The
Episcopal News Update

A weekly newsletter serving the Diocese of Los Angeles
September 6, 2020
News
Congregations begin careful return to in-person worship with outdoor services

[The Episcopal News] Cautiously, slowly, with attention to dozens of details from meticulous cleaning to required face coverings, congregations of the Diocese of Los Angeles have begun to return to in-person worship in recent weeks after several months of online-only worship forced by the coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 6,094,562 people and killed nearly 185,000 in the United States to date, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Pictured above are outdoor services at (top left) Church of Our Saviour, San Gabriel, and (top right) St. John Chrysostom Church, Rancho Santa Margarita. Above left is St. Paul's Church, Tustin.

Bishop John Harvey Taylor gave permission August for parishes and missions to hold services outdoors only, with careful attention to an extensive checklist provided by the diocese that included everything from handling of the Eucharist elements (no wine is permitted at this time) to sanitation of surfaces and dealing with face masks (required).

Although most churches chose during August to continue their online-only services while they worked on fulfilling the requirements that will help prevent infection, some 20 congregations have reported that they have held outdoor gatherings with limited attendance and mandatory social distancing. Bishop Taylor has reiterated several times that no congregation or clergy person is obliged to return to in-person worship until they feel safe doing so. Congregations holding in-person services are also continuing their online services via Facebook, YouTube, Zoom or other means.

Music is limited to single instrumentalists — no singing is yet allowed — and worshippers are asked to keep their spoken prayers and responses low to prevent aerosol spreading of viruses or germs. No-contact thermometers, hand sanitizer and one-use worship bulletins are common sights. Members of the same household may sit together, but a six-square-foot space is required around each group or individual.

Restrictions haven't stopped participants from worship or from joyful, if distanced, reunions with friends they haven't seen in months. More congregations are planning in-person services and events in coming weeks, though predicted extreme heat over the Labor Day weekend may force some to postpone their plans. Many in-person services require reservations: check individual congregations' websites and Facebook pages for information.
Diocesan offices will close for Labor Day

Diocesan offices at St. Paul's Commons will be closed on Monday, Sept. 7 in observance of Labor Day. Staff members who are working from home due to the pandemic will also have the day off.
People
Two to be ordained as deacons in livestreamed service

Bishop John Harvey Taylor will ordain Christie Ann Mossman and Dominique Nicolette Piper to the Sacred Order of Deacons on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. The service will take place at St. Paul’s Commons, and will be livestreamed here. The prayers and spiritual presence of the diocesan community are invited. Physical presence at the service is limited to specific people who will be notified personally.
UBE installs new officers in online service

The H. Belfield Hannibal Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians installed and commissioned a new slate of officers in a virtual service on Aug. 30. The Rev. Guy Leemhuis, deacon at Holy Faith Church, Inglewood, and the churchwide UBE's first vice-president, presided at the commissioning service.

New local officers are:

  • Stacey Forte-Dupre,president
  • Casey Jones, vice-president
  • Kathy Talton-Wilson, secretary
  • Rosalind Duhon, assisting secretary
  • Rose West, treasurer
  • Colleen Thomas, chaplain

UBE was founded in 1968, but built on the ministry of Episcopalians of African heritage dating back to the establishment of St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, by Absalom Jones, the first Black man to be ordained a priest in The Episcopal Church. The present-day UBE includes more than 55 chapters and interest groups throughout the continental United States and the Caribbean, as well as member in Canada, Africa and Latin America. For more about the H. Belfield Hannibal chapter and UBE in the Diocese of Los Angeles, email to UBEHannibal@gmail.com
Diana Akiyama elected 11th bishop of the Diocese of Oregon

[Diocese of Oregon] Delegates to the Electing Convention held Aug. 29 have elected the Rev. Diana Akiyama as the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon. The vote was confirmed after two ballots, concluding the yearlong process of seeking a successor for Bishop Michael Hanley, who began his service in the diocese in 2010 and will retire in January 2021. Read more here.

Editor's note: Akiyama served in the Diocese of Los Angeles as interim assistant rector at All Saints' Church, Pasadena, from 1996 to 1998, and was a member of the diocese's Commission on Ministry (1995 - 1998). She was a lecturer in gender studies at USC (1997 - 2002) and dean of the Office for Religious and Spiritual Life at Occidental College in Los Angeles (2003 - 2008). She is the first Japanese-American woman to to ordained to the priesthood in The Episcopal Church.
Events & Announcements
Online series on racism, systems of oppression in church and society will continue in September, October

"Trauma & (Un)Truths" is a series of webinars examining systems of oppression in church and society, presented by New Community, the Diocese of Los Angeles' multicultural ministry, and Bishop Suffragan Diane M. Jardine Bruce. The first of four webinars, held on Aug. 22, introduced three topics that will be covered more extensively in the following sessions (see dates and topics below). A video of that introductory session is available here; copies of the presentations are posted here. All are invited to join the remaining webinars. There is no charge, but advance registration is required: click on the registration links below. More information about the sessions is here.

Saturday, Sept. 26, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Doctrine of Discovery
Register here.

Saturday, October 3, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Racial Identity
Register here.

Saturday, October 17, 1 – 3 p.m. (note time)
Asian Pacific Americans, Racial Capitalism and the American Dream
Register here.

Spanish-language interpretation will be provided for all webinars, which will be conducted via Zoom. For additional information, contact Bishop Bruce at dbruce@ladiocese.org.
Panel discussion will focus on relations between Black, Asian-American Christians

Bishop Diane Jardine Bruce invites the diocesan community to an online panel conversation and discussion on “Your Liberation Is Our Liberation: Why Black Lives Matter to Asian Pacific American Christians” on Saturday, Sept. 19, 4 - 6 p.m. This event will focus on understanding race dynamics between Black and Asian Pacific American (APA) communities, and explore ways to promote racial justice in communities.

The conversation will feature Canon Suzanne Edwards-Acton, educator and founder of MyWorkToDo.com and chairperson of the Program Group on Black Ministries in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles; Ezer Kang, associate professor of psychology at Howard University; and Diane Ujiiye, board president of Healing Urban Barrios and activist minister. Erika Bertling, intercultural educator, will moderate the conversation.

The online event 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, which holds events to engage topics relevant to Asian American communities and offers a space for Asian Pacific Americans to gather to share in their spiritual journeys.

The event, to take place via Zoom, is free. Everyone interested in this topic is welcome to attend virtually. Registration is required; click here. Email to TheGatheringEDLA@gmail.com with any questions. Additional information and biographies of panelists may be found here. An event flyer is here.
GFS invites youth leaders, parents, clergy to 'A World of Difference' anti-bias webinar

Girls Friendly Society - Los Angeles invites parents, GFS leaders, clergy and youth leaders to "A World of Difference," an anti-bias webinar on Saturday, Sept. 12, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. via Zoom. This award-winning program, developed especially for those working with young people, helps participants:
  • Recognize bias and the harm it inflicts on individuals and society
  • Build understanding of the value and benefits of diversity
  • Improve intergroup relations
  • Confront racism, anti-Semitism and all other forms of bigotry

GFS presents this webinar in partnership with the Anti-Defamation League. Register by Sept. 8 here. There is no charge. Participants are asked to complete a short survey to inform the workshop leader: click here.

In the video above Margaret Nolde, president of the board of GFS-Los Angeles, explains the purpose of this program.
'By Your Side' program offers fall training for end-of-life companions

By Your Side Vigil Companions, a program of Episcopal Communities & Services that trains volunteers to be a compassionate presence for those nearing the end of life, has announced its Fall 2020 training schedule.

"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. "Our mission, 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?” Over the past 6 months, we have thought and “visioned” and experimented."

This fall's training will take place in two 10-hour sessions over five weeks via ZOOM. The first session will be on Thursday afternoons, Sept. 24 - Oct. 22, 3 - 5 p.m. The second will be on Monday evenings, Nov. 2 - 30, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. The November training will have a special focus on the needs of staff at PIH Good Samaritan Hospital, but will be open to everyone.

A fee of $70 ( which includes all materials) is due by the second class. Scholarships are available. CE (12 hours) for nurses is available for an additional $30 under California Board of Registered Nursing Provider Number CEP 16239. For additional information and to register, contact Susan Brown of Episcopal Communities and Services at sbrown@ecsbyyourside.org, or phone 818.822.6044. Enrollment is limited to 30 people. Deadlines to enroll are Sept. 22 for the first course and Oct. 30 for the second.
Diocese-wide service with Bishop Taylor coming Sept. 20

Bishop John Harvey Taylor and Canon Kathy O’Connor will offer a diocese-wide virtual worship service at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20, with the express purpose of giving parochial clergy a break from planning virtual services for their congregations, and to give the bishop an opportunity to speak to the entire diocese. The service, to be conducted in English and Spanish, will be live-streamed from St. Paul’s Commons with the support of Provost Frank Alton and the altar guild of St. Athanasius’ Church.

Bishop Taylor notes that the issues that caused the diocesan website to crash during the last all-diocese service have been addressed. Log-in and service bulletin information will be announced in a future issue of the Update; for now, please save the date.
SAVE THE DATE
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry to speak at Nov. 7 Bishop's Gala

Bishop John Harvey Taylor recently announced that The Bishop’s Gala (previously known as the Bishop's Dinner) will be held on Saturday, Nov. 7 and will feature the Most Rev. Michael Curry, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church. "Bishop Curry will be the guest of the Diocese of Los Angeles, pointing his listeners along the Way of Love just four days after the historic 2020 elections," said the invitation, referencing Curry's initiative for prayer and service.

The socially distanced program, featuring a reception and the presiding bishop’s address, will take place in the White House East Room replica of the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda. If the event can only be held digitally due to the pandemic, the address will be open for ticketed participants only. Proceeds will benefit Bloy House: The Episcopal Theological School at Los Angeles. Reservation information will be announced soon.
Camp Stevens offers special time for families over Labor Day weekend

Camp Stevens will welcome families to a socially distanced Labor Day Family Camp Sept. 5 - 7. Private room, cabin, or lodge rental covers food, lodging, and activities from Saturday lunch to Monday breakfast. Meals are served outdoors and each family will have its own seating area for the weekend. All staff and guests must maintain social distancing and masks are required in certain circumstances including program activities and passing on trails. Attendees can choose to participate in as many activities as they like, or just relax in nature and get away from it all. Register online here.
SAVE THE DATE
Webinar will focus on 'Deepening Stewardship Formation'

The Program Group on Stewardship in conjunction with TENS: The Episcopal Network for Stewardship will present a webinar titled "Deepening our Stewardship Formation" on Saturday, Sept. 12, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Goals for the webinar, according to Bishop Suffragan Diane Jardine Bruce, include:

  • Review: Stewardship campaigns are opportunities for relationship and formation
  • Virtual offering plates and platforms for fundraising in congregations
  • Pledge campaign best practices — How to ask for money in small churches and big churches
  • Tools for deepening our stewardship theology
  • Next level stewardship

More information is coming soon. Advance registration is required: click here.
'What will you have us do?' is theme of coming DOK Fall Assembly

The Daughters of the King of the Diocese of Los Angeles will hold its Fall Assembly 2020, titled "Into the Future ... By the Grace of God!" Online on Saturday, Oct. 24, 8:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The program, which will explore the question "Lord, what will you have us do?" from the DOK prayer, will include Morning Prayer, special guest speakers, election of new diocesan officers, and adoption of revised bylaws. To register, click here. For additional information, contact Kimberly Corner, dokevents2020@gmail.com.
'Whose School Is It Anyway?' webinar will offer best practices for leaders of congregations with schools

The Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools (SAES) and National Association of Episcopal Schools (NAES) will present a webinar titled "Whose School Is It Anyway?" on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 12 p.m. PDT. Leading a church with a school comes with a completely different set of blessings and challenges. This joint NAES/SAES webinar will offer church leaders some best practices for creating a healthy church/school relationship as well as how to support and nurture the head of school. To participate, register here.
Guibord Center presents 'Sermon on the Mount' webinars with Amy-Jill Levine

Biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine will lead a three-part webinar, "Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner's Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven," at 4 p.m. on three successive Wednesdays - Sept. 2, 9 and 16. In the webinars, sponsored by The Guibord Center, Levine will introduce the major topics in the Sermon on the Mount, explain historical and theological contexts, and show how the words of Jesus echo his Jewish tradition and speak forward to reach hearts and minds today.

Levine is a professor of New Testament and Mary Jane Werthan professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School and Department of Jewish Studies. She has written more than 30 books, most recently The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently (co-authored with Marc Z. Brettler), Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner’s Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven; and The Kingdom of Heaven: 40 Devotionals. In 2019 she became the first Jew to teach New Testament at Rome’s Pontifical Biblical Institute.

For information and registration links, click here. The program will not be available for later viewing.

The Guibord Center: Religion Inside Out, an independent institution founded by the late Rev. Gwynne Guibord, a priest of the Diocese of Los Angeles, works to increase understanding among Los Angeles' diverse religious communities.
Abundant Table shifts fundraising focus to relief for farmworkers

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, "Feast in the Field," The Abundant Table’s annual August fundraising dinner, has been transformed into an appeal for Solidarity Shares for area farmworkers. Each donation of $90 — the price of last year's dinner ticket — buys six discounted weekly CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes of fresh, organic, pesticide-free fruits and vegetables for farmworkers who cannot otherwise afford the produce they pick and pack.

To contribute to the Solidarity Shares, click here. Donations may also be made by check: send to The Abundant Table, P.O. Box 6295, Ventura, CA 93006. Read more here.
'My Work to Do' offers online space for white people working to overcome racism

"My Work to Do," an online affinity group designed to help white men and women build stamina for discussing racism, systemic injustice, racial healing, reconciliation, and justice in their everyday lives, is planning new sessions and invites members of the Diocese of Los Angeles to participate. "We invite those feeling lost or overwhelmed into the conversation," says Canon Suzanne Edwards-Acton, project founder, "especially white people who might not have a local anti-racism program or accessible discussion happening in their lives." The initial program is a five-week session, with one 1.5-hour online meeting per week at which participants will discuss such topics as housing discrimination, implicit bias, whiteness as a function, and systems of white supremacy — and where to go from here. To learn more and to register for upcoming sessions, visit the website here. For more resources see “Countering Racism, Building Community” here.
In the congregations
Congregations continue autumn blood drives

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

Additional helpful resources from the American Red Cross:

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 12 - 5 p.m.
Spurling Hall
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
24801 Orchard Village Road, Santa Clarita 91355
Click on "Blood Drives" and enter SSECH in the Account Code Box

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 23, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Grace Episcopal Church
555 E. Mountain View Avenue, Glendora 91741
Sponsor code: GECG
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.
From the wider Episcopal Church
Celebrate the Season of Creation: Sept. 1 - Oct. 4, 2020

[The Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs - August 24, 2020] Episcopalians are invited to join churches around the world in celebrating the Season of Creation; a time for people of faith to renew their relationship with God and all creation through celebration, prayer, and action. The Season’s roots rise from the Orthodox Christian tradition; the World Council of Churches was instrumental in making the special time a season, extending the celebration from September 1 until St. Francis Day, October 4. The Episcopal Church Office of Creation Care offers Season of Creation and St. Francis Day Resources (https://episcopalchurch.org/season-creation-and-st-francis-day-resources) to help plan.

"The Season of Creation invites us to think deeply about our ecological, economic, and political ways of living, and to work towards justice and right relationship with God's Creation,” says the Rev. Melanie Mullen, director of Reconciliation, Justice, and Creation Care, “We are thrilled to participate in this global effort."

Read more here.

Episcopal Youth Event cancelled: EYEx Planning Underway

[The Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs - August 25, 2020] The Episcopal Church Department of Faith Formation, in collaboration with the 2020 Episcopal Youth Event (EYE20) planning team and Episcopal Church leadership, announced today that the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) will not be convened this triennium due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“I recognize and share the deep disappointment this holds,” said Bronwyn Clark Skov, staff officer for Youth Ministries. “During the next year, our office will focus on discerning and implementing creative and meaningful support for youth ministry and leadership formation. Undoubtedly, new models for ministry are emerging and God is calling upon us to unite and respond.”

Read more here.
Coming up
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4
Podcast: Theologically Speaking
St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church
Hollywood (Los Angeles)
Streaming here (Facebook) and here (YouTube)
Information: 323.876.2102
In this debut of St. Thomas' Church's new bimonthly podcast, Kyle Leon Henderson hosts and leads discussions with Canon Ian Elliott Davies on topics relevant to modern Anglican theology. The ongoing series will air the first and third Friday of each month.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 5 p.m.
The Holy Rosary
St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church
Hollywood (Los Angeles)
Streaming here (Facebook) and here (YouTube)
Information: 323.876.2102
Join Dr. Byron Adams — composer, musicologist, and parishioner of St. Thomas — as he explores the historical and spiritual significance of the Rosary and leads a full recitation of the devotional prayer. Available afterward for viewing on demand.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 5 p.m.
Digital Evensong & Benediction
St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church
7501 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles 90046
Streaming here (Facebook) and here (YouTube)
Information: 323.876.2102
Canon Ian Elliott Davies officiates. Music includes Recollection by David Conte, Evening Service in F by Syney Watson, O salutaris by Camille Saint-Saëns, Tantum ergo by Gabriel Fauré, O cor Jesu by Lorenzo Perosi, and Rhapsody No. 1, Op. 17, by Herbert Howells. The service will be broadcast live on St. Thomas’ Facebook and YouTube pages.

Online Sunday and weekday worship services in the Diocese of Los Angeles are listed here. To add a congregation's services, send information to editor@ladiocese.org.
Opportunities
TRAVEL & PILGRIMAGE
Central Europe: Oberammergau Passion Play
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. (Please note the date change. The Passion Play has been postponed for two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.)
EMPLOYMENT

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