Diocese of San
Joaquin
The Episcopal Church
Episcopal Shield
The Friday Reflection Title
November 9, 2018

From Deacon Candidate
Terrance Goodpasture
Serving at
St. James Cathedral, Fresno
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a conference with two other Deacons in process along with our Canon. Canon Anna, Tom Hampson, Wilson Colon and I, all traveled to Los Angeles to attend an ABCD training through the office of ERD (Episcopal Relief and Development). ABCD is short for Asset Based Community Development.
An Asset-Based Approach to Engaging Church and Community is centered around the belief that individuals, groups, and communities have the gifts they need to address the needs they see around them. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that each of us are given different gifts to serve the community and we are all a part of the body of Christ working together.
Throughout the four days of our training we learned how to help communities discern their gifts from God and how those gifts can be used to the benefit of all. It is a means to sustainable development that stems from a focus on strengths versus needs. In order to do this work, we have to be in partnership and engage with one another to work together and move from thinking that there is inadequacy in a community that they are unable to address to believing they have an abundance of gifts and strengths to address their needs. Asset based development encourages a community to share their passions, hopes, and dreams for their communities with the gifts (assets) around them. As a community of faith, we are called to move away from doing something “to” or “for” a community. We need to stop looking at the deficits of a community and instead ask what we all can gain by engaging with each other.
Since attending this training, I have been reflecting on the message we heard at our recent Diocesan Convention regarding The Way of Love. Presiding Bishop Curry has invited the whole church to take up The Way of Love, a “rule of life” focused on practices for a Jesus-Centered Life. Like the disciples, we are called by Jesus to follow the Way of Love. With God’s help, we can turn from the powers of sin, hatred, fear, injustice, and oppression toward the way of truth, love, hope, justice, and freedom. In turning, we reorient our lives to Jesus Christ, falling in love again, again, and again.
There are seven aspects to this practice:
TURN Pause, listen, and choose to follow Jesus
LEARN Reflect on Scripture each day, especially Jesus’ life and teachings
PRAY Dwell intentionally with God each day
WORSHIP Gather in community weekly to thank, praise, and draw near God
BLESS Share faith and unselfishly give and serve
GO Cross boundaries, listen deeply, and live like Jesus
REST Receive the gift of God’s grace, peace, and restoration
Focusing on the call to Learn, scripture teaches us that we are called by God to to be a blessing to all the world and we do this through love. By reflecting on scripture each day, we can see the many ways we are called to do this work. If we look at the Feeding of the Five Thousand from the gospels (Matthew 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17 and John 6:5-15), we can see how Jesus took the gifts the community had to offer and fed them all through this miracle. We as a community of God can perform miracles too. Notice Jesus did not tell the crowd what they needed, he asked them what they had to offer and used the “assets” of the community to feed them all.
We are called to move outside of our buildings and to help transform our communities through love. By grounding our work in scripture, it will guide us through this process and help us all stay centered and focused on discovering the assets we have to transform the world around us.
I would encourage you all to incorporate the following prayer into your prayer life and inwardly digest what it means for you to be a part of a community that is called to be a blessing to all the world.
The call to Abraham, the patriarch of faith, is the call extended to all humankind: Be a blessing to all the world. God told Abraham: “All the people of the earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3.) When we accept the call of God to be a blessing, we are blessed to be a distributor of the goodness of God. We are loved by God, and in turn we love; we are forgiven, and in turn we forgive; we are made whole, and in turn we make others whole. When we count our blessings it is the beginning of prayer, not the end. (Mark 12:31) We ask that God bless others not simply for their satisfaction and fulfillment, but so they can join in the blessing of others. May we live so that “All the people of the earth will be blessed through us.” From: A Prayer to Become a Blessing (From the book, Body Prayer, by Doug Pagitt, Kathryn Prill, and Colleen Shealer Olson)

Attention: People of San Joaquin
Dear Brothers and Sisters of San Joaquin,
On Sunday, December 1, two historic events will be taking place at our Cathedral in Fresno.
At 11am we will install our first Cathedral Dean, The Rev. Ryan Newman, since the great disruption in 2008.  Following this service, the Cathedral Episcopal Church Women’s group will host a luncheon in to welcome Ryan, Erin, and Lexi.  You are welcome to join us for lunch, so please send in your RSVP to Canon Anna by Monday evening.
At 2pm we will ordain four deacons, Terrance Goodpasture, Amy Larsen, Greg Masztal, and Marilee Muncey.  These are historic ordinations because they are the first to be held in the cathedral since its return to us in October 2016.  Following this service, there will be a dessert reception hosted by the Cathedral ECW.
Please join with the diocese in prayer this morning:  O God, by your grace you have called us in this Diocese to a goodly fellowship of faith.  Bless our Bishop David, our new cathedral dean, the four ordination candidates, and all our people.  Grant that your Word may be truly preached and truly heard, your Sacraments faithfully administered and faithfully received.  By your Spirit, fashion our lives according to the example of your Son, and grant that we may show the power of your love to all among whom we live; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.
We look forward to seeing you on what we trust will be an extraordinary day in the life of this diocese.
God’s Peace,
                         

        Bishop David                   Canon Carmichael

St. James, Sonora:
The Red Church Concert Series
December 2, 2018, 3pm
Velocity Handbell Ensemble
42 Snell Street, Sonora
Velocity is a community handbell ensemble in the San Francisco Bay Area and is dedicated to moving the artisty of handbells towards musical excellence with a high standard of performance. Their mission statement is “have fun”
Visit The Red Church Concert Series at:
sjconcertseries.org

 Friday Reflection

 Warranting Your
Participation and Prayers

The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin
and
St. James Episcopal Cathedral
cordially invites you to a
SERVICE OF INSTALLATION
to celebrate the Call of
THE REV. RYAN DOUGLAS NEWMAN
as
CATHEDRAL DEAN
On Saturday, December 1, 2018, 11am
at
St. James Episcopal Church
4147 E. Dakota Ave.
Fresno, CA 93726
Luncheon to follow                    Clergy: White stoles
Please RSVP to: [email protected]

God Willing and the People Consenting

The Right Reverend
David Cappel Rice
Bishop of San Joaquin
Will Ordain
Terrance M. Goodpasture
Amy L. Larsen
Gregory T. Masztal
Marilee E. Muncey
To the Sacred Order of Deacons in Christ’s One, Holy,
Catholic and Apostolic Church on
Saturday, the First of December Two Thousand Eighteen at
Two O’Clock in the Afternoon.
St. James Cathedral
4147 E. Dakota Ave.
Fresno, CA 93726
Your prayers and presence are requested
 
Reception to follow                      Clergy: Red Stoles

For Priests, Deacons and Postulants
Advent Clergy Conference
December 11-13, 2018
ECCO
Click here for details and to
sign up

Need some? Get some! Contact

[email protected]

Click here

EDSJ

Emergency Relief Fund
Many thanks to those who have donated!
At Annual Convention we raised
$378.00!
driving up our total for

$2,443.00 for the year!

Your donations have been helping the victims of recent fires and donating will build our fund to help when disasters strike again locally and in Northern California!
Donations can also be made by check. Please send  your check donation to The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, Memo: ERF 1528 Oakdale Road, Modesto, CA 95355

   Diocesan Events
ECCO Commission Meeting

November 14, 6:30pm
ZOOM
Standing Committee Meeting
November 27, 2018 6:30pm
ZOOM
Diocesan Council Meeting
November 29, 2018, 6:30pm
ZOOM
Day of Diocesan Celebration
Saturday, December 1
St. James Cathedral, Fresno
11am
Dean Installation
2pm
Deacon Ordinations
Advent Clergy Conference
December 11-13. ECCO

https://faithinthevalley.org/

www.eccoyosemite.org

Click here for pamphlet     
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The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, 1528 Oakdale Road, Modesto, CA 95355
Sent by [email protected] in collaboration with
Constant Contact


Diocese of San
Joaquin
The Episcopal Church
Episcopal Shield
The Friday Reflection Title
November 2, 2018

From Bishop David
I am framing these words on 1 November, otherwise known as The Feast of All Saints. It is the moment in time for the Life of the Church when we remember those who have gone before us, to give thanks for their lives, to consider their example, and to follow them.
And addition, this morning on The Today Show our Presiding Bishop, The Most Reverend Michael Curry was interviewed regarding his new book The Power of Love.  This book of “Sermons, Reflections, & Wisdom to Uplift & Inspire” also includes his Homily from the Royal Wedding.
And lastly, we are five days from 6 November, otherwise known as the Mid-Term Elections.  I’ll come back to that in a moment.
I wanted to give this context because today’s Feast Day reminds us that from whence we have come and from whom we have come, certainly informs, even defines where and who we are at present, furthermore, sheds significant light on where and how we go from here.
Reflected in the lives of the Saints, those women and men who have gone before us, we see a common thread in the ways in which they lived. Their lives reflected Jesus.  He was, remains and will continue to be the common thread.  To frame this in the simplest yet most profound terms, their lives were characterized in the ways they embraced, expressed, exercised and engaged LOVE.  The love reflected in their lives and about which I write was no more evident than in those moments when the Saints worked to ensure that everybody had enough.   It was no more evident than when justice was extended to all.  It was no more evident than when hope was accessible to everyone.  And it was no more evident than when the voices, better said, the yearnings of those who lived on the margins and those who were far too often invisible, were acknowledged and heard.
The Saints worked at and in LOVE.
And this very work was evident in the ways in which they prayed.  A few years ago, Pope Francis articulated the nature of this “work of prayer.”
He said: “We pray for the hungry.
                   We feed them.
                   And that’s how prayer works.”
We are called to reflect Jesus, to follow the example of the Saints, to give ourselves to this work of prayer, and to embrace, express, exercise and engage LOVE.
This call requires that we ensure that everybody has enough in our own day and in our own context. It requires that we, too, ensure that justice is extended to all.  It requires that hope is accessible to everyone, here and now.  And this call upon our lives requires that we acknowledge and hear all of God’s People and thatmeans all without exception.
More often than not, this call means that we challenge and seek to amend the very systems which foster an environment where everyone doesn’t have enough, where justice isn’t extended to all, where hope isn’t accessible to everyone, and where far too many people are rarely acknowledged and heard.
Sisters and Brothers of The EDSJ, this is a call to follow Jesus.  This is a call to follow the example of the Saints. This is a call to work at and in LOVE.  This is a call to engage in the work of prayer.  And this is a call to challenge and amend any system which works counter to the lives to which we are called, namely to follow Jesus as did the Saints before us.  Voting is most definitely one of the ways we can live into and out that call.
And when we do this Sisters and Brothers, when truly and earnestly follow the life of Jesus, reflect the lives of the Saints then we live with the knowledge that in the end, LOVE WINS!  So let’s help it along.
Blessings
+David

The 59th Diocesan Annual Convention
Take a peek!
EDSJ Convention
EDSJ Convention

  Congratulations go to The Rev. Dr. Tim Vivian!
 The Rev. Gary Commins ’80 ’01 presents the honorary degree to the Rev. Dr. Tim Vivian.
CDSP awarded an honorary degree to the Rev. Dr. Tim Vivian ’88 at its annual alumni convocation on October 11.
Vivian, a retired Episcopal priest and professor emeritus of religious studies at California State University Bakersfield, holds bachelor, master’s, and PhD degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara, as well as a master’s degree from Cal Poly and an MDiv from CDSP. Read more

    Click here for Flyer   Click here for Press Release

St. James’, Sonora:
The Red Church Concert Series
  November 4, 2018, 3pm
42 Snell Street, Sonora
We are honored to welcome violinist, Corina Stoian and pianist,Ron Brickman in their second St. James’ Concert. Both are popular artists
of the Calaveras musical community. They will perform pieces including Tartini’s”Didone Abbandonata” and one of Brahms’ Hungarian Dances.
to find out more about St. James’ Concert Series and to order tickets.

 Warranting Your
Participation and Prayers

The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin
and
St. James Episcopal Cathedral
cordially invites you to a
SERVICE OF INSTALLATION
to celebrate the Call of
THE REV. RYAN DOUGLAS NEWMAN
as
CATHEDRAL DEAN
On Saturday, December 1, 2018, 11am
at
St. James Episcopal Church
4147 E. Dakota Ave.
Fresno, CA 93726
Luncheon to follow                    Clergy: White stoles
Please RSVP to: [email protected]

God Willing and the People Consenting

The Right Reverend
David Cappel Rice
Bishop of San Joaquin
Will Ordain
Terrance M. Goodpasture
Amy L. Larsen
Gregory T. Masztal
Marilee E. Muncey
To the Sacred Order of Deacons in Christ’s One, Holy,
Catholic and Apostolic Church on
Saturday, the First of December Two Thousand Eighteen at
Two O’Clock in the Afternoon.
St. James Cathedral
4147 E. Dakota Ave.
Fresno, CA 93726
Your prayers and presence are requested
 
Reception to follow                      Clergy: Red Stoles

 Media Release from
The Episcopal Church
United Methodists and
Episcopalians Convene in Chicago

                              Read more

For Priests, Deacons and Postulants
Advent Clergy Conference
December 11-13, 2018
ECCO
Click here for details and to
sign up

Need some? Get some! Contact

[email protected]

Support the work of the Immigration Task Force by purchasing one of these shirts that features their logo (designed by Zoe Rice).  SJRaise stands for San Joaquin Refugee and Immigrant Support and Empowerment.  Thanks!

Click here

EDSJ

Emergency Relief Fund
Many thanks to those who have donated!
At Annual Convention we raised
$378.00!
driving up our total for

$2,443.00 for the year!

Your donations have been helping the victims of recent fires and donating will build our fund to help when disasters strike again locally and in Northern California!
Donations can also be made by check. Please send  your check donation to The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, Memo: ERF 1528 Oakdale Road, Modesto, CA 95355

Annual Financial Audits
Many thanks to those who have completed their Annual Financial Audits!
St. Michael’s, Ridgecrest
St. Paul’s, Modesto.
St. James Cathedral, Fresno
St. John the Evangelist, Stockton
St. Andrews, Taft
St. Francis, Turlock
St. Anne’s, Stockton
Holy Trinity, Madera
St. Clare of Assisi, Avery
St. John the Baptist, Lodi
St. James’, Sonora
St. Paul’s, Bakersfield
St. Matthew’s, San Andreas
St. Raphael’s, Oakhurst
If you have yet to do your audit please get it done now.
Thank you!
Diocesan Staff EDSJ

   Diocesan Events
Commission on Ministry
November 3, 2018 10am
St. James Cathedral, Fresno
Standing Committee Meeting
November 27, 2018 6:30pm
Zoom
Diocesan Council Meeting
November 28, 2018, 6:30pm
Zoom
Day of Diocesan Celebration
Saturday, December 1
St. James Cathedral, Fresno
11am
Dean Installation
2pm
Deacon Ordinations
Advent Clergy Conference
December 11-13. ECCO

www.eccoyosemite.org

https://faithinthevalley.org/

Click here for pamphlet     

Friday Reflection

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The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, 1528 Oakdale Road, Modesto, CA 95355
Sent by [email protected] in collaboration with
Constant Contact