FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE Volume 62 Number 7
SUMMER 2012
The Episcopal Church of Saint Michael Pacific View Drive at Marguerite
Corona del Mar
California 92625
“Give me a candle of the Spirit, O God, as I go down into the deep of my own being. Show me the hidden things...” -- Bishop George Appleton
PEGGY MONTGOMERY WRITES: Have you wondered what the patch of dirt by the North Wing will hold? (See above.) It will become a labyrinth, modeled on a very ancient seven spiral design for meditative walking. Not to be confused with a maze, a labyrinth is "unicursal", a single entrance to a single path that leads to the center, no dead ends, no tricks. For 5000 years labyrinths have been an important part of many cultures and faiths. Mosaics from Pompeii show labyrinths; fishermen long ago walked the labyrinth before going to sea to shed evil spirits that might sink their boat. Walking the labyrinth is a journey of spiritual reflection where there is healing for anxieties and grief, where joys and gratefulness may be experienced.We intend it as a community resource. When it’s finished, invite your friends. Editor’s note: To Lynn Headley and Mike Ortt, "Thank you" for starting us on our way! And thank you to Peggy Montgomery, who first envisioned a labyrinth at Saint Michael's many years ago." (see more photos inside) A PRAYER FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY Dear Lord, There is no greater feeling of liberation than to experience this freedom from sin and death that you have provided for me through Jesus Christ. Today my heart and my soul are free to praise you. For this I am very thankful. On this Independence Day, I am reminded of all those who have sacrificed for my freedom, following the example of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Let me not take my freedom, both physical and spiritual, for granted. May I always remember that my freedom was purchased with a very high price. My freedom cost others their very lives. Lord, today, bless those who have served and continue to give their lives for my freedom. With favor and bounty meet their needs and watch over their families. Help me to live my life in a way that glorifies you, Lord. Give me the strength to be a blessing in someone’s life today, and grant me the opportunity to lead others into the freedom that can be found in knowing Christ. Amen. From St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Raleigh, NC
& All Angels 949.644.0463
www.stmikescdm.org
PARISH NEWS AND NOTES TO CELEBRATE THE START OF THE SUNDAY SUMMER WORSHIP SCHEDULE ON JULY 1ST, WE WILL BE SERVING BREAKFAST FOLLOWING THE (ONE) 9AM WORSHIP SERVICE. The All American Breakfast Buffet will offer all your favorite breakfast treats: there will be a waffle bar, an egg bar, French toast, potatoes, fruit, Mimosas, Bloody Mary's, and lots of other wonderful treats. Entertainment, too! Tickets $20.00 presale, $25.00 at the door. Children under 12 eat free.
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL FOUR Fridays, 5:30 - 7:45 PM July 13, 20, 27, & August 3. Ages 3-12. For more information, contact Susan Caldwell 949.644.0463, ext. 12.
PLEASE REMEMBER . . . Saint Michael & All Angels has a Parish Emergency Fund funded by parishioners and available to parishioners facing financial emergencies and needing economic assistance. Requests should be directed to our rector or Junior Warden, Paul Multari, or any member of our Vestry. Currently there is $5000 in this Fund. At one time there was more than $20,000 in the Parish Emergency Fund; so, if you are able to contribute, all gifts are welcome! (More News and Notes on pages 2,6)
BUILDING OUR F AITH: L OVING CHRIST AND SER VING OUR COMMUNITY FAITH: LO SERVING
FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE
SUMMER 2012
2
(MORE) PARISH NEWS AND NOTES CONTRIBUTIONS WERE MADE TO THE RECTOR’S DISCRETIONARY FUND most recently by Cece Presley
in thanksgiving for Randy; by Maureen and Tim, Ann Clawson’s daughter and son, in thanksgiving for their mom; by Nancy Mowry in thanksgiving for Jan Morris; by Eric & Christie Ferentz in thanksgiving for Dylan Codori’s baptism; and by Judy & Harry Selling and by Ben Card, Lynne Ruedy and the Corbets in thanksgiving. These funds extend our Parish’s mission of outreach, providing for such needs as can be helped by financial assistance.
* * * PLEASE CHECK THE DISPLAY RACK ON THE WALL IN MICHAEL'S ROOM. Pick up a pamphlet or two to share with family and friends. A donation box is provided. "Lectio Divina- Reading the Bible with your heart" is a pamphlet that summarizes the four-step approach to "divine reading." This includes Reading, Meditation, Prayer and Contemplation. "It is a slow, contemplative praying of Scripture ... that enables us to discover in our daily life an underlying spiritual rhythm and consequently to offer more of ourselves and our relationships to God."
Anniversaries in July on left & August on right Birthdays 1st - Jeanne Rees 2nd - James Jackson 4th - Frances Haynes 7th - Marjie Blevins Bob Jenkins 11th - Steve Morris Marshall Solomon 12th - Olive Rumbellow 19th - Richard Zevnik 25th - Chris Smith 28th - Catherine Lee Alexandra Magenheimer 29th - Suzie Peltason 30th - Peter Haynes+ 31st - Louise Stover
1st - Susan Stahl 3rd - Paddy Nelson Victor Rumbellow 9th - Bob Anderson 17th - Carole Leavelle 18th - Jay Launt 20th - Jack Keating Ruth Poole 23rd - Murry McClaren 26th - Sue Ewers 27th - Lynne Ruedy 28th - John Johnson Ray Johnson Stacy Stone 29th - Jack Peltason Baptisms 25th - Teri Corbet
16th - Anne Conover Weddings
* * *
1st - Derek & Courtney Falde 7th - James & Marguerite Jackson 10th - Wally & Barbara Paulson 18th - Michael Boor & Marjie Blevins Jeff & Stacy Stone 27th - Ali & Gail Haghjoo 30th - Norm & Beth Bianchi
4th - John & Myrna Ireland 6th - Bob & Diana Brookes, Jr 13th - Jim & Libby Wallace 20th - Richard & Cam Wallis 21st - Bruce & Kathy Stuart 25th - Steve & Ann Morris 26th - Bob & Shirley Anderson
THE PARISH DIRECTORY will be updated in early July. If you would like to submit new or replacement pictures for inclusion, email digital files to newquay@roadrunner.com, or give photographs to Susan Beechner in the parish office.
THOUGHTS FOR THIS LIFE
FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE
* * * THE MEN’S GROUP, READERS AND SEEKERS, meets on Thursdays at 7:30am in the Davis Library to discuss classical and contemporary thought in theology, science and philosophy. All men are invited. Senior Warden................................Lynn Headley [pirrung@earthlink.net] 714.963.5932 Junior Warden.................................Paul Multari [paul.multari@sce.com 949.760-1454 Christian Education...................... Anne Conover [anabananacaddie@aol.com] 949.721.1050 Clerk of the Vestry...........................Gail Haghjoo [gail@hallresearch.com] 714.966.0314 Building and Grounds.........................Mike Ortt seagate@socal.rr.com 714.323.8189
Blessed is the person who knows his own weakness, because awareness of this becomes for him the foundation and the beginning of all that is good and beautiful. --Saint Isaac
VESTRY MEMBERS 2012 Communications............................Clyde Dodge [clydedodge@cox.net 949.375.1530 Evangelism.............................Deborah Newquist [debnewquist@gmnail.com] 949.854.2675 Fellowship......................................Teri Corbet [hbangel49@msn.com] 714.964.5505
is a publication of Saint Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church, Corona del Mar, CA. Copy deadline is the second Wednesday of the month. We welcome letters and articles. Editor: Susan Beechner 949.644.0463
Finance.......................................... Jim Palda [paldajim@yahoo.com] 626.533.8037 Mission...................................Michele Duncan [theduncanfour@cox.net] 949.888.1314 Stewardship...................................Joan Short [joanshort@earthlink.net] 949.644.0719 Worship..The Very Rev’d Canon Peter D. Haynes [phaynes@stmikescdm.org] 949.644.0463
FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE
SUMMER 2012
3
...From the Desk of the Rector
BELOVEDS IN CHRIST,
Y
es, Frances and I are still basking in the joy of Don graduating from Corona del Mar High School with honors for his film-making and getting ready for him to move to Marymount College on the Palos Verdes peninsula next Fall. Truly, I am still remembering with gratitude our summer of 2011 with a week in Athens following our Parish Pilgrimage in the Holy Land, then time in Geneva for beloved friends’ wedding; this will sustain me in summer 2012 when there will be no big vacations for us. So, my credentials for encouraging you to take a vacation are of questionable qualification, but I do encourage you to seize time in July-August for escape from routine. Many Americans are not good at taking enough time off from work. Others are like me and enjoy and appreciate our work so much that we don’t want to be away from it for too long. As a nation we pride ourselves on being the most productive economy in the world, and some think it’s only our devotion and effort that keeps us employed. And, of course, these days we know we are blessed to have any income at all! In an economic atmosphere like ours, vacationing is more than a rest for body and mind, it is a spiritual practice. It is claiming our humanness, our finiteness, our “not God-ness” (as C.S. Lewis might say). It is practicing holy Sabbath, the commandment to regularly rest, to remember our place in this world. To claim vacation time as Sabbath, a “big production” is unnecessary. You don’t have to drop your savings account into a cruise or transcontinental trip to get away. It’s about creating difference, practicing your belief that you really aren’t in charge of the world despite trying to be. Yes, “this fragile earth, our island home” (BCP 370) can be a scary, indifferent and uncertain place at times; but at other times it’s also a place of wonder, beauty, love, loyalty, sacrifice, rest, relief and joy. Taking time away helps us feel that truth in our bones, and not simply assent to it as a nice idea. However you find joy, however you define fun, do some of that. Fill the rest of the time with people you care about with indefinite plans. Let go! Let God run the world for awhile, it will be here when you get back. And, so will your Saint Michael & All Angels’ Episcopal Parish Church!
Yours, in Christ -
Parishioners I asked to proofread this letter asked for recommendations of books for “(refreshing) summer reading.” Here’s my “to read in July-August” list: “Strength for the Journey: A Guide to Spiritual Practice“ by (The Rev’d) Renee Miller, an Episcopal priest colleague through the CREDO Institute; “One on One: Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game” by John Feinstein (given to me by a parishioner); “Beach Music” by Pat Conroy (given to me by my tennis partner); “The Jaguar,” the latest novel by T. Jefferson Parker, a favorite author and former Orange County resident. And, there is much “refreshing” reading in our Davis Library and in my office; please tell me what you’re wanting to read and I’ll do my best to point you in a good direction.
Book Description:”Strength for the Journey: A Guide to Spiritual Practice” Publication Date: October 1, 2011 This collection of thoughtful reflections looks at events and activities of everyday life and discovers routes to spiritual practice and deeper, daily spirituality. At the behest of CREDO Institute, Inc., which hosts health and wellness conferences and is supported by the Episcopal Church Pension Fund, priest and CREDO conference leader Rene Miller wrote the 20 reflections and grouped them into the categories Meditative Practice,Ministry Practice,Media Practice,Mind Practice,and Movement Practice.Each entry, accented with color photographs, is aimed at evoking mindfulness in the common activities of life, from music and moviegoing to reading, writing, and walking. For the reader who wishes to use the book to introduce or more deeply explore spiritual practices with other people or in an instructional setting, each chapter concludes with a nod toward who might be inclined to certain practices, based on individual predilections or personality. The Foreword by Brian Taylor lays out the theological underpinnings of spiritual discipline in what could stand alone as a primer on spiritual practice.
* * * Book Description: “The Jaguar” Publication Date: January 10, 2012 Series: Charlie Hood New York Times bestseller T. Jefferson Parker, crime fiction's most critically acclaimed and award-winning writer continues "the most ground-breaking crime series in decades." (St. Louis Post- Dispatch) with another gripping tale of the Mexican border. Erin McKenna, a beautiful songwriter married to a crooked Los Angeles County sheriff 's deputy, is kidnapped by Benjamin Armenta, the ruthless leader of the powerful Gulf Cartel. But his demands turn out to be as unusual as the crumbling castle in which Erin is kept. She is ordered to compose a unique narcocoriddo, a modern-day folk ballad of the kind that have recorded the exploits of the drug dealers, gunrunners, and outlaws who have highlighted Mexican history for generations. Under threat of death, Armenta orders Erin to tell his life story-in music-and write "the greatest narcocorrido of all time." Allowed to wander the dark hallways of the castle retreat with only a guitar and a mysterious old priest to keep her company, Erin must produce the most beautiful song that these men have ever heard. As the mesmerizing music and lyrics of Erin's song cascade from the jungle hideout, they serve as a siren song to the two men who love Erin: her outlaw husband, Bradley Smith, and the lawman Charlie Hood- two men who together have the power to rescue her. Here, amid the ancient beauty and haunted landscape of the Yucatan lowlands, the long-simmering rivalry between these men will be brought closer to its explosive finale. T. Jefferson Parker, who is widely hailed as his generation's most accomplished and talented crime novelist, delivers a crime thriller that dramatically redefines the landscape of the cartel wars as an epic clash of good and evil. Notes from Amazon.com
FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE SAINT MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS EPISCOPAL CHURCH A CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION
Our mission is to seek and share Jesus Christ as spiritual food for life’s journey.
3233 Pacific View Drive Corona del Mar, CA 92625 949.644.0463 949.644.9247 FAX www.stmikescdm.org
The Very Rev’d Canon Peter D. Haynes, Rector [phaynes@stmikescdm.org]
Susan Caldwell Director of Christian Education [scaldwell@stmikescdm.org]
Stephen M Black, Minister of Music [stephenmblack@gmail.com] The Ven. Canon Terry Lynberg Assisting Priest The Rev’d Canon Ray Flemming Assisting Priest The Rev’d Jefferson Hulet Assisting Priest The Rev’d Fennie Chang, Ph.D., Canterbury Irvine Susan Beechner, Parish Secretary [sbeechner@stmikescdm.org] Donnie Lewis, Bookkeeper [dlewis@stmikescdm.org]
WORSHIP SCHEDULE Sunday Holy Eucharist 9am Adult Education 10am Sunday School 9am Nursery Care provided from 8:45am Wednesday Mid-week Worship 10am ABOUT SAINT MICHAEL & ALL ANGELS CORONA DEL MAR
We are a Christian Community of the Anglican Communion who come to hear God’s word and receive and share the Lord Jesus Christ. Our purpose is to have Christ live in us in order that in Christ we may live faithful and productive Christian lives. Our commitment to the Gospel is evangelical; our liturgical tradition, catholic; our theology orthodox but open to thought, reflection, and spiritual endeavor. We care about the world and strive to serve Christ in it.
SUMMER 2012
CHRISTIAN EDUCATION
Susan Caldwell
Judean hills are holy, Judean fields are fair, For one can find the footprints Of Jesus everywhere The opening lines to the poem by William L. Stidger, reminds us of that special place on the earth where our Savior lived and breathed. The Judean hills are lovely. And there are those in our congregation who have seen this scenic landscape firsthand. This summer, the children’s ministry team is putting together a Vacation Bible School program which will be on four consecutive Friday nights starting on July 13, from 5:30-7:45 p.m. Children ages 3-12 are welcome to attend. The cost is $50.00, T-shirt and dinner included. The theme for this summer’s VBS is Journey to the Holy Land. Last year, a group from Saint Michael’s went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. It was a very meaningful and community building experience. The children’s ministry team hopes to reflect upon Saint Michael’s parishioners’ travels by building a Holy Land set in the gymnasium. The intention of the program is to familiarize the children with the sights and sounds of Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem and Galilee. We will do our best to recreate the Holy Land experience! If would like to participate, please feel free to contact me at the church 949.644.0463, ext. 12. We need support in several areas of the program. The menu for the VBS program dinners will be both kid friendly as well as culturally reflective of the Holy Land. We need large pieces of cardboard and foam core materials to build the sets. We will need a fish net and a small boat. There are several more items on the wish list. Come by the VBS table to have a look at what great things are happening this summer and the ways in which you can help out.Thank you for all your prayers and support.
NURSERY CARE for infants through 2 years of age is available in the Parish Center beginning at 8:45am, and Sunday School is available for children from 3 to 13 years. .
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PRAYERS HEALING Jon Michele Leasa Olive La Juan Sally Sam Pat Jean Peggy Shirley Jack Mary Betty Chris Paddy John Dan Roberta Linda Bill Laura George Phil
GUIDANCE Mary John, Jack Victor Elizabeth Sam Bob Sue Keith Jeannine Jeff Doug Donnie Mari Scott
THANKSGIVING - with Peter and family for Edith Coppen; - with Joan and family for George Short; - with Murry and family for George McClaren; - with Esther McNamee for her sister, Bonna Werner; - with the Blevins-Boor family for Marjorie Steele Peyton; - for Jim Ferguson and Muriel Ferguson; - for Myrna & John Ireland’s 50th wedding anniversary; -for Louise and Catherine Stover’s birthdays Call Esther McNamee for prayer requests at 949.640.1749
JULY/AUGUST 2012 Calendar of Ev ents At Saint Mic hael & All Ang els Events Michael Angels
IN THE COMING WEEKS
EACH WEEK Sunday
Holy Eucharist at 9:00 a.m. Nursery care from 8:45 a.m. on Sunday School at 9:00 a.m. Adult Education, 10:00 a.m., DL
Monday
Whiz Kids, 1:30-5:00 p.m., AAC House of Speed, 5:00-6:30 p.m., AAC St. Mike’s basketball, 7:00-9:00 p.m., AAC
Tuesday
Bible Study, 7:30-9:00 a.m., DL Whiz Kids, 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m., AAC Volleyball, 5:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., AAC
Wednesday
AA meeting, 7:00-8:00 a.m., SW Mid-week Worship, 10:00 a.m. Whiz Kids, 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m., AAC Volleyball, 5:00-9:00 p.m., AAC (not 7/4)
Thursday
Men’s Readers & Seekers, 7:30-9:00 a.m., DL Whiz Kids, 9:00-11:30 p.m., AAC Volleyball, 5:00-9:00 p.m., AAC
Friday
Yoga class, 9:00-10:00 a.m., NW (not 7/6, 7/13) Basketball, 3:30-5:00 p.m., AAC Basketball, 5:00-8:00 p.m., AAC AA meeting, 7:00-10:00 p.m., SW
Meeting Rooms: AAC - All Angels’ Court MR - Michael’s Room CR - Conference Room
DL - Davis Library NW - North Wing BR - Blue Room, AAC
SW - South Wing PC - Parish Center RR - Red Room, AAC
July & August: Sunday Morning Worship 9:00 a.m. only Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. Sun., July 1st Wed., July 4th Tues., July 10th Fri., July 13th Fri., July 20th Tues., July 24th Fri., July 27th Sun., July 29th
Begin one Worship Service at 9:00 a.m. Sundays Fellowship Breakfast, 10:30 a.m., AAC Independence Day - Office closed Mid-week Worship, 10:00 a.m. Hutchins Consort Board, 4:00 p.m., CR Vacation Bible School, 5:30-7:45, AAC & Sanctuary Vacation Bible School, 5:30-7:45, AAC & Sanctuary Spyglass Hill Homeowners Board, 6:00-9:00 p.m., CR “Boys Hope Girls Hope” youth here to help out with summer projects/cleaning, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Vacation Bible School, 5:30-7:45, AAC & Sanctuary Mission Commission, 10:15 a.m., CR
August Wed., Aug. 1st Fri., Aug. 3rd Sun., Aug. 5th Wed., Aug. 8th
Evangelism Commission, 2:00 p.m., CR Vacation Bible School, 5:30-7:45, AAC & Sanctuary “Mediterranean” Fellowship Breakfast, 10:30 a.m., AAC Senior Ministry, 2:00 p.m., CR Vestry Meeting, 7:00-9:00 p.m., CR Mon., Aug. 13th UCI Canterbury Board, 1:00-2:30 p.m., CR Wed., Aug. 15th Deadline for September For the Love of Mike, 5:00 p.m. IN THE COMING MONTHS
Sun., Sept. 2nd Sunday Worship returns to 8:00 & 10:00 a.m. Sheetz-Palazzola wedding, 5:00 p.m. Sun., Sept. 9th Acolyte Training, 11:30 a.m., Sanctuary Sun., Sept. 16th Worship Commission, 11:30, CR Sun., Sept. 30th Saint Michael’s Day Celebration Sun., Oct. 7th Blessing of Critters, honoring Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi
Pentecost on May 27th! A Baptism and a Birthday Party for the Church!
Everyone enjoyed the fabulous food!
The Labyrinth is Finally Here!!
Breaking Ground
Building the Outline Marking the Design
Filling in the Center It’s almost done!
S T. M I C H A E L & A L L A N G E L S W O U L D L I K E T O T H A N K T H E S E B U S I N E S S E S F O R M A K I N G O U R N E W S L E T T E R P O S S I B L E
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FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE
A NUN’S PRISION MINISTRY [The Episcopal News, Diocese of Los Angeles] Feeling beloved is a tough sell for “Serena,” 15, and the other students in the “Good Seed” classes taught by Episcopal nun Sr. Greta Ronningen at a California juvenile jail. Enabling Serena and the other girls to connect with themselves, with one another and with God through art therapy, meditation, journaling, prayer and counseling are aims of Ronningen’s program, also called the “Peace Project.” Dressed in prison issue black pants and gray T-shirts, Serena and five other girls who live in the special housing unit at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey file into the classroom Ronnignen has carefully prepared. (The young women’s names have been changed to protect their identities). A total of 400 minors are in the facility awaiting trial on a variety of charges; 75 are girls. Ronningen prepares the room for class by popping meditative music into a CD player, distributing colored pencils and paper, rearranging chairs, spraying lavender-scented air freshener for “aromatherapy” and lighting a candle. Though minors, these girls are often labeled by society as monsters, but each was “wounded, hurt and abused” prior to arriving at the facility, Ronningen said. Through a three-year grant from the Episcopal Church Foundation for transformational ministries, she is able to offer informational classes on stress, anger, forgiveness, power and control, abusive relationships and healing as well as teaching breathing, meditation and other coping skills. She also offers opportunities for Christian formation and faith-building, for deepening relationships with God. The path to healing involves facing past demons and learning new ways of coping. Ronningen’s own experiences led her to “risky behavior and drugs and abuse and it prepared a fertile ground from which I do this ministry.” She has served for nearly four years as a chaplain for Prism, the restorative justice ministry of the diocese, visiting inmates at the Twin Towers facility in downtown Los Angeles and other locations. She has also completed three units of clinical pastoral education and is working toward a master’s degree in spiritual formation at the Claremont School of Theology. She is a founding member of the Community of Divine Love, an Episcopal religious order in the Benedictine tradition, in San Gabriel. She had founded the two
SUMMER 2012
largest yoga businesses in the United States and continues to teach yoga, including breathing and meditation classes, to cancer patients at City of Hope Hospital in Duarte. She also offers individual counseling. “I love this,” Ronningen said of her ministry at Los Padrinos. “There’s such a need. There’s such a huge hunger. I just want more people to actually join us. People who have volunteered with Prism just love it. “People who are incarcerated are so hungry,” she said. “They’re so humbled by this brokenness in their lives, by this crisis that there’s an opportunity to bring this nutrient-dense word of God into their lives.” Recently, she was asked to be the godmother for one of her students. Destiny, 15, grew up in Compton. Fresh-faced, soft-voiced, shy, she rakes her hand through her shoulder-length hair as she describes first connecting with Ronningen seven months ago. That was after she graduated from “Level 3 … when they say you want to kill yourself or somebody else.” Ronningen’s revelations about her own experience of rape struck a chord with Destiny, also a victim of sexual abuse. She soaked up all the Good Seed classes she could, repeating the lessons aloud. She has learned a great deal, she said, especially about forgiveness and redemption. She hopes to someday work in a hospital, conducting sonograms for expectant mothers. “It represents a new life, new children from God. A healthy life.” “I know my life will never be perfect,” she said, “but I will try to maintain the ten commandments from this day forward.” She wants people to know, she said, that whatever the circumstance or situation “whether you’re being abused or bullied, whatever things people do to put you down or see you sad, don’t believe what they’re saying. Love your life.” Destiny, Ronningen said, “is so beautiful, she has hope, she’s such a bright light, she has such a tender heart, having suffered so much. We’ve talked about the idea that she would someday be of great inspiration and hope to others who also suffer. “I think that these girls need to have good seeds planted in their hearts and minds: coping skills, wisdom, love of God,” Ronningen added. “I think that these seeds are planted and will come to fruition in their lives.”
5
U
nited Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of the Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Through United Thank Offering, men, women, and children nurture the habit of giving daily thanks to God. These prayers of thanksgiving start when we recognize and name our many daily blessings. Those who participate in UTO discover that thankfulness leads to generosity. United Thank Offering is entrusted to promote thank offerings, to receive the offerings, and to distribute the UTO monies to support mission and ministry throughout the Episcopal Church and in Provinces of the Anglican Communion in the developing world. 2011 UTO GRANTS (List continued monthly as space permits.) -- $60,000 to the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem & Middle East toward purchase of an ECHO machine for the Anglican Diabetes Clinic at St. Andrew's, Ramallah -- $17,900 to the Diocese of Lexington for renovations for The Community Meal, a ministry of St. Philip's Episcopal Church to the Harrodsburg/Mercer County community -- $35,332 to the Diocese of Los Angeles for building and land purchase for the Women's Training/Parenting Skills and Day Care Center, a project of the Diocese of Los Angeles' Companion Diocese of Wiawso, in Ghana. -- $50,000 to the Diocese of Los Angeles for a facility upgrade for a '580 Cafe' to offer hunger relief to students & neighborhood youth of color, with a mentoring program in the arts; a project of St. Philip's Church and the Canterbury Westwood Foundation (the Episcopal Campus Ministry to UCLA) -- $45,000 to the Diocese of Louisiana for a professional artist, program director, recreational director, site coordinator/ secretary, laptops & equipment, software, and digital camera at St. Paul's and Hope United Church Collaborative Community Outreach Project, a renovation effort in New Orleans.
FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE
(MORE) PARISH NEWS AND NOTES LOAVES AND FISHES: This July and two weeks into August we will collect school supplies for the children who come to the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen, such things as 8-12 count markers, spiral notebooks (college or wide ruled) and filler paper (3 hole punched and either college or wide ruled). Please turn your donations into the red wagon before August 15th. Watch your Sunday bulletins for information about what we will begin collecting during August. Monetary donations are always welcome, too, and checks should be made payable to Saint Michael & All Angels, with Loaves and Fishes on the memo line. (Tax ID #95-2123746)
* * * DO YOU APPRECIATE “THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE” the ways we offer them during Sunday morning worship? Louise Stover and Jay Launt have been providing the forms we use; now, you are invited to join Louise in doing likewise. Provide forms for “The Prayers of the People” you would like us to use a month or two in advance of the Sunday for which that form would be used and be part of our worship planning. Questions? Please see our rector.
* * * SAINT MICHAEL’S FINANCIAL UPDATE FOR MAY 2012: Preliminary YTD Income is $230,001. Our YTD Expense is $241,947. The parish Net Ordinary Income is ($11,945), which is $10,585 ahead of plan. Our YTD Pledge Income is $168,497 which is $7,398 below our plan through the end of May. Our total operating cash balance is $110,367 of which $99,302 is designated gifts, leaving a net balance of $11,065. The Endowment Trust has a balance of $ 152,363. During the summer months, it is important that we keep our pledges up to date in order to cover our summer expenses. Our God has been so gracious to us. Let us always remember to give back to God from whom all our blessings flow.
SUMMER 2012
6
BOOKSHELF
MYSTERIOUS SUMMER
Fear and Friendship - Anglicans Engaging with Islam edited by Sarah Coakley and Frances Ward
Two recommendations this year for lovers of Anglican/Episcopal detective fiction: My Father's Sins by Dale Osborn Rains The Reverend Michael Richey, rector of St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church and chaplain to the Madison Police Department, is blessed with a beautiful family, an enthusiastic congregation, and a fulfilling ministry to the homeless men and women of Madison, South Carolina. However, when the police discover the body of a homeless man in a street-side stairwell, MPD Chief Detective Jerry Majors surprisingly implicates Father Mike in the old man’s murder. To prove his innocence, Mike pledges to find the killer himself, despite the strong objections of his close friend, Police Detective Carlos Ruiz, and his beloved bishop, the Right Reverend Barbara Michener. Then Mike makes an earth-shattering discovery: the killer is targeting him—and not only him but also his ten-year-old son, Tim. He’s working against time. He must find the killer— now.
(Information from publisher's website) This book offers a new depth of theological thinking in Anglican/Muslim engagement, founded in narratives of real encounters in parish and cathedral life in contemporary Britain. Many encounters between people of different religions are marked by an initial sense of incompetence, ignorance and fear-- of getting it wrong, of causing offense, of ulterior motives. Such fears are explored honestly, in stories of actual situations and relationships – often unexpected, sometimes funny, invariably profound. Friendship is presented as a public rather than merely a private phenomenon, enabling relations of trust and depth to develop and leading to the possibility of authentic talk and reciprocity of respect and courtesy. Read more at http://bit.ly/LH0na3
* * * PHONE TREE MINISTRY: NEW MEMBERS NEEDED. Our goal is to contact every parishioner by phone once a month.This is a great opportunity to get to know others better and to share information, needs and suggestions about Saint Mike's. Please contact Ruth Poole at 949.644.9263.
* * * IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SPONSOR the Sanctuary Light or Altar Flowers in memory of a loved one or in thanksgiving for a birthday, anniversary, or other special event, please sign up on the board in the Parish Center and indicate the person or occasion to be remembered. The suggested donation for flowers is $30 and for the Sanctuary Light is $10. Please mark your donation for the Altar Guild.
* * * DO WE HAVE YOUR MOST RECENT EMAIL ADDRESS? Please contact Susan Beechner, sbeechner@stmikescdm.org with changes or additions.
Sydney Chambers and the Shadow of Death by James Runcie (yes, the archbishop’s son): Sidney Chambers, the Vicar of Grantchester and Honorary Canon of Ely Cathedral, is a thirty-two year old bachelor. Tall, with dark brown hair, eyes the colour of hazelnuts and a reassuringly gentle manner, Sidney is an unconventional clergyman and can go where the police cannot. In The Grantchester Mysteries, Sidney, together with his roguish friend Inspector Horatio ‘Harry’ Keating, must enquire into the suspected suicide of a Cambridge solicitor, a scandalous jewelry theft at a New Year's Eve dinner party, the unexplained death of a wellknown jazz promoter, and a shocking art forgery, the disclosure of which puts a close friend in danger. Sidney discovers that being a detective, like being a clergyman, means that you are never off duty, but alongside the mysteries he solves he manages to find time for a keen interest in cricket, warm beer and hot jazz, and the works of Tolstoy and Shakespeare - as well as a curious fondness for a German widow three years his junior. (Book summaries from promotional websites.)
-- Norris Battin
FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE
HOLY WOMEN HOLY MEN
Norm Ewers
WILLIAM WHITE (1748-1836) First Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church
W
illiam White was born in Philadelphia. He and his family played a prominent role in colonial America and the fledgling United States of America. His younger sister, Mary, was the wife of Robert Morris, the “financier of the Revolution.” He was married to Mary Harrison, who came from a landed Virginia family and whose father was Mayor of Philadelphia. Together they had eight children, only three of whom survived to adulthood. White was the only Episcopal cleric in Pennsylvania who sided with the American revolutionary cause, the others remaining loyal to the British. He served as Chaplain of the Continental Congress and of the Senate. His home on Walnut Street is now part of the Independence National Historic Park, notable, in part, because it was one of the first to have an indoor “necessary” and on its staff a free African American, but no slaves. The prominent physician William Rush lived next door. White began his education at Philadelphia College (later University of Pennsylvania), taking his BA and MA degrees from that institution. In 1781 he graduated D.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, of which he was a trustee from 1774 until his death. In 1770 William White sailed to England, to be ordained Deacon. He returned to England in 1772 to be ordained Priest. He returned, for the third time in 1787 to be consecrated by the Archbishops of Canterbury, York, Bath and Wells, and Peterborough as the second bishop consecrated in the Episcopal Church. Bishop White was the chief architect of the Constitution of the American Episcopal Church. As the Presiding Bishop at its organization and its Presiding Bishop from 1795 until his death in 1836 his gifts of statesmanship and reconciling moderation steered the church through the first years of its independent life. His many accomplishments include: the founding of the Episcopal Academy
SUMMER 2012
to prepare Episcopal sons to be leaders in society; the founding of what is now the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, of which he served as President for sixteen years; the founding of the Philadelphia Society for the Alleviation of Miseries of Public Prisons, which attracted the Quaker participation and of which he was its first president. In 1795 Bishop White raised funds to create a school for black and Native American children. In 1800 he helped create a “Magdalen Society” in Philadelphia; the first of its kind in America to assist prostitutes desirous of returning to a “life of rectitude.” He, together with Benjamin Franklin and other prominent Philadelphians, was a member of the American Philosophical Society. He gained the esteem of the Philadelphia community through his ongoing charitable works, especially during the devastating outbreaks of yellow fever during the 1790s when many wealthy Philadelphians fled to the countryside while he remained to tend the ill. His influence in his native city made him its “first citizen.” To few men has the epithet “venerable” been more aptly applied. William White’s Feast Day is July 17.
* * * TIME AND TALENT If you are thinking about volunteering with one of our commissions at St. Mike’s, please review The “Parish Life” booklet on the “back rail” of the Sanctuary. which describes these activities. We need greeters, acolytes, coffee hosts, and ushers, and have other interesting assignments as well. Volunteering is a wonderful way to meet new people at St. Mike’s. Please call Murry McClaren with questions at 714.979.6978. St. Mike’s Facebook Page
facebook.com/SMAACDM “Like” us Read us every day WE’VE GOT 37 40 CAN WE REACH 50?
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BISHOPS URGE OBAMA TO INTERVENE IN UNFUNDING CUT FOR GAZA HOSPITAL By Matthew Davies [Episcopal News Service] The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has ended its financial support to the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, an institution run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The decision, made June 1, cuts the hospital’s budget nearly by half. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori along with 101 Episcopal Church bishops from 43 states and the District of Columbia have written to U.S. President Barack Obama calling for his intervention in reversing the decision that, they say, could have “disastrous consequences for the more than two million residents of Gaza, already living in conditions of profound humanitarian need.” UNRWA’s decision, after nearly two decades of partnership with the hospital, comes “without public justification … and threatens to debilitate the hospital, its 120-person staff, and the many thousands of Gazans who rely on it for primary and urgent care and treatment,” the bishops say. Founded as a mission of the Anglican Church in 1882, the hospital became a part of the diocese in 1982. Today, it is among more than 30 institutions run by the Jerusalem-based diocese. The hospital provides primary and emergency care to the almost exclusively Muslim population in Gaza, “and does so without proselytizing or discriminating on the basis of religion, ethnicity, politics, or social identification,” the bishops say. “It is the only facility of its sort in the Gaza Strip that is not run by the Hamas government and as such, it is able to provide care without any outside interference or political calculation. Its continued operation thus is in the inherent interests of the United States government.” LEST WE FORGET: There have been 4489 American military casualties in Iraq and 1879 in Afghanistan. "Lord hear our prayers for those who are dead and for those who mourn."
FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE
SHARPS AND FLATS
STEPHEN BLACK
The following was featured on an episode of Garrison Keillor’s radio show A Prairie Home Companion, and is also hanging on the wall in my office. Enjoy! ACTS 29 And it came to pass, when Paul was at Corinth, he and certain disciples came upon a mob that was stoning an organist. And Paul said unto them, “What then hath he done unto thee that his head should be bruised?” And the people cried with one voice, “He hath played too loud. Yea, in the singing of psalms, he maketh our heads to ring as if they were beaten with hammers. Behold, he sitteth up high in the loft, and mighty are the pipes and mighty is the noise thereof, and tho’ there be few of us below, he nonetheless playeth with all the stops, the Assyrian trumpet stop and the stop of the ram’s horn and the stop that soundeth like the sawing of stone, and we cannot hear the words that
SUMMER 2012
cometh out of our own mouths. He always tosseth in the variations that confuse us mightily and playeth loud and discordant and always in a militant tempo, so that we have not time to breathe as we sing. Lo, he is a plague upon the faith and should be chastised. Paul, hearing this, had himself picked up a small stone, and was about to cast it, but he set it down and bade the organist come forward. He was a narrow man, pale of complexion, dry, flaking thin of hair. And Paul said unto him, “Why hath thou so abused thy brethren?” And the organist replied, “I could not hear them singing from where I sat, and therefore played the louder so as to encourage them.” And Paul turned round to the mob and said loudly, “Let him who has never played an organ cast the first stone.” And they cast stones for awhile until their arms were tired and Paul bade the organist repent and he did. And Paul said unto him, “Thou shalt take up the flute and play it for thirty days, to cleanse thy spirit.” And afterward, they returned to Corinth and sang psalms unaccompanied and then had coffee and were refreshed in the faith.
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SUMMER CHOIR Anyone who wishes to sing in the summer informal choir can simply come and be seated in the choir stalls 15 minutes before the service begins. The summer choir is open to anyone -- children, adults, families. The choir will not vest or process. If you have ever thought of joining our choir, this is a great way to get a little feel for what it is like!
* * * Please note: The deadline for the September issue of “For the Love of Mike” is Wednesday, August 15th at 5pm.
FOR THE LLO OVE OF MIKE Saint Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church A Christian Community of the Anglican Communion 3233 Pacific View Drive Corona del Mar, CA 92625
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Inside the Summer Issue: Page 1: The Labyrinth TTak ak es FForm orm akes Page 3: Summer Sabbath Page 4: V acation Bible School Vacation
Pray for and R emember our P arish Emergency FFund und Remember Parish