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

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