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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
Keep dreaming the dreams, and take someone with you…
This is one those classic diaconal ideas we learn early on in our process to become deacons. When dreams are shared they become community, they become movement, they become change.
Sometimes it takes time, and sometimes it’s intense, and of course, always full of the Holy Spirit – like the readings we’ve had in Acts – where all kinds of different folks get messages to go somewhere, meet someone, and even see visions – Peter is now, finally, moving into who he is meant to become, even though the sheets have to come down three times before he gets the message about food laws that need to change…
I have witnessed moments when we are gathered as church these past 11 years and ideas are born in conversation from someone’s dream and there is a willingness to jump in and go – we wind up with great ideas, great events – and lasting memories.
Sometimes we can carry a dream for a long time before someone else joins up! It’s always about God’s time…
I have been dreaming about planting community gardens throughout Tulare County for about 16 years. Finding those bare pieces of land in neighborhoods and giving them purpose was my dream. It really got started the day that Suzy Ward and I were sitting in the parking lot with a couple of the ladies from the synagogue, chatting after a work day in the hall. Suddenly all four of us, peering across the way to the 30’ of scruffy ground between the blacktop and the fence, seemed to say at once – that piece of ground is calling us…it became a garden…a big effort to plan and clear and plant. We gave new meaning to the word “squashed” when harvesting 70 to 80 lbs of squash three times a week for a couple months. We learned a lot about abundance! And the large senior citizen community down the street was never too squashed with our produce!
At the same time, as I served the local Resource Conservation District as administrator and financial director, I realized this Special District could offer the best way to carry out a program of placing and supporting community gardens anywhere and everywhere. An RCD always works in cooperation with the local federal agency, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the Soil Conservationists there gladly volunteered to help. O big dreams!
I started holding monthly meetings at NRCS about community gardens and how an RCD could help them get started – community members, the incredible ladies from the Master Gardeners, schools – and held these meetings for five years, assisting with a couple garden starts.
One evening in 2011, as Kelly Olds (shout-out to Lodi!) and I were having a budget meeting at his office, and talking community gardens, a subject we are both interested in, he took me outside and showed me the perfect acre of land, sitting behind the milk-plant on the northwest side of Visalia’s downtown area, and offered it to us to start a garden.
This acre serves as part of the plant’s “buffer” area with the residential neighborhood. The only building it ever had on it was a Buddhist temple, now long gone. It was perfect, and absolutely covered with goatheads – mats of goatheads – that punctured shoes, wheelbarrows, and everything else. With help from lots of volunteers the goatheads were rolled up and taken off-site, a farmer sent a truck-load spreader of manure, tree companies delivered pile after pile of woodchips to spread over the whole area, my Urban Tree Foundation work-mates put in a mainline irrigation pipe, and we first planted about 8 rows (25’ by 3’) of anything and everything to give away to this neighborhood, considered to be in the barrio.
Folks kept telling me to case the neighborhood, have meetings, get organized, but I decided to do the “build it and they will come…maybe” route. Planning out how this garden would work produced what I call my “Theology of Dirt” that lays out how everyone could benefit from what this piece of land could do…and oh yes, the name of the garden is Goathead Garden. Even with the stickers gone and buried, a reminder maybe we’re all a little goatheaded…
It was a year before anyone came to the gate. I pretty much planted and harvested and gave away produce. Had a couple open house hot dog events. Yes I could have had organizing meetings, but this neighborhood needed to see that this crazy old white lady wasn’t going away. Folks who live with their back against the wall see a lot of short-term attention to their life-long needs and they were testing the situation.
Then one day, Yea and Yer walked in the gate and asked about a plot. Oh yes, how about this long row on the side (they are still there). Within a couple months word got around and there were 30 families settled into their own rows. Yes, this is the barrio, but all these folks are Hmong people. Who knew! They live in apartments, and now they can garden, now they can walk back and forth, now they can use the seeds they brought with them to this country.
Since we can grow food all year, an acre of land like this produces about 25,000 lbs of food a year. We are now truly helping to feed the neighborhood.
The years go by and the dream of a County-wide program for creating community gardens fizzled. One big reason was the lack of funding – we were told over and over again from Grantors there cannot be a need for food assistance for the county that is the largest Ag-producing county in the nation. Our paradox of being that Ag County and yet a food desert at the same time is a tough one to explain. Another reason was my own personal life difficulties gave me less and less time to participate, and no one had yet to step up and join in.
With language and water use issues, our NRCS partner found a garden manager who is Hmong, and takes care of running it, given four rows of his own to grow. When issues arise, he and I play good-cop/bad-cop (me being the bad-cop) so the people abide by rules about not wasting water, which is free to them. Over the years we have enjoyed working together.
The abundance in this now 40-family effort is almost overwhelming, and additionally there is a quiet, peaceful vibe here that everyone seems to feel.
The Church has been at this garden since the beginning…and what is happening now is absolutely of the Spirit. About 18 months ago I got an email from friend Kevin (who grew up at St. Paul’s, Visalia, and is also a friend of Fr. Luke) (shout-out to Church of the Saviour!) asking if Goathead Garden was still going. He and his wife Johanna had left their denomination’s church for similar reasons as us, and had formed a House Church of other refugees. They were ready to participate in a community activity, hopefully a garden. Oh yes, please come.
They visited and were taken in by it – I gave them my four rows, abandoned and full of the most bad-ass Bermuda grass you have ever seen. Their group was coming out and working to clear the rows – what they called a practice for “loving your enemies…” and planted lots of different herbs, vegetables, and flowers.
They loved being there, loved getting to know the people and the neighborhood, and our conversations started leaning toward them actually taking over the garden. I keep saying “they” because this is a group of people! More than one person!
And what they come with is amazing. Experienced in Stephen Ministry. Studying Asset Based Community Development for the past two years. Affiliated with a university to work with ABCD and also do experimental planting with drought-tolerant food varieties. They are having neighborhood meetings, working on organizing and enlarging the garden.
And as they grow as a church, it’s quite possible there is space for them where we are. As I met with Johanna to give her all the paperwork for the garden, we spoke for a couple hours without even getting to the garden stuff!
As I look back, I am really grateful for the circumstances that brought us to worship in a synagogue for more than a few years. Grateful for our creativeness in that situation. Grateful for the relationships that came with church-in-a-box.
And now we move forward, creating community wherever we are, knowing it is the relationships we develop and maintain that make this all work. And a God who smiles on our efforts to take care of each other, wherever we are.
Deacon Teri Van Huss serves at St John's Tulare and is Chair of the Creation Care Commission
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Statement from SJRAISE & the Anti-Racism Commission in Support of Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe’s Position on the U.S. Resettlement of
South African Refugees
On Monday, May 12, Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe, speaking on behalf of The Episcopal Church (TEC), announced the Church's decision to withdraw from its formal refugee resettlement partnership with the federal government. This action follows TEC’s deep moral concern regarding the United States’ expedited resettlement of white South African Afrikaners, a policy that prioritizes their entry while disregarding countless other refugees—many of whom have languished for years in camps across second and third countries, awaiting resettlement with dignity and justice.
TEC's response is not a rejection of any one group, but a principled objection to the unjust and racialized preference embedded in this policy. It is a stand against a system that undermines the equitable treatment of all people fleeing violence, persecution, and instability.
In keeping with our Baptismal Covenant—where we vow to "seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves," and to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being"—the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin (EDSJ) fully affirms the Presiding Bishop’s statement. Through the tireless efforts of the Anti-Racism Commission (ARC), and the ministries of SJRAISE, our diocese remains actively engaged in welcoming and supporting refugees and immigrants who live among us.
We echo TEC’s call to reject policies rooted in racial bias and to uphold the sacredness of every human life, regardless of ethnicity, origin, or status. The Gospel of John (21:15–17) reminds us of Jesus’ charge to Peter: “Feed my sheep.” This commandment calls us to care for all people entrusted to our common humanity, not just those whom the world deems worthy.
The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin commends Presiding Bishop Rowe for his courageous leadership. His decision embodies what it means to live out our baptismal vows with integrity and moral clarity. We, too, commit ourselves to this sacred work, knowing that our faith compels us to welcome the stranger, shelter the vulnerable, and speak truth in the face of injustice.
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Congregational Management Reviews (Church Audits) are due
June 30th!
Questions? Contact Canon Anna (canonanna@diosanjoquin.org)
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May 24
DC/SC Joint Meeting, 10am ZOOM
May 25
Bishop Visitation @ Church of the Resurrection, Merced
YELLOW BAGS!!!
Cn Anna Visitation @ St James Cathedral, Fresno
May 26
Memorial Day
Diocesan Office CLOSED
May 30-31
Lay Ministry Retreat @ ECCO
Looking ahead to June...
June 1
Canon Visitation @ ECOS, Hanford
Sonora PRIDE
June 2
Anti-Racism Commission, 6:30pm, ZOOM
June 8
PENTECOST
Bishop Visitation @ St James Cathedral
Canon Visitation @ St John's Stockton
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Contact your representatives to tell them how important Medicaid is. Urge them to reject any cuts or changes to the program that would reduce the availability of healthcare for those most in need.
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/office-government-relations/action-alerts/
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/
Prayer for EMM and all refugees around the world
Transcendent God, we give you thanks for the refugee resettlement work of Episcopal Migration Ministries and its affiliates over 40 years, and for the nearly 110,000 refugees who have become beloved members of our communities as a result of this work. We pray for those refugees whom EMM has welcomed and supported, those who are still waiting to be resettled, and those whose path is now more uncertain than ever. Your son, Jesus Christ, taught us to show love and respect to all people, including immigrants and refugees. Your Spirit calls us into relationships that transcend borders. And all for your name's sake. Amen.
Prayer for Those in Immigration Detention
God of all consolation, our hearts break for the individuals currently held in immigration detention in the US and abroad. We grieve the deaths in ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) custody, and we mourn with those feeling fear and pain. Send your spirit of mercy and wisdom upon those in power, that they may safeguard the human rights and dignity of those detained. Strengthen those who work and advocate for the release of those unjustly detained and for reform of the immigration system, in the name of your son, Jesus, who sets the captives free. Amen.
Prayer for government free of corruption
O Lord our governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations. Press the conscience of everyone who holds political power, including the president, to avoid corruption and to stay true to their charge of effecting good government throughout the nation. Amen.
Prayer for Myanmar
God of justice, we pray for the residents of Myanmar who continue to suffer the dual burdens of civil war and a devastating earthquake. We grieve with those who have been injured or killed in the conflict, which this week included schoolchildren. In the name of Jesus, who lived under a repressive military government when he took on flesh, we ask for your presence and protection to be felt. Guide those who are working for peace and human rights in Myanmar. Amen.
Prayer for Peace Talks with Ukraine
God of peace, be with the government of Ukraine as it enters a new phase of peace talks. Jesus, we know that in your Father's kingdom no weapons are drawn, and power is measured by the power of your love. Be with those in authority as they seek to effect a lasting peace modeled on your justice. Amen.
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For all of my elementary school years, I lived on a navy base in Southern California,
After school and on the weekends, my favorite place to be was the base library. When I was little, the picture books were the biggest draw, and one book that I would pore over was What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry. I was fascinated by the animal citizens of Busytown and the illustrations of them at home and at work; there were so many jobs and so many tasks. Everyone had something to do and a purpose, just like everyone on the military base I lived on, from the guards at the gates to the people who worked in the stores and restaurants, and of course, all the sailors, like my dad, stationed at the base.
Something I often wondered as a child was how did everyone get these jobs, and, moreover, how did they even decide what their jobs should be? As I grew older, these were the questions that I contemplated as I tried to figure out what I wanted to do with my own life. Even when I began my own career in teaching, there were many years of feeling plagued by doubt and uncertainty. How do I know if I am supposed to do this? Am I doing this right? Someone, please tell me what to do! Looking back now, nearly twenty years into my career as a teacher-- a job that delights, challenges, and inspires me each day--I do see that I was, consciously or not, calling for God’s presence in what I now recognize as the early days of my vocational discernment. There were times that I felt God with me, and there were lonely times when I did not. Of course, God was always with me, but it took some time to truly learn that when I called out, He was always answering me. It was I who was not always listening.
Of course, my experiences are not unique, and one of the gifts of being a part of the Commission on Ministry is to learn the stories of both my fellow COM members and those who are in the process of discerning their calls from God. Like the citizens of Richard Scarry’s Busytown, we all have a role (even many roles), a calling, and a place in the world that is inextricably tied to everyone else’s. It is inspiring and humbling to learn the stories of those who are discerning ordained and lay ministry, and it is a privilege to hear those stories and witness the continued development of their next chapters. The journey is long and often winding, but is never meant to be (and never truly is) a solitary one.
Please continue to pray for those who are in the discernment process, and please pray for the Commission on Ministry.
Ms. Melissa Crider is a member of Commission on Ministry and worships at Episcopal Church of the Saviour, Hanford
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My early years were spent in a privileged bubble within the deserts of west Texas and afforded by the oil and gas industry. In our small world, the wives stayed home raising their children, we socialized at the country club, traveled by private plane to our second homes, and cultivated our talents and interests through private lessons. It was charmed, privileged, predominantly white, and isolated. It took a few years of economic recession and catastrophic illness for my father and grandfather to enable our privileged reality to collapse and our family business to fail. We lost everything but our lives. Or so, we thought.
The bankruptcy was one of the most traumatic, greatest and formative experiences of my life and it transformed my life trajectory for the better. We were stripped of the materialistic façade of success and forced to reconcile with our identities of who we were and whose we were as beloved children of God, regardless of status and assets.
Although my family was fairly progressive in our beliefs towards equality and race, our conservative community was steeped in patriarchal white supremacy that informed our privileged identities and biases. I do not think that I would have been able to identify and dismantle the patriarchal white supremacy within my life as I have if it weren’t for the forced grappling. Upon reflection, I am able to acknowledge that even the bankruptcy was one of privilege due to my parents social and familial relationships. However, it was still a difficult reckoning of the realities of life; such as navigating serious health issues without health insurance, transportation for an active family of five, and the social ostracism of no longer being deemed members of “the club.” Rumors developed about my parents and their marriage when my mother earned her teaching certificate and went back to work to provide for our family. My sisters and I were teased because we could no longer afford the private lessons, exclusive sports, and trendy new clothing. I learned that money and status were facades of security and people were quick to flee when they experienced discomfort or had nothing to gain.
There were two environments that served us with God’s abundant grace that enabled me to endure this season of drought. Our church and a new school. It was through this transformative time that I fell in love with Christ and the more so, the Body of Christ through our church community, as these were the few individuals who continued to support my family as we healed and recovered. My mom was able to enroll us in a public performing arts magnet school that offered the music, dance, and gymnastics training that we could no longer afford, privately. Our former school was majority white and the new school was literally “on the other side of the tracks” with multiple cultures reflected in the students and faculty. Our financial situation was more of the norm rather than exception amongst my new classmates and I found security in my new friends as we celebrated the victories of our families such as employment, stable housing, and sobriety. It was also through this experience that I began learning how the structures of our society affected our qualities of life and opportunities experienced. I was reminded time and again, that despite all that we had lost, I was still privileged with my whiteness and family foundation. I witnessed the inequity and discrimination experienced by my friends of different races and social classes, especially in regards to the law, freedoms, and opportunity. To the best of my ability, I strived to be a good ally to my black, brown, and Asian friends; but I was still clueless of their experience and the reality of our racist culture in many ways. I recall identifying with the phrase “I don’t see color” and placated myself with that as proof that I wasn’t racist. However, I still wasn’t fully aware of the many facets of white supremacy and privilege within my life, especially the micro aggressions that permeated our culture and white washed history and how that informed my behavior. The journey continued as my world expanded.
In 2013, my now husband, Jason, and I joined the Episcopal Church and were especially drawn to how the church embodied Jesus’ commandments towards how we are called to our faith in Jesus Christ through this journey of life. In our Baptismal Vows, we are called to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves. With God’s help, we are called to strive for justice and peace among all people, with respect to the dignity of every human being. Jason and I understood that expanding our context and relationships were essential to growing as individuals and Christians. We began working with those who experienced food and housing insecurity, human trafficking, and with the youth. We began to discern what changes needed to happen within our lives and faiths to truly reflect our baptismal vows in honoring the holiness within ourselves and others and knew that we needed to address how white supremacy, patriarchy, and ableism informed our identities, biases, and behaviors. This commitment towards dismantling the oppression and sin within our lives has continued and we have been transformed for the better as our experience of God has expanded. The culmination of our small and daily efforts continue in helping us grow into our journey towards wholeness with God.
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A prayer for the season of Easter
Almighty God, you have given hope through the resurrection of your son our Savior Jesus Christ. Send us now out into all the world giving hope to those seeking a safe place to call home. May those fleeing their homes be kept safe from danger. Guide them to those who are willing to give them assistance and a safe place to rest. May we be the ones called to show the love and the hope Jesus lovingly showed us as they seek a new life. In Jesus’ loving name we pray. Amen
| KNOW YOUR RIGHTS RED CARDS! | |
The Fiesta of Resistance
Image of Christ rising from the grave. The Latin text reads: the dead Leader of life reigns
alive.
When we think of the bread and cup that we share on Sundays and of Scripture, we most likely think of the Last Supper. Of the upper room, the betrayal, and the offer of
forgiveness. Somber things mostly, and these are always remembered when we break the bread and share the cup. But there’s more here, there’s also the remembrance of all the meals that the Lord Jesus shared with his disciples after the resurrection. We should also remember grilled fish and bread on the shores of the sea. Or the meal that opened the eyes of the disciples on the way to Emmaus when they recognized Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
A few weeks ago, we celebrated the Holy Triduum, those sacred days when we remember
Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. Jesus conquers sin and death, liberating us from
their sway. The leader of life that was dead now reigns alive! Alleluia! Every time we
gather at the Holy Table, we gather with our Lord and brother to be fed by him. He is the
host, though other hands break the bread. The Feast, the fiesta has begun!
Fiesta is an important part of Latino/Hispanic cultures, and of our way of being Christian.
It transcends the holy/profane distinction; it suffuses all of life. It is celebration and it is
liberation.
It is celebration and liberation because it celebrates life. It recognizes that life is a struggle,
but there is joy in life, in being alive. Virgilio Elizondo, Mexican American Roman Catholic
priest and the father of US Latino theology, puts it this way:
The Latino does not party because things are going well, or because there are
no problems or difficulties; he celebrates because he is alive. He celebrates
because of his sense of the tragic, accepting the many different forces of life,
and yet realizing there is the ultimate happiness which has already begun. He
does not allow himself to be swallowed up by the many tensions and
problems, the moments of sickness and death that are part of life, but he rises
above them and celebrates life.1
We have kept Lent and Holy Week with penitence and devotion. Can we keep the Easter
Fiesta with equal gusto? We have only to open our social media feeds or our news Apps
to see that the forces of wickedness that Christ defeated on the cross are still fighting. All
that degrades and denigrates the image of God in any of God’s children we see in the
sociopolitical forces of our times. But they do not know what we know, that “ultimate
happiness has already begun” and “the leader of life who was dead now reigns alive.”
We celebrate in the face of the forces of wickedness and death, recalling what has been
accomplished. And we receive the strength to invite everyone to the fiesta of liberation!
¡Aleluya! Cristo, nuestra Pascua, se sacrificó por nosotros; Celebremos la fiesta. ¡Aleluya!
Alleluia. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia.
1 Elizondo, Christianity and Culture, p. 172
Padre Toni Alvarez is a member of SJRAISE and the Anti-Racism Commission and serves as Priest-in-Charge at St Francis, Turlock.
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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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