November 1, 2022

In this edition of ENews:

  • Convention Follow up
  • Send us your Selfies!
  • 72 Hours in the life of our bishop
  • Advent Resources for congregations
  • Voter Resources
  • Workshop on Talking through Political Division - Saturday!


2022 Convention

Even though the 2022 Convention is over, there's lots to share!

There will be a special Convention Edition of the ENews later this week with links to videos of all the presentations and worship

Convention Survey is Open

If you attended Convention, and haven't done so already, please take a short survey and let us know about your experience. Survey is open until Friday, November 4 at 5pm.


Click here for the survey:

https://form.jotform.com/222936641277159

Send us your Quilt Selfies!

We've received many great shots of clergy and delegates with the diocesan quilt. Please keep them coming!

Around the Diocese

72 Hours in the life of Bishop Megan…

Friday and Saturday: Bishop Megan attended Cursillo Weekend 117 at Mt. Hope Bible Camp in Forbestown (near Oroville). 

Sunday Morning: Bishop Megan joined the congregation of St. John's Petaluma, for a joyous celebration included a Baptism, confirmation, and great fellowship. Many thanks to Juli Lederhaus for the great photos!

Sunday Afternoon: Bishop Megan (assisted by Deacon Pamela Moore), at the closing Eucharist for The Mission of St. Andrews' in The Redwoods.

St. Barnabas | Mt. Shasta hosts Trunk or Treat in support of Project (Re)Start


The people of St. Barnabas in Mt. Shasta have completed 30 (Re)Start bins and sent them off to support their neighbors. Knowing that they need to restock their supplies, the Mission Council decided to turn the annual Halloween Trunk or Treat event into an exchange with the local community. When neighbors brought their children to receive candy, they also left behind supplies for the bins. It was a fun way to collect needed materials and to reach out to the people of Mt. Shasta. Win – Win!

Missioner for Church Life

Resources for Advent

e.e. cummings and the Joyful Poetry of Advent


Canon Julie Wakelee and Missioner for Church Life Mack Olson will lead a diocesan-wide Advent series using the poetry of e. e. cummings. 


Pairs equally well with church potlucks or sweats and slippers at home!


7:00 pm each Wednesday in Advent

November 30 and December 7, 14, and 21.

 On Zoom!


Stay tuned for a signup link and more details! 

Advent & Christmas resources from the Episcopal Church


New and updated Resources for congregations, dioceses, and communities of faith, including:


  • “Journeying the Way of Love” – Advent curriculum, calendar, bulletin inserts (also in Spanish and French)


  • “Sermons That Work” for Advent and Christmas (coming Nov. 5; also in Spanish)


  • “Preparing to Become Beloved Community” – Advent curriculum (also in Spanish and French)


  • Resources from Episcopal Migration Ministries, Episcopal Relief & Development, AdventWord, and more


Click here to download: https://www.episcopalchurch.org/advent-and-christmas-resources/mc_cid=3173a0443d&mc_eid=d936b581ee

Antiphons for Advent in English & Spanish for 2022


A devotional resource in English and Spanish created from antiphons that families and communities can use daily in Advent. The short liturgy includes a prayer for lighting candles of an Advent wreath.


Advent Antiphons 2022 in English



Adviento para Evangelizar 2022 en español


Commission for Intercultural Ministry

Encouragement to Vote for the Common Good

During this important election season, as followers of Jesus and Episcopalians, we receive guidance and encouragement to vote from the scripture, from our Baptismal vows, from messages from the pulpit, and from prayer.


From scripture

"He told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Micah 6:8


From our Baptismal vows

"Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?

I Will, with God's help.


Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?

I Will, with God's help."


From the pulpit

On Sunday, October 30, The Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope, at the Washington National Cathedral, delivered this message of encouragement. She based her sermon on the Micah scripture and our Baptismal vows. She encourages us to vote our values, to vote in support of the common good and build the Beloved Community. Please watch: https://youtu.be/qsv4AA1WRwo


Prayer

"Let us pray for our nation, deeply divided by race, class, gender, and ethnicity. May our differences dissolve into one common humanity, that we may work together for the collective good. Enable us to see one another as your beloved children. Embolden us to stand against hatred and oppression. Empower us to diligently work for justice. God of love and mercy, guide us to be just, kind, and humble."


(Excerpt from the Prayers of the People, Washington National Cathedral, October 30, 2022)


 – Miriam Casey and Lynn Zender

Co-Chairs, Commission for Intercultural Ministries

Printable Voting Handout for Distribution

The Episcopal Church urges us all to Vote Faithfully and, also to empower everyone in our congregations to do so. To assist you in this work in your community, the Advocacy Team has prepared a printable Voting Flyer, with easy to access information. The team invites you to print the document to handout and include it in your parish ENews.


For more information about the Diocese’s Advocacy Team contact Miriam Casey - mlcasey7@yahoo.com


Commission for Intercultural Ministries

Advocacy Team | Miriam Casey - Chair

Talking Through Political Divisions: 

Having Hard Conversations With Compassion


Facilitated by the Rev. Alex Leach

Saturday, November 5 | 10:00 am – 4:00 pm | On Zoom


Another Election Day is approaching. Increasingly, this has become a day charged with heated conflict between neighbors, friends, and family. And in our increasingly politically polarized world, it is difficult to have conversations across those political divisions. To bridge these divides, the Commission for Intercultural Ministries will host a workshop on building communication skills that can help us have hard conversations with compassion and connection.

 

The Rev. Alex Leach has spent almost 10 years training, teaching, and coaching conflict navigation skills. Such skills help us listen to even the hardest messages, hear with the heart of Christ, and speak our honest truth with care so that our own message is heard rather than rejected because we have simply pushed the other person's buttons. 

 

Through this interactive workshop, participants will explore spiritual practices that help us stay rooted in Christ's love and build skills around listening and speaking. 


Register online at https://bit.ly/ComsWorkshop2022

 

The Commission is also planning to sponsor in-person conflict navigation workshops in 2023.


Questions may be directed by email to NorCalCIM@gmail.com or to Alex+ at apleac@gmail.com

Spiritual Formation

Sunday, November 6, 2022

The Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 20:27-38


Jesus’ controversy with the Sadducees about the Resurrection helps us to clarify our own understanding of this central element of Christian faith.

First of all, Jesus’ teaching gives us a new understanding of time. Jesus shared with his contemporaries in Judaism the division of time into “this age” and “the age to come.” With the coming, life death and resurrection of Jesus the age to come had been brought forth into this present time. So that instead of waiting for the age to come (i.e. when we die and are in heaven) the life of the age to come has broken into our own time. So then, the Kingdom of Heaven, or the Kingdom of God is among us who are in Christ. The emphasis of the New Testament is not so much about how we get into heaven, as about how heaven gets into us. 


Then there is in Jesus’ teaching a new understanding of resurrection. Jesus shared the Pharisees’ view of resurrection (which the Sadducees denied), but he taught that resurrection meant a whole new quality of life. The Sadducees’ trick question, intended to show that the resurrection was absurd, was based on the assumption that resurrection life would simply be a continuation of the present life on earth. Jesus painted a very different picture. While in some sense our resurrected life would be continuous with this present life, yet in fundamental ways it will be a different quality of life. Those who are alive in the age to come are deathless, are like angels, and are children of God. There is a great mystery here, but the important thing to keep in mind is that “we shall be changes.” (see 1 Cor 15:51, Phil 3:21).

 

Furthermore, we see in this passage a new understanding of Scripture.

After teaching about the nature of resurrection life, Jesus takes the Sadducees to the scripture, and particularly to that part of scripture which they held to be most authoritative: the Law of Moses. He shows that contrary to their assumption, the Pentateuch did teach a gospel of Resurrection. This is shown in the fact that God could refer to himself thus: “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Thus at the time of Moses the patriarchs are still alive. God is not the God of the dead but of the living. Resurrection life is not just found in the later books of the Old Testament (eg Daniel 12:2) but throughout the scripture. While there may be development in the scripture, yet on essential matters the scripture speaks with one voice, teaching God's Resurrection life.


– The Rev. Peter Rodgers

Upcoming

Events

Around

The Diocese

Evangelism Huddle – Let’s Talk!

Third Wednesday of each month 

12:00 p.m. Eastern on Zoom 

November 16th huddles, go to: 

https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJArdu-oqDItE9O9WT2CJ_g_0GoCBvFOSZ-8?mc_cid=1d7a112635&mc_eid=d936b581ee


For more information go to: 

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/evangelism/evangelism-huddle/

109th Annual Christmas Bazaar

St Luke's | Galt

Saturday, Dec 3 9:00 am – 3:00 pm | Sunday, Dec 4 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm

https://stlukegalt.org

35th Annual Diocesan Choir Festival In person

Saturday, January 28, 2023

Trinity Cathedral | Sacramento

All choral singers throughout the Diocese are invited

Guest conductor will be Dr. Bruce Neswick, the recently retired Canon for Cathedral Music Trinity Cathedral in Portland, Oregon. 

To add yourself to the email list, contact David Link, Canon Precentor & Director of Music at Trinity Cathedral: link@trinitycathedral.org

Job Opportunities Around The Diocese

St. Clement's | Rancho Cordova is seeking a 3/4 time Priest-in-Charge. 

See the position description here.

St. Paul's | Sacramento is seeking a Music Director. 

Read the job announcement here.

Diocesan Commissions | Committees | Ministries

Commission for Intercultural Ministries

Commission on Ministry

Christian Formation Committee

Episcopal Community Services

Ministries of Health Committee

Investment Fund Committee

Disaster Preparedness

Recovery Ministries

Episcopal Foundation of Northern California

Center for Bible Study

The ENews is published weekly on Tuesdays.
To submit news/events, please email communications@norcalepiscopal.org by Wednesday of the prior week
Submit a Calendar Event

The Episcopal Diocese of Northern California

Making Disciples, Raising Up Saints & Transforming Communities for Christ

www.norcalepiscopal.org

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