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"Over the Rainbow" from the 1939 musical film The Wizard of Oz is performed in this virtual choir video by the King's Singers of England, with the Canterbury Choir and Coventry Choir of All Saints Church, Pasadena, directed by Weicheng Zhao, All Saints' director of music and organist-choirmaster.

[The Episcopal News] The Diocese of Los Angeles will be well-represented on influential committees at the 80th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, meeting next summer (July 5 – 14, 2022) in Baltimore, Maryland.

Seven of Los Angeles’ eight deputies, who were elected at the 2019 meeting of Diocesan Convention, have been assigned to the committees that will receive, refine, and present resolutions submitted by bishops, dioceses and deputies; a unusually high level of representation for a single diocese. The eighth L.A. deputy is on the worship committee for the 2022 convention.

House of Deputies President Gay C. Jennings, who is responsible for assigning deputies to committees, announced the new rosters on July 6. A list of committees and brief descriptions of their responsibilities is here.

In addition, three EDLA representatives will serve on the nominating committee for the election of the next presiding bishop, who will be chosen at the 2024 meeting.

Read more here.

Mission churches, increased giving to MSF, reconciliation report are among topics at July Diocesan Council meeting.

[The Episcopal News - July 21, 2021] Mission congregations in the Diocese of Los Angeles must submit their requests for 2022 funding through the mission development grant process by July 31, the Rev. Canon Kelli Grace Kurtz, chair of the Program Group on Mission Congregations, announced at the July 15 meeting of Diocesan Council.

Read more here.

[The Episcopal News - July 21, 2021] The Rev. Kay Sylvester presented the July 15 meeting of Diocesan Council with 10 Standing Committee recommendations in response to the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center’s final report after a 15-month diocese-wide mediation process sought to heal divisions that erupted over a 2015 proposed sale of St. James’ Church in Newport Beach. It was, she said, “an essentially good-news report,” since independent action has already been taken on many of the proposals.

Read more here.

The Episcopal News Update is being published according to its biweekly summer schedule.

The Update will be published for the following dates:

August 15 (publication August 11)

August 29 (publication August 25)

The regular weekly schedule will resume after Aug. 29.

Items for the Update may be emailed to news@ladiocese.org. Deadline for each issue is Tuesday at noon.

Presenter: Davey Gerhard, Executive Director of TENS (The Episcopal Network for Stewardship

Register here

Presenter: Ms. Terry Knowles of the Program Group on Stewardship

Register here

All workshops in this series have been livestreamed and recorded. Learn the latest best practices for church vitality, finance, digital media, and more. Choose from the full series of 13 webinars here.

[The Episcopal News] The churchwide Union of Black Episcopalians, meeting virtually on July 18 for its annual awards presentation, honored Bishop Diane M. Jardine Bruce with its Exemplary Ally Award, and Canon Suzanne Edwards-Acton with the Bishop Quintin Ebenezer Primo, Jr. Honors Award.

Bruce was elected the first woman bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Los Angeles in December 2009 and ordained in that ministry on May 15, 2010. “She has been a vocal proponent, advocate and support for justice, anti-racism and inclusion. Her work in the area of New Community ministry (formally referred to as multicultural ministry) has stretched across the spectrum of our BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] communities.” Bruce is a lifetime platinum member of UBE, and also actively supports Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Latino and Indigenous ministry throughout the Episcopal Church.

Edwards-Acton, a member of St. Stephen’s Church, Hollywood, received the Bishop Primo award, conferred “for Extraordinary Faithfulness in Pastoral and Prophetic Leadership in Ministry.” She is founder of My Work To Do, “a virtual space for white folk to build stamina for conversations on race” that has been attended by women and men from throughout the Episcopal Church.

Read more here.

The Rev. John Paul Fuller died July 15 in hospice care at his home in Oxnard, where he served from 1971 to 1991 as rector of All Saints Church. He was 91, and had been in failing health for several years.

A service will be held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, July 31 at All Saints Church, 144 S. C Street, Oxnard. The Rev. Melissa Campbell-Langdell, rector, and the Rev. Larry Brown, rector of Trinity Church, Fillmore, will jointly preside.

Survivors include Fuller's wife of 27 years, Jarrel; his two daughters, Marianne and Marissa, and son Michael from his first marriage; stepdaughter Jennifer Estes; grandchildren Trevor and Daniele Sala and Bryce and Courtney Trevett; and step-grandson Brendan. Fuller's first wife, Marcia Jeanne Shance, died in 1993. He also was predeceased by their son Jonathan.

During his 20-year tenure at All Saints Church (1971 - 1991), Fuller worked to establish a parish endowment fund and to build the parish hall and classrooms. He was deeply involved in civil rights and justice ministries, including housing justice. He became friends with farm labor leader Cesar Chavez, and according to his wife was instrumental in bringing Chavez and area farmers to a meeting at All Saints to begin the process of negotiation for better conditions for farmworkers. Fuller also helped bring a Planned Parenthood clinic to Oxnard.

Read more here.

St. Michael’s Ministry Center, Riverside, invites all to a ground blessing for its new housing development on Wednesday, August 11, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. The development, to be built on St. Michael's property, will consist of 50 one- and two-bedroom apartment homes set aside for low-income households, including 24 permanent supportive housing units for those who are unhoused and suffering from mental illness. St. Michael's and the Diocese of Los Angeles are teaming with Community Development Partners and Mercy House for this project.

St. Michael's is located at 4070 Jackson Street in Riverside. For information or reservations to the ground blessing (requested by Aug. 4), email events@communitydevpartners.com.

A series of online programs on Alzheimer's and dementia and their effect on patients and families is in progress at St. Stephen's Church, Santa Clarita, presented through the California Southland chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Register here or call Sivana Lavine at 818.446.1573

Alzheimer's is not normal aging. It’s a disease of the brain that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. Join us to learn about: the impact of Alzheimer’s; the difference between Alzheimer’s and dementia; disease stages and risk factors; current research and treatments available to address some symptoms; and Alzheimer’s Association resources. A flyer is here.

Register here or call Sivana Lavine at 818.446.1573

When someone shows signs of dementia, it’s time to talk. Conversations with family about changing behaviors can be challenging and uncomfortable. This program offers tips on how to have honest and caring conversations to address some of the most common issues. Topics to be covered in the program include: going to the doctor; deciding when to stop driving; making legal and financial plans. A flyer is here.

Sessions are free, and all are invited.

Donors may save up to 15 minutes by completing pre-donation reading and answering health history questions here, rather than filling out forms on the day of donation.

Reservations through the Red Cross are required. All donors and staff will be screened before entering the facilities.

All Saints Episcopal Church

132 N. Euclid Avenue, Pasadena 91101.

Reservations here or call 1.800.RED.CROSS (1.800.733.2767)

Sponsor code: ASEC

Information: nnaecker@allsaints-pas.org

Upcoming date at this location is Aug. 17.

Christ Episcopal Church

1127 N. San Antonio Avenue, Ontario 91762

Informatiocn: 909.983.1859

Reservations here or call 1.800.RED.CROSS (1.800.733.2767)

Sponsor code: CCPOntario

Additional dates at this location: Thursday, Sept. 16; Thursday, Oct. 7; Thursday, Nov. 11; Saturday, Dec. 11.

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church

12692 Fifth Street, Yucaipa 92399

Reservations here or call 1.800.RED.CROSS (1.800.733.2767)

Sponsor code: ST ALBANS

Upcoming dates at this location are Mondays; Sept. 27, Oct. 18, Nov. 22 and Dec. 27.

Will your church host blood drives in coming months? Send the information to news@ladiocese.org for inclusion in the calendar. Please include the date, times, location and sponsor code.

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

[Noozhawk] All Saints-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Montecito in June finished a two-year construction project renovating the 121-year-old church, ensuring that the building can withstand another 100 years and making it accessible to all parishioners.

“There are so many significant elements of this project, but my favorite is a value that a lot of the elements pointed toward — and that is full accessibility,” the Rev. Aimée Eyer-Delevett told Noozhawk. “Now this is a space where all are truly welcome, not only in what we say but how we practice.”

The All Saints-by-the-Sea sanctuary, at 83 Eucalyptus Lane, was built in 1900, and over the years the foundation had settled away so that “a pretty significant portion of the building” was no longer resting on the foundation, Eyer-Delevett said, adding that the bell tower was cracking and seismically unstable before the renovations.

“We thought, ‘Oh boy, this building was really standing up by prayer,’” she said.

Read more here.

By Elizabeth Dias

[The New York Times - July 25, 2021] Months before the megachurch Hillsong opened its new outpost in Atlanta, its pastor sought advice on how to build a church in a pandemic.

From Facebook.

The social media giant had a proposition, Sam Collier, the pastor, recalled in an interview: to use the church as a case study to explore how churches can “go further farther on Facebook.”

For months Facebook developers met weekly with Hillsong and explored what the church would look like on Facebook and what apps they might create for financial giving, video capability or livestreaming. When it came time for Hillsong’s grand opening in June, the church issued a news release saying it was “partnering with Facebook” and began streaming its services exclusively on the platform.

Beyond that, Mr. Collier could not share many specifics — he had signed a nondisclosure agreement.

“They are teaching us, we are teaching them,” he said. “Together we are discovering what the future of the church could be on Facebook.”

Read more here.

By Egan Millard

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Church is at a crossroads, church leaders said this week during the annual Union of Black Episcopalians conference and revival; if it is to flourish and maintain integrity, it must embrace a revolution in values both within and beyond its walls.

“Reform has its time and place, but reform is not enough,” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said in his sermon during the opening worship service. “Mere tinkering at the edges – that’s not enough. We need a revolution.”

The virtual event, which runs July 27-30, includes worship services, memorials to the victims of COVID-19, panel discussions and musical performances. It also includes a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the original “Lift Every Voice and Sing” hymnal that collected African American spirituals including the title song, which The Episcopal Church Executive Council has endorsed designating as a national hymn, supporting a proposed bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Lift Every Voice and Sing” is also the theme of the event, with a verse from the song setting the tone for each of the three full days, which focus on the past, present and future of Black Episcopalians.

In his sermon on July 27, Curry touched on all three, preaching on Jesus’ “revolutionary” statements on the necessity of being born again in John 3. American society needs such a rebirth, he said, pointing to recent events – and it is the church’s mission to lead the way.

Read more here.

[The Episcopal Church] Twenty-seven "Becoming Beloved Community" grants supporting the work of racial healing, justice and reconciliation were awarded by The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council during its June 25-28 meeting. The grants total $220,450.

Among the seed grant recipients were My Work to Do/Jubilee Consortium ($5,000) and Visions Inc. Capacity-building, St. Luke’s/San Lucas Episcopal Church, Long Beach ($7,000), both in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

Funds for these grants were allocated by the church’s 79th General Convention in 2018. The grants may be used for work in the following areas: telling the truth about our churches and race; proclaiming the dream of Beloved Community; practicing Jesus’ way of healing and reconciliation; and repairing the breach in institutions and society.

Awards include seed grants up to $10,000 and impact grants up to $20,000. Seed grants are geared toward groups launching new projects—including educational training and exploratory work ahead of bigger projects—or growing existing projects. Impact grants are aimed primarily at increasing the capacity, impact and reach of communities and institutions already working to advance racial justice, healing and reconciliation.

Read more here.

Q&A: Westina Matthews, on authoring This Band of Sisterhood: Black Women Bishops on Race, Faith and the Church

By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] The unique blessings, joys, frustrations, challenges, and realities faced by the first five African American women diocesan bishops in The Episcopal Church are explored in candid conversations in “This Band of Sisterhood: Black Women Bishops on Race, Faith, and the Church,” compiled and edited by Westina Matthews (pictured above).

Matthews, an adjunct professor at the General Theological Seminary’s Center for Christian Spirituality, wrote in an August 1984 New York Times op-ed article, of her own sense of loneliness as, “the first, the only or one of the few” Blacks, a feeling she began having as early as age 4 when she was enrolled in a newly desegregated school.

Membership in this “exclusive club” continued throughout a 40-year career in leadership positions as an educator, researcher, grant-maker, public servant and author. Committed to education, particularly for women and people of color, she holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in the field—and was the first woman and first person of color to be elected a trustee of the Merrill Lynch Foundation, where she grew the company’s annual charitable giving from $5 million to $35 million.

“Blacks who have worked hard, played by the rules and attained prominent positions,” enjoy this exclusive membership, but “even in the 1980s we are considered anomalies,” she wrote back then in the Times. “We are continually scrutinized and, yes, asked for explanations” as if to have firsthand knowledge about the motives of other African Americans whose actions are less than perfect.

From a long line of African Methodist Episcopal ministers, including her father, uncle and grandfather, her leadership qualities were apparent early, when she ran for president of her Yellow Springs, Ohio, third-grade class—and lost by one vote. She hadn’t voted for herself, an early but enduring life lesson.

Read more here. Photo: Scott Townell

By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] Two Episcopal congregations in Dearborn, Michigan — one Arabic-speaking, the other English-speaking — have been sharing worship space, liturgy, Bible study, conversation and food, and are partnering to create beloved community together.

Partnership in Faith is a unique relationship between Christ Episcopal Church and Mother of the Savior, a blended Episcopal-Lutheran congregation in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb. It fosters intercultural relationships, said the Rev. Terri C. Pilarski, rector of Christ Church, and presents an opportunity to welcome people who may feel isolated or marginalized.

Christ Church is learning to be “adaptive to others, listening, learning and loving our neighbor,” Pilarski said. “It’s also about Mother of the Savior as this amazing congregation of Arabic-speaking Christians offering a powerful witness to the world. Arabic-speaking Christians have been part of the Christian tradition since the first Pentecost, yet they have and continue to suffer as a marginalized community. They have a faith that is deep and beautiful.”

“This is the first time The Episcopal Church in the United States has joined with Arab and Middle Eastern Christians, and the first time the liturgy has been translated into Arabic and that there is worship in Arabic,” the Rev. Halim Shukair, priest-in-charged of Mother of Our Savior (pictured above), told Episcopal News Service.

The Detroit area is home to one of the largest populations of Arabs in the United States, and Shukair is hoping more congregations will follow the example of the partnership.

Read more here. Photo: Bechara Damouni

More reporting from Episcopal News Service is here.

St. James in-the-City Church, Los Angeles

Live-streamed and on demand here

September 2022

Join Bishop Guy Erwin of the ELCA and Canon Jim Newman of the Episcopal Church for a 13-day journey across central Europe to Oberammergau, Germany. The day-long Oberammergau Passion Play is produced every decade and is a four-century “thank you” to God for saving the people of this picturesque Bavarian Alpine village. Experience this spiritual event and look at the culture and religion of Poland (Warsaw, Krakow, Auschwitz and Czestochowa), Hungary (Budapest), Czech Republic (Bratislava), Austria (Vienna & the Salzkammergut) and Germany (Oberammergau & Munich). Cost is $4,899 from Los Angeles including $450 taxes/airline surcharges.) Information: Jim Newman, 3590 Grand View Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90066; 310.391.5522 or 888.802.6722; rector@stbedesla.org. A full itinerary is here.

COSTA MESA: Sunday School Teacher, St. John The Divine Church, to plan lessons and teach one room of 2 - 6 students or more. Sunday mornings - 9:45 - 11 a.m. Prep time – flexible, 3 hours per week at $15 per hour. To apply, send a cover letter and resume to office@stjohncm.org. Include the job title in the subject line, or mail document to Saint John the Divine Episcopal Church. 183 E. Bay Street, Costa Mesa, CA 92627.

GLENDORA: Organist. Grace Episcopal Church is seeking a professionally trained church organist to be a part of our strong and vital music ministry. The organist will be expected to play for one Sunday service and one choir rehearsal per week, feast days, and for festive concerts. We offer a traditional Rite II service at 10 a.m. on Sundays. The preferred style of music is classical sacred music, ranging from Palestrina to Rutter. The pipe organ is by Manuel Rosales, built in 1977, with a new console in 1980, and substantial reconditioning work in 2016. The organ has two manuals and 26 ranks. The organist will work directly under our choirmaster/director of music in a collaborative manner. Salary: Starting at $12,000 per year, negotiable with demonstrated ability and experience. Weddings and funerals will provide additional compensation. Position available: Fall 2021. Application deadline: September 1, 2021. Send resume to the Rev. Susan Scranton via email at grace@graceglendora.org or by postal mail at 555 E. Mountain View Avenue, Glendora 91741.

HOLLYWOOD/WEST HOLLYWOOD: Master of the Music (Organist/ Choirmaster), St. Thomas the Apostle Church. Part-time. This is a rare opportunity for a talented musician to undertake a leadership position in a prominent Anglo-Catholic parish (where parishioners love to sing) with one of the largest organs in Southern California. In addition to accompanying the weekly High Mass on the 85-rank, five-manual, American-Classic/English-Cathedral-Romantic AIDS-memorial organ (as well as other holy days and special services), the ideal candidate would take a cheerful approach to the reestablishing of our all-volunteer choir after a year-long, pandemic-related hiatus. Although the position works under the supervision of the rector, the Master of the Music is expected to be self-sufficient, collaborate with the organ curator for proper maintenance, and lead as the principal musician with dignity and compassion. Salary negotiable. Please send resume and letter of interest to the Parish Administrator, Joseph Warren (jwarren@saintthomashollywood.org).

LA CRESCENTA: Coordinador(a) de Oficina Parroquial. San Lucas de las Montañas. San Lucas está buscando un(a) Coordinador(a) de Oficina como parte del equipo de esta Misión para apoyar a Dios en lograr su visión para el mundo. Somos un congregación diversa que aspira a estar cada día más unida en Cristo, y con un alto grado de participación de voluntarios comprometidos. Si estás interesado(a) en utilizar tus talentos para una gran causa, aprender, y hacer una diferencia, te invitamos a aplicar. Puedes conseguir aquí la descripción de trabajo e información de cómo aplicar.

LA CRESCENTA: Church Office Coordinator, St. Luke’s of the Mountains. St. Luke’s is looking for a Church Office Coordinator as part of the team of this mission to support God in achieving God’s vision for the world. We are a diverse congregation that aspires to be more united in Christ every day, and with a high degree of participation of committed volunteers. If you are interested in using your talents for a great cause, learning, and making a difference, we invite you to apply. You can get the job description and information on how to apply here.

Additional job listings are here. Listings are free: send information to news@ladiocese.org. Applications for jobs must be sent to the contact included in the listing.