NOVEMBER 2018 PACIFIC UNION Autumn Blessings √ “How Can I Keep from Singing?”... 5 √ The Goodness of God... 8 √ Growing Together... 14 √ “Here I Stand”... 24 God √ 2018 Annual Council... 36 is So Good R M E R Y Christmas Celebrate the season with the PUC family! Join us as we honor the birth of our Savior for our annual Christmas program. Friday, December 7, at 8 p.m. Sabbath, December 8, at 4 p.m. PUC Church Sanctuary Information: (707) 965-6201 PACIFIC UNION Recorder What’s inside 5 “How Can I Keep from Singing?” Publisher 8 The Goodness of God Ray Tetz R 12 Good Good Father Editor 14 Growing Together in Christ E Y Alberto Valenzuela M 20 Words of Truth and Deeds of Holiness R Copy Editor Julie Lorenz 22 “Here I Stand” Design/Layout 26 In All Humility Stephanie Leal • Alberto Valenzuela 29 Pacific Union College Printing Pacific Press Publishing Association 30 Arizona Conference www.pacificpress.com 32 Central California Conference The Recorder is a monthly publication reaching approximately 76,000 Seventh-day Adventist 36 Thoughts in the Wake of the 2018 Annual Council homes in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and Utah. 37 NAD Statement on 2018 GC Annual Council Vote Our mission is to inform, educate, 38 Hawaii Conference and inspire our readers to action in all areas of ministry. Christmas 40 Holbrook Indian School Celebrate the season with the PUC family! EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENTS 44 Adventist Health Adventist Health 916-781-4756 Jenni Glass • [email protected] 45 La Sierra University Arizona 480-991-6777 46 Loma Linda University Health Phil Draper • [email protected] 48 Nevada-Utah Conference Central California 559-347-3000 Cindy Chamberlin • [email protected] 50 Northern California Conference Hawaii 808-595-7591 54 Southeastern California Conference Miki Akeo-Nelson • [email protected] 58 Southern California Conference La Sierra University 951-785-2000 62 Pacific Union Conference Darla Tucker • [email protected] 64 Community & Marketplace Loma Linda 909-651-5925 Ansel Oliver • [email protected] 68 Sunset Calendar Nevada-Utah 775-322-6929 Faith Hoyt • [email protected] Join us as we honor the birth of our Savior Northern California 925-685-4300 Stephanie Leal • [email protected] for our annual Christmas program. Pacific Union College 707-965-6202 PACIFIC UNION NOVEMBER 2018 Larissa Church • [email protected] Friday, December 7, at 8 p.m. Southeastern California 951-509-2200 Enno Müller • [email protected] As our church navigates its way through questions about how Southern California 818-546-8400 Autumn Sabbath, December 8, at 4 p.m. we relate to differences and dissent Blessings Lauren Armstrong • [email protected] (pages 14, 22, 36), there is no better √ “How C from Singing?”...an I Keep 5 Postal Regs: The Pacific Union Recorder (ISSN 0744-6381), time to be reminded of God’s essential Volume 118, Number 11, is the official journal of the Pacific goodness (pages 5, 8, 12). As the God √ The Goodness of God... 8 Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and is √ Growing Together... 14 PUC Church Sanctuary Information: (707) 965-6201 published monthly. Editorial office is at 2686 Townsgate Rd., Psalmist proclaims, “For the word of is So Westlake Village, CA 91361: 805-497-9457. Periodical postage the Lord is right, and all His work is √ “Here I Stand”... 24 paid at Thousand Oaks, CA, and additional mailing offices. Good Subscription rate: No charge to Pacific Union Adventist done in truth. He loves righteousness church members; $16 per year in U.S.; $20 foreign (U.S. and justice; the earth is full funds); single copy, $2. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Circulation Department, Pacific Union Recorder, Box 5005, of the goodness of the Lord” Westlake Village, CA 91359. [email protected]. (Psalm 33:4-5, NKJV). NOVEMBER 2018 3 4 PACIFIC UNION RECORDER “How Can I Keep from Singing?” By Berit von Pohle he ancient Psalmist of the Bible directs listen to upon getting in a rental car. his readers to a very specific behavior I grew up listening to my mother singing Tthat reaffirms that we are creations of Danish hymns—and I have such strong memo- a benevolent God: ries of the hymn she would sing to welcome and close the Sabbath: “Sing for joy to the Lord, all the earth; Når solen slutter dagens gang, praise him with songs and shouts of joy!” og lyset vinger får, (Psalm 98:4, GNT). da synger jeg min aftensang, mens tanken hisset går. Other translations of this verse are even more exuberant and expressive: As the sun ends the rhythm of the day And the light receives wings, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, Then I sing my evening song burst into jubilant song with music!” (NIV). While my thoughts drift above. Music has always been an important part I like where singing takes me, how it can fo- of my life. I played the flute in elementary and cus and change my emotions, how it can lift me academy band. I sang in choirs and small groups up and settle me down. I like how songs can tell in academy and as an adult. My husband and a story and how they remind me of things that I first got acquainted because he needed an are important. To shout and sing about our own accompanist for his trumpet solo at church. As status in this world is a theme that emerges our daughter was growing up, we enjoyed watch- with great consistency in the Psalms: ing musicals together and singing along at full volume—and now her daughters gleefully add “Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you their voices! When I travel to visit our Adventist righteous; sing, all you who are upright schools, I usually find a Christian music station to in heart!” (Psalm 32:11, NIV). 4 PACIFIC UNION RECORDER NOVEMBER 2018 5 “Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to Why do we shout and sing? Primarily, I sup- God with cries of joy” (Psalm 47:1, NIV). pose, because it is a way to express our enthu- siasm and interests. It articulates what is on our “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us hearts. shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. The combination of words with music yields Let us come before him with thanksgiving something greater than the sum of its parts. and extol him with music and song” (Psalm A song lyric returns to mind much more easily 95:1-2, NIV). than a simple phrase or a poem. Stir the mem- ory a bit and lyrics learned years ago—decades “This is the day which the Lord has made; ago—will spring from memory: let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24, RSV). Når livets sidste stund er nær, og solen sænker sig, så trøst mig da, o Herre kær, og vær du lys for mig! When life’s last moment draws near And the sun begins to set, Then comfort me, O dear Lord And be Thou my light. We can sing when we are behind or ahead. We can sing in defeat or victory. We can sing in joy or distress. We can sing in times of great sad- ness or times of profound joy. Portraits of Providence Sometimes singing has an audience, like Merritt and Louisa Kellogg traveled to California in when we go to a concert or when we are in a 1859, where they were probably the first Seventh-day Adventists in the state. They were lay evangelists, and recital or choir. Mr. B. G. St. John, a “forty-niner” was their first convert. In 1868, Merritt Kellogg lobbied with the General Sometimes that audience is God, as when Conference for a missionary to be sent to California, and we offer praise at worship or prayer. O.T. Bourdeau and J.N. Loughborough answered the call. In 1878 Kellogg established the Rural Health Retreat, But why do we sing when there is no one to which later became the St. Helena Hospital. hear us? Why do we find ourselves humming a little tune or whistling a melody or singing loudly PACIFIC UNION CONFERENCE in the shower? Because our own minds are also the audience for what is in our heart, and be- 6 PACIFIC UNION RECORDER cause it reminds us of who we really are. The poet of the Psalms directs us to sing—to shout—praises to God. “Shout for joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of his name; make his praise glorious” (Psalm 66:1-2, NIV). What is the motivation of our joyous song? Nothing less than that we are a part of God’s wonderful creation. Robert Lowry took at pretty good turn at addressing this idea back in 1860. He was living in a troubled world, a world filled with unanswered and unanswerable questions. And yet, he had a song. It still sings loudly—almost shouting at us: Portraits of Providence Marcial Serna, a Mexican-American Methodist pastor, learned the Sabbath truth from two My life flows on in endless song; young colporteurs from Healdsburg College (now Pacific Union College). He subsequently Above earth’s lamentation, converted to Adventism, and in 1899 he became the pastor of the Sanchez, Ariz. I hear the sweet though far-off hymn church—the first Hispanic church and first pastor for the Hispanic work in North America. That hails a new creation; He served the communities around Sanchez for Through all the tumult and the strife 36 years.