Ffriends,
The lessons for this Pentecost Sunday include the familiar but amazing story of the the earliest Christian "church" gathered after Jesus Assumption and suddenly speaking to folks in the language of their country with something like tongues of fire leaping from their heads. From this we get the appropriate vestments colour (red of course) and also the shape of a bishop's mitre. While there are many other fun facts and traditions that surround this holiday, it is for good reason that it can be called the "birthday of the church", ie, the first time it regarded itself as a body of people united. In the Epistle from I Corinthians recounts some of the "gifts" experienced that day, including speaking in "tongues" and interpreting those speeches. Yet all those were in that same " one Spirit" of which the disciples drank (remember that the crowds at first thought they were inebriated). It is all the more remarkable that Paul recounts this story as he wasn't present at Pentecost itself! And the gospel lesson from John has another story of a ghostly appearance by Jesus to the disciples who were cowering behind closed doors in a room "for fear of the Jews". Jesus starts by saying "Peace be with you." (sort of Shalom or Salaam) and after the disciples recognised him, he said repeating the intro “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” While the above makes a neat package explain how the church began, this Sunday there is an alternate lesson from the OT book Numbers, which depicts a remarkably close parallel when Moses was leading Israel to the promised land. In this story, which Wikipedia suggests was part of Israel's war strategy, predicting war with Gog and Magog, but that the real purpose of the story was that such prophecy was not limited to a select few, yet not the entire general population (they "were of them that were written down"). Thus in the story, we seem to have at once the Great Commission, to go out and preach the gospel - telling the good news who all who would hear, yet a recognition that not all would do so. Indeed Moses is quoted as saying "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!" Note that this was was preceded by his telling the people "Are you jealous for my sake?" (ie, that someone else should lead in God's path) when he was asked by those people "My lord Moses, stop them!" The point is that there are many paths that lead to God and should be glad when we learn of others who share that "same Spirit", whether the texts and traditions are the same as our own or not. May we rejoice when we find other of that same Spirit. Our love to all, Bart (and Tony!) and for all of us at St Matthew parish Events St Matts will be having Evening Prayer at 3pm this Pentecost Sunday. And our fellow mission St Lukes Church in Jolon will have services led by our friend Roy Morris. Our correspondent from St Luke, Daphne Denny, also tells us the following: "Father Filemon will be "installed", or "received" (I'm not sure of the correct word here) as an Episcopalian priest, at the Cathedral of our Diocese of El Camino Real in San Jose, on Sunday, June 4, at 11 a.m. He has asked Father Carl Hansen of St. Mark's Episcopal in King City to be a witness and sign for him, at this ceremony, so there will be no Sunday Eucharist Service that day for us to attend in King City. There are some people from St. Luke's and St. Mark's who are planning to travel to San Jose to attend this ceremony. If you would like to attend, here is contact information and the address of the Cathedral. Diócesis Episcopal de "El Camino Real" Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Iglesia Episcopal de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe 81 N. Second St. San Jose, Ca. 95113 408-293-7953 fdiaz@trinitysj.org www.trinitysj.org Pride Events This week our focus will be on Pride events. As we have from many sectors and groups, what I call a reasonable Pride is a human necessity, of being who we are, as God made us. As Lady Gaga sings, "I on the right track baby, I was born this way". As we have mentioned many times, the many Pride events are typically in June and June has been dubbed "Pride Month". In our local area, Central Coast Pride kicks off this week with events too numerous to list here - rather go to the websites of the Gala Center Pride and Diversity Center in San Luis Obispo, where we hear the big Pridefest is set for Saturday, June 2 in Laguna Lake Park, with other events preceding and following. As the GALA Center puts it: "Trans Pride May 27 in Meadow Park from 11-4 pm (TODAY!) Central Coast Pride Fest at Laguna Lake June 3 (near the dog park) from 10-5 pm Pride in the Plaza June 4 from 1-6 pm". Note that this year Rev Dcn Jen at St Benedicts Church in Los Osos, tells us that n conjunction with the other Deanery parishes and in special celebration of retiring rector Rev Caro Hall (who as mentioned was also at one time President of Integrity, the LGBTQ Episcopal support group) Also as previously mentioned, Pride season includes the great AIDS Lifecycle ride which will pass thru San Luis Obispo area on Tues June 6 with our friend Dcn Rev Susan Arnold et al greeting riders with refreshment at the northerly end of San Miguel on that morning at 8:30am thru 3pm at the north off ramp to San Miguel (nearest Camp Roberts) - please join her! Other Pride Events This year Tony(!) and I will be attending a special Pride benefit gathering up north at the Filoli mansion and gardens - for full details see https://filoli.org/visit/pride/ We will be enjoying this event with the company of our sister Brandy, one of the livest wires we know! A Very Special Pride Event We hear from our correspondents in Los Angeles that our friend, Katharine Jefferts Schori, who has been on St Matthew News emailing list since she was Episcopal Bishop of Nevada such that when we got to greet her at her election as Presiding Bishop at Episcopal General Convention she said "Bart and Tony! From San Ardo!", will be in the Episcopal contingent of the LA Pride Parade and other events. In their words: LA Pride is coming Sunday June 11, 2023! On Sunday, June 11, 2023 members of The Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles will gather to march in the historic LA Pride Parade in Hollywood. Join us as we gather with former Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to stand up to injustice, model God's unconditional love for all people and celebrate the beautiful diversity that makes the LGBTQIA+ community so essential and vital to the Episcopal experience. The parade is scheduled from 11AM-2PM and we will be gathering in our staging area at 10AM. Please note that due to parade regulations you will not be able to join the contingent along the parade route and we will need to check in all parade marchers in advance of stepping off. To confirm your participation please email gleamlainfo@gmail.com and parade details including, staging location, parking and other guidelines will be sent in response. This work is as critical as it has always been and we look forward to showing up on parade day to do the work of proclaiming God's inclusive love for absolutely everyone!!
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Friends,
The lessons today include from Acts telling us of the Assumption of Jesus, from Peter's first letter counselling humility and patience, and from the Gospel of John a beautiful prayer Jesus offered as he was leaving the world, making clear his identity with God, and as well with the people of faith and seeking protection for the faithful. Of special note to me in the Acts lesson is the Commission Jesus assigns us, to be God's witnesses even "to the ends of the earth". As the crowd including the Apostles watched Jesus disappear in a cloud, two men in white appeared and said “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” We appreciate the humous that can surround this Assumption (eg, did Jesus begin "working from home" at this point?) But to me the meaning is far better: we shouldn't be looking for Jesus in the usual ways, as gods in a temple (see last week's lesson of Paul at the Areopagus). Rather, the way we can find him is in the Spirit, and the place to look is within each of us as we find ourselves in him. May we rejoice in this mysterious power of the Spirit! Our love to all, Bart (and Tony!) and for all of us at St Matts! Events Please join us at St Matthew Church in San Ardo on Sundays at 3pm for Evening Prayer. Our fellow mission St Luke Church in Jolon will be having Morning Prayer this Sunday at 10am led by our friend SuRay! as well as their Vespers / Potluck event on Wed, May 24. Meet at the parish hall for potluck at 6pm and go to the church for the service at 7. The footlight lovers at St Peter Church in Morro Bay, besides their usual services, tell us that their space will be used for a comedy play by their "By-the-Sea Players" this weekend and next at 7pm Fri and Sat and 3pm Sun. They will present The Cemetery Club (sounds like dark humour to me about "the here ... and the hereafter". Spring is both a beauty and a wildly busy season. As usual we will try to limit events, but maybe a few more as many are too good NOT to mention: Also our friend Rev Dcn Susan Arnold tells us she will head up the ministry to greet riders in the annual AIDS LifeCycle and we have joined her in past years. In her words: "For the past 6 years I have been supporting this through monetary donation and by presence. On the day they come into the county I set up a "booth" at the north end of Mission Street and greet the riders as they round the curve on to Mission Street from Camp Roberts.The date this year is Tuesday June 6th. I will arrive at about 8:30am and I usually stay until 3. The riders come through hot and tired and thirsty. They have another mile + to go for the rest break, food, bathrooms, and so on but they really appreciate a quick spritz and splash, a hand slap, and high five as they make their way to the shade. They are so appreciative. I would love to have company this year. If you would like to join me in supporting these riders with your presence please contact me. Dcn. Susan Arnold, 805-550-2907" Note also that the LifeCycle event will come after this year's Pride in the Plaza event in San Luis Obispo on Sat June 3rd , at which parishes in our Deanery will be present to greet all, with a smile and a snack and/or cool water, etc, and they hope many will help in the effort. Our neighbour parish to the south, St James Church in Paso Robles, is meeting Weds at 6:30pm to discuss the book, "The Difficult Words of Jesus" by Amy-Jill Levine. The meeting is in person and via Zoom. For full details go to St James' websites. And from further south in the Los Angeles diocese we hear from GLEAM of the following event: Sunday, May 21, 2023 1 WEEK LEFT TO RSVP TO JOIN US! On Sunday May 21, 2023 from 2-5PM we invite you to gather with us for the annual GLEAM Garden Party at the Episcopal Residence in Pasadena. Join us as we gather in community in the beautiful gardens at the home of our hosts Bishop John Taylor and Canon Kathy O'Connor, make new friends and raise funds to support LGBTQIA+ ministry in the diocese. This year we are excited to offer drag bingo, poetry stations with queer poets writing custom poetry, and more! There is a suggested $30 donation at the door. Door donations of $40 include the first two rounds of Bingo. Door Donations of $50 will include all rounds of Bingo. (Cash, checks and credit will be accepted at the door) To RSVP by 5/19/23 for the garden party please email gleamlainfo@gmail.com. Address and parking details will be sent upon receiving your response. This work is as critical as it ever has been and we look forward to seeing you continue the work of proclaiming God’s inclusive love available to absolutely everyone! Deanery Events From the Deanery we received this update from David Ottesen, convenor: This update concerns the celebration at St. Benedict's in honor of the Rev. Caro Hall tomorrow evening, May 19. Since I sent the previous two email reminders, the starting time has changed to 6:30 pm. (That's TONIGHT folks!) We're hoping that you are planning to attend, but I'm guessing that if you show up at 6:00 pm you might possibly get drafted into helping set up! We hope all recall the two Deanery events as previously mentioned: the folks at St. Benedict's, Los Osos, are celebrating the Rev. Caro Hall's ministry since she will be retiring at the end of May. The festivities will be held at St. Benedict's on Friday, May 19, and we've been invited to come and celebrate with them. Second, Caro has always wanted to sing in John Rutter's Requiem and several choirs from our Deanery parishes have worked hard to make this a reality. The concert will be held at St. Barnabas', Arroyo Grande, on Sunday, May 21, at 3 pm. Our first combined rehearsal was last night, and I believe the performance will be wonderful and inspiring. From the Diocese The official summer camp of The Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real. Join us at Camp Saint Andrew's July 23-29 for a week of fun outdoor activities, friendship, and personal growth! Our traditional overnight camp in the Sierra Nevada Mountains is for youth ages 8-15. Activities throughout the week include archery, swimming, fishing, arts & crafts, hikes to the lake, sports & games, campfire songs, skits, and much more! Woven in with all the summer camp fun, we pride ourselves on providing meaningful opportunities for youth to develop as leaders while emphasizing personal and spiritual growth that is centered in a strong and supportive community. Learn more about our program at www.campsaintandrews.com. Space is limited, so register today! From The Episcopal Church Workshop Offerings at the "It's All About Love" Festival, July 9-12 “It’s All About Love” is a churchwide festival of worship, learning, community, and action for the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement, July 9-12 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Everyone is welcome to join for revival worship, plenary speakers, and dozens of workshops, panels, and practice opportunities around the festival tent themes: Evangelism, Racial Reconciliation, and Creation Care. Together with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, House of Deputies President Julia Ayala Harris, and inspiring leaders across the church and beyond, we will be renewed, equipped, and connected to go forth and share the power of love! For full info see https://www.episcopalchurch.org/its-all-about-love/ Folks,
Today's lessons include from Acts, about which more later, along with Peter's first letter, with a discussion of suffering and a helpful likening of baptism as being "saved through water", in effect "an appeal to God for a good conscience". In John's gospel we hear more from Jesus of the family relationship we can have with God, not as orphans, but rather with One who is with us always - a relationship that is further explored by Paul in the Acts lesson, centered on his "sermon" before the Council of the Areopagus in Athens. At that council, located at a rock in the area of several Greek temples (Areopagus literally means the Rock of Ares) similar to the districts in smaller cities where houses of worship tend to cluster here in the US, Paul gets to speak to a quasi-judicial council, a group who are both intellectual and philosophical yet philosophical and proud, about his God, a group who were likely very much like the "agnostics" of today, who would say, like the inscription Paul spotted on a temple altar "To an Unknown God" that they don't know of God. (My own journey of faith began, as I think must for most of us, with agnosticism and then exploration.) He knows the distaste the group had then, as they would now, for the notion of a god of stone or precious metal. So he presents instead a god who relates directly to the living, breathing people of the day. To do this he brings up a quote from the sixth century BCE from Cretan poet, Epimenides of Knossos, "'In him we live and move and have our being’; (adding) as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’" thereby depicting a God who is with us always and in a caring, familial way referring in the patriarchal language of the cultures he knew to God as "Father". For people of faith this is the God that matters, Paul goes on to say his God has overlooked human ignorance but requires all to "repent" (re-think) and in so doing find that relationship. He finishes by stating that this is attested to by God in the resurrection of the man Jesus from the dead. We are not present as Thomas was to put his hand on Jesus's wounds, but faith enables us to realise that familial God in our lives and we can sense the family of faith with God as the head, as the central reality of our lives, more "real" than all the many things around us, by that gift of faith. May we all accept that precious gift! Our love to all, Bart (and Tony!) Events Folks, St Matthew parish in San Ardo will be meeting this Sunday at 3pm for Evening Prayer. While this time of day has worked well for winter, we will be considering other days and times as summer comes along, so stay tuned. Our fellow mission St Luke Church in Jolon will be meeting at 10am for Morning Prayer with our friend Roy Morris preaching and leading. Note that this Sunday will be Mothers Day, and several parishes, including Good Shepherd Church in Salinas, will be having special festivities to observe the Day. Other Events One particularly special event at St Paul Cathedral in San Diego happened last night at St Paul Cathedral in San Diego. It is called the Peace & Justice Listening Hub. For many the work of peace and justice comes more naturally if we can only listen to one another, both locally and more globally. This event is one of a series that sounds of special interest to me. See www.stpaulcathedral.org for this and all Cathedral events. Note also that next Saturday at 1pm St Paul there will be a performance of The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde. This event is available by Zoom as well as in person and we may participate by joining at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83412621775#success Deanery Events Our friend David Ottesen, the Deanery Convenor tells us of two special Deanery events: First, the folks at St. Benedict's, Los Osos, are celebrating the Rev. Caro Hall's ministry since she will be retiring at the end of May. The festivities will be held at St. Benedict's on Friday, May 19, and we've been invited to come and celebrate with them. Second, Caro has always wanted to sing in John Rutter's Requiem and several choirs from our Deanery parishes have worked hard to make this a reality. The concert will be held at St. Barnabas', Arroyo Grande, on Sunday, May 21, at 3 pm. Our first combined rehearsal was last night, and I believe the performance will be wonderful and inspiring. Folks,
The lessons for this Sunday include from Acts the death of St Stephen, considered the first martyr of the church as he died by stoning in the earliest days of the apostles work along with a lesson from I Peter (a good bit later in time) with much reference to stones. In addition, there is a wonderfully mystical gospel lesson from John. In the case of Stephen, we have a person who was in the very first round of ordinations as deacons. Wiki says that he was known as a Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jew, a natural step towards the opening of the church to Gentiles. He was martyred for speaking out against the Jewish temple leaders. Note that St Paul, then known as Saul, was one of the Jews who participated in his stoning, something that seems always to have weighed on Paul and helped Paul proceed with the work of building a community of faith for Jews and Gentiles alike. The gospel lesson also fit with Paul's own conversion experience as he realised the mystical nature of the place that Jesus referred to in John as the one where we would all be with Jesus. But it is the lesson from I Peter that especially catches my eye, where the writer uses a metaphor about stones with its members as "living stones" being built into a house for the community of faith. May we all extend our strength to support the structure of that house of faith! Our love to all, Bart (and Tony!) And for all of us at St Matts! Events This is one of those weeks when we are travelling for work, thought we look forward to being at St Matts this Sunday for our regular 3pm Evening Prayer service! We here from our fellow missions St Luke in Jolon and St Mark in King City that they will be meeting together at St Mark Church this Sunday for a Eucharist service at 10am, with Rev Carl Hansen leading the service. Other Events As we are away working today and short on time, so we can only briefly mention two new events we hear about, from our friends at St Luke Church in Atascadero et al, to look forward to - - This Sunday St Luke will be having an Agape Feast from 11am-1pm at the church with Free Food for All! - Along with the other parishes in the Deanery, the parish is participating in supporting the AIDS Life Cycle event on June 6. The Deanery effort will be led by our friend Rev Dcn Susan Arnold who will greet riders at the Mission St exit from US-101 Southbound on the north end of San Miguel. We had a great time helping the effort last year. Contact Susan at dcnsusan.stbarnabas@gmail.com it you'd like to help! |
WILLIAM BARTOSH
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