December 14, 2023 | VOLUME 35, ISSUE 48

Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 24, 2023

Canticle 3 or Canticle 15

or Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26

Preacher: The Reverend Jennifer Wagner Pavia

Saturday, Jan. 6: Reverend Jennifer's installation ceremony

Bible and Breakfast

Tuesdays | 9:30 AM

Luther Hall & Zoom

Midweek Eucharist

Wednesdays | 7:00 PM

Sanctuary

Adult Forum: Advent Series

Wednesdays | 7:45 PM

Luther Hall & Zoom

ADVENT & CHRISTMAS

End of Life ADVANCE PLANNING Seminar

Join us for an educational seminar with Dignity Memorial / Gates Kingsley & Gates Smith Salsbury Funeral Directors [FD 2336]. We will discuss pre-planning, veteran benefits, and provide you with resources in order for you to protect yourself and your family. Our mission is to help create remembrances that reflect the unique values, character and traditions of the families we serve. That is our passion, that is our purpose, that is our promise. Guaranteed. Our short, twenty minute presentation will help you make a more informed decision should you choose to work with our team and our organization in securing your final arrangements and providing protection and peace of mind to your loved ones.

PRAYER FOR PEACE IN THE HOLY LAND

ST. BEDE'S ONLINE GIVING PORTAL

Visit the St. Bede's website and at the top of every page, look for the "Donate" button. When you click on the "Donate" button, you will be transported to St. Bede's Vanco eGiving and Payment Process Site.

Vanco is an industry leader in online payments. More than 40,000 churches, faith-based groups, nonprofits, schools, and educational organizations trust Vanco to securely complete transactions every day. Vanco complies with PCI Level 1 standards, the highest security standard in the payment processing industry.

You are invited to set up one-time or recurring gifts using credit, debit, or bank transfer on Vanco's secure payment processing platform. Giving online through the Vanco site saves time and the hassle of remembering to bring your offering. In addition, you decrease the expense incurred by St. Bede’s from handling and processing checks and cash.

FROM THE EPISCOPAL NEWS

A newsletter serving the diocese of Los Angeles

Immigration justice is focus for Jan. 6 diocesan forum

at Epiphany, East L.A.

By Bob Williams

With news headlines focusing on border and asylum issues while busloads of migrants from Texas continue to arrive locally, a diocesan Immigration Justice Forum is set for 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 6, at East L.A.’s Church of the Epiphany to provide information and advocacy updates.

Bishop John Harvey Taylor is scheduled to moderate a panel discussion to be augmented by first-hand accounts of asylees with recent migration experience. Panelists will include:

Sarah Kahn, interim director, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law
Josh Lopez-Reyes, executive director, Echo Park Immigration Center
Guillermo Torres, immigration program director, Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
Naomi Welikala, Black Migrant Assistance Project case manager, Interfaith Refugee and Immigration Services (IRIS)

Daniella Urbina, senior advisor in the office of L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis is scheduled to offer remarks during the program, to which participants will be welcomed by the Rev. John Watson, new priest-in- charge at Epiphany, and the Rev. Richard Estrada, assisting priest and longtime immigration and sanctuary movement activist.

EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE

SISTERS of BEDE CHRISTMAS PARTY

A crew member on an oceangoing cargo ship enjoys a Christmas gift of a hand-knitted hat and scarf provided by Christmas at Sea, which has been providing warm, hand-crafted items to mariners for 125 years. Photo: Christmas at SeaP

Christmas at Sea knitting ministry has brought warm clothes and cheer to seafarers for 125 years

By Melodie Woerman

[Episcopal News Service] On Christmas Day, thousands of crew members on oceangoing cargo ships and boats on U.S. waterways will receive gifts of handmade hats and scarves through Christmas at Sea, a program of the Seamen’s Church Institute, which has roots in The Episcopal Church.

The program is celebrating its 125th year of service to the maritime community. It began in 1898 when a group of women wanted to supply knitted items and ditty bags to those on ships during the Spanish-American War. It is the oldest and longest continuously running charter knitting program in the United States.

It takes more than a thousand volunteers to create all the items provided to modern seafarers, Joanne Bartosik, Seamen’s Church Institute’s senior manager of development and Christmas at Sea, told Episcopal News Service. In 2022, volunteers made a record 28,139 items – knitted or crocheted hats, scarves and cowls, as well as cloth ditty bags – and they were provided to about 11,000 seafarers. The donations came from 932 individuals as well as people in 127 groups, and from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as Canada and several countries in Europe.

All these people are helping express gratitude for the work that people on ships perform, Bartosik said. “Mariners are an invisible work force,” she said, noting that 90% of the goods Americans use come over water.

For most of its history, Christmas at Sea only served those on ocean ships that docked in the Port of New York and New Jersey. These mariners serve for eight or nine months at a time, Bartosik said, and come mainly from the Philippines, as well as from across Asia and some Eastern European countries.