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!
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.)
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.
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
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
.
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.
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.
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!
"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.