We are a Christian community seeking to know and unconditionally share God's unfailing love.

Weekly Newsletter

Please note: The recordings on our website only consist of the lessons and the sermon. Due to copyright restrictions, we can no longer post the music. The live-stream on Facebook still has the entire service.

Sunday, June 4

• Making crosses for Pride in Sacquety Hall between 8:00am and 1:00pm (see below)
• Newcomer Lunch at 12:15pm in Room 11/12
• Orange County Women's Chorus Concert at 3:00pm in the Sanctuary (see below)

Wednesday, June 7

• 4th of July Parade Planning Committee Meeting at 6:00pm in Sacquety Hall

Saturday, June 10

• Funeral Service for May Breault at 11:00am in the Sanctuary followed by a reception in Sacquety Hall

Sunday, June 11

• Making crosses for Pride in Sacquety Hall between 8:00am and 1:00pm (see below)
• Filling Kindness Bags at 9:30am in Sacquety Hall (see below)

Monday, June 12

• Bunco Night at 6:30pm in Sacquety Hall

Tuesday, June 13

• Engagement Committee Meeting at 6:00pm in Fr. Nathan's Office

Saturday, June 17

• Close the Gap: Church Fundraiser and Auction at 5:00pm in Sacquety Hall (see below)

Monday, June 19

• Preschool and Church Office closed in honor of Juneteenth

Saturday, June 24

• Wisdom Luncheon at 11:30am in Sacquety Hall

Monday, June 26

• Vestry Meeting at 6:00pm in Sacquety Hall

Wednesday, June 28

• Healing Ministry Meeting at 9:00am in Sacquety Hall

Friday, June 30

• Preschool Closed all day
• Angels Baseball Night at 5:00pm at Angel Stadium (see below)

The Calendar of Events on our website is now live! Click the box below to be directed to our News and Events page on www.stwilfridschurch.org to view an up to date digital calendar. This calendar is updated automatically and provides an easy way for you to plan your year.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he wrote, “Rejoice with those who rejoice.” This week, we are rejoicing and offering thanks to God for the work that God is doing and has done in our preschool and school. For the past seven months, our Interim Director, Peggy Young, has been building upon the strong learning legacy that made St. Wilfrid’s Preschool such a wonderful and enriching educational environment. As Interim, Peggy has focused her efforts on continuing to develop our top tier staff, increase communication and clearly sharing her vision within the school, growing our enrollment, enhancing our Spring Fling event, preparing for state audits and visits, and building connections with other Huntington Beach Preschools. On the financial side, Peggy has successfully eliminated the school’s deficit, created a creative (and profitable) way to offer student lunches at a reasonable cost, opened Fall enrollment a month earlier than last year, and is financially preparing for our lean summer months. Peggy has also focused on deepening the connection between our school and our church. This includes providing parents the opportunity to purchase SCRIP gift cards directly from the school app.

Peggy knows what is important to our school’s parents and children. With her outstanding performance and after consultation with the School Board and the Vestry, I offered Peggy the position of School Director. Thankfully, she accepted. So I invite you to rejoice with me as we celebrate God answering our prayers in providing us the blessing of a talented and gifted School Director, Peggy Young.

Fr. Nathan Biornstad+

Rector

"Everything will live where the river goes." (Ezekiel 47:9)

St. Wilfrid's 2023 VBS Registration is now open!

July 10th - 14th from 9am to noon.

Fee: $25 (limited scholarships available)

Ages: 4 years - 5th grade

Register by June 30th (so we have enough supplies)

Sign up in the courtyard after services.

For questions, Contact Fr. Steve (steve@stwilfridschurch.org) or Debbi Campana (debbi.campana@gmail.com)

Confirmation is the sacramental rite in which the candidates "express a mature commitment to Christ and receive strength from the Holy Spirit through prayer and the laying on of hands by a bishop" (Book of Common Prayer “BCP”, p. 860).

Those who were baptized at an early age and those baptized as adults without laying on of hands by a bishop are encouraged to make a mature public affirmation of their faith, recommit themselves to the responsibilities of their baptism, and receive laying on of hands by a bishop (BCP, p. 412).

The Book of Common Prayer rite for Confirmation also includes those who are seeking to receive Reception of their Baptismal Vows. In our dioceses, those who have already made a mature Christian commitment in another denomination and are recognized as members of the one holy catholic and apostolic church, are received into the fellowship of the Episcopal Church though Confirmation.

Preparation for Confirmation/Reception should help the candidates discover the meaning of Christian commitment in their lives and explore ways that their Christian commitment can be lived.

Should you wish to participate in Conformation or Reception, St. Wilfrid’s will be offering an eight-week course starting in July. Please contact Fr. Steve at Steve@stwilfridschurch.org for more information.

SHIP: Self-Help Interfaith Program needs chaperones and dinner support through June 9th. If you can help please signup by clicking here.

Jim and Steven can help with delivery if needed. 

Jim: (714) 614-1468

Steven: (714) 536-5172

The Orange County Women's Chorus will perform the final concert of their 25th anniversary season, Look, Be, Leap!, on June 4th at St. Wilfrid's Episcopal Church.

The OCWC has been "causing treble" for a quarter century and invites the community to join the celebration. This 25th anniversary program includes songs about friendship, courage, struggle, and the joy and power of raising voices together throughout the years. The audience will be the first to hear the OCWC's newest commissioned work, "In the Forest," by Bay Area composer Ruth Huber.

“This program reflects on what it means to make music as a community, and what it means for a family of ‘singin’ women’ to weather the passage of time and the shifting of society through our weekly gatherings,” says OCWC Artistic Director Eliza Rubenstein. “We’ll perform songs about social justice, growing older, and singing itself, and we’ll feature some specific musical recollections of important moments in our history. We’re a community of women who find security in taking risks together, and we’re confident that whether you’ve been following us since the beginning or this is your first OCWC concert, you’ll love this music and the sisterhood it represents!”

Board chair and founding member Mary Langsdorf says, “I am surrounded by women of incredible talent, on the stage and in the board room. I could not be more proud of who we are and how far we’ve come in 25 years, and I’m excited to share this season closing concert with our community!”

The performance will take place in the Sanctuary on Sunday, June 4 at 3:00pm.

St. Wilfrid members may use code STW for $5 off.

Adults: $30; Seniors (65+): $25; Students (with ID): $15.

By Bob Williams

Inspired by the iconic artistry of the late Sister Corita Kent, enriched by the legacy of one of L.A.’s finest colleges, and enlivened by the nexus of faith in action for social justice, the ecumenical Immaculate Heart Community is making a new home at St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park.

“It’s a wonderful exchange of gifts,” Bishop John Harvey Taylor said of the “synergies of ministry” found in the Immaculate Heart programs and those of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, from which the community began leasing office and meeting space earlier this year.

Speaking May 3 over coffee with IHC President Sherry Purcell and Vice President Christine Monroe, Taylor pointed to ways in which diocesan priorities intersect with Immaculate Heart’s current initiatives of environmental care, racial reconciliation, empowerment of women and girls, and deepening spirituality. Upcoming opportunities include the diocese’s Sept. 16 Climate Change Summit and IHC’s monthly Friday “Lunch and Learn” series in St. Paul’s Commons’ Great Hall (see related article here).

“Having Sherry and her colleagues aboard these last few weeks has been energizing and inspiring to all of us on the diocesan staff,” Taylor told The News. “Dickens has a line about Christians working in their little spheres, often insensible about what others are doing. I feel we’ve broken one of those walls. The values of the IHC and Episcopal identity are in line in so many ways when it comes to Christ’s perfect heart of love and justice. I can’t wait to see what the Holy Spirit has to teach us through this collaboration.”

Read more here.

Does the Anglican/Episcopal Church have a theology of abortion? If so, what is it, and what sources inform it? Is there—or should there be—space for difference and dissent, or should one definitive point of view prevail? This special issue of the ATR seeks to launch a dialogue within Anglican circles about theologies of reproductive choice. In the United States, at least, the abortion debate has been intractable and intricately linked to theology, as both the pro-life and pro-choice discourses have been heavily shaped and reinforced by Christian leaders. 

This work is timely for two reasons: First, the overturn of Roe v. Wade has brought abortion into the spotlight, raising important questions about the ethics and theology of abortion. As the overturn of Roe has brought abortion to the forefront of public discourse, questions about how to discern a theological ethic of abortion are likewise at the center of theological discourse. ...

Second, those who lead in the Anglican Communion will find little in the way of lengthy theological discussions on this topic. No books on the matter have been published from a distinctly Anglican/TEC perspective, nor have substantive journal articles been dedicated to the matter. 

Moreover, authoritative voices throughout the Communion have issued conflicting statements on the matter over the past hundred years. A more robust theological discussion is therefore not only justified but necessary for faith leaders and members of the Communion alike.

This special issue of the ATR seeks to offer international perspectives on abortion theology as it relates to Anglican thought. We welcome participation from historians, constructive theologians, systematic theologians, pastoral theologians, liturgists, faith leaders, and practitioners. We invite both scholarly research articles (7,000 - 8,000 words) and shorter theological reflections for our Practicing Theology section (3,000 - 4,000 words). We also issue a special call for poetry on this topic which will be available here.

Special issue: Theologies of Choice After Dobbs

Guest editor: The Rev. Danielle Tumminio Hansen

Proposals deadline: June 15, 2023

Read more here. h/t the Rev. Sheryl Kujawa-Holbrook

By Bishop John Harvey Taylor

Over 1.1 million people have given their lives for the United States in wars occurring in four centuries — but it’s complicated. Over half died in the Civil War, and nearly half of that number died trying to destroy the United States. The so-called confederacy launched our worst war to preserve their access to the free labor of enslaved people, bedrock of their economy. The battle hymn of preserving the union held no appeal. They knew abolition would make them vassals of the industrial north. After the war, they exploited and oppressed people of African descent for another century or more, compounding the sin of slavery and the debt we owe for it.

This Memorial Day, patriotic songs fall on muffled ears on both the left and right side of the body politic. Many progressives believe justice for all is beyond the reach of political and economic liberalism, thinking it moves too slowly and has been corrupted by white supremacy. Other folks (I among them) resent how slavery-era federalism holds us down. The renewed candidacy of the criminal seditionist Trump, a one-man civil war, is conceivable only because a Republican can get power from the Electoral College while losing the popular vote by a landslide. Turkey’s strongman at least had to win a majority in a runoff. Not so in the land of the free. NPR did the math a few years ago. You can occupy the White House with 23% of the popular vote.

The conservative critique must be repeated delicately. It is essentially that our system, and even democracy in general, tend toward larger government, higher taxes, and less individual freedom. Conservatives fear that a paternalistic state, run by politicians doling out goodies, will smother initiative and liberty, the only things that create wealth, progress, and opportunity. Just writing that sentence made me sleepy. Voters don’t want to hear it, either. So the GOP awakens them with alarms against the woke. A movement ostensibly devoted to the dignity and thriving of the individual survives by scapegoating brown immigrant workers and LGBTQ+ people, notwithstanding that the Declaration of Independence vouchsafed their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness along with everyone else’s.

The million martyrs of Memorial Day died for a nation that moves too slowly for some of us and too fast for others. That can’t figure out how to protect a fetus’s and a woman’s rights at the same time (we can; we just have to want to). That seems to be losing any conception of the common good. That has lost the moral clarity won by the 400,000 who gave their lives fighting fascism in World War II. That grew cynical after our wars against communism and terrorism.

All in all, U.S. democracy really is the pits. The only thing worse is the alternative. Speaking of which, Putin and Xi have gotten together and decided our best days are behind us. Not so fast. Standing up for Ukraine, passing earth-friendly infrastructure programs, and the debt ceiling deal were sparks of new life, suggesting attentiveness to what the majority of Americans want. Every 2024 presidential candidate promising to do their best for all our people would be an especially glorious tribute to those who gave the last full measure of devotion to the last best hope of earth. Because I have no doubt they’re listening.