In this edition of ENews:
- Lambeth Conference Wraps Up
- Faith Church in Cameron Park Helps Afghan Refugee Family to Settle
- Zoom Webinar to feature Sister Joan Chittester
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Best Skills, Best Churches Registration is Open - Register Now!
- 35th Annual Diocesan Choir Festival Scheduled
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Anglican bishops from 165 countries attending the Lambeth Conference gathered for a group photograph on July 29 during the 15th Lambeth Conference held July 26- Aug. 8 at the University of Kent in Canterbury. Photo: Neil Turner/For the Lambeth Conference |
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Bishops wrap Lambeth Conference with look ahead to unity, despite persistent divisions |
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[Episcopal News Service – Canterbury, England]
Bishops from across the Anglican Communion, meeting Aug. 6 for their last business day at the Lambeth Conference, looked to the future as they emphasized the conference’s theme of Anglicans engaging with the
wider world.
Many Episcopal bishops arrived at the July 26-Aug. 8 conference expressing trepidation over conservative attempts to reaffirm past Anglican statements against same-sex marriage. Though stark divisions remain over issues of human sexuality across the communion, which covers 165 countries, Episcopal bishops said they are concluding their time in Canterbury on a more hopeful note.
“It feels to me like this conference has been a new beginning for the Anglican Communion,”Minnesota Bishop Craig Loya told Episcopal News Service during a break between morning sessions at the University of Kent. Despite their differences, the more than 650 participating bishops have come together throughout the conference to examine some of the most pressing issues in the world today, Loya said, including climate change, interfaith relations, care for refugees and the threat of anti-democratic movements.
As part of the day’s business, the bishops adopted 14 statements of support, each proposed by a sponsoring bishop, highlighting a range of issues that included peace in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine and gun violence in the United States.
Newark Bishop Carlye Hughes described the conference’s full schedule over nearly twoweeks as “a bit like drinking from a firehose.” Like Loya, she too was encouraged by herconversations with other bishops. “I leave with a real sense of knowing there’s extraordinarydifferences,” she said, especially over the level of LGBTQ+ inclusion in the church.
“But that is not what drives us together,” Hughes told ENS. “It really is this incredible love of Jesus, incredible love of all of God’s people and a desire to see all people live in some senseof safety and harmony.”
On Aug. 6, the final plenary session of the conference focused on “The Decade Ahead.”Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who convened the typically once-a-decade Lambeth Conference, asked several conference participants to share their experiences and what they will bring back to their home provinces and dioceses.
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Click here for more news about the Lambeth Conference.
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Only 72 Days until Diocesan Convention! |
The 112th Annual Convention is October 21–22 in Redding.
Registration is now open
for Clergy, Delegates, Alternates and Visitors. To register, visit the convention website.
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At the Convention, we will elect new clergy and lay persons to the Standing Committee, Board of Trustees, and Deputies to the next General Convention. Please consider serving the diocese in one of these important roles.
Deadline for nomination submission is Friday, August 19.
For more information and nomination forms, visit the convention website.
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Want to be part of our Convention slideshow?
Send us photos of your congregation during worship, gatherings, events, community events, holidays, etc.. The slideshow will be on display during the 2022 Diocesan Convention.
We want every congregation represented!
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The diocesan quilt is ready to have the binding sewn onto its perimeter. This is the last step in the completion of the quilt. St. Clement's church in Rancho Cordova has generously offered their parish hall again, and I have scheduled a workday on Thursday August 18, from 9:30am to mid afternoon. The first phase will be machine-sewing the binding and hanging sleeves to the edges of the quilt, which is estimated to take about an hour (maybe a little longer). Beginning about 10:30, there will be opportunities for more volunteers to hand-sew the binding and the hanging "sleeves" to the back side of the quilt.
All members of our diocesan congregations who would like to participate are encouraged to contact Beth Carlson, project co-ordinator, at rbmj1616@gmail.com or 530-345-8142 for more information.
– Beth Carlson | Project Coordinator
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Faith Episcopal Lives into its Commitment to help Afghan Family Resettle
by Sandy Hanson, Faith Good Neighbor Team Leader
Faith Episcopal Church in Cameron Park is resettling an Afghan family that recently escaped the grasp of the Taliban. The family’s situation was so dire that the U.S. government gave them asylum and helped arrange a flight to Sacramento.
Because this family has relatives back in Afghanistan, all caution must be exercised for a while with regard to revealing who they are. That does not mean that Faith Church cannot share with you the process of resettlement. Your church might want to take up this important work.
Back in January of this year, our leadership became interested in doing something about the overwhelming need to help refugees who have been displaced because of the throes of war. We decided to work with World Relief, a Christian organization, whose Sacramento location is dedicated to resettlement. This organization offers refugees three months apartment rent. Its case workers set up medical, legal, and welfare support. It provides training for a Good Neighbor Team who will provide for the long term care for the new refugee family. In plain terms, World Relief helps set up a solid start that helps the family begin to get their feet on the ground—so to speak.
In your church you would need to find volunteers to become a Good Neighbor team. Each volunteer applies to World Relief to become a full fledged World Relief volunteer. The application process takes about an hour. Once the application is filled out, then the volunteer registers for four hours of training. After the training is completed, the volunteer’s background is checked and their references are thoroughly interviewed. To put it mildly, this is a thorough vetting process.
These qualified volunteers are then the only people in your church who will have direct, personal contact with your family for the first three months after they arrive. The volunteers set up the apartment that World Relief has arranged for the refugee family. Faith Church held a big drive to collect all of the items needed for apartment living, including furniture, full kitchen set up, a vacuum and fans, all items for cleaning, linens, and anything else you can think of that is needed for apartment life. We also provided money for initial food supplies.
Your volunteers will need to have five leads, one for job search, one for medical, one for schooling, one for cultural orientation, and one for one for transportation. Yes, this is quite a bit of work, but well worth the effort.
Also, fundraising is important. Our family arrived with no money. The Russian banking in the area they came from was suspended because of the war in Ukraine. Our family lost every penny. We also quickly realized that a family in Sacramento cannot function without a car. We raised funds to pay for a car and insurance. You will also need to provide a new or recent laptop and internet connection.
All of this is “do-able.” The Holy spirit will lead you beyond every barrier that you thought might be in the way. And…when, like with our family, you are told, “We had to leave everything behind, all of our relatives, all of our friends,” you will become blessed with the awareness that you are giving a new life to your new family. Rebirth is central to our Christian belief. What better thing could we do than to offer new life to a displaced family?
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Episcopal Community Services & Diocesan Partners in Ministries of Health present: |
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Sister Joan Chittister:
A Monastic Heart: How to Live an Ordinary Life Extraordinarily Well
Saturday, September 10 | 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Zoom Webinar
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This webinar is intended for Lay and Clergy to nurture your monastic heart and empower your ministry to bring an extra measure of Jesus’ healing to our world.
Sister Joan “… sounds the call to create a Monastery within ourselves-to cultivate wisdom and resilience so that we may join God in the work of renewal, restoration and justice right where we are.”
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Joan Chittister, OSB is an internationally known writer and lecturer and the executive director of Benetvision,
a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality in Erie, PA.
She has authored sixty books and received numerous awards for her work on behalf of peace, justice and women in church and in society. For more information go to: www.joanchittister.org
Due to copyrights, there will be no recording of this webinar. Register Early! As registrations are limited, we encourage you to arrange a Watch Party at your church and perhaps have some discussion of the webinar afterwards. Make this into a community event.
For questions or challenges with registration contact: Ann Stoltz
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This webinar is being offered as a gift. A free will offering to Episcopal Community Services to go towards their Grant Program would be very much appreciated. The grants go towards supporting congregations in development of health and social ministries in their communities. Go to www.norcalecs.org for more information.
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Register NOW for Best Skills, Best Churches! |
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We are excited to once again offer the Best Skills, Best Churches program for clergy and lay leaders! Classes begin Friday, September 23.
This innovative program is designed to meet the professional needs of leaders of nonprofit and public organizations. Upon successful completion of the program, participants will receive a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation.
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Click here for the schedule and additional information.
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35th Annual Diocesan Choir Festival Scheduled |
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All choral singers throughout the Diocese are invited to join us for the Thirty-fifth Annual Diocesan Choir Festival, on Saturday, January 28, 2023. Our guest conductor will be Dr. Bruce Neswick, the recently retired Canon for Cathedral Music at Trinity Cathedral in Portland, Oregon.
Dr. Neswick has previously served at The Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City, Washington National Cathedral, St Philips Cathedral in Atlanta, and is internationally renowned concert organist and composer. Bruce’s musical skills and his warm, engaging personality, promise a wonderful day for all singers. The festival concludes with a service of Choral Evensong, to which all are invited.
All singers are invited to mark their calendars, and watch for more details. To add yourself to the email list, send a note to David Link, Canon Precentor & Director of Music at Trinity Cathedral: link@trinitycathedral.org
– David Link
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Mission for Disaster Resilience |
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One year anniversary of the Dixie fire
The diocese partnered with Christ the King –Quincy, to provide meals for the Dixie Fire one year anniversary event “Memories of Plumas” held at Quintopia in Quincy. Approximately 60 people were fed, and the event was happy, sad, contemplative, and healing for the survivors who are looking to rebuild their community.
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McKinney Fire Update:
I have been working with parishioners at St. Barnabas -
Mt. Shasta, the Karuk Tribe, United Way, Red Cross, and Weed Police to help evacuees from the McKinney Fire find safe places to settle, fill immediate needs, and to contact loved ones.
The McKinney Fire Local Assistance Center (LAC) will be opening August 17 and 18. If you would like to volunteer some time to listen to the stories of survivors, collect some basic information, and help put needed resources into the hands of the recently displaced, please contact me and see how you can help.
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A US Forest Service Helicopter airlifts supplies at the McKinney Fire. |
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– Mark Dibelka | Missioner for Disaster Resilience
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August 14, 2022
The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 12:49-56
In this Gospel reading we have a number of hard sayings of Jesus. F.F. Bruce’s book The Hard Sayings of Jesus offered some help, but I went away feeling that there was more to say. What does Jesus mean by saying, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”
Many commentators wrestle with how this statement fits in to the announcement at the birth of Jesus “Peace on earth among those whom he favors” (Luke 2:14, NRSV). The peace which Christ gives is a fundamental teaching of the New Testament (John 14:27, Romans 5:1, Ephesians 2:17).
So how are we to reconcile this proclamation of God’s peace, which Christ came to give, with this statement here? There are no easy answers, and I think we are called to wrestle with the paradox.
It is helpful, I believe, to set this paradox alongside others in the teaching of Jesus. Consider, for example, the paradox evident in John 3. Here we have one of the loftiest, and the best known, statement of God’s love in Christ: John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son…”. Just three verses on (3:19) we find the expression, “This is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” This whole passage sets the love of God alongside the inevitable judgment, due to the fact that people do not come to the light. The thought here is not unlike the thought of “division” which we find in Luke.
The coming of the light and love of God inevitably leads to a judgment, a division, and poses the question to us: Will we respond in embracing them as they are revealed in Jesus, or will we refuse to come to the light and receive the love so freely offered to us?
– The Rev. Peter Rodgers
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Commission for Intercultural Ministries |
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Members of the Cathedral team–pictured left to right: Kenny Pierce, Don Taylor, Taylor Pennewell pointing to Mar, our Zoom participant, Rose Hammock, Kengo Akiyama, Jim Crouch, Patricia Heinicke, and Tina Campbell. |
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Members of the Incarnation team–pictured left to right: Laura McLellan, Rev. Stephen Shaver, Rose Hammock, Taylor Pennewell and Daphne Vernon. Not in photo: Bo Simons, Christy Edmondson, Noemi Ramirez, Paul Mallatt, Sara Joslyn, Linda Sevier. |
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Land Acknowledgment and Beyond–Church of the Incarnation and Trinity Cathedral
Members of the Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa and Trinity Cathedral in Sacramento have been working with Rose Hammock and Taylor Pennewell from Redbud Resource Group to learn about Native culture and to develop meaningful land acknowledgments.
With funding from a Beloved Community grant, Rose and Taylor lead the groups through a process to understand and appreciate the culture of the local Native community. They learned about the history of the tribal communities in northern California, their shared values, and what is important to have a meaningful relationship with the local Native community. The concept of allyship was explored and the importance of taking actions to strengthen Native sovereignty.
Both groups drafted land acknowledgments and will continue to refine them, as well as to continue efforts to build relationships with the local Native community. It is a process that will continue into the future.
Redbud Resource Group is a valuable resource. Their mission is to build bridges between Native and non-Native communities. They offer webinars to provide guidance for non-Natives about developing and growing relationships with tribal communities and other consultation services.
The effort to reach out to our Indigenous neighbors and develop relationships that reflect respect, reciprocity and allyship is part of our call to build beloved communities. Land acknowledgment is part of that journey. The Rev. Canon Tina Campbell, Indigenous Missioner for the Diocese of Northern California,
Submitted by the Indigenous Ministry Team of the Commission for Intercultural Ministries–Rev. Canon Tina Campbell, Miriam Casey and Patricia Heinicke
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I Will, With God's Help:
Journey toward Racial Healing and Justice
Anti-racism workshops for the Episcopal Diocese of
Northern California
This one-day in-person workshop was specially developed for the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California by the Commission for Intercultural Ministries. Renew your Baptismal Covenant as we learn about forms of historic and contemporary racism and how to engage in ministry with sensitivity and respect for all.
Please note that due to the nature of the program, attendance is limited to 30 participants at each workshop.
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Two Workshop Dates/Locations: |
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Saturday, August 27 | 9:30 am – 4:00 pm
Christ Church | Eureka
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Saturday, September 10 | 9:30 am – 4:00 pm
All Saints Episcopal Church | Redding
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Upcoming Events
Around The Diocese
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Sacred Ground Dialogue Circle
St. John’s | Roseville
11-session program, with small group discussion and reflection.
Meets bi-weekly on zoom, Wednesday evenings
Starts Wednesday, August 10 | 7:00 – 9:00 pm
For more information contact
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Benicia Peddlers Fair
St Paul's | Benicia
Held in Downtown Benicia Since 1963
Saturday, August 13 | 8:00 am to 5:00 pm
707-745-8680
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Benefit Concerts for Ukrainian Refugees
Oleksandr Savchenko | Pianist
Sundays – August 14 & 21 | 2:00 – 4:00 pm
St. Paul's Episcopal Church | 1430 J St. | Sacramento
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Diocesan Day of Discernment
Saturday, October 15 | 9:00 am – 12:00 pm
This is the first step for those interested in the ordination process. Discerners and sponsoring clergy must register and attend.
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Cursillo 117
October 27 – 30 | Thursday – Sunday
Mt. Hope Bible Camp | located outside of Oroville
Accommodations for 25 candidates – applications on the website: cursilloncal.org. Potential candidates will need a sponsor (a previous Cursillo attendee). For information contact Jo Churchill at gjchurchill@snowcrest.net or call/text 530-524-1468
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Job Opportunities Around The Diocese |
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All Saints, Sacramento, is seeking a ¾ time Interim Rector.
See position description here.
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St. John the Evangelist, Chico, is seeking a full-time Interim Rector.
See position description here.
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St. Clement's | Rancho Cordova is seeking a 3/4 time Priest-in-Charge.
See the position description here.
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St. Paul's | Sacramento is seeking a Music Director.
Read the job announcement here.
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Trinity | Folsom is seeking a Director of Children’s and Youth Ministries (Lay Position). Read the job announcement here.
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Diocesan Commissions | Committees | Ministries |
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The ENews is published weekly on Tuesdays.
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The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California
Making Disciples, Raising Up Saints & Transforming Communities for Christ
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