The Weekly Update

Lenten Book Study with the Rev. Dr. Maggi Dawn

Wednesday, March 11

12.00 p.m.

St. John's Cathedral invites all to share in a weekly online noontime Lenten series with the Rev. Dr. Maggi Dawn offering reflections on her book, “Giving It Up,” which offers daily Bible readings from Ash Wednesday to Easter Day.

Dawn is canon theologian for the Diocese of Rhode Island, a former assistant dean at Yale Divinity School, and wife of the Very Rev. Andrew Tremlett, dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. She is also an indie rock musician and songwriter.

Each week Dawn will read a story, and participants will share thoughts and learnings, ponder a related question, and close in guided prayer or song. The biblical stories will be familiar, but how they relate to our lives will be fresh.

Dawn writes: "One of my favorite ways of going deeper in faith is to re-read the stories of scripture, imagining myself right inside the story. I want to get beyond the dry theory to something that connects to real life; and I believe that before we ever get to principles and lessons and calls to action, we need a deep and personal connection to God. It is my pleasure to join you this Lent for a weekly online meeting, looking further into how to deepen that connection with God. Lent is always associated with “wilderness” — but this is an invitation to a journey through Lent that does not feel like a dry, dusty punishment, but instead like a deep dive into a God who longs to feed our souls. I hope you will join me as we pray, read, and talk together."

Dawn’s book is available on Amazon electronically via Kindle or in print, though shipping may take 7-10 days. The zoom link will be available on the St. John’s website at: www.stjohnsla.org. The group will meet on Wednesdays, beginning on Feb. 25 at noon for one hour.

Bishop Taylor calls for prayer at outset of warfare; L.A. is home to largest Iranian population outside Tehran

[The Episcopal News] After U.S-Israel attacks on Iran began Feb. 28, Bishop John Harvey Taylor called for prayer, noting in a Facebook post (full text below) that "[t]hose of us who believe in the saving power of the risen Christ will have a lot of work to do" following "the worst abuse of presidential power in United States history." Los Angeles is home to more than 500,000 residents of Iranian descent, the largest population outside Tehran.

My friends in Christ:

The best we can do this morning is pray and pray hard, especially for those most at risk from this violence -- U.S. volunteers as well as innocents in Iran and Israel and people in and around U.S. installations in the region.

About the event itself, we know all we need to know from the news. Our government has undertaken an aggressive war without congressional warrant or an imminent threat. The U.S. and Israel are attacking Iran and attempting regime change not because they have to but because they want to.

First of all, this is a crisis for those in the line of fire.

It is also a constitutional crisis -- the worst abuse of presidential power in United States history. Only President Roosevelt's words about the attack on Pearl Harbor suffice. It is a day that will live in infamy.

Today is the first day of a new epoch for our country. Because of our government’s lawlessness, liberty and justice for all are on the line as never before. Those of us who believe in the saving power of the risen Christ will have a lot of work to do.

For today, all we can do is pray. Pray as hard as we ever have.

Pray for the innocent. Pray for our country, Lincoln's vision of the last best hope of earth.

Yours in Christ's love,

John