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21th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 26)
Sunday, October 30, 2022
SCRIPTURE READINGS
During Ordinary time, "Track 1" is utilized.
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
Psalm 119:137-144
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12
Luke 19:1-10
Preacher: The Reverend Ryan D. Newman
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Wednesday, November 2
Beyond Stewardship: New Approaches to Creation Care
7:00 PM - Evening Prayer
7:40 PM - Class
Zoom
Monday, November 7
Sisters of Bede
7:00 PM
Luther Hall & Zoom
Sunday, November 13
Grass Roots Neighbors
1:30 PM & 5:00 PM
Holy Nativity Episcopal Church
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Bible and Breakfast
Tuesdays | 9:30 AM
Luther Hall & Zoom
Midweek Eucharist
Tuesdays | 6:00 PM
Sanctuary
Evening Prayer
Wednesday | 7:00 PM
Luther Hall & Zoom
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The Wednesday Education Forum resumes with a new series, Beyond Stewardship: New Approaches to Creation Care. The forum will meet for the first three Wednesdays in November (Nov. 2, 9, & 16), pause during the Advent Education series, and resume after Christmas.
The publisher states:
Beyond Stewardship is intended to equip Christians to live better in this world by helping us all think more intentionally about the relationship we have with the nonhuman creation in which we are necessarily and thoroughly embedded. It responds to the questions “What if God didn’t place humans on earth to be stewards of creation but something else?” and “If not stewards, then what?”
The chapters in Beyond Stewardship were written by scholars from diverse disciplines who share a deep passion for a flourishing creation. Each chapter begins with a compelling story that draws the reader into new ways of thinking. Each author then looks beyond stewardship from the context of his or her own discipline and experiences. Some re-imagine creation care by expanding on the traditional notion of stewardship. Others set aside the stewardship model and offer alternative ways to understand our presence within the broader creation. The chapters mark out ways to better live in the places we inhabit as individuals, communities, and institutions.
Collectively, the essays in Beyond Stewardship offer an expanded and enlivened understanding of the place of humans in the context of God’s creation.
The book is available for purchase online, electronically, or through your favorite bookstore. The first session will be this Wednesday, November 2nd, on Zoom following the 7:00 PM Evening Prayer. For planning purposes, the forum will start at 7:40 PM.
If you have any questions, please contact Jerry Hornof.
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Advent is a season of preparation--preparing for the birth of Christ. This year at St. Bede's, we will utilize the Gospel of Mark to guide our Advent journey. However, the Gospel of Mark absolutely zero stories about Jesus' Nativity. How can you prepare for Advent and Christmas without the Nativity stories? Has Reverend Ryan lost his mind?
Tracy Duab's book, Holy Disruption: Discovering Advent in the Gospel of Mark, released earlier this fall, "presents a fresh understanding of the holiness of Christmas grounded, not in a conventional cozy Christmas message, but through Mark's disquieting gospel which invites its readers to experience God's disruptive but transformative love for us and our world."
For five Tuesdays, starting on November 22nd and ending on December 20th, Holy Disruption will guide us through Advent. Come experience the Gospel of the Mark and the Advent of Christ in a new and extraordinary way. The class will meet at 7:00 PM on Zoom. The book will be available for pickup starting on Sunday, November 6th. An e-book version is available for purchase on Kindle. You do not need to register for the class.
"Daub offers a well-written and thoughtful study that offers a unique approach to the season of Advent and lends itself to be read both individually and with a group discussion. Are you looking for a different way to think about the incarnation, God's gift of Jesus to our world? Refresh your Advent with this engaging study of five themes in the Gospel of Mark," said Elizabeth Caldwell, Harold Blake Walker Professor Emerita of Pastoral Theology, McCormick Theological Seminary.
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Dear St. Bede’s,
Stewardship season is upon us, and this is a time for each of us to lovingly search our hearts and prayerfully consider what we can do to help the beautiful ministry of St. Bede’s. This includes both financial giving and gifts of your time and talent. Just know that we are very grateful for your continued support and prayers.
Please see the link to the 2023 stewardship packet. We would be very appreciative if you could complete and return this packet to the church by November 6, 2022 (All Saints' Day).
Again, thank you for your prayerful consideration and love for our St. Bede’s family
Faithfully in Christ,
The Wardens, Vestry, and Interim Pastor of St. Bede’s
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This year's Sisters of Bede's Party of Parties
raised over $4,000 for outreach!
Some venues still have open spots.
Please see the flyers in Luther Hall and speak to Daphne Moote to sign up.
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Please Note: Spirit Sunday events are not St. Bede's sponsored events. However, the events are organized and hosted by a congregation member. | |
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VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED
November 13| 1:30 PM & 5:00 PM
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Grass Roots Neighbors is a volunteer community organization. They meet the immediate needs of our neighbors experiencing food and housing insecurity. GRN mobilizes to fill the gaps in existing services by providing assistance with love and respect. The organization's vision is to be a community effectively involved in ending poverty.
Among their outreach programs, GNR cooks and delivers a hot meal every Sunday to various encampments on the Westside. Once a month, St. Bede's with Holy Nativity assists GNR with preparing and providing meals. There are now four different volunteer time slots:
- 2 - 4 PM (mostly chopping of fruits and veggies)
- 4 - 6 PM (mainly packaging food)
- 6 - 8:30 PM (loading and distributing the food)
- 7:30 - 10:30 PM (distributing food in Venice by bike)
GNR utilizes the kitchen facilities at Holy Nativity Episcopal Church.
GNR, Holy Nativity, and St. Bede's have created a Google Sign-Up Form to assist with monthly volunteer coordination. Please click the button below to access the volunteer sign-up form.
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FROM THE EPISCOPAL NEWS
A newsletter serving the Diocese of LA
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Diocesan Council recommends 2023 draft budget for approval at Nov. 11-12 convention
By Pat McCaughan
Diocesan Council on Oct. 20 unanimously recommended presenting a $4.55-million proposed Mission Share Fund (MSF) budget for 2023 to delegates at the 127th annual meeting of the Diocese of Los Angeles, to be held both in person and virtually at the Riverside Convention Center Nov. 11 – 12.
The MSF portion of the total $11.6 million consolidated budget is joined by $478,050 in annual income from the Bishop as Corporation Sole (Corp Sole) and $6.57 million from the Corporation of the Diocese. The Corp Sole contribution is entirely funded by income, with no withdrawal of principal funds. Corporation of the Diocese funds come primarily from a combination of government and private grants, mostly for the diocese’s IRIS (refugee/immigration) and Seeds of Hope ministries.
Combining the diocese’s three primary operating funds – the Mission Share Fund, Corporation of the Diocese, and Corp Sole – into a consolidated (i.e., unified) presentation has brought more transparency to budgeting processes and enhanced long-term financial planning, according to treasurer Canon Andy Tomat.
“Along with this new consolidated budget, the diocese has devoted extensive time and energy to projecting the cost of current, future and retired personnel expenses, ensuring compliance with all established restrictions governing restricted funds and endowments, and exploring the use of technology to reduce the cost of ministerial operations,” Tomat said in his report. “This process has enabled the diocese to balance the budget for 2023.”
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White Christian nationalism is not Christianity, presiding bishop says during panel discussion
residing Bishop Michael Curry, in an Oct. 26 seminar at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., reiterated The Episcopal Church’s position that white Christian nationalism is a gross perversion of Christianity, and that Christians must refute such ideologies.
The seminar, titled “How White Christian Nationalism threatens our democracy,” took place at the university’s Center on Faith and Justice and was hosted by the Rev. Jim Wallis, the center’s founding director and founder of Sojourners. Co-sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Washington National Cathedral and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, the discussion brought together Wallis, Curry, BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler and University of Oklahoma sociology professor Samuel Perry.
“I would say that white Christian nationalism is the single greatest threat to democracy in America,” Wallis warned in his introduction. “It’s also the greatest threat to the integrity of the Christian witness.”
Perry, author of “The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy,” helped define the term that has rocketed to prominence since the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Though it spans a variety of political and cultural phenomena, Perry said, white Christian nationalism is at its core a reactionary movement fueled by anger about shifting power dynamics.
“It is an ideology that idealizes and advocates a fusion of American civic life with a very particular kind of Christianity,” Perry said. “That is a Christianity that isn’t characterized by, say, giving my life to Jesus or wanting to be a good disciple, but it is about white Christian ethno-culture, a traditionalist Christian subculture that characterizes ‘people like us,’ that we have been in charge and that we are the rightful rulers and our culture should hold sway and it should be institutionalized in American political life.”
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Episcopal Church steps up voter engagement efforts as Election Day approaches
Early and absentee voting is underway across the United States, and in the run-up to Election Day on Nov. 8, The Episcopal Church is encouraging nonpartisan engagement in the electoral process in a variety of ways and at all levels, from volunteering with local voter registration efforts to participating in a churchwide call to prayer on election night.
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris will be among the featured guests in the Nov. 8 prayer event, which will be livestreamed from 8 p.m. to midnight Eastern on the church’s Facebook page. The event is hosted by the church’s Washington, D.C.-based Office of Government Relations.
“We welcome everyone as we reflect on this key process of our common life and on the importance of fair elections for our democracy,” Rebecca Linder Blachly, director of the Office of Government Relations, said in a recent news release announcing the event. “We hope many voters will join us that day to pray for our leaders, neighbors, and country.”
The Office of Government Relations also urges Episcopalians to “Vote Faithfully” with the help of resources outlined it its election engagement toolkit, which has been updated for these midterm elections.
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Los Angeles project develops lay chaplaincy curriculum to open doors for more to serve
Priests and deacons interested in serving as chaplains in hospitals, prisons, schools and other institutions often undergo rigorous training in these specialized ministries. But degrees and certifications aren’t always required to provide pastoral care, nor do chaplains need to be ordained clergy to help people find spiritual solace during some of life’s most difficult moments.
The Rev. Jana Milhon-Martin sees chaplaincy as a call open to all, and for nearly two years, she has led a start-up initiative in the Diocese of Los Angeles, the Center for Lay Chaplaincy, that is developing and testing a curriculum for training lay chaplains to take on pastoral care roles.
Lay chaplains are not trained to substitute for clergy interactions with people in need, Milhon-Martin told Episcopal News Service. In intense settings like hospital trauma centers, skilled chaplains with more extensive training are indispensable. Rather, lay chaplains can play a vital role in responding to everyday pastoral needs in their parishes and the community, and “they bring a special kind of gift to that exchange.” This fall, Milhon-Martin, as the Center for Lay Chaplaincy’s director, is leading her fifth cohort of chaplaincy students, supported by $425,000 over three years in startup funds from Trinity Church Wall Street in New York.
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