Welcome from our pastor

"Love to the loveless shown/that they might know their loveliness." This paraphrase from the hymn "My Song Is Love Unknown" conveys quite well our hospitality, worship, and outreach focus at BPC. Contrary to the standard m.o. of corporate or governmental institutions -- even on their best of days -- whatever is good for the loveless is considered to be good for the whole here. Our focus on the power of love, as opposed to the love of power, includes exploring ways to name and claim the most vulnerable spaces and places in our souls. For we don't simply do things "for" one another at BPC; we seek ways to do ministry "with" and "among" each other. And this socially just way of being, we pray, is communicated in our congregational and personal callings (vocations) beyond our walls.

Join us on our Spirit-powered journey into Christ's relational joy! -- Gracia y Paz (Grace & Peace), Chuck

Chuck Booker-Hirsch began his ministry at BPC on June 21. A graduate of San Francisco Theological Seminary (M.Div. '94), he comes to Bethesda following 11 fruitful years as Pastor of Northside Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor, MI. A passionate advocate for radical church hospitality and faith-based social justice, he served on the staff of interracial congregations in a Tucson, AZ barrio and the ghetto of Marin City, CA, and worked for four years resettling thousands of Central American refugees in this country seeking sanctuary from torture and slaughter in their homelands. His vocational passions include learning and helping others to learn to follow the teachings of Jesus ("seriously, not literally"); hearing and then proclaiming the Good News (three dozen sermons published by www.goodpreacher.com); and discerning and then interpreting the spiritual lessons Twelve Step groups offer the church.

A key moment in Chuck's faith pilgrimage was responding to a call -- based on his life-changing refugee ministry -- to participate in several nonviolent civil resistance actions, including two at Ft. Benning, GA to close what is known throughout Latin America as the "School of the Assassins": the U.S. Army School of Americas (SOA). For the ongoing SOA witness, he and 250 others in recent years have served as federal "prisoners of conscience" -- in Chuck's case, three months in a prison camp in 2002. For his prophetic witness, he received the Presbyterian Peaceseeker Award at the 2004 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).[ For more on Chuck's witness, see his 10 Jan 2010 sermon, "God's Call: Be-Loved (Baptism)".]

In addition to his peacemaking efforts, Chuck has served on the national boards of More Light Presbyterians -- an organization seeking full ordination opportunities for church members regardless of sexual orientation and gender identification -- and Presbyterian Health Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA).

Chuck is married to the Rev. Amy Booker-Hirsch, an ordained Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister with a call to hospital and hospice chaplaincy. They have a 12-years-young son, Drew Booker, a 7th grader at Westland Middle School in Bethesda who enjoys basketball and can safely be called a Sudoku whiz.

Chuck can best be reached at revbooker@gmail.com or his cell: 734-646-3550. Feel free to contact him!

Last updated by Chuck Booker-Hirsch Apr 6.

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Sermon, 7/25: "Our Church: Vision Is Everything"

... and so it is! As we focus on God's grand framework of "Personal, Passionate, Progressive" for us, we will do so by worshiping as one in an informal summer fashion: gathering together in one of our two transepts (side sections of pews). Join us at 10!

Posted by Chuck Booker-Hirsch on July 23, 2010 at 5:46am

Summer Social Justice Cinema: July Fridays, 7:30p!

Our Community Theater (details: BPC Film Force More Powerful.doc) benefitting Bethesda Cares Outreach for the Homeless continues Friday, July 16, 23 & 30. Two 30-minute clips shown each week from A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent… Continue

Posted by Chuck Booker-Hirsch on June 23, 2010 at 11:30am

This Sunday's Worship (7/11): Sermon on the Mount continues!

Topics this Sunday include anger, lust, divorce, retaliation, enemies ... life's simple stuff. "Love your enemy": Oh, really?! And doesn't "Turn the other cheek" mean "Get hit with the other fist"? Scripture: Matthew 5:21-48. Come join us at 10a this Sunday!

Posted by Chuck Booker-Hirsch on July 9, 2010 at 11:30pm

Our New Statement of Welcome!

Opposite on this page, you will note our brief, clear Statement of Welcome approved on June 15 by our Session (church board). Most mainline Protestant churches such as our own -- never exempt from the human condition -- have played a particularly bigoted role in rejecting our lesbian, gay, bisexual, & transgender sisters & brothers from full participation in our congregations. We at BPC -- noted for our personal hospitality to all -- feel it our faithful responsibility to counter such an… Continue

Posted by Chuck Booker-Hirsch on June 16, 2010 at 6:00pm