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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
Whenever we look back through history, we do so selectively. It is so much easier to celebrate our successes rather than to remember injustices that occurred. This is particularly true when the injustices continue, are unresolved and/or are done by us, the church. These injustices just seem to be swept under the carpet, leaving wounds to fester and get infected.
One of these injustices are the American Indian Residential Schools. In general, these residential schools were run by the various Christian denominations. Throughout the USA and Canada boarding schools were established to assimilate and Christianize Indigenous peoples into our society and eradicate Native cultures. The eradication of culture was done by removing indigenous cultural signifiers such as cutting the children's traditional long hair, forbidding them speaking their native language or enacting traditional rituals and by replacing their names with English names. Furthermore, children were not allowed contact with their families and communities.
The schools were usually harsh, and often devoid of caring and loving caretakers. Instead, children were subjected to emotional, physical and sexual abuse. These schools were places where diseases and injuries often were left untreated. As a result, children died.
Mass marked and unmarked graves have been found surrounding many of the boarding school sites.
Many adult survivors of these residential schools were left traumatized and, tragically, struggled to reconnect with their original tribes. Consequently, survivors experienced higher than average rates of substance abuse, mental health issues, crime rates and suicides. It has been estimated that hundreds of thousand of Indigenous children were subjected to such cruelty in the three hundred and fifty-seven boarding schools that existed across the United States. (1} The Episcopal church was responsible for running nine of these schools.
Why should we remember these atrocities? Because there are still surviving victims. Because there is serious intergenerational trauma. Because the Indigenous people and their culture still does not receive the dignity and respect it deserves. Because Episcopalians, in Christ’s name, perpetuated values of hatred, cruelty, abuse and oppression. Collectively, we are called to bring Christ’s healing to the oppressed. We need to value the wisdom and beauty of the various nations of Indigenous people. Lastly, we need to be responsible for restoring the church to reflect God’s values of love, and respect for all created in God’s image.
At various places across the USA we remember those who died and those who survived the abuse of the Indian Residential Schools on the 30th of September. This date was chosen because it is the approximate time of the year when children would have been forcibly taken to the schools. These commemorations are called Orange Shirt Day in reference to a survivor’s memories of a pretty orange shirt given to her by her grandmother before going to the Residential School, just for it to be striped off her on arrival.
At St James’ Episcopal Church of Sonora we participate in the local Orange Shirt Day events that have included dinners from native foods, drum circles, learned a few words of MiWok language, which were hosted by the the MiWok tribe. In addition, our church has shown educational movies to highlight the extent of the hurt that has been caused in Christ’s name. This horrible slice of history is not standardly taught at schools. Let us not remain ignorant. Let us value what our Christian ancestors tried to eradicate.
More information can be obtained from Orange Shirt Day website https://orangeshirtday.org/ (Canadian website as that is where the movement started)
And an informative movie is “Education of little tree.”
Rev. Karen Matthews is Priest-in-Charge for St Matthews San Andreas & St James Sonora
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July 26
SC/DC Meeting @ 10am, ZOOM
July 27
Bishop Visitation @ St John's Lodi
YELLOW BAGS!
Looking ahead to August...
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
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ACTION ALERT!
End Gun Violence
The epidemic of gun violence in the United States affects people from all our communities and continues to be one of the most pervasive problems of our time. Congress has the responsibility and authority to enact proven strategies to reduce gun violence, including investing in gun violence prevention programs, regulating firearm possession and purchases, and closing legal loopholes that endanger communities.
To take action on this, please click here
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 a Church Focused on Christ
Creator God, our only king, you have called your church to be the body of Christ in the world, not a servant of power, but a witness to truth. The scourge of Christian nationalism confuses loyalty to nation with loyalty to Christ. Guard our hearts from idolatry, and remind us that our freedom is found not in earthly dominion, but in the self-giving love of Jesus, crucified and risen. Help us engage in the public square with compassion and courage, practicing the call to speak truth and conquer injustice, yet remember to never compromise our witness to the one in whom all authority rests. We ask this through your Son, our true Lord and Savior. Amen.
For Those Who Will Go Hungry This Week in the U.S.
God of mercy and justice, we lift before you the millions in our nation who face empty cupboards and unanswered cries for help. As food banks grow overwhelmed and safety nets unravel, we remember that your Son taught us that when we feed the hungry, we serve Christ himself. Strengthen the volunteers, the caregivers, and community leaders who labor to meet their rising need and stir our hearts to generosity, courage, and advocacy. All this we ask for the sake of your holy name. Amen.
For Visibility and Inclusion of the Disability Community
Crucified and Risen Christ, who bears the marks of human pain, your vision of justice and love never excludes anyone based on their physical abilities, yet in our broken world, we often do. Forgive us and stir us to repentance as we celebrate the richness of your creation during Disability Pride Month. Help us build communities where accessibility, dignity, and full participation are the foundation, not the exception. Empower us to recognize your image in every body and every mind. Let your kingdom of radical inclusion be made visible among us now, as we advocate for those whom the world too often leaves behind. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Healthcare Workers in Palestine
God of healing and compassion, whose hands once touched the sick and made them whole. We call upon you now, not in whispers, but with the urgency of sirens. In a land where hospitals like Al-Ahli have become targets, where healers like Dr. Ahmad Atallah Hamed Qandil have become the victims, and where ambulances are met with bullets, let your presence shield the innocents and your compassion flood the hearts of those who harm them. Embrace and protect those who risk their lives to tend to the wounded, renew their courage, and grant them strength that outlasts airstrikes. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
For Afghans Who Lost Their Temporary Protected Status in the United States
God of radical love, you have commanded us to welcome strangers. Teach us to embody this radical grace as your people. We grieve the end of the Temporary Protected Status of Afghans in the United States. We pray for those who fear deportation and could no longer work legally in this country due to this action. May your Spirit be with all those who advocate for the just treatment of migrants by the U.S. government, and charge all governing authorities to enact policies that honor the dignity and protect the safety of the vulnerable. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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In the first book of Samuel, the young prophet is serving Eli and has a strange experience: Samuel thinks he is being called by Eli, and so goes to him. Eli says he did not call, Samuel leaves, and then the process repeats, and Eli realizes that Samuel is being spoken to by God. Samuel then opens himself to God and hears the Lord speak, and thus begins the career of a prophet (1 Samuel 3).
In this diocese we often talk about our motto, “Called to Be…” and ask people, especially in these missives from the Commission on Ministry, to think about call. What I want to ask you to do is to think about where God might be calling you that you do not realize. Our world is noisy; between the political strife and worldwide conflict that populate the news and the hectic busyness of our day-to-day lives, it can be hard to hear God or discern how he speaks to us. Luckily for us, we have our neighbors, and our fellow Christians, who also are in our lives to help us hear the call of the Lord. Sometimes, this call might seem like it is coming from a different voice or context or situation, but we have to be open to the possibility that God speaks to us through our communities, and your call to be might be echoing around you, and you might not hear the voice.
Discernment is difficult; even the great prophets and saints of God have struggled with it. Oftentimes we doubt our own interior feeling of call or deny that we are worthy or qualified or prepared to follow a call. This might come from regret or humility or worry, but we become very adept at tuning out God’s call to do more. In those times, God speaks to us through those around us, and we have to be ready to hear him there as well. Just as Eli redirects Samuel our community may be redirecting you.
The call to serve God in lay or ordained ministry takes many shapes, and can look very different in your own context. I want to ask you to look around you, and see where your gifts are already active, where your work is already being fruitful, and consider if in that service to others God may already be calling you, asking you to deepen or expand your good work into a large ministry. If you listen to where God might speak in other voices, you may find yourself called to be something new and fantastic.
The Rev. Luke Martinez serves at the Episcopal Church of the Saviour in Hanford and is a member of the Commission on Ministry
| Deacon Steve Bentley serves at St John's Stockton and is a member of the Anti-Racism Commission | |
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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Usually, when we discuss a topic concerning humanity, the biggest temptation is to cite numbers to support our point of view and make a statement about it. However, when we talk about migration, we need to talk about people and their life histories; otherwise, we are dehumanizing the phenomenon and reducing people and their experiences to just numbers.
Over the past five years, I have served as the Latino Missioner in our Diocese. My role focuses on building connections between the Diocese and the Latino community in the area. Additionally, I provide resources for those discerning a call to establish new Latino congregations and assist with church planting and development. Given the unique nature of this ministry, I have engaged with congregations and their leaders, nonprofit organizations, mayors and city council members, professors of colleges and Universities, the diplomatic representatives of various countries within our Diocese's territory, as well as the farm workers, our siblings in Christ working on the fields who put food on our tables.
Although all of us, Latinos, may seem similar at first glance, our differences truly set us apart. We may share the same skin color, yet we come from various backgrounds and countries. Some of us are Latino immigrants, while others have lived in the U.S., especially in California, for longer than many European Americans can trace their ancestry. Moreover, due to the process of mestizaje, some can even identify their ancestors as the indigenous peoples who originally inhabited this region.
Doing my ministry, I have heard the stories of families who migrated during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to work in the fields. Today, the descendants of those original immigrants are no longer laboring in agriculture; instead, they have become doctors, lawyers, teachers, and more.
We also have immigrants from other countries, different from Mexico, such as those from Central and South America, who came to the U.S. after the civil wars in their countries. Some of these immigrants work as farm laborers, while others are employed in the service industry. Additionally, many of them are professionals who are here striving to practice their professions, but they often face challenges in obtaining licenses to do what they were trained for in their home countries; therefore, they finish building houses, doing the yard, or starting their small business.
I want to clarify that not all farm workers or immigrants are Latino. During my visits to the fields, I have encountered individuals from various backgrounds, including people from the Caribbean, India, the Philippines, the Hmong community, and other Asian and Pacific Islander groups.
The reasons for migrating differ from person to person or family to family, but based on my experiences, I can say that all motivations arise from specific needs. People don't migrate for enjoyment; instead, they leave their familiar environments—where their family, language, culture, traditions, music, and faith are deeply rooted—to seek better opportunities or conditions. In some cases, they migrate to escape life-threatening situations caused by abusive family members, illegal groups, or fascist governments that they have confronted through their presence, activism, or simply their sexual orientation and identity.
It is thanks to immigrants that we experience the diversity on our streets and the variety of food available on our tables. I'm not just referring to the fresh produce and groceries harvested by farm workers, but also the delicious dishes offered at every restaurant and eatery we visit. As we walk around, we can find hamburgers and meatloaf sharing the table with tacos, tamales, naan bread, chicken tikka masala, pho soup, empanadas, arepas, pupusas, pizza (including varieties with pineapple or mango), sushi, and the teppanyaki experience.
Dear Friends of EDSJ, we must not be afraid of migration or of immigrants and their languages. There is a troubling rhetoric suggesting that immigrants are bad people, that they don't deserve to be here, and that they threaten the security and status quo of our country. However, we know a few important truths: First, none of us would be in the U.S., and particularly here in California, without the migration opportunities we or our ancestors had. Second, we know from our own experiences that immigrants are not bad people; they are our gardeners, teachers, doctors, nurses, hairstylists, barbers, and priests. We cannot allow others to convince us otherwise because we know immigrants personally. Certainly, there are individuals who make poor choices, but we cannot generalize that behavior to all Latinos or all immigrants. We have seen many people born in this country, who are not people of color but white people, also making bad choices and doing harmful things.
EDSJ, my invitation today is to embrace our diverse community and stand together against unfounded fears and stereotypes. Let's not be those kinds of people who like Mexican food, but hate Mexicans, who enjoy a beautiful backyard but don't want anything to do with immigrants who are their gardeners, who think immigrants are taking their jobs, but are not willing to do the job they are doing. In our contexts, where there is division, hate, and fear, God is calling us to be better, to do better, to be light in the middle of the darkness.
To close this space, I want to leave you with two Biblical verses for your reflection. Please invite others to join you in the same reflection.
"The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 19:34)
"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other." (Galatians 5: 13-15)
Padre Nelson is the Latino Missioner for EDSJ and is a member of SJRAISE
| 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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