Elizabeth Aguilar

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

• Contact: 276 F Street, Chula Vista, 619-422-9263, chulavistachurch.com
• Neighborhood: Chula Vista
• Membership: 187
• Pastor: Elizabeth Aguilar
• Age: 53
• Born: Chicago
• Formation: North Park University, Chicago; Andover Newton Theological School, Newton Center, MA (since relocated in merger with Yale University)
• Years Ordained: 23

San Diego Reader: How long does it take to prepare a sermon?

Pastor Elizabeth Aguilar: Because of the pandemic, my full rhythm of work, worship and sermon preparation has changed, because now we are pre-recording our worship services. I prepare my sermon by Wednesday, which is when we record. Final edits and everything have to be done by Friday morning. It’s completely different from how I was preaching live in front of the congregation on a Sunday morning. The time of preparation varies week to week because it depends on what else is going on with ministry. For instance, this week we have a lot of people sick, not all with the virus, but with other serious illnesses too. That shortened my sermon prep time. I say my research of scriptures, meditation, thinking about how the scriptures speak to me, and writing the sermon varies. It could go anywhere between five to 10 hours a week. It depends also on the scripture, because some are harder than others to understand, and speak to me in a different way. I tend to follow the lectionary and I try to incorporate current events into my sermons; I also look at what the author was originally saying, and the reasons for what was written — to draw practical every-day lessons for today’s disciples.

Elizabeth Aguilar

SDR: Why did you become a minister?

PA: At the very beginning, I felt an urge. I didn’t know what shape it would take, but I wanted to show people that God was real and that God loved them. That was my original call at the age of almost 18 years old. It evolved since then, obviously.

SDR: What is the mission of your church?

PA: This isn’t our official mission statement, which is in development, but we are a church that needs to demonstrate Christ’s love in our community and beyond by serving our neighbors. We’re a very diverse congregation; most United Church of Christ churches, even in California, tend to be mostly white. But we have Filipinos, Latinos, young and older white folks. It demonstrates the diversity of this part of the country really well. It is exciting to minister in this kind of community. We’re also seven miles from Tijuana, and we’ve been supporting a migrant shelter there for a few years now. Also, people have been at this church for generations. We’re the oldest church in Chula Vista — 230 years old.

SDR: Where do you go when you die?

PA: Because God is full of love and grace, God wants all of us to be with God when we leave this place, and it’s up to God to decide who that is and how that is. When I’ve heard people speak about what they saw and heard after-life experiences, it’s always been peaceful, beautiful and full of love and joy and kindness. God has given us free will. Some people reject God and will reject God, but I’m going to leave it up to God to decide what happens to those people. But if we choose God, even at the last minute, we will be with God, and it’s going to be beautiful. Even if we look at the sky, we see only a glimpse of what’s in store for us.