Long before Mother Teresa began her ministry in India, Amy Carmichael had begun to serve the poor of India, building orphanages and rescuing young women from prostitution. When asked why she felt giving was important she said, “One can give without loving, but one cannot love without giving.” Carmichael was a rare and wonderful saint who gave of her heart, of her possessions, of her time, and eventually of her life. It was her constant call to seek and give, just as it is ours.

In Carmichael’s early ministry began as an effort to help poor working class girls in Northern Ireland. As the ministry grew, she found it necessary to raise money to build a building for meeting, money to buy land, money to provide for educational materials. While she gave copiously of her own time to fulfill her calling, she understood the practicalities of a ministry going beyond her time there. St. Michael and All Angels has asked that you consider how you give in the context of faith and love, but there are practicalities.

The mission and ministry of St. Mike’s has grown over the years and beyond the obvious of outreach into the community, providing for Christian formation, and maintaining our holy space for worship and celebration, we also have a ministry of presence. That is, our existence as physical place of refuge, retreat, and reflection is important. This presence comes with costs. In the simplest form, think about our campus. I always feel a sense of calm and peace when I arrive here, but I seldom think about the fact that it costs us $30,000 per year to maintain our basic buildings and grounds. So before a homily is preached, before communion is offered, before a child scampers down the aisle looking for parents at the offering of the Peace, we spend $30,000.

St. Mike’s has always been a place of blessed saints who have given and given generously to maintain our ministries of preachment, sacrament, formation, and presence. As with all institutions, however, those who give, do so differentially. Last year, for instance, our consecrated gifts (pledges) totaled $546,260 and 27% of this amount was contributed by 3% of those giving. Such wonderful and generous givers live in the same volatile and precarious economy that we all do and are subjected to the same uncertainty for themselves and their families and we anticipate that those gifts may decrease by as much as $80,000 during the coming year.

To date, we have received commitments for $307,332 for the coming year. While we anticipate that another $175, 000 will come as late estimate of giving cards arrive, even that would leave us short of last year’s gifts by just over $100,000. We are asking that you do two things. First, if you still have your Estimated Giving Card, please complete it and send it to the Church office as soon as possible. Second, continued to pray about your gift and pray for your brothers and sisters who live in these uncertain times.

As we have said throughout this campaign, please be realistic, care for yourselves and your families, but remember the place of God’s love and care in your lives as well. In the long run, the history and future of St. Mike’s is very much like what Evelyn Underhill said of the history of the Christian church in general. She said that is “looks glorious in retrospect; but it is made up of constant hard choices and unattractive tasks.” I pray that we are up to hard choices and unattractive tasks.

CANINES, or JOHN 16,1

There was a jackal, golden-blond,
And a wolf whose fur was grey.
They talked a while of this and that
On meeting one fine day.

"I'm glad I met you," said the wolf,
"Now tell me where you've been.
"A jackal is in these here parts
Not very often seen."

"I'm found in Northern Africa.
There is plenty space to roam.
And also in the Middle East,
That's where I am at home."

"For me it's North America,"
Said Wolf with air superior,
"As well as miles and miles of land
"From Poland to Siberia."

The dingo who had joined the two,
He said that without failure
He rules the woolly wilderness,
In fact, all of Australia.

A coyote with long legs stepped up.
He stood right with the rest
And claimed with confidence the role
Of master of the West.

There's one, of course, in every crowd.
In this case t'was the fox.
"It seems," said he, "that all the world
"Is going to the dogs."

As the end of the 2008 approaches, it’s seems a good time to reflect on time, so here goes.

It seems
when we are young
that time exists only as a concept
and moves too slowly for our liking . . . .
Most of the time
We can’t wait to reach the next milestone
Kindergarten at five
Braces at eight or nine
Twelve and twelve months to become a “teen”
Sixteen to drive
To college or work at eighteen
Twenty-one to vote or head for Vegas.

Our supply of it appears endless
each tick of the clock
replaced by another
with no sense that
each tick moves us along on
Our life’s path
Never to be regained and used again.

It’s a commodity
that doesn’t end
and we live inside of our very own
Forever.
Believing that it is . . . forever.

Even when we begin to understand that every minute
is measured the same as the next,
One can seem as eternity
and another passes in a blink.

We become anxious to take the next step in the journey.
and so we do.
The patterns of our lives begin to be drawn and carved out
not set in stone,
but shored up and held together
by filling our days
with activities and events.

We hope to do it all.
We sleep less to accomplish more
We spend more time taking care of the details of living
and less time doing that which nurtures us and others.
Our to-do lists get computerized and alphabetized
and don’t stand a chance of being completed
at the end of the day.
We come to expect that purpose and meaning
will come from a sizeable record of all we got done
and checked off the list.

We use up the time thinking that busy means useful
and useful means worthy
and worthiness brings abundance.

We mark the movement of time by
a birthday,
a wedding,
an anniversary,
Christmas celebrations,
a great vacation,
Easter,
summertime,
and the deaths of those we love.

We begin to notice as we grow older,
that time is changing its tempo.
It moves at a clip two times faster
than we remembered it being . . . back then.
We understand now that there are limits.
We reassess and rework our plans and goals.
We take stock of how we spend our time
and with whom.
We choose sometimes to forego the “should do”
with the “want to do”.
We slow the pace and listen more to our true hearts desires
to be connected to our maker
and to one another
and with those that need us most.
We balance the scales again.

We come to know that the infinite has become finite
and that forever means NOW.
We yearn to spend what’s left wisely
having learned that the only abundance our spirits need is
Simply loving and being loved.

And that if this gift from God
lasts ten minutes or 100 years
what we take and what we leave
is the love that filled our hearts.

Poetry by Herb Hoffman

When he finished the Creation,
It was getting pretty late,
God was satisfied and saw
That all the animals were made.

Tucked away, though, in a corner
Were some parts he had not used
And that gave him an idea,
And he was thoroughly amused.

For he found a pair of legs there,
And a neck he thought would do
For a very funny creature,
One that was completely new.

He just added a round belly
And a head with funny horns.
And he called it a “giraffe”,
The strangest thing since unicorns.

She had a neck full eight feet long,
And was exorbitantly tall,
A bit too tall, she was convinced,
She did not like herself at all.

“I cannot go like this,” she pleaded,
“My appearance is a jest.
Folks will think: This can’t be real!
They will laugh at me, at best.”

“No they won’t,” the Lord suggested,
“I will make you any bet:
All will marvel at your reach.
Trust me, you will be ahead.”

And giraffes, from then on forward,
Have been reaching for the sky
And from up there glance at others
With a most disdainful eye.

Sadly for Nicholas, his parents died while he was still young. The reality of this loss evoked in the young man a desire to exemplify in his own life the remembrance he held onto of his faithful parents, faithful not only to him, as their son, but robust in their teaching the Christian faith to Nicholas.

Nicholas acquired his parents’ wealth, but also their way of caring and commitment to others. Naïve at times, but always giving, Nicholas seemed to attract those in need and found himself encountering desperate situations in his home town.

Legend has it that Nicholas became brutally aware of the poverty of others when hearing of a local man who had three daughters who were of the age to be married. The father lacked the financial and material needs for a dowry - the custom of the time, so the daughters could not be offered in marriage. The end result was likely slavery, or prostitution for the three women.

Secretly one night, Nicholas climbed onto the roof of the home of the man and his daughters, and dropped a round bag of gold down the chimney. In the morning a stunned father found the miraculous gold and realized that at least his eldest daughter would be saved from the horrors that could be hers without a dowry.

Great rejoicing, yet sadness for the father, as there were two other daughters who needed help. The next night, Nicholas repeated his secret visit to the house and produced a second bag of gold for the same purpose. In a spirit of thanksgiving, and praise, the father rejoiced at the new freedom for his second daughter. But how was this happening? Why was this gold appearing anonymously to this poor family? Realizing a third bag of gold might be forthcoming, the next night the father hid from sight in order to witness the actions of their benefactor.

Nicholas made his third and final approach and released the bag of gold into the chimney and started to move away quickly. The father embraced Nicholas and fell on his knees before the gift-giver. Nicholas quickly asked the man to stand and thank God, not him, for God’s goodness and for the gifts.

The mighty acts of Nicholas were seen by the townsfolk as a gift from the God whom Nicholas worshipped and served.

Although many acts, legends and miracles were to become part of the legacy of Nicholas, he always directed the praise to God. Nicholas’ Christian life was a transformed life, an active life, God at work through this servant of Christ.

Nicholas made the city of Myra, mentioned in the book of Acts, his home - just a few miles from Patara on the Mediterranean coast.
The surprise of Nicholas’ life came when news came that the Bishop of Myra had died. Nicholas had great admiration for the bishop. Church leaders were busy trying to find a new bishop. The people prayed diligently.

An elder churchman had a dream. The vision in the dream was that the priest should be in church early the next day and that the first person to enter the church should be the next bishop and his name would be Nicholas.

As was his custom, Nicholas made his way to the church for prayers as the angelus rang. Upon entering the church Nicholas saw the elderly man near the door. Nicholas greeted the priest with due respect and warmth.

The priest said, what is your name? The answer came, ‘Nicholas, your servant for Jesus’ sake’. ‘Praise God’, exclaimed the priest and told Nicholas he was to be the next bishop. Stunned and bewildered, Nicholas said ‘No!’ The priest escorted Nicholas to the clergy, as they knew of the man’s vision, they cheered and sang. Those who knew this Nicholas were especially overjoyed. Within weeks, Nicholas was ordained and consecrated and hailed Bishop of Myra.

These stories and miracles can inspire us today in our earthly pilgrimage. We often expect too little. Nicholas’ long cherished legacy needs revival today.

The most memorable miracle concerns the mystical number three again. This time it is three children kidnapped by a rural butcher and innkeeper, murdered and put into brine for pickling. Bishop Nicholas’ stopping in the country inn was no accident in God’s eyes. He exposed the murderous act of the butcher. Thrusting his hand into the brine barrel, the three boys were at once restored, and began praising Nicholas.

At once, the bishop halted their words and told them to praise God alone for this wondrous act.

Bishop Nicholas would soon become the rescuer of sailors on a storm tossed sea, victims of injustice, the poor, the young. He would eventually become symbolic to many different kinds of people, including pawnbrokers, who use the three gold bags (balls) as their identifying symbol.

His fame and Christian devotion would inspire nations like Russia, Greece, Northern France, Germany, Belgium and Holland, and Christians of many lands and traditions continue to honour this saint of God. Although some traditions have minimized his position, giving way to the invention of Santa Claus, it is time to reclaim this saint for our own.

His feast day is December 6th and is observed in many Church calendars.

He is our Santa Claus.

Saint Michael’s Annual Alternative Market
Christmas Fair is Coming!

Mark Your Calendars for December 7th
Come and Celebrate and SHOP!
We have lots of goodies this year!

The Alternative Gift Fair this year will
be on Sunday, December 7th after both worship services. You will have the opportunity to make donations to some worthwhile organizations like:

There will be olive oil and soap from the Holy Land available to purchase to support The Diocese’s Middle East Task Force.
Home-made cookies can be ordered for delivery on December 21st and cookbooks will be sold to benefit children at The Reverend Orma’s Care Points in Swaziland.
There will be items especially for children to purchase including: knitted teddy bears made by women in Swaziland, stuffed animals, Advent calendars, puzzles and Christmas ornaments from UNICEF.
Beautiful hand-made scarves from Jim Nussbaum will be sold.
Other vendors will join us too!
We will have beautiful greens (wreaths, swags, garlands, holly) to decorate your home. Greens are provided by Our Saviour Center's Kids Campus.
This will be the perfect place to buy Christmas presents and make donations in the name of a friend or loved oneto ministries needing our help.
Come and celebrate and SHOP!

Stewardship in a Time of Crisis

Ihave been quite amazed at the relative calm with which most people have faced the economic twists and turns of the last few weeks. Each morning following the huge downward spirals by the Dow have been greeted in my office with a “business as usual” attitude. While there is a bit of brief chatter about the market, it is usually closed with a remark like, “Well, the Stock Market has been through tough times before and always survived. It will survive this, too.” My colleagues are expressing something like faith in the market. I say, “something like faith” because it is not faith… it is a denial of fear. In times of crisis, the behavior of denial may not be greatly different than the behavior of faith.
As a young boy in South Carolina, I remember going with my grandpa to pick blackberries for my grandma to make pies for a family gathering. We had several buckets that we needed to fill and after visiting the first few patches of blackberries, we began to go deeper into the woods. The berries became more difficult to find and the woods became more threatening as we ventured farther from home.

At one point I said, “Poppa Tom, does Mama Ann really need to make all these pies? Can’t we go home?”

He looked at me and smiled and said, “Boy, we ain’t doing this ‘cos your grandma needs to bake pies. We’s doin’ this cause you’re gonna feel good when your cousins are eatin’ the pies made from the berries you picked.”

Sunday after Church, we had a spread that included fried chicken, potato salad, biscuits, cole slaw, and that lime jello stuff with pear slices floating in it. After the excitement died down, grandpa and grandma brought out three blackberry pies and ice cream. Everybody had at least one piece. Uncle Jerome had two. Everybody was smiling and laughing. I remembered what my grandpa said and resisted the urge to shout, “I picked those berries.” Instead, I enjoyed the fact that my labor and my faith that grandpa was right had made them happy.

The last few weeks have been like my journey into the woods with grandpa. Each downturn of the Dow is like a prick from the thorny blackberry vine. Every economic reporter who says we are in “uncharted waters” is like moving deeper into the forest. As we approach decisions about giving to St. Michael’s Parish, I hope that we balance our fearful outlook for the future with our faith-based need to give.

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New Consecration Sunday Is Coming

Congregations that approach financial stewardship from a biblical perspective do not view the money Christians give to their church merely as a way to pay its bills. Rather, such congregations see financial contributions as a way to help people grow spiritually in their relationship with God by supporting their church’s mission and ministry with a percentage of their incomes.

Our Vestry has selected the New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program as a way to teach the biblical and spiritual principles of generous giving in our stewardship education emphasis this year and will take place on November 16th.

New Consecration Sunday is based on the biblical philosophy of the need of the giver to give for his or her own spiritual development, rather than on the need of the church to receive. Instead of treating people like members of a social club who should pay dues, we will treat people like followers of Jesus Christ who want to give unselfishly as an act of discipleship. New Consecration Sunday encourages people toward proportionate and systematic giving in response to the question, “What percentage of my income is God calling me to give?”

During morning worship on Consecration Sunday, we are asking our attendees and members to make their financial commitments to our church’s missionary, benevolent, and educational ministries in this community and around the world.

Every attendee and member who completes an Estimate of Giving Card does so voluntarily by attending morning worship on Consecration Sunday. We urge people to attend who feel strongly opposed to completing a card. The procedure is done in such a way that no one feels personal embarrassment if he or she chooses not to fill out a card.
We will do no home solicitation to ask people to complete cards. During morning worship our guest leader will conduct a brief period of instruction and inspiration, climaxed by members making their commitments as a confidential act of worship.

We will encourage participation in Consecration Sunday events through the Consecration Sunday team and governing board members. Since we will make no follow-up visits to ask people to complete their cards, we will make every effort to inform, inspire, and commit everyone to attend Consecration Sunday worship.

More Questions than Answers : Explanations for tragedy, and beauty, still beyond reach

For years I told people that I liked the New Yorker because of the theology in the cartoons. I once put together a proposal for a book to be called The New Yorker's Idea of Heaven. Dozens of cartoons are available to illustrate my proposed book, many showing a black-garbed figure with a sickle and many with clouds and a gate of heaven and St. Peter checking in new arrivals.
Now The New Yorker has gotten more serious about its theology. The double issue for mid-June published a series of short essays on faith and doubt and a longish review of Bart D. Ehrman's new book, “God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question — Why We Suffer.” It's part of a sudden wave of books attacking the God idea, intended, perhaps for an audience too young to remember the "God is Dead" wave some 40 years ago.

The New Yorker's reviewer starts us off with the headlines of May 15, 2008: Fifty thousand or more dead in China, some hundred thousand in Burma; 10 killed by a suicide bomber in Baghdad, a dozen by a missile strike in Pakistan, a policeman by ETA terrorists in northern Spain. Some days are worse than others, but sheer numbers are irrelevant.

The question arises more sharply when the victim of tragedy is someone you know well. I was talking some years ago to a woman dying of cancer who told me she wanted to be able to see what would become of her children. "You will know," I assured her. "But I want to hug them," she answered. And what do you say to that?

No one can spend a lifetime in parish ministry and not face unanswerable questions or wonder what logic there is to the events of daily life. I never have been one to tell people that "God has his/her reasons" or "It's all for the best." I'd rather follow Dylan Thomas' advice: "Do not go gentle into that good night ... Rage, rage against the dying of the light." No one can convince me that the bereaved couple in China whose only child was killed in the collapse of her school is part of a larger plan. Where, indeed, is a merciful God in this?

Why? Job's question is not new, nor is the answer changed. "Consider the ostrich," God says to Job. "What do you know about creation?"

Exactly. What do we know? The circle of what we know expands out at an increasing rate of speed and expands at the same rate our awareness of the vast unknown beyond. Astronomers grapple with the questions of dark matter and the expanding universe and begin to wonder whether they ever will have final answers. But they can be sure they will have more questions.

I am keeping a list of questions to get answered hereafter. I am not looking for answers now because there are none that can satisfy me or any other reasonable person. I can offer some partial answers: Free will accounts for a lot. Where there is love there must be freedom, and where there is freedom it will be misused. If we were puppets dangling from God's fingers, there would be no evil because there would be no freedom. Those who believe we are all part of a plan God is working out in infinite detail have a much greater problem than I do. Their God has much more to answer for.

Those in the new wave of deniers have much in common with the fundamentalist. Both imagine a God who is constructed to their specifications and to meet their own needs.

"This God," says the denier, "cannot be because I cannot understand the logic of such a God."

"This God," the fundamentalist says, "can be because I can understand the logic of such a God."

I remember the title of a book by J.B. Phillips, Your God Is Too Small. If you, denier or believer, have all the answers, you do not know God. God, by my definition — and my definition is as likely to be wrong as anyone else's — is not limited to my logic. The God I can understand is not God.

But I have other questions that need to be answered. They are like Job's, but focused differently: "Have you considered the rhododendron? That mass of flame bursts out again predictably every year and reminds us of the omnipresence of beauty. The daffodils give way to the lilacs and the lilacs to the peonies. Is there a need for all of them? Would the balance of nature be any less balanced if there were no lilacs? Why is the world so filled with beauty, and why are we so moved by its existence? If the presence of evil leads you to question the existence of God, do you not also have to consider the presence of beauty?"

I'm with the questioners in wanting answers but not so confident of human mental capacities that I expect all the answers soon. We are, after all, asking about a Creator, and no answer will be satisfying that looks only at part of the picture. There's more than disasters to account for: Explain to me also, please, the existence of beauty.

-- Christopher Webber, a retired Episcopal priest, has served inner-city, suburban and small-town parishes and published several books, including A Year with American Saints and Beyond Beowulf. Coming soon are The Revised Metrical Psalter (for the Revised Common Lectionary) and An American Prayer Book. To respond to this column, e-mail commentary@episcopal-life.org. We welcome your own commentary.

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Deanery 10 Fundraiser at St. Mike’s to Feature“Ability through Mobility” Award and Youth Group Design Challange

On Saturday, October 18 at 6pm, Saint Michael & All Angels Corona del Mar will host Mobility in Motion, a fundraiser for the Free Wheelchair Mission sponsored by Deanery 10 of the Diocese of Los Angeles.

Highlighting the program will be the presentation of the "Ability through Mobility"award presented in cities around the country by the Free Wheelchair Mission to men, women and children with disabilities in celebration of their service achievements.

Each parish in Deanery 10 has been asked to submit at least one nomination and each nominees will be recognized and honored for their service contributions.Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno will present the winning award.

There are more than 100 million disabled people in the developing world. Free Wheelchair Mission, based in Irvine, has over the past five years, brought the gift of mobility to over 340,000 people.

Free Wheelchair Mission Founder Don Schoendorfer created a simple wheelchair using a plastic lawn chair and bicycle tires.One of the wheelchairs is in narthex at St. Mike’s.

Each chair costs only $51.29 – including a patch kit, a tire pump and shipping to locations across the globe.

Deanery 10’s objective is to deliver 550 wheelchairs (one shipping container) to Iraq to be used by people who have been injured by the war. The chairs are provided at no cost and will be distributed by the U.S. government and missionary organizations.

Bishop and Mrs.Bruno have agreed to match whatever funds are raised at the October event. The total cost for one container is $28,209.50
.
In addition, Saint Michael & All Angels Youth Group has issued a Wheelchair Design Challenge to the other parish Youth Groups in Deanery 10 to build a wheelchair of their own design using materials other than a plastic lawn chair and bicycle tires.

Final judging will take place during the fundraiser::1st Prize - Best All Around; 2nd Prize - Most Creative; 3rd Prize - Fastest; 4th Prize - Most Durable ;5th Prize - Most Comfortable.

If you’d like to help with the fundraiser, please contact Louise Stover (714.432.7371) or Tammy Smecker-Hane (949.509.7195).

ST. MIKES TO HOST WHEELCHAIR FUNDRAISER

1 Plastic Lawn Chair + 1 Creative Engineer = Over 340,000 Lives Changed!

By Louise Stover

Saint Michael & All Angels’ Mission Commission is starting a project in Deanery 10 to send 550 wheelchairs (1 shipping container) to Iraq to be used by people who have been injured by the war.

The chairs are provided at no cost to the recipients. They’ll be distributed by the U.S. government and by missionary organizations, with no strings attached. To kick things off, Saint Michael,s will host a Deanery-wide fundraiser on October 18th at 6pm. Save the date and mark your calendar!

There are more than 100 million disabled people in the developing world. Free Wheelchair Mission, based in Irvine, has brought the gift of mobility to over 340,000 people in just five years. A few weeks ago, Norris Battin and Ray Pentz along with Don Schoendorfer, founder of Free Wheelchair Mission, showed Bishop of Los Angeles Jon Bruno a wheelchair, constructed of a plastic lawn chair and bicycle wheels, exactly like the one in our narthex. Bishop Bruno has been in wheelchairs on a fairly regular basis since he lost his foot a few years back; but this wheelchair, instead of costing thousands of dollars, cost only $40 – including a patch kit, a tire pump and shipping to the Middle East!

We have a direct challenge from our bishop to succeed! Bishop Bruno and his wife, Mary, have guaranteed that the first shipping container of 500 wheelchairs is funded, by matching whatever funds we are able to raise at our October event. Our goal – the total cost for one container – is $26,592.50. The bishop and his wife will be attending. You need to be there too!

Much help will be needed to make the event a success. If you can lend a hand please contact Louise Stover (714.432.7371) or Tammy Smecker-Hane (949.509.7195).

DESIGNER HONORED FOR SENDING 300,000 WHEELCHAIRS TO NEEDY

(From the May 2008 issue of USAID’s “Frontlines”) -- After Donald Schoendorfer witnessed firsthand the needs of the disabled in poor countries around the world, he left a successful career in the medical equipment industry to devote his life to designing and delivering wheelchairs for some of most vulnerable people on earth.
“I have a small goal-20 million chairs given away free by 2010,” Schoendorfer said. Already, over 320,000 of Schoendorfer’s unique wheelchairs have been sent to 75 developing countries.

It all began 30 years ago on a trip to Morocco when he and his wife, Laurie, saw a disabled woman dragging herself across the road using her fingernails to pull herself along. The experience changed his Life.

In his garage, Schoendorfer designed an inexpensive wheelchair from widely available parts. Using a resin patio chair and mountain bike tires, the design is engineered to withstand the rough terrain of rural settings. The group he founded-Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM), produces each wheelchair for only $51.29.
Schoendorfer, president of FWM, was awarded the Above and Beyond Medal for Citizen Honors by former Secretary of State Colin Powell at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery March 25. Selected from among 4,000 nominees, Schoendorfer and two co-honorees are the first civilians to receive this recognition by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

The Free Wheelchair Mission is a new partner with USAID, having received its first cooperative agreement in 2007. Using USAID assistance, FWM will upgrade the wheelchair design, create and distribute a user manual, produce a second generation model, and distribute 12,100 wheelchairs.

Based in Orange County, Calif., FWM’s focus is to transform lives by restoring hope, dignity, and independence through the gift of mobility.

In 2006, The World Health Organization estimated that more than 65 million people in the developing world are disabled and in need of a wheelchair. By creatively partnering with indigenous and international humanitarian orgartizations, FWM strives to reach the poorest demographic of the global disabled community. These individuals are often confined in their homes, forced to crawl through life subjecting themselves to dangerous, unsanitary conditions, and unable to participate in the lives of their fam;lies and communities.

In Cochin, India, when a man received his free wheelchair, he told volunteers he had prayed aily for 52 years that someone wouId be kind to him, and this chair was the first time anyone had done anything for him, ever, Reader’s Digest reported in 2005.

In June 2008, the Free Wheelchair Mission will begin shipping the first of the 12,100 USAID-sponsored wheelchairs to Honduras, India, Ecuador, Viet Nam, Guatemala, Peru, and Chile.

What Will We Leave the Children?

For the past few years, on Youth Sunday, I have talked about what my/our philosophy of Christian Education at St. Michael’s is, how we present lessons, and what we as a parish should do for the children. Today I would like to talk about the future: what will we leave the children?

When I was growing up, the eldest of two, then three daughters, I adored my father. We were especially close, and I thought he was marvelously wise. There were two things that he taught me at a fairly tender age:

1. Go to church. Every Sunday. Pay attention and listen. Any answers you need at any time will come to you there.
2. Read Jim Murray’s column in the LA Times. Every day. Any answers you can’t find in church will be there
.
I followed his instructions. I went to church. Every Sunday. And I read Jim Murray’s column. Every day. And he was right. I always found the answers I needed.

Growing up Episcopalian in the 50’s and 60’s was a heady time. There were lots of us. Well, there were lots of us period, but it seemed there were Episcopalians everywhere. There were about 100 kids, and a few adults, in my confirmation class in 1961, all from our parish. My family was very active: my Dad was Head Usher and Senior Warden, many times, and my Mom was Altar Guild directress. My sister and I sang in the Junior Choir. All our family friends were from church. Our Youth Group was huge. I got my first grown up kiss at a Youth Group swim party. Sorry, family!

So what happened? Did the church change? Did we change? How did we get to where we are today?

Yes, the church did change. I think it changed for the better. You can see today, here at Saint Michael’s, some of the changes. I’m “preaching”. Girls acolyte. The altar is “in the round”, and the priest celebrates where the people can see. And the priest...well, when I was growing up the priests didn’t wear high heels (at least not in public!) There was the inevitable arguing, and some people left the church for more “theologically correct” pastures. But the church that I knew and loved went on. I wasn’t as pleased by the new language as I had hoped, but I slowly grew accustomed to it.

Three years ago, the church consecrated an openly gay bishop. There was, and still is, more arguing. Some people have left the church, ostensibly for more “theologically correct” pastures. But the church goes on.

You may ask what has this to do with Christian Education? 3 and 4 year olds don’t want to hear about the Lambeth Conference, or have the Windsor Report explained to them. And they love Martha as well as Peter. They don’t see a difference when one or the other celebrates. They just celebrate. Period. But what we do, as a national church, as a parish, and as parents, has everything to do with Christian Education. You see, we are all educating the children, with every word we say in front of them, every “adult” discussion we have when we think they are not listening, every attitude we have to other people, whether in our speech or actions, and our attitude towards our parish church.

Does this mean that we have to agree in lockstep with everything that comes out of our national headquarters? Certainly not. I was brought up that the Episcopal Church was the church where you didn’t have to leave your brain at the door, where reason was one of the legs on that famous “three legged stool”. God gave you a brain, now use it. The current “discussions” are a great way to begin to talk to children about what they think the church should be, what is important spiritually to them. Ask them. Listen to their answers. And keep in mind the promises you made in the Baptismal Covenant.

So let’s move on to what we, as a parish, should leave the children. Is St. Mike’s a warm and friendly place, where children are welcomed, valued, and loved? I think so. Do you take time to listen to them when they take part in the service? I hope so. Their voices are the voices of the future, and if we don’t communicate to them that St. Mike’s is a special place, their special place, we are doing them a disservice. And we are doing ourselves a disservice. Do you want St. Mike’s to grow and thrive? Do you want it to be as wonderful in thirty years as it is today? Then you must leave the children a vital, warm, inviting and spiritual church.

Now, what can you do as parents? Well, the first thing you can do is love your children. Love them with a joyful, unconditional love. Be a constant reminder of how God loves each of us. Sometimes you may not like your children. They have their off days, just as we do. Nurture their imaginations. Answer their questions. And most of all, set a good example of how you want them to be when they are parents.

How?

Follow the promises made in their Baptismal Covenant. Hard to do, but do you realize if everyone “...(strove) for justice and peace among all people, and respect(ed) the dignity of every human being” just what would happen on this earth?
No wars, hunger, homelessness, poverty, injustice. Think of it.

Make sure they have an active spiritual life. Say bedtime prayers. Say Grace before dinner. Ask them what they think about the world on a level they can respond to. Don’t ask them about the price of gasoline; ask them what Jesus would think about children not getting enough to eat because their parents have to choose between buying gas to get to work and food. Most importantly, bring them to church! Make attendance at church an important event, not an optional “what other things are available on Sunday” event. Make it the most important time of your week. We try to make Christian Education here at St. Mike’s an interesting and fun event. I try to teach without teaching, but I can’t teach them if they are not here! When they are here they get it; they absorb it. And they love it. Let them be surrounded by adults that recognize their worth as Christians. Let them join in the family meal with all of us. Let them know that you value their spiritual life as much as their athletic life, and that you have set their spiritual growth as a priority in your life as a family. Someday, when they are asked to make moral decisions they will thank you.

Being a parent is difficult. I know. But think of what you will be leaving them. Something much more valuable than any physical possession. Something that will stand them in good stead for the rest of their lives. Something that will make them model citizens of the world of the future

.My father died suddenly when I was 37 years old. I was devastated. But he left me the church and Jim Murray. And the Church still has the answers I need in my life.

A Brief History of the Lambeth Conference

By Christopher L. Webber

John Henry Hopkins was bishop of Vermont and presiding bishop of the
Episcopal Church when he suggested in 1851 that a gathering of Anglican bishops would be useful, but nothing happened. Fifteen years later, the Canadian Anglican Church suggested the same thing to the archbishop of Canterbury and got his reluctant consent.

“It should be distinctly understood,” said Archbishop Charles Longley, “that at this meeting no declaration of faith shall be made, and no decision come to which shall affect generally the interests of the church, but that we shall meet together for brotherly counsel and encouragement.”

They would meet at the archbishop’s town house in London, Lambeth Palace, encourage each other and go home again.

Even so, the archbishop of York declined the invitation, and only a bare majority (76 of 144) of the world’s Anglican bishops showed up. They met for four days, and the major excitement came when the archbishop of Cape Town, Robert Gray, brought up the matter of the bishop of Natal, John William Colenso, who had done great work among the Zulus but upset the archbishop by his advanced views of biblical scholarship. In an uncanny preview of current events, the archbishop declared Colenso to be heretical and sent a new bishop to serve the same area. Colenso stuck to his guns and his diocese and is now revered by the Church in South Africa.

Nonetheless, the idea of the conference seemed good, and the bishops met again in 1878 to grapple with the nature of Anglican unity and pass some resolutions that remain relevant today. It is, they said, “of great importance for the maintenance of union among the churches of our communion” that “the duly certified action of every national or particular church...should be respected by all the other churches” and that “no bishop or other clergyman of any other church should exercise his functions within [some other] diocese without the consent of the bishop thereof.”
By the third conference, 1888, the bishops had grown comfortable enough with their meetings to begin passing a wide variety of resolutions on subjects ranging from socialism to polygamy.

Nature of Anglicanism
A central concern was the nature of Anglicanism. Two years earlier, the Episcopal Church’s General Convention had adopted a statement offering to work toward Christian unity on the basis of four essentials: the Bible, the creeds, the sacraments of baptism and Communion, and the historic episcopate. Adopted by the 1888 conference, it is now known as The Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral and has found a place in the American Book of Common Prayer (pp. 876-878).
Three conferences had created a tradition and led the bishops to imagine a wide variety of resolutions that might be adopted. The 13 resolutions of the first conference and 12 of the second had increased to 20 at the third.

In 1897, the bishops adopted 69 resolutions on subjects as diverse as world peace, relations with the Eastern Orthodox, Communion for the sick and care for church members emigrating to new countries. They were very clear that, however diverse the members of the church might be in language and ethnicity, they were members of one church. They stressed again that it would be very wrong for two bishops of the church to attempt to carry on a ministry in the same area.

The issue of freedom and unity was addressed again in the statement that “it is important that, so far as possible, the church should be adapted to local circumstances...and nothing is required of them but what is of the essence of the faith, and belongs to the due order of the Catholic Church.” The first of these statements, of course, left undefined what was meant by being “in full communion with the Church of England,” and the second left open “what is of the essence of the faith, and belongs to the due order of the Catholic Church.” More than a century later, these questions remain unanswered.

When the Lambeth Conference met in 1908, the bishops were entering a new century and facing new issues. Their focus in 16 resolutions was, appropriately, on education and training both for ministry and lay people.

There was a greater interest as well in ecumenical relationships, especially with the Orthodox, the Old Catholic Churches and the Presbyterians.

The conference condemned the opium trade and deplored the growing “disregard of the sanctity of marriage.”

Those who were divorced, the bishops said, could not remarry in the church, though the “innocent party” might be readmitted to Communion after a civil marriage. Birth control and abortion were condemned.

Ironically, the bishops, while “frankly acknowledging the moral gains sometimes won by war,” rejoiced in the “increasing willingness to settle difficulties among nations by peaceful methods.” The outbreak of World War I caused the postponement of their next meeting.

Meeting in 1920, the bishops had nothing to say about any “moral gains” that might have been won but did commend the League of Nations to the people of the world. Americans rejected that advice.

Women’s issues
The most revolutionary statement they made was to advise that women (who just had been given the right to vote in America) could be admitted to any office in which a layman might serve. It took nearly 50 years for the American church to catch up and allow women to serve on vestries and as deputies to General Convention.
In a more conservative mood, the bishops continued to condemn birth control and linked it with prostitution, calling on governments to end “the open or secret sale of contraceptives, and the continued existence of brothels.”

Women’s ministry was a major concern, but the restoration of the order of deaconesses was all they recommended.

By 1930, the bishops were beginning to have second thoughts about birth control. The 1662 Prayer Book, still the standard throughout the British Empire, said that the procreation of children was the primary purpose of marriage, but if parents were not enthusiastic about large families, the bishops called for “deliberate and thoughtful self-control...in intercourse” and possibly, where there were morally sound reasons, “other methods,” but not “for selfishness or mere convenience.”
It was 18 years until the bishops could meet again and, when they did, in 1948, recovery from the war was very much on their minds. They reaffirmed a 1930 resolution “that war as a method of settling international disputes is incompatible with the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Inspired perhaps by the recently created United Nations, they provided a definition of the Anglican Communion as “a fellowship, within the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church...bound together, not by a central legislative and executive authority, but by mutual loyalty sustained through the common counsel of the bishops in conference.”

The bishops were concerned to hold up a different way of life to a war-torn world. The first eight resolutions concerned “the Christian Doctrine of Man” and human rights. The bishops affirmed “that man has a spiritual as well as a material nature, and that he can attain full stature only as he recognises and yields to the love of God as revealed in Jesus Christ and to the influence of his Holy Spirit.”

Positions on marriage
On the subject of marriage, the bishops did little more than repeat themselves. They noted with sadness “The great increase in the number of broken marriages and the tragedy of children deprived of true home life,” affirmed that “marriage always entails a lifelong union and obligation” and called on “members of the church and others to do their utmost by word and example to uphold the sanctity of the marriage bond and to counteract those influences which tend to destroy it.”
Yet divorced people could not be remarried in the church. If they remarried in a civil service and wished to receive Communion, the case was to be referred to the bishop.

Not until 1958 would the bishops begin to construct a positive theology of marriage, but then they would face still more complex issues.

The 1950s are sometimes remembered as a time of peace. In fact, they were the years of the Korean War, the McCarthy hearings and the Supreme Court’s decision outlawing school segregation. Nonetheless, the Lambeth Conference of 1958 may have been the fulfillment of the early vision of what such meetings could be. The conference adopted 131 resolutions, carefully organized under eight headings, beginning with the Bible and ending with 20 resolutions on “the Family in Contemporary Society.”

The bishops had adopted statements about marriage at almost every conference, but now they attempted to construct a complete theology of marriage and family with a very positive perspective. Marriage, they said, is a “vocation to holiness,” and the idea of the family is “rooted in the Godhead.” Consequently, the bishops agreed, “All problems of sex relations, the procreation of children, and the organisation of family life must be related, consciously and directly, to the creative, redemptive and sanctifying power of God.”

Concentrating as they were on the family, the bishops said little about women’s ministry outside the home except that “fuller use should be made of trained and qualified women, and that spheres of progressive responsibility and greater security should be planned for them.”

To say, as they now did, that family planning is “a right and important factor in Christian family life” is to admit either that they had been wrong in 1920 or that the times had changed — perhaps both were true. It was the first of several issues on which the bishops would reverse earlier stands in the last half of the 20th century.

Changing stances
When the conference convened in 1968, Pope Paul VI had just issued his statement condemning birth control. The Lambeth bishops said they could not “agree with the pope’s conclusion that all methods of conception control other than abstinence...are contrary to the ‘order established by God.’ ” Of course, this meant that the Lambeth bishops had been wrong themselves in 1920.

Many of the bishops thought they also had been wrong on the subject of women’s ordination, but the conference only said that “the theological arguments, as at present presented for and against the ordination of women to the priesthood, are inconclusive.”
The 1968 conference called for creating a consultative council including approximately equal numbers of clergy, both bishops and priests, representing the member churches.

The council, which became the Anglican Consultative Council, would have authority only to study, coordinate and advise. A communion that had been held together by “mutual affection,” a prayer book tradition and occasional meetings of bishops, now would have a representative body meeting every two or three years. Communion would be expressed through a committee.
None of that, of course, dealt helpfully with the question of the ordination of women. Thus, when the bishops convened in 1978, they found that the world had moved on without them.

Women already had been ordained in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Hong Kong. The bishops acknowledged “that both the debate about the ordination of women as well as the ordinations themselves have...caused distress and pain to many on both sides.” They felt that their role was primarily pastoral: “To heal...and to maintain and strengthen fellowship.” They pleaded for patience and sensitivity and suggested the possible provision of alternative ministry for those unwilling to accept women as priests and bishops.

Sexuality issues
Other, even more painful issues, already loomed on the horizon. There was a need, the bishops said, “for deep and dispassionate study of the question of homosexuality, which would take seriously both the teaching of Scripture and the results of scientific and medical research.”

Few churches responded to the Lambeth resolution, and the bishops were no more ready to deal with the subject in 1988 than they had been 10 years earlier
.
The Lambeth Conference can recommend but not command. The bishops had said at their 1978 that there was a need for careful study of sexual issues
.
But when they gathered again in 1988, the study had not been done, and tensions were greater than ever. The bishops discussed “the present impaired nature of communion.” They said there was a great need for “sensitivity, patience and pastoral care towards all concerned.” But bishops facing intractable divisions were “encouraged to seek continuing dialogue with, and make pastoral provision for, those clergy and congregations whose opinions differ from those of the bishop, in order to maintain the unity of the diocese.” How separate pastoral provision would maintain unity was not explained
.
If the bishops could not agree on homosexuality, they did agree to reverse themselves on a stand taken 100 years earlier and allow the baptism of polygamists if they promised not to marry again and if the local community was agreeable.

Before the 1998 Lambeth Conference convened, First World conservatives began building bridges with Third World bishops in preparation for the next gathering. Instead of trying to understand each other, factions were forming in preparation for battle. The result was prolonged and angry debate.

Concerning homosexuals, the bishops committed themselves “to listen to the experience of homosexual persons” and “assure them that they are loved by God and...full members of the body of Christ,” but homosexual practice was rejected “as incompatible with Scripture.” A resolution referring to homosexuality as a “kind of sexual brokenness” and calling on bishops who ordain homosexual persons to repent was defeated, but the bishops said they would not “advise the legitimising or blessing of same-sex unions nor ordaining those involved in same-gender unions.” They called for a listening process, but again many churches failed to take part and others were unwilling to listen.

Questions of unity
How, then, is unity to be preserved where such divisions exist? The resolutions concerning respect for diocesan boundaries, first adopted more than a century earlier, were reaffirmed. Bishops could not be a sign of unity while encouraging division. But these resolutions also have been often ignored.

A summary of such a tumultuous history is all too likely to reflect the concerns of the moment and the point of view of the individual historian. This review has focused on two central issues: changing understandings of gender and sexuality, and the balance between diversity and unity.

In regard to the concerns of the moment, the hesitancy to pronounce on anything rapidly shifted in the latter part of the 20th century, when there were few things on which the conference did not have an opinion. The initial insistence on dispersed authority left a vacuum that the Primates Meetings now seem determined to fill.

In regard to gender and sexuality, earlier positions taken on polygamy, birth control and remarriage after divorce have been reversed.

All this seems to raise again the central question of Anglican life: can a Christian community exist without a central authority and narrow definitions of doctrine? One proposed answer is an Anglican covenant, which some see as a hopeful way forward, but others reject it as changing the focus of Anglican life from communion to laws.

A careful review of our history, even one narrowly focused on some aspects of the Lambeth Conference, might lead us to be less sure of ourselves, readier to listen and more willing to leave a generous room for difference. If so many definitive statements of Lambeth have proved subject to change, how sure should we be of our own current pronouncements?

Might it be better to recognize that we might be wrong again; that sexual attitudes may be culturally conditioned; that we do best when we do least to divide ourselves and do most to center our life on a pattern of worship that draws us closer to the redeeming love of God?

This year’s conference will seek to provide guidance on these questions. It will need our prayers.

THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE: EQUIPING BISHOPS FOR MISSION

When the bishops of the Anglican Communion convene in Canterbury this summer for the 2008 Lambeth Conference, they will find a gathering differing in many ways from its predecessors and one that is intended to strengthen their sense of a shared Anglican identity and help to equip them for their roles as leaders in mission.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has invited more than 800 bishops to attend the July 16th - August 3rd conference on the campus of the University of Kent in southeast England. A separate conference for the
bishops’ spouses will run concurrently.

Unlike previous conferences, the 2008 gathering will include fewer plenary sessions, opting instead for smaller study groups where the bishops can interact on a more personal level.

The conference will begin with three retreat days “in which we can spend time together in quiet and begin to direct our minds towards the central issues of faith,” said Williams
.
The main conference days are split into four sections: group Bible study, expanded group meetings, self-selecting groups and optional “fringe” events. Bible study groups will includeabout eight bishops and will be followed by expanded groups of about 40 bishops.

For the self-selecting groups, the bishops may choose between various workshops, seminars or discussions that will focus on a particular conference topic. Fringe events will provide an opportunity for entertainment and fellowship through film screenings, theater productions,dinners and discussions.

According to the Lambeth Conference Design Group, which has met regularly since February 2004 in preparation for the 2008 gathering, the bishops will address issues such as the Millennium Development Goals, HIV/AIDS, ethical green living, Anglican identity and the Anglican covenant, the Listening Process, and ecumenical and interfaith relations.

The conference “will not resemble a parliamentary debating chamber with a string of resolutions but will aim to provide time and space or spiritual reflection, learning, sharing and discerning,” the group notes.

Not a Lawmaking Body
The gathering, which has been convened roughly once every 10 years since 1867, “has never been a lawmaking body in the strict sense, and it wasn’t designed to be one,” Williams said at the January launch of the conference program. “Every local Anglican province around the world has its own independent system of church law, and there is no supreme court.”

During a pre-conference hospitality initiative, every bishop and spouse attending the Lambeth Conference and Spouses Conference will enjoy the hospitality of an English, Scottish or Welsh diocese.

Citing the work of Anglican organizations such as the Mothers’ Union and the partnership relations between bishops and dioceses from different parts of the communion, Williams said, “These close and personal relationships, which are not often in the headlines because they simply carry on doing the work they set out to do, are part of the solid ground that helps us cope with the turbulence in other areas. The program of pre-Lambeth hospitality which is being offered by local churches here in the United Kingdom will help to consolidate these relationships for the future, in ways that will respect the integrity of all.”

Some bishops and primates have indicated their intention to boycott the Lambeth Conference. But Williams has said that, “In spite of the painful controversies which have clouded the life of the communion for the last few years, there remains, as many people have repeatedly said, a very strong loyalty to each other and a desire to stay together.”

New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly gay man ordained a bishop in 2003, has not been invited to attend the conference as an official participant, but he plans to visit Canterbury.

Expressing his gratitude for the hard work of the Design Group and Sue Parks, Lambeth Conference manager, Williams described the program as “unusually varied and original” and said it would provide “a fresh style of working, which will allow us both to confront differences honestly and to be focused anew on our primary tasks of service and mission.”

The Rev. Ian Douglas, a member of the design group and Angus Dun professor of world Christianity at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said, “Conversation across differences for the sake of building up the body of Christ and strengthening the Anglican Communion is exactly what we need right now.”

Matthew Davies is editor of Episcopal Life Online and Episcopal Life Media correspondent for the Anglican Communion.

IF THERE WERE NO ST. MIKE'S

Remarks by Teri Corbet, Minister of Christian Education,
at the Stewardship Dinner on October 7, 2007

I have a confession to make. I love Saint Michael’s.

As a matter of fact, I love St. Michael’s so much that I work here, worship here, and proudly call this campus my spiritual home. I was raised rather “high church”, but it wasn’t a cold parish; it was warm and friendly and comfortable, and I grew up with the feeling that church was not only my second home, but my second family. When, as adults and parents, Cliff and I left the parish, we visited a few churches and found that we were most comfortable here.

I was looking for an Episcopal church that allowed, even encouraged me to adhere to the promises made for me in my baptismal covenant, and reaffirmed during my confirmation, and I found such a church here. Episcopalians are undergoing difficult times, but for me the bottom line is that I need to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving my neighbor as myself” and “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.”

How simple it sounds, and how different the world would be if everyone followed those basic tenets. And they are they reason I asked to speak tonight. I want to tell you a story.

The outline of this story is “borrowed” liberally from Frank Capra. It’s a version of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, with a few twists. It doesn’t take place in Bedford Falls. It takes place in the small coastal town of Corona del Mar. It isn’t a small savings and loan that stands as a beacon of hope to the surrounding community, but a parish church that stands on a hill on the corner of Pacific View and Marguerite that offers a shining example of Christian outreach to the world. You, the parishioners of St. Michael’s, all are George Bailey and that small savings and loan, and tonight I will represent the angel Clarence, and tell you about what life would be like if St. Michael’s had not existed, at least for the last seven years.

In South Africa, many African families would not have had the option of giving their loved ones a decent burial, because there would be no St. Michael’s to send money annually for coffins through the Compass Rose Society.

In Swaziland, over 230 children a year would have gone without clothing and nutritious food, because there would be no St. Michael’s to send clothing and over $4,000. in funds to purchase a van for use by Rev’d Orma to bring food from outlying farms to her Carepoints. Rev’d Orma would have not had support to care for her 300 orphans in the capital city of Mbabane, distributing food, clothing, medical care, school books, uniforms and school fees, or sewing machines to teach the village women how to sew to make items they can sell to support their families.

Three villages in the poorer areas of the world would not have had the gift of wheelchairs because there were no parishioners to donate funds to purchase and ship the wheelchairs. The more than 75 physically disabled people who would have received the chairs could not work, and would remain a burden on their families and friends, and could not enjoy the physical and spiritual independence we all take for granted.
Habitat for Humanity, the Heifer Project, African Team Ministries, SERRV, and the Church of Our Savior Youth Program would not have received over $39,000 for mission work throughout the world, even in our own backyard in Santa Ana, because there was no St. Michael’s to hold its annual Alternative Gift Market, that supports these and other worthy causes.

The Diocese of Jerusalem would not have received over $3,000 from the annual Good Friday collection, because there was no St. Michael’s to offer the service.
Canterbury Irvine would not have received over $6,000, because there was no St. Michael’s Card Shop to offer cards for parishioners to purchase.

And if there were no St Mike;s. $4,000 would not have gone to Episcopal Relief and Development for Katrina hurricane relief.

In Santa Ana, 400 to 500 homeless and hungry men, women and children would not have nourishing food to eat, bags of groceries, clothing, socks and hygiene kits. There would be no volunteers to help with distribution, serving meals, celebrating holidays, and contributing items monthly to the Red Wagon. Several teens from Loaves and Fishes would not have been able to attend college, many the first from their family to do so, because there was no St. Michael’s .

In Mexico, 300 children from the colonias in Tijuana would not be attending Pedro de Gante School with full stomachs, and the school would not have a dining hall The women who run the program for Children of the Americas would not have a dependable SUV to make deliveries. The dining stations in the poorest neighborhoods, would not be able to offer breakfast to the young students before school, or dinners as they come home.

The burned out portion of the school would not be repaired, and the walls, inside and out, would remain in desperate need of painting, because there was no St. Michael’s to deliver over $70,000 in food, and $11,200 in cash to alleviate the poverty.
And finally, if there were no St. Michael’s, there would not have been over 100 youth from all around the Diocese enjoying “Winter in the City” in January 2007 in Orange County at the best Bishop’s Ball ever!

St. Michael’s plays host weekly to basketball teams, volleyball teams, yoga classes, music classes, Brownie and Daisy troops, Whiz Kids preschool, UCI Town and Gown, an AA group, and is a polling place for all elections. These groups would all have to find another home if St. Michael’s were not here.

Does St. Michael’s seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves? Does St. Michael’s strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? I think we do, and the figures Donnie gave me help prove it: in the last seven years St. Michael’s parishioners have donated countless hours, miles and over $141,000 to causes and organizations that help us remember that what we do for the least of humanity we do for Christ.

Think of the memories we have created through all these gifts. Think of the memories we have yet to create. St. Michael’s stands for more than church buildings: it stands, we stand, as a beacon of what Christians, especially Episcopalians, can do in a world that needs our example.

But St. Michael’s needs all of us to continue the work that was begun more than 40 years ago. Today, more than ever, we need to set the example for Christian compassion and duty. We must ensure that St. Michael’s is the model for what it means to be an Episcopal Church. Please join me, the Vestry, and the staff on the road to Stewardship to make sure that happens!

NORM EWER'S PEACE AND JUSTICE REPORT

Sabeel (Arabic for “the way”) is an international ecumenical organization “working for Justice, Peace and Reconciliation in Palestine – Israel.” It was founded in Jerusalem in 1989 by The Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, a Palestinian Episcopal priest.

Friday and Saturday, February 15 and 16, 2008, All Saints Episcopal Church, 132 North Euclid Avenue, Pasadena, CA, will host a two-day conference sponsored by the Southern California Chapter of the Friends of Sabeel, North America (FOSNA). Theme of the conference is “From Occupation to Liberation -Voices We Need to Hear.”

Workshops on subjects varying from U.S. policy on Islam to a Jewish perspective on the occupation will be held. Speakers will include founder, The Rev. Ateek, Israeli historian and noted author, Dr. Ilan Pappe, Dr. Don Wagner, Director of Middle East Studies, North Park University, Chicago, and Mr. Hussam Ayloush, executive director, Southern California Chapter, Council on American-Islamic Relations, will also be heard.

This conference is a unique opportunity for those interested in knowing the truth about what is happening in Israel-Palestine to learn what is really required to bring peace and justice to the turmoil now consuming the Middle East.

For further information and to register, contact FOSNA Conference by email, PasadenaConference@FOSNA.org., or by phone, 503.653.6625.
If interested in carpooling to the conference, please call Norm Ewers, 949-786-7104.

SAINT LUKE’S HOSPITAL, NABLUS, OCCUPIED PALESTINE -- Saint Luke’s Hospital, Nablus, in the Northern West Bank is one of the most important ministries of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem. Saint Luke’s was established in 1841 by the Church Missionary Society. Since 1984, the Diocese of Jerusalem has been responsible for its operation.

Nablus, which was once an important West Bank city with a large Christian community, has, due to the Israeli occupation, been reduced to an impoverished shadow of its former self. Saint Luke’s, by the life-saving service it provides and the employment it offers its Muslim and Christian staff, provides an important Christian witness in an area where people feel very uncertain about the future.

Life for Palestinians living in the West Bank is precarious. Israeli occupying forces have completely closed the Northern West Bank from the rest of the Palestinian territories.
Nablus has continuously suffered from invasions and curfews. It is surrounded by Israeli checkpoints that deny passage to men between the ages of 16 and 35.

As a result patients in urgent need of medical services have great difficulty getting to the hospital, and when they do, many do not have the money to pay for the most minimum of services.

Saint Luke’s Hospital is in an emergency situation. The Diocese of Jerusalem is committed to its continuing operation but the Israeli occupation and the lack of dependable income make this more and more difficult.

Persons desiring to support the work of Saint Luke’s should send a check to the American Friends of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, Post Office Box 2040, Orange, CA 92859, marked “For St. Luke’s Hospital.”

(This report was excerpted from an appeal by the Bishop, Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem.)

“Praying Our Goodbyes” and Friends of Music to Join in All Soul’s Eucharist

By Norris Battin

On November 4th at 5pm the Holy Eucharist will be celebrated at a service designed to bring comfort and hope for those who have experienced a loss and find themselves feeling especially "blue" as the holidays approach.

If you’ve lost a relative, a relationship, a job, a dream, a home, your health or a special pet, you’ve said “Goodbye” to something important in your life and at this time of year are feeling the ache of that loss, perhaps more acutely than ever.

This service will bring us together to hear God's Word shine light into this darkness and offer a glimpse of a new "hello" of hope and light.

This year’s service will feature the second in this year’s Friends of Music “First Sunday’s at Five” concert series, with music by Henry Purcell and William Byrd.
The offering collected at the service will be be sent, through the international mission organization of the Anglican Communion, the Compass Rose Society, to the Diocese of Highveld in South Africa to help defray the burial costs of South Africans who have died from AIDS and whose families cannot afford the $50 cost of a coffin to bury their loved ones.

HIV/AIDS remains a major public health problem in South Africa. Approximately 25 percent of the population is infected.

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Mysterious Summer 2007:The Search Continues
for “Religious Mystery”

Secret Sins
by Kate Charles / Hardcover /March 2007

St. Valentine's The Reaperarrows rain over London in the engaging second installment of Charles's ecclesiastical mysteries (after 2005's Evil Intent) starring newly ordained Anglican cleric Callie Anson. All the characters are well drawn, and the multiple story lines make for a page-turner. -- Publishers Weekly

Let There Be Suspects
by Emilie Richards / Paperback / Dec 2006

With Let There be Suspects the chalk outline gone from their front porch, Aggie Sloan-Wilcox and her minister husband think they can resume their lives. But when Ginger, Aggie's despised former foster sister, comes for Christmas, and turns up dead as a drumstick, Aggie's sister is suspected. Now it's up to Aggie to find the real murderer-who's decided there's a loophole in thou shalt not kill. Second in the Ministry is Murder series.

Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog
by Boris Akunin, Andrew Bromfield (Translator)

Sister Pelagia and the White BulldogIn a remote Russian province in the late nineteenth century, Bishop Mitrofanii must deal with a family crisis. After learning that one of his great aunt's beloved and rare white bulldogs has been poisoned, the Orthodox bishop knows there is only one detective clever enough to investigate the murder: Sister Palagia.

Garden of Hell
by Nick Wilgus / Paperback / August 2006

In this second episode of the Father Ananda mystery series, all is not as it seems when Father Ananda is summoned by the Buddhist authorities in Bangkok to investigate an odd case of suspected suicide in a rural temple. A young nun's gruesome death in a crocodile pit at the temple's Buddhist theme park sets off a chain of events that places Ananda and his novice Jak in grave danger. Determined to expose the secrets hidden in this famous monastic community, Ananda fights powerful vested interests.

Mindfulness and Murder
by Nick Wilgus / Paperback / July 2005

When Garden of Hella homeless boy living at the youth shelter run by a Buddhist monastery turns up dead, the abbot recruits Father Ananda, a monk and former police officer, to find out why. He discovers that all is not well at this urban monastery in the heart of Bangkok. Together with his dogged assistant, an orphaned boy named Jak, Father Ananda uncovers a startling series of clues that eventually expose the motivation behind the crime and lead him to the murderers.

With thanks again to the slueths at The Church of Our Saviour in the Town of Secaucus, New Jersey: www.secaucus.org/oursaviour/Mysteries.html

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Helping Orphan Children in Swaziland

By Tammy Smecker-Hane

Iam a member of the Mission Commission here at Saint Michael & All Angels. By profession, I am an astronomer and associate professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine.

This past March, The Reverend Cindy Voorhees and I visited our dear friend, The Reverend Orma Mavimbela, in Mbabane, Swaziland. Swaziland is a very peaceful kingdom that lies in southern Africa bordered by South Africa and Mozambique.

Reverend Orma was the first woman priest ordained in the Anglican Church of Swaziland, and she cares for 180 orphan children in three Care Points located in the city at St. Margaret and St. Matthias Churches and out in the countryside in the community of Ekupheleni.

She is a truly remarkable woman! About 42% of the population in Swaziland has HIV/AIDS, and an astounding number of children have lost one or both of their parents. They live either with their elderly grannies or with their teenage brother or sister acting as the head of their household.

Reverend Orma and the women who work with her provide a hot meal for the children Monday through Friday. Sadly, it is the only meal that many of the children will get each day. Children as young as one or two are brought to the Care Point by their grannies or older brothers and sisters after they arrive home from school (if they are lucky enough to be able to attend school). High school children in the city Care Points come during their lunch hour and then go back to school.

The children’s meals are cooked in large, black iron pots over a wood fire. Porridge made from ground corn is a staple of their diet. It is usually served with a nutritious stew that is made with chicken, if available, or vegetables.

Only the two Care Points in the city have refrigerators, and they are very small. It is quite a challenge to provide 180 children with fresh food. Reverend Orma spends quite a lot of time buying food from the farmer’s markets or discount warehouses and taking it out to the Care Points. Previously, St. Mike’s raised money to help her purchase a used Toyota light truck, known in Swaziland as a “bakkie”, greatly increasing the amount of food she can transport safely
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Reverend Orma also pays school fees, uniforms, books and school supplies for some of the poorest children, because, as we all know, education is the key to success in life.

Reverend Orma is beginning a very ambitious project. With encouragement from Bishop Meshack Mabuza, the Bishop of Swaziland, her goal is to build a kitchen, a school that includes pre-school through grade 3, and a medical clinic at the Ekupheleni Care Point. The current buildings there are small and constructed out of mud and sticks.

The children must congregate under the trees for protection when it rains. Right now many of the smaller children cannot attend school, because it is too far for these little ones to walk. However, if they don’t complete primary school, there is little hope for them to get a more advanced education once they are physically big enough to walk to the nearest school. In addition, the nearest medical clinic is six miles away, much too far for people suffering with AIDs or other illnesses to walk.

The community’s need for the mixed-use complex is great An architect has completed the initial design and all that is stopping the start of construction is a lack of money. With the high cost of food and medical care for so many orphans, they simply cannot afford to build such a complex unless there is help from outside sources.

Reverend Orma provides clothing for the orphans from donations of gently-used clothing that she receives from people in both Swaziland and in the United States. On our trip, we brought 80 gently-used jackets and sweaters for the children. We gratefully thank the Turtle Rock Elementary School of Irvine, California, for donating these clothes from their Lost and Found.

We also bought food for the pantries at each Care Point. Swaziland is suffering from a very severe drought, and by March, which is the beginning of the Fall season in the southern hemisphere, the price of corn had doubled and continues to increase with no end in sight. Because corn is a staple of the orphan’s diet, this development is very troubling.

The majority of people in Swaziland are subsistence farmers, and nearly everyone maintains a backyard garden. As you drive around Swaziland, you see whole fields of corn, yellow and dried to a crisp. The ears of corn that have matured are severely stunted. Clearly, this drought will severely affect people’s ability to feed themselves.

Mrs. Alice Dlamini, who is a certified nurse running her own successful clinic, donates her time one day each week to bring a mobile clinic to a different Care Point once a week. She provides much needed medical care for the children and their grannies, too.

We purchased some basic medical instruments (stethoscope, blood pressure machine, thermometers), rapid HIV testing kits that allow a person’s HIV status to be determined in a matter of minutes, and stocked the mobile clinic with a wide variety of medicines and vitamins.

Alice is very impressed with the excellent children’s multi-vitamins (Target brand-named vitamins) that we brought her from California. Apparently you can’t get anything like it in Swaziland that includes such a wide variety of different vitamins and minerals, and we’ll be sure to send her more in the future.
We also met twice with the Mother’s Union of St. Matthias Church.

This group meets once a week to pray with a priest; visit the sick and shut-ins and bring them food and companionship; teach each other knitting and crocheting in order to make crafts that they sell in local markets to support their work with the sick, the care of the orphans, and the church, and to review their work for the month.

When we were there, the Mother’s Union joyously celebrated their 27th anniversary. The women currently knit things like teddy bears and socks and do fine crochet work in order to sell. My daughter and son love the bears that they sent home with me!

When we met and talked with them, the women of the Mother’s Union said they wanted to do more but were hampered by the lack of funds needed to buy supplies. They also wanted to be more ambitious and have someone come in to teach them to sew on sewing machines. Therefore, we scoured the stores in town and bought a huge supply of colorful yarn and needles for the women. We also found a fabulous bargain at a furniture store – a set of two sewing machines (one straight stitch machine and one overlock machine) – for a fabulous price.

We were convinced that someone in heaven was paving the way for us to do good work! We bought four sewing machines that we delivered on the last day of our stay. Included with the sewing machines were two free irons, so we were set to furnish quite a wonderful sewing school! We bought a wide array of material and sewing supplies with which the women could practice.

We also left Reverend Orma with some money in order to buy sturdy wooden tables and hire a sewing teacher to give lessons to the women of the Mother’s Union. Reverend Orma and the people we met in Swaziland want us to convey their heartfelt thanks to the parishioners of St. Mike’s for their financial support and the Turtle Rock Elementary School for their used clothing, and they pray for God to bless you even more richly than you have blessed them!

I thank you for keeping us in your prayers and wishing us well on our journey.

Editor’s note: Tammy and Cindy took some great photographs on their visit and youou can see them at this Website or on the bulletin board in Michael’s Room.

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STORIES BY HERB HOFFMAN

Petitions

And so they argue, fight,
and burn and kill.
"Mine is the true God!"
"Our prophet lives!"
"My struggle is for freedom!"
"It's God's will!"

What foolish petty rivalries,
consid'ring our globe's
precarious condition.
Would that humanity
could learn to look beyond,
that's my petition.

Peace Dreams

When Abram the Chaldaean moved to Canaan, centuries ago,

There were no Christians, Jews, or Muslims yet as far as we now know.

Which means they could not fight each other as they do today

And things were probably more peaceful, I would say.

We can't go back, of course. The simpler days of Ibrahim
Are gone. But we can surely pray for peace today, and dream.

Lessons From Another World

Another world once was, long time ago.
(If that is true, of course, I do not know)

The countries were at war there, to their shame,
One Hippostan, one Crocodaq by name.

The Crocodaqis’ jaws were full of teeth
To snap and bring the Hippos to their knees.

But they, in turn, had mouths so big, no fail,
That many Crocs, when bitten, lost their tail.

But here they were, eternally at war,
Although for what no one remembered anymore.

It went from bad to worse and got so rough
That one fine day both parties had enough.

Ambassadors were sent and they agreed
Upon a “non-bite” treaty with all speed.

Good news: they followed this, the treaty,
To the letter
And what you know? From then on things
Got better.

Perhaps we should have some ambassadors like these?
Might even work for us, our ally being Prince of Peace.

The Magis’ Gifts

Think back to a time long ago, if you can,
To a country called Persia, what we now call Iran.

The Persians then had a spiritual master,
A prophet whose name was Zoroaster,

He had some disciples, a remarkable lot
Of men that were wise in matters of God.

We call them the Magi who came from afar
When they spotted one day the Bethlehem star.

They traveled for weeks through the desert wild
For they wanted to pray with the Jesus Child.

They knelt in the stable, and that made news,
For unlike the others they were not Jews.

They brought along bottles of goodsmelling essence,
Frankincense and myrrh, and similar presents.

Why incense and myrrh, you are likely to say?
Such things are not much in demand today.

But remember that myrrh in those days of old
Cost as much as we pay today for gold.

If the same were to happen today on this earth
The gifts would no doubt be of similar worth.

Thus the Magi, on the day of epiphany,
Might bring presents discretely marked “Tiffany”.

“Nie wieder Krieg!”

(Slogan much heard in Germany after WWI)

Seems we protect the lives of embryos and of the young with vigor

And rhetoric galore, but lo, when they get bigger

We send the precious embryos of yore

Without a second thought straight off to war.

Would that before you do, Commanders, you could pause

And think some more about the merit of the cause.

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To Manse or Not to Manse?

These and Other Questions

By Mary Alice Moyer

What is a “Manse”?
(Answer: a place where our rector and his family live)

Does Saint Michael & All Angels need a “Manse” ?

Given the housing market, how will we fund a housing stipend (or manse?) when Peter retires in 6-12 years?

These and other questions pertaining to long range plans are foremost in both Vestry and small group discussion that has been occurring over the last several months and will continue to occur into 2008 and beyond.

Topics of discussion include anticipated growth of parish members over the next ten years; space and refurbishment needs of the sanctuary; the painting, furnishing, and reduction of the current debt of the Parish Center; and methods of housing a future rector.

I encourage you to become aware of the challenges that face us, join the long range planning discussion, attend some of the sub-group meetings, ask questions of the Vestry, carefully consider planned giving options, and be an integral part of the process.

If you are electronically inclined, please send an email on any of these topics to editor@loveofmike.net.In fact send as many as you want. While we can’t respond to them all, we will definitely listen to your ideas and concerns.

Oh, and if you have an extra house in Corona del Mar or Corona, Newport Beach or Newport Rhode Island, we’ll gladly accept it and bless you mightily!

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“PRAYING OUR GOODBYES” AND “FIRST SUNDAYS AT FIVE” WILL COMBINE WORSHIP ON NOVEMBER 5th

By Norris Battin

"As we grow older we have more people to remember, people who have died before us. It is very important to remember those who have loved us and those we have loved. Remembering them means letting their spirits inspire us in our daily lives. They can become part of our spiritual communities and gently help us as we make decisions on our journeys. Parents, spouses, children and friends can become true spiritual companions after they have died. Sometimes they can become even more intimate to us after death than when they were with us in life. Remembering the dead is choosing their ongoing companionship."

-- Henri Nouwen

This meditation by the Roman Catholic priest, Henri Nowen, which he titled “The Companionship of The Dead”, tells us that those who have gone before us can often guide our lives in, perhaps, not so subtle ways
.
For the past five years, our parish has held a worship service in the Fall dedicated to those who have suffered a significant loss in their lives and who, with the beginning of the holiday season, feel this loss more intensely.

As we did last year, we will again incorporate Praying Our Goodbyes with our commemoration of All Saints/All Souls days.

The service, a Eucharist of Remembrance, begins at 5:30pm on November 5th.The parish necrology for 2006 will be read at this service and at the All Saints/All Souls commemorations.

Regarding the music this year, Minister of Music Tim Getz says, “The service begins with a very short, wistful Requiem by the turn-of-the-20th century composer of Italian opera, Giacomo Puccini. Essentially only the first movement of the usual Requiem mass, this work for three-part choir, organ, and solo instrument was composed in memory of Puccini's friend and fellow composer, Giuseppe Verdi.

At the offertory the choir will sing a lovely anthem by Johannes Brahms, ‘Lass dich nur nichts nicht dauren (Let Nothing Ever Grieve Thee)’. This piece is actually a ‘double canon at the ninth below.’ The sopranos and tenors sing in canon (also called a round), although the tenors' pitch is nine steps below that of the sopranos. The altos and basses do the same on their own melody, hence the name ‘double canon.’ Finally, we will sing a beautiful, serene setting of ‘The Lord Is My Shepherd’, by contemporary English composer John Rutter. This piece, written in 1978 and incorporated into Rutter's Requiem in 1985, features a wonderful oboe solo which will be played for us by Pacific Symphony musician Dianne Manaster.”

As we think about “last things”, note that since June 1997, our memorial garden, formally named The Memorial Garden of The Good Shepherd, has been, "a restful and visually beautiful place for the interment of ashes and for prayer and meditation." The garden was refurbished during 2005 and is available to all parish members and their families as a final resting place or as a remembrance. There are currently sixty-five memorials in the Memorial Garden of the Good Shepherd.

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St. Mike's in the News

Poetry by Herb Hoffman

Saint Michael’s Annual Alternative Market Christmas Fair is Coming!

Stewardship in a Time of Crisis

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New Consecration Sunday Is Coming

More Questions than Answers : Explanations for tragedy, and beauty, still beyond reach

What Will We Leave the Children?

A Brief History of the Lambeth Conference By Christopher L. Webber

THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE: EQUIPING BISHOPS FOR MISSION

IF THERE WERE NO ST. MIKE'S

Remarks by Teri Corbet, Minister of Christian Education, at the Stewardship Dinner on October 7, 2007

NORM EWER'S PEACE AND JUSTICE REPORT

“Praying Our Goodbyes” and Friends of Music to Join in All Soul’s Eucharist

By Norris Battin

Mysterious Summer 2007:The Search Continues for “Religious Mystery”

Helping Orphan Children in Swaziland

By Tammy Smecker-Hane

STORIES BY HERB HOFFMAN

To Manse or Not to Manse?

These and Other Questions

By Mary Alice Moyer

“PRAYING OUR GOODBYES” AND “FIRST SUNDAYS AT FIVE” WILL COMBINE WORSHIP ON NOVEMBER 5th

By Norris Battin

Saint Michael’s Annual Alternative Market
Christmas Fair is Coming!

A Brief History of the Lambeth Conference

By Christopher L. Webber

Remarks by Teri Corbet, Minister of Christian Education,
at the Stewardship Dinner on October 7, 2007

Mysterious Summer 2007:The Search Continues
for “Religious Mystery”