February 22, 2024 | VOLUME 36, ISSUE 08

VIEW AS WEBPAGE

Second Sunday in Lent

February 25, 2024

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Genesis 12:1-4a

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

John 3:1-17

Psalm 121

Preacher: The Reverend Jennifer Wagner Pavia

Friday, February 23, 6:30 PM: Ahavat Torah presents "Hotel Everest" in Parish Hall (see below)

Sunday, March 3, 4:00 PM: Lenten Evensong with the Wessex Consort in Sanctuary

Monday, March 4, 6:30 PM: Sisters of Bede meeting in Parish Hall

Bible and Breakfast

Tuesdays | 9:30 AM

Luther Hall & Zoom

Midweek Eucharist

Wednesdays | 7:00 PM

Sanctuary

Adult Forum: Lenten Series - The Way of Love

Wednesdays | 8:00 PM

Luther Hall & Zoom

Wednesdays in Lent 8pm

Following the Mid-week service at 7pm

In person and via Zoom

Click here to join

The journey through Lent into Easter is a journey with Jesus. We are baptized into his life, self-giving, and death; then, we rise in hope to life transformed. This Lent, you are invited to walk with Jesus in his Way of Love and into the experience of transformed life. Together, we will reflect anew on the loving actions of God as recounted in the Easter Vigil readings, and walk through the depths of salvation history into the fullness of redemption.

Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), an interfaith organization, is part of a coalition of nonprofits that are helping migrants and their families who arrive in Los Angeles with no–or very few– resources. Their current drive is focused on very young children, and the Mission Committee at St. Bede’s is hoping we can contribute.

CLUE is looking for baby formula (liquid or powdered) in all size packages (new and sealed), baby bottles (new and sealed), car seats and booster seats (either new or in good condition), and strollers (new or clean and in good working order). 

Liz Bar- El of CLUE is scheduled to come talk to the 10 a.m. service on Sunday, March 3, about the drive. For more information, please check out this link. Or you can talk to a member of the Mission Committee. Thank you !

SHROVE TUESDAY

Chefs Rev. Jennifer and Jerry whip up pancakes

Karen Scharre helps out with the food prep

Parishioners line up for delicious pancakes

Rev. Jennifer lights palms to make ashes

Ash helps bury the Allelujah

All was ready in the parish hall: parishioners were gathered, the tables were set, the serving table offerings of mixed berries, bananas, butter and syrup were all in place, vegan and meat sausages were cooked, batches of both vegan and traditional pancake batter was ready to be poured out and the griddles were hot. The chefs donned their toques (chef hats) and the St. Bede's Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper officially commenced.

Parishioners watched as Chef Jennifer and Chef Jerry deftly began making a mountain of pancakes and all diners feasted like they were going to fast for the next 40 days. While all were enjoying the meal, Rev. Jennifer handed out papers containing the word “Allelujah” (shhhh) and instructed parishioners to color the A-word papers with crayons and write on the back “something they want to let go or be rid of” by the end of Lent. Rev. Jennifer then collected the A-word papers in a box/coffin. Then parishioners went up to the Sanctuary to “bury the Allelujah” with a prayer, this exercise being a symbolic ritual to create a more contemplative and penitent tone for Lent. The A-word will be "unburied" on Easter Sunday.

Next, parishioners went outside to burn palm crosses into ashes to be used the next day. A few neighbors who were walking by stopped to share the experience. Then, on Ash Wednesday activities included “Ashes to Go” next to Home Depot as well as two services where parishioners recited the Litany of Penitence. Thus began the holy season of Lent, a time for self-reflection, repentance, Bible reading, prayer, fasting, works of mercy and renewal of faith.

ASH WEDNESDAY

Rev. Jennifer and Elizabeth Coombs offer "Ashes To Go" outside Home Depot

Many thanks to Mary and Craig Deutsche for hosting a super fun 70's style fondue party.

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.

Looking into the face of mental illness

By Patricia Terry

When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Luke 7:14

When I was in elementary school, there was a young woman who lived in my apartment building who suffered from mental illness. On her daily walks, she always had a far-off look that was not really focused on anything. I wish I could say that my friends and I were kind to her, but we weren’t. Mostly, we were afraid and made sure to stay as far from her as possible. One fateful day, however, she and I ended up face to face in close quarters.

It was a hot summer day. I was playing outside and was thirsty. These were the days before bottled water. Full of youthful energy, I raced inside my building to take the elevator upstairs to my apartment and there she was. I will never know how I summoned the courage to walk into that elevator with her. Then something unexpected happened. She smiled at me. This assured me that I need not fear her. In that moment I was able to truly see her for the first time.

Scripture does not directly tell us how to deal with mental illness. Yet Jesus often restored people to community who were marginalized because of their physical ailments, spiritual afflictions, or other issues. By healing them, he enabled them to fully rejoin their religious and communal life. One such example is found in Luke where Jesus healed the ten lepers. Their healing begins the moment that Jesus saw them. He did not look past them or ignore them. He saw them, which initiated their return to society. Their physical healing came next as they went to show themselves to the priests. Cured of their leprosy, this final step was needed to formally receive them back into community.

READ MORE HERE

The three residential huts in the parking lot of St. John the Divine Episcopal Church in Springfield, Oregon, are shaped like the Conestoga wagons used on the Oregon Trail. Photo: Episcopal Church in Western Oregon, via YouTube

Western Oregon church hosts residential huts in parking lot as part of its housing ministry

By David Paulsen

The parking lot at St. John the Divine Episcopal Church in Springfield, Oregon, has about 50 parking spaces, but with an average Sunday attendance of about 30, the congregation never fills the lot with cars.

“I wish we did,” the Rev. Nancy Gallagher, the rector, told Episcopal News Service. “Everything about us is small.”

Instead, the Western Oregon congregation fills the parking lot with hospitality. For the past decade, it has opened the lot to people who are temporarily unhoused and need a place to stay, often camping there in cars or RVs. In recent years, St. John the Divine has partnered with a local service agency to add semi-permanent housing in three residential huts set up in the parking lot.

Gallagher describes the huts as “shaped like the Conestoga wagons that came across the Oregon Trail.” The huts, in a small way, are helping to alleviate a problem that has intensified in recent years, in Springfield and other Oregon communities. The state reportedly has the fourth highest rate of homelessness in the country, with an estimated 18,000 people experiencing homelessness as of 2022.

The pervasiveness of homelessness reflects an underlying problem in Oregon, which is said to have one of the worst housing shortages in the United States. The think tank Up for Growth estimates that the state is 87,000 housing units short of what is needed, according to a 2023 report, while rising prices are making it harder for lower income residents to afford the homes currently available.

READ MORE HERE

Al Ahli Hospital, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, is providing medical care to patients as well as shelter for family members within their compound. Photo: Courtesy of the Diocese of Jerusalem

Episcopal support helps Diocese of Jerusalem, Al Ahli Hospital respond to suffering

By Melodie Woerman

The Episcopal Church’s United Thank Offering and Episcopal Relief & Development have announced new funding for the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and its Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

“We are extremely grateful for the ministry of the United Thank Offering, as it has supported our service to Christ here in the Holy Land for many years — particularly since Oct. 7,” Archbishop Hosam Naoum, the Anglican leader of the Diocese of Jerusalem, said in a press release.

“The staff and volunteers of our Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza have worked around the clock to alleviate the suffering of hundreds of patients brought through its gates each week,” Naoum said. “Please continue to pray and advocate on behalf of all those who suffer throughout the Holy Land, even as we seek a just and lasting peace in the very land where our Lord Jesus Christ took up his cross for our sake.”

On Feb. 19, the United Thank Offering, a ministry of The Episcopal Church, announced it would send $187,000 to the Diocese of Jerusalem, part of the Anglican province in the Middle East, to help meet immediate needs through its matching grant challenge.

The UTO board set a $100,000 challenge grant goal, its highest goal ever.

“We knew many people wanted to do something to help Israel and Palestine but didn’t know what to do,” Sherri Dietrich, board president, said in the press release. “We are very happy to have received many donations from new donors, as well as offerings from faithful United Thank Offering participants.”

READ MORE HERE

View the latest edition of Episcopal News Service