Volume 5, Issue 5
January 31, 2020
THIS SUNDAY: February 2, 2020
The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

8:00AM
Chris Neumann (EM)
John Hanaoka (U)
Diane Sato (AG)

9:30AM
David Crocker (EM)
Chris Kostka, Micah Kostka (R)
Hannah Kostka, CeCe Caldwell (U)
Faith Shiramizu (AG)
Noah, Daileen (A)
Mabel Antonio, Nelson Secretario (HP)
UPCOMING EVENTS
Kapa`a High Baseball Team Car Wash
Saturday, February 1 st
8:00AM - 3:00PM
Sloggett Parking Lot

Choir Practice
Saturday, February 1 st
11:00AM
Choir Room

First Sunday with Kahu Kawika Jackson
Sunday, February 2 nd
8:00AM
9:30AM
Church

Welcome Celebration Potluck Aloha Hour
Sunday, February 2 nd
10:45AM - 12PM
Under the big tree

Super Bowl Potluck Party
Sunday, February 2 nd
12:00 - 5:00PM
Rectory

Laundry Love - Team B
Wednesday, February 5 th
5:00 - 8:30PM
Kapaa Laudromat
RECURRING EVENTS
Sunday School
Every Sunday, 9:30 - 10:15AM
Memorial Hall

Aloha Hour
Every Sunday, 10:45AM - 12:00PM
Under the big tree

Monday Crew
Every Monday, 8:00AM
Church Office

Laundry Love
1 st & 3 rd Wednesday, 5:00PM
Kapa`a Laundromat
McMaster Slack Key Guitar and Ukulele Concert
Every Wednesday, 6:00PM
Church

Daughters of the King
2 nd & 4 th Thursday, 7:00 - 8:00PM
Memorial Hall

Choir Practice
Choir is in recess and practice will resume February 6
Every Thursday, 6:00PM
Choir Room
A Hui Hou Fr. David and Susan
Until We Meet Again
On Tuesday, January 28th, Fr. David and Susan Englund took a flight to Honolulu - the first leg of their journey back home to California having spent the last 4 months supporting All Saints' and our `Ohana. Mary Margaret Smith, Ron Morinishi, Wayne Doliente, William Brown and I took them to lunch at Lava Lava, their favorite restaurant on the east side. Bill and I then accompanied them to the airport to say a hui hou and wish them safe flights and happy landings on behalf of their church `Ohana.


From Father David and Susan
to the All Saints' `Ohana
Aloha All Saints `Ohana,
We arrived home at 1:00am this morning, and after falling into bed, we have been up and cleaning and restoring power to our trailer. It is sunny and 63 degrees, but will drop down into the high 40's tonight. Definitely not Kauai weather. Re-entry has started. Already we are missing Kauai, and the ability to call you up and say, "Let's go eat." We are very excited that Kahu Kawika and Muriel are on island and will begin public ministry this weekend. Blessings on them and on you all. Exciting times are ahead for All Saints. Again, we must express our thanks for your gracious hospitality and friendship while we there as interim pastor and wife. Even here on the mainland we feel connected to you, and look forward to a return visit.
All our love to All Saints `Ohana,
Father David and Susan
Aloha Nui Loa
Welcome Kahu Kawika and Muriel
A little more than an hour after we said a hui hou to one wonderful couple we were blessed to greet another wonderful couple - Fr. David (aka Kahu Kawika) and his wife Muriel - who arrived on island about 2:15 pm. Mary Margaret Smith joined us once again in the airport and we greeted them in Hawaiian style with a lei and exchange of hugs and kisses. They will be staying at a hotel for a couple of nights before moving into the rectory - their new home! - on Thursday.

I invite everyone to join us at church this Sunday, February 2nd , to attend one of the services (8:00 or 9:30) and welcome Kahu Kawika and Muriel, into our `Ohana as the new permanent residents of the rectory! It's been a long, difficult journey but we finally have a new minister to take the lead as we head toward our centenary in 2024!  We are so blessed!

You are also invited to join us after the service for an All Saints' celebration pot luck Aloha Hour after the 9:30 service. Bring a dish and/or beverage to share if you are able. The dish/beverage are NOT required. Just come and enjoy good company with good food and drinks.
Souped-Bowl Sunday Social!
Join the Jacksons for Food and Fun
Please join the Jacksons at the Rectory from 12 noon this Sunday 2 February. Muriel will prepare two of her homemade soups and will have light refreshments on hand — please potluck anything else you would like to bring along. We’ll hang out and have fun, whether or not your team happens to be competing in the Super Bowl. E como mai!!

-Kahu Kawika and Muriel
DIOCESAN YOUTH RETREAT
"ONE BODY"

Register Now!!
Along with special guest Jesse Villegas, Canon for Youth and Young Adult Ministries from the Diocese of Arizona, Thomas Toole will be the worship leader for the Diocesan Youth Retreat, being held March 20-22, 2020, at Camp Mokule'ia. All middle school and high school youth are invited for a weekend of worship, discovery, fellowship and FUN! Cost is only $99, and scholarships are available. For more information and to register, click HERE .

TEACHINGS BY CLERGY

January 23, 2020
Our third Teachings by Clergy piece is by the Rev. Paul Lillie, Rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Honolulu.
REFLECTION ON THE NICENE CREED

"He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father."

Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated with the Feast of the Ascension. Maybe it is all those great hymns associated with the day such as “Crown him with many crowns” and “Hail the day that sees him rise, alleluia.” Everyone I know loves those two particular hymns. But I also believe my love of the Ascension was about something deeper for me, even as a child.

I was fortunate to grow up in a church with a large Sunday School program. Our church had an educational wing, and in that building there was a classroom for every grade level. On any given Sunday each classroom would be filled with 15 to 20 children attending Sunday School. Looking back, I now know that I owe much of my faith development to that graded Sunday School. That Sunday School was a gift that taught me love for Jesus Christ.

As a child I remember thinking how great the Ascension was, because it was proof that Jesus ultimately wins. Of course, there is Good Friday and Easter, and those were great days too, but the Ascension was the final chapter for me. It was proof that Jesus rose from the dead, and now he is King of the Universe. The whole world was now in good hands.  

Fast-forwarding to several decades later as a priest, my excitement for our Lord’s ascension has not waned, but I have also realized people’s indifference to the event. When I was serving as a priest at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Buffalo, New York, we celebrated the Ascension every year on the fortieth day after Easter, which is always a Thursday.  READ MORE
The Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple

February 2, 2020
The Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple is a feast of our Lord celebrated on Feb. 2, also known as Candlemas and the Feast of the Purification. It commemorates the presentation of Jesus and the purification of Mary in the Jerusalem Temple forty days after Jesus' birth, in accordance with the requirements of Jewish law (Lv 12:2-8). The feast is celebrated about forty days after Christmas. According to the account of Lk 2:22-39, the presentation of Jesus was also the occasion of the meeting of Jesus with Simeon and Anna. Simeon's prayer of blessing is the basis for the canticle Nunc dimittis (see BCP, p. 120). 

Celebration of the feast dates from the fourth century in Jerusalem. It was introduced in Rome in the seventh century, where it included a procession with candles and the singing of the Nunc dimittis. The celebration came to include the lighting and blessing of candles which were carried in procession. This feast was known as “Candlemas.”

Nunc Dimittis
Nunc Dimittis is a canticle based on the words of Simeon, who recognized the infant Jesus to be the Messiah at the Presentation of Jesus in the temple by Mary and Joseph (Lk 2:29-32). It had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Messiah. When Simeon saw the child Jesus he took him up in his arms, blessed God, and said, "Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised." Simeon was peaceful and ready to face death because he had seen the long-expected Messiah. The canticle is also known as the Song of Simeon. The term Nunc dimittis is from the initial words of the Song of Simeon in Latin, which mean "now let depart." The canticle is identified as the canticle for Evening Office by the Apostolic Constitutions of the late fourth century. In the seventh century, Pope Sergius (d. 701) introduced in Rome a procession with candles and the singing of the Nunc dimittis to celebrate the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple. The day came to be known as "Candlemas." The Nunc dimittis became the canticle for use at Compline in the west. It was also used as the canticle following the second lesson at Evensong in the 1549 BCP. It has appeared in this place in every subsequent Prayer Book except the 1789 BCP. The 1979 BCP uses the Nunc dimittis after the second lesson at Evening Prayer (p. 120) and near the conclusion of Compline (p. 135). At the Burial of the Dead, the Nunc dimittis may be used as an anthem as the body is borne from the church after the commendation. The Nunc dimittis also appears as Canticles 5 and 17 for optional use at Morning Prayer (pp. 51, 93). The Hymnal 1982 provides musical settings of the Nunc dimittis (S 196-S 200, S 254-S 260). The Hymnal 1982 Accompaniment Edition, Vol. 1 also provides musical settings of the Nunc dimittis (S 395, S 405).
The Song of Simeon
Luke 2:29-32

Lord, you now have set your servant free *
    to go in peace as you have promised; 
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
    whom you have prepared for all the world to see: 
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
    and the glory of your people Israel. 

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
    as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever.

Amen

WHY THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOU THINK

February 2, 2017
“Down with the rosemary,
and so Down with the bays and mistletoe
Down with the holly, ivy, all,
Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas Hall”

— Ceremony upon Candlemas Eve by Robert Herrick

There is one more sacred day that should not be lost in avalanche of the “winter holidays.” February 2 – the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord – deserves more attention than just being the absolute final day for the Christmas decorations. (Not that I am above playing the ‘Catholic card’ when questioned about our lingering tinsel) We celebrate the blessing of the candles for the year – Candlemas – on February 2, as well as the American secular news/meteorological event of Groundhog Day. Groundhog Day is what is foremost in many minds when February 2 is mentioned. (Though this winter has been especially harsh in the U.S., so one can hardly blame people for being focused on an eventual respite from the weather. Even if said respite is predicated on the actions of a large rodent named Punxsutawney Phil.) 

After celebrating the Nativity of our Lord, with its splendor in both the Church and the popular culture, it would be easy for one’s mind to drift and overlook the significance of the fortieth day after the Lord’s birth. But we should look beyond our hustling to banish the decorations to the attic, the obsession over the days remaining in this strenuous winter, and endless chatter about Super Bowl Sunday. Because the events set in motion with the Annunciation and Nativity continue with the significant presentation of our Lord in the Temple.

Joseph and Mary’s presentation of the baby was no pro forma event. The words of the prophet Malachi are fulfilled in the poor parents presenting their firstborn son along with their humble sacrifice of two turtledoves. ( Now I am sending my messenger— he will prepare the way before me; And the lord whom you seek will come suddenly to his temple; The messenger of the covenant whom you desire—see, he is coming! says the LORD of hosts.  Malachi 3:1) The mother of God – the Theotokos, in no need of ritual purification – and her husband did not set themselves above the Law.

In their conformation to the Law is God’s entrance into his Temple. Simeon and Anna, pious and elderly, having spent their lives in prayer and waiting in the Temple for the Messiah, have their ‘moment.” There is the glorious Nunc Dimittis of Simeon. (Having sung the Nunc Dimittis at the end of Lutheran Eucharistic liturgies as a child, the phrase “light to lighten the Gentiles” puzzled me. Were the Gentiles substantially heavier than the Jews? Newer Biblical translations often seem less poetic, but Simeon’s words retain the wondrous exaltation nonetheless.) 

With Candlemas we celebrate the coming of the Light of the World. But a shadow also passes; a shadow foretelling the suffering that will precede the victory of the Light over darkness. Simeon not only proclaimed that he had seen his salvation, but also told the Mother of our Lord that her share would include a sorrow pierced heart. In  Redemptoris Mater , Pope John Paul II wrote that Mary heard in Simeon’s words something akin to a second Annunciation, “for they tell her of the actual historical situation in which the Son is to accomplish his mission, namely, in misunderstanding and sorrow. While this announcement on the one hand confirms her faith in the accomplishment of the divine promises of salvation, on the other hand it also reveals to her that she will have to live her obedience of faith in suffering, at the side of the suffering Savior, and that her motherhood will be mysterious and sorrowful.”

This is where it starts to get ‘real’, i.e. moving past the holly, tinsel, and jolly carols. The tiny child snuggled in the crèche a few weeks ago is now revealed to be a sign of contradiction. His gentle obedient mother faces a future of sorrow. Simeon asked to depart in peace. What shall we ask of the Lord as we celebrate his Presentation?

ELLYN VON HUBEN
BLOGGER AT  OBHOUSE.BLOGSPOT.COM

THE EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE
Embracing Evangelism
Video Series and Resources
Coming in Spring 2020
[January 23, 2020] This week, participants at the Rooted in Jesus conference in Atlanta, Georgia, were introduced to  Embracing Evangelism , a new six-part evangelism video course provided by The Episcopal Church and Virginia Theological Seminary.
 
Each episode features teachings on Episcopal evangelism, class discussions and prompts, and exercises to help Episcopalians understand the ministry and call to evangelism.
 
The full Embracing Evangelism series consists of six videos, each of which includes participant and facilitator guides. The series works equally well as a daylong intensive course or a season’s worth of adult education offerings.
 
Embracing Evangelism will be available for download in its entirety in spring 2020. More information at: episcopalchurch.org/embracingevangelism .
 
Want to be notified when Embracing Evangelism and additional information is available? Sign up here: episcopalchurch.org/embracingevangelism .

On the web:

THE EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE
Church farm brings two Southwest Florida congregations together as ministry yields first fruits

By David Paulsen
Posted January 30, 2020
Volunteers in July 2019 help develop the grounds that would become Benison Farm at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. Photo: Benison Farm, via Facebook

[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Martha Goodwill doesn’t consider herself a master gardener, and though she serves as a deacon at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, her full-time job is as an accountant for the Diocese of Southwest Florida. But for the past year or so, she has been the driving force behind a lively farming partnership between her mostly white congregation and the historically black congregation of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church .

She credits her faith for the inspiration – and her grandmother.

“That general knowledge, I’ve always had from her,” Goodwill told Episcopal News Service, describing how her grandmother taught her at a young age about varieties of plants and how best to grow them. “It’s just always been a part of my life.”

The two congregations are now working together to harvest the first fruits – and vegetables – of their joint ministry on back acreage at St. Augustine’s, which was cleared and prepared for farming with support from a $63,600 grant from The Episcopal Church’s United Thank Offering. The congregations gave it the name Benison Farm , incorporating the Middle English word meaning “blessing.”

The first round of planting has produced collard greens, mustard greens, turnips, beets, tomatoes, kale, cauliflower and broccoli. Goodwill and other ministry leaders have begun distributing that fresh produce in the farm’s neighborhood, deemed a “food desert” because of a lack of grocers nearby. They envision a monthly farmer’s market on church property for the farm’s next phase.
Benison Farm is a partnership between the host congregation, St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, south of downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, and St. Thomas Episcopal Church, a larger congregation about 15 miles to the northeast. Photo: Benison Farm, via Facebook

Another measure of the ministry’s success can be counted in the many volunteers from both congregations who regularly come to St. Augustine’s and build fellowship while working together at the farm, especially on Saturdays, planting, weeding, trimming and harvesting.

“We did it, and we did it together,” said Hazel Hudson-Allen, who has been a St. Augustine’s parishioner since 1992. She regularly volunteers her time at Benison Farm and sees it as a form of discipleship, “just seeing how a few hands together can make something happen.”

Partnership was fundamental to creating Benison Farm because each congregation brought a different set of assets and challenges. St. Augustine’s is an aging congregation with an average Sunday attendance of about 50. Its members were interested in remaining active in the community but were limited in how much physical labor they could apply to clearing the congregation’s overgrown lot behind the church.

When Goodwill was ordained as a deacon two years ago, she was assigned to St. Thomas, which is northeast of downtown St. Petersburg. On a good Sunday, about 200 people will fill the pews at St. Thomas. She saw an opportunity in that unused acre and a half at St. Augustine’s about 15 minutes away on the city’s south side.

“St. Thomas doesn’t have any land, but they have people that want to volunteer,” said Goodwill, 56.

The two congregations already had developed relationships through various joint events, such as Bible studies and youth group meetings. Goodwill’s congregation loved the idea of creating a garden ministry, she said. She pitched the idea to lay leaders at St. Augustine’s, who also were receptive, especially given the dearth of stores selling fresh fruits and vegetables in the church’s neighborhood.

“The need for the fresh produce is there, so the goal of the farm is to give away 50 percent of what we grow and to sell the other 50 percent in that neighborhood so that the farm can be self-sustaining,” Goodwill said.

After receiving the UTO grant in August 2018, as well as money from the diocese’s annual Bishop’s Appeal, the churches began clearing invasive plants, trees and shrubs from the lot. They installed an irrigation system, 24 raised beds and 48 smaller planters known as earth boxes. Through summer 2019, volunteers from both churches filled the beds and boxes with organic soil and compost, and congregation members planted seeds and sprouted them at home so the seedlings could be planted at the farm.

Then in August 2019, St. Augustine’s hosted a planting day, when the foster gardeners from each congregation brought their seedlings to the nascent farmland to be tucked under the rich soil – like “handling a little baby,” Hudson-Allen said.

The church farm also has room for fruit trees, and so far the congregations have planted mango, avocado and guava. Banana trees have taken root on their own, possibly tracing their origin to the community gardens that occupied part of the property years ago. “That was pretty cool,” Goodwill said, “a surprise we didn’t expect.”
By January, some of the crops at Benison Farm were ready for harvest, though the farm is not yet at full capacity. For now, the food is being distributed for free through a local food pantry. Photo: Benison Farm, via Facebook

Benison Farm’s latest additions include squash, zucchini and sweet potatoes. Because of the warm Florida climate, the farm should yield food nearly year-round, except for a break during the hot summer months. A core group of about 10 volunteers is regularly tending to the crops, while more parishioners join them for once-a-month workdays.

Since Benison Farm isn’t yet at full capacity, the congregations are giving most of the initial harvest to a local food pantry, though they are starting to put plans in place to launch a farmer’s market soon on the church grounds and ramping up that effort throughout the year.

Goodwill also sees the ministry as a form of one-to-one evangelism, “sharing your story with other people that you’re digging in the dirt with and listening to their stories and understanding where Christ is in both of our lives.”

“It’s really life-giving. We’ve made good friendships,” she said.

Hudson-Allen, a retired teacher and management analyst, is among the core volunteers. The farm has been a catalyst for other members of her congregation to get involved, even those with less time or physical ability. “There is a role there pretty much for everyone,” she said.

She also is drawn to gardening’s spirituality, which she senses even when she’s alone working in the dirt. “The Holy Spirit has had many conversations with me in the garden on the farm.”

– David Paulsen is an editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at [email protected] .
THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
St George’s College in Jerusalem celebrates a centenary of service in the Holy Land

Posted January 24, 2020
The Very Revd Canon Richard Sewell, Dean of St George’s College, Jerusalem, in the foyer of the college’s campus in the precincts of St George’s Cathedral
Photo Credit: Alex Baker / ACNS

[ACNS, by Staff Writer] St George’s College, an Anglican “centre for pilgrimage, hospitality, study and reconciliation” in Jerusalem, has celebrated its 100th anniversary with a special service in the neighbouring St George’s Cathedral. The Bishop of London, Sarah Mullally, preached at the service, which was presided over by the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, Suheil Dawani.

In a post on its Facebook Page , the College said that “for the first decades of its life it was more of an idea than a reality although in the 1930s summer schools were run for Church of England clergy. College buildings were first constructed in 1962 and then year-round courses started to be run. Today we are a thriving centre for pilgrimage, study, hospitality and reconciliation.”
Speaking to ACNS, the Dean of St George’s College, Canon Richard Sewell, said: “we receive pilgrims from all over the world who come for a period of a week or two weeks to see the holy sites and to learn about the issues – contemporary and historical – in this incredible country.”

The college was founded in 1920 by the then-Bishop of Jerusalem, Rennie MacInnes, “who had a vision of training local people to be priests in the newly formed Diocese of Jerusalem; and so originally it was going to be a seminary”, Richard Sewell said. “But that never quite came to fruition . . . although plans were being put in place and the foundation of the name was 1920.”

Today, the college runs pilgrimages and short courses for Anglicans from across the Anglican Communion – a ministry which dates back, Richard Sewell said, to those 1930s summer schools. Local Ordinands receive their training at the Near East School of Theology in Beirut, Lebanon; and the Virginia Theological Seminary in the United States.
“Our most popular study pilgrimages are The Footsteps of Jesus – that would be a very traditional [way to] see the main holy sites here in Jerusalem [and] up in the Galilee. We also do one called the Palestine of Jesus, and that looks a little bit more widely at the archaeology. We also do specialist courses like Women in the Bible. We do a very important interfaith course once a year for Christians, Jews and Muslims to come and visit each other’s holy sites and then dialogue about that experience.”

Many of the course participants come from the Church of England and the US-based Episcopal Church. One of Richard Sewell’s priorities is to expand the take-up from Churches in Africa, Asia and South America in particular. “That’s one of the big challenges”, he said, “how to attract people coming from countries who have no tradition of coming to St George’s: that will make us a resource for the whole Anglican Communion.”

  • Follow the video link below to watch St George’s College brief documentary (in English)

FROM THE ANGLICAN ALLIANCE
Anglican churches in the Philippines respond to multiple disasters with characteristic resourcefulness, but capacity is now stretched by number and scale of emergencies

27 January 2020
Evacuees at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church helping out in re-packing goods for communities of Lemery, Batangas, impacted by the eruption of Taal volcano. Image: Episcopal Diocese of Central Philippines

“The bright spot in all these recent calamities is that there are very few costs in human lives. We attribute this to the growing awareness and preparedness of our people as well as our collective prayers. And so, as we go through all these, we need the prayerful support of our partners and our Communion. We are fully aware that several other disasters are happening in other parts of the world and so we are appealing that you include the Philippines in your continuing prayers for all these catastrophes.” So writes Attorney Floyd Lalwet, Provincial Secretary of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP).

In recent months, the Philippines have been battered by three major disasters: earthquakes, Typhoon Phanfone and, most recently, the eruption of Volcano Taal. Millions of people have been affected in different parts of the country: forced to flee, losing their homes and livelihoods, suffering trauma and needing urgent humanitarian assistance. Through all these disasters, the Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP) and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) have been present, working with other churches to meet immediate needs, providing shelter and relief goods.

But there is much more to their response than providing emergency assistance. As Floyd Lalwet – who is also the director of ECP’s development wing Episcopal CARE Foundation (E-CARE) – reflects above, lessons learned from previous disasters about preparedness have meant fewer lives have been lost than might otherwise have been the case. Past experience has also shaped the nature of the E-CARE’s response: looking to the long-term rehabilitation of communities right from the outset. And E-CARE’s innovative Receivers to Givers (R2G) programme – a sustainable funding mechanism developed and practised over many years – has meant that much needed financial help has been available to affected communities. However, even this model of best practice has been stretched to the limits in the face of multiple catastrophes coming in such quick succession.

What has been happening in the Philippines?

In mid-October, and again in mid-December, earthquakes hit Mindanao, affecting almost half a million people. Then, over Christmas, Typhoon Phanfone (known locally as Ursula) swept through Visayas, affecting over two million people. This was followed by the eruption of Taal volcano on 12th January sending up plumes of ash, steam and debris, and leaving a level 4 alert of hazardous explosive eruption, which is still in place and which has displaced more than 271,000 people. You can read more about these disasters later in this web story and a more intimate insight into the impacts of the volcanic eruption can be found in an accompanying news item here .

How has the Church responded?

  • Earthquake response
Preparing food parcels for emergency relief after earthquakes in Mindanao. Image: NCCP Operation Paglingap

Just after the earthquake, ECP’s Episcopal Diocese of Southern Philippines shared on Facebook that youth and church volunteers were working together to put together food packs from donations contributed by the ECP, IFI and United Methodist Church. These were used by the Cotabato Regional Ecumenical Committee in affected areas. The diocese contributed the rice to the 264 food packs they distributed. High school students also facilitated a campaign to collect rice and other goods from individuals. In total they gathered 750 kilos of rice plus clothing, canned goods and water containers.

Since November the ECP and IFI have also been working with the National Council of Churches of the Philippines (NCCP) to respond to the communities worst-hit by the earthquakes in Mindanao. ECP’s earthquake rehabilitation program will restore farming and other means of livelihood for people affected by the catastrophe, facilitate the relocation of people living in a community that the local government has declared unsafe for habitation and link community partners with local government agencies and other potential partners.

Hopes that the government would provide relocation sites have come to nothing, meaning ECP is now looking to buy plots for home construction. Money from ECP’s ‘Great Banquet’ fund will be used for purchasing the land. This creative and novel fund is described below.

  • A response based on experience

ECP’s response is based on their experience after Typhoon Haiyan (known locally at Yolanda) which taught them the importance of such longer-term rehabilitation. They found that while there is a need for immediate food and other relief after disasters many private individuals and NGOs step in to provide this, but very few focus on the long term rehabilitation of communities.

ECP also learnt that in the aftermath of disasters people are highly motivated to recover, with energy to be the architects of their own recovery rather than being the passive recipients of hand-outs. The approach ECP has long used in its development work is based on the assets (the resources, skills and experiences – God-given gifts) already present in a community, and this has proven to be an effective means of harnessing that energy. ECP also pioneered “Receivers to Givers” (R2G) – an approach whereby a community that receives money for a development initiative or disaster recovery passes on that amount to another community in due course, thus turning receivers into givers. ECP learnt that even after a disaster of the magnitude of Typhoon Haiyan, people embraced the R2G model as it gave them the possibility not only of recovering but also of improving on their previous circumstances.

  • Typhoon response

Atty Floyd Lalwet says: “While we were finalizing our resources for the earthquake rehabilitation program, Typhoon Ursula hit Central Visayas and damaged many of our partner fishing villages in Aklan. Since the repair and rehabilitation of fish pens, boats and other fishing equipment became urgent in the aftermath of the typhoon, in order to enable the communities to resume their livelihoods we had to divert a total of Php 1.5 million [about $30,000] (originally mobilized for the South Cotabato earthquake response project) to them.”

  • Volcano response

The 14km evacuation zone in Batangas around Taal volcano is within ECP’s Diocese of Central Philippines. Their churches and schools outside the zone are being used as evacuation centres. Local congregations have been giving relief contributions for communities in Batangas that are affected by the volcanic eruption. Evacuees are helping re-pack donations for the communities.

How has ECP funded their multiple responses?

As described above, E-CARE has a “receivers to givers” policy, meaning there is a rolling source of money for disaster response. Floyd also speaks of how others have contributed to the disaster responses saying, “In responding to the earthquake, typhoon and eruption, we have largely relied on the support of our dioceses, congregations, institutions and some overseas friends and individuals. We are now doing this for the eruption of volcano Taal and we are getting a lot of positive response”. A further source of funding has been the “Great Banquet” fund.

  • The Great Banquet Fund

The Banquet Fund began as the Lalwet family’s practical response to a gospel reading they heard shortly before a family member’s birthday. “One time, the Gospel reading was the parable of the Great Banquet”, Floyd recalls, “where Jesus Christ taught that when we host a banquet, we must not invite our friends and relatives as they will invite us back and we will be repaid. We should instead invite the poor, marginalized, blind, lame and those who could not pay us back”. The family decided to do what Jesus had taught. They still invited friends to the birthday celebration, “but the bigger part of the budget, Php 5,000 [about $100], was donated to E-CARE for its disaster response program. Thus was born what we now call the ‘Banquet Fund’, where people, hosting a banquet or any celebration, can give for the poor.”

  • Pulling the strands together

In 2018, E-CARE mobilized almost Php 2 million [about $40,000] from their dioceses, institutions, congregations and partners to respond to Typhoon Ompong. Those in affected communities, who received support, were able to return (grant-back) what they had received in funding assistance by end of 2019. Their grant-backs are now part of the Banquet Fund that has been allocated for the South Cotabato project to purchase housing lots for people from the now un-inhabitable villages and for farmland rehabilitation.

“This is a great model of disaster response,” says Janice Proud, Disaster Response and Resilience Manager at the Anglican Alliance. “This rolling fund for disaster response provides funds that enable affected communities to rebuild their lives, which they then grant back to support further communities affected by disasters. A similar Banquet Fund could be used by other provinces around the Anglican Communion to empower communities affected by disasters to rebuild their lives. It must be so encouraging after a disaster to know that the funding for your emergency comes from people who have rebuilt their lives after a similar disaster just a year or two before.”

  • The impact of multiple disasters

However, with these successive disasters hitting the Philippines, E-CARE has needed to reach out to international partners for extra support for the Banquet Fund. Atty Floyd Lalwet says, “we had to give Php 1.5 million to Central Visayas in December for the rehabilitation of fishing villages. This is under R2G and we expect these fishing villages to be able to grant back funds sometime towards the end of this year. In the meantime, we have a shortage of funds for the South Cotabato earthquake response.” Episcopal Relief & Development are providing some support, while the Anglican Board of Mission, Australia are supporting IFI’s earthquake response.

What can I do?

  • Pray for those affected by these disasters and those working with them at this difficult time
  • Donate to Anglican agencies supporting the response to these disasters

To see how to give to the Banquet Fund, maybe after a celebration, click here .

To support Episcopal Relief & Development’s disaster response fund, click here .

Prayer for the long haul…

Compassionate God, it’s easy to pray and act
when images of suffering smart our eyes
and words of injustice ring in our ears.

It’s tougher to be constant
when the cameras are gone,
moved on to the latest celebrity scandal.

God of all time and of this moment, help us
to be present in thought, word and action
to our sisters and brothers in need –
holding their concerns as our own.

Just as you remembered the suffering of Sarah and Abraham
and heard the cry of your people in slavery;
just as Jesus recognised our hunger
and dwells with us in spirit and in word;
so help us to embody your steadfast love,
as we remember your people in the Philippines

We pray in Jesus’ name,
who grieved with Martha and Mary,
and called Lazarus to fullness of life.

Amen

Pat Pierce/CAFOD

The Anglican Alliance exists to connect, equip and inspire the world wide family of Anglican churches and agencies to work for a world free of poverty and injustice and to safeguard creation. Disaster response and resilience is a central part of our work. Read more here.

HALE HO`OMALU FEBRUARY COLLECTION

Toiletries: Toothpaste, Toothbrush, Deodorant
Place your donations in the red wagon by the door to the sanctuary on Sundays. Hale Ho`omalu also needs and appreciates monetary donations as well as gift-in-kind items.

Please note, we do not accept food items that are not mentioned on the monthly list and we do not accept clothing, toys or similar items unless a specific plea for such items is published in the  Epistle . Your  Epistle  Staff will inform you of any special requests for donations.

FROM THE EPISCOPAL CAFÉ
An Altar in the Heart

By Leslie Scoopmire
Posted January 30, 2020
The psalm appointed for this Sunday, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple, is Psalm 84 , which contains some of my favorite images of safety and security in all of scripture:
How lovely is your dwelling place,
  Lord of heavenly forces!
My very being longs, even yearns,
  for the Lord’s courtyards. 
My heart and my body
  will rejoice out loud to the living God!
Yes, the sparrow too has found a home there;
  the swallow has found herself a nest
  where she can lay her young beside your altars, 
  Lord of heavenly forces, my king, my God!
Those who live in your house are truly happy;
  they praise you constantly.
A couple of Sundays ago, one of the children at our church toddled up behind the altar while we were beginning the Great Thanksgiving, and fearful I might not see her otherwise, I picked her up and held her in my arms as we sang the Sanctus . As she closed her eyes to the ancient hymn, I marveled at how safe and secure she felt in the chancel, how she had found her a home just as those wee birds in the psalm have done.
 
I love the beautiful image of innocent creatures, sparrows and swallows that could fit within the palm of one hand, finding their homes within God’s courtyard and alongside God’s altar. The utter transformation of the holy temple of God described here becomes even more vivid when we consider that in earlier biblical testimony, birds were more likely to be sacrificed near that altar than find their home there. But now we are reminded that the other meaning of sacrifice is the making of something to be holy, sublime, to lift our hearts and minds to the dream of union with the transcendent God.
 
And yet, as I have studied this psalm, I have learned through study that the word translated as “lovely,” yedidot , is never used to refer to inanimate objects but rather is elsewhere translated as referring to people as beloved. It’s used to describe someone so lovely as to inspire not just longing but the honey-sweet promise of hope and worship fulfilled under the loving gaze of our God and Creator, drawing from us a prayer of praise, gratitude, abundance, ease, and security. I remember that even as we long for our oneness with God, God too longs for us, and reminds us that we are both beloved, and safe.
Merciful God, we give thanks for your love,
for You have searched us out and known us,
and drawn us to your breast
with the warmth and safekeeping of your mighty wing.
It is here,
in the lea of your mercy and love,
that we invite you to dwell within us,
our longing and hope
Accept our prayers and praises, O Holy One,
for we are your children,
fledglings in wisdom and compassion:
we turn our faces to you in hope and assurance.
May we gather together in love
within the mighty branches of your truth and grace,
and make our home before your alabaster altar
like a sparrow building her nest in safety.
May we extol the beauty of your works, Lord,
greeting each moment with joyful melody,
swooping and trilling our praise
within your cathedral of creation.
Give us wings of faith, Blessed Savior,
to lift our thoughts and desires always to You, Almighty One,
that we may seek Your will with joy
through sunshine or storm,
knowing You are ever beside us as we pray.
Amen.
The Rev. Leslie Scoopmire is a retired teacher and a priest in the Diocese of Missouri. She is priest-in-charge of  St. Martin’s Episcopal Church  in Ellisville, MO. She posts daily prayers at her blog  Abiding In Hope , and collects spiritual writings and images at  Poems, Psalms, and Prayers .
SUNDAY SCHOOL THIS WEEK
Special Lesson: Recycle Project
Sunday School is conducting a special Recycle Project lesson for this week. They will turn old plastics and shells into decorative crosses for them to take home.
 
February 2 nd : they will have time to finish their crosses and teachers will reiterate the importance of taking care of the earth as stewards of God's creation.
 
If you have any questions or would like to volunteer for this special event, please contact Cami at [email protected] .
IN BRIEF . . .
These news briefs were featured in previous issues of "The Epistle"

Please submit your story ideas to the Epistle Staff at [email protected] .
ALL SAINTS' SERVICE BULLETINS AVAILABLE ONLINE
Go to allsaintskauai.org, the last time under "Worship Services" is "Download E-Programs". Click on that link to download the current service bulletin.

RIDES OFFERED TO BOTH SUNDAY SERVICES
If you need a ride to and from church call Chris Wataya at 808-652-0230.

ALL SAINTS' WISH LIST
If any ministry has an unmet need, reach out to put it on the All Saints' Wish List and it will be published in the Epistle . Contact Bill Caldwell at [email protected] .

LAUNDRY LOVE VOLUNTEERS AND DONATIONS
For more information go to Laundry Love Kaua`i or contact Geoff Shields at [email protected] or Bill Caldwell at [email protected] .

PASTORAL CARE CONTACT INFORMATION
Whenever you have a need for support, please call (650) 691-8104 and leave a voice mail. The system will immediately forward the information to the Pastoral Care Committee who will respond to each request. If you prefer, you may send an electronic pastoral care request via email to [email protected] .

PRAYER CHAIN MINISTRY
Individuals who want to participate in the Prayer Chain Ministry must re-enroll to continue receiving the email communications . To re-enroll, please visit the newly established   Pastoral Care web page  or contact the Church Office at (808) 822-4267.

SUBMITTING A PRAYER REQUEST
Prayer requests will now be   submitted online   or by contacting the Church Office at (808) 822-4267.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Names can be added to the Prayers of the People petitions by using the  Prayer Chain Request form  or by contacting the Church Office at (808) 822-4267. Names will remain in the Prayers of the People for a maximum of four Sundays before a name must be resubmitted.

HOME COMMUNION FOR SICK AND SHUT-INS
All Saints' Eucharistic Visitors are available each Sunday (pending availability) to bring Communion to those who are sick or shut-in. Requests for a Eucharistic visitation can be made by calling the Church Office at (808) 822-4267 or emailing [email protected] .