Volume 6, Issue 27
July 2, 2021
THIS SUNDAY: July 4, 2021
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost


1 Samuel 2:12-17, 22-25
Eli the priest has corrupt sons who are abusing their authority as priests in training; this paves the way for the young Samuel to rise up as a prophet of God.

Psalm 49:1-2, 5-9,​ 16-17
The futility of trusting in worldly wealth, since we cannot take it with us beyond death.

1 Timothy 6:6-16
Paul encourages his ministerial protégé, Timothy, to lead by the example of a noble life. He is to shun the temptation to be a slave to money, and instead to cultivate a life of contentment in the heavenly treasure that God offers. 

Luke 16:10-13
God wants us to be faithful in small things so that we can be ready to be faithful in larger things, most notably with how we deal with the money entrusted to us.
ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICE
WITH COMMUNION

8:00AM
Joe Adorno(EM)*
John Hanaoka (U)
Diane Sato (AG)
Muriel Jackson (DM)

9:30AM
Mary Margaret Smith (EM)
David Crocker (U)
Terry Ann Moses (LR)
Faith Shiramizu (AG)
Vikki Secretario, Mabel Antonio (HP)
Linda Crocker, Ron Morinishi (DM)

Live Stream
9:00AM on our home page, YouTube, or Facebook accounts
@allsaintskauai

* EM - Eucharistic Minister; U - Usher; LR - Lay Reader; AG - Altar Guild; HP - Healing Prayers; DM - Digital Ministry; SS - Sunday School
UPCOMING EVENTS

Guest Preacher:
Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney
Sunday, July 4th
8:00 and 9:30AM services
Church

Fourth of July Potluck
Sunday, July 4th
After the 9:30AM service
Church Lawn

Daughters of the King
Thursday, July 8th
Zoom meeting
Contact Mabel Antonio for login info.

Recurring Events
Aloha Hour
Every Sunday, 10:45AM - 12:00PM
Under lanai tent

Monday/Friday Crew
Every Monday/Friday, 8:00AM 
Church Office
Laundry Love
1st & 3rd Wednesday, 5:00PM
Kapa`a Laundromat

Daughters of the King
2nd & 4th Thursday, 7:00 - 8:00PM
Zoom
Those affected by the pandemic, those affected by racial violence, Nestor, Wanda, and those we name silently or aloud, let us pray to the Lord. ​Lord, have mercy. 

For those saints who have gone before us in the Grander Life, especially those affected by the COVID-19 virus, Lawrence and those we name silently or aloud, in the hope of the resurrection, and for all the departed, let us pray to the Lord. ​Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Reflections from Kahu Kawika
It’s About Time

Mark 5:21-43
Lamentations 3:21-33
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Proper 8B
27 June 2021

As far back as I can remember, ever since my childhood, I have been fascinated about the concept of time. Whenever I fly I love the idea of leaving one time zone and entering another: a case in point is when I was 16 and coming back from a foreign-exchange trip in Japan. My flight from Narita Airport in Tokyo flew straight back to Los Angeles, and so I had to cross the International Date Line, which meant that I left Tokyo at 6:30pm but arrived in Los Angeles at around 10:30am on the same calendar day, giving me the eerie sensation of having gone backwards in time within the same day by 8 hours! 

And I was nine years old when I first read the H. G. Wells classic, The Time Machine, and since then have been fascinated with Sci-Fi and fantasy literature, TV, and movies ever since, and in particular stories concerning time travel. Even my fourth-grade teacher was amazed that I could tell her off the top of my head the days of the week on which specific dates in that year’s school calendar would occur.

So it may come as no surprise that I pick up the theme of “time” when preparing this sermon on Jesus’ encounter with two very special women in Mark 5 from today’s Gospel reading. Now these two women’s stories have a few things in common: 

  • The older woman has had a long-lasting and life-exhausting illness, while the other is a young woman and daughter of Jairus, a leader of a local synagogue, who is ill to the point of death;
  • The number “12” is also significant for both – the older woman has had her illness for 12 years, while the younger one happens to be 12 years old (and the Gospel writer Mark makes an effort to let us know that, I believe to draw the connection between these two women’s stories);
  • Both are called “Daughter” – the older one by Jesus and the younger one by her father and his friends;
  • The stories of these two women are intertwined together and not separate incidents;
  • There are groups of people who make disparaging remarks to Jesus when he makes what seems to them as unintelligent statements: (1) When the older woman touches Jesus and he responds with “Who touched my clothes?” when power had gone out of him, his own disciples challenge him with “You see the crowd pressing in on you – how can you say, ‘Who touched my clothes?’” (2) Later when Jesus enters the home of Jairus and his just-deceased daughter and says, “The child is not dead but sleeping,” the crowd of mourners strangely and suddenly stop crying and start laughing at him!
  • Both women have an amazing encounter with Jesus and Jesus’ extraordinary power to heal. The older woman taps into Jesus’ power even before he realizes it, while Jesus is able to heal the younger woman even after she had already died.

But another thing these two women have in common is the element of “time,” especially about Jesus’ timing in dealing with both their illnesses, and it is this element in which I would like to delve further. 

Jesus’ encounter with these two women highlight a difference between two biblical Greek words that both translate into our English word “time”: (1) Chronos has to do with sequential, orderly, chronological time, in the way that we usually approach our planned schedules for the day or the week – “this will happen first, then that, etc.”; (2) Kairos though is a different idea of time in that it has to do with an immediate occurrence of time, usually a sudden event or an interruption of some kind.

Both the long-suffering woman and Jairus’ daughter experience the frustration of Chronos time. The woman with the hemorrhages has had to suffer for twelve long years, and in the process has exhausted her monetary resources, emotional energy, and physical health. There is no reason to think that she could expect help from anywhere or anyone, but she amazingly dares to take one more hopeful step of action (which Jesus later credits her that her faith has made her whole). She has evidently heard about this wonder-worker sent from God, and she approaches him with fear and trembling. She doesn’t even intend to interrupt his Chronos agenda of making his way to Jairus’ home to heal his very sick daughter, and so while he is continuing to walk toward Jairus’ home to heal his daughter, in a Kairos moment of interruption the woman with the hemorrhages sneaks up behind him and touches his clothes – not even touching his person!

Meanwhile, we don’t know the length of time Jairus’ daughter had been sick, but we do know that Jairus asks for Jesus to bring his healing touch to her as soon as possible. But then Jairus’ and his daughter’s Chronos expectation of Jesus’ schedule is interrupted by the Kairos action of the woman with the hemorrhages – delaying Jesus’ agenda to heal Jairus’ daughter in time which leads to her death.

This pattern also happens elsewhere in John’s Gospel, when in chapter 11 the sisters Mary and Martha send word to Jesus that their brother and his close friend Lazarus is gravely ill and in need of Jesus’ healing touch. Jesus then does a very strange thing in verse 6 – rather than rushing back as soon as he had heard that Lazarus is at the point of death, Jesus intentionally lingers on where he is another two days! In short, Jesus allows the Kairos of the immediate needs before him to delay his prior Chronos obligation to get back to save his friend before he dies. Even Martha is disappointed in Jesus’ lateness after he gets there: “Sir, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). But at least she has the faith to declare that God can still use Jesus even after Lazarus’ death: “But I know that even now God will grant you whatever you ask” (John 11:22).

And maybe Martha’s last word has something valuable for us when we struggle with this Chronos-Kairos dilemma in our own lives. For instance, I tend to be a planner and like to have things laid out in advance, especially things like a trip or work schedule. So my natural inclination is to live into the Chronos timing of an orderly scheduled day. However, at times God may raise a Kairos moment that appears as an unwelcome interruption to my otherwise orderly day when in fact God intends for me to go in a different direction – and with a greater sense of blessing and fulfillment than otherwise would have happened. 
What I like about Jesus is that he allows himself to get interrupted from his orderly agenda in order to best serve God and others around him. He doesn’t get put out by the changes – he takes time to talk with the woman healed of her hemorrhages; he intentionally stays behind when he hears of the imminent death of his good friend Lazarus in order to allow God’s full power of resurrection to be shown in glorious display a few days later.
Jesus knows how to keep centered and in the middle of God’s will for his life and ministry, and shows us a good example of negotiating between the Chronos and Kairos changes in his time. 

This is a challenge for me and for each of us at the start of each day to pray to God for the flexibility and nimbleness to go with God’s agenda for us and for our encounters with the people with whom we live or meet in the course of the day.

This also challenges me to keep hopeful and faithful even in the midst of dire circumstances, with paragons of faith like the woman with the hemorrhages and Martha the sister of Lazarus as incredible examples for us to emulate. When the Chronos of a long-lasting negative life circumstance brings us down, we should look for God’s Kairos moment of healing and hoping that often comes from an unexpected quarter.

I heard a quote somewhere that says, “God is not always ‘in time’ but God is always ‘on time,’” meaning that God may not appear according to our own Chronos time schedule and in keeping to our own idea of time, but will arrive in God’s proper Kairos moment at the right time of God’s own choosing. Another way to look at this is from something that the great American football wide receiver Terrell Owens said, “God may not be there when you want God to be, but God is always on time.” And R&B soul vocalist Aaron Neville suggests what our daily attitude should be in order to be able to see God’s Kairos moments in our lives: “Every morning I wake up and thank God.” 

Those who call themselves friends of God will accept what seems to us untimely interruptions into our Chronos-filled days of human concerns: making a living, putting food on the table, and going about our daily lives. When God breaks into our Chronos days with Kairos moments, is our love and faith in God large enough to welcome those unexpected moments with potential for God’s surprising and abundant blessings? When it comes to our faith and trust in God, it’s about ‘time.’ Amen.
The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney to Preach at All Saints'
Sunday, July 4th, 8:00AM and 9:30AM
All Saints' Episcopal Church Kaua`i is excited and honored to host The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney, Ph.D. as our Preacher on Sunday July 4th at both the 8:00AM and 9:30AM services. Wil is the Right Rev. Samuel B. Hulsey Professor of Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth, Texas. She will be sharing from her book A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church. Wil is also the author of Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to Women of the Torah and of the Throne; Daughters of Miriam: Women Prophets in Ancient Israel

Don’t miss this opportunity to listen, learn and worship with Wil!

July 4th cook-out to follow the 9:30AM service.


Fourth of July Cookout
Celebration After the 9:30AM Service July 4th
After the 9:30 service on the Fourth of July we will have a cookout celebration. Hamburgers and hotdogs will be grilled by Jeff Shields for our enjoyment. Please feel free to bring any sides or desserts to contribute to the meal.
Project Vision Hawaii
All Saints' to Assist Project Vision Hawai`i
Please Donate to the Mobile Shower Station: We depend on You!
In April 2021, Project Vision Hawai`i (a 501(c)3 non-profit organization) shipped a mobile shower station to Kaua`i to provide free hot showers to houseless people on Kaua`i. They also provide grab-and-go hygiene kits. All Saints' Church will help the Project Vision ministry by collecting items they currently need. For several Sundays (July 4 - August 15) there will be a blue plastic bin placed outside the church to collect donations. 

They currently have a need for the following:
  • gently used towels, any size (bath towels, hand towels, washcloths) and any color. Project Vision will sanitize towels for the houseless guests to use at the mobile shower station (sometimes the houseless people take the towels with them).
  • boxes of gallon ziploc bags for the mobile hygiene kits

For the contents of the mobile hygiene kits, they need unopened, individually-wrapped items like:
  • packets of wipes
  • bandaids
  • toothpaste
  • toothbrushes
  • feminine hygiene supplies
  • floss pics
  • unopened travel-size soaps, shampoos and lotions from hotels
  • hand sanitizers
  • any other unopened individually wrapped travel-size toiletries

For more information on this service project, please contact Carolyn Morinishi or the church office. Thank you!

For more information about Project Vision Hawai`i, please see https://hotshowerskauai.org

Sloggett Center Solar and Roofing Project
An Environmental Initiative
All Saints’ Church and Preschool has reached its initial goal of $310,000 to purchase a new roof and solar panel system to improve our current physical plant and provide for All Saints’ future in an environmentally sustainable way. The entire solar panel system has been funded by a private donation from a church `Ohana family. The re-roofing project has been funded by generous donations from our church `Ohana and a grant from the National Philanthropic Trust (NPT). 

As is often the case, the cost between the re-roofing estimate and the current cost has changed. The cost of lumber skyrocketed 150% and our roofing costs increased by almost $40,000. Due to the uncertainty of the costs associated with the project, we have raised the fund raising goal to $350,000. Despite this increase, the NPT grant has gotten us very close to our our updated fund raising goal. We are still gathering donations for system installation and maintenance so please click the button below to donate. 
The re-roofing project is scheduled to begin on July 5th and will be finished before the preschool teachers return to prepare for the school year. The old roofing tiles will be stored on campus until machinery can be brought in to crush the tile for graveling church parking spaces. Nathan Wood is awaiting KIUC permits to begin the solar installation. He is looking at working late afternoons and weekends to avoid disruption of preschool classes. 

The Vestry and the Environmental Stewardship Ministry are grateful to all the donors who have contributed to make this project possible. A special thanks to Kathy Northcutt for writing the NPT grant application that brought in $100,000 toward our goal. We are thankful that the All Saints’ `Ohana recognized the value of this project and donated so generously.

Mahalo nui loa to you all!

CONVENTION 53 and Education Day
Registration Now Open
Registration is now open for the Diocese's 53rd Annual Meeting of Convention and Education Day taking place October 22-23, 2021, at `Iolani School. (Please note recent change in dates.) Both the Annual Meeting and Education Day will be live-streamed. There is no fee to watch but online viewers must also register. Before registering, please note some important information:

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22 - EDUCATION DAY

Education Day is open to all in the Diocese. Those interested in attending, whether in-person or online, must register. Individuals attending in-person will have the option to pre-purchase lunch when they register (please have payment information available), or you may bring your own lunch. Attendees will not be able to purchase a lunch on-site and there are no eating establishments nearby. Although the final line-up of speakers and sessions are still being finalized, one of the main topics will be on Reconciliation.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23 - ANNUAL MEETING OF CONVENTION

Due to possible restrictions in the number of people allowed in the hall, only voting clergy, lay delegates, lay members of Diocesan Council and Standing Committee, invited guests, and volunteers will be allowed to attend in person. All others may watch a live-stream. However, both in-person and virtual attendees must register.

  • All voting clergy and lay delegates MUST ATTEND IN PERSON ON SATURDAY in order to cast votes and have voice on the floor. There is a registration fee of $30. (Delegates, be sure to check with your church for how payment will be covered and if they will be registering for you.)
  • Each voting member must have their own email address. (Two or more attendees cannot share an email address.)

For more information, visit the Convention 53 webpage HERE. If you have questions, contact Rae Costa at (808) 536-7776, ext. 326 or email her HERE. To register, click on the button below.
Evangelism Matters Is Now Live for All!
The Episcopal Church's Office of Evangelism recently held an online event called Evangelism Matters 2021: The Discipline of Hope, an Episcopal Evangelism Audioconference. Although the conference is officially over, the learning and gathering doesn’t have to end. If you missed it, you can now watch the Zoom Coffee Hours and listen to all episodes HERE.

Here are three things you can do to stay engaged with this work:

Independence Day
July 4, 2021
On July 4th, The Episcopal Church joins the United States in celebrating Independence Day, marking the day the country declared independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1776.

Collect for Independence Day

Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer, p. 242

Collect 17: For the Nation

Lord God Almighty, you have made all the peoples of the earth for your glory, to serve you in freedom and in peace: Give to the people of our country a zeal for justice and the strength of forbearance, that we may use our liberty in accordance with your gracious will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Book of Common Prayer, p. 258

Published by the Office of Formation of The Episcopal Church, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017
© 2021 The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. All rights reserved.
Church Musicians Look to a Post-Pandemic Return

By Neva Rae Fox
June 21, 2021
The Rev. Barbara Cawthorne Crafton praised the Association of Anglican Musicians, the primary group for Episcopal church organists and choirmasters, on their ability to adapt and accept COVID-19 restrictions, and for “conquering Zoom” when she addressed 558 members in a Zoom meeting June 14.
Barbara Cawthorne Crafton
“You showed yourself on people’s computers, on people’s phones, you sang duets, with yourself sometimes. It was remarkable to see,” she said.

“One of the first super-spreader events was a choir. We asked, ‘Are we ever going to sing again?’” AAM members found a way. “You gave us such beauty, and it was completely unexpected beauty.”

“My hope, my belief, is in the awe that you have inspired in your people in order to do this crazy thing, and to do it so well, and do to it week after week, when you were experiencing isolation, and perhaps bereavement.”

“Remember,” she said, “we have one great high priest. It isn’t the rector — it’s Jesus. He has firsthand experience with fear.”

She hopes musicians continue their ministry and “reach up and touch the hem of the robe.”

Looking to the immediate, Crafton said, “As we begin the glimpse the greenery of another new Pentecost season, I used to think green was so boring. Now that long green season, it just feels so glorious to me, so gloriously ordinary. We will have a new ordinary.”

AAM President Marty Wheeler Burnett echoed the spirit of Crafton’s remarks. “Today, there is joy — indeed, great rejoicing — as in-person worship resumes and choirs gradually return to singing,” she said. “There is also grief — we have lost loved ones, friends, and colleagues. For some, there is emotional trauma and physical and mental exhaustion. Some of you have experienced budget cuts and layoffs.
Marty Wheeler Burnett
“Our pastoral role as church musicians has moved even further toward the forefront in this past year, and many of us believe this is a permanent shift,” Burnett said.

Burnett addressed the differences brought on by the pandemic. “We have changed. The church has changed. We don’t know all the ways, but we already sense that things will not be the same. New online communities have formed, both within and beyond our parishes. New hybrid models of church, with members who may live far away and may never be physically present, are growing as we speak. Livestreaming is here to stay. Addressing systemic racism can no longer be ignored. How will we as Episcopal church musicians and clergy embrace not just new technology, but an evolving model of the Church for the post-pandemic world?”

Burnett named one of the organization’s accomplishments. “During the pandemic, AAM became a trusted voice in the public square, joining a coalition of music organizations to fund COVID-19 research and being called upon to provide advice and information through webinars, articles, and Zoom meetings.”

At the end of the conference, Burnett’s term of office expired, and Sonia Subbayya Sutton became president. She has been an organist and choirmaster for nearly 40 years, including 20 years at St. Alban’s in Washington, D.C.
Sonya Subbayya Sutton
The daylong event featured panels and presenters reflecting on the pandemic-changed world.

In “Bringing Our Best Selves to our Vocation: Safeguarding Our Profession in a Time of Uncertainty,” church musicians Marilyn Haskell and Stephan Griffin talked about the future of the church and music.

Believing the Episcopal Church “will be here in 50 years,” Griffin said, “we have work that needs to be done to rework the systems in place.”

He sees church musicians surviving “if and how we educate our staff, colleagues, parishioners, vestry on what we do. What are we doing to bring up the next generation of choir members?”

“If the church as we know it collapses, it will be because something better will be developing to take its place,” Haskell said. “The church in 50 years may look differently as it is today, but it will still be made up of our beliefs. If we begin to assess what is essential for a community of believers to do work as Christians, we will be better prepared for the change that will come.”

Haskell addressed the concept of musicians as pastors. “We have to evaluate ourselves, what we see as the pastoral nature of our work, and negotiate with the rest of the staff what our role is. Are we pastors to just the choir, or to all?”

Griffin agreed. “It’s a very delicate balance. Before musicians employ in pastoral work, there has to be a conversation with the pastor. Not all musicians are trained in pastoral care.”

Haskell spoke to the importance of congregational singing, which “comes from experience. I believe it can work in all congregations. Get off the organ bench once in a while. Walk out in front of the congregation. Teach a song using your voice. And listen to what comes back to you.”

Griffin and Haskell said musicians have a role in the church’s stewardship program.

“We often recognize the time commitment in the music ministry,” Griffin said. “But we need to remind our choir about the importance of stewardship.”

He added, “We can’t expect people to understand us unless we engage them in conversation. We can’t expect others to advocate for us if we don’t do that for ourselves.”

Haskell reminded AAM, “This is a servant ministry. Meet people where they are musically and take them to a new level. It actually means ‘respect the dignity of every human being.’”

Lydia Beasley and Jacquelyn Matava, staff singers at St. Mark’s, San Antonio, presented“Getting Back Into Vocal Shape,” a lively video featuring practical ideas, exercise demonstrations, and tactics for singers to prepare after the pandemic.

“We have all lived in masks for the last year and a half,” Beasley said. “But singing in masks can be difficult.”

Among their many ideas: offering singers more breath marks; focusing on familiar hymns and anthems when returning; recognizing that enthusiasm among the individual singers may differ; and exercising the body and the voice.

The importance and value of coaching and mentoring — both in receiving and in giving — was the focus of a panel presentation, “Put Me In, Coach! Coaching Relationships for Musicians and Clergy that Support a Healthy Church.”

A collage of submitted videos featuring new works and anthems by AAM composers prepared during the pandemic offered a sampling of different styles from churches of various sizes. The new works reflected life during the pandemic as well as the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, fires in the West, and other significant events of the past year.

Bishop Neil Alexander, AAM chaplain and former Bishop of Atlanta, noted, “Sixteen or so months ago, we entered a season of transition the likes of which none of us had ever experienced. We were in uncharted territory — uncharted territory vocationally. As savvy with technology as some of us may be, we prepared ourselves for live music, performed in sacred spaces, with real people singing — yes, singing — to the accompaniment of real instruments.

“While we long for the return of so much we have missed, do we really want to bring all of it with us? While we deeply desire something that begins to feel like normal, most of us will admit that not all that was normal was good.”

He added, “Dr. Fauci has reminded us this pandemic will come to an end; and some point it will be over. No pandemic lasts forever. Which leads me to ask: What do we want to be, who do we want to be, when it is over? What will be the same as it used to be? What will be forever new? What will we want to take with us into the future? What will we want to leave behind as a gift of the pandemic? Those questions lead, or can lead, I believe, to profound self-examination.”
Spiritual Disciplines for a Digital Age


June 24, 2021
Ethics

An Interview with Dr. Sara Schumacher

Sara Schumacher is the author of Reimagining the Spiritual Disciplines for a Digital Age, and a dean, tutor, and lecturer in theology and the arts at St. Mellitus College in London. On a recent episode of The Living Church Podcast, she discussed the spiritual disciplines with TLC’s Amber Noel. Here are excerpts of that conversation.

What is a spiritual discipline? What are the primary goals of a spiritual discipline?

The spiritual disciplines put us into the way of the Spirit. They are the practices, handed down through the tradition of the Church, found in Scripture, that Christians have participated in and practiced individually and corporately, to be conformed into the image and likeness of Christ.

How are the spiritual disciplines most apt to be frustrated in our age?

The first thing that comes to mind is attention — attention to God. The distraction of digital technology, and the fact that our attention is the commodity of digital technology, that app developers need it in order to make money, is a particular challenge. Our attention to God has always been under threat.

In your booklet, you focus on three spiritual disciplines: solitude, simplicity, and Sabbath. After a year of being in and out of lockdown, how is solitude different from loneliness or isolation?

Solitude is about creating space, and I think it’s also about creating time. What it means is that when you create that space, that space is then able to be filled with the presence of the Spirit as the other disciplines are practiced. And that’s where I’ve come to learn the difference between solitude and loneliness. For me, loneliness feels like an empty space. There’s this space around you, but it’s an emptiness.

I ended up four months on my own in lockdown because both of my flatmates ended up stuck in their respective countries of origin. And there were times of solitude, but by the grace of God I didn’t feel loneliness. There was a quality to my solitude, there was a fullness to my solitude, and it was like I wasn’t alone. This is why people can be lonely even when they’re surrounded by other people. The loneliness is there because there’s a diminished quality to the relationships even with those that are around. And there’s something in solitude, as that space is created, as we commune with God, in which we know we’re not alone.

So how does this specifically relate to digital technology, in the life of the Church as well as in the lives of individual Christians?

When we practice solitude as individuals — if in solitude we become attentive to God, attentive to ourselves — we then become attentive to others, which is where the individual then turns to the building up of the body of Christ. We are called to care for one another, to love our brothers and sisters. The corresponding outworking of practicing solitude as an individual leads us to loving and caring and responding attentively, carefully, and wisely to those God has put around us. But then that affects how we live in the world, because we also then become attentive to “Who is my neighbor?” Because I am letting my mind and heart be conformed into Christlikeness, it starts with an individual practice, but then ends in having ecclesial and missional implications.

Do we need to impose disciplines or fasts on ourselves, like a cleanse, when it comes to the use of digital technologies in worship these days? Like one service a month, where we don’t stream, for example? One service a month we might worship “the old fashioned way,” and for those who can’t come, we’ll feel that loss, we’ll pray for them, but we will practice a kind of solitude, camera-free?

I think that’s a really interesting idea. It made me think that the one place I’ve experienced a collective solitude, not so much from cameras but from our phones, is the cinema. There’s an advert at the beginning of the film that says something like, “Please switch off your phones, and enter into the wonderful world of the cinema.” And people obey. Clearly, we are capable of collective solitude. And when we come together to worship God, we are collectively coming into his presence. And surely that is worthy of switching our phones off and being fully attentive and present to him and to each other. But yet we don’t seem to have either the courage to do that, or, dare I say, the imagination, to believe that what we’re going to experience in that space is worthy of such action. I think a collective commitment is something really interesting to explore.

What does a life lived simply look like, in terms of spiritual discipline?

Simplicity is about learning to let go. It’s letting go so that we can grasp onto that which is most important. “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you.” I think that verse is marking what the life of simplicity is. It forces us to interrogate: “What am I paying attention to? What am I holding to? What has become an inordinate attachment or addiction? What has been put into the place where God should be?” Simplicity starts with the interrogation of ourselves and what has taken hold. It is that seeking first, from which actions follow.

Simplicity is probably one of these things that might look very different in practice for different types of people. For some people, depending on where they are, a simple life in relation to technology actually may include quite a lot of use of it. For other people, simplicity may be minimal use, depending on what tempts them to seek that which is not God’s kingdom. Solitude is that “container discipline” that creates space, that helps me do that discerning work of what has become an addiction, what is deforming me.

We need to be constantly reviewing and discerning our use of technology. It’s very easy to slip into a duplicitous life. You can curate your life online, and you can quite easily deceive yourself.

Let’s talk about Sabbath. Sabbath is intentionally taking the space which God commands, and which our bodies demand, stopping, accepting our limitations, to reorient toward God, love God, and enjoy creation and other people. What risks to Sabbath have you seen, in relation to digital technology, over the course of the pandemic? And what returns to Sabbath have you seen?

The main risk to Sabbath in the pandemic was particularly related to technology, which very quickly became our only — or main — way out of our physical spaces — to work, to connect with friends and family, to be entertained. If Sabbath is about resting, accepting limitations, handing over control, the pandemic made it harder to believe that there was goodness in that resting, that there was something there in that resting. For so many people so much was being lost. And technology was the one thing to hold on to from normal life that we had all of a sudden stripped away.
Episcopal-Affiliated Saint Augustine’s University Clears Student Tuition, Fee Balances for 2021

Egan Millard
June 29, 2021
The campus of Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina
[Episcopal News Service] Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh, North Carolina, a historically Black college affiliated with The Episcopal Church, announced on June 28 that it is clearing all tuition and fee balances owed for the spring, summer and fall semesters of 2021.

After all government and private financial aid has been applied, any remaining balance owed will be cleared, the university announced on its website.

Saint Augustine’s took the unprecedented action in recognition of the financial hardships many students have faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, interim chief marketing officer Demarcus Williams told Episcopal News Service.

University staff were “seeing trends of balances being owed for the previous semester and anticipating balances being owed for this fall semester,” Williams said.

The relief was made possible with the $11.8 million in CARES Act funds that Saint Augustine’s has received from the federal government, Williams said. The school plans to use about $9 million of that to cover existing student balances.

“Students still have to complete their [federal applications for] financial aid and all of that. We’re not telling them tuition’s free, but what we’re saying is they will not have a balance,” Williams clarified. “This is for students that were not able to meet their financial obligations and students whose families were financially impacted by COVID-19. This will allow them to continue their education.”

“They have been through so much and conditions that they did not create, so it’s our way of demonstrating to them that we care and we want them back,” university President Christine Johnson McPhail told local news outlet WRAL.

“I come from a low-income, single-parent household and I am a first-generation high school graduate and first-generation college student,” said McKenzie Estep, a rising senior at Saint Augustine’s, according to the university’s announcement. “This type of support brings me one step closer to reaching my dream of starting a career with less debt and becoming financially stable.”

Saint Augustine’s, with an average enrollment of about 1,000 students, is one of two historically Black higher education institutions affiliated with The Episcopal Church, which supports Saint Augustine’s and Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina, through grant funding. Saint Augustine’s was founded in 1867 by leaders of the Diocese of North Carolina to educate African Americans recently emancipated from slavery. According to Saint Augustine’s, its alumni include more than one-third of all Black priests in The Episcopal Church and three Black bishops.

– Egan Millard is an assistant editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at emillard@episcopalchurch.org.
Canadian Churches on First Nations Land are Burning, Including St. Paul’s Anglican Church

Renée Roden
June 30, 2021
[Religion News Service] A slew of church burnings across western Canada have left six churches on First Nations land badly damaged or destroyed as of Tuesday (June 29). Four of the churches are within an hour’s drive of one another in southeastern British Columbia.

Sgt. Jason Bayda of the Penticton South Okanagan Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement that the police were “looking to determine any possible connection to the church fires.”

The burnings come at a time when Canada is reckoning with the recent discoveries of unmarked graves on the sites of former boarding schools for Indigenous children — many of which were run by churches. The remains of nearly 1,000 bodies have been found so far, most of them Indigenous children.

Chief Keith Crow of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band said his grandmother and her sisters were at one of the schools where remains were discovered.

“Everyone’s a descendant at some point,” he told Religion News Service.

But for Crow, the fires have only compounded the pain of residential school survivors who are hurting.

Crow arrived on the scene of one such fire Saturday morning. Community members across the street from Our Lady of Lourdes Church, on the Chopaka Native Reserve, spotted a vehicle outside, went out to to investigate and saw the fire start. Crow said he arrived at the church about 15 minutes later, before the Fire Department.

“If the community came to us and said we want to remove the churches, we would have done it — in a good way. But for one individual to go and do this without community consensus — it’s heartbreaking for the ones that utilize the church,” Crow said.

Where are the fires?

On June 21, Sacred Heart Mission Church on Penticton Indian Band land in British Columbia and St. Gregory Mission Church, 40 minutes to the south on Osoyoos Indian Band land, both burned down.

On June 26, fire burned down St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Hedley Native Reserve of the Upper Similkameen Indian Band and Our Lady of Lourdes Church, roughly 25 kilometers (15 miles) south.

On Saturday, a small fire also damaged St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Gitwangak First Nations land in northwest British Columbia. The fire was put out before it could cause severe damage. Chief Sandra Larin acknowledged the pain caused by news of mass graves and encouraged the community to respect one another’s different beliefs.

“This is still a place of healing. The church still provides healing for those who choose to heal that way,” Larin said in a video statement.

On Monday, a Catholic church on Siksika First Nation land near Calgary also caught on fire briefly. The RCMP is investigating.

What are residential schools?

On June 21, ground-penetrating radar revealed more than 750 unmarked graves on the grounds of Marieval Indian school, in Cowessess First Nation lands in Saskatchewan. The youngest remains in the graves appear to belong to children around 3 years old. This came just weeks after a team of scientists, in May, found 215 unmarked graves in a Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia. Kamloops opened in 1890 and closed just 43 years ago.

Canada’s residential schools operated from 1883 to 1996. More than 150,000 First Nations children were required to attend boarding schools to separate them from their parents and families and eradicate their language and cultural heritage. In 2015, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission recorded nearly 1,500 hours of testimony from former inmates of the residential school program. The commission estimated about 6,000 of the 150,000 students died while in the schools.

The Catholic Church operated roughly 60% of the schools. The discovery of unmarked graves has ramped up calls for the Catholic Church to take greater responsibility for its role in the “cultural genocide.”

Over the past week, protesters painted graffiti on Catholic churches in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Reuters reported on Friday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on Pope Francis to apologize. “I have spoken personally directly with His Holiness Pope Francis to press upon him how important it is not just that he makes an apology but that he makes an apology to Indigenous Canadians on Canadian soil.”

Crow said he hopes more schools in the area will search their grounds for graves and bring more of the history of residential schools — and the pain they have caused his community — to light.

“We are still here. The residential schools did not work. We still practice our culture. We still practice our language. And we’ll be here for many, many more millennia.”
UPDATED: Online Election Underway for Committee to Nominate Presiding Bishop Candidates

June 9, 2021
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the results of the fourth ballot.

[Episcopal News Service] An election is underway for the members of the committee that will select the nominees for The Episcopal Church’s next presiding bishop.

The Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop is made up of five lay leaders and five clergy leaders elected by the House of Deputies and five bishops elected by the House of Bishops. The committee’s members typically are elected in person at the meeting of General Convention scheduled three years before the new presiding bishop is to be elected, but because the 80th General Convention was postponed a year to 2022, this committee election is being held online.

Bishops and deputies were invited to begin voting at 8 a.m. EDT June 8, with the first ballot closing after 24 hours. The result of the first ballot were announced June 9 on the General Convention Office’s results page.

All five bishop seats were filled on the first ballot. The five elected to the committee are Indianapolis Bishop Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows, Atlanta Bishop Rob Wright, Alaska Bishop Mark Lattime, Central Pennsylvania Bishop Audrey Scanlan and West Tennessee Bishop Phoebe Roaf.

By the close of the fourth ballot on June 30, five of the 10 deputy seats had been filled. They are Deborah Hines, Steven Nishibayashi and the Revs. Deborah Jackson, Antonio Gallardo and Mary Frances Schjonberg. For each subsequent ballot, the nominees with the fewest votes will be dropped. The fifth ballot opens July 6.

The full slate of candidates for the committee can be found here.

“Although this process may seem complicated, it was adopted to accommodate the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves,” General Convention Secretary the Rev. Michael Barlowe said in a message to bishops and deputies, who “are spread across multiple time zones, and have varying access to the internet. This process is intended to promote fair access to voting for everyone, and to maximize participation. Your understanding is greatly appreciated.”

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, the church’s 27th presiding bishop, will complete his third triennium in 2024, with his successor to be elected at the 81st General Convention, scheduled for July 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky.

FROM THE EPISCOPAL CAFÉ
If I But Touch His Clothes

Laurie Gudim
June 27, 2021
When I was younger I could really indulge in self loathing. I could get on a terrible kick, thinking myself the worst of the worst — which is really a treacherous arrogance.

I remember one time when I was feeling particularly bad I took myself out to the ocean. I was in graduate school in Berkeley. Something had happened, I don’t even remember what, and it had left me writhing in shame. I just knew I was the worst idiot alive, not even worth the air I was breathing.

The ocean usually would at least calm me. I remember watching the rhythmic crash of the waves against the shore, how the foamy edges of the surf would froth as the water receded. There were gulls, and a bit later, pelicans.

In those days I was in the midst of a long moratorium from Christian practice. I wasn’t going to church or reading scripture or praying much, so it was unusual for my thoughts to turn to Jesus. And it’s not that they actually did. It was more like an image bubbled up out of my heart and laid itself before me for my contemplation.

It was of a youngish man — full of wisdom and sorrow. As I considered him, I began to understand that it was Christ. He was whole and confident, very different from how I was feeling. He stood on the air, just above me, looking out. He was feeling deep love for all the peoples of the earth and didn’t spare me much attention, though I was certainly among those he loved.

Because he wasn’t looking at me, I sat there feeling neglected and rotten while the breeze pelted me with tiny bits of sand and the gulls called to one another. It’s amazing what self-pity will come up with, for I said, remembering the poor hemorrhaging woman, “Just let me touch the hem of your robe. I won’t ask anything else. Just give me a little fragment.”

And then I came to understand that I could always touch his clothes, for what he wears is love. Caring for the people of the world that he cares for, I would be touching the hem of his robe all the time. As loathsome as I imagined myself to be, I was still more than all right, and I was meant for love.

These days I don’t loathe myself. Time has sanded the sharp edges off, and besides, who am I to judge? We have such tiny, one-sided understandings of the miraculous beings each of us is. Caught up in what culture says, what our families say, we don’t see how precious and beautiful we are — and how rare.

No matter how awful you think you are, remember this. You are fascinating and exquisite. Christ loves you and wouldn’t change a thing about you. And when you gift that understanding to others, you are touching the hem of his robe.
IN BRIEF . . .

These news briefs were featured in previous issues of "The Epistle"
From The Epistle, June 4, 2021

Listen to the Inaugural Concert
The Sloggett/Wilcox `Ohana Organ
If you missed the inaugural organ concert, here is your chance to listen to this marvelous performance with introductions by our Rector, Kahu Kawika; Kevin Cartwright, Rosales Organ Workshop President, co-owner and voicer; and Morris Wise, our project leader and in-house organ expert.

To enjoy the entire concert, please CLICK HERE
Who Do You Call?

Contact information for All Saints' Ministries and Outreach

Please submit your story ideas to the Epistle Staff at news@allsaintskauai.org.
HALE HO`OMALU ACCEPTING DONATIONS
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KUPUNA SHOPPING ASSISTANCE MINISTRY
Any of our All Saints' kupuna who need assistance with grocery shopping can contact Carolyn Morinishi at church@allsaintskauai.org to set up a delivery.

ALL SAINTS' VIRTUAL SWAP MEET
If any ministry has an unmet need, reach out to put it in the All Saints' Virtual Swap Meet and it will be published in the Epistle. Contact Bill Caldwell at news@allsaintskauai.org.

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