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Week of February 16, 2020

Giving one's life for one's faith is not isolated to the earliest years of the church. This week we remember and learn from martyrs of the 19th and 20th centuries. Agnes Tsao Kou Ying, Agatha Lin Zhao, and Lucy Yi Zhenmei were martyred in the middle 19th century in China. In 2000 they were canonized (made saints) by the Roman Catholic Church. Eric Liddell was an Olympic Gold Medalist. More importantly he was a missionary in China. He died in a Japanese Concentration Camp near the end of World War II.

Let us continue the work of Jesus as did these men and women. May each of us in our own way—led and energized by the same Holy Spirit—give glory to God for the good and welfare of God's creation and God's children. ~Fr. Dan

Here is the Calendar for February 16 – February 22

Note: Major Feasts of the Episcopal Church are highlighted in BOLD print in church calendars. The Book of Common Prayer (BCP) Calendar is the basis of all other calendars. Currently the Liturgical Calendar is in transition with trial usages in both Lesser Feasts and Fasts and the Great Cloud of Witnesses. Commemorations not in the BCP Calendar are noted: LFF is Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 2018 and GCW is the Great Cloud of Witnesses, 2018



Events at

Good Shepherd in Hemet

St. Margaret's in Palm Desert

St. Paul's in Palm Springs

St. John's in Indio

St. Thomas in Temecula

Women's Retreat

Rooted in Jesus: Growing in Love

Charlette Preslar

Youth Missioner The Episcopal Diocese of San Diego

Director of Youth and Family Christ Church Coronado

Lay Chaplain Christ Church Day School

Excerpts from Charlette's essay in Salt & Light:

This past January I was one of more than 20 people from our diocese to attend the Rooted in Jesus conference in Atlanta, GA. The conference hosted and engaged over 1,200 Episcopalians from all over the country. The speakers were excellent and the content was rich.

Conferences like Rooted in Jesus are not only an opportunity to learn, they are also a time to renew our relationship with Christ and with our faith communities. Asking hard questions and being surrounded by people that ask them of us in return, pushes us to consider the health of our faith roots. Are we nourishing ourselves on scripture? Are we watering ourselves with God’s love? Are we encouraging our roots to grow deep and wide so that there is room under the canopy for all? None of these are easy questions, but perhaps considering them is an important step in being truly rooted in Jesus. 

Read the full essay in Salt & Light posted February 13, 2020

First Seasonal Focus

in the Year of Discipleship:

Creating a Rule of Life and Prayer

Dates:

Epiphany, January 6 - February 25

Visit the Year of Discipleship Website: https://discipleshipedsd.org/

Taizé Chant, "Nada Te Turbe Let nothing disturb you "

The Taizé chants are prayers that involve heart and soul and voice. As you deepen your life of prayer as part of the diocesan year of discipleship, consider using one or more of these chants. ~Fr. Dan

  Primates of The Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Mexico sign bilateral agreement

‘In Christ there is no border’

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Archbishop Francisco Moreno embrace following the signing of a bilateral agreement between The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Mexico. The bilateral agreement replaces a 25-year covenant between the two churches and brings them into a reciprocal relationship. Photo: Lynette Wilson/Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service – Chula Vista, California] On Sunday, Feb. 16, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Archbishop Francisco Moreno, primates representing The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Mexico, signed a bilateral agreement, effectively moving the two churches into a reciprocal relationship.

“This is a wonderful day and it may not make a splash in all the news media, but let the record note that peoples live together in the Americas, that people who share a common border, people who follow the way of Jesus – following in this Jesus – there is no border that divides us,” said Curry during a time for reflection in the service. “God created the land; human beings made the border. And so, as the old song says, ‘In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south, no north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide world.’" Read the entire article on ENS

What's happening in the Episcopal Church?

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The Five Marks of Mission

An Introduction

The mission of the Church is the mission of Christ

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?

READ the rest of the story on ACNS

Posted February 4, 2020

What's happening in the Worldwide Anglican Communion?

Read essays, articles, and Press Releases:

Visit the Anglican Communion News Service

Beyond the Hill seeks to inform you about events and programs:

Similarly, when our Bishop Susan or other bishops (including the Presiding Bishop) write letters for distribution I will link to them in our Beyond the Hill Newsletter.

Beyond the Hill also seeks to keep you connected to the many ways we Episcopalians/Anglicans are “doing the work God has given us to do … as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord.” (BCP 366, adapted)

~Fr. Dan

Be well.

Do good.

Pay attention.

Keep learning.

Father Dan

Vicar