August 10, 2023 | VOLUME 35, ISSUE 30

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The Transfiguration:

August 13, 2023

SCRIPTURE READINGS

1 Kings 19:9-18

Psalm 85:8-13

Romans 10:5-15

Matthew 14:22-33

Preacher: The Reverend Jennifer Wagner Pavia

Sunday, August 13, 1:30 PM: Grassroots Neighbors

Saturday, August 19: Neighbors 4 Neighbors is on hiatus.



Bible and Breakfast

Tuesdays | 9:30 AM

Luther Hall & Zoom

Midweek Eucharist

Wednesdays | 7:00 PM

Sanctuary

Adult Forum

Wednesdays | 7:45 PM

Luther Hall & Zoom

YOU ARE INVITED!!!

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 3:33-35)

God took something essential for sustaining life, a universal staple for survival, and transformed it into an everlasting means of experiencing divine grace, for remembering God’s faithful love accessible by all of us.

Preparing Communion bread can be a spiritual exercise. The hands-on preparation of mixing and kneading, combined with the meditative nature of waiting on bread to bake, offers an opportunity for active contemplation. It's also fun!

The Holy Rollers, St. Bede's Communion bread ministry, invites you to experience the sacred art of making Communion bread for our worship services. No experience necessary and all supplies and equipment are provided.

This is a joyful ministry, and we are hoping that some newcomers will join us. We will likely meet monthly during the day to bake and once every two months to make the dough and bake a batch. Please let Reverend Jennifer or Susan Holder know if you are interested in joining our team and when you are available.

Therese Lee, our neighbor who lives on the grounds of St. Bede’s, will return to L.A. for an encore performance of RIDING THE BUS TO THE RED CARPET which received the 2023 Bistro Award for Outstanding Autobiographical Show. The show recalls her days in Los Angeles as an entertainment reporter too broke to own a car, and shares what her interactions with some of Hollywood's biggest stars during that time did to change her life forever.

RIDING THE BUS TO THE RED CARPET includes an eclectic set of songs from such songwriters as Jerry Herman, Richard Maltby & David Shire, Cy Coleman, Diane Warren & Lady Gaga, Patty Griffin, John Prine and more. The show is back in Los Angeles after its premiere at Feinstein's at Vitello's, NYC performances at the Triad Theater and Don't Tell Mama, and performances in Palm Springs and Palm Desert.

Music Director Doug Peck is a Los Angeles based musician and educator. He has appeared in concert with artists like Renée Fleming, Heather Headley, Michelle Williams, Lupe Fiasco, Jessie Mueller, Shemekia Copeland, John Prine, Matthew Polenzani, Kristin Chenoweth, André DeShields, Tovah Feldshuh, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Ernestine Jackson, among many others.  The show is directed by Jeff Harnar, a multiple MAC, Bistro and Broadway World Cabaret Award winning Director, recipient of The Noel Coward Foundation Cabaret Award and was the 2022 Chicago Cabaret Professionals National Honoree. He has directed solo shows for Tovah Feldshuh and Rita Gardner and award winning shows for Celia Berk, Dawn Derow, Margo Brown and Josephine Sanges.

RIDING THE BUS TO THE RED CARPET plays at THE GARDENIA (7066 Santa Monica Blvd.) Saturday, August 19, 2023, at 9PM.  There is a $20.00 Cover Charge with a $14 two drink minimum. Reservations can be made at 323-467-7444.

Therese Lee is a versatile performer who has sung in every genre from opera and art song (in five languages) to musical theater and the Great American Songbook, she has a BA in music from UCLA and has performed her own cabaret acts in Los Angeles at the Cinegrill, the Gardenia, Masquers Cabaret and Feinstein's at Vitello's. In 2019, she participated in Professional Track of the St. Louis Cabaret Conference, which gave her the opportunity to work with the finest members of the cabaret community from around the country, including Marilyn Maye, Jeff Harnar, and Faith Prince. BRAVO Therese for your outstanding career!

The Daphne A. Moote Learning Academy (DAMLA) is a popular summer program that has operated in the South Bay area for many years and on the grounds of St. Bede’s in recent summers. Students in DAMLA participate in a variety of activities emphasizing their creative talents. In addition to daily cooking experiences, activities include innovative science projects, creative media, art, music, movement and a field trip.

Program founders, Daphne Moote and Akani Fletcher, have trained hundreds of students in grades K-7. As a result of their ongoing educational research, they believe that learning through the performing arts enhances academic performance, encourages personal development and strengthens self-image, while promoting camaraderie and leadership. They have fashioned a curriculum that is both challenging and fun and chock full of encouragement. Each summer series culminates in the performance of an original children’s play and this year did not disappoint; it was as precious as can be. CONGRATULATIONS, Daphne and Akani, on another successful year!

DAMLA is a non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductible. Donations to their Scholarship Fund are gratefully accepted directly to Daphne or Akani, as well as by credit card to: S.E.E. at 818-255-9150, and specify DAMLA.

Are you planning to attend worship online and want an easy way to make a pledge payment? Do you want to ditch the checkbook and set up reoccurring payments? Are you looking for a convenient way to make a one-time special gift to St. Bede's?

Did you know you can make donations online to St. Bede's, securely and easily?

Visit the St. Bede's website and at the top of every page, look for the "Donate" button. When you click on the "Donate" button, you will be transported to St. Bede's Vanco eGiving and Payment Process Site.

Vanco is an industry leader in online payments. More than 40,000 churches, faith-based groups, nonprofits, schools, and educational organizations trust Vanco to securely complete transactions every day. Vanco complies with PCI Level 1 standards, the highest security standard in the payment processing industry.

You are invited to set up one-time or recurring gifts using credit, debit, or bank transfer on Vanco's secure payment processing platform. Giving online through the Vanco site saves time and the hassle of remembering to bring your offering. In addition, you decrease the expense incurred by St. Bede’s from handling and processing checks and cash.

Diocesan Climate Change Summit set for Sept. 16 in Echo Park; all congregations asked to send representatives to hybrid event

By Bob Williams

[The Episcopal News] With July 2023 now on record as the hottest month worldwide, the Bishop’s Commission on Climate Change has set a summit meeting for Saturday, Sept. 16, at St. Paul’s Commons in Echo Park, asking each congregation in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles name a representative or team to attend either in person or virtually online.

Focusing on practical action by congregations and individuals, the Climate Change Summit will underscore U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s recent statement that “the era of global warming has ended” and “the era of global boiling has arrived.”

“The summit is a great opportunity to bring our diocesan community together to do what we can to address this issue which affects our whole world. It’s not easy work but it is necessary work,” said the Rev. Canon Melissa McCarthy, diocesan canon to the ordinary, who chairs the 30-member commission on behalf of Bishop John Harvey Taylor.

READ MORE HERE

View the latest edition of Episcopal News of L.A. Diocese

Western North Carolina congregation partners on year-round ‘Safe Shelter’ to address homelessness

By David Paulsen

[Episcopal News Service] An Episcopal congregation in Asheville, North Carolina, partnered last winter with two other churches to successfully operate a shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Now the three churches have offered to establish and run a year-round shelter, doubling their capacity to 20 beds, as part of a new regional effort.

“Homelessness exists in large part because we’re isolated from each other and our shared humanity,” the Rev. Mike Reardon, associate pastor at Grace Episcopal Church, told Episcopal News Service. For his congregation, supporting the shelter has been an opportunity “for our hearts to be transformed, so that we see other people as we see ourselves.”

The National Alliance to End Homelessness identified a gap of 95 beds between Asheville’s shelter inventory and the greater need in its community. Asheville’s Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee responded last month by releasing a proposal to expand capacity that included the three church’s partnership as part of its solution. Under the plan, the churches will expand their partnership to create a year-round Safe Shelter.

The ecumenical initiative started as a seasonal shelter to support what the city of Asheville and Buncombe County call “Code Purple,” an emergency community mobilization that houses unsheltered people whenever temperatures drop below freezing in the winter. In 2022, the city and county counted 637 people who were homeless in the county, including 232 without any shelter, figures cited by a National Alliance to End Homelessness study of homelessness in the region.



READ MORE ON ENS

St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Davis, California, above, became carbon neutral in 2021. Photo: Lynette Wilson/Episcopal News Service

One congregation’s path to carbon neutral offers case study as diocese, denomination work toward 2030 goal

By Lynette Wilson

Editor’s note: This story is part of “Growing a Green Church,” an ongoing series focused on churches’ efforts to steward their buildings and land effectively in the context of a changing climate. The project is produced in collaboration with The Christian Century, Episcopal News Service, Faithfully Magazine, National Catholic Reporter, and Sojourners, with support from the Solutions Journalism Network and funding from the Fetzer Institute.

[Episcopal News Service] When the gas- and electric-powered HVAC unit responsible for heating the sanctuary of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Davis, California, failed in the winter of 2016-2017, rather than prioritize comfort and rush to a fix, members layered sweaters, vests and outerwear against the cold during Sunday worship services.

“We spent a winter freezing,” Janet Lane, St. Martin’s Buildings and Grounds Committee chair, told Episcopal News Service.

Before the HVAC system’s failure, St. Martin’s already had taken steps to transition its five-building, 2.6-acre campus to renewable energy sources. In 2004, it installed its first 40-panel solar array on its office building’s roof. Nine years later, a larger carport solar array was installed over the parking lot, the cost offset by a power-purchasing agreement. An effort followed in 2016 to further put the parish on the path to carbon neutral, but it failed and “left some scars in the parish,” leaders say.

Then, when the heat went out, so did the reluctance to put an end to the parish’s dependence on fossil fuels. The parish installed an all-electric heat pump system, replaced functioning gas-powered appliances with electric versions and installed a third solar array. By 2021, St. Martin’s had become carbon neutral and was certified by Interfaith Power & Light as a “cool congregation.”

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View the latest edition of Episcopal News Service