Experience Peace

A Center for Psychotherapy and Personal Growth

MISSION STATEMENT

Peace Counseling Center, a community counseling center, is dedicated to providing confidential, compassionate counseling services for the encouragement of psychological well-being and development of healthy relationships.

The Center is staffed by licensed mental health professionals.

Counseling services for couples, families, individuals and children are available.

Meditation and Mindfulness instruction for groups or individuals is offered. Fee: All services are on a sliding scale basis considering income and circumstance. Some scholarships are available.

Peace Counseling has a solution focused client centered approach to therapy. We serve people of all faiths, or no faith. Free half hour consultations are offered.

Contact us at phone 925-648-7003 or email: counselingcenter@peacejourney.org

Judy Collins, MA, MFT #36340 – Director

Kathy Jones, MA, MFT #36394

3201 Camino TassajaraDanville, CA 94506

Christian healing is a process that involves the totality of our being—body, mind, emotion, spirit and our social contexts—and that directs us toward becoming the person God is calling us to be at every stage of our living and our dying. Whenever we are truly open to God, some kind of healing takes place because God yearns to bring us to wholeness. Through prayer and the laying on of hands, confession, anointing, the sacraments and all means of grace Christ loves, transforms, forgives and heals. The Spirit does this in God’s way and time according to God’s compassionate wisdom.

Because the Holy Spirit is continually at work in each of us, nudging us toward wholeness, the process of healing is like removing sticks and leaves from a stream until the water runs clear. If we can “get out of the way” God desires to work in us. Grace allows us to trust that we are being led to the happiness and wholeness God wants with us.

Very often the results of our healing are increased faith in God and a new empowerment to love and serve others. Frequently we find that the very thing that has caused our hurt or brokenness becomes transformed into a unique gift for us.

Healing Stations during Sunday Communion

The environment of healing has many dimensions at Peace. Healing occurs in our conversations, our study together, through the Prayer Circle and in our Eucharistic celebrations.

Healing Prayer stations provide another way for God’s healing presence to be revealed to us. You may kneel at the prayer station after receiving communion. You will be asked if you have a specific prayer request or simply desire prayer for yourself or a loved one. You have the option of being anointed with oil.The person praying with you has been through training. He or she is pledged to confidentiality. We pray with you for the mystery of God’s healing power. Your concern will not be shared among the Healing Prayer group members, nor is there any follow-up. If you desire further support, please speak directly with Pastor Steve.

Healing Prayer at Peace consists of 10 members of Peace who have participated in Dr. Francis Geddes’ training entitled “Developing our Healing Gifts.” For more information about Healing Prayer contact Marlene Garrity, Martha Mantei, or Pr. Steve.

Prayer Circle consists of members at Peace who respond to prayer requests through a phone tree network. Your prayer requests can be directed to Jean Hellsten or Pr. Steve (648-7000.) To join the Prayer Circle, call Jean.

Spiritual Direction provides one on one conversation which attunes you to Spirit and your heart’s deepest longings so you can discover your calling and joy in life. Please call Pr. Margareta at 648-7004. Fees are sliding scale.

Peace Counseling Center is dedicated to providing confidential, compassionate counseling services for the encouragement of psychological well-being and development of healthy relationships. Please call 648-7003 for more information or an appointment. Feels are sliding scale.

The Labyrinth is a meditation walk, which brings centering and calm to those who just walk the path. Peace’s Labyrinth is located outside behind the sanctuary. An indoor portable Labyrinth is sometimes used during the winter months.

Meditation instruction is available for sitting and walking meditation. The rhythm of meditation practice encourages clarity and gratitude in a person’s life.

What is Spiritual Direction?

There is a longing in every human heart to be fully alive. Do you feel disconnected? Do you need a spiritual tune-up? Are you just going through the motions, is your focus unclear and stress getting the upper hand? Have you asked these questions: “I wonder where God is? Why can’t I be more spiritual? I wish I knew what I should be doing with my life?” When life begins to feel unbalanced, and your joy and enthusiasm are drained by an emotional fatigue you cannot name – it’s time to take action!

A Spiritual Director is willing to walk alongside of you, to help you see where you are called to be in this time of your life, to help you encounter God in unexpected places and circumstances where you did not expect to find God. You are not alone! A Spiritual Director is a compassionate friend who accompanies you, walks with you, loves you, cries with you, and laughs with you.

Spiritual Direction is a way of leading us to see and be attentive to the real Director – the Spirit hidden in the depths of our being. As we become attuned we can more easily utilize resources God has already given us. We can trust our experiences and decisions make a difference in our life. We get to live from the beauty of who we are! A Spiritual Director listens for the movement of the Divine within you and encourages you in how to work with the Spirit. The blessings are clarity, focus, stability, peace and a lightness of heart.

The Focus of Spiritual Direction

The person seeking Spiritual Direction determines the focus. It could be exploring a dream or critical issues, discerning life choices, finding ways to pray that connect you with God, or simply responding to a longing of the heart.

The spiritual director/companion is present to you through attentive listening, evocative questions, and caring support. Within a safe environment one can freely and prayerfully become aware of where God’s spirit is leading. Spiritual Direction opens the pathway to who you are so you can build your life on what you love.

Pr. Margareta Dahlin Johansson was selected by the Diocese of Stockholm to be trained as a Spiritual Director in 1996. This complemented her ministry as an ordained Hospital Chaplain at the Karolinska University Hospital from 1977-1998 where she was a Senior Chaplain with a special focus on Women and Children. She is also a graduate of St. Luke’s Institute in Stockholm with a Diploma in Therapy.

She has co-authored three books: “Children’s Existential Questions: How they Understand their Diseases and Dying“; ”Ethical Issues Related to Abortions” (Commissioned by the Church of Sweden); and “Egg Donations: Ethical Perspectives related to Artificial Insemination“(Commissioned by” Save the Children Sweden).

She was a Founder of the Forum for Medical Ethics (1992-1998) – an interdisciplinary work group of physicians, nurses and theologians at the Karolinska Hospital.Pr. Margareta has provided Pastoral Care in congregations in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Danville, California.She can work in both English and Svenska/Swedish.

To contact Pr. Margareta:(925) 648-7004 / or email: Margareta@peacejourney.org

Weave spiritual values into your daily life.

Deepen your understanding and compassion.

Become aware of and trust your experience of God.

Share challenges, disappointments and grieves.

Appreciate life as a blessing in the midst of struggle.

Cultivate gratitude and joy.

Nurture your relationship with God, others and creation.

Live into the freedom of who you are.

 

To contact Pr. Margareta:(925) 648-7004 / or email: Margareta@peacejourney.org

For more info about Pr. Margareta and Spiritual Direction

 

 

Dear Choir,

Welcome to the new season! I’m fully aware that the church year begins with Advent, but for me September marks new beginnings too. I welcome everyone to choir and as I said I will give voice lessons (on Thursdays at Peace Lutheran) to anyone who would like to sing, with us.

For your convenience, here is our schedule through June 2008. You will notice that it is basically every other week, with the exception of the lead up to Christmas and Easter.

Additionally I will rehearse with the choir at 9:00 a.m. each Sunday, and Thursdays, 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary.

• October 4, 25
• November 1, 15, 29
• December 6, 13, 20
• January 10, 24
• February 7, 21
• March 6, 13
• April 3, 17
• May 1, 15, 29
• June 12 and maybe one more time…for a party?

Sue

Our Minister of Music – Ms. Sue Field

Sue was born in London, UK and began her musical education singing with her Welsh grandmother. This proved more valuable than the formal training she later received, in piano and voice. In England she sang extensively with London’s Philharmonia Chorus, under Guiliani, Muti, Solti, Haitink, Previn and others, in London and Europe.

Emigrating to the US in 1982 with her husband, Michael and son Hugh, ( her daughter, Julia was born in 1984, in the US) she was later accepted by Opera Colorado and appeared in many operas and small ensembles with them, directed by the legendary Nat Merrill and his wife, Louise Sherman, the most notable being Die Meistersinger in 1992. She also sang with the Boulder Bach Festival, San Diego Opera (David Hockney’s Turandot in 1997 being the most memorable) and was mezzo soloist at San Diego’s Immaculata and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Denver. Since 1989 she has maintained teaching studios in Boulder, San Diego and while there established San Diego Youth Opera producing Purcell’s ‘Dido and Aeneas’ with a cast of students and parents in 2001. Currently she is teaching piano and voice in Redwood City. She was Music Director at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Redwood City from January 2004 to June 2006. Sue joined the staff at Peace Lutheran in September 2006.

As a Reconciled in Christ congregation since 1991, Peace has advocated gender equality, the dignity of children and affirmed people of all sexual orientations.

We are all a part of God’s family and all are welcomed here:
Gay and straight, young and seasoned, out or not;
Single, married, committed, in love, widowed.

Our families take many forms:
Two moms, two dads, moms and dads together;
Single parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles
Childless, divorced and sharing child-rearing,
Whatever the form – Love Makes a Family.

Welcome to the household of God!
Here we are surrounded by the love which always includes and never excludes,
For each is made in the image and imagining of our Creator.
God’s grace shapes the space where all are embraced.
You will always belong here.

During our first weeks together,we’ve all been taking some soundings: getting to know one another, learning what to expect, settling in. One thing I’ve learned is that the youth of Peace are serious students with heavy homework loads and important family and after-school commitments. Yet, you carve out time to be at Peace on Sunday mornings when you could just as easily sleep in. That says a lot.

We’ve set our class time at 9:00 a.m. to enable us to worship with the whole church family at 10:00. It’s good to know that worship is so important to you; it’s important to me too. Each week in class, we’ll do one or a combination of things: tackle advanced scripture study, see how our faith applies to current events, ruminate on some interesting or peculiar aspect of ritual or tradition, delve into world religions and, sometimes, just talk about what’s going on in our lives. Once every couple of months, we’ll carpool to another house of faith to see how the rest of the world worships; possibilities include Glide Memorial SF, Islamic Center of the East Bay, Shiva-Vishnu Temple in Livermore and Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral SF. Let’s develop some “religious fluency” so we can build some bridges of understanding in our world.Once every month, we’ll have an opportunity to “do the gospel” out in the community, such as participating in the CROP hunger walk, serving meals for Loaves & Fishes and visiting the homebound of Peace. I know it’s hard to shoe-horn another commitment into your jam-packed schedules, but I’ll keep throwing those opportunities out. Catch them if you can.

During October, we will have four opportunities to work together on the exciting Mosaic Project under the direction of designer Jennifer Mitchell. When completed, the colorful mosaic will be mounted on the exterior wall of the sanctuary, facing the labyrinth. What a legacy for future generations of Peace!

By the way, our music director Sue Field wants to tap any youth musicians out there (violin, guitar, percussion, flute, singing, washtub bass and saw … whatever) into the very unique Peace worship experience.Looking ahead, I want you and your families to consider the possibility of traveling with me to Tijuana next summer to build a house for a homeless family through the international Corazon organization. It’s a one-weekend commitment and an experience you will never forget.

Happy to be at Peace. Happy to be with YOU. Looking forward to all our doings this year.

That sums it up for me.

Peace ever,
(Just) Elizabeth

Every Sunday Morning there’s a full Sunday School program for ages 4 through 12, 9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. The curriculum is Bible-based, and follows the Church Calendar Year Lectionary.

For more information or to enroll your child in our Sunday morning program please contact Bob Winter, our Sunday School Director, by calling 925-648-700 or by email.

Pastor Anita Cadonau-Husebywith the children during the weekly Children’s Time

The Ministry of Worship’s goal is to provide opportunities for members to Worship God through participating in various types of liturgies (orders of worship) music (singing and instrumental) and celebration of the Eucharist (Communion).

Powerful and varied services engage our liturgical practice in contemporary ways. A variety of music utilizing guest musicians and artists enhance our hymns and prayers. Peace offers quiet meditation for worship such as Taize and vigils, as well as outrageous Feast Days for celebrating the life that is ours through Christ.

A full Worship experience consists of the following components:

Worship Assistant: Accompanies Pastor(s) through Worship Service; wears robe; offers prayers; assists with Baptisms; assists with Eucharist.

Communion Assistant: Joins the Pastor(s) at the Altar just prior to Eucharist and assists with serving the wine and grape juice.

Lector: Reads the Lessons of the Day and sometimes the Gospel.

Usher: Welcomes people as they enter the Sanctuary by giving them the Sunday Bulletin which contains the Order of Service. Prior to Communion, brings the Offering, Bread and Wine to the Altar. Directs the congregation to the Altar to receive Communion.

Music: Talented musicians who play a variety of instruments during all Worship Services and other occasions enhance the worship experience for and with the congregation.

Ways in which individuals and families can provide support for the various Worship Services at Peace are:

Sound System: Sets up the microphones and console to provide amplification of all worship services.

Art & Spirituality: Coordinate the displays of art work in the Gathering Hall and the Sanctuary in consultation with the Pastor(s).

Altar Guild: Maintains the Altar and Chancel area of the Sanctuary, which includes setting up and cleaning up the bread and wine for Communion during Worship Services and maintains Altar Linens.

Bread for Communion: Bake or purchase bread for Communion.

Healing Prayer Ministry: Provides prayer and laying on of hands during Communion at the Healing Station at least several times per month after completion of training.

Prayer Circle: Telephone tree of members of Peace who are notified of crises or celebrations and offer prayer.

Flowers: Provide flowers in Altar area. There is a sign-up sheet in the Breezeway.

Peace participates in Worship in the Community:

Danville Village: Read Lessons, sing, pray and distribute Communion to residents the second Sunday of each month.

Cookie Ministry: Bake or buy and deliver cookies to Danville Village weekly.

There are many ways to assist during or before Worship to make Peace a House of Prayer for All People. Please consider joining our Worship Ministry!

If you would like more information about various ways to support or serve during Worship Services or would like to volunteer to assist, please contact the Peace Church Office at 925-648-7000 to express your interest. You will be put in touch with the Peace Deacons that can be of assistance to you.