September 27, 2022 E-News

September 27, 2022 - UPDATED

In this UPDATED edition of ENews:

Town Hall is next week
Governance and General Convention Nominees
St. Alban's | Arcata Celebrates Maxing the Vax!
Resources for Congregations
Project (Re)Start is making an impact in our diocese

Our apologies - we were so excited to publish this week's ENews that we ommitted an article! Thanks for your understanding!

2022 Diocesan Convention

Thursday, October 6 | 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

The Resolution Town Hall provides clergy and delegates with a fuller understanding of each resolution, and allows for a more efficient use of time at the convention.

The Town Hall is open to the entire diocese, not just clergy and lay delegates.

A recording of the Resolution Town Hall will be posted on the Diocese Convention Webpage

There will be no action taken on the resolutions in the Town Hall meeting.

Zoom link to Town Hall:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/416607960pwd=emhpbTdqVmR3MkJTd1haOURnRU4wZz09

Meeting ID: 416 607 960

Passcode: 95825

Governance and General Convention Nominees

STANDING COMMITTEE

Clergy Nominees:

Delia Fay+
Sally Hubbell+
Pamela Moore+
Matthew Woodward+

Lay Nominees:

Max Gorostiza Perez Hess
Mark McMillen

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Lay Nominee:

Margie Harrison Smith

GENERAL CONVENTION

Clergy Deputy Nominees:

Grant Bakewell+
Mary C. Claugus+
Robin Denney+
Pamela Dolan+
Anny Genato+
Daniel DeForest London+
Annie Mertz+
Jim Richardson+
Matt Warren+
Matthew Woodward+

Lay Deputy Nominees:

Miriam Casey
Jay Elmquist
Peter Juve
Susan B. Myer
Brad Pierce
DonnaJo Woollen

Around the Diocese

St. Alban's Arcata Celebrates Maxing the Vax!

Last year, the Congregation of St. Alban's in Arcata won the Max The Vax Campaign, which invited congregations to achieve 100% vaccination for COVID-19. They were one of ten congregations that met that goal, and were entered into a drawing for a BBQ. Bishop Megan visited St. Alban's last weekend for an official visit, and was a guest at their New Beginnings BBQ.

Congratulations to St. Alban's, and thanks for your hospitality!

Missioner for Church Life

Ever wished your church had more guests on Christmas Eve, and that more of those guests connected with the church long term? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all magic solution, but there are easy and affordable (usually free) steps you can take in this regard. Join an evangelism mentoring cohort focused on helping you create an evangelistic approach to your Advent and Christmas season, hosted by Episcopal Evangelism Catalyst Ken Kroohs. For the last year, Ken has helped mentor several churches, who have cooperated for training and the sharing of ideas around times like the Blessing of the Animals and Holy Week. The 2022 series focused on Christmas will start soon. For information or to join, click here. Contact Ken for more information at kenkroohs700@gmail.com.

Stewardship Resources

for Congregations

The Episcopal Parish Network (EPN) is a collaborative membership association of approximately 200 clergy and lay leaders in the Episcopal Church. They have an extensive webinar library covering a wide range of topics, including stewardship, which are available for anyone to use.

Centered: A Christian Discipleship Experience

The Episcopal Church Office of Evangelism announces a new small-group resource for churches and individuals seeking to go deeper in relationship with Jesus and in loving and serving others.

Centered: A Christian Discipleship Experience is a digital, nine-session resource—available in English and coming soon in French and Spanish—for church members, neighbors, and friends to explore in small, gathered communities. Learn more.

Five Wishes is an easy-to-use legal advance directive document written in everyday language. It helps all adults, regardless of age or health, to consider and document how they want to be cared for at the end of life. It is America's most popular living will with more than 40 million copies in circulation.

If you would like to receive free copies for your congregation, please contact the Missioner for Church Life at 916.442.6918 ext. 224 or Mack@norcalepiscopal.org

Missioner for Disaster Resilience

Project (Re)Start is making a big difference in our diocese

On Monday, September 26, Episcopal Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) members (in blue shirts) joined with members of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (in green shirts) to offer assistance to survivors of the Mosquito Fire. The blaze has burned 76,755 acres in Placer and El Dorado Counties, making it the largest fire in California so far this year. 35 (Re)Start bins from St.John's | Marysville, Trinity | Sutter Creek, St. John's | Chico, Faith | Cameron Park, St. James | Lincoln, and St. Clements | Rancho Cordova were distributed to fire victims.

This fire season has displaced many families across the diocese from El Dorado to Siskiyou Counties. Over the past year, Project (Re)Start has become an obvious and welcome sign of relief for those who have been left with little to nothing following disaster. The state of California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services has started asking for Project (Re)Start to be a part of Local Assistance Centers, because the Episcopal Church is becoming recognized for its compassion in action by providing material support to our neighbors in need.

So far in 2022, Project (Re)Start has:

Provided relief to survivors of five different fires
Deployed over 100 individual bins
Brought individual congregations together to work in partnership with each other
Introduced our congregations to community service organizations
Put smiles on the faces of survivors who were close to feeling defeated!

Together, we can all do a little to accomplish a lot. Please join us and explore the many ways your congregation can be a part of Project (Re)Start and lend a hand to disaster survivors as they begin their recovery. Contact Lis Padula for more information at eapadula@gmail.com.

Peace,

Mark G. Dibelka | Missioner for Disaster Resilience

Christ the King, Quincy joins the (Re)Start team

Members of Christ the King, Quincy recently held a work party to assemble ten (Re)Start Kitchen bins – proving that many hands make light work! These will be staged for distribution to victims of the next disaster in our diocese. Thanks for your contribution to the effort!

Spiritual Formation

October 2, 2022

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 17:5-10.

The parable of the master and the slaves presents a challenge to modern western interpreters. We recoil at the whole scene, since our culture has experienced the abolition of the slave trade and the emancipation of those in slavery. (although the keen observer will recognize that we still have a long way to go!). In order to understand and make sense of this parable, we need to acknowledge the distance between our own world and the world of the biblical culture. Jesus is commenting on an observable phenomenon of his time: the servants wait on their master and for this they are owed nothing. He does not offer here any value judgment on the dynamic of master/servant, but simply states the realities as he sees them.

In order to understand what Jesus is getting at in this short parable, we need to turn to another passage in Luke where Jesus comments on the master/servant dynamic, and he relates it to his mission. This is Luke 12:35-38, the parable of the waiting servants. The same images appear there as in our present parable. But what Jesus says in Luke 12 is stunning and radical. The master arrives, and instead of being served, he serves the servants (12:37). One is reminded of the clear statement of Jesus’ mission in Mark 10:45, “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This powerful statement of the Gospel was heard by 4 billion people recently when Archbishop Justin Welby alluded to it in his moving homily at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. It expresses the radical reversal which Jesus’ coming, life, death and resurrection have brought. The greatest among us is the one who serves. This radical picture colors everything that follows in Luke’s gospel, including the passage under consideration. This reminds me of the saying of another Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple: “The first duty of the Christian is not to serve God, but to be served by God.”

To know ourselves to be those served by God in the redemption wrought by Christ in his death and resurrection is to be liberated to a new life which can be characterized, like that of the late queen, “service in life, hope in death.”

– The Rev. Peter Rodgers

Trinity Cathedral

SAVE THE DATES!

Friday, October 28 – Sunday, October 30

Dr. Catherine Meeks, Executive Director of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing in Atlanta, Georgia is coming to Sacramento.

Friday October 28

7:00 pm

Speaking in the Cathedral with a

reception to follow.

A recommended donation of $20

Saturday October 29

Leading a morning training and educational session in the Cathedral’s Assembly Area

Sunday October 30

Preaching at the Cathedral’s 11am service.

Click here centerforracialhealing.org to find out more about

Dr. Meeks and the Center.

If you have any questions please contact Susan Hotchkiss susan_hotchkiss1@hotmail.com

Upcoming

Events

Around

The Diocese

TRINITY CATHEDRAL:

Explore the ancient wisdom of the Enneagram

Thursdays, September 22 – November 10 | 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

In person at the Cathedral | On Zoom

Facilitator: Jay Elmquist

To Register, Contact Susan Hotchkiss susan_hotchkiss1@hotmail.com

Sacred Ground

Thursdays, September 15 – November 17 | 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

In person at the Cathedral | On Zoom

Facilitators: Rev. Kathy Hopner and Susan Hotchkiss

To Register, Contact Susan Hotchkiss susan_hotchkiss1@hotmail.com

Diocesan Day of Discernment | Zoom Meeting

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.

Questions? E-mail Jacqi Seppi at jacqi@norcalepiscopal.org

To register: https://form.jotform.com/220656380441149

Cursillo 117 | In person

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