St Cuddy's, Oakland

St. Cuthbert's Caribbean Fest

2011-11-20T18:00:00.001-08:00

St. Cuthbert's Caribbean Fest

October 22, 2011

Special thanks goes to Colleen and Stephen Tiffenson of Masmakers.com: http://www.masmakers.com/

Plus thanks to the Rev. Pamela Cranston, Betty-Jo Gerton, Mike MacDonald Maggie, Katie, & Allie Love, Don Silva, Bill Baillie, Dotty Reesor, Nancy Olson, Stephanie Clemens, Chris, Emily and David. for making this fun day possible!

JUDITH BYRD MING

2011-10-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

JUDITH BYRD MING

(March 26, 1945 – September 24, 2011)

Judith Frances Byrd Ming was born in Tuskegee, Alabama on March 26, 1945 to Roscoe W. and Audrey B. Byrd. Judith (Judi) relocated to Chicago, Illinois at the age of 12 and graduated from Parker High School in 1963. Judi returned to Tuskegee, AL and enrolled in Tuskegee Institute (later renamed Tuskegee University), where she received a BS degree in Interior Design in 1968.

After graduating from college, Judi moved to Oakland, CA along with her classmate Philippia Wilson Pegram. Judi began a career working as a Teller with Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, California. She also worked for several other banks in the San Francisco/Bay Area. She then ventured into the private industry, where she worked in the accounting department for Hills Brother Coffee Co, and later entered into the insurance industry working for Blue Cross/Blue Shield of California as well as a few other insurance companies. Following her desire to teach Judi entered a master’s program in Education at California State University-Hayward. Though she did not complete the master’s program, she still pursued her dream by obtaining a teaching certificate and became a substitute teacher. She taught in Oakland, Hayward and several other school districts in the East Bay. She also worked part time for the Friends of Oakland Parks and Recreation. For the last 12 years she worked as an administrative assistant for Danny Glover at Carrie Productions, Inc.

In 1970 Judi met her future husband, James (Jim) A. Ming. As Jim tells it, they met while she was a teller at Wells Fargo Bank. She would wait on him and when she took a look at his paycheck deposits, bells started to ring. They began dating in 1972 and were married on December 21, 1974. Jim’s nicknames for Judi were Chick or Chickie, which he picked up from her father. Judi’s personal nickname for Jim was Mingie.

Judi and Jim had greats times traveling domestically and internationally. Whenever they traveled internationally, they always flew rather than took cruises. They enjoyed spending time with the local people and experiencing the local daily life.

Judi was very creative: she loved ceramics, quilting, scrapbooking, sewing, decorating and, of course - as all of her friends knew - she loved to shop. But she also loved her family. Any of her cousins, nieces, nephews, godchildren and in-laws knew this. She was always trying to establish relationships with relatives, friends and strangers. A devoted wife and friend to many, Judi was one of the most wonderful people that you could ever meet. She believed in her friends and the importance of following your dreams. She was a people person who was very outgoing and loved to talk and interact. Jim loves her and will miss her dearly.

Judi was a member of the Tuskegee Alumni Association and St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, California for many years where she was a contributor, organizer and fundraiser for the church. She was a dedicated supporter of Ladies in Red (a woman’s motivational group) also in Oakland, California. Known for her fun and bubbly nature, Judi will be greatly missed by many of her friends from St. Cuthbert's Church.

A viewing was held at The Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave, Oakland, CA on Saturday, October 8, 2011 from 4pm - 8pm. Funeral services were held on Sunday, October 9, 2011 at 2 pm at the same location, presided by the Rev. Pamela Cranston, Vicar of St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA. The musicians and singers were from St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church: Mark Daniel, Music Director and Sharon Vaughn. Eulogies were given by: Bettina Byrd-Giles, LaToya Hnarakis, Michelle Chapman, Danny Glover & the Rev. Pamela Cranston.

2011-06-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

BECOMING FRIENDS WITH GOD

A Workshop with

Sarah Lewis & Fr. Luke Buckles, O.P.

For many of us, the prayers of petition and intercession we pray in church satisfy our desire for connection with God. But some of us wonder if there is more. As it turns out, there is more. Over the centuries, people have found ways of praying that can open up a whole new experience of relating with God. These kinds of prayer have been called “mystical” although there is nothing strange about them, and those known as "mystics" are the people who have sought to get to know God in a more personal way than usually happens in communal worship settings.

To give yourself an opportunity to explore these types of prayer and ways of connecting with God, in a group with others who are interested in the same thing, consider coming to courses offered at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church this summer.

PRAY LIKE A MYSTIC Part I - $125
July 11 - 15, 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
This is an introduction to the various types of prayer, including the Jesus prayer, lectio divina, Ignatian-style praying, centering prayer and mindfulness. The historical background, the saints connected with each type of prayer, and a chance to try each one are part of the course.

PRAY LIKE A MYSTIC Part II (Pre-requisite, Part I) - $125
July 18 - 22, 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Using the methods of prayer taught in the first week, we go deeper into connecting with God. We explore symbols, experiment with new images of God, explore Trinitarian mysticism, and encounter “Fusion Prayer”© -- a way of bringing mindfulness together with sitting in the presence of God.

Instructors: Sarah Lewis (Episcopalian) (All Souls in Berkeley) & Fr. Luke Buckles (Dominican)

+ Sarah is a spiritual director who has been working in Berkeley since 1993.

+ Luke teaches Spirituality at the GTU, and at the Angelicum in Rome.

They have been teaching these courses together since 1998. This is the first time the courses have been offered outside of the Graduate Theological Union.

These courses are open to people of every denomination and religion.
Suggested donation is $125/course per week.

Place of classes:

St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church
7932 Mountain Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94605

(510) 635-4949

Free parking available

Directions: (Take Rt 580 East, exit Keller Ave., go left over freeway - the church is on the corner of Mountain Blvd and Keller Ave.)

To sign up: send us an email, with your first and last name and phone number. Please indicate which class you would like to attend.

For information and registration contact: Tom Slocumb (510) 978-2886: tslocumb@yahoo.com

Biographies
Sarah Victoria Lewis
Sarah was born in Fort Worth Texas in 1947, and baptized in the Episcopal church. Because her father was a choir director, she was exposed to several different Protestant denominations as a child, but joined the Episcopal girl’s choir at St. Michael and All Angels in Concord, Ca and was confirmed. She finished a B.A. in Italian at Cal Berkeley in 1968, and became one of the many young people in her generation seeking spiritual truth.

She stayed at a Cenacle Retreat House (Roman Catholic) in Carmichael Ca for 3 1/2 months in 1971. There she was introduced to the basics of prayer and discernment. This experience was a revelation and set the direction of her life. She returned to the Cenacle a year later to make the Ignatian Exercises. After that, Christ became the focus of her life. She lived at a Christian commune in Northern California for 2 ½ years.

Later she went back to school at CSUH in Religious Studies. She studied Systematic Theology (Buddhist and Christian) at Pacific School of Religion (M.A. 1992) and also Applied Spirituality at USF (M.A.S. 1996). People started coming to her for spiritual direction in 1993 and that has been her primary occupation ever since. She lives in Berkeley, gardens and loves cats. In 1990, she joined All soul’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley.

She met Fr Luke Buckles when she took his course in Christian mysticism in 1989. They have enjoyed teaching together since 1998.

“I felt I received the secret treasures of the church at the Cenacle, and sharing those gifts with other people has been my joy ever since.”

The sisters drilled two things into me: God likes people and really wants to communicate with them, and, everyone can learn to perceive Him/Her. I was amazed that I didn‘t have to be ‘holy‘ or a ‘saint‘ or someone special. I was just me, and that was enough.”

“Also, because I didn’t know anything about prayer or listening for God, and they taught me, I have a lot of confidence anyone can learn.”

To read a whimsical paper by Sarah entitled: “Drop Kick Me Jesus though the Goal Posts of Life” visit the following website http://www.pcts.org/meetings/dropkick.html

Fr. Luke Buckles, O.P.

Luke was born April 22, 1949, in Des Moines, Iowa. Raised a Lutheran, he had his first exposure to Catholicism at age 10 and was received into the Church in his late teens. On his way toward a career in medicine he heard the call to priesthood and the Dominicans. After completing his B.A., in Anthropology and Psychology at UCSD 1972, he entered the Dominicans in September, 1972. He was ordained to the priesthood March 17, 1978. He continued his education, concluding with a Doctorate in Theology, 1985. He then began teaching at the Dominican School in Berkeley, CA. In 2005 he was invited to teach at the Angelicum in Rome, and returns to Berkeley only to teach the summer course “Pray Like a Mystic” with Sarah.

Luke has a deep devotion to St. Thomas Aquinas and speaks of Thomas’ teaching that it is “God’s will to be our friend,” and also his understanding that “the spiritual life is the real life of the Christian.”

Luke believes that the most important thing about prayer is that it is a relationship, a dialogue, not a monologue.

He wrote the chapter on Christianity for The Complete Idiot's Guide to World's Religions by Brandon Toropov and Luke Buckles.

To read an article by Luke about dealing with injustice and forgiveness entitled: “Naming the Nails: The Pain of Injustice and the Gift of Compassion”.

Visit http://www.op-stjoseph.org/blog/naming_the_nails

Course Descriptions and Syllabus
PRAY LIKE A MYSTIC I

Fr. Luke Buckles, o.p., and Sarah Lewis, (Episcopalian)
July 11-15, 2010, Monday through Friday, 9:000 AM to 12:30 PM

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is a user-friendly, hands-on course. We will cover the traditional methods of mystical Christian prayer, and link each type of prayer to one or more of the well-known mystics associated with that form of prayer including: the Desert Fathers, Benedict of Nursia, Ignatius of Loyola, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Thomas Merton, Jonathan Edwards, and Seraphim of Sarov. We will seek to understand how the styles of prayer fit with the historical and cultural settings as well as with the personalities and ministries of the mystics.
Prayer techniques will be taught in class, with time to try them and discuss them. Class members will be encouraged to adapt the methods in ways that help them feel more connected to God.

SYLLABUS
Day 1: Definitions of mystic, mysticism.
Theology of Christian mysticism.
Evagrius Ponticus, Anthony of Egypt--Desert Prayer.
Jonathan Edwards--Experiencing God in nature.
Day 2: St. Seraphim of Sarov--Jesus Prayer.
St. Benedict--Lectio Divina.
Day 3: St. Ignatius of Loyola--Interactive Scripture prayer
(Praying with the imagination).
St. Teresa of Avila--Intimacy with Jesus.
Day 4: St. Catherine of Siena--Contemplative Prayer.
St. John of the Cross--Apophatic prayer. (Centering Prayer)
Day 5: Thomas Merton: Infusion from the East
-- Mindfulness, Walking meditations.
Wrap-up.
PRAY LIKE A MYSTIC II

Luke Buckles, o.p. and Sarah Lewis (Episcopalian)
July 18-22, 2010, Monday through Friday 9 AM to 12:30 PM

PREREQUISITE: Pray Like A Mystic Part I
COURSE DESCRIPTION
We continue investigating methods of encountering God in activity and silence: exploring discernment; interpreting spiritual experience; working with fears and playing with doubts in the context of the Christian mystical tradition. We look more deeply into the theologies of several of the mystics of “Pray Like a Mystic I,” and meet Therese of Lisieux, Margery Kempe, Bonaventure, Mother Teresa, and John Maximovitch. Certain aspects of the lives or writings of these mystics exemplify each point we cover. Buddhist and Christian practice are brought together in “Fusion Prayer” © - a form of mystical prayer that unites contemplative Trinitarian mysticism with the holistic human experience of mindfulness. There is more time for prayer and reflection. We encourage treating the course as a retreat.

Syllabus
Day 1: Concepts of God; Transference -- Exercises
Catherine of Siena -- Exercise: Symbols of God
Day 2: Discernment: Hearing God's voice
Interpreting Spiritual Experience
John of the Cross -- Apophatic prayer
Day 3: Getting Real with God: Surrender to "What Is"
Thérèse of Lisieux -- Mindfulness
Margery Kempe -- Take a Risk with God
Day 4: Trinitarian Life
Elizabeth of the Trinity -- Prayer Exercise
Bonaventure -- Fusion Prayer
Day 5: Integrating Spiritual Life and Social Activity:
Mother Teresa -- Fusion Prayer
St. John Maximovitch of San Francisco

PRAY LIKE A MYSTIC PARTS I & II 2011
SUPLEMENTARY READING (NOT REQUIRED)
Prayer: finding the heart's true home, Richard Foster
When in Doubt Sing, Jane Redmont
Finding God, Ken Kaisch (Out of print, but findable)
Any book on personal prayer by William Barry, S.J.

PRIMARY SOURCES
Ascent of Mount Carmel. St. John of the Cross
Autobiography. Interior Castle. St. Teresa of Avila
Autobiography. Ignatius of Loyola
Autobiography of St Therese of Lisieux: The Story of a Soul.
Dialogues. St. Catherine of Sienna
Spiritual Narratives. Susan Houchins: Schomburg Library of Black Women Writers.
Autobiography of Margery Kempe
Collected Works. St. John of the Cross
Dialogues. St. Catherine of Sienna

SECONDARY SOURCES
Enduring Grace. Flinders
Ignatius Loyola the Mystic. Harvey Egan
Life of Anthony, Athanasius
Mother Teresa. Gjergji, Lush
Mysticism. Evelyn Underhill
Rees Howells Intercessor, By Norman Grubb
Russian Mystics. Sergius Bolshakoff; intro. by Thomas Merton.
Kalamazoo: Michigan; Cistercian Publications, 1980, c1976.
St. Seraphim of Sarov. Valentine Zander
The Way of a Pilgrim.
Women mystics in medieval Europe. [edited by] Emilie Zum Brunn, Georgette Epiney-Burgard, New York, NY : Paragon House, 1989.
The Foundations of Mysticism, The Growth of Mysticism by Bernard McGinn
Christian Spirituality, ed. McGinn. In three volumes

TECHNIQUE AND PROCESS
Cloud of Unknowing.
Open Heart, Open Mind. Thomas Keating (or other centering prayer instructions)
The Practice of Prayer. Margaret Guenther
Sadhana, a Way to God: Christian exercises in Eastern form. Anthony De Mello
The Soul's Journey into God. Bonaventure (trans. Ewert Cousins)

2011 HOLY WEEK AND EASTER SERVICES

2011-04-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

MAUNDY THURSDAY

Maundy Thursday – April 21st at 7:30 pm

Eucharist and footwashing at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church

GOOD FRIDAY

Good Friday - April 22nd, 7:00 p.m.
at United Lutheran Church
8800 Fontaine Street Oakland, CA 94605
(510) 569-0689.
(Fontaine is off Keller Ave, on the other
side of the freeway from St. Cuthbert’s.)
archive.elca.org/ScriptLib/OS/Congregations/cdsDetail.asp?Id=A89DA2A991
With Pastor Adisa Armand- Miller - United Lutheran Church
The Rev. Pamela Cranston - St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church
Pastors Betty Clark and Eugene Williams - Church Without Walls (American Baptist)

EASTER VIGIL

April 23rd, 8 p.m.
We will be at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
114 Montecito, Oakland, CA.
http://www.stpaulsoakland.org/

EASTER SUNDAY

EASTER SUNDAY

April 24th, 10 a.m.
at St. Cuthbert’s Church
With the Rev. Pamela Cranston,
Pastors Betty Clark and Eugene Williams
and the people of Church Without Walls
and St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church
Reception and Easter egg hunt after.
Parking available. Call (510) 635-4949 or e-mail: stcuddy@aol.com for questions.

2010-09-24T07:18:00.001-07:00

FEAST OF ST. FRANCIS

BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS

GUEST PREACHER - SR. MAGGIE SIMPSON, CSF

(COMMUNITY OF ST. FRANCIS)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2010 at 10 am

ST. CUTHBERT'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

7932 MOUNTAIN BLVD.

OAKLAND, CA 94605

(510) 635-4949

stcuddy@aol.com

http://www.stcuthbertsoakland.org/

PETS PLEASE BRING YOUR OWNERS!

ALL ARE WELCOME

Juneteenth 2010 Service - June 20, 2010 - 10 am

2010-06-15T06:39:00.001-07:00

JUNETEENTH 2010

JOIN US!

For a Joint Service of Celebration by
St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church
& Church Without Walls (American Baptist)

10 a.m.
Sunday, June 20, 2010

Gospel music, great preaching and Holy Communion -

a reception will follow.

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church
7932 Mountain Blvd., Oakland, California 94605
(510) 635-4949

http://www.stcuthbertsoakland.org/

(All people are welcome regardless of your faith tradition.)

Directions: Take Rt 580 to Keller Ave, then go left to Mountain Blvd/Keller Ave. The church is on the corner.

Holy Week and Easter Services - 2010

2010-03-17T06:36:00.000-07:00

2010 HOLY WEEK AND EASTER SERVICES

Palm Sunday

March 28th, 10 a.m.
at St. Cuthbert’s with palm procession.

Maundy Thursday

April 1st, 6:30 p.m.
Seder/Footwashing

at United Lutheran Church
8800 Fontaine Street Oakland, CA 94605
(510) 569-0689.
(Fontaine is off Keller Ave, on the other
side of the freeway from St. Cuthbert’s.)

archive.elca.org/ScriptLib/OS/Congregations/cdsDetail.asp?Id=A89DA2A991

Good Friday
April 2nd, 7:30 p.m.
at St. Cuthbert’s Church
With the Rev. Pamela Cranston,
Pastors Betty Clark and Eugene Williams
and the people of Church Without Walls
and St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Easter Vigil

April 3rd, 8 p.m.
at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
114 Montecito, Oakland, CA.

http://www.stpaulsoakland.org/

Easter Sunday
April 4th, 10 a.m.
at St. Cuthbert’s Church
With the Rev. Pamela Cranston,
Pastors Betty Clark and Eugene Williams
and the people of Church Without Walls
and St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Reception and Easter egg hunt after.

Parking available. Call (510) 635-4949 or e-mail: stcuddy@aol.com for questions.

St. Cuthbert's Holy Week Services 2009

2009-04-08T22:11:00.000-07:00

JOIN US!

For Holy Week and Easter 2009

St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church
7932 Mountain Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94605

(510) 635-4949

stcuddy@aol.com

www.stcuthbertsoakland.org

Thursday, April 9, 2009 Maundy Thursday Service: 7:30pm

Friday, April 10, 2009 Good Friday Service: 7:30pm

Saturday, April 11, 2009 Easter Vigil Service: 7:30pm

Sunday, April 12, 2009 Easter Sunday: 10am

(No 8 am services on Easter Sunday.)

Phyllis Brislawn's Memorial Service - November 15, 2008

2008-11-23T17:21:00.000-08:00

A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE
of

Phyllis May Lupton Brislawn

(June 22, 1930 – October 9, 2008)

11 a.m., November 15, 2008
St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church
7932 Mountain Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94605

Biography of Phyllis May Lupton Brislawn

Born June 22, 1930 in San Mateo California, to Edward Lupton and Dorothy Wintler Lupton. Phyllis passed gently and without pain on October 9, 2008, at her home in Piedmont. She was surrounded by loving family. Phyllis May is survived by her husband of 51 years, Ferdinand Leo Brislawn. She was a devoted Mother to Margaret Brislawn Love, Helen Brislawn, and Gordon Brislawn as well as an inspiration to her three granddaughters, Anastacia, Allison, Katherine and her cherished extended family.

She was graduated from Mills College and received her Masters degree in Psychology from Stanford University (Phi Beta Kappa). Phyllis was passionate and dedicated to her career as a school psychologist. She started her career as Director of Special Education in the Palo Alto School District, from there she moved on to Emeryville and Richmond. Her mission was to ensure that the pupils became successful readers as a foundation for academic and personal success.

Her many outside interests included traveling, attending the Berkeley Repertoire and the Paramount Theaters, volunteering at the American Cancer Society's Discovery Shop, docent and archivist at Pardee House, and teaching Sunday School as well as many years as Secretary to St. Cuthbert's Vestry. She also built an amazing doll house and spent most of her time supporting her friends and family.

She was a quiet role model who did not bring glory to herself when others succeeded with her help. It was her way to make people feel appreciated and important. Her life, love and perspective inspired and moved all those who knew her. Phyllis will be greatly missed by many, but now she lives in each of our hearts. She was truly one of God's special people. Of all her many accomplishments her family was always first in her heart.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Phyllis' honor to

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church.

© Photos Tom Slocumb

GRAND OPENGING - Oak Knoll Produce Market

2008-11-04T07:28:00.000-08:00

NEW!

OAK KNOLL PRODUCE MARKET

2008 Schedule

SATURDAY,

December 13, 2008

10 -11 a.m.

2009 Schedule: 2nd & 4th Saturdays

SATURDAY

January 10th & 24th, 2009

February 14th & 28th, 2009

10 - 11 a.m.

Great wholesale prices!

Great produce - fresh from Watsonville!

at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church - Parish Hall
On-site parking available

St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church
7932 Mountain Blvd
Oakland, CA 94605

(Directions: Go Rt 580 E, exit at Keller Ave., go left over freeway )

Phone: (510) 635-4949

E-mail: stcuddy@aol.com
Website: http://www.stcuthbertsoakland.org/

© Photos Tom Slocumb

St. Francis Day 2008 - Blessing of the Animals

2008-11-04T07:24:00.000-08:00

St. Francis Day - 2008

at St. Cuthberts Episcopal Church

Guest Preacher - Sr. Maggie Simpson CSF

© Photos Tom Slocumb

Gay Prom 2008 - Hayward, California

2008-07-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

St. Cuthberts Episcopal Church Members

Rally to Support LGBT Youth

at the

Gay Prom Night, Hayward, CA

June 2008

Jeremiah Allen and the Rev. Connie Hartquist-Jacobs

The Rev. Laurie Willis and Lorraine Steele

The Rev. Laurie Willis

Don Silva with flag

The Revs. Connie and Laurie with fellow clergy

Jeremiah Allen & Bill Bill Bailie

Bill Baillie

Juneteenth Freedom Mass

2008-06-13T22:25:00.000-07:00

Juneteenth Freedom Mass

June 15, 2008

with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir

Conducted by Paul Kim, Assistant Director of the OIFG

Hosted by St. Cuthberts Episcopal Church

and

Church Without Walls (American Baptist Church of the West)

The Rev. Pamela Cranston and Jeremiah Allen

Paige Beercy-Beery and Family

Sarom Khak and Stewart Peou

Pastors Eugene Williams and Betty Clark

(Church Without Walls)

Pastor Betty Clark preaching

Pastor Eugene Williams preaching

Crab Feed

2008-03-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Annual Crab Feed
&
Silent Auction

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Open: 5 p.m. Seating: 5:30 p.m.

Cost: Adults $35

Kids $15 - age 12 and under

All you can eat crab or chicken!

Silent Auction, 50/50 Raffle and a secret door prize

Where: St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church – Parish Hall
7932 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

Pre-Purchase Required - No ticket sales at the door.
For Tickets Contact:(510) 635-4949 or stcuddy@aol.com

(Directions: Take Rt. 580, exit at Keller Ave., go left - good from either direction.)

Holy Week and Easter 2008

2008-03-08T17:42:00.000-08:00

Holy Week and Easter 2008

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

7932 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

(510) 365-4949

www.stcuthbertsoakland.org

Palm Sunday, March 16th, 10 a.m. Holy Communion – Procession around the church and the dramatic reading of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Maundy Thursday, March 20th, 7:30 p.m. – “Maundy” comes from the Latin, “mandatum” or commandment, referring to Jesus’ commandment to love. We will remember the setting for the First Supper of the New Age, the Holy Eucharist. We will wash each other’s feet as a sign of Christ’s service to us and of his call for us to serve others in his name. At the end, we will strip the altar then empty the church in silence, taking the sacrament with us, to prepare for Good Friday.

Good Friday, March 21st, 7:30 p.m. – God’s Friday - the day when we remember Jesus’ Crucifixion.

Easter Vigil, March 22nd, 7:30 p.m. – We begin with our Great Vigil of Easter after sundown with the lighting the New Fire of Easter, singing the ancient Exultet and end with bells, Great Alleluias and the blazing light of Glory.

Easter Day, March 23rd, 10 a.m. – Easter Sunday service, the Queen of Festivals, when we unpack our alleluias, when we ring in the resurrection with organs, choir, trumpets and horns and songs of joy. Pastors Betty Clark and Eugene Williams and the congregation of Church Without Walls (who now rent our worship space at 2 p.m. on Sundays) will join us at the 10 a.m. Easter service.

If you have never attended a Maundy Thursday or Good Friday or the Easter Vigil service before – this is the year to try one or two or three of these. Some parts of these worship traditions go back to the ancient Christian Church, dating from the 1st to the 4th century CE.

(Directions: Take Rt. 580, exit Keller Ave. go left - from either direction.)

Part of the Palm Sunday Procession

Alison Love, Crucifer

Palm Sunday Choir

Mark Daniel, Music Director (far right)

Tom Slocumb, Cellist

Christmas 2007 Schedule at St. Cuthbert's

2007-12-08T23:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2007 Schedule

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Wednesdays in Advent, starting December 5th at 7 p.m., the Rev. Pamela will lead a study course on Anglican Evangelism called: “How To Share Your Faith Without Losing Your Friends.”

Saturday, December 22nd at 10 a.m.: Church Annual Christmas Decorating Party. Come help decorate the church! For adults and kids. With coffee, hot cider, hot cocoa and cookies.

Sunday, December 23rd at 10 a.m.: Actor Michael Reardon and Patrick Lane of Into the Light Productions will present a spectacular and dramatic "performance-sermon" of scripture, light, and movement Matthew’s Christmas Narrative.

Monday, Christmas Eve, 7 p.m.: Family Christmas Service.

Tuesday, Christmas Day, 10 a.m.: Christmas Communion with music

Sunday, December 30th, 10 a.m.: "Come A-Caroling" Service - Lessons and Carols.

Roussel Sargent's 90th Birthday Celebration

2007-12-08T22:09:00.000-08:00

Roussel Sargent's 90th Birthday Celebration

November 29, 2007

Mills College, Oakland

On November 29th, 70 people came to Mills College to celebrate the 90th birthday of St. Cuthbert's parishioner, Roussel Sargent PhD, retired Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Professor of English from Mills College. Much to Roussel's embarrassment, glowing tributes abounded - including a loving letter from her long time friend and fellow writer, Ursula LeGuin.

Dr. Roussel Sargent PhD

Roussel, Elaine, Paige and Margaret

Roussel & Fr. Tom Shultz OHC and Br. Rafael OHC

Mark and Chanthima Daniel

Mary Teixeila and Kevah Payne

Friends

Roussel Sargent and Paige Bearce-Beery

Tom Slocumb and Shivaun Van Straatum

Sharon Vaughn

The Rev. Pamela Cranston and Roussel Sargent

A Tribute for Roussel Sargent

on her 90th Birthday

by The Rev. Pamela Cranston

Just for the record, Roussel Sargent was born the only child of Sydney Beuzeville Byles Sargent and Winifred Muriel Strachan on November 24, 1917 at Acocks Green outside of Birmingham, Warwickshire County, England. Her father Sydney was an unenthusiastic banker and came from a long line of Sargents from Henley-on-Thames (of the Henley Regatta fame.) (For your information, among other things, she is a distant relative of the poet Coventry Patmore.) Roussel told me that her father had thick wavy black hair and noticeably bushy eyebrows, which she inherited in a slightly feminized form. From her father she also inherited a love of language and English Literature – and a drop or two of spirituality.

In the early 1890s, her father was sent off as a boy to attend a small private school in Somerset, and it was there, Roussel tells me, that he became the victim of the craze for levitation. She said, “The kids in his dormitory each put a finger under his body and they all breathed and concentrated—and up went Daddy in a highly satisfactory way. Then they heard the footsteps and knew a master was coming to check up on them. Concentration broken, there was a panic-stricken dash for their beds as my father crashed to the floor and broke his arm.” His arm was badly set by the school doctor but it proved to be a lucky accident because it later exempted him from fighting in World War One. If he had enlisted there is a good chance we would have had no Roussel!

I first met Roussel in 1998 when I came became the associate priest at St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church in Oakland. After a long hiatus from religion, Roussel had returned to the Episcopal Church about 1996 (home of her beloved Book of Common Prayer) through my friend Fr. Paul Strid. Since then, I have always known Roussel, despite her family’s love of spiritual heights, to have her feet planted squarely on the ground – unlike most Episcopalians who have both feet planted firmly on the fence. (And proud of it!) So I can categorically say that any rumors of Roussel levitating have been grossly exaggerated.

Roussel and I became good friends almost as soon as I met her and soon discovered we have many interests in common. In a way, you could say that Roussel represents the long lost Aunt I always wanted to have. Many of you I expect had Roussel as a consummate teacher and colleague. I was never so lucky, but what I can say about her is that she is a lovely poet, a great diarist, a wise and faithful Anglican, and a considerate and amazingly generous friend who is never boring.

Roussel is shy and modest by nature and though she would be the last to say it, Roussel’s real achievement is her extraordinary gift for friendship. If you need a cheerleader in your life, Roussel is the best encourager I know – so much so that I wonder if she’s ever had a secret desire to be a Raiderette! I could not do half of what I do without her support…

And what a collection of friends! If you look around the room you will begin to get a picture of who Roussel is by seeing this assorted group of fascinating, intelligent, deep and quirky people. For better or for worse, Roussel, we are your legacy.

You can tell a lot about a person by the people and things they like, and so I have decided to make a list of them for you in a poem I wrote called: When I’m An Old Woman (with apologies to its original author, Jenny Joseph.)

The Rev. Pamela Lee Cranston
© Mills College, 11/29/07

WHEN I’M AN OLD WOMAN

(For Roussel Sargent on her 90th Birthday)
November 24, 2007

When I’m an old woman, I shall forget
about wearing purple and garish hats
but spend all my money on charities and chocolate.
I shall lavish all my care on two fractious cats—
one fat, the other black with white whiskers
and four white spats. When I tire,
I shall sport a wooden cane
(most properly called a ‘stick’)
and use it to whack any car that dares
to cut across my path.
I shall collect English country calendars,
hoard ancient books by Traherne and Vaughn
and save copper pennies in a jar.
At all times and in all places, I will cherish words,
never miss Jeopardy and let the sound
of Tudor language lift my soul.
I shall cultivate brass band roses, drive
to Oregon to see the summer stars
and dabble my toes in a babbling brook.
I shall stroll across the Sussex Downs at sunset,
gaze at the orient wheat and dream of Greece,
then eat the bluest Stilton, drink the finest port
and lounge beneath yellow beech trees in the fall.
I shall pick the best seat at Evensong
and always pause to hear the bell-ringers ring the changes.
I shall buy Christmas crackers and sing silly songs
to make up for the gravity of my youth.
I shall stay up till two researching footnotes with the OED
then sleep in late and dawdle over coffee
and the crosswords and write witty letters
to William Safire full of questions about curious words
like “zounds!”, “boogie”, and “flabbergaster”.
I shall read the Times Literary Supplement
from cover to cover and tell my friends
never, under any circumstance, to vote Republican.
And when Death comes north of 100,
I shall treat him like an English butler,
who will open (with kid gloves) the door
to my bright Future, where I shall become
a living poem, a golden word,
everlasting in the poetry of Christ.

© 2007 Pamela Lee Cranston

Visitation of Bishop Marc Andrus - November 11, 2007

2007-11-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

VISITATION OF BISHOP MARC ANDRUS

November 11, 2007

Bishop Marc and Shiela Andrus' first visit to St. Cuthbert's Episcopal was a great success. By 4 p.m. on Sunday, over 95 people came to celebrate their presence among us. We welcomed 3 month old Justice Mok who was baptized. In addition, three others were confirmed and one person was received. Under our music director, Mark Daniel's leadership, the music was fabulous. And so was the reception - a feast from many cultures! It was a great day.

Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead Fesitval

2007-11-28T07:39:00.000-08:00

Dia de los Muertos

Day of the Dead Fesitval

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

November 4, 2007

This day we celebrated the Feast of All Saints and Day of the Day – a day of light and laughter.

In Mexico, the traditional observance of Day of the Dead calls for a feast during the early morning hours of November the 2nd, the Day of the Dead proper, though modern urban Mexican families usually observe the Day of the Dead with only a special family supper featuring the sugared "Bread of the Dead" (pan de muerto). In smaller villages, families go to the graves of their close kin. At the gravesites they spruce up the gravesite, decorating it with flowers (primarily large, bright flowers such as marigolds and chrysanthemums), with religious amulets and with offerings of food, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. They then set out and enjoying a picnic, party with other family, friends and neighbors who gather at the cemetery.

Families remember the departed by telling stories about them. The meals prepared for these picnics are sumptuous, usually featuring meat dishes in spicy sauces, a special egg-batter bread, cookies, chocolate, and sugary confections in a variety of animal or skull shapes.

Poet Octavio Paz observes that, undaunted by death, the Mexican has no qualms about getting up close and personal with death, noting that he "...chases after it, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love."

Day of the Dead – Full of whimsy in Latino culture – they bring the death-skeleton out of the closet. Quite literally. Skeletons on motorcycles, at the kitchen table, partying skeletons, even Madonna and child skeletons…. Laughing at death.

This is not a morbid feast or a way of denial but a joyful one. It is the ultimate statement of faith. We laugh at death because we know that Jesus Christ has the final word about life – not Death, even when death seems brutal and senseless.

March Against the Iraq War - Saturday, Oct. 27th

2007-10-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

Fall Out Against the Iraq War Demonstration

Saturday, October 27th
San Francisco, CA

Members from St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church joined Bishop Marc Andrus and fellow Episcopalians throughout the Episcopal Diocese of California in a massive demonstration against the War in Iraq on Saturday, Oct. 27th in San Francisco.

Over fifty people marched down from Grace Cathedral via California and Polks Streets to the SF Civic Center singing protest songs, carrying banners and drumming drums.

ABC News reported that the streets were filled with thousands as labor union members, anti-war activists, clergy and others rallied near City Hall before marching to Dolores Park.

As part of the demonstration, thousands of protesters staged a massive "die-in" and lay down on Market Street for three minutes to commemorate the thousands of American soldiers and Iraqi citizens who have died since the conflict began in March 2003.

No official head count was available. Organizers of the event estimated about 30,000 came to the San Francisco demonstration at City Hall. More than 10,000 people marched to Dolores Park.

Tom Jacobs, the Rev. Connie Hartquist Jacobs, Tom Bickley and the Rev. Pamela Cranston of St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA.

Bishop Marc Andrus addressing the crowd.

Up-coming Events Fall 2007

2007-10-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Up-coming Events Fall 2007

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Oakland, CA

Saturday, October 27th at 10 a.m: St. Cuthbert's joins the Fall Out Against the War Demonstration. Join Bishop Marc Andrus and fellow Episcopalians throughout the SF Bay area in a massive demonstration against the War in Iraq. Episcopalians against the war will gather at 10 a.m. at Grace Cathedral (with parish banners) and march from there down to the Civic Center by 11 am. Wear warm clothes and comfortable walking shoes.

Sunday, October 28th at 10 a.m.: Sunday dedicated to the Millennium Development Goals.

Sunday, November 4th at 10 a.m.: Mexican Dia de los Muertos: All Saints/All Souls Day. Bring photos of your loved ones and marigolds.

Sunday, November 11th at 4 p.m. (no morning services): Our first visitation of Bishop Marc Andrus, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. Baptism & Confirmations. Potluck reception afterward. Great food!

Sunday, December 2nd at 10 a.m.: Advent 1: Advent wreath & featuring guest harpist, Jack Pantaleo.

Wednesdays in Advent, starting December 5th at 7 p.m., the Rev. Pamela will lead a study course on Anglican Evangelism called: “How To Share Your Faith Without Losing Your Friends.”

Saturday, December 22nd at 10 a.m.: Church Annual Christmas Decorating Party. Come help decorate the church! For adults and kids. With coffee, hot cider, hot cocoa and cookies.

Sunday, December 23rd at 10 a.m.: Actor Michael Reardon and Patrick Lane of Into the Light Productions will present a spectacular and dramatic "performance-sermon" of scripture, light, and movement Matthew’s Christmas Narrative.

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Contemplative Mass - Every Sunday at 8 a.m. - with 20 minutes silent meditation, body work and chanting in the context of Holy Communuion. People of all faiths welcome to attend.

See our website for more information: www.stcuthbertsoakland.org

St. Cuthbert's Day - September 9, 2007

2007-10-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

Feast of St. Cuthbert at St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church, Oakland, CA - September 9, 2007

Jack Pantaleo plays his Irish Celtic harp at St. Cuthbert's
Episcopal Church, Oakland.

Harpist and author, Jack Pantaleo, appropriately from St. Aidan's, San Francisco, played his two harps for us during our Celtic Mass in celebration of the earth and St. Cuthbert. He brought and played his large orchestral harp and his Irish Celtic harp. It was magical to hear him. Thank you Jack for your great gift of music!

See our website at: www.stcuthbertsoakland.org

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Christian Buddhist Meditation Workshop - June 16, 2007

2007-06-13T18:06:00.000-07:00

LEANING INTO THE GREAT MYSTERY

A Workshop on
Christian-Buddhist Meditation

with

Kosho McCall

Head of Practice

Tassajara Zen Mountain Center

and

The Rev. Pamela Cranston
St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church

Saturday, June 16, 2007
10 am - 3 pm

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church
7932 Mountain Blvd. (at Keller Ave.)
Oakland, CA 94605(510) 635-4949; stcuddy@aol.com

Kosho McCall
Head of Practice, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center

Kosho McCall: He was born in Rochester, Indiana and graduated from the University of Maine in 1970 and received a MDiv in 1976 from General Seminary. He was ordained as an Episcopal priest in January 1976. He served as a priest at the Cathedral in Portland, Maine and in parishes in the Diocese of Maine form 1974 – 1988. He also had a private counseling practice in pastoral psychology from 1985 – 1988. He came to San Francisco in 1988 and served until 1992 as a priest at Grace Cathedral and other parishes in the Diocese. In 1995, he joined the SF Zen Center. He became a Buddhist priest and is now head of Practice at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, where he has been since 1997.

The Rev. Pamela Cranstonm Long-term Interim Vicar
St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church

The Rev. Pamela Cranston was raised in Old Deerfield, MA. She was an Episcopal Franciscan nun from 1974-1978 in England and San Francisco. She graduated from SF State University in 1984 and from CDSP with an MDiv. in 1988. She has assisted at Grace Cathedral and in parishes in the Diocese of CA from 1988 – 2007. She has also worked as a hospice chaplain since 1998. She is now the Long-term Interim Vicar of St. Cuthbert’s Oakland. She has been a spiritual director and retreat leader for 27 years. She is the author of: The Madonna Murders and Coming To Treeline: Adirondack Poems.

2007-05-07T08:37:00.000-07:00

Juneteenth Freedom Mass

with members of the

Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir

SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2007

at 10 a.m.

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

7932 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

(Take Rt. 580 east, exit Keller Ave., go left.)

Come join us as we sing a medley
of Gospel favorites

2007-04-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Annual Crab Feed

Silent Auction

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Open: 5 p.m. Seating: 5:30 p.m.

Cost: Adults $35 - Kids $15 - age 12 and under

All you can eat crab or chicken!

Silent Auction, 50/50 Raffle and a secret door prize

Where: St. Cuthberts Episcopal Church – Parish Hall

7932 Mountain Blvd. (Keller Exit, off Rt. 580)

Oakland, CA 94605

Pre-Purchase Required - No ticket sales at the door.

For Tickets Contact:(510) 635-4949 or stcuddy@aol.com

2007-04-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

East Bay Debut

Book Reading/Signing

The Water Will Hold You:

A Skeptic Learns to Pray

by Lindsey Crittenden

Join us for a joint book reading/signing and discussion with

Lindsey Crittenden

and

the Rev. Pamela Cranston

author of: The Madonna Murders and Coming To Treeline.

When: Friday, April 20, 2007, 7 p.m.

Where: St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

7932 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

(Directions - Take Rt. East 580 (towards Hayward),

exit at Keller Ave., go left over the freeway.

The church is on the corner of Mountain Blvd. and Keller Ave.)

Light Reception After.

2007-04-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

Annual Crab Feed

Silent Auction

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Open: 5 p.m. Seating: 5:30 p.m.

Cost: Adults $35
Kids $15 - age 12 and under

All you can eat crab or chicken!

Silent Auction, 50/50 Raffle
and a secret door prize

Where: St. Cuthberts Episcopal Church – Parish Hall
7932 Mountain Blvd. (Keller Exit, off Rt. 580)
Oakland, CA 94605

Pre-Purchase Required - No ticket sales at the door.
For Tickets Contact:
(510) 635-4949 or stcuddy@aol.com

2007-03-26T19:32:00.000-07:00

Holy Week and Easter

St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church

7932 Mountain Blvd.

Oakland, CA 94605

Sunday, April 1, 2007 – Palm Sunday Service – 10 am
Thursday, April 5, 2007 – Maundy Thursday Service – 7:30 pm
Friday, April 6, 2007 – Good Friday Service – 7:30 pm
Saturday, April 7, 2007 – Easter Vigil Service – 7:30 pm
Sunday, April 8, 2007 – Easter Sunday Service - 10 am

Oakland Hills / Oak Knoll House For Rent

2007-02-21T23:05:00.000-08:00

NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY

2006-09-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

Taizé Service at St. Cuthbert's Church a Great Success

2006-08-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

The Taizé Service held at St. Cuthbert's Church Friday, August 25th was a great success, with over 45 people in attendance. It was the first time the St. Cuthberts Community had ever held a Taizé Service but with the Rev. Amber Sturgess' experience of the actual liturgies in Taizé, she was able to create a profound experience for many people. Mark Daniel, the Music Director at St. Cuthberts (and former founder of Chanticleer) along with a small band of musicians, sang and played beautifully. One person who attended said that she had "never seen a Taizé Service like this outside of Taizé France."

In the future, St. Cuthbert's Church hopes to host 2-3 Taizé services a year. The clergy at St. Cuthberts have deep monastic roots and are creating a community that delves into our rich mystical tradition.

Taizé Service at St. Cuthbert's Church - August 25, 2006, 7:30 pm

2006-07-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Come join us to commemorate and celebrate the life of Br. Roger Schutz who was tragically murdered last August 2005. We will hold a Taizé Service in his honor at:

St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church

7932 Mountain Blvd. (at Keller Ave. off Rt. 580)

Oakland, CA 94605

(510) 635-4949

stcuddy@aol.com

Friday, August 25, 2006

at 7:30 p.m.

All are welcome to come!

About Br. Roger Schutz's death:

Brother Roger was stabbed to death during the evening prayer service in Taizé on August 16, 2005 (by Luminiţa Ruxandra Solcan, a 36-year-old schizophrenic woman from Romania). His throat was cut, causing him to bleed to death within minutes. The assailant was immediately apprehended by members of the congregation and was placed in police custody.

His death, in full view of 2,500 horrified young pilgrims at the Church of the Reconciliation in Taizé, turned a man many already believed to be a saint into a martyr, although there is no clear link between his faith and the crime.

The funeral took place on August 23, 2005. Horst Köhler, President of Germany, and Nicolas Sarkozy, Minister of the Interior of France, were in attendance. Brother Roger's community and friends attended the liturgy in the vast monastery church at Taizé, while thousands more followed it on a huge screen in fields outside the church. Brother Roger's simple wooden coffin, a wooden icon lying upon it, was carried into the church by brothers. He was given a Catholic funeral leaving some people to wonder if he had died as a Protestant or a Catholic.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Vatican's council for the unity of Christians, who concelebrated the Mass with four other priests of Taizé, said in a homily, "Yes, the springtime of ecumenism has flowered on the hill of Taizé." Beyond religious divisions, Brother Roger also abhorred the division between rich and poor. "Every form of injustice or neglect made him very sad," Cardinal Kasper said. Br. Roger's successor, Br. Alois prayed for forgiveness: "With Christ on the cross we say to you, Father, forgive her, she does not know what she did." According to some witnesses, Brother Roger had forgiven his attacker while still breathing...

For more information about the Taizé Community, go to thier website at:
http://www.taize.fr/en_rubrique8.html

PRESS RELEASE: St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church

2006-05-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

*click to enlarge

The Centered Heart: Integrating East-West Meditation Workshop

2006-05-24T00:54:00.000-07:00

*click to enlarge, right click to save image , then print.

St. Cuthbert's Leadership 2006: Bishop's Committee

2006-04-24T13:58:00.000-07:00

At St. Cuthbert's we call our Bishop's Committee the "Gang of Ten". That captures our team spirit and feisty determination. We will not be a church that goes all passive victim or whines, nor will we be a church that is dull and stodgy. We are playful, loving, and full of Spirit.

The basis structure of our Gang of Ten is three classes of three plus the Long-term Interim Vicar, who serves ex officio. That way we have some continuity with the renewal of three fresh folks each year. Being feisty, however, we don't always play by even our own rules. When Sean Van Straatum had to leave and we needed to fill his one-year slot, Doris and Carolyn agreed to team up and we all agreed that this would be fine so long as between them they only cast one vote. This gives each of them a bit of a break and, since they do most of our Altar Guild work between them, we figure this is fair enough. So we are, perhaps, the Gang of Nine and Two-Halves this time around.

We are delighted to have all our gang members on board, from old pros who have done this more than once to those serving for the first time ever. [They are a wonderful, loving, prayerful, dedicated gang indeed!]

St. Cuthbert's Leadership 2006: Delegates

2006-04-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

Here are our delegates and alternates for Diocesan Convention and the election of a new bishop for the Diocese of California. A nice combination of new timers and old timers to represent us!

St. Cuthbert's Leadership 2006: Clergy & Officers

2006-04-24T13:43:00.000-07:00

Here we have two church officers: Phyllis Brislawn, Clerk of the Bishop's Committee, and Ana Love, possibly the youngest Treasurer in the diocese. Also the Long-term Interim-Vicar, The Rev. Pamela Cranston; Deacon Connie Hartquist-Jacobs; and Associate Priests Pamela Cranston and Amber Sturgess.

St. Cuthbert's May Media Madness

2006-04-19T22:47:00.000-07:00

Bishop Swing's visit on Palm Sunday

2006-04-18T19:11:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful time we had when The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing, Bishop of California, came for his final visitation at St. Cuthbert's on Palm Sunday. The Bishop was not about to let a few drops of rain get in the way of honoring Jesus as our King, so we marched and sang around the church before entering. Ten people were confirmed that afternoon, and each was marked on the forehead with the sign of the cross by every member of the congregation upon entering the church. We had a powerful beginning of Holy Week.

Palms were in place as were the Stations of the Cross
Bishop Swing and the Bishop's Committee
The Bishop confirming Allison Love
Bishop Swing and Bishop's Chaplain, Jeremiah Allen

Mary Swing patiently waiting for our meeting to end
Doris Hagen, William E. Swing, Connie Hartquist-Jacobs
The Bishop signing Prayer Books for the confirmands

as Amber Sturgess looks on

The Bishop is coming! The Bishop is coming!

2006-03-15T22:14:00.000-08:00

NOTE: THE DATE OF THE EPISCOPAL VISITATION HAS BEEN CHANGED!

On Palm Sunday, April 9, 2006, the Rt Rev William E Swing, Bishop of California, will visit St Cuddy’s. This will be his final episcopal visitation with us before his retirement.

There will be one service only on that day at 4:00 p.m. so all may worship and meet with our Bishop. This festive service is scheduled to include Baptism and Confirmation and anyone interested in either of these sacraments should contact the Rev Amber Sturgess ASAP.

Bishop Swing will meet with the Gang of Ten prior to the service and a reception in the Parish House will follow the service.

This is a day to celebrate our bishop and his 26 years of ministry in this diocese and St Cuthbert’s as part of the universal Church. Mark it on your calendar now and be sure to join in a wonderful event.

Satan’s Throne—Part 6 (Conclusion)

2006-02-24T22:08:00.000-08:00

My high school history and humanities teacher, Alan Amend, awakened in me a love of history. My interest in it has its crests and troughs, but it has endured. One of the peaks was toward the end of my (first) seminary years when I had visions of becoming a Church history professor. I began a graduate program in history at UCLA that did not last long. Although I concluded that such an intense academic focus was not for me, my gratitude for those extra years in history had endured. History gives us a sense of perspective that spans continents and millennia.

The awareness of prior generations with their various challenges, triumphs, and defeats can liberate us from assuming that we are the first or last or best to wrestle with anything. or that ours is the definitive frame of reference. So it has come to pass that I view the current parade of events both grateful to be living when I do and aware that we are but one of histories many chapters. Even in my teens and twenties I was drawn to the sobering reminders of poets.

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
—Percy Bysshe Shelley

We are the greatest city,
the greatest nation:
nothing like us ever was.
—Carl Sandburg, “Four Preludes on Playthings of the Wind” (1922)

Taken out of context the quotations above suggest grandeur, but the poems in their entirety are sobering challenges to hubris, the pride that is the seed of downfall in the ancient Greek tragedies. Shelley’s Ozymandias speaks of the shattered remains of this great king’s statue and concludes as follows:

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Sandburg, writing a century after Shelley’s death, speaks of crows and rats in deserted ruins, concluding thus:

And the wind shifts
and the dust on a door sill shifts
and even the writing of the rat footprints
tells us nothing, nothing at all
about the
greatest city, the greatest nation
where the strong men listened
and the women warbled: Nothing like us ever was.

What, then, endures if great civilizations fall to dust and ruin, or are swallowed up by vegetation and forgotten? What will our legacy be?

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume
and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in
heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in
and steal.” (Matthew 6:19-20)

It would seem that Caesar’s standards are not those of Jesus. Enduring riches or fame are stored up “in heaven” or in God. In ordinary terms we think of grass withering but gold enduring, yet St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians reminds us that it is faith, hope, and love that endure.

I find it both amusing and deeply chilling to read the words of Gary Schmitt in a memorandum from January 2001: “…[T]he preservation of a decent world order depends chiefly on the exercise of American leadership.” This is part of a discussion about the International Criminal Court and its rejection by participants in the Project for a New American Century (PNAC). What troubles me about the sentence is the idea that American leadership, no matter how important in globally politics, would be a chief element in the preservation of a decent world order. It implies that without one particular nation there would be little hope of decent order in the world, as though one nation either controlled or guaranteed decency or order! “Nothing like us ever was,” I hear in the background, as rats and lizards listen (but they do not applaud and cheer).

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6)

That which gives value to our lives and is of lasting value is not the monuments we erect but the love we share, the justice we do, and the mercy we show.

In spite my own political biases, this is not a partisan rant. It does not matter which political party is ascendant, what the affiliation of any current President, which factions control Congress, what ideologies appeal to those whose wealth and influence shape the fate of millions. My concern here is with human choices, human actions, and their consequences for the average denizen of the earth. As an American, my concern is with the behavior of the United States as it embodies the dreams and the principles of our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. As a Christian, my concern is with how those of us who seek to follow Christ, or claim that we do, actually make decisions, take actions, cast votes, speak up, or remain passive when the collective reality of our government—a government designed to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people—shapes the lives and fates of our citizens and of the rest of the world’s inhabitants.

Do we choose Jesus or Caesar? The way of love or the way of power? The way of reconciliation or the way of vengeance? The way of justice or the way of personal aggrandizement? Grasping or sharing? Judging or understanding? Advantage or mutuality? Greed or generosity? Hospitality or hostility? Peace or war? Sustainability or exploitation? Liberation or oppression? Hope or fear? Hearts that are open or closed? Truth or deceit? Integrity or corruption?

To say “Jesus is Lord” is to relativize all other claims to our allegiance. Caesar cannot be Lord if Jesus is, and neither can anyone else, including corporate entities. Not a governmental figure nor a company. Those who have been “sealed by the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ’s own for ever” cannot owe their soul to the “company store.” Those delivered from bondage in Egypt do not return to Pharaoh. Those set free by Christ do not belong to anyone less than God. Do we then act as God’s people?

Do we speak out? Do we stand up? Or do we sit back and wait for God to sort it all out, when God is waiting for us to join in God’s work and be the Body of Christ in our time? Do remember that Jesus does not call us that we may be comforted but that we may be transformed and become agents of God’s love, healing, and grace?

We remember Jesus’ sense of mission:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:16-21)

Do we accept our own?

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so
I send you." (John 20:21)

There is work to be done. The average American worker earns less in constant dollars than several years ago. A huge segment of our population has no health insurance. The gap between rich and poor is swelling. Huge breaks are given to industries making immense profits while budget cuts penalize the already marginalized. The laws of the land are being flouted by those charged specifically with enforcing them. Basic human rights are being treated as optional. There are ethical and spiritual principles at stake in how we behave as a society, and I am not speaking here of individual morality but of the demonstrable fate of the many. A vision of the commonweal, the collective good, is something that has been diminishing over the decades, and that is something that flies in the face of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

To do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8) is NOT to be doormats for Jesus. Note that we walk humbly with God, we do not let others ride over us roughshod. Those who do justice and love mercy are not wimps who watch in silence while injustice takes place.

I issue no call here to establish a theocracy in our land. That would be an abomination. But we have a responsibility to help shape the direction of our cities, our states, our nation.

My sisters and brothers, we decide every day of our lives. Which shall it be?

Caesar?

Or Jesus?

Nominees for Bishop of California

2006-02-20T21:01:00.000-08:00

More information is available at: http://bishopsearch.org/

The Rt. Rev. Mark Handley Andrus has served as Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Alabama since 2001, where he's initiated the Task Force for the Stewardship of Creation and the Pilgrimage for Peace, and been responsible for diocesan college chaplaincies and the camp and conference center, along with episcopal ministries. He serves on national steering committees for Bishops Working for a Just Society, Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, and the Executive Council Committee on the Status of Women. He was Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Middleburg, Virginia; Chaplain and teacher at Episcopal High School, Alexandria, Virginia and curate at the Church of the Redeemer, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Prior to ordained ministry, he worked as a regional planner on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Bishop Andrus received his M.Div. at Virginia Theological Seminary, a Master's in Urban and Regional Planning from VPI&SU (Virginia Tech) and a B.S. in Plant and Soil Science from the University of Tennessee. His curriculum vitae is here.

The Rev. Jane Gould is Rector of St. Stephen´s Church, Lynn, Massachusetts, a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-racial urban church. Ordained in Massachusetts in 1986, she has served urban and suburban parishes of the Diocese. In addition, she served 6 years as MIT´s Episcopal Chaplain and Coordinator of the Technology Forum. Local commitments include Diocesan Council, youth ministry, mission strategy work, several urban ministry committees, and numerous community boards. Nationally, she serves as deputy to General Convention and board member of Episcopal Urban Caucus. Thanks to Kellogg Foundation and Lilly Endowment grants, she has extensive international experience and leadership training.
With a Californian father and eastern mother, Jane is decidedly bi-coastal growing up in Washington D.C. and receiving BA and MA degrees from Stanford. Her curriculum vitae is here.

The Rev. Bonnie Perry, D.Min., is Rector of All Saints' Church, Chicago, a diverse, outreach-centered congregation with an average age of 36. She is an adjunct faculty member at Seabury-Western Seminary, supervising seminarians and teaching a course she developed entitled, Advanced Studies in Congregational Leadership. She consults with clergy and vestries in Chicago and congregations in West Virginia, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Minnesota on congregational development, young adult evangelism and stewardship. She received her B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts then served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in West Oakland and South Central Los Angeles. She received her Master's of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and her doctorate in Congregational Development from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. In addition to her ministry, Bonnie is a passionate sea kayaker. She's a certified American Canoe Association Open Water Instructor and a British Canoe Union Level 3 Sea Coach. Her curriculum vitae is here.

The Rev. Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton is Canon Pastor of Washington National Cathedral, and Director of the Cathedral Center for Prayer and Pilgrimage. He co-founded an ecumenical network of churches and individuals in the Washington area who practice centering prayer, and is a frequent leader of retreats and conferences throughout the nation on prayer, spirituality, and preaching. Canon Sutton has served as a college chaplain, parish priest and a professor in homiletics and liturgy at Vanderbilt University Divinity School. He is a contributor to the book The Diversity of Centering Prayer. His curriculum vitae is here.

The Very Rev. Robert V. Taylor is Dean of St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle. Since his arrival in 1999, the Cathedral's congregation has flourished as has its presence as a public voice and gathering place, a center for inter-religious dialog, worship and reconciliation. Previously, he served as Rector of St. Peter's Church in Peekskill, New York, two year-long Interim posts in New York and two years as Associate Rector of Grace Church, White Plains. Robert received his Master's of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1984 and his B.A. from Rhodes University, South Africa. Born and raised in South Africa, Robert experienced police harassment for anti-apartheid activities and, facing mandatory military service, left for the US in 1980 with the assistance of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He currently serves as a member of the Board of the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation and the Governing Council of the Committee to End Homelessness in King County. His curriculum vitae is here.

Satan’s Throne—Part 5

2006-02-19T21:49:00.000-08:00

In the best tradition of Hebrew prophets, Jesus was a threat to the social order. His teachings defied accepted wisdom, he hung out with all manner of outcasts, his interactions with women were remarkable for that time, and his message carried an egalitarian flavor. He defied religious traditions and placed people above rules, above profits, above power. Religious leaders considered him a heretic and blasphemer, and Rome eyed him as a potential insurrectionist. Talk of an alternative reign to that of Caesar was not acceptable on any level. His rejection of every form of exploitation challenged the way things were. Jesus was a troublemaker.

The new society that he proclaimed was a threat to entrenched structures. Alliances of “church” and state that worked for mutual enrichment of the very few at the apex of the social structure and left all others at their mercy had no place for Jesus alternate vision.

By now, no matter how intriguing this background may be to some, the reader is wondering why I have spent so much time on it all. Well, here is where the rubber hits the road.

What do these competing visions have to do with our lives today? Where do we see the way of Jesus and the way of Caesar? How do they operate and how do we disentangle ourselves from the way of Caesar in order to follow Jesus?

An empire built on military force has been tried throughout the millennia, but no matter what divine blessings they invoke upon themselves, the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, the Gospels, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse all call empires to account before God. They must give an account of how they treat the least among them, for Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats is, if we trust what Matthew writes, a judgment not only of individuals but of nations.

All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one
from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put
the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. (Matthew
25:32-33)

Hillel the Elder, whose life overlapped that of Jesus, preceded Jesus in noting the criterion of pleasing God:

That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation. Go and study it. (Babylonian Talmud, tractate Shabbat 31a)

Jesus spoke similarly:

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'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." (Matthew 22:34-40)

Empires are not run on love. The reign of God is. Since we cannot equate earthly nations and empires with the reign of God, I do not propose we evaluate them in terms of love. But I do believe we must hold them to the standard of justice, and that involves treatment of the “last and least.”

The friends and followers of Jesus should be working for liberation of the oppressed, care of the sick, feeding of the hungry, shelter for the homeless, equitable treatment of the marginalized. Jesus did not treat anyone as dispensable or irrelevant.

What does it say for our nation if laws are passed and budgets structured that favor insurers over the insured, pharmaceutical giants over the sick, energy conglomerates over those who cannot afford fuel to get to work or heat for their homes, banks and financial institutions over their customers? How can we brag of higher standards for our schools when we do not provide the means to meet those standards and the attention our children need to learn and thrive? How can we leave the people one of America’s great cities to languish while bragging about our efforts to rebuild New Orleans? How can we extend the service of our troops in battle and cut spending on the Veteran’s Administration that cares for them when they come home? How can we send young men and women to fight for the United States when do not provide them with adequate armor? How can we reduce society’s safety net for the poorest while the gap between rich and poor widens obscenely and the level of those living below the poverty line increases?

Where are our national priorities when we extend our military and economic presence without taking care of our own poor, sick, elderly, and young? Why are we reducing the burden on the very wealthy while increasing it for everyone else? What does it say about the value we place on our children and our children’s children when the nation goes deeper and deeper into debt?

What does the way of Jesus have to say about corruption, secrecy, and lies? Where are today’s prophets who will stand up and speak boldly on behalf of the dispossessed? Who will be our next Martin Luther King, Jr.? Our Mohandas Gandhi? Our Desmond Tutu? Our Oscar Romero? Our Harriet Tubman or Elizabeth Cady Stanton? Our Chief Joseph or Sealth? Our Isaiah, Amos, Micah, Hosea? Our Mary?

When the Soviet Union held nations under its thumb with ruthless brutality and suppressed all freedoms, Ronald Reagan named it an Evil Empire. The Soviet Union collapsed and for the moment there is one superpower on the planet, though China may be able to challenge that before long. Have we become an empire or aspire to do so? What does this say about our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights? What are our national ideals today, our goals? If it is our deeds that tell the truth and not our words, where do we stand?

I believe Jesus challenges us today to remake our society. That does not mean we can create the reign of God on our own and it certainly does not mean we should restructure our nation to conform to ours or any other belief system. It does mean we, as Christians, have a duty to help shape the structures of our society so they favor justice, freedom, and the common good. We must oppose injustice, oppression, and the greed and lust for power that ignores the wellbeing of all. Jesus or Caesar—whom do we serve?

Conclusion in Part 6

Earlier posts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Satan’s Throne—Part 4

2006-02-19T20:09:00.000-08:00

The Bible’s contrast between Christ and empire is stark. For all the imagery of the ideal deliverer and ruler that derives from the propaganda machine of the Davidic dynasty, the early Christians radically redefine the notion of God’s Anointed (Messiah/Christ). Their experience of Jesus did not fulfill messianic expectations. David delivered Israel from the threat of the Philistines and expanded Israel’s borders. Jesus did not deliver the people from Rome’s grip nor did he establish a worldly kingdom. From all appearances, his kingship was a joke and it was mocked. Many of the most vivid images of the Passion involve brutal jests related to his supposed sovereignty: the crown of thorns, the robe, the title Pilate had placed on the cross (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews), and the taunts of the onlookers.

"Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews"

Rome’s rule was brutal and it is difficult to envision any empire maintaining a hold on the nations without strong and savage force. Crucifixion was a method of execution intended not merely to kill the most heinous criminals and threats to Roman rule, it was meant to humiliate and to warn. It was a form of blatant terrorism. A person was stripped, nailed to a cross, and left not only to asphyxiate slowly and painfully (or perish from dehydration or shock) but also to hang there and rot, a reminder to all passersby that this is what happens to those who oppose Rome. Crucifixion was designed to instill fear and horror, to quench any flickering dreams of opposing the empire. Rome’s message was clear to all: This is what we think of your “king.”

Indeed, the evangelists themselves take great pains to establish contrasts. What sort of king is born and laid in a feeding trough? What sort of king’s birth is announced not in palaces but to shepherds, persons involved in a semi-unclean occupation? If Augustus can order the known world to participate in a census, what can this Jesus do? What does it mean to give Caesar what is Caesar’s and give God what belongs to God? What sort of messiah gathers no army? Indeed, what sort of fool heads straight to Jerusalem, where all his enemies await, and does nothing to evade capture and execution?

As far as Rome was concerned, one more potential troublemaker has been dealt with, one more wannabe threat eliminated. But what sort of threat to Rome did Jesus pose?

Tiberius and Jesus: Crown of Laurel, Crown of Thorns

Luke draws on the Song of Hannah and gives us a hint in the Song of Mary (Magnificat).

[God] has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:51-53)

This proclamation of God’s character expressed in action speaks clearly of social reversals. Had Mary been speaking in the 20th century, she may have begun with “come the revolution….” When Jesus said “the last will be first, and the first will be last,” he was not upholding the status quo. (Matthew 20:16)

It is one thing to hear a person read a passage from Isaiah in the synagogue—"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor," and another to hear the reader then assert, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:18-21)

The Coronation of Jesus from an early Christian sarcophagus

Good news for the poor almost always means bad news for those who live off the toil of the poor. Higher wages mean lower profits and those who are especially fond of high profits will resist raising a worker’s pay any more than necessary. When you are dealing with the economy of the ancient Mediterranean world where all but a few percent of the population were peasants living in or near poverty, the landowners and employers held all the cards. There was no union and no power that would uphold the lot of the poor. Except for one: God. The God of Israel had expressed a concern for the marginalized throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. The poor, the widow, the orphan, the alien—these were mentioned again and again as being dear to Yahweh. They were not to be forgotten, abused, or oppressed, and God was watching and judging. Job’s claim to innocence was based not on rules he had kept but on his care for exactly these people.

Jesus was following this tradition of promoting social justice in the name of God’s justice. One would think the religious authorities would have welcomed someone whose words and deeds were so in keeping with the Scriptures, so revealing of God’s character.

They, however, profited from the way things were and had an understanding with Rome. Jesus threatened their position and power just as he threatened the imperial power with words that, no matter how rooted in the Jewish tradition, sounded radical to their ears. He could only be a lawbreaker and a blasphemer. He needed to be dealt with.

Continued in Part 5

Earlier posts:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Satan’s Throne—Part 3

2006-02-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

Jesus came proclaiming a different kind of rule than that of any known empire. His opening message was that “[t]he time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15) To those around him the known rulers were Herod, the half-Jewish and half-Idumaean kinglet whose power was entirely under Roman authority, and Tiberius Caesar. What could this “kingdom of God” be? Especially one that Jesus seems to consider more important than self-preservation.

We have come to understand that Jesus used the term not to suggest territories, bureaucracies, armies, and such—the usual trappings of a kingdom—but the “reign” of God, the realization of God’s will and rule on earth. It remains a strange concept to those who never talk about it, ponder it, and wrestle with what it means in our lives here and now.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23)

Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and [God’s] righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33)

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs." (Matthew 19:14)

It is not a reign of coercion, though God might well make any and all claims on us creatures. Jesus does not impose; he proclaims and invites. Some respond with faith and follow him. Some respond with doubt or conflicting values and do not follow. Some respond with fear or anger and resist Jesus and what he announces. Jesus’ way is not the way of empire. As God spoke to King Zerubbabel through the prophet Zechariah: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.” (Zech. 4:6)

Jesus answered [Pilate], "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the [Jewish leaders]. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." (John 18:36)

It is not a reign based on getting and keeping but on giving. The point of riches is to use them for the common good, to share with those who have not. This is not the way of modern commerce or individual estate planning. Jesus proclaimed an “estate plan” that laid up treasures on another level altogether, where moth, rust, thieves, the stock market, and the IRS can do no harm. Caesar and his far-flung tax collectors would not understand.

"You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." (Mark 10:21)

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous." (Luke 14:12-14)

Then he looked up at his disciples and said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. (Luke 6:20)

It is not a reign of exploitation. The God of Israel is known first and foremost for setting slaves free. The Exodus is the foundational story for the people of Israel, telling of their origin as a people and the God who gave them an identity.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (The first “commandment” of the Decalogue—Exodus 20:2)

You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. (Exodus 22:21)

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:33-34)

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. (Psalm 146:5-9)

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19)

It is not a reign of dominion or division. The path which Jesus calls us to follow is one that rejects the artificial distinctions that we use to define the “other” and create division. Without such distinctions it is difficult to justify one person lording it over another. This does not entail a rejection of all authority but clearly implies an end to the abuse of power. Arrogance and servility alike have no place in God’s reign. In this Jesus follows the best traditions of the Torah, the prophets, the psalmists, and the sages.

You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the LORD. You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning. You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the LORD. You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the LORD. You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. (Leviticus 19:11-18)

You shall have one law for the alien and for the citizen: for I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 24:22)

“I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (John 15:15)

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

Continued in Part 4

Previous posts:
Part 1
Part 2

Satan’s Throne—Part 2

2006-02-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

The Pergamene martyr Antipas was among those persecuted, evidently for refusing to worship the emperor. To most Romans this was a formality similar to reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag, but to Christians it involved calling Caesar “Lord” and acknowledging the emperor’s divinity. The mere act of tossing a few grains of incense on the fire before the emperor’s statue was, to devout Christians whose religious roots were in Judaism, an act of apostasy and idolatry. Jews had been exempted from this civic ritual as the empire had realized their faith, unlike all the other known religions, would simply not allow it. But Christians, once they had been evicted from the synagogues as no longer being authentically Jewish, did not have this exemption.

The entire book of the Apocalypse is riddled with references to the question of whether Jesus is Lord or Caesar is Lord. Whose is the ultimate power? Who is truly divine? Who has the last word? Whose is the final victory? John’s pastoral answer is clear: Jesus is Lord and his is the victory. Those who remain faithful to Christ will share in his victory. The way of the empire is the way of death but the way of Christ is life.

What are these two contrasting paths?

The way of empire is always the way of power. Influence is extended through military and economic means, taking advantage of geography and natural and human resources. Cultural and ideological tendencies are yoked to political intent. Propaganda is nothing new, though sometimes it is subtle. The masterful Roman poet P. Vergilius Maro (Vergil or Virgil) managed, through no accident, to flatter the emperor Augustus through the epic Aeneid, a poem that traces Rome’s heritage back to the Trojans who survived the fall of Troy and many perils and temptations thereafter on their journey to Italy. The story of Aeneas and his travels provides a myth that shapes Roman values and legitimizes the Julian line currently in power, for Aeneas was the son of the Trojan Anchises and the goddess Venus, and his son Iulus gave his name, so the story goes, to the clan of Julius Caesar. The imperial line is divine and divinely favored and Rome’s glory under Augustus prophesied. The skeptics among us will note that the epic poem was written in the time of Augustus, thus making it one of those prophecies after the fact, or vaticinia ex eventu (to use the technical term). A mere quibble. Ignore the man behind the propaganda curtain.

The Roman colisseum in Nîmes, France, where I spent an afternoon in autumn 1967. Still functional after all these years.
Roman aqueduct over the Gard River in Provence (Pont du Gard)

The Roman temperament favored organization, discipline, and bureaucracy. A tension existed between a recognition of rule by law and the whim of some rulers, to be sure, but an empire-wide consistency could be achieved. The Roman army was well trained, Roman engineers were skilled. Roads, aqueducts, and buildings constructed two thousand years ago still stand. I got to watch a non-lethal bull fight in the city of Nîmes, sitting in a coliseum built by the Romans and still fully functioning. What especially amazed me was that thousands of people could exit in minutes, something I would never see in a modern structure.

Even with the temperate Roman climate and various societal traits, the Roman Empire was built with the toil of slaves, shrewd commerce, and military might. Slaves in the City of Rome itself are estimated to have been one third the total population.

Everything about Jesus challenged the society he lived in. Most Christians are aware of the challenges Jesus posed to Jewish religious authorities and the traditions that had grown up over the centuries and become dear to the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, and priests. These conflicts and Jesus’ position with respect to them are widely taught and preached. The political conflicts are discussed less and this shortchanges the Gospel.

More in Part 3

Satan’s Throne—Part 1

2006-02-17T22:16:00.000-08:00

In a time and place where speakers and writers depict the world in harsh contrasts of black and white, of good and evil, of right and wrong, those of us who are fond of the myriad shades of gray—not to mention the countless hues of the rainbow—hesitate even to begin a discussion with mention of Satan. Immediately images arise and our most fevered fantasies and fears color anything that may follow.

For some it may be an almost comic devil, mocked in Hallowe’en costumes or as the pushover paramour of Saddam Hussein on South Park. [If you don’t catch this reference, better you should not ask.] Some others may conjure thoughts of humans caught up in satanic rituals with black masses and unspeakable sacrifices. The less fearful may envision a small bound figure, helpless at the feet of Christ harrowing hell, as depicted in Orthodox icons of the Resurrection. The operatic among us may hear tunes of Gounod’s Faust or Boito’s Mephistophele, each recounting the timeless tale of the evil compromises we make in pursuit of our goals. Still others may wish they could shake so primitive a figure in our collective mythology but hesitate before the genocidal horrors that are woven through the past century. A few may clutch their crucifix a little closer, cross themselves, of seek the nearest drop of holy water at mention of the name.

Those raised on movies from 1977 onward may picture the “dark force” of the Star Wars series or the powerfully malevolent Sauron in Lord of the Rings, for these provide a clear sense of a potent and evil will bent toward destruction and dominion, working through violence and fear to achieve its ends. In almost any case, some reptilian portion of the human brain knows that life is tenuous, dreams are fragile, and there are unnamed forces we cannot control. When night falls, or winter comes, we burn fires and huddle closer for more than physical protection or comfort. We need reassurance.
Relax, my friends. This is no dissertation on demonology, nor pondering on the metaphysics of evil. Satan is not really my theme.

“Satan’s throne,” however, is a striking phrase from the Apocalypse [Revelation] of Jesus Christ to John. The phrase has stuck with me through the years, and what I believe is the key to its meaning. It is the significance of this passage that I wish to share with you here.

In the third of the seven letters to the angels of the churches, the Alpha and Omega addresses these words:

Revelation 2:12-13, 17 "And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword: "I know where you are living, where Satan's throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives.
…
“Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

Scholars agree that during those dangerous years of persecution John’s coded message would make sense to its recipients. We who are far removed from that context puzzle over all the rich symbolism. The language of the Apocalypse is strong and vivid, for it spoke of a violent and perilous time in the life of the earliest Christians. Depending on our temperament and taste we are likely to find it fascinating or repugnant and, upon occasion, comforting. I believe strongly that the book was written to provide comfort and encouragement in difficult days, but it not easy to recapture that message when so much codswallop has been written about it.

What did John mean by “the throne of Satan?” We can begin with what we know of ancient Pergamum and the key point is summed neatly in a resource provided by Our Father Lutheran Church in Centennial, Colorado:

Pergamum was also a center for the worship of a pantheon of pagan deities (Egyptian, Greek, Roman) and, as the provincial capital, it was the official home of the emperor worship cult, a great honor for the city and its leaders. But, twice in his letter to the church in Pergamum, John mocks the city's status as a cult center for emperor worship with the use of the phrases: "where Satan has his throne" and "where Satan lives." To John, the emperor was not a god to be worshiped, but Satan incarnate….Pergamum, as the provincial capital, was one of the few cities granted the power by Rome to inflict capital punishment. This was known as "the right of the sword." By introducing Christ as the one "who wields the sharp sword with the double edge" and as one who will fight "with the sword of (his) mouth," John was telling the Pergamum church that Christ wielded greater power than either the provincial rulers or the Roman emperors! [emphasis mine]

More in Parts 2 and 3

Cuthbert becomes a bishop

2006-02-14T23:06:00.000-08:00

Abbess Aelfflaed also shows up when Cuthbert foretells, with dread, his election as bishop.
In this mural at St Laurence, Hallgarth, we see St Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury, anointing Cuthbert as a bishop.
Here is a modern sketch of the same scene to help us see what is in the original. Theodore is an interesting man in his own right, having been a Greek monk from the city of St Paul the Apostle in what is now modern Turkey. He was chosen by the Latin Pope Vitalian to be Archbishop of Canterbury and was quickly given a "Roman" makeover. Theodore brought with him to England Hadrian the African, a north African monk, who became headmaster of the school at Canterbury. Under Theodore and Hadrian it was a center of scholarship. Since Cuthbert was a Saxon trained by Irish, we can see in these persons a confluence of Greek, Roman, African, Saxon, and Irish cultures.
The next illustration comes from the Yates Thompson manuscript 26, a copy of Bede's life of Cuthbert. This illumination shows the council electing Cuthbert to be bishop.
Cuthbert declined the honor until King Ecgfrith and Trumwine, Bishop to the Picts (Scots), came to Cuthbert at his retreat on Farne Island and beseeched him to serve. You can recognize the king's crown in this illustration. Trumwine's miter is the triangular red hat to the king's right.

The story is told in Bede's chapter 24.

CHAPTER XXIV
OF HIS PROPHECY IN ANSWER TO THE SAME ELFLED, CONCERNING THE LIFE OF KING EGFRID AND HIS OWN BISHOPRIC

AT another time, the same Elfled, who was a most holy virgin, and mother of the virgins of Christ, sent for the man of God, adjuring him in the name of our Lord that she might be all:)wed to see him and to speak about certain things of importance. He therefore entered with the brethren into a ship, and went over to an island which is situated in the mouth of the river Coquet, from which it received its name. The island was also remarkable for the number of its monks. The abbess, who had requested him to meet her in this island, when she had enjoyed his conversation for some time, and the man of God had answered many questions that she put to him; on a sudden, in the midst of his conversation, she fell at his feet and adjured him, bv the terrible and sacred name of our heavenly King and his angels, that he would tell her how long her brother Egfrid would live and govern the English nation. " For I know," she said, " that you abound in the Spirit of prophecy, and that, if you are willing, you are able to tell me even this. " But he, shuddering at the adjuration, and yet not being willing openly to reveal the secret which she had asked him, replied, " It is a wonderful thing that you, being a wise woman and skilled in sacred Scriptures, should call long the duration of human life: the Psalmist says, that ' our years shall perish like a spider's web,' and Solomon advises, that if a man shall live many years, and shall have been prosperous in all of these, he ought to remember the gloomy time of many days, which when it shall come, the past is convicted of folly; how much more then ought that man, to whose life one year only is wanting, to be considered as having lived a short time when death stands at his door ! "

On hearing these words she lamented the dreadful prophecy with many tears- but then having wiped her face. she with feminine boldness adjured him by the majesty of the Holy One, that he would tell her who would be the heir to the kingdom, seeing that Egfrid had neither sons nor brothers. After a short silence, he said, " Do not say that he is without heirs, for he shall have a successor, whom you shall embrace like Egfrid himself with the affection of a sister."-"But," said she, "I beseech you to tell me where he may be found." He answered, "You behold this great and spacious sea, how it aboundeth in islands. It is easy for God out of some of these to provide a person to reign over England. " She therefore understood him to speak of Alfrid, who was said to be the son of her father, and was then, on account of his love of literature, exiled to the Scottish islands. But she was aware that Egfrid proposed to make him a bishop, and wishing to know if the effect would follow the intention, she began by inquiring in this manner: "Oh, with what various intentions are the hearts of men distracted ! Some rejoice in having obtained riches, others always eager after them are still in want: but thou rejectest the glory of the world, although it is offered thee; and although thou mightest obtain a bishopric, than which there is nothing more sublime on earth, yet thou preferrest the recesses of thy desert to this rank."-" But," said he, " I know that I am not worthy of so high a rank; nevertheless, I cannot shun the judgment of the Supreme Ruler, who, if he decreed that I should subject myself to so great a burden, would, I believe, restore me after a moderate freedom, and perhaps after not more than two years would send me back to my former solitude and quiet. But I must first request you in the name of our Lord and Saviour that you do not relate to any one before my death the things which I have told you. " When he had expounded to her the various things which she asked, and had instructed her concerning the things which she had need of, he returned to his solitary island and monastery, and continued his mode of life as he had commenced it.

Not long after, in a full synod, Archbishop Theodore of blessed memory presiding in the presence of God's chosen servant, the holy King Egfrid, he was unanimously elected to the bishopric of the see of Lindisfarne. But, although they sent many messengers and letters to him, he could not by any means be drawn from his habitation, until the king himself, above mentioned, sailed to the island, attended by the most holy Bishop Trumwine, and by as many other religious and influential men as he could: they all went down on their knees before him, and adjured him by the Lord, with tears and entreaties, until they drew him away from his retirement with tears in his eyes and took him to the synod. When arrived there, although much resisting, he was overcome by the unanimous wish of all, and compelled to submit to undertake the duties of the bishopric; yet the ordination did not take place immediately, but at the termination of the winter which was then beginning. And that his prophecies might be fulfilled in all things, Egfrid was killed the year afterwards in battle with the Picts, and was succeeded on the throne by his illegitimate brother Alfrid, who, a few years before, had devoted himself to literature in Scotland, suffering a voluntary exile, to gratify his love of science.

St Cuthbert foretells a death

2006-02-14T22:52:00.000-08:00

St Bede the Venerable was a “Renaissance man” before the Renaissance, a scholar of wide-ranging interests and the historian who gave us a record of the early Christian faith in England. He interviewed people who knew Cuthbert personally when he wrote his two biographies of Cuthbert.

St Laurence, Hallgarth, is an 11th century church built on the location of an even earlier church. It is located 3.5 miles east of Durham and is known for its 12th century murals depicting scenes from the life of St Cuthbert.

Here are photos I took of one episode, Cuthbert’s prediction to the Abbess Aelfflaed that one of her shepherds had died. I show both the original mural and a modern drawing showing the episode more clearly.

The modern sketch showing Cuthbert on the left, Abbess Aelfflaed on the right, and Cuthbert's vision of the shepherd in the tree above.
Photo of the arch with the original 12 century mural toward the right. One can also see the chevron pattern in the arch below this window.

The story is found in Bede’s prose life of Cuthbert, chapter 34.

CHAPTER XXXIV
HOW HE SAW THE SOUL OF A MAN, WHO HAD BEEN KILLED BY FALLING FROM A TREE, ASCEND TO HEAVEN

BUT now this man of God, foreseeing his end approaching, had determined to lay aside the duties of his pastoral office, and return to his former solitary life, that by shaking off the cares of this life he might occupy himself amidst unrestrained psalmody and prayer in preparing for the day of his death, or rather of his entrance into everlasting life. He wished first to go round his parishes, and visit the houses of the faithful in his neighbourhood; and then, when he had confirmed all with such consolatory admonitions as should be required, to return to the solitary abode which he so longed after. Meanwhile, at the request of the noble and holy virgin, the Abbess Elfleda, of whom I have before made mention, he entered the estate belonging to her monastery, both to speak to her and also to consecrate a church therein; for there was there a considerable number of monks. When they had taken their seats, at the hour of repast, on a sudden Cuthbert turned away his thoughts from the carnal food to the contemplation of heavenly things. His limbs being much fatigued by his previous duties, the colour of his face changed, his eyes became unusually fixed, and the knife dropped from his hands upon the table. The priest, who stood by and ministered to him, perceiving this, said to the abbess, "Ask the bishop what he has just seen: for I know there was some reason for his hand thus trembling and letting fall the knife, whilst his countenance also changed so wonderfully: he has surely seen something which we have not seen." She immediately turned to him and said, "I pray you, my lord bishop, tell me what you have just seen, for your tired hand did not let fall the knife just now without some cause." The bishop endeavoured to conceal the fact of his having seen any thing supernatural, and replied in joke, "I was not able to eat the whole day, was I? I must have left off some time or other." But, when she persisted in her entreaty that he would tell the vision, he said, " I saw the soul of a holy man carried up to heaven in the arms of angels."-" From what place," said she, " was it taken ? "-" From your monastery," replied the bishop; upon which she further asked his name. " You will tell it me," said he, "to-morrow, when I am celebrating mass." On hearing these words, she immediately sent to the larger monastery to inquire who had been lately removed from the body. The messenger, finding all safe and well, was preparing to return in the morning to his mistress, when he met some men carrying in a cart the body of a deceased brother to be buried. On inquiring who it was, he found that it was one of the shepherds, a worthy man, who, having incautiously mounted a tree, had fallen down, and died from the bruise, at the same time that the man of God had seen the vision. He immediately went and told the circumstance to his mistress, who went forthwith to the bishop, at that time consecrating the church, and in amazement, as if she were going to tell him something new and doubtful, " I pray," said she, " my lord bishop, remember in the mass my servant Hadwald," (for that was his name,) "who died yesterday by falling from a tree." It was then plain to all that the holy man possessed in his mind an abundant spirit of prophecy; for that he saw before his eyes at the moment the man's soul carried to heaven, and knew beforehand what was afterwards going to be told him by others.

More on Bede and Cuthbert:
Bede: The Life and Miracles of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindesfarne (721)
Author
Bede was born in 673, in Northumberland, became a monk and died at Jarrow in 735. His modern feast day is May 25. He was one of the most important intellects, and most prolific writers of his time. Among his other accomplishments was in becoming the only Englishman in Dante's Divine Comedy. His most important work his is History of the English Church and People, but he wrote many others - biblical commentaries and hagiography in particular.
Saint
Bede's Life of St. Cuthbert, given here complete in the translation by J.A. Giles, recounts the life of Cuthbert, famed in his time as a miracle worker. Cuthbert was probably born in Northumberland circa 634. He was educated by Irish monks at Melrose Abbey. At various times in his life, Cuthbert was a monk, a solitary, and - briefly - a bishop. He died on Farne Island in 687. His feast day is March 20. An early anonymous Life of Cuthbert was written about 700, but the discovery of Cuthbert's uncorrupt body gave a new impetus to the cult, and Bede used the earlier Life to write his own verse Life, around 716, and this, longer, prose Life around 721. This includes ten chapters of new material, derived from Herefrith (3, 6, 8-9, 19, 23, 31, 35, 43, and 46). Both the anonymous (in 7 manuscripts) and Bede's life (in 38 manuscripts) survive. Bede's version was used for two famous 12th-century illuminated [Oxford, Univ. Col MS 165, and Brit. Mus. Yates Thompson MS 26]. [Farmer, 16-17].
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-cuthbert.html

The Chi Rho page of the Lindisfarne Gospels

2006-02-13T21:00:00.000-08:00

(c) The British Library
Well, the photo anyway, as Eadfrith was the scribe and I don't think we can call something from the 7th century copyright by anyone living unless it's the churches named for St Cuthbert. I have dared to post this under fair use terms for non-profit educational purposes.

One can see the X P I forms shown on the pulpit fall in the post below. These represent the Greek letters chi-rho-iota, the beginning letters of Christ in Greek. Chi+rho is a common monogram for Christ (looking like the Latin letters XP).

This page is from the Gospel according to Matthew, which Eadfrith gave two initial pages. This page has the Latin text for the birth of Christ beginning: "Christi autem generation sic erat" or "The birth of Christ took place thus." It is an unusual touch to use Greek letters in a Latin text, even though the monogram was widespread. Perhaps this reflects the fact that when Greek was practically unknown in Western Europe it was still studied by Irish scholars. The Lindisfarne Gospels are one of those stunning manuscripts that stand out in manuscript history for their art and historic significance. Eadfrith, a Saxon monk and later bishop, had been trained at Lindisfarne in the Irish tradition. The Gospels thus show mostly Irish influence with Saxon details echoing treasures found at the Saxon burial hoard of Sutton Hoo along with local tradition in the portrayal of sea birds common at Lindisfarne.

Lindisfarne / St Mary's

2006-02-13T20:39:00.000-08:00

Window in St Mary's Church, Lindisfarne--I think this is Cuthbert but I am not certain.
Pulpit fall [hanging] with a ChiRho pattern taken from the Lindisfarne Gospels
St Aidan banner and a curragh [Irish shallow boat of wooden frame and hides]
David Adam, at that time Vicar of St Mary's, Lindisfarne, autographing one of his many books while Paul Strid, Vicar of St Cuthbert's, Oakland, looks on holding icon of St Cuthbert

St Cuddy's Leadership 2006: Clergy & Officers

2006-02-11T00:22:00.000-08:00

Here we have two church officers: Phyllis Brislawn, Clerk of the Bishop's Committee, and Ana Love, possibly the youngest Treasurer in the diocese. Also the Vicar, Paul Strid; Deacon Connie Hartquist-Jacobs; and Associate Priests Pamela Cranston and Amber Sturgess.

St Cuddy's Leadership 2006: Delegates

2006-02-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

Here are our delegates and alternates for Diocesan Convention and the election of a new bishop for the Diocese of California. A nice combination of new timers and old timers to represent us!

St Cuddy's Leadership 2006: Gang of Ten

2006-02-10T19:54:00.000-08:00

At St Cuddy's we call our Bishop's Committee the Gang of Ten. That captures our team spirit and feisty determination. We will not be a church that goes all passive victim or whines, nor will we be a church that is dull and stodgy. We are playful, loving, and full of Spirit.

The basis structure of our Gang of Ten is three classes of three plus the Vicar, who serves ex officio. That way we have some continuity with the renewal of three fresh folks each year. Being feisty, however, we don't always play by even our own rules. When Sean Van Straatum had to leave and we needed to fill his one-year slot, Doris and Carolyn agreed to team up and we all agreed that this would be fine so long as between them they only cast one vote. This gives each of them a bit of a break and, since they do most of our Altar Guild work between them, we figure this is fair enough. So we are, perhaps, the Gang of Nine and Two-Halves this time around. You got a problem with that? Bring it!

We are delighted to have all our gang members on board, from old pros who have done this more than once to those serving for the first time ever. [And the Vicar cannot resist noting that they are a wonderful, loving, prayerful, dedicated gang indeed!]

Thanks to those who served

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Sean has served on the Gang of Ten (Bishop's Committee) as well as linking us with the Culinary Club of Skyline High. He has played piano and tin whistle for us in worship and helped with meals and serving, not to mention assisting with Sunday school. Now we have to let him go so he can graduate high school and go to college. Thanks, Sean, and best wishes.
We are very grateful to Steph, Paige, and Stephen for their service on the Gang of Ten for the past three years. We will certainly miss Stephan but we know he is partying with the saints (probably cooking with St Martha, what do you think?) and sending his love from the bosom of God. Paige finished her second term with the Gang, bringing her energy, enthusiasm, and "can do" attitude, helping with stewardship and planning. Stephen came to us from St Andrews and had scarce been with us for a year when he landed on the Gang of Ten, having recently served as Bishop's Warden. He ran again, was reelected at this year's annual meeting, and continues also as Bishop's Warden as we go through a time of transition.

Thanks and love to all four of you!

Hobthrush Island

2006-02-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

Hobthrush is connected to Lindisfarne at low tide in the same way Lindisfarne is connected to the mainland, but it is an island at high tide. It was here, within sight of the main island, that Cuthbert first attempted living as a hermit. He soon realized it was still too close to Lindisfarne; monks could still shout over to him. After that he went to Inner Farne, where no one had ever stayed for long.
This is how I viewed Hobthrush before crossing over to it.
Any structure Cuthbert may have used would have been wooden. A later stone hermitage was built while Saxons were in charge of Lindisfarne (i.e., before 1066 and all that). All we have now are the foundations of that structure, seen in the above photo with some folks sitting on the foundation stones in prayer and a cross at one end of the rectangle defined by the outline. In the distance beyond the cross is St Mary's on Lindisfarne and some of the Priory ruins to its right.
Here I stand with the parish icon of St Cuthbert at the foot of the cross in this ancient place of prayer. Since Cuthbert lived on this small isle as a hermit, I assume he walked over every inch of it, so it is a special place for me.

I took the icon for a double purpose. In Eastern Orthodox piety, wherever an icon is, there is Christ or the saint depicted. In this sense, Cuthbert was with me during this pilgrimage. Additionally, since it is the parish icon of our patron, I felt that all the people of St Cuddy's were with me through the icon. In that mystical sense, you were all part of the pilgrimage too. Cuthbert's image thus represented the cruciform mystery of vertical and horizontal relationship, linking a saint from the past with a people moving into God's future, and linking us across geographic distance.

Lindisfarne Priory-Part 2

2006-02-10T16:52:00.000-08:00

I am fond of Romanesque architecture, so these early Norman churches appeal to me.
The sandstone used on Lindisfarne is reddish while that used in Durham is a light golden color. In either case, it does not weather well in the long run, and there is a constant repair program with several fulltime masons at the Cathedral in Durham.
There is something haunting about the Priory ruins. Their form and majesty abides but they are open to the elements, somewhat unsubstantial. Lindisfarne has always been considered a very special place, a "thin"place where the material and the spiritual don't seem to be separated.

St Mary's Parish Church-Lindisfarne

2006-02-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

Here are a few views of St Mary's Parish Church on Holy Island
At the time I visited, David Adam was the Vicar. He has written several books on Celtic spirituality, Celtic saints, and Celtic prayer. Though retired as vicar, he continues to write and speak.
St Mary's graveyard

Lindisfarne & Durham architecture-Part 2

2006-02-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

Here is a column of sandstone with a zigzag pattern at Lindisfarne Priory.
And here in the Cathedral is a sandstone column with the same pattern. This photo was from the web, noted courtesy of Dr. Ruth Dean.

Lindisfarne & Durham architecture-Part 1

2006-02-10T13:51:00.000-08:00

Notice the zigzag or chevron design in this arch at Lindisfarne Priory.
You see the pattern again in the surviving portion of this arch in my dorm room in Durham Castle.
And again in this triple arch in the Norman Gallery of Durham Castle just outside my dorm room. (Pretty cool rooming in the former castle of prince bishop's, eh?)

Needless to say, the same architect(s) would have been involved in the Norman building at both locations, the Priory where Cuthbert had been prior and bishop and the Castle of the bishop in charge of the Cathedral where Cuthbert's bones would lie.
Photos (c) 1997 Paul E Strid

Lindisfarne Priory-Part 1

2006-02-10T11:41:00.000-08:00

Modern stone cross at the entrance to Priory
The sky appears almost white because the day was overcast.
Our group gives a sense of scale.

A terrific bit of engineering, this Norman priory from the 11th century replaced the Saxon buildings. What remains are ruins, but they are impressive.

Lindisfarne / Holy Island

2006-02-10T02:28:00.000-08:00

Lindisfarne is the island off the northeastern English coast where St Aidan chose to base his ministry. The island is connected to the mainland by a causeway at low tide and is thus accessible by vehicle or foot when the North Sea recedes. Since boats were used extensively along the coast and waterways in Aidan's time, we should not make too much of the island's semi-accessibility. It is within sight of the Northumbrian royal city of Bamburgh, and Bamburgh Castle is visible from Lindisfarne. Today Lindisfarne is called Holy Island and has its own web page.

This is where St Cuthbert, our patron and a successor of Aidan, was first prior and later bishop. I hope to share more pictures of my pilgrimage there very soon.
Sheep grazing on the island
Vicar Paul, Cuddy the otter given him by the Sunday school when he was instituted in 1995, and Lindisfarne Castle in the background.
A "dry brush" Photoshop treatment of St Mary's, the parish church on the Island.
All photos copyright 1997 by Paul E Strid

Rest eternal: Robert Abbate

2006-02-10T02:18:00.000-08:00

Our prayers continue as our hearts miss Robert Abbate: neighbor, friend, worshipper. Robert found solace at St Cuddy's and often sat on the front steps, playing fetch with his beloved dog Chula. He helped lug and tote on our market days and sometimes mowed our lawn. May he rejoice in the nearer presence of Christ.

Photos from Christmas 2005-Part 2

2006-02-10T02:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day Eucharist: Vicar Paul, Presider Amber, Deacon Connie, and the Holy Family in the foreground. Our Sunday school takes a break from tree decorating.

Photos from Christmas 2005-Part 1

2006-02-10T01:58:00.000-08:00

We are now well into the Sundays after Epiphany, but here are some memories of the Christmas just past. Our Sunday school did a splendid job of decorating the tree.

Durham 1997

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Palace Green, Durham, east side: University residences, former almshouse

Palace Green, Durham, west side: Cathedral, University offices

Well, this is not what I thought I would be posting next, but I have been on a scanning jag lately, scanning old photos. I began with old family photos, but then remembered I should do something about my pilgrimage to Durham in summer of 1997. I was blessed to attend a two-week seminar on Celtic spirituality. We stayed at the Castle, which once was the fortress-residence of the Bishops of Durham but has for some time now been a residence hall for the University.

The Cathedral and Castle complex has been designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations, one of those special places with rich historical, geographic, and architectural/artistic value for all humanity.

Lots of photos and lots of memories. These are just the first.

My profound thanks to the people of St Cuthbert's and to Mr. Bill Lynn who made this pilgrimage possible.

Paul+

Christmas Greetings

2006-01-08T17:40:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of Christopher Fox with his new siblings Sara and Nicholas. It came with greetings from them and their parents, Warren and Gretchen Fox. The Foxes were a joy to St Cuthbert's when we had them on loan from the southland. They are now living in Aliso Viejo, CA.

[I wanted to post this sooner, but it took me a while to hook up the printer/scanner/copier--purchased in Albuquerque for my laptop--on my home system. Yes, the vicar finished his stint with the Forest Service and is back in town.]

We also got a card from Sara McOwens in Denver and from Ellen Johnson in Denton, MD. Some of you will remember that Ellen is the cousin of the late Gloria Hewitt, longtime member of St Cuddy's.

Last, but not least, we received a card from KT, Sandy, Taylor, and Darcey Johnson in West Vancouver, British Columbia. Their note reads: "Dear Friends of St. Cuthbert's--We think of you and pray for you often. We hope it's a wonderful Christmas for all of you. Love,"

We also get notes several times a year from Benicia Moore in Clovis, CA.

Many thanks to all our friends who have moved away and hold us in their hearts and prayers. We miss them but are forever in communion in Christ.

Radical hospitality causes 'wonderful problems'

2005-11-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

Daybook, From Episcopal News Service
Monday, November 21, 2005
Radical hospitality causes 'wonderful problems'
Hmong refugees officially received into Episcopal Church
By Joe Bjordal ENS112105-01 [Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota]

When 175 Hmong refugees from Southeast Asia, formerly Roman Catholic Christians, were officially received into the Episcopal Church November 3 at St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis, their congregation became the first of its kind in the Anglican Communion.

Holy Apostles is the only predominantly Hmong congregation in the Anglican Communion, according to the Rev. Dr. Winfred Vergara, missioner for Asian American Ministries of the Episcopal Church.

Vergara, whose office has provided both financial and leadership resources to Holy Apostles in recent months, was the preacher at the historic confirmation and reception service.

He told the congregation that if the church is to survive and flourish in the 21st century, "we must be a reflection of the world of many colors, faces and cultures. As on the day of Pentecost, we must become a church of many languages, tribes and nations. Tonight, in this service of reception and confirmation, the Episcopal Church of Holy Apostles in the Diocese of Minnesota has become such a reflection of the beautiful, colorful world in which we find ourselves."

"You have stepped out from the comfort zones . . . and through a radical hospitality opened your doors to a new possibility, the possibility of growth, plurality and diversity," said Vergara. "Tonight the Holy Spirit is here filling us with dreams and visions of what the Episcopal Church is and can be."

Ongoing cross-cultural hospitality, ministry
There comes a point in the service of confirmation and reception when the bishop says, "the candidates for confirmation (or reception) will now be presented." When Bishop James L. Jelinek of Minnesota spoke those words in Hmong, the candidates came forward and filled the crossing and main aisle, awaiting their turn to kneel before a bishop and become an Episcopalian.

It took three bishops 40 minutes to lay hands upon, pray with and receive the new members.

Assisting Jelinek were Bishop Richard Chang of Hawaii and retired Bishop Daniel Swenson of Vermont. Jelinek invited Chang to participate because he is the only Asian bishop in the Episcopal Church. Swenson, a former priest in the diocese, regularly assists Jelinek.

Jelinek thought it important to have Chang participate to demonstrate what he terms a "very important distinction." He has frequently pointed out that the history of diversity in the Diocese of Minnesota "is not just about the Anglos welcoming people from other cultures."

Rather, this has been people of different cultures embracing each other in the love of Christ and for the sake of mission," said Jelinek.

The cover of the order of service for the occasion illustrated the diocese's 148-year-old tradition of ministry shared across cultures: juxtaposed images of Bishop Henry Benjamin Whipple (first bishop of Minnesota) baptizing American Indians at Fort Snelling and Sy Vang Lor, one of the new Hmong faithful at Holy Apostles in festive traditional Hmong dress.

Radical hospitality to hundreds
The current story of the Church of the Holy Apostles has recently been told throughout the church. It's the story of a small, struggling congregation that, as Jelinek remarked at the recently- concluded diocesan convention, "heard a knock on the door and opened it to find several hundred people wanting to come inside."

The 175 persons confirmed and received on November 3 are but the core membership of more than 600 adults and children who have started attending Holy Apostles.

The Rev. Bill Bulson, vicar of Holy Apostles, has led the multi- cultural hospitality effort. He has learned the Hmong language. He now presides and preaches in Hmong at the congregation's 11:00 a.m. worship service each Sunday. He is overseeing a team that is translating the Book of Common Prayer into Hmong.

Bulson has been helped in this effort by an already multi-cultural group of lay leaders, whom, he says, seemed to have been "strategically" put in place during the years of struggle. The senior warden is Liberian. The junior warden is Puerto Rican. Others are from Russia, the Philippines and Native American nations. When the opportunity came to expand the already multi-cultural family of Holy Apostles, they were ready.

The congregation is now struggling, once again, but with what Bulson and other lay leaders are calling "wonderful problems." They are out of room and need to expand.

On All Saints Sunday, Bulson baptized 30 persons, most infants and children. It was standing room only.

Reason for church
The Rev. Carolyn Schmidt, rector of the Church of the Holy Cross, Dundas, Minnesota, and an American Indian, attended the service and wrote these words in her parish newsletter the following day:

"The new people do not bring a vast wealth in money. They bring all of the challenges of a new immigrant people. They really are a challenge for the congregation and for our diocese. But this challenge is the reason we have parishes. This is the reason we are the church. We are here to open our doors to all the challenges of the world. We are here to bring in and pray with strangers. We are here to listen to the needs of people and to minister to them, not asking if we can, but trusting."

-- Joe Bjordal is the manager of news and information for the Diocese of Minnesota
Photos available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_69298_ENG_HTM.htm

Moses Stephan Alfred - Resting from his labors

2005-11-08T21:17:00.000-08:00

Moses Stephan Alfred

Stephan went home Monday, November 7, 2005, released at last from his pain. The St Cuthbert's family will sorely miss his great heart. Steph helped with Sunday school and his gift for hospitality meant many wonderful meals for the congregation and its guests, especially Thanksgiving dinners.

His funeral Eucharist will be at St Cuthbert's, Saturday, November 12, at 11:00 a.m., followed immediately by interment at Rolling Hills Cemetery. We will then return to the church for a reception in the Parish Hall where we may continue to share stories and celebrate his life.

Please keep Stephan's partner Jeff Jackl and their family in your prayers.

Viewing will take place on Friday, November 11, 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Colonial Chapel, 2626 High Street, Oakland CA 94619. A Quiet Hour follows at 7:00 p.m.

Rest eternal grant unto him and may light pepetual shine upon him.

So, what is the vicar up to anyway?

2005-10-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the update from the vicar:

I am working as a contractor for the Albuquerque Serice Center (ASC) of the Forest Service or, as I like to say, "working for Smokey Bear."

Albuquerque NM is famous for their Balloon Fiesta held in early October and for all the times I have visited family here, this is the first time I have been here for the Fiesta. It is an amazing thing to drive to work in the morning and watch over a hundred balloons floating in the sky. They come in all colors and there are also some unusual and creative shapes. As I went to work last Friday, this first day of the Fiesta, I had to concentrate on my driving lest the mesmerizing effect of the balloons lead to an accident or running a red light.

Imagine my delight when, among the other balloons, I saw Smokey Bear up there too! Perhaps one needs to be my age (born one year after the original Smokey Bear was rescued from a fire near Calsbad NM) to appreciate what a special icon he was when I was a little boy. Where Smokey is concerned I instantly lose 50 years in my heart and mind.

Having worked for the Forest Service on Mare Island earlier this year, I am delighted to be doing so again, and have nice coworkers, which always counts for a lot. Alas, I am not a forest ranger (OK, another secret dream exposed here) but rather a number cruncher, sorting and analyzing information, entering data, and trying to resolve problems. One of the perks of this location is the third floor, where I work, has a west-facing terrace which gives a terrific view of the Balloon Fiesta and across the city toward the dormant volcanoes. New Mexico has lots of sky, which feeds the soul. One also encounters old-fashioned thundershowers, with lightning crackling across the sky and huge raindrops, unlike the mistier rains of the Bay Area. And then the sky is blue and seemingly endless again.

For those who have not heard, I have decided to move to Albuquerque, a decision shaped by multiple factors: the cost of living in California is foremost, the nearness of family is another, the lure of the desert and rich cultural history, and a sense that it is time for new adventures while I can still make big changes.

Such a change has been impossible for some time, given my commitment to and belief in St Cuthbert's, who we are and are becoming, and our mission. I have sensed deep in my heart that neither God nor St Cuthbert was about to allow me to do otherwise. Now I feel that this congregation has grown into a new stage of maturity and vitality that rewards my efforts and patience and indicates that you have internalized most of what I came to facilitate. I can let go, with faith in God and in you that this church has a vibrant life and a shared mission to live and proclaim God's Good News in the Bay Area.

I don't want to get all maudlin here, so will just say that words cannot express how proud I am of this faith community and how grateful to have served in your midst. You have enriched me so much, each and every one of you.

For the moment I am still canonically responsible, though I can only visit every other weekend. By phone and e-mail I am in touch several times a week, still planning and deciding, reviewing and consulting. Pamela Cranston, Amber Sturgess, and Connie Hartquist-Jacobs provide a strong clergy presence and we need to thank them all for what they give out of love alone. Shivaun Van Straatum does an amazing job of being the central conduit for most of our activities and the Gang of Ten (that's our Bishop's Committee, if you are new to St Cuddy's) has taken a major leadership role over the past few years. So many people participate at all kinds of levels that I cannot begin to name you all. We sing and worship, we love and nurture one another, we reach out to others and we embrace strangers, we practice the inclusive love of God.

Before we all get swollen heads now, I will sign off. Just wanted to let you know that I am working lots (there has been plenty of overtime), tired often, happy, and will not cease to love you.

Paul

Celebrating a New Priest and Paul's 10 Years

2005-10-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

On September 1, 1995, Paul E Strid came to St Cuthbert's as the new rector (now vicar). The day before had seen a fire on the hillside above St Cuthbert's and he arrived that day to chat with a member only to be greeted with fire engines and police all around the church. A dramatic beginning!

With all the excitement of a major liturgical event--Amber's ordination--swirling about us, we postponed celebrating Ten Years at St Cuthbert's until September 18, 2005, the day before Paul headed out to a new secular job in Albuquerque. Many mixed emotions on that day, tempered by the blessing of Amber's new Communion ware and vestments.

The Congregation gathers to send Paul off with a blessing

Amber opens her Home Communion Set
There has to be a feast!
The blessing of Vessels and Vestments for ministry

The Baptism of Jayden Huang, 25 Sept 2005

2005-10-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

Amber, Jayden, his parents and sister:

Joe Huang, Roselie and Sophia Monica Peou
Jayden is baptized
The People of God gather at the Font
Pamela Cranston, Amber Sturgess, Jeremiah Allen

Amber's Reception and First Eucharist

2005-10-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

"I could have danced all night"

Amber and Mark Gehrke
Pamela Cranston, Amber Sturgess, Bishop C. Wallis Ohl, Jr.
Bishop Ohl and Sokha Peou
Amber and one of her friends

More Photos of Amber's Ordination

2005-10-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Orindation vows
Laying on of hands
Amber is vested in the African Pentecost chasuble by Doris Hagen and Pamela Cranston
Bishop Ohl anoints her hands

Bishop Ohl presents the Church's newest priest

The Rev Amber D Sturgess, Presbyter in the Episcopal Church
We go forth with incense and drumming
" We are marching in the light of God"

Where are the churches in all this?

2005-09-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

We among the "mainline denominations" are often considered irrelevant, as declining phenomena in a world now either secular or part of megachurches or sectarian groups. Before folks write us off, however, they might want to consider where the mainline churches are in times of trouble.

Here is an excerpt from an e-mail by the California Council of Churches:

The faith community emerges, as always, as a key component of all phases of this work. We have been the provider of almost all the services at the Houston Convention Center and have led many if not most of the other distributions at centers around Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as well as Texas and other states receiving our friends from the disaster area.

How can you help? It is critical that we put faith in action!

First - for direct donations, please go to Church World Service, www.faithfulamerica.org or to National Council of Churches www.ncccusa.org
to make donations. Of course all of the denominations and most traditional responders have disaster relief programs in place.
Some other contacts are:
Oxfam America: (this is their very first US disaster response): http://www.oxfamamerica.org/
Salvation Army: 1.800.SAL-ARMY or http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/
Catholic Charities: 1.800.919.9338 or http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/
Episcopal Relief & Development: 1.800.334.7627 or http://www.er-d.org/
Islamic Relief: http://www.jwr.org/katrina
Lutheran (ELCA) Disaster Relief: http://www.elca.org/disaster
UCC Disaster Response: http://www.ucc.org/disaster/
United Methodist Committee on Relief: 1.800.554.8583 or http://gbgm-c.org/emergency/hurricane/2005

The churches are at work, serving the world God loves.

A New Priest

2005-09-08T10:52:00.000-07:00

Bishop Ohl of Northwest Texas and Jeremiah Allen, bishop''s chaplain, before the service. The Pentecost altar frontal in the background was made by Mary Dexter in honor of her mother.
Bill Countryman, New Testament professor at CDSP and preacher at the ordination, Amber Sturgess, and Pamela Cranston
Anointing the hands of the new priest Amber and Bishop Ohl

St Cuthbert's was blessed on September 7 to celebrate the Ordination of a Priest and Feast of St Cuthbert in a joyous liturgy of ancient ritual and music from several traditions. From the smudging of the church and salute of the directions to dancing out to South African music, the entire service was glorious and the congregation outdid itself with a magnificent reception.

David Farr, guest organist, was joined by Tom Bickley on tenor recorder, Tom Slocumb on cello, and Sean Van Straatum on pennywhistle (a skill he acquired this summer in Ireland). Tom Burt, crucifer, was joined by a full altar party of Amber's friends from seminary: Susan Sutton, Laurel Johnston, Sean Burke, and Jason Alexander. Deacon Kate Alexander joined Deacon Connie Hartquist-Jacobs and the Rev. Professor Bill Countryman preached. Doris Hagen, Roussel Sargent and Stephen Tiffenson joined Pamela Cranston and Paul Strid to present Amber to the Bishop C. Wallis Ohl, Jr., on behalf of the clergy and people of the Diocese of Northwest Texas. Pamela sang the Litany for Ordinations, Amber's friends Will Hocker and Clay-Edward Dixon read the lessons, Sharon Williams sang a lovely descant for the verses of the Veni, Sancte Spiritus, and the lovely Love girls (Katie, Alison, and Ana) led us in the verse of the Celtic Alleluia. Tom Jacobs rescued us when the sound system presented a challenge.

Bill Baillie and Don Silva ushered. Shivaun Van Straatum, Phyllis and Fred Brislawn, and Doris Hagen brought the oblations forward. Shaman JanFreya Didur cleansed the space with sage while Lothar Tuppan drummed. They both joined in the drumming along with the vicar (on conga drum) during the closing hymn. Amber chose the elements of the service and she and Paul designed the liturgy booklet with Celtic fonts and graphics honoring St Cuthbert, whose collect and lessons were used for the service. As a special souvenir, each booklet was accompanied by a bookmark made of silk thread with a crystal at one end and a small stone cross or angel at the other, lovingly assembled by B. J. Gerton.

Refreshments were available before the service and a lavish spread afterward. Food was furnished, prepared, and served by a host of hard workers among whom were Mark Gehrke and Blaine Andrews, Doris Hagen, B. J. Gerton, Shivaun Van Straatum, Sean Van Straatum and his classmates from the Skyline High School culinary club, Bill Baillie and Don Silva, Elfie Larkin. Stephen Tiffenson arranged for panist Ashton Craig to play the steel pan during the reception, an added surprise that allowed Amber to dance and all to enjoy. I am certain I have omitted names and apologize for that. As I learn of more this will be updated.

On a personal note, this vicar is incredibly proud of the faith community that made all this possible, and I give thanks to God for each one of you.

Paul

Out of Deep Waters: Louisiana church provides radical hospitality to evacuees

2005-09-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

On Church Avenue in Gulfport, Mississippi, a makeshift sign announces a service on the site where St. Mark's Church once stood before it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

[ENS, Baton Rouge, Louisiana] Tirelessly reaching out to a community shattered by the aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina, the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana has temporarily relocated its offices to St. James Church in Baton Rouge, which is operating as a major distribution and sorting center and where staff and volunteers are working around the clock to meet the immediate needs of local evacuees."

St. James is open 24 hours day and night so that evacuees can come here and take a shower," said Bishop Charles Jenkins of Louisiana. "We are in the process of gathering food and essential items to take to our evacuation shelters.

"The priests in Baton Rouge, especially those who've been trained by the Red Cross, have been working 24 hour shifts as chaplains in the shelters. St. James is coordinating with all the downtown Episcopal churches in providing ministry to those shelters.

"The Episcopal Church is like a good family," Jenkins said, "and when a crisis comes a good family pulls together."

Immediate needs
Jenkins expressed his gratitude to the state of Texas and the Diocese of Texas who "have been wonderful in responding to our needs," adding that he especially wanted to recognize the generosity of the Episcopal Church and Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) which is providing an additional $50,000 to support the work of Episcopalians and assist the Diocese of Louisiana.

ERD president Robert Radtke arrived in Baton Rouge September 2 to help the diocese with its recovery plan for evacuees.

"We will help the diocese create a strategy so that they can reach out and minister to the many hundreds of thousands of people who have been dispersed throughout the state," Radtke said. "We will also be reaching out nationally as many churches throughout the country have opened up their doors as shelters for evacuees."

ERD has also partnered with the diocese to hire a disaster response coordinator for the area who will serve as an ERD and diocesan liaison and help local parishes respond to the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina."

A team from ERD was on the ground with us immediately, not just sending money but with expertise, leadership, compassion and presence," Jenkins said. "We here in Louisiana feel the Episcopal Church with us, through prayer and through the presence of ERD."

Assessing the damage
Speaking from the temporary diocesan offices, Jenkins explained that he and Radtke were able to fly over New Orleans September 4 to assess the situation and the state of Christ Church Cathedral. "The water is so deep in some places in New Orleans that you can see only the yellow roofs of the school buses," he said. "There were a number of fires around the city with no fire department to combat those blazes. There is a huge amount of polluted water in the city that has to be pumped out -- the city does not drain."

Although many Episcopal churches in New Orleans have been directly affected by the flooding, the Cathedral appears to have sustained little damage.

"We hope to be amongst the first back into the city," Jenkins said. "The issues of tropical disease and water-borne disease are an important part of our consideration, but I think we will be allowed back in before others and then the Episcopal Church and ERD can be there as a service for residents as they return to the city."

Different look, different feel
The Rev. A. J. Heine, a deacon at St. James, which is the oldest Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge, explained that the city has taken on a dramatically different look and feel, because of the number of people who have taken up residence there, but also through the grief that many of their parishioners share with the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast."

The situation here is fluid, it's changing so fast, as the needs change," he said, adding that the first thing the parish did was to open its doors to diocesan staff as they needed a place to set up headquarters. The church has since developed into a major reception, sorting and distribution center.

Heine described how St. James had begun to cluster with other downtown churches so that they could help one another rather than duplicate efforts. "We met to compare resources and compare what we had already started to do, and to see how we could support one another," he said.

St. James is receiving donations of bedding, pillows and clothing as the evacuees, most of whom left New Orleans to go to the Red Cross shelter, did not possess such items or the financial resources to buy them. "

We are collecting the basic life necessities -- something to sleep on other than just a concrete floor, a change of clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, razors, shaving cream, shampoo, soap, those sorts of items," Heine explained. "We are now set up to receive those items and then to sort those items so that they can be repackaged for individual refugees and put into a bag marked with a gender and a size so that the Red Cross can very easily distribute those to the evacuees."

The parish also has shower facilities and has teamed up with First Baptist Church which is housing mothers with newborn children. "We have parishioners who welcome the mothers, give them towels, clean undergarments, bars of soap, shampoo, and to try to give them some semblance of home and what has become the great luxury of a hot shower," Heine said.

St. James has also opened the doors of its day school and is supporting people who are housing refugee or relief workers by cooking them breakfast every morning.

"We are telling displaced families who are coming to us: don't worry, we will make room for you, we will share what we have and offer what we can, and we will make a place for you," Heine said. "Some of the most emotional times I have experienced is to see these parents break down when they realize that their children will be taken care of. "

It's a radical hospitality that we are called to and we are looking for ways to take the resources that we have, the people that we have to the needs that are out there and find ways to somehow ease some of this suffering and to show the light of Christ in the midst of it."

Some relief workers who are been housed downtown in Baton Rouge are sleeping on the floor in state office buildings. They are also visiting St. James in the morning for breakfast and showers before they load up their trucks and head out into the field.

Need for prayer
Not forgetting the need for prayer, the church also offers daily Eucharist and has set aside a part of its facility for clergy hospitality, "to give them a place to work, to give them a place to try to get their church back together," and to contact their parishioners."

You just have to stand on the corner in Baton Rouge and see people driving around, and you know from the look in their eyes and the confusion, that they are not from here and they don't have any place to go," Heine said. "And it's incredible to see their relief and gratitude from just the smallest, smallest gestures of kindness or hospitality."

Eighty miles from the Louisiana coast, Baton Rouge has almost doubled in population since Gov. Kathleen Blanco ordered a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans August 30."

Baton Rouge is now the largest city in Louisiana," Jenkins said. "It was a city with 500,000 people, now I am told there are 850,000 people here. So our infrastructure is stretched sorely thin."

Stephen Craft, rector of St. Philip's Church in New Orleans, evacuated the city on August 28, the day before Hurricane Katrina made landfall. He explained that many of the clergy from New Orleans have relocated to Baton Rouge. "

We are doing our best to work with the bishop and the diocesan staff. We're learning our new role as clergy in the Diocese of Louisiana in the face of this disaster," he said. "This has been a spiritual awakening. This is a time when we as priests had better be practicing what we have been preaching in terms of the power of prayer, as the only way we're going to be sustained though this will be through the power of prayer."

St. Luke's Church, Baton Rouge, is providing a home and care for families of women who are in the women's hospital in Baton Rouge. "St. Luke's is also doing a wonderful job in getting medical supplies around the city," Jenkins said.

Meanwhile, seven miles away at St. Margaret's Church, Baton Rouge, a group of 26 volunteers from community churches near Little Rock, Arkansas, including a member of the Fire Department, were being housed and fed. They had selflessly spent two days helping to clear trees and debris from people's home."

Even in the midst of desperation, we see perseverance, we see strength, and as Christians we realize that that which seems to be an end is, by God's grace, a new beginning," Jenkins said.
--Matthew Davies is staff writer and web manager of Episcopal News Service.

Episcopalians offer hope and homes to those displaced by Katrina

2005-09-05T14:46:00.000-07:00

By John Denaro
The phrase "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You!" has never meant more since Episcopalians have had to come to grips with the reality of those uprooted by hurricane Katrina. The outpouring of offers by Episcopalians to assist in relocating the displaced has been enormous.
All Saints Church in Hampton, South Carolina, is ready to convert their parish hall into temporary living quarters. A member of Piedmont Episcopal Church in Madison, Virginia, has not only offered to find rentals but also to transport up to four people from the devastation in his Cessna. Episcopal conference centers have offered to adjust their schedules to accomodate many of Katrina's victims.

From St. Mary's in Dyersburg, Tennessee, to Holy Trinity in Melbourne, Florida, to St. Bartholomew's in Bemidji, Minnesota, churches are making known their desire to extend hospitality to stranded Gulf Coast neighbors. And Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) is quickly putting into action a plan to match congregations and church institutions with families in need of transitional support.

Welcoming newcomers who are refugees is a familiar experience to hundreds of Episcopal parishes. Across decades congregations have received waves of Eastern Europeans, Southeast Asians, and Africans forced to flee their countries because of political strife or war. These individuals could not return to their homes because of a well-founded fear of persecution, which distinguishes them from Gulf Coast families for whom displacement and devastating loss is the result of a natural disaster. But with little hope of returning soon – or maybe ever – to places like New Orleans, Biloxi, and Gulfport, folks need the alternatives our churches are willing to provide.

EMM, the refugee advocacy and resettlement arm of the church, is quickly gearing up to facilitate the relocation of desperate individuals and is hoping that many Episcopal churches will respond. From the looks of things, since EMM announced that it would apply its expertise in resettlement to relieve the burden of Katrina's displaced, this goal is utterly achievable. Congregations and communities that are willing to offer welcome should send contact information to EMM@episcopalchurch.org

John Denaro is the Staff Officer for Church Relations and Outreach for Episcopal Migration Ministries
Episcopal News Service, Friday, September 02, 2005

Hurricane Katrina: A message from the Presiding Bishop

2005-08-31T13:22:00.000-07:00

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ:I am sending this message by email to our bishops, clergy and congregations -- insofar as is possible -- so that it might be shared and that we might be a community united in prayer and service during this time.

During these past days I have been contacting bishops in the areas affected by hurricane Katrina and have spoken to the bishops of Alabama, the Central Gulf Coast, Louisiana and Mississippi. As you would imagine, they are ministering to their communities the very best they can under extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Communication is tenuous, and in some cases impossible. As hour by hour the almost unimaginable ravages of the hurricane become more fully known we are continuing to learn of further losses of life, houses, churches, and other familiar points of reference, including the destruction of whole communities.

At this time let us be exceedingly mindful that bearing one another's burdens and sharing one another's suffering is integral to being members of Christ's body. I call upon every member of our church to reach out in prayer and tangible support to our brothers and sisters as they live through these overwhelming days of loss and begin to face the difficult challenges of the future.

Episcopal Relief and Development has been in contact with all the dioceses in the Gulf Coast area touched by the hurricane and will be working with them long after the television cameras have left. Funds have already been sent to the dioceses of Central Gulf Coast, Mississippi and Louisiana. I ask you to donate funds to the work of ERD such that our brothers and sisters in Christ will have the resources needed for the monumental task of reconstruction and rebuilding. Donations to ERD can be made as follows with an indication that they are designated for hurricane relief: via ERD's website at www.er-d.org 24 hours a day; by calling ERD at 800/334-7626, extension 5129 Monday – Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Standard time; by sending a check payable to Episcopal Relief and Development, Box 12043, Newark, New Jersey 07101-5043.

The Rt. Rev. George Packard, Suffragan Bishop for Chaplaincies, has been in contact with bishops in the Gulf Coast area. Bishop Packard is working such that a network of chaplains -- police, fire, civil defense and military chaplains -- is providing information to the bishops about what is happening in areas of their dioceses they have not been able to reach. The next stage of his work will be setting up training for clergy and others in dealing with the trauma so many have experienced.

Episcopal Migration Ministries is also responding and Richard Parkins, the Director of EMM, is investigating the possibilities of resettlement for people who are temporarily homeless.

Life affords us very few securities and yet deep within us, often revealed in the midst of profound vulnerability and loss, springs up a hope that contradicts the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Such hope emerges from the depths of despair as pure and unexpected gift. This is the way in which Christ accompanies us and seeks to share our burdens. May Christ so be with those of us who are enduring the effects of the hurricane, and may each one of us be a minister of hope to others in these dark and tragic days.

May we together pray:

God of mercy and compassion, be in our midst and bind us together in your Spirit as a community of love and service to bear one another's burdens in these days as we face the ravages of storm and sea. This we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord from whom alone comes our hope. Amen.
The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and PrimateThe Episcopal Church, USA

ENS 083105-1[Episcopal News Service]

Ordination of Amber Sturgess, September 7

2005-08-26T10:02:00.000-07:00

God willing, the Rt. Rev. C. Wallis Ohl, Jr., Bishop of Northwest Texas, will ordain Amber Sturgess to the sacred order of priests on September 7, 2005, at St. Cuthbert's Episcopal Church, Oakland, California. Your prayers and presence are requested.

Clergy: red stoles

Yes, the long-awaited day approaches, and St. Cuthbert's is blessed to host this special service at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 7. As an added treat, the proper used for the day will be that of our patron, St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne, who has very pastoral lessons appointed for his feast. A reception in the Parish House will follow the service.

Amber's journey to ordination has been a long one, full of the usual surprises and detours. We have been graced to share the latter part of that journey and to have had her serve here in her field education and beyond. Our prayers and support will continue to uphold her as God leads her to the next phases of her ministry, whatever those may be.

Bishop Ohl has graciously consented to journey here from Texas for the ordination and we welcome him to this gathering of God's family.

St. Cuthbert's Day is March 20 and always falls during Lent, which keeps us from celebrating him on a Sunday at that time. For several years we have kept our patronal feast in September, based on Cuthbert's other feast date, September 4, which recalls the translation of his relics to the location of his current shrine behind the high altar of Durham Cathedral in 1104. This year we will hold our annual Cuthbert Fest on September 7 so that his blessing and Amber's priesting will coincide.

Griswold troubled by U.S.-proposed revisions of global poverty agreements

2005-08-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

In response to the United States' proposed revisions to UN poverty-reduction strategies -- as reported in today's New York Times and Washington Post -- the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, issued the following statement:

"I am deeply troubled by reports today that the United States has proposed revisions to UN global-poverty-reduction strategies that would undermine international commitments and partnerships already at work in the developing world. The Administration's sudden opposition to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the international target for rich nations to contribute 0.7% of GNP toward poverty reduction places an unwelcome obstacle in the path toward a more stable and secure world.

The world religious community -- which has been engaged in the work of international development for decades -- knows firsthand the vital importance of partnership between governments and institutions in the developed world and their counterparts in poor countries. Such partnership is embodied in the MDGs, and without it, the world is destined to fight a losing battle against the extreme poverty and deadly disease that are destabilizing our planet.

It had been my hope that next month's summit of world leaders at the UN would not only recommit to this sort of partnership by reaffirming the MDGs, but also take additional steps to work toward their fulfillment. I am deeply mindful of the need to use government resources to combat terrorism, but one of the most stinging lessons of our time is that the roots of terrorism and conflict most often can be found in those places where poverty and sickness abound and hope is lost.

Out of our deep commitment to the ministry of reconciliation entrusted to us by God in Christ, the Episcopal Church has endorsed the ethic of 0.7% giving to fighting global poverty, and a great number of our dioceses have already taken this step, as have many of the world's nations. For the U.S. to now oppose that long-held target further undermines our nation's international credibility, weakens rather than strengthens global security, and does violence to all of our efforts to respond to God's passionate desire for reconciliation and the well-being of all people."

Episcopal News Service
ENS 082505-1
Thursday, August 25, 2005

St Cuthbert's on the Cutting Edge

2005-08-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

Gusty Winds May Exist (Nancy Beckman, shakuhachi and Tom Bickley, recorder) performing at the 2005 Skronkathon at 21 Grand in Oakland, CA. Photo by Beau Casey

Not only does this image document our Gusty Winds May Exist performance on Sunday, but it also documents Tom Slocumb listening to us!
--Tom Bickley

ERD and food crisis in Niger

2005-08-14T20:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a note we received from Episcopal Relief and Development:

Dear Friend,

I want to give you a quick update on the crisis in Niger.

At least 3.6 million people, including 800,000 children, are at risk of starvation. Millions of children and families need our help!

Episcopal Relief and Development is already responding to the crisis in Niger and other African nations affected by food shortages. Through our ecumenical and Anglican partners, we are providing emergency food supplies such as milk powder and grain.
But thousands more families are still hungry.

Please send a gift today. Your gift will help children and families in Niger and the most vulnerable people in countries including Zimbabwe, Ghana and Zambia who are suffering from drought and poor harvests. You'll also provide long-term assistance like seeds, drought-resistant crops and tools for better farming.

Please pray for families who are hungry. Your gift today can rush life-saving aid to those in need .

Thank you for your compassion.

Yours in Christ,

Robert W. Radtke
President

Episcopal Relief and Development, an independent 501(c) 3 organization, saves lives and builds hope in communities around the world. We provide emergency assistance in times of crisis and rebuild after disasters. We enable people to climb out of poverty by offering long-term solutions in the areas of food security and health care, including HIV/AIDS and malaria.

Your donation to the Africa Relief Fund will support Episcopal Relief and Development's work in Niger and other African countries affected by severe food shortages. In the unlikely event that the fund exceeds our projects, ERD will use your donation for other life-saving projects.

Episcopal Relief and Development
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017
1.800.334.7626, ext. 5129 - www.er-d.org

Excerpts from the Toronto Accord, July 2005

2005-08-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

The Toronto Accord
3rd International Conference on Afro-Anglicanism
July 20-27, 2005
Toronto Canada

Introduction
For eight days of prayer, listening, reflection and fellowship, over 275 Afro-Anglicans gathered in Toronto, Ontario, to give support, among other things, to a conference objective of providing increased visibility to people of the African Diaspora in Canada. The gathering represented ten provinces of the Anglican Communion - the Anglican Church of Canada, the Church of England, the Provinces of Central America, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Southern Africa, West Africa, West Indies, and the Episcopal Church in the United States. The conference welcomed non-Afro-Anglicans who came to share our faith journey.
[…]

Our Common Heritage
In the city of Toronto, we appreciated the historical fact that Anglicanism, in the form of a European subculture, has communicated with a variety African cultures on the continent of Africa and in the Diaspora. Out of that, Afro-Anglicanism was born. At the dawn of this third millennium, where the world is aggressively becoming a global village, and where there is a risk of losing our God-given diversity through globalization, we felt the need to reflect on the virtues, vibrancy and vitality of our common heritage.

Afro-Anglican identity may not mean that we all have a set of shared values; but it definitely means that we share common human concerns. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a matter of concern for all of us, whether we live in Africa, in the UK, in the Caribbean, or in North America. People in our communities who are infected, do not have access to adequate health care, and those who are affected are getting poorer. Our children have less access to good schools. All of us are struggling with the integration of our young people into the current structures of the church. The vast majority of our people live in abject poverty. Today, experiences of marginalization and exclusion are yet not unknown to all of us.

Afro-Anglicanism is an ideal context not only for cultural interaction, but also for profound discussion and discernment on how to make our world a better place in which to live. We should continue to value and celebrate our differences, and avoid temptations of divisiveness by enforcing patterns of uniformity. Our Anglican Communion needs to be a listening church based on the solidarity of compassionate love.
[…]

We again lived in the tension of agreeing to disagree respectfully and in a non-harmful and non-destructive manner. Because we genuinely value the bonds of filial affection as Afros within our Anglican differences, we believe that we can offer a model of a way of being to the entire Anglican Communion.
[…]

Resolutions
Resolution On Millennium Development Goals
This conference calls upon all Churches in the Anglican Communion to adopt the Millennium Development Goals as issued by the United Nations to:
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Promote gender equality and empower women
Reduce child mortality
Improve maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Develop a global partnership for development

Resolution on Young Adults
This conference affirms the ministry of Afro-Anglican young people and young adults and encourages their full participation in the life of the Church and calls upon the Church to more fully incorporate their participation within the total life of the Church.

Resolution on Peace with Justice
This conference calls upon all people of good will and the Churches of the Anglican Communion to exercise their influence to bring peace with justice in the troubled areas of the world such as Zimbabwe, the Darfur Region of the Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Northern Uganda, Palestine, and Haiti.

Resolution on the Appointment of the Archbishop of York
This conference celebrates the historic appointment of the Right Reverend Dr. John Sentamu as Archbishop of York and offers him our love, prayers and solidarity; and Thanks Bishop Sentamu for his support and patronage of our 1995 Conference and this 2005 Toronto gathering of Afro-Anglicans.

Resolution on Anglican Congress
This conference endorses the request of the Archbishop of Cape Town that an Anglican Congress be held in Cape Town, South Africa in 2007; and This conference further requests members of its Executive Committee to make themselves available to assist in the planning of the Anglican Congress, if requested to do so by the Archbishop.

Resolution on the 4th International Conference on Afro-Anglicanism
This conference recognizes the value of continuing dialogue and endorses the convening of a 4th International Conference no later than 2015 and suggests its first priority location should be the United Kingdom; and Further, the conference recommends the convening of a Pre-Lambeth Conference of Afro-Anglican Bishops in 2008.

Resolution on an Instrument of Unity
This conference regrets that two provinces of the Anglican Communion, the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church in the USA, were excluded from full participation in the recent Anglican Consultative Conference (ACC) meeting in Nottingham at the request of the Primates. We further believe that the ACC is too important an Instrument of Unity - reflective as it is of all orders of ministry in the church - to be hampered in its work of sustaining unity and total dialogue in the Communion.

We therefore decry this act of marginalization and request that the provinces have full access and participation in this forum.

Resolution on Jurisdictional Respect
This conference supports the call of the Lambeth Commission on Communion upon those bishops who believe it is their duty to interfere in provinces, dioceses and parishes other than their own to stop such disruptive action; and Further urges all bishops of the Anglican Communion to respect the territorial borders of such provinces, dioceses and parishes.

Resolution on Extending Fellowship to all Provinces
This conference affirms that we belong to one another and, therefore, we regret the absence of some of our brothers and sisters, particularly from Africa. In the spirit of reconciliation, we extend our love and desire to be in fellowship with all members of our Anglican Communion.

The Journeys of St Paul

2005-07-18T19:54:00.000-07:00

L to R: Katie, Ana, and Alison Love; Shana and Kera Anderson; Jeremiah Allen

We were blessed on June 12 with a dramatic presentation by our Sunday School of three of the four missionary journeys of St Paul in place of the sermon. It was a good introduction for those who did not know the story and a vivid refresher for those of us who have had time to get hazy on the details.

The children's creativity, as always, helped shape the dramatization and we are grateful to Phyllis Brislawn and Maggie Love for shepherding the production. Paul Hagen also did excellent work in drawing the large map that enabled us to visualize where the apostle had traveled.

During the summer our Sunday School will take a much-deserved break. Our gratitude to Phyllis Brislawn, who coordinates and leads all our efforts in Sunday School and to her helpers, Stephan Alfred, Maggie Love, Sean Van Straatum, and "forgive-me-if-your-name-was-omitted."

The New Archbishop of York

2005-07-18T19:41:00.000-07:00

Wanting to know more about John Sentamu, Uganda-born Bishop of Birmingham whom Tony Blair chose from a short list of two to be the second-highest cleric in the hierarchy of the Church or England, I was rewarded yet again by Google with information. Here from the London Times Online are excerpts:

After Idi Amin, the Church of England isn’t so frightening--John Sentamu
It’s a curious boast, but the black cleric appointed last week to the second-highest office in the Church of England takes pride in having sent innocent people to jail as a young magistrate under Idi Amin, the Ugandan tyrant. It was a ploy by John Sentamu, Downing Street’s choice as Archbishop of York, to save the accused from summary execution.

The 56-year-old primate has explained that he was acting in the spirit of Oskar Schindler, the German businessman who saved hundreds of Jews from the Nazis. His own moral dilemma occurred among the victimised people of Gulu in northwest Uganda during the early 1970s.

Knowing that the evidence against 10 innocent people was insufficient to justify a trial, Sentamu jailed them on remand, convinced that they would be killed by Amin’s thugs if they were freed.
Asked later about the ethics of his actions, Sentamu said his Christian faith had guided him: “Justice is often not just innocent or guilty, justice is often doing what is right.” The accused were later released and fled to other countries. Sentamu was not so lucky, falling into the regime’s clutches before escaping to Britain.
...
He is married to Margaret, a Church House official, and they have two grown-up children, Grace and Geoffrey. As a guest on Desert Island Discs in 2003, his favourite records included What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong and O Holy Night by the Welsh singer Aled Jones. His chosen luxury was a kitchen — cooking and music being his main interests, along with rugby and football.
...
More important, perhaps, Sentamu has no patience with the internecine battles that constantly divide the Anglicans but have little relevance to the outside world. According to an insider: “He says, ‘How can you squabble about gay priests when half of Africa is dying of Aids?’ ” With withering eloquence, Sentamu said of church bureaucracy: “When the last trumpet shall sound, a commission will be set up on the significance of the trumpet, the financial implications of that trumpet and for a report to come back in 10 years’ time.”
...
Sentamu is the cleric No 10 has appointed to sensitive panels, only to be rewarded with blistering headlines. He came to prominence as the only black member of the inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager. He was the driving force behind the resulting Macpherson report, which accused the Metropolitan police of “institutional racism”.
...
Sentamu’s own experience of discrimination made news in 2000 when The Sunday Times revealed that he had fallen victim for the eighth time to the police’s controversial stop-and-search powers. It happened as he was driving near London’s Tower Bridge in the early hours of the morning.

His clerical collar concealed by a scarf, he asked the officer who had stopped him for a written explanation and received the reply: “Enough of that lip if you want things to turn out okay for you.” Sentamu recalled: “Finally he asked what I did. I said, ‘I am the Bishop of Stepney’ and undid my scarf. He actually said, ‘Whoops’. He was very polite after that.”

It was pretty mild stuff, but symbolically important to the Ugandan who was born the sixth of 13 children on June 10, 1949 in Kampala. To the consternation of his mother, Ruth, and his father, John, a headmaster, he was so small that the local bishop was called in to baptise him immediately.
...
He survived a sickly childhood at Old Kampala secondary school to study law at Makerere University in Kampala. He went on to become the country’s chief magistrate and then a high court judge — all before the age of 25.

He clashed with Amin on a number of human rights issues. The last straw was his defiance of an order to deliver a not guilty verdict on one of Amin’s cousins, whom he jailed for five years. Sentamu was arrested briefly and beaten up. Years later he referred to the episode when defending Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ against charges of anti-semitism and graphic violence. “In Uganda I saw individuals treated with real violence even worse than that shown in the film,” he said. “Violence is and should be difficult to watch.”

He had preached sermons since the age of 17 but the murder of his friend, Archbishop Janani Luwum, made him resolve to become a priest. “You kill my friend, I take his place,” he vowed. He was able to escape in 1974 only because he had secured a place at Cambridge to read theology.

Ordained in 1979, he served in parishes in Cambridge and London, where he was vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Tulse Hill, Brixton, for 13 years. Interestingly, when he became Bishop of Stepney in 1996 his chaplain for a time was Peter Thomson, Blair’s friend and spiritual mentor, who may have identified a rising star.

Perhaps his biggest role will be to bolster Williams’s mission to reconnect the church to modern life. The increasingly opaque Williams, dragged into the church’s interminable conflicts, needs a right-hand man to keep an eye on the bigger picture. Sentamu hugged friends when Williams was appointed. The feeling is mutual: the latter declared himself “delighted” at last week’s choice.

Requiem aeternam--Richard Brazier

2005-07-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

It is with sorrow we note the passing of Richard Brazier, longtime partner and friend of George DeMatties. George and Richard moved to North Highlands near Sacramento a few years ago and we have missed them, as has the Winthrope Street neighborhood.

Richard's hitherto robust health had declined of late and he succumbed from complications following a series of surgeries last week.

His service will be held at Wilson and Kratzer Chapel of the Mission Bells, 13644 San Pablo Avenue, San Pablo CA, at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, July 22, 2005. Interment will be at Rolling Hills Cemetery in Richmond.

Into paradise may the angels lead you. At your coming may the martyrs receive you, and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem.

Inmate ordained to priesthood in Solano State Prison

2005-06-30T08:14:00.000-07:00

By Sean McConnell [Episcopal News Service]

James Tramel, an inmate at the California State Prison-Solano, was ordained as a priest of the Episcopal Church on June 18th. The service, the first of its kind in a California prison, took place in a small courtyard off the prison's visiting room and was presided over by the Right Rev. William E. Swing, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California. Those in attendance included Tramel's parents, friends, other clergy, and inmates from the Episcopal congregation at the prison.

Tramel, 37, was convicted of second-degree murder in 1986, after co-defendant David Kurtzman stabbed a man to death in a Santa Barbara park. Tramel has served 19 years of a 15-to-life sentence, and was granted a March 2005 parole date by the California Board of Prison Terms that was later reversed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In the ordination service, Tramel took the vows of the priesthood and had hands laid on him by Swing and all the clergy present. Following the ordination, Swing presented him with a Bible and stole. Tramel's ordination meant, Swing said, that "a dark cloud floated away from the parents. It meant the historic connection between faith and prison is alive. It meant a stole goes to a new generation of priests. It meant a witness of staggering hope to prisoners who were onlookers. It meant that Resurrection is not just for the afterlife but here and now."

Richard Dahl, an inmate and member of the Episcopal congregation in the prison, said that Tramel's ordination showed him "that even though I'm down in this place, that there is hope. I've known James for three years, and have watched him grow, and James has helped me know that there is hope for me."

After Tramel's ordination, Swing relinquished his role as presider and Tramel celebrated the Eucharist. Inmates from the prison congregation presented grape juice and a croissant from the visiting room's vending machines to be used for communion. Referring to his role as celebrant, Tramel said, "In that moment it felt like my whole life was coming into focus. It felt like I was right where I was supposed to be."

Tramel began ministry as an Episcopalian while working with dying inmates at a hospice in the California Correctional Medical Facility in Vacaville, Calif. In 1998, Tramel became the first inmate accepted at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, Berkeley, where he earned a Masters of Theological Studies degree through a distance-learning program.

In the Episcopal Church, those who have discerned that they are called to be a priest undergo a lengthy process, testing their calling first with a congregation, then by a commission appointed by a bishop. The process includes education and completion of an advanced degree, academic and psychological testing, and proven service in ministry. Those who are approved to become priests must first serve as deacons for a period ranging from six months to several years.

Tramel, a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Berkeley, met with members of his congregation and the Commission on Ministry through letters, over the phone, and in the visiting room at Solano Prison. While conducting his studies, Tramel began an Episcopal congregation at the prison, which started with a group of inmates saying prayers from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Eventually, the congregation grew, and chaplains began visiting to conduct full communion services.

Swing ordained Tramel to the deaconate on July 4th, 2004. As a deacon, Tramel has been more involved in the planning and leadership of services for the prison's Episcopal congregation, but he had very little sacramental responsibility. In the past when there was no priest available to conduct services, the congregation would have Communion (also called Eucharist) with bread that had been consecrated at a church outside the prison. Now that Tramel is a priest, he will be consecrating the Eucharist for the Episcopal worshipping community in Solano Prison.

Sean McConnell is editor of Pacific Church News in the Diocese of California.

Something It Has Never Been

2005-06-28T19:16:00.000-07:00

Something It Has Never Been
By Daniel J. Webster
Article in The Witness, Tuesday, June 28, 2005

The Anglican Communion has been evolving for 150 years. It continues to. It likely is turning away from Richard Hooker and more towards Oliver Cromwell.

Thus begins my friend Dan's article on the Anglican Communion after the 13th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Nottingham. While proud of the presentations by the American and Canadian provinces, I am distressed by other developments. There are those in the Anglican Communion who would like to see a centralized canon law, which I see as a move toward the centralized model of the Roman Catholic Church [which is ultimately monarchical]. At the latest ACC meeting it was decided to admit the Primates of the several provinces as ex-officio members of the Council. This gives the exclusively male clergy at the highest level of hierarchy inordinate presence and power at these meetings. I was horrified to learn of the move, though I grant the convenience of timing ACC meetings and Primates' meetings to coordinate for the sake of communication.

I want to urge our friends to read Dan's article by clicking on its title above.

Bishop's Task Force on Marriage & Blessing report online

2005-06-21T19:39:00.000-07:00

The Bishop's Task Force on Marriage & Blessing is pleased to present their final report - you can download the report as a PDF file from their web site at http://blessingtaskforce.diocal.org/.