Volume 6, Issue 13
March 26, 2021
THIS SUNDAY: March 28, 2021
Palm Sunday


LITURGY OF THE PALMS
Mark 11:1-11 
Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem

LITURGY OF THE WORD
Isaiah 50:4-9a 
The determination of the Suffering Servant to follow God at all costs.

Psalm 31:9-16
The Psalmist foreshadows the isolation that Jesus will go through in his own suffering.

Philippians 2:5-11
Paul encourages the Philippians church members to have the same mindset as Jesus, who chose to empty himself of all the rights of Heaven in order to serve humanity, with God ultimately raising him up again.

Mark 15:1-39
The Passion narrative of Jesus' betrayal, suffering, and crucifixion.
ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICE
WITH COMMUNION

8:00AM
David Crocker (EM)*
John Hanaoka (U)
Dee Grigsby (AG)
Jan Hashizume

9:30AM
Dileep Bal (EM)
Mario Antonio (U)
Terry Moses (LR)
Faith Shiramizu (AG)
Mabel Antonio, Nelson Secretario (HP)
Carolyn 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

ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICES WITH COMMUNION
Sunday, March 7th
8:00AM and 9:30AM

Aloha Hour
Every Sunday 
10:45AM - 12:00PM
Tent

Friday/Monday Crew
Every Friday/Monday
8:00AM 
Church Office

Adult Formation Series
Revive Lent
Tuesdays
5:00PM - 6:00PM
Zoom
March 30, Session 6: Death and dying, and praying with Jesus in the garden

TCall the church office or email Kahu at rector@allsaintskauai.org to enroll.

Saturday Workday
Saturday, March 27th
8:00AM
Campus Wide

Palm Cross Weaving
Saturday, March 27th
8:00AM
Church lanai tent

Palm Sunday Services
Sunday, March 28th
8:00AM and 9:30AM
Church Campus
For the sick and suffering in body, mind, and spirit, especially Those affected by the Pandemic, Those affected by the island flooding, Rosalind, Glen, Todd, Patsy & the Tabura 'Ohana, Bracy, Suzanne & Harold, RuAnn, 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, Donn (Curly), Dr. Haruki, Micheal, Brad, those affected by the COVID-19 virus, 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.
HOLY WEEK & EASTER SCHEDULE
SPECIAL SERVICES & EVENTS
Saturday, March 27, 2021 - CHURCH WORK DAY & PALM CROSS WEAVING
Campus Wide 
8:00AM - 10:00AM 
Sunday, March 28, 2021 - PALM SUNDAY SERVICE
All Saints' Church
8:00AM & 9:30AM
Wednesday, March 31, 2021 - STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Kealia Beach - Meet at Lifeguard Tower 
6:00PM - 7:00PM
Thursday, April 1, 2021 - MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICE
All Saints' Church 
6:00PM - 7:00PM 
Friday, April 2, 2021 - GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE 
All Saints' Church
12:00PM - 1:00PM 
Saturday, April 3, 2021 - EASTER VIGIL SERVICE
All Saints' Church
6:00PM - 7:00PM 
​Sunday, April 4, 2021 - EASTER SUNDAY SERVICE
All Saints' Church 
8:00AM & 9:30AM
Sunday, April 4, 2021 - EASTER EGG HUNT
Front Lawn
10:30AM - 11:00AM 
Saturday Workday, March 27th, 8:00AM
Campus Cleaning and Palm Cross Weaving

Aloha Kākou,

Two exciting things will be happening this coming Saturday morning, March 27th:

  • Saturday Morning Work Day: We will be beautifying the church in preparation for Holy Week and Easter. Among the things needing doing are cleaning the windows of the sanctuary and clearing unwanted items from around the garage area. Please join us, starting at 8:00AM -- with enough hands on deck, we should be able to finish by 10:00AM.

  • Making of Palm Crosses: Jean Nakamoto and Mary Margaret Smith have offered to lead us in making palm crosses from palm fronds. If interested, this is also from 8:00AM at the church at the same time as our Work Morning.

Mahalo nui loa for your kōkua,
Kahu Kawika+
Easter Cookout
He Has Risen! Come Join the Celebration!
Sign up to attend our Easter Cook Out Celebration! Please RSVP by Good Friday so we can have plenty of supplies on hand. To RSVP, click here: Easter Cookout. There will also be signup sheets by the sanctuary door on Sunday.

Grill Master Wayne will be cooking up hot dogs, sausages, burgers (regular and vegan), and vegan chili. We will have sides and chips.

Dessert donations would be greatly appreciated.

Volunteers are needed to help Wayne at the grill and servers to bring food to our enthusiastic crowd. The cooking will start after the first service on Easter Sunday.

Because we can’t have our traditional potluck, donations (recommended $5) are requested to help offset the cost. 
The Easter Egg Hunt is Back!
Sunday, April 4th, 10:30 - 11:00AM
on the Church Lawn
Reflections from Kahu Kawika
Give Me Jesus

John 12:20-33
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51:1-4, 8-13
Hebrews 5:5-10
Lent 5B
21 March 2021


Phillips Brooks, author of “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and briefly Bishop of Massachusetts, was also responsible for one of the masterpieces of American nineteenth century church architecture: Trinity Church in Boston’s Copley Square. Brooks played a very direct role in Trinity’s design. However, there is one feature of Brooks’ design that is visible only to those who preach in Trinity church. Brooks had these words carved on the inside of Trinity’s pulpit: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

They are, of course, the words that “some Greeks” speak to Philip when both they and Jesus with his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem. The Greeks are non-Jews fascinated by Judaism’s antiquity and its profound ethical teaching. They are known as “God-fearers,” and they are numerous in the first century. Many of these “God-fearers” would have converted to Judaism had it not been for the requirement of circumcision. Along with Jesus and his disciples, the “God-fearers” are on their way to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. Jesus, though, is also on his way to suffer, die on the cross, and to rise again.

When Philip reports to Jesus that the Greeks have asked to see him, Jesus exclaims, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” This is a major turning point in John’s gospel.

Scholars tell us that John is divided into the “Book of Signs” and the “Book of Glory.” 

In the “Book of Signs” (the first part of John) Jesus performs seven miracles that John refers to as “signs.” They begin when Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding feast at Cana and culminate with Jesus’ greatest miracle: raising Lazarus from the dead. Throughout the “book of signs” Jesus makes cryptic references to his “hour” or “time” and says that it has not yet come, thus the need for “signs” to point the way into the future. For example, when his mother tells him that the revelers at the wedding feast have run out of wine, he says, “My hour has not yet come.” In John 7:8, Jesus tells his disciples that he will not go to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths because his “time has not yet fully come.” 

But when the Greeks ask to see Jesus in today’s reading, we enter into the second part of the Gospel of John, the “Book of Glory.” It is here where Jesus announces that the hour has finally come for him to be glorified! And it is also here that we realize that Jesus’ idea of glory and our idea of glory are radically different. For Jesus, to be glorified is to embrace the cross, the epitome of suffering: 

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. … Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say – ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. … And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Because non-Jews such as the Greeks are seeking to meet Jesus, he knows that his mission is no longer restricted to Israel but has become universal. It is time for him to be lifted up in two senses – that is, crucified and ascended – so that all people could be drawn to him. Not just some, not just the religious, not just those with connections, not just those we like, but ALL PEOPLE.

For us, though, glory tends to be about having more things: more money, more prestige, more power, more bragging rights. For Jesus, however, glory is not about getting more, but about giving more. Jesus demonstrates this throughout John’s gospel, but nowhere more vividly than in these final chapters. Jesus gives himself to his friends by washing their feet on Maundy Thursday. Then he gives himself to the world by dying on the cross.

It is the completion of the great arc of self-emptying that begins with the opening verses of John. The cosmic Word by which God spoke creation into being descends from on high and is clothed with flesh, “and we beheld his glory.” The Word Incarnate heals the sick, feeds the multitude, raises the dead, and finally completes his task by dying on the cross, and only then resumes the glory that is rightfully his.

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Bishop Brooks knew that everyone who steps into a pulpit and presumes to preach the gospel needs to think about those words, because the great temptation of preaching is to give our hearers something other than Jesus. Unfortunately, many of us are tempted to minimize demonstrating Jesus in our lives to those around us. 

But the funny things is that when we are proud of something or really love something a lot, we want to tell other people about it as well: a thrilling book we just read, a new job we just started, a new friendship or relationship that brings us life and love. This reminds me of “Show and Tell” at grade school. Keiki like to show off something they love or are proud of (a pet, an art project, a scientific model of the solar system, our parent and his or her occupation, etc.), and by and large have no inhibitions from doing so.

So I wonder if the same is true of all of us this morning. How much do we “show and tell” Jesus? If we love him and are proud of who he is and look up to his great love for us, then he should be evident in our lives to others around us. All around us are people who want to see Jesus. Do they see him in us? Do they see the Servant-Lord who washed the feet of his friends? Do they see the prophet who cleansed the Temple? Do they see the healer who made the blind to see? If we are to let people see Jesus in us, then we must go ourselves and sit at his feet, let him heal us, feed upon his body broken for us, and above all stand at the cross and wonder as the Word that spoke out of the void lapses into silence and death.

This is not just about being a nice person – there are plenty of nice, generous, and wonderful people around, whether or not they happen to be Christian. The difference, though, is whether we ourselves are seeing Jesus daily and thereby allowing others to see what impact Jesus makes on our every lives today. Has Jesus made such an impact on our lives? If so, how are we showing and telling that?

Some years ago, a rabbi at a large Reform synagogue published an editorial in the local newspaper on Christmas Day. He said, “I like Christmas, and I like Christians. My only problem with both is that they need more of Jesus.” Wow! Precisely. Sometimes those who are outside the circle of the church can see and name our problems far better than we can. We all need a lot more of Jesus. It is a daily challenge for every one of us who are called by the name of Christian. 

“Sir, we wish see Jesus,” the Greeks said to Philip. The key is that we, too, need to see Jesus, so that when others want to see Jesus, they can see him in us. As a well-known old spiritual puts it: 

In the morning when I rise, give me Jesus.
When I am alone, give me Jesus.
When I come to die, give me Jesus.
You can have all the world, but give me Jesus. 
The All Saints' Alms Fund
A Fund to Aid Those in Need
The Alms Fund is an account funded by donations beyond the church budget so that our Priest can help folks who have a short-term financial need, such as help with utilities, buying groceries, etc. It is a pastoral outreach that is done confidentially.

This fund was previously called "The Rector's Discretionary Fund." Our diocese, led by our Bishop, a few years ago formally changed the name to "the Alms Fund" in order to disabuse people of the notion that the finances could be used at the whim of the priest, and to make sure it is used for its original pastoral purpose.

For any checks I write, I insist on two signatures -- mine and either a Warden or the Treasurer, to ensure proper accountability. Everyone is welcome to contribute to this fund. Simply indicate on the memo line of your check that it is designated for the Alms Fund.

-Kahu Kawika+
kauai independent food bank

Kaua`i Independent Food Bank Needs Your Help
Please Consider Lenten Donations
Aloha mai kākou,

As we remember our Lord who fasted forty days and nights in the desert in this season of Lent, we also remember those among us who are forced to fast in the form of food deprivation, especially as a fallout of the Pandemic.

During this season, I'm inviting us to join in a partnership with the Kaua`i Independent Food Bank to bring them donations of non-perishable food. Any monetary donations (made out to the Kaua`i Independent Food Bank) will assist the food bank in purchasing supplies in bulk at lower cost. At the Sunday services and other services during Lent and Holy Week, we'll have our Red Food Wagon just outside the Sanctuary entrance while monetary donations can be put in the offering calabash -- feel free to put your food items in or around the Red Food Wagon and we'll make sure to get them to the Kaua`i Independent Food Bank on a regular basis. You can also drop off food items during the week at the Church Office - just let either Cami or me know ahead of time, since we have to limit the number of non-Preschool people on the Preschool grounds.

Mahalo nui loa for your prayerful consideration,

Kahu Kawika+
Mahalo to Hank and the All Saints' Virtual Choir
Enjoy This Performance By the All Saints' Virtual as You Continue Your Lenten Reflections
Lenten Adult Formation Series
The past year has been a very challenging time for all of us. As we make our way through the disruption and turmoil, we will be confronted with questions about how we want to rebuild our lives anew. As Christians, we know that we do not face the future alone or ill-equipped. Jesus promises always to be with us and has gifted the community with the power of the Spirit as a guide, advocate and comforter.

This Lent, I would like to invite you to participate in a six-week small group process called Revive Lent, published by Forward Movement (who also produce the daily devotional guide “Forward Day by Day”). Revive Lent will provide an opportunity to become grounded in foundational spiritual practices that will equip you for a deeper spiritual journey. In this time of uncertainty, Revive Lent helps us to talk with one another, build a deeper relationship with God and prepare to journey with Jesus through Holy Week.

Revive Lent comprises 6 sessions:

March 30, Session 6: Death and dying, and praying with Jesus in the garden

Our sessions will be via Zoom on Tuesdays 5:00PM - 6:00PM, starting on February 23rd and concluding on March 30th. In order to enroll, please either speak with me directly, call the church office, or email me at rector@allsaintskauai.org. I will then send you the Zoom link you will need for each of our sessions.

May God richly bless us as we grow in faith to serve God’s world,

Kahu Kawika+
Comments on Statement from the Vatican

March 23, 2021

The following message from the Bishop was originally written on March 17, 2021

My Beloved Siblings in Christ Jesus,

I have been asked about a recent statement from the Vatican that says that the Roman Catholic Church Cannot Bless Same-Sex Marriages.

I really have very little to say regarding the teaching of another Christian tradition. The Statement reflects the consistent historic teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. It is in keeping with a particular understanding of natural law theology, and is related to that denomination’s teaching on birth control and even the ordination of women. While I value that tradition of Christianity and I have learned much from the Roman Catholic Church (especially recently from Pope Francis in the Encyclical Letters Laudato si' and Fratelli tutti), I understand the limitations of all denominations and how finite human institutions often engage the world. I am saddened some felt that this Statement was needed.

In the end, as a Bishop of the Episcopal Church, I am somewhat indifferent regarding this Statement from the Vatican except insofar as it continues to hurt and marginalize some of the children of God. As Episcopalians, we need to be aware of the teaching of our Church.

Keep in mind that The Episcopal Church acts through General Convention (the governing body of our Church which includes the House of Deputies made up of clergy and lay deputies from each diocese and the House of Bishops) by resolutions, canons (church law) and authorized liturgical (worship) material. We established theological support for same-sex marriage with two General Convention resolutions in 2015. The first formally approved gender-neutral and same-sex marriage ceremonies, and the second changed the current marriage “canons” to allow clergy to officiate same-sex marriages using either a marriage rite from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer or a “trial” liturgy.

In 2018, the General Convention approved expanding marriage rites for same-sex couples to all dioceses. Bishops who object to marriage equality on theological grounds may request that pastoral care and oversight for same-sex couples (who wish to be married by priests in their home churches) be provided by another Episcopal bishop. The resolution also makes clear that no clergy member can be forced to preside at any marriage ceremony (that actually has always been true and is nothing new).

In 1994 “sexual orientation” was added to the non-discrimination canons for ordination in the Episcopal Church. In 2009 General Convention adopted a resolution stating that, “God’s call is open to all,” and eradicating discriminatory barriers to the election of bishops. The Church had previously consecrated its first openly gay bishop in 2003. General Convention formally approved transgender ordination in 2012.

The teaching of the Episcopal Church (and therefore actions of General Convention) has been shaped by 1979 Book of Common Prayer and, especially the Baptismal Covenant (pages 304-305). Through the decades, we have asked and answered the following over and over again:

Celebrant Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
People  I will, with God's help.

Celebrant Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People I will, with God's help.

Celebrant Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People I will, with God's help.

To put it another way, in the words of the 2nd Bishop of the Diocese of Hawaiʻi (and the 24th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church), the late Edmund Browning: “There will be no outcasts in this church.” As our current Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, puts it: “Well, again, Jesus said the supreme law is the law of love. He was very clear about that, Matthew 22. There can be no debate about that. The New Testament was absolutely clear about that: to love God and love the neighbor, that is what the will of God calls for.”

Marriage is the highest form of interpersonal commitment and friendship achievable between sexually attracted persons. The issue before the Episcopal Church has been how to understand the inclusion of gay and lesbian individuals and couples in our community. Daniel Maguire, Professor Emeritus of Ethics at Marquette University, has defined marriage as “the legal union of persons who are bonded in a permanent, sexually exclusive friendship.” I have found this definition most helpful. Marriage can be understood as a process, not a state. State comes from the Latin stare, to stand or to be static. Nothing we know in this world is static, especially our friendships. Friendship involves the blending of two diverse sacred personalities; it can be stable only in direction, but it will never be static or unchanging. To marry is to enter a process. Not all friendships survive the strain of the process. The hope is that they will. The acknowledgement of this process in the marital friendship with two sexually attracted adults looks to offer the security and hope of the union despite the ebb and flow of time. Two sacred personalities are provided the possibility of deepening the relationship in a marital community with the hope for individual growth. Joys and sorrows, the birth of a child or the death of a parent, success or illness, maturity and aging, these natural events can draw the marrying partners together, enhancing their respective sacred personalities within the reality of the world. The Episcopal Church has concluded that the desire to bless such unions must be offered to all of God’s people.

The Episcopal Church has decided that couples – if one of the couple is a Baptized Christian and both are mature adults willing to take on the commitments – are welcome to receive the sacramental rite of Marriage regardless of the sex or gender of the individuals. The couple are to be instructed on the expectations of Marriage including the hope that the union is permanent and lifelong, and that it is sexually exclusive. While we have made provision for clergy and Episcopalians who disagree with this decision, it is the reality of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Hawaiʻi in 2021. As a Bishop, I have officiated at the Marriage of same sex couples. As Episcopalians in Hawaiʻi, we have engaged this conversation over many decades and understand it settled. It is no longer an issue for civil authorities – especially in Hawaiʻi. It has been decided for most of us in The Episcopal Church and for Episcopalians in these Islands that: “There will be no outcasts in this church.”

Yours faithfully,
+Bob
 
The Right Reverend Robert L. Fitzpatrick, Bishop
The Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i

Bishop-in-Charge
The Episcopal Church in Micronesia
Addressing Anti-Asian Rhetoric

March 19, 2021

My dear Siblings in Christ Jesus,
 
The continental United States has recently experienced a surge in anti-Asian rhetoric, bullying in schools, racist incidents, scapegoating and hate crimes impacting Asian and Asian American people. It has been reported that: "Anti-Asian hate crime in 16 of America’s largest cities increased 149% in 2020 according to an analysis of official preliminary police data by the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, with the first spike occurring in March and April amidst a rise in COVID cases and negative stereotyping of Asians relating to the pandemic." While we often feel a disconnect from the harsh reality of the North American States, the inappropriate Anti-Asian remarks by the Police Chief on Kauaʻi brings the crisis home to the Islands. 
 
We must be clear that the besetting sins of the United States are racism and nationalism. From the expansion of Europeans into Africa, the Americas, Asia and Oceania in the fifteenth century, there has been an enduring race-based bias woven into the fabric of the United States from its founding and that reality is even present in our Island home. I am convinced that the tap roots of racism in the United States are Euro-centric imperialism and expansionism (articulated in the Doctrine of Discovery  and shown in Hawaiian history), colonialism (focused on land ownership and control of natural resources), and race based slavery. It is manifest – sadly, all too often unconsciously – in notions that skin pigmentation and the language a person speaks define levels of humanity, and that the “foreigner” is immediately suspect and a threat. It is human sin. It is, however, a personal sin as well as a corporate sin. It is my sin. 
 
As Episcopalians – no, as responsible adults, we must be clear that there is no room for racism and such hate in our society. We must reject the political and public rhetoric of hate that is meant to inflame passions and demonize other human beings. It also means we must put away ordinary “jokes” and side comments that actually dehumanize another person. Even in Hawaiʻi, these are no longer acceptable. Our words shape our actions and reinforce our beliefs. My words matter. This is not about “political correctness,” but about basic morality and humanity. As Jesus taught us in the “Great Commandment”: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40)
 
While we must walk in solidarity with victims of the racist attacks, and reject hate and violence in thought, word and deed, we must also examine ourselves and our own deep-seated understanding and fears of other people. We must again ask ourselves this question from the Baptismal Covenant (BCP page 305): “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” This question is for each of us and must be answered every day. It means that we are each called to monitor our own thoughts, speech and actions, and to challenge hurtful comments and actions from our own friends and family members – as well as public officials and those in authority. 
 
The current anti-Asian rhetoric and violence speaks to the reality that our 245-year journey as citizens of the United States in becoming a truly just society has only begun. As Christians, we are reminded of our higher responsibility to live into Jesus’ teaching in the “Beatitudes” (Matt. 5:3-16) and “The Judgment of the Nations” (Matt. 25:31-46). It is up to us – to you and me.

Yours faithfully in Christ Jesus,
+Bob
 
The Right Reverend Robert L. Fitzpatrick, Bishop
The Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i
The Episcopal Church in Micronesia
Good Friday Offering
The Cathedral office in Bahrain with a note now familiar all over the world: “Please note that this office is closed due to social distancing.”
(Photo credit: The Ven. Bill Schwartz)
Words like “unprecedented” seem too small to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has sorely afflicted the lives of millions of people around the world. It is hard to get one’s mind around the impact of this crisis. And yet, for many Christians in the Middle East, the pandemic is just one more crisis to add to the list.

Reflecting upon the situation at the Ras Morbat Eye Clinic in Yemen, the Ven. Bill Schwartz, Archdeacon for the Gulf in the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf, writes: “The COVID crisis is actually only one more difficulty for them in the face of three other ongoing epidemics (cholera, dengue fever, malaria) and all are greatly affected by all of the problems of the ongoing civil war.”

In the Middle East the political instability of neighboring countries faced in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen and elsewhere can overshadow all other concerns. Governments in turmoil continue to create conditions which promote poverty, food insecurity and economic instability which put
a desperate strain on refugees and displaced persons, health care, education and family life in the best of times.

The Good Friday Offering is an opportunity throughout the Episcopal Church to support our Anglican sisters and brothers in their ministry to their neighbors to help meet the needs of innocent people caught in the middle of these realities.

In this time of exceptional circumstances, please make a gift to the Good Friday Offering in one of the following ways: 

1) use your smartphone to text ‘GFO’ to 91999
(messaging and data rates apply),

2) give securely online at bit.ly/goodfridayoffering, or

3) send your check contribution by mail to:
DFMS-Protestant Episcopal Church US P.O. Box 958983
St. Louis, MO 63195-8983
Make your check payable to: The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society with “Good Friday Offering” in the note field. Thank you.

© 2021 The Episcopal Church, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Palm Sunday
The Sunday of the Passion
“Let these branches be for us signs of his victory, and grant that we who bear them in his name may ever hail him as our King, and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life.”

Today is the first day of Holy Week and the last Sunday in Lent, known as Palm Sunday or the Sunday of the Passion. The day begins by marking Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Many churches participate in the Liturgy of the Palms, first offered in The Episcopal Church in the 1960 Book of Offices. In this liturgy, the celebrant blesses palms or other branches, and, following a reading from the Gospels, leads the congregation in procession into their church—often singing “All Glory, Laud, and Honor” or “Ride On! Ride On In Majesty!”

This liturgy evokes the early observances of Palm Sunday. According to Armentrout and Slocum’s An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church (Church Publishing, 2000), by the year 381, the faithful would process from the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem, waving palm or olive branches. As they processed, they sang songs from Scripture – including the exultant antiphon of Psalm 118 sung at Christ’s entrance into the city: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

When the Palm Sunday service includes the Eucharist, the Liturgy of the Palms is followed by the salutation and the collect of the day. Afterward, the tone of the service shifts noticeably. In contrast to the earlier song of joy, Psalm 31, appointed for today, cries, “For I have heard the whispering of the crowd; fear is all around; they put their heads together against me; they plot to take my life.” The Gospel reading is likewise sorrowful, recalling the events of Jesus’ Passion (that is, the events and suffering before and during his death). Still, we are reminded throughout the difficult days ahead that this is not the end of the story.

Despite the Savior’s death on the cross, he promises to rise again. The Man of Sorrows remains the one at whose name, “every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, [and] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

Collect for the Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; 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. 219).

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.
Palm Sunday
The Sunday of the Passion
The Sunday before Easter at which Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mt 21:1-11, Mk 11:1-11a, Lk 19:29-40) and Jesus’ Passion on the cross (Mt 26:36-27:66, Mk 14:32-15:47, Lk 22:39-23:56) are recalled. It is also known as the Sunday of the Passion. Palm Sunday is the first day of Holy Week. Red is the liturgical color for the day. The observance of Palm Sunday in Jerusalem was witnessed by the pilgrim Egeria in about 381-384. During this observance there was a procession of people down the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem. The people waved branches of palms or olive trees as they walked. They sang psalms, including Ps 118, and shouted the antiphon, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” The Palm Sunday observance was generally accepted throughout the church by the twelfth century. However, the day was identified in the 1549 BCP as simply “The Sunday next before Easter.” The blessing of branches and the procession were not included. The 1928 BCP added the phrase “commonly called Palm Sunday” to the title of the day. A form for blessing palms was provided by the Book of Offices (1960). The 1979 BCP presents the full title for the day, “The Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday” (BCP, p. 270). The liturgy of the palms is the entrance rite for the service. The congregation may gather at a place apart from the church and process to the church after the blessing of the branches of palm or other trees (BCP, p. 270). The liturgy of the palms includes a reading of one of the gospel accounts of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. The branches may be distributed to the people before the service or after the prayer of blessing. All the people hold branches in their hands during the procession. Appropriate hymns, psalms, or anthems are sung. The Prayer Book notes that the hymn “All glory, laud, and honor” (Hymns 154-155) and Ps 118:19-29 may be used (BCP, p. 271). The Hymnal 1982 also provides “Ride on! ride on in majesty!” (Hymn 156) and “Hosanna in the highest” (Hymn 157) for the procession at the liturgy of the palms. The Hymnal 1982 provides musical settings for the opening anthem, the blessing over the branches, and the bidding for the procession (Hymn 153). The procession may halt for a station at an appropriate place such as the church door. The BCP provides a stational collect which may be used (p. 272). The palm liturgy may be led by a deacon or lay reader if a bishop or priest is unavailable.

When the service includes the eucharist, the liturgy of the palms is followed by the salutation and the collect of the day. The service changes focus abruptly from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the solemnity of the Passion. In the 1979 BCP, the Passion gospel is drawn from one of the three synoptic accounts of the Passion, one of which is appointed for each of the three years in the eucharistic lectionary. The Passion gospel is announced simply, “The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to _________.” The customary responses before and after the gospel are omitted (BCP, p. 272). The Passion gospel may be read or chanted by lay persons. Specific roles may be assigned to different persons, with the congregation taking the part of the crowd (BCP, p. 273). It is customary to observe a brief time of silence when the moment of Jesus’ death is described by the narrator. The Hymnal 1982 provides a variety of hymns concerning the Passion, including “Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle” (Hymns 165-166), “O sacred head, sore wounded” (Hymns 168-169), and “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” (Hymn 172).
Fewer Women in High-Profile, High-Paying Positions Partly Explains the Persistent Clergy Gender Pay Gap

By Egan Millard

March 24, 2021
Conferring before an ordination service in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 7, 1975, are (left to right) the Rev. Lee McGee, Bishop George W. Barrett, the Rev. Alison Palmer, the Rev. Diane Tickell, and the Rev. Betty Rosenberg. Photo: Carolyn Aniba/Diocesan Press Service via the Archives of The Episcopal Church

[Episcopal News Service] In 2001, when the Church Pension Group first started publishing differences in average compensation between male and female full-time Episcopal clergy, men earned 18% more than women. Five years later, CPG, the financial services corporation that also tracks clergy demographics, reported that the clergy gender pay gap had only narrowed by half a percentage point, to 17.5%.

“Hence the progress towards compensation equity is slow,” the 2006 report concluded.

Nearly 20 years after CPG published its first report, the gender pay gap has inched closer to parity. The median compensation for male clergy is now 13.5% higher than it is for female clergy, according to the most recent report.

The primary factor in the lingering clergy gender pay gap is the imbalance of women in higher-paying senior positions, according to the data and the observations of diocesan leaders who say it’s one of the areas they’re targeting as they work to close the gap.

“If you look at it from a simple mathematical standpoint,” the Rev. Mary Brennan Thorpe, canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Virginia, told Episcopal News Service, “the biggest lifter of average compensation, the fastest way to get there, would be for female clergy to be called to large churches, to be rectors of large churches which compensate more highly. And yet, there’s still some resistance on the part of some parishes.”

The 2019 report covers 5,344 clergy members, 4,677 of them in full-time positions, in the domestic dioceses (those within the 50 states and the District of Columbia). The report separately covers 248 clergy members in United States territories and other countries. The current makeup of domestic clergy is 60% men, 40% women. The vast majority are priests; 1% of male clergy are deacons, while 4% of women are. Bishops’ salaries were not reported.
While previous annual reports broke down compensation by gender and province, the 2019 report also breaks it down by gender and diocese (for domestic dioceses).

The 2019 median compensation for all domestic clergy was $76,734; for men, it was $80,994, while for women it was $70,772.

Like the clergy pay gap, the gender pay gap among all American workers has narrowed over time, but it persists. In 2019, the median pay for women working full time in the United States was 18.5% less than it was for male workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Sexism remains a major factor and often manifests in unconscious or implicit bias that favors men over women in hiring and compensation levels. Women also occupy fewer high-paying positions than men in most industries, further widening the gender pay gap.

“The wage gap, which exists in our larger culture and in our church, points, to me, to a place of real brokenness in how we value the work of women,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Easton, canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Nebraska.

The Episcopal Church has identified closing the clergy gender pay gap as a priority and has devoted resources to that end for over a decade. In 2009, the church, Executive Council and the Church Pension Fund commissioned “Called to Serve,” an extensive report on the differences in compensation and vocational well-being between male and female clergy. In 2018, General Convention passed a resolution that removed references to gender and current compensation from clergy files in The Episcopal Church’s Office of Transition Ministry – which facilitates clergy searches and calls – as a way to ameliorate discrimination in the first phase of search processes, when parishes are just beginning to browse for a priest with the right qualifications. Another resolution passed that same year, D016, established a task force to examine sexism in the church, including its effect on clergy compensation.

Building on churchwide studies and legislation, some dioceses have initiated local efforts to close the gender pay gap, including identifying points in the search and hiring process that are vulnerable to discrepancies and establishing clarity, transparency and consistency – and then following up with congregations to ensure female clergy are paid the same as their male counterparts.

“I think these things are making a difference in our church, and we’re seeing it. … It’s just agonizingly slow,” said Georgia Bishop Frank Logue, one of three diocesan leaders interviewed for this story.

Another reason the clergy gender pay gap persists rests with women themselves and the positions they apply for. Women tend to underestimate their own abilities and qualifications, compared to men, Thorpe has observed.

“There’s a sense, I think, among some female clergy, and this is something that’s pretty well documented in the literature, that women will assume that they don’t have the gifts to do the job, so they don’t apply for those kinds of [higher-paid] positions,” Thorpe told ENS. “And men will apply for them even if they know they don’t have the skill set. And those of us who work as women clergy and with women clergy are continually encouraging people, ‘Stretch beyond what you think you can do because you probably have the gifts. They just are not as patently obvious to you as they really are.’”

The makeup of parish vestries and search committees that make hiring decisions can also introduce bias. Although women have served as Episcopal priests since 1974, many people who serve on vestries and search committees grew up in a time when female priests were rare.

“What we see often is that the folks at the parish level who have the greatest influence on compensation level and on who gets selected for what kind of position tend to be, shall we say, the more senior members, who have a particular cultural and historical angle of view,” Thorpe said.

It’s a phenomenon dating back almost a half-century that Logue has noticed as well.

“I do believe that probably all churches, but certainly The Episcopal Church, has an ingrained model of what a priest looks like, and that model is male,” he said, adding that dioceses should make sure search committees are seeking out and interviewing female candidates. While no search committee would explicitly seek a male rector, some members’ implicit bias may limit whom they call for an interview. One way to address this is to have a gender-blind application, in which the committee initially reviews applications without knowing the gender of the applicant.

“If a church is not considering women candidates, they are missing out on what God may be trying to do in our midst,” Logue said.

Male clergy are more likely than female clergy to serve larger, wealthier congregations and hold higher positions to begin with. Parishes with annual operating revenues of over $350,000 are served by 1,329 men but only 780 women. Even when comparing clergy who work in similar roles or comparably sized congregations, or who have the same amount of experience, men still earn more across the board, according to the 2019 CPG report.

Those larger parishes tend to have less turnover in senior positions, which means fewer opportunities for women to advance, Logue said. And since there are relatively few of them – 4% of Episcopal churches have an average Sunday attendance of 300 or more – that influences the overall trend.

“When you get up to a $750,000 or $1 million [parish] budget, all the priests who are serving as rectors [in the Diocese of Georgia] are men, still, largely because of longevity,” he said. “We have churches that I think would call a female priest, no problem … but we just haven’t had a call there yet. That’s the agonizingly slow part that can’t be changed by policy alone. And it’s frustrating.”

And while men who have advanced over long careers to senior positions in large churches have markedly high compensation packages, women often encounter a glass ceiling as their careers progress, said Easton, the canon to the ordinary in Nebraska.

“For entry-level positions like curacy and first-time associate positions where you set the experience meter down lower, people are more likely to set a [salary] and stick to it. It’s over time in our ministries that the experience of men and women is valued differently,” she told ENS.

One factor is the “motherhood wage penalty.” As shown in studies cited by the “Called to Serve” report, women who are working while raising children are paid less than childless women, while men raising children earn more than childless men.

“Research demonstrates that this is at least partly due to discrimination against mothers among employers,” the report states. “Studies demonstrate that this is because the birth of a child creates a more unequal gender division of labor, freeing up fathers to spend more time at work, as well as cultural expectations regarding masculinity and breadwinning that cause employers to prefer fathers to men without children.”

One way to address this, Easton said, is having solid parental leave policies guaranteed from the outset. That way, women are less likely to feel they have to choose between having children and taking a job.

“If you’re in the Church Pension Fund, you have a great parental leave benefit, and I would like to see every parish just have that automatically incorporated into every letter of agreement,” she said. “And that’s one way that you can preserve full-time employment [for women] in a way that you might not be able to do otherwise.”

Easton also identified salary negotiation as a crucial point in addressing the pay gap.

“We’ve learned through studies in the secular world that compensation negotiation is a lot of where this wage gap comes from. And that negotiation is just a bias minefield. How we negotiate as women, and also how our negotiation is interpreted by people – it’s sort of a lose-lose situation.”

Her solution: a diocesan policy that sets a compensation package for every position as soon as the position is posted. By setting that standard from the beginning, “we tend to have more equitable compensation across our diocese for a full-time position,” Easton said.

Using specific, objective figures – “the language of commerce” – with search committees helps ground them in determining appropriate compensation ranges, Thorpe, the canon to the ordinary in Virginia, added.

It’s important “to give search committees clarity about, if you will, what the marketplace is right now,” she said. “That for a position for a church in this diocese, with this Sunday attendance, this revenue level, this is what people are getting paid for those positions.”

While the hiring process is determined more at the parish level, proactive diocesan policies can push churches toward equitable pay. When he was canon to the ordinary in the Diocese of Georgia, Logue made closing the gap a priority, along with then-Bishop Scott Benhase. The diocese started by updating the outdated minimum compensation for full-time priests, replacing it with a system that increased compensation with congregational size and years of experience. It later specified how to apply these minimums to clergy who worked part time.

The diocese also began publishing an annual survey of compensation for priests, listing them not by name but by congregational size and budget and years of experience. Logue then identified priests who were paid much less than their peers and either worked with their vestries to establish a plan for more appropriate pay or helped the priests move to a parish that could pay them appropriately. Within four years, the median pay for male priests increased 8%, while the median pay for female priests increased 20%, adjusted for inflation, according to Logue.

“You just really have to go on and address the outliers, and we found it was helpful to congregations, and we still do it every year,” Logue told ENS. “We were able to, by force of policy, make some changes so that if you’re at the same size church, similar budget, similar Sunday attendance, that you’ll be paid the same.”

Other dioceses, like California, have followed this lead, publishing annual reports of all clergy salaries – including details on the kind of work they do and the kind of churches they serve, but not names or genders. The Diocese of Los Angeles has also been a leader in establishing consistency in clergy salaries, gathering information about compensation packages from its parishes as a result of a 2006 diocesan convention resolution and Suffragan Bishop Diane Jardine Bruce’s push for transparency in church budgeting.

There are cultural factors that can help, too, like having a female bishop or more diverse search committees.

In Virginia, “we’re blessed with a woman [Bishop Suffragan Susan Goff] who is our ecclesiastical authority,” said Thorpe, “and an assistant bishop [the Rt. Rev. Jennifer Brooke-Davidson] who is a woman. That model of leadership, of strong and clear and graceful leadership, it has an effect on folks. And as vestries and search committees have more diverse and, frankly, younger people in leadership, and having more women in those groups, it does make a difference.”

Even so, Thorpe said, seeing the effects of those changes takes time – and a lot of patience.

“It’s improving slightly, but we are a large battleship, so moving the ship takes a little time. We are seeing more willingness and actually enthusiasm about female candidates for positions in larger churches, and that’s a lovely thing,” she told ENS.

“It seems like in 2021, we shouldn’t have to be fighting this battle. But we still have to be fighting this battle.”

– Egan Millard is an assistant editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at emillard@episcopalchurch.org.
Church Responds to Second Mass Shooting in 7 Days With Renewed Calls for Action

By Egan Millard

March 23, 2021
Sarah Moonshadow is comforted by David and Maggie Prowell after Moonshadow was inside King Soopers grocery store during a shooting in Boulder, Colorado, on March 22, 2021. Photo: Alyson McClaran/Reuters

[Episcopal News Service] As the United States grieves for its second mass shooting in a week, Episcopalians continue to respond with calls to action, pastoral care and prayer.

A gunman killed 10 people at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, on March 22, as Americans were still mourning the killings of eight people – six of them Asian American women – in Georgia on March 16. In addition, there were five other incidents around the country in the days between in which multiple people were shot.

“Let us be silent and humbled before the sense of violation this brings to us,” the Rev. Mary Kate Rejouis, rector of St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Boulder, told her parishioners during an online vigil hours after the shooting. Rejouis’ parish is across the street from the University of Colorado Boulder and is home to its Canterbury Club. She and her family were out of town at the time of the attack.

“So much was broken tonight, or perhaps the brokenness we live in was revealed here, as it was in Atlanta just a few days ago. I feel broken too — both for the reality of this experience today, and also for the truth of it — we know this ritual. Violence, devastation, prayer, come together, burials, grief, some hand wringing … until the next one. I have had enough of that,” she said.

Colorado Bishop Kym Lucas shared her reaction in a video message to her diocese the same evening, saying the back-to-back shootings left her heartbroken and angry.
“Coming so soon on the heels of the horrible massacre in Atlanta, I confess to you that this news was devastating to me,” Lucas said. “I am angry that we keep experiencing this kind of senseless violence, these needless deaths.”

Lucas and her local counterparts in the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America offered a litany of prayers for the victims and the community.
“I ask your prayers for those family members who will receive a knock on their door with information that will devastate them,” Lucas said. “And I even ask your prayers for the person or persons so broken that they would take the lives of people they didn’t even know.”

Lucas is a member of Bishops United Against Gun Violence, along with Connecticut Bishop Ian Douglas, who told Episcopal News Service that the church’s response comes in several distinct forms during crises like these, including pastoral care, prayer, public witness and action. The group began to form in the aftermath of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, an experience that continues to inform Douglas’ outlook on the problem of gun violence in America.

“We have to do something to address this pandemic of gun violence in our nation and in our culture,” Douglas told ENS, and he added that too many communities are now becoming familiar with these types of tragedies. Douglas reached out to Lucas to offer support after the shooting, saying, “We’re here for you and we’re praying for you. And we know what it’s like to go through this in our diocese.”

Prayer, however, must be a catalyst for action, Douglas added.

“We do a lot of education … and then we are working hard for safe and sane gun legislation,” Douglas said. “So we don’t simply say, ‘We’re thinking of you and we’re praying for you.’ We are praying. But … we pray in order to act. We don’t pray because there’s nothing else we can do.”

The Episcopal Church, through its Office of Government Relations, has adopted and refined its policy positions on gun safety and gun reform since 1976, all stemming from General Convention resolutions. They include stricter gun licensing procedures, restricting assault weapons, requiring background checks and increasing funding for mental health treatment.

The Office of Government Relations issued an action alert on March 23, encouraging Episcopalians to write to their senators and urge them to pass two pieces of universal gun background check legislation currently before the Senate.

“Numerous polls show that a large majority of Americans, as many as 9 in 10 people, support universal background checks,” the action alert said, reminding Episcopalians that gun violence is a much larger problem than mass shootings alone.

“Over the past two weeks, we have once again seen mass shootings take the lives of Americans, most recently last week in Atlanta and last night in Colorado. While these tragedies generate attention and media coverage, we must remember the less visible but daily toll that gun violence takes on our communities through suicide, domestic violence, and other means.”

Through her anguish over the Boulder shooting and her dismay over the lack of action that has been taken to prevent incidents like it, Rejouis expressed a resolve to push for lasting change.

“The right end of prayer is action,” she said. “And no action any one of us takes on our own will be enough, but it will certainly not be enough if we collectively do nothing.”

That’s where the church, and especially groups like Bishops United Against Gun Violence, can play a major role, Douglas said.

“Unlike other gun violence prevention organizations that are specifically organized around gun violence prevention, we do this as part of our Christian commitment,” he told ENS. “And this is what it means to be the church.”

– Egan Millard is an assistant editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at emillard@episcopalchurch.org.

FROM THE EPISCOPAL CAFÉ
Springing-Up

March 25, 2021

Leslie Scoopmire

Finally the blue sky finally unfurled itself before our wondering eyes—but it sure seems like it has been raining for weeks. And for all that we are told that 

April showers 

Bring May flowers, 

it’s just as true around here that 

March rain brings flood 

and icy cold mud.

Today, though, we have been rewarded: I have seen the first buds on the redbud tree in our front garden. The redbud is grandchild to the wee, timorous stick brought across two states from Oklahoma in a bucket by my dad, who has been gone these last fifteen years.

These nascent buds are beautiful, though transitory. Those same blossoms must fall to the ground to make way for the heart-shaped leaves that will soon provide a canopy of cool shade. Then, in November those leaves too will die and drift to the ground.

So, also, we are reminded in a recent Lenten gospel that the solitary grain of wheat must fall to the ground and be buried before it can bring forth fruit. Otherwise, it remains a single grain—the original Greek here actually says, “Remains alone.” 

Jesus, through his upcoming passion, will also be nailed on a cross, facing death and feeling abandoned and alone. 

We know this will happen. 

We also know that that cross will then awaken the world to the greatest power on earth—the power of love that does not hold our frailties and sins against us, but calls us to a new life in love. We know that the cross is not the end for Jesus, but just the beginning of victory. This is what is known in religious lingo as “the Paschal mystery.” Dying leads to rising. And around again.

So the image of the grain of wheat says something first of all about Jesus as the Christ, but second of all it says something about us. Christ transforms death through his own death on the cross, and then rises again to bring light and hope into this divided world. We become faithful by dying to our own divisions and fears and embracing love as Jesus spread his arms of love on the cross.

This is what all of scripture and God’s revelation has been trying to get through our thick skulls all along. 

Our faith doesn’t tell us how to die. 

It tells us how to live. 

It doesn’t tell us what to give up. 

It tells us what we will gain. 

It doesn’t tell us that the world is broken. 

It tells us how to make the world better. Hope springs up where love reigns.

Let us begin.
The Rev. Leslie Scoopmire is a writer, musician, and a priest in the Diocese of Missouri. She is rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Ellisville, MO. She posts daily prayers, meditations, and sermons at her blog Abiding In Hope, and collects spiritual writings and images at Poems, Psalms, and Prayers.
Church of England Backs VaccinAid Campaign to ‘Give the World a Shot’ to Help Defeat Covid-19

The Church of England is supporting the ‘VaccinAid’ campaign which aims to help fund the biggest vaccination drive in history.
Led by UNICEF UK, with the online fundraising platform Crowdfunder, the campaign offers people a practical way to give thanks for their Covid-19 vaccination, by making a voluntary donation to help pay for jabs for others around the world.

It aims to help fund almost two billion Covid-19 vaccines for health workers and the most high risk and vulnerable people on our planet. The money raised will also help UNICEF provide tests and treatments to people in 190 countries around the world through the global COVAX initiative.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, encouraged people and congregations to donate and to spread the word in the community, as a practical demonstration of Jesus’s command to love our neighbour.

VaccinAid is being supported by other faith groups, businesses, celebrities and the NHS.

Using the Crowdfunder platform, individual donations can be given, or communities - including parishes - can sign-up to fundraise together.

Local churches are being encouraged to join the campaign, with resources available to download for free on the AChurchNearYou.com Resource Hub to share on social media, newsletters or notice boards.

The campaign launched today has been developed in just a few weeks following a meeting convened by Archbishop Justin with faith leaders, Government and NGOs to discuss how people in the UK could do something practical in response to the real sense of gratitude they have felt as they and their loved-ones receive their vaccines.
Archbishop Justin said: “The Covid-19 crisis has had a profound impact on people here and around the world, but vaccines offer the hope of a brighter future. I’m delighted that churches and other faith groups in the UK are supporting the VaccinAid campaign.
 
“There is no better way to show our deep gratitude for the gifts of science and medicine than making sure vulnerable people around the world are also given a shot.

“At the heart of the Christian faith is Christ’s call to love our neighbour: keeping one another safe from this terrible disease is part of living that out. I encourage people to donate whatever they can, so we can build a better world together.”

Bishop Michael Beasley, the Bishop of Hertford and an epidemiologist, who played a key role in helping set up the campaign, said: “Covid-19 has affected us all - every home, family, school, business and community all around the world.

“And because of the way this virus works we know that it won’t be over for anyone until it’s over for everyone. That’s why I’ve been delighted to throw my support behind VaccinAid.

“It offers each of us the opportunity to play our individual part in bringing this world wide epidemic to an end. “If, like me, you’ve had your jab, you’ll know the feeling of relief, gratitude and thankfulness that happens when you’ve been protected from COVID.

“I’d love the whole world to experience that feeling and protection too. So let’s give the world a shot!”

For more information on the campaign go to www.vaccinaid.org to donate or begin fundraising.
The Journey to COP26 – Connecting, Equipping and Inspiring the Worldwide Anglican Family to Safeguard the Integrity of Creation Through 2021

19 March 2021
Archbishop Julio Murray speaking at an ecumenical action during COP25. Photo: Anglican Alliance / Elizabeth Perry.

“To live out my Christian faith is to follow Jesus. That must include standing alongside the most vulnerable and marginalised on the frontlines of the climate emergency. As faith communities, my prayer is that we might stand together, emissaries of hope and love, calling for God’s justice and peace upon this precious world. Now is the time for action.” Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, addressing international faith leaders, 4th February 2021

Story by Jack Palmer-White, the Anglican Communion’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, and Elizabeth Perry, the Anglican Alliance’s Communication and Advocacy Manager.

This year is a critical one for the world to take action on climate change and protect the integrity of creation. The postponed UN climate talks, COP26, have been rescheduled for November and there is already a great deal of interest and preparation for them, both within the Anglican Communion and throughout the wider world.

However, COP26 – the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – is just one of the important meetings that are taking place this year to address the environmental crises the world is facing. Other, equally significant, meetings will also shape the world’s environmental agenda for the coming years. The decisions that are made – and the actions that follow – will determine what kind of world future generations will inherit.

So, what are the some of the key events and opportunities this year offers and how will the Anglican Communion be engaging with them?

There is so much more to learn and do. To find out, please click here.
2021 is a year of unparalleled potential to choose what the world will look like in 2050 – for good or ill. In his address to international faith leaders on 4th February, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby asked, “How can we make 2021 a year of hope?” It is a question for all of us.

The full text of the Archbishop’s powerful speech is reproduced below.
Archbishop of Canterbury’s address to international faith leaders ahead of COP26 climate change conference. February 4th 2021.

Sometimes, God pulls the threads of circumstance together and our lives are changed forever. This year has been an extraordinary example of such a moment.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the world to look at how we have been living and operating, when so much of what was considered ‘normal’ was not possible. We have been confronted by our behaviour: by our sin; our greed; our human fragility; our exploitation of the environment and encroachment on the natural world. For many this uncertainty is new. But many more around the world have been living with uncertainty for decades as the grim, real and present consequence of climate change. To think it is a problem of the future rather than a scourge of the present is the blind perspective of the privileged. We look around and see that Mozambique has been hit again by tropical storms. In Nigeria, desertification has contributed indirectly to conflict between people competing for dwindling resources. Floods and cyclones have devastated crops in Melanesia, risking poverty and food insecurity.

But the pandemic has also revealed our capacity for change; the opportunities for repentance; the potential for hope amidst suffering. We have learnt much about our interconnectedness, and our need for one another. It has been a revelation to many of us: we cannot go on as we have been.

Climate change is an issue in which greed, fragility, justice and interconnectedness come together. There are signs of hope and consolation. In the UK, we are preparing for COP26 in Glasgow in November and the G7 in Cornwall in June. It is good news that the United States has rejoined the Paris Accord. Many powerful people will be coming together, and on their minds must be this: how do we recover from a pandemic by imagining a world that puts the most vulnerable and the most marginalised at the centre? Where the protection of our natural assets is at the heart of our economic and financial decision-making? How can we make 2021 a year of hope?

Those with the power to effect change will need to balance that power with their responsibility. In the Bible’s accounts of the creation of the world, God gives humans dominion over the Earth. But replacing dominion with domination is a false theology and a sin, we should look instead to Jesus’ words that the Son of Man ‘did not come to be served, but to serve’. As the Anglican Communion’s fifth Mark of Mission puts it ‘to serve the Earth, not enslave it’.

I speak as a Christian. Jesus teaches us that there are no greater commandments than to love God and love our neighbour. To abide by those commandments as a Christian today is to step up to the challenge of climate change and connected environmental crises.

The relationship between science and faith presents us with a very real and a powerful route to lasting, major change. Our global reach, our commitment to local communities and our hope combined with the knowledge and expertise of science can forge a powerful alliance. I am humbled by the action of the Anglican Communion around the world, from initiatives like Green Anglicans, The Anglican Communion Environmental Network (ACEN), the Eco-Bishops group, the Anglican Communion’s presence at the UN and the work of the Anglican Alliance. I particularly acknowledge the contribution from Archbishop Julio Murray, who is in this meeting and who leads the Anglican Communion in this area.

Finally, those who have the broadest shoulders should bear the greatest burden. And if these nations and powers stand in solidarity together, their shoulders will be strong indeed. This is a time and place where generosity, sacrifice and self-interest overlap.

To live out my Christian faith is to follow Jesus. That must include standing alongside the most vulnerable and marginalised on the frontlines of the climate emergency. As faith communities, my prayer is that we might stand together, emissaries of hope and love, calling for God’s justice and peace upon this precious world. Now is the time for act.
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.
HALE HO`OMALU ACCEPTING DONATIONS
There is an on-going need for travel sized toiletries and canned goods so these items will be accepted every week. As always, monetary donations are gratefully accepted. Leave them in the red wagon outside the sanctuary

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.

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.