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By Pat McCaughan

From take-out hot dogs and baked potatoes to virtual pancake parties, Southland clergy say 2021’s Lenten beginnings will look a whole lot different in the age of pandemic, but there will be ashes; drive-through, mailed out and even do-it-yourself.

On Shrove Tuesday, members of Grace Church in Glendora will forego the customary pancakes, sausage and all the trimmings, the traditional “Fat Tuesday” fare, symbolizing consumption of rich foods in preparation for a season of penitence and fasting.

“It’s going to be hot dogs, pretzels, water and a doughnut,” the Rev. Susan Scranton, rector, told The Episcopal News recently.

Per tradition, the take-out menu “uses fats. And pretzels are a traditional Lenten symbol anyway — they’ve got flour, salt and water — no leavening. The doughnut is essentially a jelly doughnut. That serves our purpose. And the hot dogs are not going to get cold like a pancake will.”

Accompanying the takeout meal will be resource bags, filled with daily meditations, Sunday School and youth group activities, even Mardi Gras beads and mite boxes, she said.

“We do a mite box, as old-fashioned as they are,” said Scranton. “We hope people put cash inside that’s paper, instead of coins.” The funds collected are spent on outreach ministries, including supporting local food banks.

In Long Beach, Lenten giveaways — a packet of ashes, a communion wafer, votive candle, devotional booklets and Mardi gras beads, tied up in a square of unbleached muslin — may be picked up by parishioners of both St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. Gregory’s, who are teaming together.

Read more here.

By Pat McCaughan

For the Rev. Dennis Gibbs and the Rev. Greta Ronningen, co-directors of Prism, the diocesan restorative justice ministry, serving “our friends inside” the jails of Los Angeles County and some other California prisons has taken on both a clarity and a sense of urgency during the pandemic.

“I want to encourage everyone to remember those that are sitting somewhere tonight in an 8 x10 cell with dirty water and no way to contact their families,” Gibbs said. “Try not to forget our friends, that’s what I want to say.”

For Gibbs, a deacon who founded the ministry 16 years ago, such remembering can be as simple as praying for the incarcerated during weekly worship, especially given some reports that as many as 80% of Los Angeles County jail inmates have tested positive for coronavirus.

Chaplain access to inmates — previously limited at best — has ceased altogether during the pandemic. And positive support systems, such as 12-step programs, have also been halted, at least temporarily.

“Where are the inmates” among published lists of those slated to receive vaccinations, Gibbs wondered aloud at a recent Zoom organizing meeting of prison ministry counterparts from across The Episcopal Church. “They (the inmates) are among the most vulnerable in our society, just as vulnerable as those in nursing homes and other closed environments.”

Members of the “embryonic” Episcopal Prison Ministry Community network, from West Oregon to western North Carolina, from Arizona to Florida, have been meeting online.

Read more here. Photo: John Taylor

If you haven’t started working on your 2021 budget, utilizing one or both of these methods of budgeting might help. If you are done with 2021 budgeting, and you’d like to think fresh for 2022 and get a jump on planning for that, this workshop is for you. Led by the Rt. Rev. Diane M. Jardine Bruce. Register here.

Presenter: Davey Gerhard, Executive Director of the Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS). Register here.

Learn valuable tools and best practices and procedures to help you serve as treasurer for your congregation. Register here. Presenter: The Rev. Michele Racusin, CFO of the Diocese of California, former CFO of the Diocese of Los Angeles

Zoom. Register here

Learn valuable tools and best practices and procedures to help you serve as treasurer for your congregation. Presenter: The Rev. Michele Racusin.

Additional information about the workshop series is here. All workshops are livestreamed and recorded, and will be made available for on-demand viewing here.

My Work To Do has announced that it will hold new sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays beginning Feb. 23 and 24, respectively.

Founded in 2018, My Work To Do is an online affinity group designed to help white people build stamina for discussing racism, systemic injustice, racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in their everyday lives. "Black, Indigenous and People of Color allies are welcome with an understanding this is a white-centered, and therefore not always safe, space," according to the program's website.

"We invite those feeling lost or overwhelmed into the conversation, especially white people who might not have a local anti-racism program or accessible discussion happening in their life," the invitation continues.

Each session is a listening and learning circle that meets via Zoom for 90 minutes. Themes include housing discrimination, implicit bias, whiteness as a function, and systems of white supremacy, and "where we go from here." It is "space to learn, share, heal, and grow."

Upcoming "Getting Started" sessions for new ​participants are:

​A "Going Deeper" series for those who have already participated in a Getting Started session will be held on Thursdays, Feb. 25 and March 4, 11, 18 and 25 at 5 p.m. Register here.

My Work To Do is supported by donations; there is no direct cost for the sessions, but participants are asked to pay what they can. So far, some 800 people have undergone the program; 80 percent of them report "increased stamina for discussing race" after participating.

Episcopal Communities and Services has announced new training sessions for By Your Side Vigil Companions, a program that trains volunteers to be a compassionate presence for those nearing the end of life.

"This year has brought all of us to an acute awareness of life’s fragility, and of the immense value of being companioned," says the course announcement. "The mission of By Your Side, which has always been to be supportive of people in palliative care and to be at the bedside at the end of their lives as needed, has had to adapt to the realities of COVID. We‘ve needed to ask: 'How can we practice presence without proximity?' We have also grappled with the need many of us feel to talk about what we are living through, perhaps to grieve. Together we are exploring being together, in the hospitals, in our communities, over technology or the phone, in whatever ways we can."

Each of the three training programs will be conducted in 2-hour sessions over five weeks via ZOOM. Session dates and times are:

There is no obligation to volunteer at the completion of the training. A fee of $70 ( which includes all materials) is due by the second class. Scholarships are available. CE credit (12 hours) for nurses is available for an additional $30.

For more information or to register, contact Susan Brown, By Your Side administrator, at [email protected] or 818.822.6044. Enrollment is limited to 30 people.

The Chinese congregations of the Diocese of Los Angeles invite the entire diocesan community to a virtual celebration for the Lunar New Year ("Year of the Cattle") on Saturday, Feb. 13, 5 p.m. To join the celebration, click here.

The H. Belfield Hannibal Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians will commemorate the feast day of Absalom Jones, first Black priest of The Episcopal Church, on Saturday, Feb. 13 at 11:30 a.m. with a virtual service of lessons and spirituals. The service, themed "A Charge to Keep: Aligning Ourselves with the Heart of God in the Fight for Liberation," will be streamed on YouTube here. All are invited. For more information, click here, or email [email protected].

Bishop Diane Jardine Bruce and The Gathering invite the diocesan community to a panel conversation and discussion on “Who Shall We Be? Theological reflections on being Asian Pacific American Christians in today's world” on Sunday, Feb. 28, 4 - 6 p.m.

This virtual event, held on Zoom, will focus on how Christians make meaning and respond to the events of the world. The conversation will feature Heidi Kim, director of the Melrose Family Center for Servant Leadership at the Breck School and formerly The Episcopal Church's staff officer for racial reconciliation; Winnie Varghese, priest for Ministry & Program Coordination at Trinity Church, Wall Street; and Gale Yee, Nancy W. King professor of Biblical Studies emerita at Episcopal Divinity School. Yein Kim, rector of St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Westwood, will moderate the conversation. More information about the presenters is here.

The program is hosted by The Gathering - a Space for Asian Pacific American Spirituality, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles to Asian Pacific Americans. There is no charge, and all are invited to attend virtually. Advance registration is required: click here.

For additional information, email [email protected] or visit the Gathering website here.

Both services will be livestreamed and available for viewing on demand on the diocese's Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Lenten study program to focus on Presiding Bishop Curry's Love Is the Way

Designed for online book groups, the curriculum includes bilingual English/Spanish study guides with video presentations from the Rev. Canon Melissa McCarthy, the Rev. Antonio Gallardo, the Very Rev. Canon Gary Hall, Missioner for Youth Ministries Gabriel Vasquez-Reyes and Bishop John H. Taylor. The resources now are available on the One in the Spirit webpage.

For more information contact the Rev. Canon Susan Russell at [email protected].

The Episcopal Church Women of the Diocese of Los Angeles encourage all to take part the Church Periodical Club's triennial Quilt Fundraiser by bidding on one of two handmade quilts; the "Aloha" (pictured at top) and the "Star." Bids are accepted here until Feb. 28.

The Church Periodical Club is an independent, affiliated organization of the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, dedicated to the worldwide ministry of the printed word and to the promotion of Christian mission, according to its website. It is the only organization in the Episcopal Church dedicated solely to providing free literature and related materials, both religious and secular, to people all over the world who need and request them and who have no other source for obtaining them. Prayer Books, books for seminarians, educational materials, medical textbooks, agricultural manuals and books for those in local and global mission are some of the publications The Church Periodical Club supplies.

[Religion News Service - February 8, 2021] Lydia Lopez was demonstrating in a picket line in 1968 to support Mexican American educator and activist Sal Castro, who was removed from the classroom after participating in the historic student walkouts, when UCLA professor Juan Gómez-Quiñones told her of a party at the Church of the Epiphany.

Lopez loved parties so she decided to go. The Episcopal parish, located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Lincoln Heights, was embellished with papel picado. Lopez could hear mariachis playing. She recalled being overwhelmed with emotions as she saw how a place of worship embraced her Mexican American identity.

“I wept because I needed a place as a Chicana, and I needed a place as a Christian to call home,” said Lopez, who had gone years without being involved in a church after growing up in a Baptist church that she’d come to feel was too conservative.

The Church of the Epiphany, founded in 1887, became a center for the flourishing Chicano movement in the 1960s. It’s where activists organized around Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. It’s where leaders met to plan the East Los Angeles high school student walkouts protesting inequities in their schools as well as the historic Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War draft. Labor leader Cesar Chavez gave speeches in the church hall. In later years, the church played a role in helping Central American refugees fleeing wars.

Now, five decades later, the church has earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of sites worthy of preservation in the United States.

Read more here.

Blood supplies are critically low in California, and congregations in the Diocese of Los Angeles have stepped up to help replenish them by hosting blood drives. Currently scheduled events are listed below.

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.

All donors and staff will be screened before entering the facilities.

Holy Trinity Episcopal Church

100 N. Third Avenue, Covina 91723

Information: 626.967.3939

Red Cross reservations here or call 1.800.RED.CROSS (1.800.733.2767)

Sponsor code: HTEC

Holy Trinity will offer a blood drive each month. Upcoming dates are: Thursday, March 18; Thursday, April 15; Thursday, May 6. Reservations through the Red Cross are required.

St. Alban’s Episcopal Church

12692 Fifth Street, Yucaipa 92399

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

Sponsor code: ST ALBANS

Upcoming dates are: March 23, April 20.

All Saints Church

132 N. Euclid Avenue, Pasadena 91101.

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

Sponsor code: ASEC

Information: [email protected]

Donations will be by appointment only, scheduled through RedCrossBlood.org. Upcoming dates at this location are April 20, June 22 and Aug. 17.

Will your church host blood drives in 2021? Send the information to The Episcopal News ([email protected]) for inclusion in the calendar.

[Episcopal News Service - February 10, 2021] Washington Bishop Mariann Budde and Washington National Cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith issued parallel apologies late Feb. 10 for allowing popular evangelical pastor Max Lucado to preach during the cathedral’s Sunday service despite facing outrage in advance over Lucado’s past statements against homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Budde and Hollerith both spoke of the pain the decision had caused many members of the LGBTQ community. Budde, in her statement, quoted with permission from 10 of the people who wrote to her in protest. Hollerith said people had reached out to him as well, and he acknowledged he had erred in not listening to their calls to rescind the invitation to Lucado.

“In my straight privilege I failed to see and fully understand the pain he has caused,” Hollerith said. “I failed to appreciate the depth of injury his words have had on many in the LGBTQ community. I failed to see the pain I was continuing. I was wrong and I am sorry.”

Lucado is a best-selling author of self-help books and the pastor of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. His 22-minute pre-recorded video sermon for the cathedral’s Feb. 7 livestreamed service included no reference to sexuality or same-sex marriage. Outrage over allowing Lucado to preach began late last week over a 2004 article, in which he called homosexuality a “sexual sin” and outlined his belief that God does not condone same-sex marriage, comparing it to legalizing polygamy, bestiality and incest.

ENS reached out several times to Lucado and his church, seeking comment on whether he still holds those views. Church staff members said he was unavailable.

The outrage over the cathedral’s decisions continued to simmer this week, despite retired Bishop Gene Robinson’s prominent defense of the cathedral. Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in The Episcopal Church when he was consecrated in 2003 in New Hampshire, agreed to a request by Hollerith to come to the cathedral on Feb. 7 and preside at the online service that featured Lucado.

Read more here.

A previous ENS story on the controversy is here. All Saints Church, Pasadena, has invited Bishop Gene Robinson to preach at its virtual services on Sunday, Feb. 14 at 11:15 a.m. and 1 p.m. and also to take part in a Rector's Forum at 10 a.m. All three events will be available on All Saints' Facebook page.

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

Live-streamed and on demand here

Center for Spirituality in Ontario

Information here

Enrollment: Ashanti Smalls, [email protected]

A series of interactive online meetings using Matthew Fox’s book Original Blessing as the springboard for exploration and reflection. The series, which began Oct. 12, is for persons of any age or walk of life, who share an interest in processing their inner journeys. Participants may join at any point, though regular participation is presumed. Sessions are led by the Rev. Gianluigi Gugliermetto, director of the Center for Spirituality. Suggested donation is $7 per session.

St. Columba's Church, Camarillo

Streaming here (website) and here (Facebook)

The service will remain on the website and Facebook throughout the week. St. Columba's offers Celtic Contemplative Prayer on the second Friday of each month at 7 p.m.

Streaming on Facebook and YouTube. Register here to receive links.

All are cordially invited to attend a special virtual Valentine's evening with the Holy Nativity community, followed by a jazz concert with Dwight Triple and Friends at 6:30 p.m. Donations are welcome to help defray the cost and benefit Food Pantry LAX to assist those experiencing food insecurity. Thank you for your support and generosity. Jazz Vespers for Love will be livestreamed on Holy Nativity's Facebook page and YouTube channel. Registrants will be emailed both links.

All Saints Church, Pasadena

Via Zoom: register here

Information: Alfredo Feregrino, [email protected]

This group will discern and imagine in community how each is called to be in a beloved community from the perspective of the Latino/Bilingual lens and how God is already working in our communities. This group will be led by Alfredo Feregrino. Everybody is welcome. The group will meet every other Thursday. Upcoming meetings: Feb. 11 & 25, March 11 & 25, April 8 & 22, May 6.

Stillpoint: The Center for Christian Spirituality

Via Zoom: register here

At this Stillpoint one-day online retreat with Jon Sweeney, the purpose won’t be to dismantle the birdbath Francis, but to uncover the real man and saint behind the popular legends. Who was he? What did he really do that was unusual and important? Most of all, we will focus and then practice how Francis cared for creatures (human, animal, and even inanimate) with particular care. Registration: $60 per person.

Streaming on YouTube here

Information: [email protected]

A virtual service of lessons and spirituals presented by the H. Belfield Hannibal Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians for the feast day of Absalom Jones, first Black priest of The Episcopal Church.

Streaming on Zoom here

The Chinese congregations of the Diocese of Los Angeles invite the entire diocesan community to a virtual celebration for the Lunar New Year ("Year of the Cattle").

Via Zoom here

Join All Saints' Interfaith Study Group to hear Imam Ahmad Deeb, imam and religious director at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, and outreach ambassador for Bayan Claremont, the first graduate school for Islamic studies and chaplaincy in the country, as he shares his Muslim experience in America.

The Guibord Center

Zoom webinar: register here

Also livestream on Facebook here

Information: Lisa Patriquin, [email protected]

Technical questions (webinar): Yolie Carrillo, [email protected] or 323.333.4664

Lent is a season of contemplative practice for Christians around the world. It is a time to reflect on the sacredness of the body and gratitude for new life in Jesus’ gift of sacrificial love. Join The Guibord Center for a unique interfaith observance of Ash Wednesday. Our time will include guided meditation, simple body work, and conversation about what the ancient practice of Lent, along with wisdom from other spiritual traditions, can show us about the divine and embodied nature of love. Leader: Moira-Cecily Brady-Rogers, founder and executive director, Alive and Well Women. There is no charge.

Via Zoom. Register in advance here

Information: [email protected] or here

This virtual event, held on Zoom, will focus on how Christians make meaning and respond to the events of the world. The conversation will feature Heidi Kim, director of the Melrose Family Center for Servant Leadership at the Breck School and formerly The Episcopal Church's staff officer for racial reconciliation; Winnie Varghese, priest for Ministry & Program Coordination at Trinity Church, Wall Street; and Gale Yee, Nancy W. King professor of Biblical Studies emerita at Episcopal Divinity School. Yein Kim, rector of St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Westwood, will moderate the conversation. The program is hosted by The Gathering - a Space for Asian Pacific American Spirituality, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles to Asian Pacific Americans. There is no charge, and all are invited to attend virtually.

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; [email protected]. A full itinerary is here.

HOLLYWOOD-LOS ANGELES: Seeds of Hope Food Distribution Associate. Bilingual (English-Spanish). This position will be an essential part of the Seeds of Hope team getting healthy, nutritious food to more families in need in Los Angeles and surrounding counties. Job duties include picking up, sorting, organizing and delivering produce; providing great customer service; documenting quantities and submitting data for reports. Work hours are full time, but variable. Valid Class C driver's license, experience with driving 16-ft or larger truck required. Full job description is here.

CLAREMONT: Spirituality center executive director. The Center for Spirituality & Practice (CS&P), a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing resources for those seeking wisdom and spiritual practices for their daily lives, seeks a committed spiritual practitioner and high-capacity nonprofit leader to be its first executive director. A respected name in the spiritual enrichment landscape, the Center runs the multifaith/interspiritual website SpiritualityandPractice.com which offers a vast array of resources for the spiritually hungry. The new executive director will collaborate with founders Mary Ann and Frederic Brussat to advance their legacy and develop the organization into its next phase. A detailed position profile can be found here.

SANTA ANA: Office Manager, Church of the Messiah. Part-time. The Office Manager will serve as the focal point for parish business operations, and is responsible for a broad range of administrative, specific operational and oversight functions. Bilingual proficiency (English/Spanish) required. More information is here.

Additional job listings are here. Listings are free: send information to [email protected]. Applications for jobs must be sent to the contact included in the listing.