Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Pacific Beach United Methodist

Methodist pastor April Herron found God on a hilltop in Brazil.

Statues on a hilltop in Brazil moved Pastor April Herron to tears, “and I was really surprised by it.”
Statues on a hilltop in Brazil moved Pastor April Herron to tears, “and I was really surprised by it.”
Place

Pacific Beach United Methodist

1561 Thomas Avenue, San Diego

Membership: 300

Pastor: April Herron

Age: 53

Born: National City

Formation: Pomona College, Claremont; Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley; Drew University, Madison, NJ

Years Ordained: 28

San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on which to preach?

Pastor April Herron: There’s always a text, so if I had to pick one text it might be the resurrection story of the Road to Emmaus, where the two disciples are walking along feeling miserable and wondering what the heck just happened. Some stranger walks along with them who, we get tipped off as we’re reading, is Jesus, but they don’t know that and so there’s a long conversation; they arrive at their destination; they invite him to come and stay with them. When Jesus breaks the bread, they realize who it is. He is no longer visible to them and they run back to tell the other disciples what they’ve experienced. This story seems real to our experience. Momentous events happen and we really don’t always know the full meaning. It helps us to have someone walk along beside us, reflect on it with us, and bring in the Scriptures as a way to help us reflect on our experience. I think Christ does that for us and with us.

Sponsored
Sponsored

SDR: Why Methodist?

PH: Among the things I appreciate about it is there is not a separation between how we live our faith in the world and our relationship with God — both aspects are important.

SDR: Where is the strangest place you found God?

PH: There is a church on a hilltop in Congonhas, Brazil, with 12 statues out front of it of the Old Testament prophets. The statues were made a couple hundred years ago by a sculptor named Aleijadinho, who had some disease which caused him to lose use of his hands. So to sculpt, someone had to strap the tools onto his hands. His story is compelling; but the statues themselves are out on this terrace looking out over the city and countryside. When I was visiting, the sky was foreboding, and I was really moved because it seemed the personalities of the prophets were evoked by the statues. I feel that the prophets lived such lonely lives. They lived in different points in history and didn’t know each other in their lives, but here they all were standing in the vicinity of one another on this hilltop. It moved me to tears, and I was really surprised by it.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PH: When I look around the world, there are certain situations, places, or circumstances that seem pretty hellish, and I think there are a mix of the two — heaven and hell. If that all has eternal manifestation or not, I don’t know. I feel that the Scriptures focus a lot on heaven on earth and God coming to be on earth, the kingdom of heaven here on earth and Jesus encouraging us to seek first the kingdom here and now, letting everything else take care of itself. I don’t like using fear as motivating factor and won’t preach fear as a motivating factor. I don’t spend any time threatening people with hell and would much rather focus on the goal, that the kingdom might be more perfectly realized here and now, that Jesus is an indicator that in some ways the kingdom is here among us.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Navy solves San Diego homeless crisis by retiring four locally moored ships

Decommision Accomplished
Next Article

San Diego's Uptown Planners challenged by renters from Vibrant Uptown

Two La Jolla planning groups fight for predominance
Statues on a hilltop in Brazil moved Pastor April Herron to tears, “and I was really surprised by it.”
Statues on a hilltop in Brazil moved Pastor April Herron to tears, “and I was really surprised by it.”
Place

Pacific Beach United Methodist

1561 Thomas Avenue, San Diego

Membership: 300

Pastor: April Herron

Age: 53

Born: National City

Formation: Pomona College, Claremont; Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley; Drew University, Madison, NJ

Years Ordained: 28

San Diego Reader: What is your favorite subject on which to preach?

Pastor April Herron: There’s always a text, so if I had to pick one text it might be the resurrection story of the Road to Emmaus, where the two disciples are walking along feeling miserable and wondering what the heck just happened. Some stranger walks along with them who, we get tipped off as we’re reading, is Jesus, but they don’t know that and so there’s a long conversation; they arrive at their destination; they invite him to come and stay with them. When Jesus breaks the bread, they realize who it is. He is no longer visible to them and they run back to tell the other disciples what they’ve experienced. This story seems real to our experience. Momentous events happen and we really don’t always know the full meaning. It helps us to have someone walk along beside us, reflect on it with us, and bring in the Scriptures as a way to help us reflect on our experience. I think Christ does that for us and with us.

Sponsored
Sponsored

SDR: Why Methodist?

PH: Among the things I appreciate about it is there is not a separation between how we live our faith in the world and our relationship with God — both aspects are important.

SDR: Where is the strangest place you found God?

PH: There is a church on a hilltop in Congonhas, Brazil, with 12 statues out front of it of the Old Testament prophets. The statues were made a couple hundred years ago by a sculptor named Aleijadinho, who had some disease which caused him to lose use of his hands. So to sculpt, someone had to strap the tools onto his hands. His story is compelling; but the statues themselves are out on this terrace looking out over the city and countryside. When I was visiting, the sky was foreboding, and I was really moved because it seemed the personalities of the prophets were evoked by the statues. I feel that the prophets lived such lonely lives. They lived in different points in history and didn’t know each other in their lives, but here they all were standing in the vicinity of one another on this hilltop. It moved me to tears, and I was really surprised by it.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PH: When I look around the world, there are certain situations, places, or circumstances that seem pretty hellish, and I think there are a mix of the two — heaven and hell. If that all has eternal manifestation or not, I don’t know. I feel that the Scriptures focus a lot on heaven on earth and God coming to be on earth, the kingdom of heaven here on earth and Jesus encouraging us to seek first the kingdom here and now, letting everything else take care of itself. I don’t like using fear as motivating factor and won’t preach fear as a motivating factor. I don’t spend any time threatening people with hell and would much rather focus on the goal, that the kingdom might be more perfectly realized here and now, that Jesus is an indicator that in some ways the kingdom is here among us.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Next Article

March is typically windy, Sage scents in the foothills

Butterflies may cross the county
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.