Volume 5, Issue 6
February 7, 2020
THIS SUNDAY: February 9, 2020
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

8:00AM
Joe Adorno (EM)
Judy Saronitman (U)
Lorna Nishi (AG)

9:30AM
Mary Margaret Smith (EM)
Nelson Secretario, Terry Moses (R)
Bara Sargent, Ginny Martin (U)
Jan Hashizume (AG)
Raiden (A)
Mabel Antonio, Vikki Secretario (HP)
UPCOMING EVENTS
Youth Group Meeting
Sunday, February 9 th
11:00AM - 12:00PM
Youth Room

Daughters of the King
Thursday, February 13 th
7:00 - 8:00PM
Memorial Hall
RECURRING EVENTS
Sunday School
Every Sunday, 9:30 - 10:15AM
Memorial Hall

Aloha Hour
Every Sunday, 10:45AM - 12:00PM
Under the big tree

Monday Crew
Every Monday, 8:00AM
Church Office

Laundry Love
1 st & 3 rd Wednesday, 5:00PM
Kapa`a Laundromat
McMaster Slack Key Guitar and Ukulele Concert
Every Wednesday, 6:00PM
Church

Daughters of the King
2 nd & 4 th Thursday, 7:00 - 8:00PM
Memorial Hall

Choir Practice
Choir is in recess and practice will resume February 6
Every Thursday, 6:00PM
Choir Room
A New Priest-in-Charge at All Saints'
Kahu Kawika Officiates at His First Services
Fr. Ryan Newman left All Saints' Church in November of 2018 to take up the position as Dean of St. James Episcopal Cathedral in Fresno, CA, We then embarked on a search process to identify and call a new minister. It was a long, time-consuming process but the Search Committee finally identified two excellent candidates and passed those names onto the Vestry. The Vestry then interviewed both candidates and made a decision to call the next minister to All Saints' Church.

Fr. David Hilton Jackson ( Kahu Kawika ) assumed the position of Priest-in-Charge at All Saints' effective Saturday, February 1st and we were blessed to have him officiate at his first services on Sunday, February 2nd. It was an emotional day for many of us (yes, I know - especially me!).  Finally, after 15 months of hard work, we had brought a minister to the church who will help to guide us as we head towards our centennial in 2024.

As our Priest-in-Charge, Kahu Kawika is also Head of the Preschool and we anticipate that we will soon receive approval from the Department of Human Services, Early Childhood Registry for him to assume the position of Director of the Preschool.




Mahalo nui loa to Kahu Kawika and wife, Muriel, for taking up the challenge of moving to our tiny corner of Paradise and becoming members of the wonderful All Saints' `ohana!





Ke Akua pu me olua - God bless you both!

-David Murray
What's in a Name?
Priest-In-Charge Kahu Kawika
The Reverend David Jackson aka Kahu Kawika

Honorifics and names vary from language to language but often have equivalents from one language to another. For example, the English “Peter” becomes “Pedro” in Spanish. In romance languages, the similarity is easy to see. English to Hawaiian isn’t as easy because the languages are so different. Our new Priest-In-Charge, the Reverend David Jackson, is using the Hawaiian variation of his name, Kahu Kawika Jackson. According to the Hawaiian Dictionary one of the translations for “Kahu” is “pastor, minister, reverend, or preacher of a church”. “Kawika” is the Hawaiian form of the name “David”. 

Priest-In-Charge or Rector?

The title “Priest-In-Charge” may be new to many Episcopalians. I called the Rev. Canon Sandy Graham at the diocesan office to get a better understanding of the title. Canon Sandy began by explaining the difference between an Interim Rector and Priest-In-Charge. 

An Interim Rector has been specially trained to be a bridge between the old and new priests. They are often used when the departing priest has been with a parish for a long time. They help the congregation with separation from the previous priest and to prepare for the new priest. The parish is financially responsible for the move of the Interim to and from their parish. An Interim Priest is not eligible to be called as a permanent priest to that parish.

A Priest-In-Charge is the priest chosen by the search committee and approved by the bishop to be next priest for the parish. On paper, the Priest-In-Charge commitment is for three years though the intent is that the position will become permanent. The priest or the Vestry have the option of the relationship ending after three years if either decides it is not in everyone’s best interest to continue. The rights and responsibilities are the same for both a rector and a Priest-In-Charge. At the end of three years the Vestry can call the Priest-In-Charge to be the new rector. 

In the Episcopal Diocese of Hawaii it is becoming more and more a standard practice to have a Priest-In-Charge rather than an Interim Priest because we are such a small diocese that the financial burden moving households is difficult to bear. An example of a Priest-In-Charge being called to be rector is the Rev. Andrew McMullen at St. Michael’s and All Angels in Lihue. Rev. McMullen was called last year as rector after his three years as Priest-in-Charge. All Saints’ called several long term supply priests after the Rev. Ryan Newman was called to be Dean of the cathedral in Fresno,CA rather having an Interim Priest. The responsibilities of a supply priest are limited to Sunday services though we were blessed with supply priests who did so much more for our congregation. 

As Canon Sandy said, the difference between Rector and Priest-In-Charge is mainly one of semantics. Let us all move forward prayerfully as we welcome Kahu Kawika to All Saints’.

-CeCe Caldwell
Notes From the Annual Meeting
Doing the Business of the Church
On Sunday, January 26th, our congregation gathered to do the business of the church at our Annual Meeting which took place between the two services. A continental breakfast was provided to take care of those hunger pangs!

Following the Call to Order, Fr. David Englund delivered an opening prayer. This was Fr. David's final Sunday as our long-term rector and I am sure that the Annual Meeting was the high point of his time with us! Mahalo to Byron Barth, appointed as the Clerk of the meeting, and Rev. Mary Tudela and Susan Englund who agreed to be the Judges of Elections.

Mary Margaret Smith offered the Junior Warden's report.  

This was Mary's final official action in the position of Junior Warden. Mary has served on the Vestry for many terms as both Junior Warden and Senior Warden and stepped down from her position as Junior Warden to focus on her desire to become a Deacon. Mahalo nui loa to you, Mary, for all you have done and my sincere best wishes for success as you pursue this new path.

Under the umbrella of "Senior Warden's Report" we were blessed to receive the following presentations:

Children's and Youth Ministries - Cami Pascua
Organ Project - Morris Wise
Laundry Love - Geoff Shilds
Ministry Council - Linda Crocker

During these presentations the congregation submitted their votes for:
(1) the position of Junior Warden;
(2) 5 3-year terms on the Vestry: and
(3) 5 delegates to the annual Diocesan Convention.

The results of the election are as follows:

Junior Warden  (1-year term)
Ron Morinishi


Vestry  (3-year terms)
Mario Antonio
CeCe Caldwell
Linda Crocker
Vikki Secretario
Faith Shiramizu


Delegate to the annual Diocesan Convention  (5 positions)
Bill Caldwell
CeCe Caldwell
David Crocker
Linda Crocker
Mary Margaret Smith

Congratulations to all of our successful candidates and mahalo nui loa for your service to our church.

Mahalo again to Fr. David Englund who commissioned the Vestry members and offered the Closing Prayer and a final Blessing. We will miss you and Susan. Hurry back!

Mahalo nui loa also to all of you for everything you do for our church and our `ohana.

Mau loa me ke maluhia aloha - always with loving peace.

-David Murray
A Fond A Hui Hou to the Englunds
We Will Miss You!
After the Annual Meeting All Saints' had a wonderful Aloha Hour to send our dear friends on their way back to California. But not before we got a promise that they would return soon. Please click on the link to see the slideshow of Marge Akana's photos from the event.
EPISCOPALIANS
Adapted from an essay by Garrison Keillor

We make fun of Episcopalians for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like them. If you were to ask an audience in Des Moines, a relatively Episcopalianless place, to sing along on the chorus of "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their underwear. But if you do this among Episcopalians, they'd smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach!... And down the road!

Many Episcopalians are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony, a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your little head against that person's rib cage. It's natural for Episcopalians to sing in harmony. We are too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in unison. When you're singing in the key of C and you slide into the A7th and D7th chords, all two hundred of you, it's an emotionally fulfilling moment. By our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each other.

I do believe this, people: Episcopalians, who love to sing in four-part harmony are the sort of people you could call up when you're in deep distress. If you are dying, they will comfort you. If you are lonely, they'll talk to you. And if you are hungry, they'll give you tuna salad!
SPRING TRAINING 2020
Chrism Mass & Diocesan Education Day
Saturday, March 28, 2020
The Cathedral of St. Andrew, Honolulu

Registration opens at 8:00 AM
Chrism Mass at 9:00 AM
Workshops & Lunch through 3:30 PM

The Diocese of Hawai'i kicks off its new series of Diocesan training days with Spring Training 2020. This event will include a Chrism Mass (with renewal of vows for clergy and lay) followed by workshops for clergy, wardens, treasurers (stewardship leaders), children and youth workers, but all interested in learning more in these areas are welcome to attend. 

Workshop Descriptions

  • CLERGY TRACK: Revive, Innovating in Liturgy, and Vibrancy in our Congregations – Part of the day will be spent with Dawn Davis, the Author of Revive, “a small-group discipleship program for active lay leaders to help them grown in confidence as spiritual leaders who love God and want to live a Jesus-shaped life… Revive is offered as a gift to our dedicated lay leaders to give them the chance to be re-energized with some new ideas and lots of laughter and to learn about themselves and the God we serve.”  (Additional session description coming soon.)

  • WARDEN TRACK:  Revive, Spiritual Leadership, and Q & A with someone who’s been there, done that – Part of the day will be spent with Dawn Davis, the Author of Revive, “a small-group discipleship program for active lay leaders to help them grow in confidence as spiritual leaders who love God and want to live a Jesus-shaped life… Revive is offered as a gift to our dedicated lay leaders to give them the chance to be re-energized with some new ideas and lots of laughter and to learn about themselves and the God we serve.” Wardens will also have a session with Bishop Bob on Spiritual Leadership, and a Q & A session with Rae Costa, who served as a Warden herself, and now also knows the Diocesan system from the other side in her job as Business Manager.

  • TREASURER TRACK:  How does it all add up?  Meet with Danny Casey and Rae Costa (Accountant and Business Manager in the Diocesan Support Center, respectively) as they cover all things financial! They will focus on areas identified in the recent “How Can We Help You” survey sent out Diocese-wide. Treasurers will also meet with Wayne Yoshigai, Diocesan Chancellor, to talk about HR and employment law in a fun (no, really!) and educational way.

  • YOUTH/FAMILY MINISTRIES TRACK:

  • Youth Ministry 101: Are you willing to answer the call to Youth Ministry? Do you want to begin or reenergize a parish youth program, but don’t know where to start? Join us for “Youth Ministry 101,” an introduction to the essential building blocks for running a successful youth program in your local context. The day will include an overview of best practices, curriculum resources, and communication techniques, and will also cover the importance of relational ministry and how to attract youth. Help build a strong foundation for keiki to know God’s love in your parish community.

  • Stories of God at Home: A Godly Play Approach:  This is a new offering designed to help stimulate family storytelling alongside the stories of God. The important benefits of sharing both the beloved and difficult stories of your family with children have been widely documented. It is for educators and leaders, but also parents and grandparents. While participants do not receive full training as storytellers, they will be equipped to tell stories in their homes and to consider offering the resource in their church communities. 

  • Special SPICE MORNING SESSION: In addition to the Spring Training offerings, all clergy spouses/partners are invited to attend a special gathering following the Chrism Mass. We will join together for Centering Prayer followed by a workshop on converting a collared shirt (like an aloha shirt) into a clergy tab-shirt. Bring a shirt that you’ve always wanted to convert into a tab-shirt! Lunch is included in the registration fee.

 
Cost for the day is $15 and includes lunch and refreshments.  

Airfare for neighbor island clergy and lay leaders involved in the specified fields for this training event (clergy, wardens, treasurers, stewardship chairs, youth workers) will be covered. Click on the link above to register now. Deadline to register is Friday, March 21, 2020.

When
Saturday, March 28, 2020 from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM HST

Where
The Cathedral of St. Andrew 
229 Queen Emma Square
Honolulu, HI 96813  


Contact
The Rev. Alexander Graham 
Episcopal Diocese of Hawai`i 
808-536-7776, ext 309 
acgraham@episcopalhawaii.org 
AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE

Hawaiian-Language Book of Common Prayer & Na 'Euanelio Hemolele
Click  HERE  for more info and to purchase.
Epiphany 5 - Absalom Jones

February 9, 2020
In honor of Black History Month and Blessed Absalom Jones, the first African American priest in the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry has invited Episcopalians everywhere to deepen our participation in Christ’s ministry of reconciliation by engaging with and supporting Episcopal Historically Black Colleges and Universities, known as HBCUs.
Congregations and individuals are urged to dedicate the offering from their observance of the Feast of Absalom Jones (February 13) to support the two Episcopal HBCUs: St. Augustine’s University in Raleigh, N.C., and Voorhees College in Denmark, S.C. “These schools bring educational, economic, and social opportunity to often resource-poor communities, and they offer many blessings into the life of the Episcopal Church,” Bishop Curry said. Donations to the HBCUs will provide much needed help to offer competitive scholarships and financial aid, attract and retain exceptional faculty, support cutting-edge faculty research, install new and upgraded technology campus-wide, and provide state-of-the-art classroom and athletic equipment.

“The Episcopal Church established and made a life-long covenant with these schools, and they are an essential part of the fabric of our shared life,” the Presiding Bishop noted.
Jones was an African-American abolitionist and clergyman and the first African American ordained a priest in The Episcopal Church. He was born enslaved to Abraham Wynkoop in 1746 in Delaware. Jones moved to Philadelphia after his master sold his plantation along with Absalom’s mother and six siblings. Jones bought his wife Mary’s freedom and later his master granted Absalom’s emancipation in 1784. In 1787, with his friend Richard Allen, they founded the Free African Society, a mutual aid benevolent organization that was the first of its kind organized by and for black people. Jones was ordained a priest on September 21, 1802, faithfully serving the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia, a church which remains a vibrant congregation.

“As we approach February, the remembrance of the Blessed Absalom Jones, the first African-American priest in the Episcopal Church, we have a unique opportunity to celebrate his memory and to honor the witness of two schools that continue to form new leaders,” Bishop Curry said. “In honor of Jones’ commitment to advancing the education of African Americans and promoting the development of African American leaders in all areas of life, the Episcopal Church is delighted to designate Saint Augustine’s University and Voorhees College as the beneficiaries of the 2020 Feast of Absalom Jones offerings.”

Donations are accepted at  episcopalchurch.org/givehbcus  or text GIVEHBCU to 41444 For more information, contact Cecilia Malm, Development Officer, at cmalm@episcopalchurch.org  or (212) 716-6062.

Published by the Office of Formation of The Episcopal Church, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017

© 2020 The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

FROM THE EPISCOPAL CAFÉ
I Will Never Leave Nor Forsake You…

February 5, 2020

Three weeks ago I underwent knee surgery to repair ACL and meniscus tears. After six days of recuperation, I returned to church and work, although I expect to be on crutches for a total of six weeks. Several days later, I contracted what I thought was the flu, although I tested negative. It was probably some exotic virus or a virile bacterial infection. Regardless, I found myself housebound for a second week, with a spent body and fuzzy brain, and unable to talk. I could do nothing more than stare at the vapid television or into the expansive white of the winter outdoors. 
 
As interim priest at a lovely church located in a resort area, I am being housed in a VRBO-like condominium. The living area – kitchen, living room, dining room – is upstairs. Both bedrooms and bathrooms are downstairs. The condo does not have a “handicap” entrance, which means I have to navigate two flights of stairs to get to the couch – one from the parking lot to the entrance, and the second from the entrance to the living area. To get from the car to the front door requires me to cross a parking lot tundra of ice and snow. 
 
I am not complaining, just miserable. I do not have a bad attitude, I am just taxed. Which, of course, makes me think of Laura, my wife, who died a long time ago following a neurological disease that caused her constant and severe pain. She spent a year, two, three in pain, with little respite. At the time, and as a new priest still youngish (any Episcopal priest under fifty is considered “young”), I watched Laura suffer and wonder about how a person in pain or suffering engages spiritually. Centering prayer, meditation, the Daily Office, reading Scripture, praying for others? What might one do to fortify the soul against the body’s attack? What might God ask of the person whose task in life has been reduced to pulling one additional tug of breath into the lungs? Is  spirituality  possible? Will engaging the spirit ease suffering? 
 
I wasn’t the one suffering in those days, just the one watching his companion suffer. I naturally and egotistically assumed I could  instruct  her regarding the spiritual side of suffering. These days they call it,  man-splaining.  Laura naturally ignored my great advice, smart on her part. 
 
Almost two decades later, I find I’ve spent countless months and years learning how to engage my personal faith spiritually, particularly during life’s trials: Laura’s death, betrayal by friends, rejection by family members and/or parishioners. 
 
I remember receiving a spiritual epiphany during one particularly difficult time. A parishioner with a psychosis was repeatedly ignoring my personal boundaries. I suffered emotionally in a way that was severe and real. The epiphany came during Holy Week. One morning, while praying, I had an instant, inescapable, and unspeakable feeling that the upcoming Good Friday, only several days away, was to be mine. Put another way, I realized that, in my situation with this parishioner, I was going to be the one who died, albeit metaphorically.   I was to be crucified with Christ …  And lest that sounds terribly self-centered, narcissistic, and egotistical (or just one of those), that, in fact, is what happened. The advance intuition or voice of God or whatever it was – gave me the strength to face my Golgotha. And, as they naturally do, life and grace followed death, only later. Much later. 
 
Physical pain is different from psychological or spiritual pain. Physical pain is like severe hunger. When you are hungry, all you can think about is food. When you are in pain, all you can think about is how to end the pain. For those who might be suspicious of me, I  am  aware that there can be a place beyond hunger and perhaps beyond pain (how could I know?) when one slips into or leans into or yields to that hunger and pain …
 
Some traditions invite a suffering person suffering to embrace their suffering. Christianity often fails in this regard. Instead, we tend to offer two-dimensional prayers for healing. But  leaning  into one’s dying, to remember that dying, too, is part of living – that, too, is part of the tradition. I’ve offered this spiritual solace to those dying, despite never having been on  that  road. How can I be sure my advice is sound?  
 
In one version of Hinduism, they speak of a way for a person to face what he or she fears the most. Peter Matthiessen outlines this in his book,  The Snow Leopard , by telling the story of a fellow who stumbled upon the decaying body of his mother. The fellow was naturally stricken with grief and overcome with horror. Remembering the instruction of his guru – to embrace all that one fears, to treat all of life (and death) as inseparably related and thereby holy – he made a pillow of his mother’s remains and lay there for seven days. The practice invites the practitioner to embrace one’s mortality.
 
And I know – I just know – that I have failed miserably to embrace my own physical maladies with that type of intensity. Still, I close my eyes, invite the presence, feel the presence, and am grateful for each new breath. Will that be enough for my deeper self, my languished unconscious self? 
 
At the end of the day, what I do know is this, and what I recall is this:  Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.  Or, as spoken by Jesus elsewhere,  I will never leave you nor forsake you. 

THE EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE
Across racial and denominational divides, two churches forge a decade-long partnership

For New Jersey Episcopal and AME congregations, reconciliation starts with being neighborly

By Mary Frances Schjonberg
Posted Feb 3, 2020
From left, the Rev. Sidney S. Williams Jr., senior pastor of Bethel AME Church of Morristown, New Jersey, and the Rev. Cynthia Black, rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Morristown, take part in the Jan. 19 celebration of their congregations’ growing relationship. Photo: W. H. Schleicher

[Episcopal News Service] When members of the  Church of the Redeemer  and  Bethel AME Church , both in Morristown, New Jersey, are out on the lawn sharing dinner, the Rev. Cynthia Black thinks to herself, “This is what heaven is like.”

The relationship between Redeemer and Bethel began 10 years ago and is part of Redeemer’s 20-year-old annual Season of Reconciliation. The season goes from the Sunday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January to the Sunday nearest Feb. 13, the day The Episcopal Church celebrates the  feast of Absalom Jones . The season’s end coincides with a special day for AME members as well.

“One of the things we learn and relearn every year is about our relationship with Absalom Jones and Richard Allen,” Black, Redeemer’s rector, told Episcopal News Service recently.

Absalom Jones and Richard Allen were African Americans who left St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia after the mixed congregation voted in 1786 to banish its black members to the balcony. William White, the Episcopal bishop of Pennsylvania, accepted the group as an Episcopal parish. It later became known as the  African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas . He ordained Jones, making him the first African American priest in The Episcopal Church.

Allen remained a Methodist and in 1794 founded Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. He later organized the  AME Church , and the denomination celebrates Allen’s birthday, Feb. 14, as Founder’s Day.

The idea for Redeemer’s Season of Reconciliation began in the late 1990s when members of the church’s racial dialogue group challenged the congregational worship committee to think about how the church could address racism.

It wasn’t a totally new question. “We had always celebrated Martin Luther King Day as a liberation holiday,” said Colleen Hintz, who was a member of the worship committee at the time and later chaired the group for many years. The committee took up the challenge, she told ENS, building on Redeemer’s habit of changing the focus of many secular holidays, such celebrating rights for all women on Mother’s Day.

The worship committee decided to go further. “These single liberation days are as good as the day is, and it addresses the people who are there on that day, and then you forget about it,” Hintz said. Instead, the committee proposed setting aside a period of weeks “when we would be looking seriously at the issues of racism.”

She decided to make vestments and altar hangings for the season. “I knew right away what they looked like; they looked like the secret quilt code of the Underground Railroad,” she said.

Hintz, who has been  creating vestments  since 1980, was inspired by the  somewhat controversial  book “ Hidden in Plain View ,” which explains how enslaved men and women made quilts encoded with long-recognized symbols and used them to direct escapees to freedom.

“To me, hidden within that code are all the tools we need to dismantle isms in our lifetime if we only follow them,” she said. “And in my heart, I know Redeemer is a safe house; it’s a safe place.”

Hintz explains the meanings of the vestments’ symbols in this video:
If the Season of Reconciliation began with a focus on division between blacks and whites, Redeemer later expanded the season to consider other issues, according to Hintz, including issues like intolerance of immigrants and refugees and of other religions. “It is a time where we intentionally name the issues that divide us,” she said.

One of those issues came to the fore in November 2010 when the Rev. Sidney S. Williams Jr. was called from a missionary posting in Cape Town, South Africa, to be Bethel’s senior pastor. Early on, he spoke during a clergy gathering about his experience of the truth and reconciliation work practiced in South Africa. Williams explained to the group that the work is “such an appropriate way to overcome barriers and prejudices,” adding that Americans don’t practice reconciliation nearly enough. “We just want to change laws,” he said.

Williams told ENS that the Rev. Lisa Green, who was then Redeemer’s interim rector, challenged him to look beyond his focus on blacks and whites to consider LGBTQ issues. She invited Bethel to come worship with the Episcopalians.

Redeemer has long advocated for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in their communities and in the life of the church. The AME denomination  has not been as open  to full inclusion as The Episcopal Church.

Williams said he assured his congregation that he was “not trying to change any laws or break away from the AME Church; we just want to go worship Christ together, and then they are going to come to do the same with us.”

In the end, Bethel decided to accept the invitation. That first year, the Episcopalians were led by Green, who is straight. Then, Black became Redeemer’s rector in June 2011. She recalled that Williams told her some Bethel members were worried how it would look if they worshipped at a church with a lesbian pastor. Williams said to them, “Pastor Cynthia and her wife have only been married once. Some of you have been divorced and remarried. They’ve been together for 30 years.”
At center, the Rev. Cynthia Black, rector of the Church of the Redeemer, presides at a Eucharist on Jan. 19. Joining Black at the altar are, to the left, the Rev. Elizabeth Cotton, Bethel AME Church’s associate minister, and to the right, the Rev. Sidney S. Williams Jr., senior pastor at Bethel. The altar frontals include a silhouette of Martin Luther King Jr. and a modern version of the safe house quilt symbol said to have been used by people helping slaves escape along the Underground Railroad. Photo: Rebecca K. Walk er

As the joint services began, members of both parishes began discovering their common roots, including in the liturgy and the lectionary, but there were differences. At the first Bethel service, Green and Williams agreed that he would end the service with AME’s  traditional altar call , something that is atypical in Episcopal churches. It left some people in tears.
“Some African American members of Redeemer said they never thought they would pray at the altar of a black church again,” Williams said. “Then there were some white members who grew up United Methodist and said, ‘My God, I thought I would never be at the altar of a Methodist church again.’”

The experience of people “black, white, gay, straight, lesbian at the altar just pouring their hearts out to God in this awesome fellowship” helped those who had felt alienated from their denominations for who they were feel like they had come home, he said.
Williams and Black say there is still much work to do.

Calling the Season of Reconciliation her “favorite part of the year,” Black said, “I see that we’re still in our comfort zones. We do these things together, but we’re still separately together.”

For instance, she said, Redeemer and Bethel have yet to combine their choirs for the joint services. Some senior Bethel members no longer come to the joint services because they can’t sit in their seats with their choir singing their hymns.

“It’s not so much a black and white thing as it is a normal human nature kind of thing,” Black said.
The Rev. Cynthia Black, rector of the Church of the Redeemer in Morristown, New Jersey, preaches during the Feb. 2 service at Bethel AME Church of Morristown. Listening are the Rev. Sidney S. Williams Jr., Bethel’s senior pastor, right, and others. Photo: Rebecca K. Walker

The two congregations come together for other annual events like a Juneteenth celebration. They join civic events such as the Whippany River cleanup. They tend to refer to each other as being from the same family, although Williams wishes there were “more of a yearning to come together instead of, ‘Oh, we’ve got to go see the in-laws again.’”

Black agrees. “As wonderful as the experience is, I’m wanting us to go one step further, and I don’t know how to do that, and maybe I should let go of that and say, ‘This is good enough. It’s great and it is so much more than anybody else does. Let’s just celebrate this.’”

These 10 years have taught Williams that people of faith often try to deal as legislative bodies with things like racial reconciliation and disagreements about sexuality and hope that their members simply agree.

“But wouldn’t it be more powerful if, within our own individual communities, we can begin a season of reconciliation, so maybe what Redeemer and Bethel are doing can become a model for other churches?” he asked. “Why not just start being neighborly?”

– The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg retired in July as the Episcopal News Service’s senior editor and reporter.
THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
The Anglican Communion’s Five Marks of Mission: an introduction

Posted February 4, 2020
Photo Credit: James Coleman

The Anglican Communion loves its jargon – key words and buzz phrases that spring up in conversations, sermons, and speeches. One of these phrases is “the Five Marks of Mission”. The Anglican Communion News Service has commissioned a series of articles looking at each of the Five Marks and we will publish these in the coming weeks. In this article, Gavin Drake explores their background and history.

The Anglican Communion has no central authority or decision-making body. It is a family of 40 – soon to be 41 – independent but interdependent Churches. The Anglican Communion’s four Instruments of Communion – the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primates’ Meeting, the Lambeth Conference and the Anglican Consultative Council – have no right to impose policies or initiatives on those autonomous member churches.

But they can come up with ideas which they propose to the Churches. These ideas may gain acceptance in some churches but not in others; or they may be rejected by most churches, or they may gain wide acceptance. This process is often referred to as “reception” – it is a way of testing whether the proposals by the Instruments have been received by the Churches.
Once such proposal which has been universally accepted by the Churches of the Communion is the Five Marks of Mission. Some member Churches will have debated these in their provincial synods or councils, others will have just adopted them through usage. The Five Marks of Mission are such an important resource that Churches outside the Anglican Communion often reflect on them too. But what are they?

The Five Marks of Mission began life as a mission statement – an organisational statement about the purpose of the Anglican Communion. Being mission-focused, this organisational statement was more “mission”-minded than most organisation’s mission statements.
In 1984, meeting in Badagry, Nigeria, the Anglican Consultative Council adopted Four Marks of Mission (the fifth was to be added later). The official Report of report the meeting makes clear their origins in the Gospels: “The Gospel according to St John puts the Great Commission in these simple words; ‘As the Father has sent me, even so I sent you’ (John 20:21)”, the report said. “Deliberately and precisely Jesus made his mission the model of our mission to the world. For this reason, our understanding of the Church’s mission must be deduced from our understanding of what Jesus considered his mission to be.”

The four Marks of Mission were summarised in four headings: evangelism, response and initiation, Christian nurture and teaching, and service and transformation. In addition to adopting the Marks, the Council asked all local churches, deaneries, archdeaconries, dioceses and provinces to carry out a mission audit to measure how effective they were under the four headings.

In 1990, at its meeting in Wales, the Anglican Consultative Council added a fifth Mark of Mission, saying in its official report: “There has been a consistent view of mission repeated by the ACC, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates’ Meeting and others in recent years, which defines mission in a four-fold way. . . We now feel that our understanding of the ecological crisis, and indeed of the threats to the unity of all creation, mean that we have to add a fifth affirmation” – to safeguard the integrity of creation.

The Five Marks of Mission should not be seen as a never-changing creed. At its 2012 meeting in Auckland, New Zealand, the ACC said that they should be understood as dynamic and should be reviewed regularly. At this meeting, the Council revised the wording of the fourth Mark of Mission, adding the phrase “to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation” to the pre-existing text “to seek to transform the unjust structures of society”.

The Five Marks of Mission are more than a mission statement for the Anglican Communion. They are lived out every day in the provinces and Churches of the Communion. In the coming weeks, we will publish a series of articles, each written by an expert in their field, which will unpack each of the Marks and how they are being lived out throughout the Anglican Communion.

The Five Marks of Mission

The mission of the Church is the mission of Christ
  1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
  2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
  3. To respond to human need by loving service
  4. To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation
  5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth

HALE HO`OMALU FEBRUARY COLLECTION

Toiletries: Toothpaste, Toothbrush, Deodorant
Place your donations in the red wagon by the door to the sanctuary on Sundays. Hale Ho`omalu also needs and appreciates monetary donations as well as gift-in-kind items.

Please note, we do not accept food items that are not mentioned on the monthly list and we do not accept clothing, toys or similar items unless a specific plea for such items is published in the  Epistle . Your  Epistle  Staff will inform you of any special requests for donations.
SUNDAY SCHOOL THIS WEEK
Jesus Heals the Sick (Part 1)
In chapters 8 and 9 in the Gospel of Matthew, we hear many stories of Jesus healing people: 

  • A leper (Matthew 8:1-4) 
  • A Roman centurion’s servant (Matthew 8:5-13) 

In the Bible We recommend the New Revised Standard Version Bible. 
Matthew 8–9 

  • Peter’s mother-in-law and others (Matthew 8:14-17) 
  • The Gadarene “demoniacs” (Matthew 8:28–9:1) 
  • A paralyzed man (Matthew 9:2-8) 
  • A dead girl and a hemorrhaging woman (Matthew 
  • In Children’s Bibles If you plan to use a children’s Bible for storytelling, write the page numbers of today’s story in the space below. 
  • 9:18-25) 

In our Sunday Lectionary 

  • Two blind men (Matthew 9:27-31) 
  • Today’s stories are told in church from the 
  • A mute man (Matthew 9:32-34) 
  • other gospels, not from Matthew.

In Matthew, Jesus’ healing ministry follows his preaching of the Sermon on the Mount in which he proclaims the kingdom of God. Then he brings the kingdom to earth by bringing people to wholeness, which is the beginning of bringing all of creation to wholeness. Having shown Jesus as Messiah of the word, Matthew now presents Jesus as the Messiah of the deed

Jesus’ healing power does not prove that he is the Son of God. He is not the Son of God because he healed the sick. Rather, his healing is a sign of God’s presence in him, God working in him as in no other person. The healings are a sign that God, through Jesus, is healing God’s creation, which God promised to do in the fullness of time.
IN BRIEF . . .
These news briefs were featured in previous issues of "The Epistle"

Please submit your story ideas to the Epistle Staff at news@allsaintskauai.org .
ALL SAINTS' SERVICE BULLETINS AVAILABLE ONLINE
Go to allsaintskauai.org, the last time under "Worship Services" is "Download E-Programs". Click on that link to download the current service bulletin.

RIDES OFFERED TO BOTH SUNDAY SERVICES
If you need a ride to and from church call Chris Wataya at 808-652-0230.

ALL SAINTS' WISH LIST
If any ministry has an unmet need, reach out to put it on the All Saints' Wish List and it will be published in the Epistle . Contact Bill Caldwell at news@allsaintskauai.org .

LAUNDRY LOVE VOLUNTEERS AND DONATIONS
For more information go to Laundry Love Kaua`i or contact Geoff Shields at gshields2334@gmail.com or Bill Caldwell at news@allsaintskauai.org .

PASTORAL CARE CONTACT INFORMATION
Whenever you have a need for support, please call (650) 691-8104 and leave a voice mail. The system will immediately forward the information to the Pastoral Care Committee who will respond to each request. If you prefer, you may send an electronic pastoral care request via email to pastoralcare@allsaintskauai.org .

PRAYER CHAIN MINISTRY
Individuals who want to participate in the Prayer Chain Ministry must re-enroll to continue receiving the email communications . To re-enroll, please visit the newly established   Pastoral Care web page  or contact the Church Office at (808) 822-4267.

SUBMITTING A PRAYER REQUEST
Prayer requests will now be   submitted online   or by contacting the Church Office at (808) 822-4267.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Names can be added to the Prayers of the People petitions by using the  Prayer Chain Request form  or by contacting the Church Office at (808) 822-4267. Names will remain in the Prayers of the People for a maximum of four Sundays before a name must be resubmitted.

HOME COMMUNION FOR SICK AND SHUT-INS
All Saints' Eucharistic Visitors are available each Sunday (pending availability) to bring Communion to those who are sick or shut-in. Requests for a Eucharistic visitation can be made by calling the Church Office at (808) 822-4267 or emailing homecommunion@allsaintskauai.org .