May 1, 2022, 4:30 PM
Lakeshore Baptist Church, Oakland, CA
Welcome from Pacific Coast Baptist Association (PCBA)
This is the time and place for God and humanity to intersect in the Call to Christian Ministry in the faithful life of Nathan Brittsan! On behalf of the churches and members of Pacific Coast Baptist Association, I welcome you to this family.
PCBA is one of many variations of Baptist life in the American Baptist denomination. God’s amazing creativity and vastness of creation mean that there’s always a place for each of us to belong, be called and to serve.
Nathan Brittsan, as one with a variety of gifts and talents from business, technology and religious settings, you are well-qualified to serve God in the name of Christ in today’s changing world. You will be able to relate with those who are in the church as well as those who are still seeking a word of hope and love not yet in the church. In your ministry, we hope that you will set a place for everyone to know Christ.
In the recent release of a new West Side Story film, I am humming again the Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Soudheim song, “There’s a Place for Us.”
There’s a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us, somewhere.
There’s a time for us,
Someday a time for us,
Time together with time to spare,
Time to learn, time to care.
Someday,
Somewhere,
We’ll find a new way of living,
We’ll find a way of forgiving.
Somewhere,
Somewhere . . .
There’s a place for us,
A time and place for us.
Hold my hand and we’re halfway there.
Hold my hand and I’ll take you there
Somehow,
Some day,
Somewhere!
That somewhere and someday is here and now. I welcome you into the Baptist family
to bring peace as Jesus did,
to offer time for those to grow in the faith,
to care for those who hunger for love,
to model a new way of living that brings wholeness and inclusiveness,
to forgive as you have been forgiven,
to hold the hands of all people so that all of God’s people will have a place in God’s home.
Inasmuch as Jesus welcomed children, women, sinners, Pharisees and Sadducees, the lepers, the prodigal, the entitled and the underprivileged, one and all, in Christ’s name, we welcome you into ordained ministry, Nathan Brittsan!