hit of dopamine. Bubbles that give us the sense we’re accomplishing something. That giant 1-click button that makes it so easy to buy. All persuasive design.



And ease is the point. To clear the path the designer wants you to take. To lower the friction between you and what you’ve been made to want, and to put up obstacles to anything else.



It was always that way with systems of exploitation and oppression. Ask the ancient Israelites.



For every taskmaster, there is also a fleshpot. Sure, the Egyptian system wasn’t perfect, but how much effort will it take to set up a new one?



Liberation is work. Clearing the path to something new without the machinery of empire. Creating friction by refusing to do what is expected. Earning rewards slowly, with great effort. And in the meantime, all that wandering.



Wouldn’t it just be easier…



But as Moses reminds the Israelites, there is one who is working to make a way for us: “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that God will accomplish for you today.”



Prayer
Liberator, set me on the right path. And give me strength for the work you designed me to do.

Celebrate with us Sundays at 10:00 am in person, Zoom or Livestream. iucfc.org
Weekly Communion

Rev. Michael Cronin, Pastor



Image: Famartin
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2018-09-24 15 44 42 Old "Go Back - You Are Going Wrong Way" sign on a ramp from westbound New Jersey State Route 446 (Atlantic City Expressway) to Camden County Route 536 Spur (Williamstown Road) in Winslow Township, Camden County, New Jersey

06/11/2026

To an Unknown God
John Allen

Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, 'To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you." - Acts 17:22-23 (NRSV)



I wouldn’t call it a revival.



But when it comes to the place of faith in society, I have noticed a shift. I see it in younger adults—not raised with any particular faith—walking through the heavy wooden doors of our sanctuary. Most say some version of this: “There must be something more.”



I see it in the quiet acknowledgment that altars of career advancement and self-actualization cannot fill the void in our spirits. I meet people who have chased the dopamine-hits of social media or of partisanship all the way to a dead end where they are left still feeling: “There must be something more.”



As Paul was walking through Athens, amidst all the altars to Zeus and Poseidon he saw an altar dedicated “to an unknown God.” In this cultural hub, at the pinnacle of human achievement and wisdom, the Athenians sensed: “There still must be more.”



Here’s the challenge. There is a long line of manipulators and cynics, hateful and power-hungry, lining up to impose meaning onto our curiosity and uncertainty. Too often, these missionaries of meaning flatten wonder and mystery under the crushing weight of tired old misogyny, racism, and fear.



But we dare to proclaim a more promising shape to the mystery. A God whose grace is not bound by borders. A God who expands our definition of neighbor. A God who provokes justice, mercy and love. A God whose mystery finds clarity in the shape of Christ.



When I remember that God, I long to proclaim to every searching heart walking through our doors: “You are right. There is more!”



Prayer
God, open our hearts to the spiritual hunger around us. Give us the courage to share what we have known. Amen.

Celebrate with us Sundays at 10:00 am in person, Zoom or Livestream. iucfc.org
Weekly Communion

Rev. Michael Cronin, Pastor



Image: View from Philopappos Hill in Athens (Attica, Greece) — Acropolis of Athens
A.Savin
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06/11/2026

https://conta.cc/4ooeCJm
Join us on Sunday, June 14 for combined in-person and Zoom worship

Email from Island United Church Sheep Among Wolves David Hayward, nakedpastor.com Weekly News June 11, 2026 [email protected] | http://www.iucfc.org Join us on June 14, Sunday Morning, at 10 am for

06/09/2026

Flock, Stock, and Two Stolen Idols
Kaji Douša

[Then Laban said to Jacob,] “The Holy One watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight.” - Genesis 31:49 (ESV, adapted)



Laban had a case. And if you’d heard his side alone, you might go for it.



Jacob had fled in the night with wives, children, servants, flocks, and everything he claimed as his. Rachel made off with her dad’s household idols.



Laban caught up indignant, wounded, and ready to tell his version like it was the whole truth.



But it was a whole lot more complicated.



The night before, God had paid Laban a visit and warned him not to bother Jacob. Which means Laban’s outrage may have sounded persuasive, but it wasn’t righteous. Panning out, we see Laban’s disobedience.



Do we need to pan out, too?



We may know our little piece of something. We may witness something ourselves. We may carry evidence, outrage, narrative, certainty. But we never have the full perspective. Which is exactly why judgment is such a seductive spiritual trap.



We see a moment. God sees the whole terrain.



If we pull the camera back from the camps, back past the dust and the livestock and the family drama, back beyond the outrage and the fear, we start to realize how small human certainty really is. Each of us is standing inside one slice of the truth, arguing like it is the whole thing.



Thanks be that God’s never trapped inside our camps.



Prayerfully consider loosening your grip on the story that keeps you righteous in your own eyes. When the outcome is not the one you wanted, don’t accuse God of ignoring the truth.



Because God’s always handling a truth far bigger than any of us can see. Believe me, that’s a good thing.



Prayer
Holy One, free me from the need to be right in my own eyes. Loosen my grip on the stories I use to judge others. Give me humility, trust, and peace. Amen.

Celebrate with us Sundays at 10:00 am in person, Zoom or Livestream. iucfc.org
Weekly Communion

Rev. Michael Cronin, Pastor



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Kedarkantha camps in heaven.jpg

06/08/2026

Mismatched
Matt Laney

Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and lawlessness have in common? Or what partnership is there between light and darkness? - 2 Corinthians 6:14 (NRSV)



Of all the verses I struggle with in the Bible, this one ranks near the top.



The utter audacity to create a false binary between righteousness and lawlessness, light and darkness, believer and unbeliever. Please.



As if faith is so easily sorted. As if “believers” are always safe, loving, humble, or just. As if an “unbeliever” cannot be compassionate, honest, generous, or wise. Many of us have been wounded by “Bible-believing Christians” and healed by people who couldn’t quote a single verse.



Jesus was not especially worried about contamination. He ate with the wrong people, touched the untouchable, praised outsiders, and let strangers reveal God’s grace. The gospel keeps undoing our tidy, “matchy-matchy” categories.



So let’s not read this verse as permission to shrink our circle, fear difference, or mistake purity for love. Let’s read it as a warning against partnerships that ask us to abandon our souls. Some yokes connect us; some break us. Some relationships and systems heal; others ask us to call cruelty practical, silence holy, greed responsible, and domination peace.



The true mismatch is not between Christian and non-Christian, but between love and harm; between the liberating Spirit of Christ and anything that demands we become less empathetic, less truthful, less free.



Let’s separate ourselves from the very idea of “them” and from whatever in us, and around us, keeps partnering with darkness while calling it light.



Prayer
May I stay open to love and wisdom wherever they appear, and walk away from whatever binds me to harm.

Celebrate with us Sundays at 10:00 am in person, Zoom or Livestream. iucfc.org
Weekly Communion

Rev. Michael Cronin, Pastor



Image: KaZoria
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Rockesokker.jpg

06/07/2026

One table
“Why does your teacher
eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
—Matthew 9.11

There is one table.
All our divisions are a lie.
All our hierarchies are a delusion.
We are all different, and equal.
There is no greater or lesser,
no more or less worthy,
no superior or inferior,
no better or worse.
Not in God’s eyes.
There is no ladder, no pyramid.
Only a circle, where last is first
and first is last.

Our hard work
is to repent of our evil hierarchies,
to be done with comparing,
creating insiders and outsiders.
We do it by coming to the one table,
sitting with our companion sinners,
our beloved siblings, all.
They’re all here, friend, at the table.
Sit with them,
as God sits with you.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light

Celebrate with us Sundays at 10:00 am in person, Zoom or Livestream. iucfc.org
Weekly Communion

Rev. Michael Cronin, Pastor



Image: Diverse Group Dining — StockCake: https://stockcake.com/i/diverse-group-dining_236468_45206