What Are the Stations of the Cross About?

The Stations of the Cross is a popular devotion used to follow Jesus Christ on his way to Calvary incorporating prayer and meditation. Many Christians practice the devotion, and it is one of the most important devotions honoring the passion of Jesus.

What matters most in the Stations of the Cross is to follow Jesus Christ in his passion and to see ourselves mirrored in him. To face life’s dark side in ourselves and in our world, we need images of hope, and Jesus offers images of hope in his passion. By accompanying him on the Way of the Cross, we gain his courageous patience and learn to trust in God.

There are presently Fourteen Stations of the Cross.
1. Christ condemned to death;
2. The cross is laid upon him;
3. His first fall;
4. He meets His Blessed Mother;
5. Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross;
6. Christ’s face is wiped by Veronica;
7. His second fall;
8. He meets the women of Jerusalem;
9. His third fall;
10. He is stripped of His garments;
11. His crucifixion;
12. His death on the cross;
13. His body is taken down from the cross; and
14. laid in the tomb.

The journey of our Faith as modern Christians is not only a journey through history that can be marked by events in the past. It is also a journey of our own personal commitment to God, of our own growth as a community of Faith and as individuals maturing from self-centered children into faithful servants. It is a journey that we need to remember just as deeply and profoundly as we remember the journey of God’s people across 3,000 years of human history, or the journey of Jesus from Pilate’s Hall to Golgotha.

The crucifiction is a truth about God and how he works in the world with human beings. It is that truth about God, revealed in Jesus and his actions, that provides us with an important touchstone for our own journey.

In our eagerness to celebrate Easter and the resurrection, we often rush too quickly through Holy Week, and in doing so, miss the tremendous significance of the Cross as something more than a symbol of the crucifixion and death of Jesus as prologue to the resurrection, or as a symbol of a theological doctrine of the atonement. As Jesus himself taught his disciples on more than one occasion, the Cross symbolizes something far more profound than suffering and death.

Beyond all the dogmas and the sentimentalism associated with the Cross, finally it is about faithfulness, servanthood, the commitment of one to another that will not abandon that commitment even when rejected. In a real sense, the cross is about the power of love, the commitment of God to humanity, the faithfulness and grace of God that knows no limits and will yield to no boundary, that will risk even death itself for the sake of new life.

The journey that Jesus makes to the cross is not easy. Most such journeys of faithfulness and servanthood are fraught with great risk. There is suffering, and the death is real. If we are to remember the cross honestly, we must remember the entire journey, honestly. There will be a Sunday morning, and we cannot forget that part of the story. But not yet. The journey of the Cross winds through Holy Week, from the singing crowds on Palm Sunday to the darkness of Good Friday. Sunday will come. But not without the journey through Good Friday and the Cross. The journey from Sunday will have little meaning without the journey through Good Friday.

The Stations of the Cross is a liturgical way to reenact that journey as a meditation of worship, an act of devotion to God. To think that the event of Jesus’ journey to the Cross was a one time event in history is to misunderstand the role of remembering. For in remembering this event by walking the Stations of the Cross we are not just reenacting a 2,000 year old event. We are making our own journey, and in the process confessing our own dependence upon God.

Most of us, if we are honest, must confess that we do not live in the triumph of Easter Sunday all of the time, or even most of the time. No matter what victory we claim as Christians, the realities of life are too often difficult to bear even for people of Faith. We sometimes struggle on the journey, trying to understand the inequities of life large and small. Sometimes we are misjudged and misunderstood by others. We suffer physical and emotional pain as part of being human. All too often we experience painful endings. Marriages fail. Children make destructive decisions. Friends betray us. Loved ones die. Sometimes the world becomes dark and hopeless, like the world of Good Friday as Jesus journeyed to the Cross.
If we follow Jesus on his journey, we begin to understand that in Jesus’ sufferings we see our own journey mirrored in his. Oh, we are not likely heading to such a cruel and humiliating death. But in those somber hours of our own “dark night” we experience similar emotions of helplessness and sometimes hopelessness. To face such darkness we need some glimmer of light, some hint of hope beyond endings, some model of perseverance that comes from a faith that does not yet know the outcome but is willing to trust God with it.

In Jesus’ journey to the Cross on Good Friday, we see faithfulness in the midst of Passion (from the Greek word for “suffering”), perseverance in the midst of endings, and courage in the midst of hopelessness. As we trace Jesus’ journey we take up our own cross, the symbol of our own passion, and bear the imprint of his cross in our own. But in accompanying Jesus on the Via Dolorosa, the Way of Sorrow, we also gain courage from his commitment to the Father in that journey, from his courage to face what comes, and finally, from the realization of the truth that with God endings become the building blocks of new beginnings.

The value in the Stations of the Cross lies in the simple twofold enacted confession. First, life is sometimes dark, painful, and brings endings. That reality will not go away even for the Son of God. Second, God does some of his best work in the darkness as we persist in the journey, even when that journey leads to Golgotha. Resurrection Sunday has no meaning without Good Friday. This journey reminds us of the darkness as a basis to celebrate the light
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In this sense, we need to remember that the Stations of the Cross are primarily a context for prayer and reflection. We can too easily go through the motions of the service without really allowing ourselves to encounter God. But as we open our hearts and minds to God in this symbolic journey, we are lead to communion with God that draws us closer to His love for us. It also allows us to identify with Jesus as he identifies with us. We are drawn to contemplate, not only the suffering and pain of our own journey mirrored in His, but as we follow the Christ we are compelled to identify with those around us who suffer in their own journey.

A Meditation From All Saints Anglican Church in Gainsville, FL.

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A Muslim woman, a teacher from Bosnia, who was a victim of the war in that blood-soaked land, gave voice to the pain of her shattered self and to the impossibility of forgiveness. Sparsely and vividly, she told the story of how hate was born in her soul during the war:

“I am a Muslim, and I am 35 years old. To my second son who was just born, I have given the name Jihad, so he would not forget the testament of his mother-revenge. The first time I put my baby at my breast I told him: ‘May this milk choke you if you forget.’ So be it. The Serbs taught me to hate. For the last two months there was nothing in me. No pain, no bitterness. Only hatred. I taught these children to love. I did
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"I am a teacher of literature. I was born in Ilijas and I almost died there. My student, Zoran, the son of my neighbour, urinated into my mouth. As the bearded hooligans standing around laughed, he told me: ‘You are good for nothing else, you stinking Muslim woman.’ I do not know whether I first heard the yelling or felt the blow. My former colleague, a teacher of physics, was yelling like mad, ‘Ustasha, ustasha’, and kept hitting me. I have become insensitive to pain. But my soul? It hurts. I taught them to love and all the while they made preparations to destroy everything that is not of the Orthodox faith. Jihad-war. That is the only way.”

What horrendous humiliation. A violation that mutes speech and makes rage glow like hot lava. Its memory must stab the victim’s soul the way nails pierced the flesh of the crucified. Can the mother of Jihad ever forgive? Can Jihad, who drank the milk of her vengeance, ever know anything other than revenge? Set aside for a moment the fact that the woman was a Muslim. For now, think only of the violence and the wound it produced. How can someone with such a wound forgive?

Does Christian faith have nothing better to offer to her than to demand of her to forgive her assailants? More than anything else, she needs Christ to cradle her, to nurse her with the milk of divine love, to hold her in his arms like an inestimable gem, to sing her songs of gentle care and firm protection, and to restore her to herself as a beloved and treasured being. And that’s what Christ does. Before we forgive, Christ comes to dwell in us by faith.

Consider just one image the Apostle Paul used repeatedly for God’s relationship to our bodies and souls: the image of a temple. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God,” he wrote to the Corinthians who had abused their bodies (I Corinthians 6:19). Bodies are sacred spaces. The flame of God’s presence burns in them inextinguishably. Our bodies may be in ruins, they may even be desecrated by the excrement of human hatred and folly, and yet they are holy, sanctified unalterably as a dwelling place of the Holy One. The temples will be restored one day to their full splendour.

The Apostle called this restoration the resurrection of the body. It will be completed in the world to come. But it starts in the here and now when, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ makes a dwelling place in the fragile flesh of our mortal bodies. Indwelled by Christ, will that teacher of literature be able to forgive? She may need to rage against the perpetrators and even against God for a while. But now she will rage against perpetrators in the presence of the God who cares; she will struggle with the God who seemed absent when she needed God most, all the while being cradled by God. Eventually, the time to forgive may come. She may forgive with one part of her soul while desiring vengeance with another. She may forgive one moment and then take it back the next. She may forgive some lighter offences but not the worst ones. Such ambivalent, tentative, and hesitant attempts are not yet full-fledged forgiveness, but they are a start.

If she doesn’t trample underfoot the tender plant of forgiveness that seeks to break through the crust of vengeance with which she has protected herself, if she waters that plant with the living water of God’s goodness, one day it may grow sturdy enough to bear fruit. Notice that the seed of forgiveness may have already been there when she recounted the violation and committed herself to war as the only way. She told the story a bit like a confession, though bereft of repentance. Somewhere deep down, she knew that revenge was not right even if the thirst for it felt good. Paradoxically, it felt right because it was wrong; a wrong must be evened out by a wrong, she thought. In this implicit recognition that “the only way” was the wrong way, we get a glimpse of the seed of forgiveness. She also recounted twice that she was a teacher of love. She still trusted in love. She was angry at her violators that she, the teacher of love, had become a creature of hate.

That’s another glimpse of the seed of forgiveness that is buried under the ruins of her temple. Once the temple is rebuilt, the seed will sprout. The only question is what she will do with the tender plant.U

Edited extract from Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped of Grace by Miroslav Volf (Zondervan, £7.99). It is from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s official Lent book for 2006. Professor Volf is director of the Yale Centre for Faith and Culture.

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How much must we raise? The cost for the entire project is estimated to be between $50,000 to 60,000. So far we have received three donations which average over $4,500 each.

The plans to canvass for the Parish Center were intentionally delayed so as not to interfere with our annual stewardship campaign. If you are just now learning about this opportunity to
improve our campus, it is still 2007; and if you are considering an end of the year donation, please put it toward the parish budget where it is needed for more routine expenses.
However, if you have already made a contribution to the Parish and wish to make a second which will benefit your taxes, ... make haste!

A plan is being implemented to secure the balance needed for the redecoration that we hope will be a little different and will be enjoyable, too.

At a reception in January, you will be able to examine a vignette of the furniture we have chosen and pick up a list which will state the cost of every item and service that is part of our overall plan.

Please carefully consider how much you can afford to contribute and find something on the price list that is in the same neighborhood. However, don't settle there, "buy" (for the Parish Center) a piece of furniture or an accessory that is just a little bit more. That extra effort on your part will help end this drive quickly.

If you are unable to cover the entire cost of something on the list ...get some friends together and arrange to do it as a group. Those who contribute will be able to walk into the Parish Center and know exactly what their contribution was used for. If every member of Saint Michael & All Angels supports this effort by as much as they are able, we will hopefully have a Parish Center to be proud of by Easter.

Here is a brief summary of what you have to look forward to:

Michael's Room: This very large room has been recently painted under the supervision of our committee. All of the carpeting will be replaced with a lively commercial pattern that will set the tone for the entire center and wear well for a long time.

There will be two "conversational groupings" of furniture. One will have two love seats; the other will have two sofas. They both will have new occasional tables and lighting. The children's corner will have some chairs for older children or adults who wish to read to or sit with our younger parishioners.

The bulletin boards will be relocated and updated, making them more inviting and easier to access. The entire room will then be given a focal point with the addition of a large, round, easily moveable table in the center of the room. A chandelier, with clean lines that will complement the furniture, will be hung from the apex, adding some visual interest to the volume ceiling and a softer light for dining and evening receptions.

Davis Library: The library was also just painted a few months ago and it is now slated to undergo a substantial transformation.

All the furniture in the library (except for the console table and card catalogue) will be given away. Please let me know if you know of a good home for our beloved furniture.
The console table, which is really a dining room table that has chain drives and a number of leaves inside, will be refinished and placed in Michael's Room.

We are planning a library that will be furnished with its principle functions in mind: instruction and discussions.

There will be a single custom made “U-shaped" sectional sofa that will hug the outside and kitchen walls. Most sectionals are composed of several large pieces placed next to one another. Ours will be made of individual modules. This will allow for easy movement.We are planning to have the sectional made by Salmo's, a Southern California company whose factory is in Fountain Valley. There will be two large square coffee tables in the center of the sectional, sized so that reaching for your coffee will not be an Olympic event. There will not be any other occasional tables or any lamps. Lighting will be provided instead by adjustable sconces on the walls behind the sofa.

The wall the Library shares with Michael's Room will have new bookshelves to the left of the painting now hanging there and a built-in desk with more shelf space to the right.
Last, but by no means least, a 42 inch HDTV will be hung over the fireplace. It will be linked with a Sony Blueray DVD player which will be installed in the existing bookcase. Both the TV and the player, along with the funds for their installation, have been very generously donated by Clyde Dodge in memory of his mother, Alice H. Dodge.
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The Conference Room and Offices: New carpeting will be installed and these rooms may be painted.

I don't need to explain to you how very much this redecoration needs to be done. I also don't need to tell you all the groups and individuals who will benefit from our more comfortable spaces. I'm sure there are many that I'm not familiar with because the list is so long.

Please, check out the “Price List" when it is released and invest promptly in the future of Saint Michael & All Angels.U

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( Evolution continued from the front page)

At least half of each hour will be devoted to these questions. Perhaps chief among the questions that evolution forces us to consider is: who we are and where we are going? If biology creates species by evolution, the question naturally arises, how did we come to be and where are we going?

Restated in religious terms - what is the nature and destiny of man?

Hopefully, like Jacob we will see, win or lose, that this is a Holy struggle. Not to belabor the obvious – this may be a difficult struggle. Yet, one worth addressing. As part of our discussion we will look at Joan Roughgarden’s highly acclaimed book “Evolution and Christian Faith.” She was born to Episcopal missionary parents and is a Professor of Biology at Stanford. A number of copies will be available in the Davis Library for people who want to learn more.

January 6th:
What is Creation?

January 13th:
A look at various Creation stories

January 20th:
What is Evolution?

January 27th:
Evolution, Part Two

February 3rd:
The Intersection of the Book of Genesis and Evolution

February 10th:
What is Creation today?

Since February 10th is the first Sunday in Lent, it seems highly appropriate that we would leave with the question of where we go from here to reflect upon during Lent!
Sundays-at-Nine meets in the Davis Library between the two services.
Please join us for this truly thought-provoking class—all are welcome!U

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ANGLICAN PRIEST WORKS BEHIND THE SCENES IN BAGDAD

From The Times of London

Senior religious leaders in Iraq are preparing to sign an unprecedented “fatwa against violence” that will help reconcile the rival Sunni and Shia branches of Islam and herald new hopes for peace in the war-torn country.

The fatwa, negotiated by the peace organisation run by the Anglican “Vicar of Baghdad” Canon Andrew White, will mark a significant move towards a settlement between the Shia and Sunni communities and ease the process towards a political solution.

Canon White, said the fatwa was to be signed by Sheikh Ahmed al Kubaisi, acknowledged by Iraqis as the senior Sunni religious authority and whose Friday sermons from Dubai reach 20 million, and Ayatollah Sayyid Ammar Abu Ragheef, chief of staff for Grand Ayatollah Ali al

Sistani, leader of the Shia community in Iraq and beyond. The fatwa, which will have the equivalence of statutory authority for all Shia and Sunni Muslims in Iraq, is the culmination of years of dialogue with religious leaders behind the scenes in Iraq and throughout the region by Canon White. It follows a meeting in Cairo in August organised by Canon White’s Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, at which the two Islamic leaders were present and where they agreed to “end terrorist violence” and to work towards the fatwa.

The meeting was described by the Wall Street Journal as “truly historic”. Robert McFarlane, a former national security adviser to Ronald Reagan, wrote in the Journal: “A fatwa such as this will carry the force of law for all followers. Think about that. After more than four years of brutal warfare and untold suffering, the leading religious authorities in Iraq have joined hands and said “Enough,” and have committed to use their authority to bring peace to their country.

Speaking to The Times in London, Canon White, who has seen six of his Baghdad church leaders killed and 45 members kidnapped and not returned since the present campaign began, said: “The fatwa will definitely happen.” He said that a military solution to Iraq on its own had no chance of working. “One of the key things is getting the governments to recognise that.” But a reconciliation solution on its own would also be ineffective.

“There is not a quick, easy solution,” he continued. “This is long-term work. We have to engage with these people continually. The key thing is talking to them every day. Never before has there been a Sunni-Shia fatwa against violence. It has never been heard of in history. Will it make a difference? Not immediately. But I hope eventually it will.”

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Who is St. Nicholas?

By The Rev’d J. M. Rosenthal

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
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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.U

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

Mark Your Calendars for December 2nd
Come and Celebrate and SHOP!
We have lots of goodies this year!

The Alternative Gift Fair this year will be on Sunday, December 2nd, after both worship services. You will have the opportunity to make donations to some worthwhile organizations like:

Habitat for Humanity
Heifer Project
The Free Wheelchair Mission
Loaves and Fishes
And others!

You can buy beautiful crafts made by Third World artisans from:

SERRV
African Team Ministries

There will be olive oil and soap from the Holy Land available to purchase to support The Diocese’s Middle East Task Force.

Baked yummies to support work in Africa will be sold. Cookies baskets to support our friends in Africa will be made to order and delivered to you on December 16th
We will have beautiful greens (wreaths, swags, garlands, holly) to decorate your home.
These greens can be ordered ahead of time (to make sure you get exactly what you want) or they will be available on the day of the market on a first come first serve basis. Greens are provided by Our Saviour Center’s Kids Campus.

Our Gingerbread House Workshop for the kids was a great success last year so we are offering it again. Your child can make a Gingerbread House while you shop! The cost is $25.00 per house and includes everything they will need to make an exquisite house! Our Youth Group will supervise and help the kids as they decorate their masterpieces.
Look for sign up sheets for the greens and Gingerbread Workshop after the services on November 11th, 18th and 25th.

This will be the perfect place to buy Christmas presents for your loved ones and make donations in the name of a friend or loved one to ministries needing our help.

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SOLEMNITY OF TENEBRAE FOCUSES HOLY WEEK MEDITATIONS

By Teri Corbet
Minister of Christian Education

Holy Week at Saint Michael & All Angels is, for me, a magical, mysterious, celebratory, pensive, joyous, sad, emotional time in our liturgical year.

It is meant to mirror the last week of Jesus’ life on earth and, as with life, it has highs and lows: community times and lonely times, times that lift us to amazing heights and times that bring us to heart-breaking lows, introspective times and public celebrations
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So why participate in all the services that are offered the entire week? Why not pick and choose services that are, in our minds, the “important” ones, or the ones you are familiar with because you participated in them as a child, or the ones on the days/nights that are convenient? Jesus did not die on the cross for our convenience.

Every day that is a celebration/reminder of his life is important to us as Christ’s people, as a congregation, and as individuals. Each service is only a part of the whole: each service moves us along a path that was created 2000+ years ago; each service serves a particular need in us as we follow in the journey that is Jesus’ last week of human life
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My favorite service of the week is Tenebrae, the Latin word for “darkness” or “shadows”. We observe it on the Tuesday night of Holy Week. Personally, I think it is the most beautiful and moving service of the entire church year. It is also the least attended service here.

I’m not sure why. For me, to move from the exuberant processions of Palm Sunday directly to the solemness of Maundy Thursday is too big an emotional jolt. I need some time to ease into the observance of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice for me. I need Tenebrae!

Lent and Holy Week are not times of quiet preparation for me as a mother or a staff member of the church. I am trying to get family ready for Easter (clothes, Easter baskets, etc.), trying to get the house ready for Easter, and trying to get Christian Education ready for Easter (Lenten lessons, Palm Sunday procession, Maundy Thursday Seder, Good Friday Family Worship, the Vigil, Easter Sunday, Egg Extravaganza). My soul needs Tenebrae!

It is a simple service. It begins in silence, with the sanctuary lit only by a few candles on the altar.

The readings, beautifully chanted by two or three cantors, are mostly psalms and the first chapter of the Book of Lamentations, and are focused on our hope for salvation, deliverance, our seeking, and our expectations of eternal life.

As the service and readings proceed the candles are extinguished, one by one, until there is only one candle, the symbol of Jesus, still lit.
The sanctuary is dark, just as the approaching days are dark. Toward the end of the service this candle is hidden. This symbolizes the “victory” of the forces of evil on Good Friday.

After a period of quiet prayer and reflection a loud noise, symbolizing the earthquake at the time of the Resurrection, sounds, and the hidden candle is restored to its place on the altar.

By its light, the congregation departs. The service isn’t sad, but it is solemn. It allows space for the individual to meditate on the coming events of the week, the coming events that signify that we are a chosen, and saved, people.

It gives us a quiet time to begin to try and understand the tremendous gift that Good Friday is.

It is the perfect transition from the Hosannas of Palm Sunday to the gift of Maundy Thursday and the grief of Good Friday.

Why not mark Tenebrae on your calendar right now? I guarantee it will be a moving experience. U

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Do You Have a Prom, Bridesmaid or Graduation Dress Gathering Dust?

Cinderellas for Life is an annual event that provides foster care teens and young women in economic need with a series of workshops and an opportunity to find THE prom or graduation dress of her DREAMS, complete with matching shoes, purse and accessories. For many of these young women, there would be no prom without this event.

If prom, bridesmaid or graduation dress, shoes and purses are taking up too much space in your closet, please donating them (in good condition) for our upcoming Cinderellas for Life event, Saturday March 10, 2007. Hundreds of young girls will be thanking you!

Donation hours started February 17th, and will continue through Sunday, March 4th in Michael’s Room. Look for the Cinderellas for Life donation rack and make sure you sign up for your tax deduction.

Also, a new St. Michael’s volunteer group will be forming to help with this event, in the company of hundreds of other volunteers. If you are interested in joining us, do not hesitate to contact me. Last year I was utterly touched by one of the teens, thanking me with a big hug and a tear in her eye.

Questions? Contact Lisa Jordan; lease_jordan@hotmail.com or 714.438.0

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ANIVERSARIES IN FEBRUARY

Birthdays
2nd - Sharon Pcrry
4th - Dave Winckler
6th - Myrna Ireland
Libby Keating
11th - Robin McDowell
13th - Anna Ortt
19th - John Ireland
21st - Dottie Cole
22nd - Russell Rees
23rd - Wally Paulson
24th - Sally McCulloch
26th - Mary Alice Moyer
Julianne Powell
28th - Mike Draffin

Baptisms
6th - Dick Harrington
14th - Amanda Corbet
16th - Doug Little
24th - Peter Haynes+
Maria Solomon

Weddings
14th - Michael & Anna Ortt
16th - Victor & Olive Rumbellow
19th - Sam & Sally McCulloch
26th - Terry & Catherine Lee

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While still offering support as the holidays approach , the Praying Our Goodbyes worship service this year has been incorporated with our commemoration of All Saint/All Souls days, as we move to consider more intentional practices surrounding death and dying within our parish family. For example, as Nouwen suggests, consciously recognizing that bringing our now dead loved ones along with us as companions on our own journeys can be a an enduring source of comfort.

The service, a Eucharist of Remberance, begins at 5pm on October 30th.The parish necrology for 2005 will be read at this service and at the All Saint/All Souls commemorations.

In both the Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions, Requiem Mass is often sung in conjunction with All Saints/All Souls liturgies.

This year, the Friends of Music and the Saint Michael & All Angels choir will perform Fauré’s Requiem as the liturgical setting for the Praying our Goodbyes service.

As Tim Getz told us in last month’s newsletter, “The Requiem Mass, a traditional solemn liturgy, has inspired many composers, most notably Mozart, Berlioz, Verdi, and Fauré.... Fauré’s Requiem is unique. By omitting portions of the traditional text, the anguish, loss, and horrors of Death and Judgement Day are left by the wayside. Fauré concentrates on the true meaning of the word ‘Requiem’, or ‘rest’. His Requiem is about peaceful acceptance and release, and the music is serene, elevating, comforting, illuminated by its relatively small scale. It is accompanied by a small orchestra of lower strings (violas, cellos, and basses), harp, and organ, and would originally have been sung by a modestly-sized church choir of boys and men.”

As Tim describes it, this Requiem is a most appropriate accompaniment to the theme of hope in our Praying Our Goodbyes service.

Since June 1997, our memorial garden, formally named the Memorial Garden of The Good Shepherd, has been, as the original dedication service stated, “a restful and visually beautiful place for for the interment of ashes and for prayer and meditation.”It has had a prominent place in our parish’s intentional practices surrounding death and dying.

The garden was refurbished during 2005, and following the Parying Our Goodbyes liturgy, a Eucharist of Rememberance, we will hold a brief rededication and thanksgiving.

The garden is, of course, 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.U

THE CROSS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE KING

The emblem of the Order is in the form of a modified Greek fleury cross inscribed in Latin, “Magnanimiter Crucem Sustine,” the watchword of the Order, meaning “With heart, mind and spirit uphold and bear the cross.” At the base of the cross are the letters “FHS”, initials that stand for the Motto of the Order: “For His Sake...”

The emblem, never wavering from the original design, has been trade-marked for the exclusive use of the Order. The cross is worn at all times. It is customarily on the left side over the heart or may be worn on a silver chain around the neck, but it is never to be worn simply as an ornament. Only a member in good standing may wear the cross of the Order.

The Motto of our Order is: “For His Sake I am but one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do I ought to do. What I ought to do, by the grace of God I will do. Lord, what will you have me do?”

If you are interested in learning more about the Order of the Daughters of the King here at Saint Michael’s, please call Peggy Jordan 949.760.2670.U

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HOLY LAND PILGRIMAGE OPPORTUNITIES

By Norm Ewers

A"pilgrimage" is something too often associated with what holy or pentitent people did in the long-time-ago, not something that is done today.

That's too bad, because a Christian pilgrimage today, especially one to the Holy Land, is more a different kind of guided tour for ordinary folk; a tour in which the participant, in company with a band of fellow Christians, has opportunity to visit holy Christian sites; to worship in ancient Palestinian Christian churches; to walk where Jesus walked; to break bread with the "Living Stones" of our Christian faith and to bear witness to their lives under occupation.

A Holy Land Pilgrimage "now" is something every Christian should seriously consider. Now because time is running out for the Christian presence in the place where it was born. As one Episcopal priest put it, "Those (Christians) who can leave are leaving" their homeland to find a life of peace, security and opportunity elsewhere.

During 2007 there are, fortunately, a number of pilgrimage opportunities. A few of them are listed below.

•April 9-24 All Saints Beverly Hills. This trip will coincide with the installation of Bishop Suheil, Diocese of Jerusalem. Contact The Rev. Doyt Conn, (dconn@allsaintsbh.org)
•May 7-17 Living Peace Foundation Pilgrimage of Peace. An Interfaith journey. Contact Cantor Steven Puzarne, (310- 902-6329. spuzarne@sbcglobal.net)
•Early June Episcopal School of Theology Seminarians, Additional pilgrims welcome. Contact Rev. Judith Turberg: revjet@earathlink.net or by calling 909.621.2419
•Aug 24-Sep 25 Bishop Bruno leading 40 pilgrims. 38 pilgrims already committed. A waiting list is being established. Contact Sandy or Sue Smock 626.849.469, or sssmockjr@aol.com.
Friends of Sabeel-North America (the Voice of Palestinian Christians) maintains a pilgrimage clearinghouse that includes an incredible list of other 2007 pilgrimages that would fit any interest, budget or time. It can be found at www.fosna.org or by calling 503.653.6625.

I, of course, will be happy to share the information I have on these pilgrimage opportunities.

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Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers

By John C. Danforth

Editors note: Ambassador John C. Danforth is an Episcopal priest and a former United States Ambassador to the United Nations. He served for 18 years as a Republican Senator from Missouri. His Op-Ed article "Onward, Moderate Christian Soldiers" appeared in the June 17, 2005 edition of the New York Times.

[ENS, ST. LOUIS, Mo.] -- It would be an oversimplification to say that America's culture wars are now between people of faith and nonbelievers. People of faith are not of one mind, whether on specific issues like stem cell research and government intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo, or the more general issue of how religion relates to politics.

In recent years, conservative Christians have presented themselves as representing the one authentic Christian perspective on politics. With due respect for our conservative friends, equally devout Christians come to very different conclusions.

It is important for those of us who are sometimes called moderates to make the case that we, too, have strongly held Christian convictions, that we speak from the depths of our beliefs, and that our approach to politics is at least as faithful as that of those who are more conservative. Our difference concerns the extent to which government should, or even can, translate religious beliefs into the laws of the state.

People of faith have the right, and perhaps the obligation, to bring their values to bear in politics. Many conservative Christians approach politics with a certainty that they know God's truth, and that they can advance the kingdom of God through governmental action.

So they have developed a political agenda that they believe advances God's kingdom, one that includes efforts to "put God back" into the public square and to pass a constitutional amendment intended to protect marriage from the perceived threat of homosexuality.

Moderate Christians are less certain about when and how our beliefs can be translated into statutory form, not because of a lack of faith in God but because of a healthy acknowledgement of the limitations of human beings. Like conservative Christians, we attend church, read the Bible and say our prayers.

But for us, the only absolute standard of behavior is the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. Repeatedly in the Gospels, we find that the Love Commandment takes precedence when it conflicts with laws. We struggle to follow that commandment as we face the realities of everyday living, and we do not agree that our responsibility to live as Christians can be codified by legislators.

When, on television, we see a person in a persistent vegetative state, one who will never recover, we believe that allowing the natural and merciful end to her ordeal is more loving than imposing government power to keep her hooked up to a feeding tube.

When we see an opportunity to save our neighbors' lives through stem cell research, we believe that it is our duty to pursue that research, and to oppose legislation that would impede us from doing so.

We think that efforts to haul references of God into the public square, into schools and courthouses, are far more apt to divide Americans than to advance faith.

Following a Lord who reached out in compassion to all human beings, we oppose amending the Constitution in a way that would humiliate homosexuals.

For us, living the Love Commandment may be at odds with efforts to encapsulate Christianity in a political agenda. We strongly support the separation of church and state, both because that principle is essential to holding together a diverse country, and because the policies of the state always fall short of the demands of faith.

Aware that even our most passionate ventures into politics are efforts to carry the treasure of religion in the earthen vessel of government, we proceed in a spirit of humility lacking in our conservative colleagues.

In the decade since I left the Senate, American politics has been characterized by two phenomena: the increased activism of the Christian right, especially in the Republican Party, and the collapse of bipartisan collegiality. I do not think it is a stretch to suggest a relationship between the two.

To assert that I am on God's side and you are not, that I know God's will and you do not, and that I will use the power of government to advance my understanding of God's kingdom is certain to produce hostility.

By contrast, moderate Christians see ourselves, literally, as moderators. Far from claiming to possess God's truth, we claim only to be imperfect seekers of the truth.

We reject the notion that religion should present a series of wedge issues useful at election time for energizing a political base. We believe it is God's work to practice humility, to wear tolerance on our sleeves, to reach out to those with whom we disagree, and to overcome the meanness we see in today's politics.

For us, religion should be inclusive, and it should seek to bridge the differences that separate people. We do not exclude from worship those whose opinions differ from ours.

Following a Lord who sat at the table with tax collectors and sinners, we welcome to the Lord's table all who would come. Following a Lord who cited love of God and love of neighbor as encompassing all the commandments, we reject a political agenda that displaces that love.

Christians who hold these convictions ought to add their clear voice of moderation to the debate on religion in politics.

Note: The Episcopal Church, Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations, and the Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN)

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn are always working to ensure that the voices of Episcopalians throughout the country are heard during debates on public policy issues.

The Office of Government Relations is based on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and brings the positions of the Episcopal Church to our nation's lawmakers. The staff meets directly with government leaders, works with media, builds relationships with Members of Congress and staff, and forms coalitions of both religious and secular interest groups to further the Church's positions. It coordinates EPPN, a nationwide grassroots network of Episcopalians, who call and write their members of Congress and the Administration to advocate positions of the Church. It is part of the Peace and Justice Ministries cluster headquartered at the Episcopal Church Center, located in New York City.U

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Who Is St. Nicholas?
By J. M. Rosenthal

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 realised 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 that 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? Realising 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 are 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. His 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. 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.U

In recent years the Episcopal Church has acted from a firm foundation of biblical, historic faith, not on “whatever the liberal elements of secular society deem permissible or politically correct” as contended by Charlotte Allen in her diatribe against the Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, “Liberal Christianity is paying for its sins” (Los Angeles Times, Sunday, July 9, 2006).

Episcopalians seek to follow Jesus’ own understanding of scripture when he identified two commandments from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18): “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” as greater than any other portions of Scripture (Matthew 22:36-40). We believe that the central biblical mandates are clear: to love, welcome, and include all people into an egalitarian Christian fellowship, in which “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28, Colossians 3:11). It is in these overarching commandments and central mandates from the Bible as a whole that we find the authority of Scripture.

We do not look for that authority in any handful of scattered, isolated passages selectively gathered to rationalize intolerance, cruelty or unfairness.This basic call of God in Christ leads Christians in each age to new awareness of still unresolved divisions and unaddressed exclusions in the Church and in society. In our own times, this dynamic has led the Episcopal Church and many other American churches into conflicts over injustice and oppression against people of color, the poor, and immigrants, as well as over the equality of women and the full humanity of gay and lesbian people.

Our current conflicts are real but should not be overblown. Out of more than 7,000 congregations nationwide fewer than 150 have sought to leave the Episcopal Church. Out of 111 dioceses, seven are seeking ecclesiastical oversight from someone other than our newly elected Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, while making it clear that they do not wish to leave the Episcopal Church.

The Episcopal Church is open to all people regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation. Within the broad parameters of essential Christian conviction and practice, it celebrates a diversity of opinions and positions on many issues. We are bound together by common prayer and shared worship, so we have no need to impose uniformity in thought and doctrine.

At our best we are open-hearted and open-minded followers of Christ. We democratically elect our bishops, priests, and lay leaders at all levels of the church. We respect each person’s right to conscience. We know our understanding is limited and often mistaken but we strive together to hear God’s voice in Scripture, in the tradition of the Church and in our God-given capacities to think and feel, to reflect and to learn.

In her article, Charlotte Allen paints a picture of the Episcopal Church in particular and the American religious landscape in general that is simplistic and inaccurate. In her view churches can be neatly divided into denominations which are declining because of their liberalism and denominations which are growing because they are conservative. Reality, as usual, is a bit more complex. The Episcopal Church was never simply “the Republican Party at prayer.” It always has been and still is home to people who are both theologically and politically conservative, moderate and liberal. It is the church of Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, but also of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a life long active Episcopalian whose social conscience was formed by the Episcopal schools of his youth.

Even the Southern Baptists are more diverse than their commonly assigned caricature. The last three Baptist Presidents were named Truman, Carter andClinton.

Declining Church membership and attendance is a broader phenomenon as well. The Southern Baptist Convention now publicly worries that its plateaued membership numbers and declining baptism rates augur future decline.

Some recent studies reveal that attendance has started to decline in evangelical congregations and conservative mega churches as well. It is true that the overall membership of the Episcopal Church has declined since the 1960’s. But it also true that a majority of its dioceses experienced increases in their active members (communicants) between 1993 and 2003.

For example here in California the “liberal” diocese of Los Angeles and the “conservative” diocese of San Joaquin grew at nearly equal rates. (13.9% with 1,018 new communicants for San Joaquin and 12% with 5,869 new communicants for Los Angeles.)

Christianity in North America is moving through a great historic transition which may have first expressed itself among mainline denominations, but is not stopping there. We have moved into an era where, regardless of nominal identifications, only a minority of Americans are active, church-going Christians of any stripe.

The rivers of societal sanctions and cultural norms no longer flow through church doors depositing people in the pews. Today the majority of Americans no longer fear either social ostracism or eternal damnation when they choose not to go church. The palpable tone of hostile resentment in so many public voices of American Christianity today arises out of grief at the passing of that socially conventional church.

But we are convinced that its passing is all to the good. Too often the motivation of religious fear bore the bitter fruit of anxious lives and judgmental communities, hardly the joyous fruits of the Spirit which the poetry of St. Paul sings praises to (Galatians 5:22-23). Far better for churches of any size to be filled with people who have consciously chosen to sing praises faithfully and gratefully towards the loving God they find there.

And while we are at it, let’s sing a few praises for Katherine Jefferts Schori, newly elected as the first woman Presiding Bishop in the Episcopal Church. Her ministry continues to embody what Christian churches in the 21st century should be about. Her vision for the Church calls us beyond the current disputes to Christ’s call to comfort the mourning, feed the hungry, and preach good news to the poor.

Every week in tens of thousands of churches, including Episcopal congregations, people are quietly living into that vision by caring for their neighbors. A recent study from the University of Chicago revealed that presently 50% of Americans report they have fewer than three people in their lives they can confide in. Twenty-five percent report they have no one to confide in at all.

In such unprecedented social isolation, loneliness may be the hunger and poverty that is shared most often by people at all levels of our society. Although we make no claims that it is the only place where a life different from this can be found, we know the local Episcopal congregation offers a blessed alternative.

There you will find a faith community where people know and care for each other; respect differences, and share the presence of God, whose love passes all our understanding.U

J. Jon Bruno is the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. Bryan Jones is Rector of St. Thomas of Canterbury Episcopal Church in Long Beach.

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