Good People Doing Good Things: Session 2
On Sunday, March 1 we gathered at 9:30 in the Parlor for the second Sunday in our series of “Good People Doing Good Things.” This week’s theme was “the good news is great love for God and neighbor” and our featured sharers were Inola de la Cruz, Gary Davis and Martha Hopler.
Cherry Johnson began by inviting our speakers to share what they understood the “Good News” to be, and here are their answers: “kindness,” “simple gestures of greeting,” “actions that give hope in humanity,” “loving others,” “the ripple effect of kindness,” “life-affirming news I want to hear,” “mercy and compassion, even when something is hard or there’s bad news to give,” “we are loved, and I am loved, just as I am,” “together we have the ability to create a loving community.”
Our panelists then shared stories from their lives about people and events that have taught them about good news. Martha shared about growing up in a missionary family in Kenya, and how her dad demonstrated love of God and neighbor in his humility as he learned from their Kenyan neighbors. Martha said she was always taught that “the Good Samaritan story isn’t just a story, we have to live it.” Inola shared about her mother-in-law Emma de la Cruz (Danny, Daryl and Roem’s mother who died in 2025), who showed incredible generosity and faithfulness throughout her life. Inola specifically remembered how Emma helped fund the founding of an orphanage and how she was a great role model to their whole family.
Gary shared about how he came to SFBC in 2004 and then got involved with the church through needing to do something good and contribute positively to his community—and then he went on to get involved in Companis! He shared how his parents placed a great deal of emphasis on volunteerism—and though their family did not share a faith community together, their life was based on ethics of contributing to community and supporting those in need. Our panelists all shared in their own ways how love of God and love of neighbor are basically the same—when we love our neighbors, we are loving God’s image in them!
Other wisdom from our panelists was generous. Some phrases shared were “God chose to love me by coming here [to earth] and becoming what I am” and “love of God is also accepting my own humanity.” In our panelists’ sharing, we heard how the golden rule of treating others how we want to be treated is alive and well and guiding Inola, Gary and Martha in their daily lives. We heard throughout our time together how loving God and neighbor is carried out in caring for family and friends, supporting neighbors (literally, who live next door!), and in jobs like Companis volunteers, social work, community leadership and more.
We are so lucky to have such wisdom among our church family—Inola, Gary and Martha inspired us! Join us each Sunday in Lent to hear from many members of our church family about how they live out “Good News.”