2-14-2014

The geese are flying south again; I hear them honking in the sky and I go out to look for the long waving V that is the shape of their communal life. It is mid-February, and the geese should have been flying south over Kernville last November.  I check again; yes, they are going south, lots of them. Winter was late in coming, and so are the geese, I guess. But this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. I don’t know whether to delight in the geese or to feel the rage (of a long time teacher of scientific thinking) about the fact that politicians keep “playing” with climate change, or to fear the loss of the seasons and the order of the world as I’ve known it. Which is to say that I have skipped over my one real choice, namely to show up fully for and in the present moment.

The readings for this Sunday hammer on the theme of radical choice, and they tell us to choose God. Over and over they say that we have to be radical in choosing God in order to choose life, in order to avoid death, in order to avoid being caught up in legal fascinations that lead to death. From Ecclesiasticus: “Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given.” From Deuteronomy: “See today I set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. . . . Choose life then so that you and your descendants may live. . . .” From First Corinthians: “For as long as there is jealousy and quarrelling among you, are you not behaving according to human inclinations?”

From the Gospel, it is given even more radically by Jesus that, if there are impediments in your consciousness, attend to those; get rid of anything and everything that separates you from God, even your own body parts!

In times of uncertainty, the guidance is clear: show up with all your heart and mind for the present moment. It’s not enough to check off in the rulebook that you did all the right things in all the right ways. It’s not enough that you were in the correct political alignment with the best of all bishops. You do not belong to Bishop Chet or to Bishop David-one plants, the other waters, but you are God’s field, God’s building, God’s very place of residence.

Yes, it is a time of change in the Diocese of San Joaquin, another time of change, change upon more change, but one thing is constant: that if we as individuals and congregations and as the collective that is the Diocese of San Joaquin show up for the present moment, neither clinging to the past, nor engineering the future, but just meeting reality as it presents itself, we will be saved.

Falling Upward

brought me home

betrayed me.

All I have not wanted

has set me free.

Faithfully,

Anne+

Rev. Anne Benvenuti, Ph.D., is an assisting priest at St. Paul’s, Bakersfield, a professor of psychology and philosophy, and a published poet. She is the author of the forthcoming interdisciplinary treatise on human-animal relations, Spirit Unleashed (Wipf and Stock 2014).

 The Rice’s are on the move!

From the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin

Service of Dedication and Celebration

of the Ministry of

David Rice

as a Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presider

Sunday, February 23, 2014

4:00 p.m.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

1528 Oakdale Road

Modesto, CA 95355

209-576-0104

Bring your Banner…..

For Northern Deanery…

From the Diocesan Office…

 All mail for the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin,

Bishop, Canon and Administrator  

is to go to the current address:

1528 Oakdale Road

Modesto, CA 95355

If there is anything time sensitive  

please email  

emeyer@diosanjoaquin  

or fax:

209-576-0114    

Upcoming Meetings and Events:

• Standing Committee Meeting, Saturday, February 15, 2014, 10:00 a.m. Holy Family, Fresno
• Diocesan Council Teleconference Meeting, Thursday, February 20, 2014, 6:00 p.m.
• Celebration of Ministry for Bishop Rice, Sunday,  February 23, 2014, 4 p.m., St. Paul’s, Modesto with The Most Rev. Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori presiding
• Clergy Retreat, February 25-27, 2014, St. Anthony Retreat, Three Rivers, CA
• Southern Deanery Meeting, Saturday, March 1, 2014, 11:00 a.m., St. Paul’s, Bakersfield
• Northern Deanery Meeting, Saturday, March 8, 2014, 10:00 a.m., St. Anne’s,     Stockton
• Central Deanery Meeting, Sunday, March 16, 2014, 3 p.m., Holy Family, Fresno
• Special Convention, Saturday, March 29, 2014, St. Paul’s, Bakersfield
• Annual Convention, October 24-25, 2014, St. Paul’s, Modesto

From Our Parishes and Missions…

It’s time again for…

February 23                     Service of Dedication and Celebration of

the Ministry of Bishop Rice, St. Paul’s, Modesto

March 29                         Special Convention, St. Paul’s, Bakersfield

Bishop Rice’s Calendar
February 20                      Diocesan Council Meeting

February 23                       Service of Dedication and Celebration of

the Ministry of Bishop Rice, St. Paul’s, Modesto

February 25-27                 Clergy Retreat, St. Anthony Retreat, Three Rivers

March 1                             Southern Deanery Meeting, St. Paul’s, Bakersfield

March 2                             St. Michael’s, Ridgecrest

March 5                             Holy Family, Fresno

March 8                             Northern Deanery Meeting, St. Anne’s, Stockton

March 9                             St. James, Sonora

March 16                           St. Paul’s, Visalia

March 16                           Central Deanery Meeting, Holy Family, Fresno

March 20-26                      House of Bishops

March 29                           Special Convention, St. Paul’s, Bakersfield

March 30                           St. Paul’s, Bakersfield

Canon Cullinane’s Calendar

February 20                       Diocesan Council Meeting

February 23                       Church of the Saviour, Hanford

Service of Dedication and Celebration  of

the Ministry of Bishop Rice, St. Paul’s, Modesto

February 25-27                 Clergy Retreat, St. Anthony Retreat, Three Rivers

March 1                             Southern Deanery Meeting, St. Paul’s, Bakersfield

March 2                             St. John’s, Tulare

March 8                             Northern Deanery Meeting, St. Anne’s, Stockton

March 9                             St. Anne’s, Stockton

March 29                           Special Convention, St. Paul’s, Bakersfield