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We acknowledge that the land on which this diocese is built is the traditional territory of the Paiute, Kawaiisu, Tubatulabal, Yokuts, Chumash, Miwok, Chukchansi, Western Mono, and Me-Wuk people.
Let’s take a moment to honor these ancestral grounds that we are collectively gathered upon and support the resilience and strength that all Indigenous people have shown worldwide.
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Reconocemos que la tierra sobre la que está construida esta Diócesis es el territorio tradicional de los pueblos Piaute, Kawaiisu, Tubatulabal, Yokuts, Chumash, Miwok, Chukchansi, Western Mono y Me-Wuk.
Tomemos un momento para honrar estos terrenos ancestrales en los que estamos reunidos colectivamente y apoyar la resiliencia y la fuerza que todos los pueblos indígenas han demostrado en todo el mundo.
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Friday Reflection
Faithful of EDSJ:
Be encouraged because God is here.
Be encouraged because God is there.
Be encouraged because God is.
Be hopeful because God is here.
Be hopeful because God is there.
Be hopeful because God is.
Be curious because God is here.
Be curious because God is there.
Be curious because God is.
Be comforted because God is here.
Be comforted because God is there.
Be comforted because God is.
Be kind because God is here.
Be kind because God is there.
Be kind because God is.
Be faithful because God is here.
Be faithful because God is there.
Be faithful because God is.
Be loving because God is here.
Be loving because God is there.
Be loving because God is.
I invite you to continue this litany and make it your own because God is here and there and is. And remember, we are called to be encouraged, hopeful, curious, comforted, kind, faithful and loving and much much more.
Blessings as we live into and out of this litany and blessings as we increase all that we are called to be because of God.
Blessings
+David
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August 3
Bishop Visitation @ ECOS Hanford
Rev. Luke Martinez to be installed as Priest-in-Charge
August 10
Bishop Visitation @ St James Sonora
Canon Visitation @ St John's Stockton
August 17
BV--OFF
August 21
Diocesan Council, 6:30pm, ZOOM
August 23
Orientation Meeting for Special Meeting of Convention
All Clergy, Delegates & Alternates
10am, ZOOM
August 24
Bishop Visitation @ St James Cathedral
August 26
Standing Committee, 6:30pm, ZOOM
Creation Care Commission, 7pm, ZOOM
August 31
Bishop Visitation @ St Clare's Avery
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ACTION ALERT!
Urge Congress to Pass the Dignity Act
Members of Congress have a vital opportunity to address one of the most pressing challenges facing our nation: the urgent need for humane, functional immigration reform. The Dignity Act of 2025 (H.R.4393), introduced by Reps. Veronica Escobar and Maria Elvira Salazar, is a bipartisan bill that offers a long-overdue fix to our outdated immigration system. At a time of deep political division, the Dignity Act demonstrates that thoughtful compromise and meaningful progress are still possible.
To read more and take action, click here
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EPPN in now offering weekly prayers that you can add to your personal and church prayer lists!
To subscribe go to: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/office-government-relations/eppn-sign-up/
For Those Without Bread in The World
God of the oppressed, we pray for those who are without food in South Sudan, Haiti, Yemen, Gaza, and everywhere around the world where your children are denied sustenance. Your Son, Jesus Christ, taught us that our solidarity with the hungry is our solidarity with him. Equip us to tirelessly feed the hungry and seek a sustainable future for all the oppressed—all for the sake of your holy name. Amen.
For Wisdom and Safety Amid Climate Change
God of all wisdom and knowledge, you have blessed us with the ability not only to reason, but to pursue discovery. As we observe oceans rising, floods displacing communities, fires consuming forests, and the rich diversity of your creation under threat, we give thanks for those who study your world with care and speak truth when the balance is broken. Renew our commitment to the gifts of science and to its faithful use for healing the Earth and safeguarding life. Protect the most vulnerable, and guide us to act with courage, clarity, and compassion as we face a changing world around us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For The Desperate Plight of Palestinians
God of mercy and justice, look with sorrow upon the suffering Palestinian people—especially those in Gaza who are displaced from their homes, facing mass starvation, enduring a collapsed healthcare system, and grieving the loss of countless loved ones. In this time of devastation and despair, let us not be silent. Hear our grief, sorrow, and outrage over the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza that was hit by an Israeli missile. Hear our grief, sorrow, and outrage when the Christian communities of Taybeh in the West Bank are being attacked by extremist Israeli settlers. May their endurance, courage, and hope stand strong where the buildings, water systems, crops, and olive groves could not. Let the cries of the innocent be heard, and guide all nations to act with conscience, seeking a just peace rooted in truth, dignity, and the shared humanity of your children. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, the Prince of Peace. Amen.
For LGBTQ+ Youth
God of everlasting love, we lift up your beloved children in the LGBTQ+ community, especially with changes for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Embrace with your steadfast comfort all who feel abandoned or unseen, especially LGBTQ+ youth. Fulfill your promise to be near to the brokenhearted and to bind up all wounds. Strengthen our resolve to seek justice and safety for all, and fashion us into a people who love others as you have first loved us. In your loving name we pray, Amen.
Note: While 988 no longer directly connects people to the Trevor Project, they’re still operating separately (as well as Trans Lifeline).
Info here:
Trevor Project: Call 1-866-488-7386, text START to 678678, or visit TheTrevorProject.org/Get-Help.
Trans Lifeline: Call or text 877-565-8860, or visit Home – Trans Lifeline
For UNESCO and Work Across Borders
God of all nations and people, we grieve the fractures in global partnership as the United States prepares to depart from UNESCO, leading to inevitably reduced resources. As multilateralism comes under threat and our commitments to sharing gifts and learnings with one another around the globe get muffled, let us turn to you, the author of our common life. Empower us to continue to work across borders for the protection of cultural heritage and shared educational goals, and to seek peace for the global human family. You have made of one blood all the peoples of the Earth; grant that we may live into shared life, for the flourishing of all. We ask this in the name of Christ, Amen.
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I often am asked the question “What is a call?”, and it usually takes a minute for me to decide where to start.
In reflecting on my own call, the easiest way to describe a call is it’s an inner discontent, whether consciously or subconsciously, that is demanding that action be taken, but at the same time being unable to see what that action might be. It’s something like getting ready to leave your house, knowing that you’re forgetting something as you walk out the door, but you can’t think what it might be until you’re halfway to your destination.
A call is that inner discontent that just keeps plucking away on the edge of your memory, not quite coming forward, and sometimes silenced for a time, but always coming back in its own annoying way to remind you it’s still there. For myself that irritating call kept plucking away for years(!) until I finally faced it.
Pastor Kathy West (God bless her soul!) stopped me on Good Friday in 2014 and said, “You know you have a call!” which I quickly denied, but then reluctantly agreed to read a book. “Listening Hearts” leads the reader to look back on their life through the lens of seeing God’s actions in leading you to where you are today, and then asking what God may be calling you to do through the story of your many past trials, joys, and tribulations.
After reading this book with a strong sense of skepticism thinking “Oh no way!”, by the time I finished the first time I had convinced myself I had read it wrong and went back two more times with the intent of finding the flaw in my thinking. Instead, I only found confirmation of the inner, irritating message written throughout my life.
A call can come in a variety of ways, and it can come not necessarily in a path that leads to ordination. A call is followed by many who are nurses or teachers. A call can be followed by many who reach out to those on the margins. The best way to find you call, however, is by taking the time for careful discernment. In this age of constant scrolling, have you taken the time to listen to the Spirit—to God calling in your life? Do you have time to read a book that can cause a disturbance? May the Spirit lead you on your path!!
Deacon Greg Masztal serves at St Paul's Modesto and is a member of the Commission on Ministry
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Looking for something to watch on streaming during these hot summer days and nights? Check out these recommendations from the Anti-Racism Commission:
When they see us
Platform: Netflix
docudrama
Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park. Based on the true story.
Mudbound
Platform: Netflix
drama
Two men return home from World War II to work on a farm in rural Mississippi, where they struggle to deal with racism and adjusting to life after war.
The Residence
Platform: Netflix
comedy
At a Congressional hearing, the story of a mysterious White House death--and the brilliant detective hired to crack the case--begins to unfold.
The Guilded Age
Platform: HBO
drama
American historical drama television series set in the United States during the Gilded Age, the boom years of the 1880s in New York City. The series explores conflicts of new money (who made their money through industrialism), old money (who have inherited wealth), the African-American upper class, and the domestic workers who tend to the needs of the other three groups.
Sinners
Platform: HBO
horror
Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers return home, only to discover an even greater evil waiting to welcome them back.
Washington Black
Platform: Hulu
drama
Follows the 19th century adventures of George Washington "Wash" Black, an 11-year-old boy on a Barbados sugar plantation who must flee after a gruesome death threatens to turn his life upside down.
The Bear
Platform: Hulu
comedy/drama
A young chef from the fine dining world returns to Chicago to run his family's sandwich shop.
Ironheart
Platform: Disney
action (Marvel)
Genius inventor Riri Williams returns to Chicago where she meets Parker Robbins, a.k.a. "The Hood"
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A prayer for the season of Pentecost
Holy and Great father, you. Created all things and love all that you created.
Your children are divided and have turned against one another. Many live their lives in fear. As you sent our spirit to teach and comfort the first disciples 0n that first Pentecost we ask today for your spirit. May your spirit touch our leaders filling them with knowledge and compassion. May your spirit touch those in fear filling them with comfort and strength and may it give strength courage to your church to be able to walk in solidarity with those in need. We ask all of this through your son our brother Jesus Christ. Amen.
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A time to act
Have you ever wondered what you would have done if you lived in Nazi Germany during the Third Reich? Or if you lived in the rural South during the time of Jim Crow?
Would you have sheltered Jews who were being targeted for deportation and execution? Would you have taken personal risks to your safety for the sake of helping others? Would you have marched during the Civil Rights movement or opposed unjust Jim Crow policies?
Frequently, we read of heroes of the faith who combatted the evils of the Nazis, such as German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, or Corrie Ten Boom, who provided refuge for Jewish neighbors in Holland during the Holocaust. We suppose that we would act similarly if we were faced with similar situations.
Yet sadly, most Christians throughout history have been either silent or actively complicit in the wake of oppression. Take Nazi Germany, for example, where Holocaust historians have noted that most churches in Germany either supported Hitler's agenda or were silently compliant due to their own desire for self-protection.
Last month, we all heard the gospel passage of the Good Samaritan—a parable that has perhaps become too familiar to us all, and as a result, has lost its punch. Yet replace the word "Samaritan" with "Palestinian," and you will have some sense of the shock that Jesus' Jewish audience had when they heard this story—particularly given that the Samaritan was the "good guy" in this tale. It's interesting that the religious leaders in the story—the priest and the Levite—ignored the wounded man on the road largely for religious reasons. They don't want to become biblically "unclean." Similarly, there's always a temptation for us to avoid sullying ourselves with the difficulties facing the poor and oppressed, preferring a life of comfort.
Yet we must avoid this temptation of comfort. After all, we are living in a time when our immigrant siblings are being "disappeared" from their homes, from our streets, and even from their jobs, simply for being born in another country. Even those who came to this country "the right way" by applying for asylum are now being targeted. Every day seems to bring more shocking headlines, with U.S. military veterans, honor students, refugees fleeing religious persecution, and teenagers being taken from their families, while babies are being ripped out of the arms of their parents in hospitals as the parents are detained.
While all of this is happening locally, the people of Gaza—who mostly been internally displaced from their homes—are being willfully starved to death, deprived of safely acquired humanitarian aid by U.S. weaponry provided to Israel and by U.S. policy decisions. More than 1,000 people have been shot by soldiers and U.S. contractors while trying to acquire aid from the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Agency, according to the United Nations. Archbishop Hosam Naoum of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem has compared the situation to The Hunger Games. Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe has called for "the Israeli military to end the bombing of hospitals and the siege of Gaza; for the restoration of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza under United Nations supervision; and for Israel and Hamas to release all unjustly detained people and hostages."
The very people that Jesus has identified himself with—the foreigner, the prisoner, the hungry, and the thirsty—are under attack. If ever there was a time to ask ourselves, what we would do in the face of oppression, the time is now. Silence, in the context of oppression, is complicity. As St. James reminds us: "If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. (James 4:17)
That doesn't mean that everyone needs to be out in the street protesting. But we need to do something. There are many ways to assist our immigrant and refugee siblings both locally and worldwide. As St. Paul reminds us, we are one Body, and no one's role is more important than anyone else's.
So pray and then ask yourself, what is God calling you to do?
There are many ways to get involved. Faith in the Valley is looking for legal observers who can document ICE raids, as well as volunteers who are willing to accompany migrants to their ICE check-ins. They are also looking for individuals and groups that can provide money or groceries for families who are struggling because a sibling or parent is in immigrant detention.
Perhaps, you enjoy writing. Consider sending letters to immigrants who are in detention. SJRAISE (the diocesan immigration commission) continues to partner with KWESI to coordinate letter writing campaigns for detainees, and we'd love to have more congregations involved. You can also help SJRAISE as we partner with Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity to collect items for care packages for families who are in detention.
Or consider reaching out to your elected officials to advocate for just policies for immigrants. The Episcopal Public Policy Network provides numerous updates about laws that impact immigrants here in the U.S., and it has email prompts that easily can be sent to legislators.
EPPN also has policy updates related to U.S. policies that impact displaced peoples in Gaza. People can also support the people of Gaza through donations to The Episcopal Church's Good Friday Offering or American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem.
If any of these opportunities are pulling at your heart, please reach out to us at SJRAISE and let us know. And consider joining our commission as well. We're always looking for more volunteers with a passion for immigrant support and outreach.
We all have a role to play. So pray, listen, and respond to God's call. And let us know if you have other ideas for supporting immigrants and refugees as well.
For more information on SJRAISE, reach out to Jonathan Partridge and Emily Burnias at sjraise@diosanjoaquin.org.
| KNOW YOUR RIGHTS RED CARDS! | |
Sanctuary People Resource List
Below are resources to support the immigrant community. This resource list will be updated as more resources are created and needs changes.
https://bit.ly/SanctuaryPeopleResources
Family Preparedness: helping immigrant and mixed status families make a plan in case of family separation due to ICE arrest
Rapid Response:
Know Your Rights for possible encounters with immigration authorities.
Sanctuary Resources:
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4147 East Dakota Avenue
Fresno, California 93726
209-576-0104
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