Episcopal Diocese 

of Northern California

Beloved Community

Resource Newsletter

Published by

The Commission for

Intercultural Ministries

December 2022 

Episcopal Church Becoming Beloved Community

Newsletter Highlights:

• Miriam Casey's Advent Calendar Message
• Advent Reflection - Hope
• St. Martin's, Davis, to Host Hybrid Sacred Ground Circle
• I Will, With God's Help: Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice,Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Sacramento
• Eat Local This Christmas To Help Our Climate and Share the Love
• The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California is on Track to Become Carbon Neutral
• The Abolitionist's Journal: Interview with The Rev. Jim Richardson (C-SPAN2)
• The Night is Long but Light Comes in the Morning: Meditations for Racial Healing

Ukrainians sing 'Carol of the Bells' at Carnegie Hall, 100 years after its U.S. debut

NPR I Rachel Treisman I Posted December 6, 2022

Excerpts from article:

"Exactly a century after the song's North American debut, and during Ukraine's latest fight for freedom, Ukrainian musicians brought Shchedryk back to Carnegie Hall this weekend.

Bridget Brink, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, shared a video of the performance on Twitter, calling it "light amid darkness." 

It aimed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of that first performance, shine a spotlight on Ukraine's distinct culture and support its efforts to defend — and rebuild — itself from Russian attacks."

Miriam Casey's Advent Calendar Message

Episcopal Diocese of Northern California I Posted December 7, 2020

Miriam Casey is Co-Chair of the Commission for Intercultural Ministries and Convener for the Commission on the Environment for the Diocese. In her message, she tells us that Jesus showed us a new way to love.

Advent Reflection - Hope

By Bob Wohlsen

Member, Commission for Intercultural Ministries

Every Christmas season, the Glencairn Museum in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania, features a different collection of Nativity sets.

Whether on the shelf or on the front lawn, many families have their own Nativity scenes that they set up every Christmas. But have you ever wanted to see other Nativity sets from around the world?

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry joins churchwide and diocesan leaders on Dec. 10 for the Good News Festival, a revival hosted by the Diocese of San Diego. Photo via Facebook

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry delivered a soul-stirring, handclapping, belly-laughing “love always” revival message Dec. 10, to hundreds of cheering Episcopalians and friends gathered at the Town and Country Resort for the Diocese of San Diego’s Good News Festival.

“Love when you feel like it, and love when you don’t,” Curry said. “Love when you believe it, and love when you don’t. Love on the mountaintop, and love in the valley. But love always.

“Love yourself always. Love your neighbor always. Love your God always. Love always, because love made you and love will set you free,” he said in English, accompanied by a Spanish interpreter, at the evening worship service, which concluded the Dec. 9-10 festival."

The Rev. Ernie Lewis and Carole Hom from St. Martin's, Davis, will co-facilitate a new Sacred Ground Dialogue Circle starting in January.

The circle will meet in a hybrid format at St. Martin's or via Zoom on Sunday afternoons, starting Jan. 8. Meetings will be approximately every two weeks (with a break around Easter) until the last session in June.

Sacred Ground is a discussion series on race, grounded in faith and developed by the Episcopal Church. Small groups use films and readings to walk through chapters of America’s history of race and racism, while weaving in threads of family story, economic class, and political and regional identity.



Interested? Contact Ernie Lewis or Carole Hom by Dec. 23 via the St. Martin's office: info@churchofstmartin.org.

Keeping Track of Sacred Ground

Are you forming a Sacred Ground Circle? Let the Commission for Intercultural Ministries know by registering it here: https://forms.gle/hriHCPKmLwjUHEyEA

Are you interested in joining a Sacred Ground Circle? Sign up here: https://forms.gle/G26EPxDzEFSpnsZW7

I Will, With God's Help:

Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Sacramento

Saturday, January 21, 2023, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm

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.

Saturday, January 21 I 9:30 am - 4:30 pm

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral I Sacramento

Register: https://forms.gle/tAa9a3Wmij2e3PsL9

Suggested lunch donation of $10 (cash or check) on day of workshop.

Contact Jo Ann Williams, bjwilli@surewest.net, for questions.

Additional workshops are being planned by the Commission for Intercultural Ministries for 2023. Be on the lookout for announcements in the Diocesan E-News and in the Beloved Community Resource Newsletter.

As we anticipate Christmas and the joyful arrival of Jesus’ birth, it is a festive time filled with preparations for celebration with family and friends. This is also a time that can mean a heavy carbon burden for our environment caused by the increase in garbage including plastics that usually end up in greenhouse-gas-emitting landfills or waste incinerators that produce carbon emissions.

Here are a few tips to help us lessen that impact:

1.   Make homemade gifts

2.   Buy gifts locally

3.   Consolidate trips to the mall

4.   Use recycled or reusable wrapping paper

5.   Consolidate shipments into as few as possible to cut down on delivery trips

6.   Gift things that are needed

7.   Gift an experience

8.   Donate to a charity in their name

During this very special season let’s accept the invitation to do what we can to be more friendly to our precious creation.

In gratitude,

The Commission on the Environment

Contact Miriam Casey at mlcasey7@yahoo.com.

Consider buying locally grown foods to serve with your Christmas meal this year, to reduce the environmental impact of holiday feasts. One example is rice. Farms like this rice field near Oroville, CA, produce an abundance of delicious California-grown rice that can accompany a variety of holiday dishes.

Sourcing local foods to serve at holiday tables brings love to every bite. Hospitality becomes all-inclusive as we receive from places and people who nourish us and give to those we serve, at home and through our churches.

When it comes to food, love is local. Purchasing local foods benefits your neighborhood economy, saves on fossil fuels used in transportation and plastic packaging, and results in a smaller carbon footprint. Eating organic produce eliminates some of the carbon emissions used to produce pesticides and herbicides.

In addition, fruits and vegetables tend to be fresher and may have greater nutritional benefits when they come from small farmers tending healthy soil.

A good place to shop locally is at farmer’s markets.

Ralph Till, Junior Warden at St. Alban’s Church in Arcata, looks over solar panels newly installed on the church property in 2019. The Diocese is working to help churches with big projects like this going forward. There are also many simple, small, affordable changes that churches can make now to reduce their carbon emissions.

Our Northern California diocese is now on track to become carbon neutral. The resolution adopted at the convention in October calls on all churches in the diocese, by 2024, to assess their emissions and establish a plan to achieve carbon-neutral status, and to achieve that status by 2030.

This is an important undertaking that ensures our churches embrace the Creation Care direction set by our national church. Also, very simply, it is the right thing to do for our communities and for our shared planet in an era reeling from climate change.

It will also be challenging, without a doubt. But the Diocesan Commission on the Environment is working every day to help our local churches get there. One of our first tasks is to identify assessment tools to help congregations figure out their baseline emissions from activities such as heating and cooling, land management and service programs. In fact, we would love to hear your suggestions for emissions assessment tools that you find helpful.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed legislation protecting same-sex and interracial marriage.

Thousands of people gathered on the White House South Lawn to commemorate the Respect for Marriage Act becoming law.

"Today is a good day," Biden said as he took the podium after Vice President Kamala Harris. "A day America takes a vital step toward equality, for liberty and justice -- not just for some, but for everyone. Toward creating a nation where decency, dignity and love are recognized, honored and protected."

Washington National Cathedral

Honors Matthew Shepard with Portrait Dedication

Washington National Cathedral and the parents of Matthew Shepard remembered Matthew on December 1, his birthday. The heartfelt service included the dedication of a portrait of Matthew by artist Kelly Latimore.

We learn together and deepen our community connections through this lively conversation between members of The Gathering: A Space for Asian Pacific American Spirituality, and The Diocesan Program Group on Hispanic Ministries in the Episcopal diocese of Los Angeles, about the celebration of Las Posadas.

Across the world in Hispanic (Spanish-speaking) nations, and in many parts of the U.S., the Christmas season begins with the celebration of Las Posadas, a "gathering of both strangers and loved ones." The Spanish word posadas means inns, and this community-based tradition comes from the story of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, where they searched for lodging. They were turned away by everyone until finally, an innkeeper allowed them to stay in the stable where Jesus was born.

Learn about the origin and meaning of pinatas.

Let us live the Posadas welcome every day to all!

Episcopal Latino Ministry Competency Course (ELMC)

January 21-28, 2023

Alexandria, VA

Registration is open for the Episcopal Latino Ministry Competency Course, an innovative multiday intensive course. ELMC will be held at Virginia Theology Seminary in Alexandria, VA from January 21-28, 2023.

This popular course is offered by The Episcopal Church’s Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministries and taught by seminary faculty, clergy, and lay leaders with extensive experience in Latino and intercultural ministry. 

“Combining academic learning with hands-on experience, the purpose of this multi-faceted intensive course is to provide cultural competency of the history, culture, socio-demographic, and religious aspects of the Latinos/Hispanics in the United States,” said The Rev. Canon Anthony Guillén, Episcopal Church missioner for Latino/Hispanic Ministries. “Also, this course will provide the foundational tools necessary for church leaders to discern and explore the type of Latino/Hispanic ministry that best fits a congregational setting and its context.”

Registration Deadline: January 13, 2023

The Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York recently hosted a book launch for Dr. Catherine Meeks' latest book, The Night is Long but Light Comes in the Morning: Meditations for Racial Healing. Dr. Meeks shared highlights and insights from her personal journey for this spiritual guide to restoring oneself from racial trauma and committing to the long work of dismantling racism.

Dr. Meeks was critical in the development of the racial healing workshop, "I Will, With God's Help: Journey Toward Racial Healing and Justice," as the consultant to the workshop facilitator team of the Commission for Intercultural Ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California. She brought with her a deep spiritual grounding and many years of experience dealing with racial issues. Her wisdom and guidance were invaluable as she provided consistent and encouraging support throughout the consultation process. Jo Ann Williams, a member of the workshop facilitation team, was interviewed at the book launch and described the impact of Dr. Meeks' work with the facilitation team. A lay member from the Diocese of Kentucky was also interviewed about working with Dr. Meeks in beginning a racial healing program in their diocese.

Dr. Meeks was joined by Presiding Bishop Michael Curry; The Very Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas and The Very Rev. Dr. Cynthia Kittredge, deans from two seminaries; and the Rev. Winnie Varghese, Rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in New York. The event was moderated by The Rev. Matthew Heyd, Rector of the Church of the Heavenly Rest, and Bishop Co-Adjutor-Elect of the Diocese of New York.

In the two years since nationwide social justice protests followed the murder of George Floyd, California has undertaken the nation’s most sweeping effort yet to explore some concrete restitution to Black citizens to address the enduring economic effects of slavery and racism.

A nine-member Reparations Task Force has spent months traveling across California to learn about the generational effects of racist policies and actions. The group, formed by legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2020, is scheduled to release a report to lawmakers in Sacramento next year outlining recommendations for state-level reparations.

A screenshot of Native Land Digital’s interactive map Native Land Digital

Find out which Indigenous lands you live on using an interactive map.

Since 2015, Native-Land.ca has helped people discover more about the history behind the spaces they inhabit. Victor Temprano is the creator of the tool, though it is now overseen by Native Land Digital, an Indigenous-led nonprofit.

At first, the map functioned as a “resource pointed at settlers and non-Indigenous people to, in a not-too-confrontational way, start thinking about Indigenous history,” Temprano told Mashable’s Heather Dockray in 2018. 

Today, the group is focused on improving both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people’s relationship with the lands around them. Per the group’s website, its goal is to “create and foster conversations about the history of colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing and settler-Indigenous relations.”

How-to: Call your Member of Congress

Throughout the legislative process, there are several points you can support an issue or bill that you care about. One of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is by calling a legislator's office. While you won’t speak directly to the member of Congress, your position for the issue will get back to their team in some form. Legislative staffers track the number of calls they receive on a certain issue or bill and use this information to influence their decisions moving forward. Not sure where to start? Here's a step-by-step guide with everything you need to know before calling.

There are several opportunities to influence the legislative process by supporting an issue or bill that you care about. One of the most effective ways to do this is by meeting with your members of Congress or their staff in Washington, D.C., and in-state (or virtually!). While it’s possible you won’t speak directly to the member of Congress, your care for the issue will get back to their team in some form. Legislative staffers track when and how constituents provide their thoughts about a certain issue or bill and use this information to decide whether the member of Congress should support, oppose, or pay attention going forward.

Congress is back in session and poised to consider, and even pass, significant legislation that that the Episcopal Church has advocated for this year. In this final month of the current session, it’s imperative that we advocate for these issues that directly affect our efforts to build the Beloved Community in Northern California.

The key issues include:

●    Thank Congress for Supporting Marriage Equality

●    Native American Solidarity - Advance several policies in solidarity with Indigenous communities

●    Afghan Adjustment Act - Provide resources to welcome our Afghan Allies

●    Dreamers (DACA) - Provide a pathway to Legal Status

●    Child Tax Credit - Provides the most effective way to reduce child poverty

●    Protect Children’s Privacy - Online protections

●    Recovering America’s Wildlife Act - Help our wildlife recover

●    Pregnant Workers Fairness Act - Protects pregnant workers and their babies from potential health complications.

●    Reform the Electoral Count Act - Reforms will address ambiguities in previous legislation 

Select the issues that interest you and Click on them. You will be taken to the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations Action Alert. There you can easily write to your legislators and advocate for this vital legislation.

For more information contact Bob Wohlsen, Advocacy Team member, bob.wohlsen@gmail.com

The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California

Commission for Intercultural Ministries

If the content of our newsletters is no longer relevant to you, please unsubscribe below.