Episcopal Church of the Messiah - Santa Ana

Holy Week Services

2012-02-23T20:35:00.001-08:00

Palm Sunday, April 1st
8 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. Procession of Palms, Passion According to Luke, and Eucharist.
12 noon Misa del Domingo de los Ramos
4 p.m. Blessing of the Streets. We join our friends at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church for this traditional procession through our neighborhood.

Tenebrae, Wednesday, April 3rd
7:30 p.m. Tenebrae (from the Latin word for “darkness” or “shadows”) is a dramatic, candlelight service using the Psalms and Lamentations, and providing an extended meditation upon, and a prelude to, the events in Jesus’ life between the Last Supper and the Resurrection.

Maundy Thursday, April 4th
6:30 p.m. A simple supper of soup, salad, cheese, bread and wine in the Parish Hall. Bring a pot of your favorite soup to share.
7:30 p.m. Choral Eucharist, washing of feet, and stripping of the Altar in the church (bilingual).
8 p.m. All Night Vigil keeping watch in the church.

Good Friday, April 5th
7 a.m. Liturgy of Good Friday
12 noon Stations of the Cross with special music.
1 p.m. Liturgy of Good Friday: Passion According to John, homily, Veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion from the Reserved Sacrament
6:30 p.m. Via Cruces: in the Latin custom, we take turns carrying a large cross to 14 stations of suffering and struggle in the inner city. We return to the patio for concluding prayers. (Bilingual).

Easter Eve (Saturday), April 6th
7:30 p.m. The Great Vigil (in English). This ancient liturgy is the principal Easter celebration. We begin in the patio blessing a new fire and a new paschal candle. We process into the dark church bearing candles with the Christ light. We listen to the promises of redemption from scripture lessons. We baptize new members into the family of Jesus. With the Easter acclamation, we ring the bells we have brought. Lights, incense and glorious music acclaim the resurrection of Jesus and we celebrate the first Eucharist of Easter with the Parish Choir and a Brass Quartet. Festive champagne reception follows in the Parish Hall.

Easter Day, April 7th
8a.m. Easter hymns and Eucharist
10:15 a.m. Festive Easter Eucharist with Parish Choir and Brass Quartet
12 noon Misa de la Pascua

Prosperity - Year of the Dragon

2012-02-23T20:21:00.000-08:00

Mark your calendar for the Church Auction on May 19!

We’re planning for a fabulous, festive evening filled with great food, lots of merchandise and events, and your Messiah Family coming together for an exciting time. We’ll be accepting donations of objects and events (and just plain cash) for the auction... more information.

February 12, 2012 - Father Mark D. Stuart

2012-02-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

“If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose.’”

Jesus touched him… the leper in the Gospel typifies the untouchable. Touching the leper is Jesus’ risk and the leper’s greatest need. And Jesus knew the risk must be taken. The Gospel tells that Jesus was moved by compassion toward the leper. This was no intellectual decision. There was no consideration given to the political consequences of identifying with a social outcast. There was no theological reflection on the liturgical correctness of the act. There was not even any concern given to Jesus’ own physical/medical safety. He moved in a reflex action from the very center of his being.

“Compassion,” the contemporary author and theologian Frederick Buechner writes, “is the sometimes fatal capacity for feeling what it’s like to live inside somebody else’s skin. It is knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you.” Often anger arises as a natural response to compassion. Another translation of this passage has Jesus indignant or angry when he saw the leper Not angered by the request but angered by the ravages of the disease, angered by the cruelty of social isolation, angered at a religion more concerned about its law than its people. Anger and compassion energize us to cross the barriers that separate us from the hurting and the outcast of the world. Anger must flow with compassion: it does not stand alone well. Otherwise we war against concepts, institutions, and structures rather than for the people who are being offended by them. Without compassion binding us to the feelings of the ostracized, in our anger we slip into noting our own feelings and begin to take offense from all those who thwart our just intentions. Without compassion our righteousness indignation soon becomes bitterness and in our bitterness we isolate all those with whom we disagree. We become as cold and oppressive as the most narrow religious or the worst authoritarian regimes.

I do not intend to directly speak to you today about the disease of leprosy in the ancient and modern world, or even the obvious comparison to the AIDS epidemic. Rather, I identify in Jesus’ compassion, anger, and healing of the leper in St. Mark’s Gospel the larger issue of confronting society’s scapegoating. This is not a matter relegated to ancient Judean treatment of lepers, along with Samaritans; or to the medieval treatment of Jews; or to the Puritans burning witches. Today’s Scriptures contain an interesting reflection on the notion of “social acceptability.” When people are different from us, those with the most features in common band together and single out the “other.” International wars have been started over these differences, too. Meanwhile, at home the “different” continue to be harassed. The majority limits its range of social contacts with “those people.” Their contacts with society as a whole are restricted, or if forced to interact with the majority, they are sent constant reminders of their unacceptability.

People who are different simply do not “fit in.” Their differences are viewed as “defects” invested with a social stigma the majority does not want to “catch.” The acceptable majority avoids them and above all avoids touching them. Until the Civil Rights Movement, African heritage was such a social disability that white shop keepers would slap black customers’ change on the counter to keep from touching their hands. In some eateries, if African Americans were allowed in, they were allowed to sit only in designated spots and the dishes they eat off of were kept separate just for their use. Public restrooms and drinking fountains were all segregated and if a black person happened to violate the rules they were considered criminals; if a black person happened to swim in a public or hotel swimming pool, it would be immediately closed, drained, and disinfected. Even in many Episcopal parishes in the North (and certainly in the South) until Civil Rights, African Americans were either routinely denied the Sacraments, or required to wait until all the white parishioners had received the chalice before presenting themselves at the altar for Communion. This is the way things went until one day in 1955 in Montgomery, AL a little black lady named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus… and a movement began that could not be squelched by police dogs, fire hoses, beatings, and bombs.

Despite the oppression and prejudice of his society 200 years ago, a former slave named Absalom Jones was ordained the first African American Priest in the Episcopal Church, and the first black American to receive formal ordination in any denomination. Tomorrow, Feb. 13th, is his feast day now on the calendar of the Episcopal Church. He led a wonderfully full and active life working against every form of oppression and slavery, but according to Holy Women, Holy Men, “it was his constant visiting and mild manner that made him beloved by his flock and the community.” He was an activist. He was a leader. Like Jesus, he got people’s attention. But, like Jesus, it wasn’t to point to himself that he did these things; it was to show others what it really meant to live in the kingdom of God.

Through today’s story of the leper, we clearly see how Jesus is calling us to re-examine the barriers we create to ensure that only the “right” people come into our fellowship. But most of all the Holy Spirit is calling us to remember that the systems of power do not limit the power of God’s action to heal and transform the world. The Scriptures teach us, time and time again, that Jesus comes into the world not to support the “centers” of power but to touch and heal the people on the “margins” – the powerless, abandoned, excluded, degraded, exploited, and disregarded. These are those with whom “right” people do not associate but “righteous” people recognize as fully God’s own. The challenge of the Gospel is not to “include” them into “the circle” but to allow God to expand that circle until it most fully reflects the richness that God alone has created.

Many may comment that racial justice in this country has been attained since the days of the Civil Rights movement. True, there are more official laws to protect the rights of racially diverse citizens. True, Jim Crow segregation is now illegal. True, cultural and ethnic sensitivity is more cultivated than before. But it is also true that we, living in metropolitan Southern California, are in a much more tolerant and privileged enclave (for the most part); than most of the rest of the country. Some of you have relocated here from other cities and states for that reason, so you know what I mean. But having had the experience of living in the Deep South for too long, I can attest without hesitation to the fact that racism, along with misogyny and homophobia are still alive and thriving in America today. There is much work left to be done!

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. declared that “Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away at its vital unity. Hate destroys one’s sense of values and one’s objectivity. It causes one to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”“Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him…” Jesus came to include. Sin divides, perpetuates alienation. Jesus came to save humanity from sin. He looks at us as individuals and as groups with eyes of love that invites us back into the inner circle, which is a movement rather than a place. This movement is outward, inclusive, and compassionate toward the “them” or “others” who have been sinned against. There are many forms of social leprosy around which need to be healed… we need to be healed and we need to heal… the excluded and marginal, the ostracized and hidden, you and I, await the touch of our compassionate Lord.

Amen.

Svetlana Smolina Piano

2012-02-08T14:37:00.001-08:00

Sunday, March 4 at 4 p.m.

“Svetlana preformed in concert in Encinatas and it was one of the finest concerts I have ever attended” says Messiah’s Director of Music, Jim Gilliam. She has performed with the New York Philharmonic and at Carnegie Hall. She lives in New Yourk City and will be in California on tour. We are fortunate to be able to host such a fine musician to begin our new season of concerts here at Messiah.

Pancake Supper

2012-02-08T14:33:00.001-08:00

Join the Family Reunion!

67th Annual Pancake Supper

Shrove Tuesday

February 21

5 p.m. to 7 p.m.in the Messiah Parish Hall.

Welcome returning parish alums and enjoy the great food of this annual Altar Guild Benefit.

Lent Events to Help You Grow In Christ

2012-02-08T14:28:00.001-08:00

Wednesday Morning Eucharist and Discussion, 6:30 a.m., Eucharist from the New Zealand Prayerbook with homilies by parishioners, light breakfast and group discussion.
Wednesday Noon Eucharist, Brown Bag Lunch and Discussion, 12:05 p.m., Eucharist with meditation followed by a discussion over a brown bag lunch.
Tuesday Evening Contemplative Prayer, every Tuesday at 7 p.m., in the Upper Room. Spiritual Director Karen Goran leads this exploration of varieties of Christian prayer.
Men Seeking God, a spirituality support group for men, meets at 6:30 p.m., third Tuesday of each month in members’ homes.
Women’s Bible Study, meets the second Friday morning of the month from 9:30-11:30 in the Upper Room.
Lenten Film Series meets Wednesday evenings, Feb. 29, March 14, 21 and 28, at 7 p.m. in the Upper Room
Wednesday’s Women, a women’s spirituality group, meets the first Wednesday of every month at Linda Barnhurst’s home.
Intercessory Prayer, meets in the Upper Room every Wednesday morning at 9:30 to pray with special intention for those in our own community and the world as a whole.
Sts. Aelred and Hildegard LGBT Ministry meets in the members’ homes the third Sunday of each monty at 6 p.m. for Evening Prayer and a potluck dinner.

And click here for information about our Holy Week Services.

Parish History Day

2012-02-08T14:25:00.001-08:00

Former Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin once said: “Trying to plan for the future without a sense of the past is like trying to plant cut flowers.”

Every Sunday, we hear stories from Scripture about God’s people being called by God to new journeys and experiences. A parish History Day is an opportunity for a parish community to come together to tell the story of God’s call to the parish in the parish’s past journeys and experiences.

On March 3rd, 2012, from 9 a.m. to after lunch – when the every person has a chance to share their story, “History Day” will come to Messiah. During the History Day festivities, and in the days and weeks leading up to History Day, members will be invited to share their memories and perceptions of the life of the parish, and how God has been present at Messiah and in their own lives. On History Day, Father Mark Stuart will lead an interactive activity regarding those shared memories and perceptions. Each and every member of Messiah, from the longest term member to the newest, has something to share and add to the History Day discussion. The purpose is not only to share the historical record, but also to gather different perspectives and personal experiences of that history. Therefore, your participation is needed! Please set aside March 3rd on your calendar for this exciting event as we prepare for the future of our parish family. Once we have shared the past with each other we are better prepared to discern where God may be leading us in the future.

Nancy Whitehead

Help Connect Us!

2012-02-08T14:23:00.001-08:00

Auction Committee

says

“Help Connect Us!”

We need names of prospective donors for the auction. For companies and businesses, it is helpful to have specific names and contact information. Contact Ann Liu.

Nicaragua Mission

2012-02-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

We’re back – and full of amazing experiences! I don’t know about the rest of the team (“The Nicaragua Thirteen”), but I can’t even believe I did it – it was hard (as in, physically and emotionally), but oh, so worth it! I hardly know where to begin... I think Kitty said it best when she commented, “I’ve spent lots more money on vacations in my time without having nearly as much fun!”

First of all, I have to say I was SOOOO impressed by the mission itself – it’s called AMOS and is run by the American Baptists – and without ONE hint or incident of proselytizing. (In fact, they report that other missionaries get upset with them because they don’t proselytize. They live St. Francis’ admonition to “Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.”) AMOS uses a collaborative model, going into communities to listen and empower leadership and help the communities themselves work to promote their own health and solve their own problems... slow, but an important process. At this point AMOS is working in 28 remote communities, each with a “Health Promoter” (who receives six weeks of intense training) and Health Committees who have real knowledge of the community census and have the trust of the residents of the communities they serve. With AMOS, each community now has a small clinic and the residents are gradually getting home water filters.

Our team consisted of thirteen people, six of whom were parent-child combinations (Julie and David Chay; Christina and Julia Damian; and Jan and Luke Hightower), which was nice – and gave us some young people! Our age spread went from 19 – 70, with most of us in our 60’s and 70’s, and included three nurses and a microbiologist (Janet, who proved to be an invaluable resource, and she and Donna formed a team to test the water and filters in the home water filter systems). About half of our group spoke at least some Spanish, but everyone, medical professional or not, Spanish speaker or not, was utilized in some meaningful way.

Our team was headed by a delightful young woman from Cleveland, following in her father’s footsteps doing missionary work in Nicaragua, and by “Dr. Laura” – a Taiwanese doctor whose family immigrated to New York when she was six. Her father still struggles with the fact that they left a third world country so that she would have the opportunity for a better life – and now she CHOOSES to live in a third world country! She slept on the ground with the rest of us during our stay in the mountains of Cumaica Norte, and was a real inspiration to us all!

We traveled to Cumaica Norte, a remote mountain village of 98 families five hours outside of Managua, in the back of a truck. Although it was the dry season, it rained – and the roads were dirt. We arrived after dark, and it was quite a hike (about a quarter of a mile) down hill through the mud to the two-room school house which was to be our living quarters for the week. We groped around in the dark making our camp – blowing up air mattresses, assembling bug huts, etc. by flashlight! Quite a challenge! Of course, we all had to go to the bathroom, but first we had to “secure the latrine” – which had attracted a rather unfriendly scorpion. It kind of reminded me of that board game Clue: “Kitty Crary, in the latrine, with a shovel!”

There is no “center of town” – houses are spread out along dirt roads – so everywhere we went we had a hike! Our meals were on the porch of a house about half a mile from the school where we were staying. Some of our group went house-to-house, testing water filters and supervising their proper use. (Many people who had water filters didn’t understand the importance, for example, of keeping the receptacle clean, so the water would come through the filters clean – and then get contaminated in the receptacle when they “dipped” a cup of water instead of using the spigot, or when they cleaned the receptacle by washing it in contaminated water.) Others ran medical clinics in the school rooms (transformed from dormitory-at-night to clinic-by- day), working with people with chronic diseases, testing for diabetes, etc. or working with children, de-worming them or testing for anemia. Approximately half the children are malnourished and suffer from anemia. Some of our group worked with the Promotore and the Health Committee on nutrition education. Others distributed toothbrushes and toothpaste and gave lessons on dental hygiene. These last educational pieces were critically important, as we learned that the average family in Cumaica Norte consumes between 1–3 POUNDS of sugar a DAY!!! Several people, including Juana Cordova and Linda Barnhurst, were involved in what we referred to as the “Happy Station” – the final health station in which tears (from de-worming and poking and blood- testing) were turned into smiles as kids participated in various activities we had brought: stringing beads, coloring, making frames for the Polaroid pictures Linda took with a digital Polaroid camera, etc. David Chay had brought some soccer balls, and the kids had a great time playing ball, as well.

One day we spent with the youth in the community. AMOS had brought digital cameras, and we were divided into groups, each with about three youth. We taught them to use the cameras, and then we went out into the community. They were instructed to take pictures of what they felt was GOOD about their community – what gives them pride? (In my group it was the abundance of flowers.) Then they were to take pictures of problems or challenge areas; and finally, they were asked to take pictures of their hopes and dreams – either personally, or for their community. When they finished, they printed the pictures (using a generator for electricity) and the kids wrote the stories of their photographs. The wishes of the groups were consistent: better roads; a school (currently they can attend school to grade six; then they must walk on hilly, muddy roads over an hour to another town to attend high school. Not only is the trip long and difficult, attending high school comes at a cost: tuition, uniforms, books and supplies – and the cost of the $2/day they would otherwise get harvesting coffee.); a park; a latrine for every home (or, failing that, a community latrine in the park); a bridge over the river that floods when it rains; and, a cell phone tower so they could communicate with one another and the rest of the world. The last part of their challenge was a bit more difficult: what could they, individually, do to try to make these dreams a reality? (Their “default response” was “Ask the government...” which obviously wasn’t working!)

On the last full day of our stay in Cumaica Norte, we had a fiesta in which we cooked a meal for the whole community – “If you feed them, they will come!” – and presented the results of our findings – the water testing, the testing for anemia –and gave some more education. The youth also presented their project. We had a piñata for the kids and music and dancing. People drifted in all afternoon, wearing their finest clothes (as they did when they came to the clinic as well – it was “an event”!) and everyone had a great time! Kitty and Juana and I were on “cooking duty” – in a small kitchen- structure near the house where we ate our meals (about half a mile from where we were staying), but our wood-stove cooking experience is limited, and we were of use mostly in the chopping-vegetables department!

AMOS did a wonderful job of supporting us: they brought bottles of water, a generator and gasoline for our times without electricity, their own cooks and food so that we didn’t have to worry about getting sick; an armed guard to make sure we were safe; and, constructed a “shower” for us (four poles; some plastic garbage bags for privacy, a large bucket of water, and some small bowls for pouring) – and surprised us with a padded toilet seat to put over the hole in our latrine! (We were quite grateful for the gift – although even so no one took a book with them when they went!)

We settled into the routine:

Can’t get soap out of your hair with that bowl of cold water with which you rinsed?
Doesn’t matter.
Pants muddy?
Doesn’t matter!
Three inch spiders on the walls?
Well, we couldn’t quite say “doesn’t matter,” but at least the most squeamish in the group quit screaming!

In the evening before dinner we relaxed with “cocktail hour” – passing wheat thins (our version of red wine) or cashews (white) and kind of decompressing. Dr. Laura and Jessica would join us, and we all laughed a lot. They said they know they aren’t supposed to have “favorite teams” but that ours was their favorite. They liked the strength of our community, the flexibility, the fact that none of us whined and complained, the way we pray, our theology... Laura asked lots of questions (“I don’t know anything about ‘Episcopals’ except the National Cathedral, and I always thought they were stuffy – but you – why, you have a passion for social justice!”) and went home and told her husband, “You know – I think I must be an Episcopalian!” We ARE a strong community, our team was wonderful, and I think we all felt was a good and transforming experience!

Friday morning it poured, and we broke camp, hiking out inthe rain, on slippery, muddy roads that at least were now notunfamiliar. After a long trip back to Managua (again in theback of a truck) we regrouped and they took us to Granadafor a brief tourist visit. Quite a contrast, but we got a bedand a HOT (yeah!) shower, saw some beautiful scenery,and then went back to AMOS headquarters to pack up andfly home. At that concluding, celebratory dinner we startedsharing “high points” and “low points” of the week. For me,I think my “high’s” were the shared reflections during Morningand Evening prayer, and, surprisingly, those middle-of-the-night treks to the latrine, when I was alone outside in the great expanse of the night and the stillness, with only the quiet susurrus of the snores from inside the building in a kind of counterpoint to the lowing cows, the insect noises, the roosters...

Many thanks to all of you who supported us, both financially, and with your love and your prayers. It was truly a wonderful experience!

The Rev. Carolyn Estrada

History Day: Save the Date!

2012-02-01T09:40:00.000-08:00

SAVE the DATE

History Day at Messiah

March 3rd 9 a.m. until after lunch

Every Sunday, we hear stories from Scripture about God’s people being called by God to new journeys and experiences. A parish History Day is an opportunity for a parish community to come together to tell the story of God’s call to the parish in the parish’s past journeys and experiences. In the days and weeks leading up to History Day, members will be invited to share their memories and perceptions of the life of the parish, and how God has been present at Messiah and in their own lives. Please set aside March 3rd on your calendar for this exciting event as we prepare for the future of our parish family. Once we have shared the past with each other we are better prepared to discern where God may be leading us in the future.

Nicaragua Videos

2012-01-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

Hello All:

I went back out the AMOS web site today (the organization we worked with in Nicaragua) and it was great to think again about their mission and what we experienced. It was amazing to work with this organization and I thought this would help you to see what we were involved with, and again, thank you for your support. Here is their website.

If you look at this video, the person you see there is Catalino, the Health Promoter in the village of Cumaica Norte we visited. He is doing such great work and along with the Health Committee is working very hard to improve this community.

This second video is a wonderful synopsis of the work of AMOS. It also shows pictures from our community and you will see Dr. Laura and Dr. David Parajon with whom we worked directly.

This third video also shows the needs with Dr. Laura talking about the role of the Health Promoter.

So, a great website to explore to get a feel for AMOS and what we experienced.

Thank you all again for your support and love,

Carol Harvey

January 22, 2012 - Dee Tucker, Senior Warden

2012-01-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

I grew up fishing in Missouri in the creeks, the rivers, the man made lakes with my father, Jim. He loved fishing and patiently taught his two daughters to love the outdoors and the thrill of catching a fish. We started with poles and worms which we dug ourselves before setting out for a day on the bank of a creek. How exciting to learn how to put the worm on the hook, to watch the cork bob in the water and just when to jerk the line to set the hook to pull your very own perch to cook for dinner.

We never had a boat of our own, yet, we rented one….and with the 18 horsepower Evinrude motor we spent the day on the lake casting, trolling and enjoying the beauty of the Ozarks. There is nothing better than lying on the seat of a boat and watching the clouds float by…once in a way trailing your toes in the water.

Today we hear in Mark what the urgent call of the kingdom looks like. Jesus, walking along the Sea of Galilee, sees the two brothers Simon and Andrew, fishermen, casting their nets in the sea. He calls them to follow, and immediately, in obedience, they leave their nets and follow him. The same happens with James and John.

Are you like me when you hear this passage about Simon and Andrew? To me it is striking that these four men would drop everything to follow Jesus if they did not already know him. Indeed, some scholars have speculated that they actually knew Jesus, or knew about him, before he called them into discipleship. Whatever the history of the relationship between Jesus and these four men may have been, however, the story gives effective expression to the urgency of the call to discipleship.

I know my father would drop everything to follow someone that would say anything about fishing. But what if we have been missing something critical in this passage? What if Jesus never intended fishing to become our main metaphor for evangelism? What if Jesus was only inviting Simon and Andrew to be “fishers of men” because that’s who they were — fishermen? Think about it. If Simon and Andrew had been carpenters, would Jesus have invited them to be “fishers of men” or might he have invited them to follow him and learn how to be “builders of the God Kingdom?” If they had been physicians, mightn’t Jesus have invited them to follow him and learn how to be “healers of people’s souls?” I think Jesus invited Simon and Andrew to follow him and join him in God’s work in a way that fit for them!

Now, if this is true, it suggests that Jesus calls us to follow him and join in God’s work in ways that fit who we are, too. We don’t have to become something or someone that we aren’t in order to follow him. Instead, he frees us to bring the best of who we are to him and offer it up as we join him in God’s work in the world. Whether you are a lawyer or retired, a nurse or stay-at-home parent, a teacher or supervisor, Jesus calls you to use the talents and strengths and knowledge and passions that we have to make the contribution to God’s kingdom that you alone can make. Imagine the freedom and purpose Jesus offers each of us by inviting us to join Jim by being who we are and investing this in blessing others?

Even when you are a fisherman you have many ways to choose to fish. As I mentioned earlier you can dig a worm, take a pole and sit on a riverbank. When we had a small boat on the river we tied ‘limb lines’ – a line with a hook and a worm from a tree that was arching over the water….then float to the next tree limb. And many, many times we heard a fish ‘hit’ the limb we just left! What a sound! Another way we fished was to ‘troll’ which means you have a rod with lots and lots of line – and you put a lure with a double hook, the line is let out many, many feet and you wait for a fish to ‘strike’, then you jerk to set the hook and you reel him in – patiently, as he has several tricks to throw off that hook – one by jumping out of the water…a spectacle sight! There are many, many more ways to fish…just as there are ways to do the work of God.

I am serving this year as Senior Warden for the Messiah vestry. If you are visiting today, that is like the President of the Board. As in all Episcopal parishes, the Vestry is the elected governing body of the parish. In addition to the Rector, the Vestry is composed of the senior and junior wardens and ten other members who oversee the work of the church. Today, following this service, our parish will conduct their annual meeting. We will hear reports from the Every Member Canvass/Stewardship campaign, the budget report of 2011 and the budget prepared for 2012, an update on the rector search process, reports from outreach activities and everyone will have an opportunity to participate and ask questions.

As we continue to journey thru transition – learning from Father Brad for most of 2011, praying for the Holy Spirit to join our process, learning to work with an interim rector - your elected vestry has been on a steep learning curve….realizing that saying goodbye to four vestry members who had worked and learned together would not serve Messiah well. Each vestry member made a loving decision last fall to extend their 3 year terms to 4 years. You, the church, voted to amend the by-laws in September at a specially called meeting. I personally thank each vestry member for their hours and hours of focus and intention in the work of Messiah. We, at Messiah, will continue the work of being ‘fishers of men.’

So, if Jesus calls us to invest who we are in serving others, it also means we can (and should!) quit focusing on what we don’t have or who we aren’t as an excuse for not ministering to others. I don’t have to be as rich as someone else, or as smart or as “successful” or as educated or as able to speak in public or as able to teach as anyone else in order to minister. In fact, focusing on what I don’t have is really just a way of avoiding my responsibility for making my contribution to what God is doing in the world. God has already equipped me to make the contribution that God wants me to make. Sure, I grow and learn as I follow Jesus, but that doesn’t mean I’m trying to be something or someone I’m not. It means that as I follow Jesus, as I offer up to him all that I am, I become more fully who God created me to be.

What if we quit making excuses and did these three things as disciples: “Be who you are. See what you have. Do what matters.” How would that free you from focusing on what you don’t have and free you to be a blessing to others?

Here at Messiah we have a pretty good track record of responding to the needs of others – we take food when someone is sick, we pray for each other, we respond with cash for advent giving project, the auction, coffee hour and numerous other needs, we support the Noah project and Hands Together, we bring food for Catholic Worker. Is this enough? Have we grown complacent? Patting ourselves on the back with our goodness? Are there still ‘fish’ waiting for us?

What if every person here heard Jesus inviting her or him to follow him being who they were and investing their amazing gifts and talents, skills and experiences, passions and knowledge to service others in His name? Imagine the impact that could have on people’s lives and on our community?

Jesus is walking along your shoreline today and calling you. “Be who you are. See what you have. Do what matters.”

January 15, 2012 - Father Mark D. Stuart

2012-01-15T10:15:00.000-08:00

May I speak in the Name of God Who is: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our cherished history as a covenant people includes many experiences of those who seek God and in our sacred Scripture we hear how they discover Him in unexpected ways. Our Gospel lesson is one of those stories. We find enthusiasm, prejudice, and extraordinary insight all in one short narrative. Phillip’s encounter with Jesus was dramatic and life-changing full of extraordinary excitement and enthusiasm, so off he ran to find his friend, Nathaniel. But upon finding out where Jesus came from, Nathaniel’s response is not very promising, “Can any good come out of Nazareth?” He is very skeptical that the Messiah would come from such an obscure a place (much like we might say, “Can any good come out of Pacoima?”) But Phillip is unperturbed by his friend’s lack of enthusiasm. “Come and see,” he says. He offers no defense of Jesus’ hometown, just an invitation to personal encounter.

Phillip risked rejection when he tackled Nathaniel. He risked embarrassment. Today, in our culture, he might be accused of being too evangelical or a fanatic, trying to force his religion on others. Yet Phillip seemed sure that if he could just get Nathaniel to meet Jesus, he would be convinced that even if this Jesus was the son of Joseph from Nazareth, he was also the person long hoped for.

Whatever Nathaniel’s thoughts are when he arrives on the scene, bewilderment replaces skepticism. Jesus sees him and makes this odd observation about him, “Behold an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no deceit!” A stranger’s introduction does not usually include sweeping pronouncements about one’s life. Nathaniel is puzzled and says, “How do you know me?” With an explanation that probably leaves us as puzzled as Nathaniel, Jesus answers, “I saw you under the fig tree before Phillip called you.” Sort of like saying, “I’ve seen you around,” or “I had my eye on you. And that’s all it took for the skeptic to abandon his doubting posture; he proclaims, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” From where did this confession and insight come? Nothing but an encounter with the divine could explain this sacred recognition.

In I Samuel we are given another strange first encounter. Young Samuel is put in the care of the aging priest of God, Eli, by his mother. While being mentored by Eli, Samuel is attentive and responsive to Eli’s requests and instructions. So when Samuel hears his name being called out at night he thinks it is Eli calling him again and again and runs to him. Finally, Eli realizes that this is not just a young boy troubled by dreams, but a child whom God is calling. Samuel will be established as God’s prophet and as a child begins to learn under the direction of Eli how to listen and respond.

Samuel does not recognize God’s voice at first and Nathaniel questions the quality of a man of inauspicious origins. Both are portrayed as truthful, and the child-like innocence of Samuel is also reflected in the description of Nathaniel as an Israelite in whom there is no “deceit.” Both have a purity of heart that allows them to open their eyes to see God. Yet Jesus questions Nathaniel after the young man’s enthusiastic recognition, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these… Truly you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” Nathaniel may have been surprised that Jesus recognized him at all, but then Jesus says in a manner of speaking, “You think that’s amazing? You ain’t seen nothing yet!” For us the idea of angel traffic between heaven and earth may seem quaint and sweet. But to Nathaniel, it was something much more profound since he was well aware of the story from Genesis of Jacob’s dream, where Jacob saw a ladder or stairway reaching to heaven with angels going up and down. This image of angel movement points to the connection between heaven and earth, the connection between God and us. However, the image Jesus uses does not include the ladder or stairway as the conduit for the angelic movement, but rather it is the Son of Man. He is the connection between heaven and earth, the connection between God and God’s people. This is very good news, indeed!

This the One we celebrate this season as our Emmanuel, God in man made manifest. This connection to God means we must always be open to “new-ness” that is to being renewed, to seeing anew every day the needs of God’s people around us, to being open to the new directions our spiritual lives may go if we but dare to open our eyes to the movement of the angels, to be a pilgrim people. The great classical Anglican divine, Richard Hooker, described all worship as our encounter with angels ascending and descending.

Jesus calls us to be “Nathaniels,” whose prejudice about others can be changed by a genuine encounter with the Lord. Such an encounter challenges us to engage people in the totality of their being, whatever their race, background, class, wealth, poverty, gender, sexual orientation, or anything else we use to define others. Encounters with God are often unpredictable. They catch us by surprise, interrupt our regular patterns and challenge our assumptions. Samuel’s first experience of God’s call and Nathaniel’s first encounter with Jesus are unsettling, but both open into promise of deeper relationship and greater vision. Skepticism and inexperience are not barriers when they are accompanied by truthfulness and transparency.

Perhaps Jesus had Nathaniel in mind when He later taught in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

Amen.

Steps to Selecting a New Rector

2012-01-03T15:24:00.000-08:00

Parish Profile submitted to Diocese
Job is posted/candidates respond to Diocese
Candidate list given to Messiah by Diocese
Discernment Committee reviews initial candidate responses
Interviews in progress
Visits by committee members to parishes of select candidates
Final 3 candidates presented to Vestry
Vestry calls the new Rector

Book Discussion Group

2012-01-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

We’ll be discussing “The Country Under My Skin”

by Gioconda Belli

Potluck and Discussion

Wednesday, January 18

6:30 PM in the Parish Hall

2012 Annual Meetings

2012-01-03T15:17:00.000-08:00

Sunday, January 22
After each Eucharist

Pot-luck brunch: bring something to share: breads and cheese, egg dishes, fruit, salads.
11:30 a.m. Official Annual Meeting. Presentation and dialogue about 2012 Budget.

What is Stephen Ministry?

2012-01-03T15:15:00.002-08:00

Our Congregation’s Stephen Ministry equips lay people to provide confidential, one-to-one Christian care to individuals in our congregation and community who are experiencing difficulties in their lives.

If you - or someone you know - could benefit from the care of a Stephen Minister or if you have any other questions about Stephen Ministry, speak with The Rev. Carolyn at coffee hour.

Peace and Justice Film Series

2012-01-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

January 12
7 pmin the Upper Room

Supper Clubs!

2012-01-03T15:14:00.000-08:00

Have you heard all the excitement? People’s comments about Supper Club adventures, meals, conversations; new friends made, acquaintances deepened?Wish you had signed up for Supper Clubs?

Our sixth year of Supper Clubs is winding down, and it’s now time to join – or “re-enlist”! We will have our “Re-organizational Supper Club Brunch” at 11:30 on Sunday, February 12 at 11:30 a.m.

Upcoming Adult Education Class

2012-01-03T15:13:00.000-08:00

Episcopal 101

beginningSunday, February 26 at 9 a.m.in the Parish Hall

January 1, 2012 - Father Mark D. Stuart

2012-01-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

May I speak in the Name of God Who is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

So here we are again, another New Year’s Day, another year about to start. Some New Year’s may be memorable, others forgettable. Remember the turn of the millennium when we all anxiously awaited the stroke of midnight at which time we were told all the computers would suddenly shut down and all global infrastructure, financial institutions, and communications would immediately cease?! Of course, nothing happened and that scare has to go down in history as one of the biggest scams of mass hysteria in modern times. Now they will be worrying us all year with the Mayan end of days 2012 prophecy… we’ll see.

Occasionally I wonder about the nature of time, how we count the seconds, minutes, hours, days… Since earliest civilization humankind has marked time to order life. Why do we consider a new day starting at midnight when the Jews considered it starting at sunset? What happens to the hour we adjust at daylight savings time… where does it go or where does it come from? And what about the news this week that the government of Samoa decided to move its time west of the International Date Line; on midnight Thursday it suddenly became Saturday – so, where did Friday go?! Time as we know it, is a human invention and probably only exists as a reality in the mind of God, for “with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” Time is but a wink within the existence of God given on loan to a fading universe.

A strange phrase: “time to spare,” as though time were a commodity to be accumulated. All that ever seems to happen with it is that it flits past and we are only left with our memories… once we were young, our partners were young, and friends were young, once our children were young… Maybe many of those we love the most have left this earthly realm, now young and joyful forever in the land of light… and yet here we still are, trying to make sense of it all as we must confront another new year. When he was my age, my grandfather passed from a massive coronary. When he was my age, I thought my father was pretty old. Now in one of my more recent confrontations with age, the last parish I served as Interim, St. Augustine’s Santa Monica called a new Rector young enough to be my son, having been born the year I graduated from college. Oh well, “time marches on” as they say, like a ruthless army that shows no mercy. “It is time to seek the Lord.” That surely is the most crucial use of time. Our time on this planet is but a speck in eternity; it is quickly gone. Yet to seek after the Lord of this universe and find Him is to gain an eternity of endless time.

In contrast to civil observances of the New Year, some Christians seek to dedicate their observance to a more spiritual emphasis and understanding of the occasion. If secular culture has adopted the Christian Feast of Christmas, the Church has sought to claim the secular feast of New Year and then christen it as its own. Since all time really begins and ends with God, the faithful place the New Year under God’s dominion, since to God belongs all time. In the Catholic tradition New Year’s Day is celebrated as the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God; in the Anglican tradition it is celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Name. Both observances find justification in our Gospel Lesson appointed for today.

A new year is always a time when we are prone to consider new beginnings. Some people make New Year’s resolutions or make new plans or maybe even embark on a new adventure. I am happy to say I have experienced success with both of those endeavors in past years. Some people depending on the circumstances or their personalities approach new things with anxiety, others with enthusiasm. New things in our lives can certainly be compared to birth, something Jesus did with Nicodemus when he told him that one must be born again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. In the mystery of motherhood is the mystery of bringing forth and nurturing new life. As Mother of the Church, Mary’s role in bringing forth new life within the Church is always directed to the Church’s role in bringing forth new life in the world. To give and to nurture life means first and foremost to make way for peace; peace within and peace with others.

Even though the New Testament uses a variety of images in its reflection of Mary, that of “mother” is most fundamental. The historical fact that Mary gave birth to Jesus established her unique relationship to her Son, a relationship that serves as the basis for all other reflections about her. That simple fact is declared throughout the New Testament: Jesus did not just drop down from heaven; He was born of a woman. It makes sense in the octave of Christmas, that great Feast celebrating the Incarnation, God becoming one of us in the birth of His Son, that we should also remember the principal player in that taking place, namely His Mother Mary.

Our Gospel lesson for today is part of the famous nativity narrative from St. Luke in which it says, “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” I think of her catching every significant event, every holy moment surrounding her Son’s birth to treasure them. She doesn’t just notice them, or even just remember them, or take note of them…. She “treasures” them. She values and is enriched by them.

Do we ever treasure anything in our heart? Most of the ways people are used to celebrating New Years Eve do not aid in that. The drinking, partying, loud crowds can be quite a distraction to being at peace, contemplative, and treasuring things in our hearts. With all the ups and downs that we go through in our private lives and life together as a parish, a family, a community; we have “holy moments” to treasure in our hearts and reflect where God is in all of it, to be expectant of the births taking place in our lives. We must always be expectant, open to mystery, open to the labor pangs to which the Holy Spirit gives us from time to time. We must be, to use the second dictionary definition of pregnant: “rich in significance, meaningful,” so that our faith does not become still born, unable to give life to others.As we begin the year 2012, we ask God that we may be blessed with the desire and the readiness to “treasure things in our hearts.” We ask that in dong so, we may enjoy the same peace that Mother Mary enjoyed, even in the midst of all the confusion, the weight of her responsibility, and the world’s distractions.

May the words of our first lesson from Numbers be yours this day and throughout the New Year: “The Lord bless you and keep you: the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace!”

Happy New Year!

Christmas at Messiah

2011-12-23T21:08:00.000-08:00

December 24, 2011 - Christmas Eve
10:30 PM: Choral Prelude
11:00 PM: Festive Choral Eucharist

December 25, 2011 - Christmas Day
10:00 AM: Christmas Day Eucharist

All are welcome!

December 18, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

2011-12-18T10:15:00.000-08:00

May I speak in the Name of God Who is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

The last candle is lit. Ready or not, Christmas is upon us. Ready or not, we will be back here Saturday night or Sunday morning to meet our Lord as He comes to us as a child… and to pray that we may continue to meet Him, as He comes to us in so many ways, at so many times. The Incarnation tells about who Jesus was and is: God. It also tells us about God, about the nature and character of God: that God is the sort of God who is not distant and far from us, far above us and out-of-reach. While God is the Almighty Creator far beyond our understanding, at the same time God is connected to us and one with us. The gap between the mortal and the divine is bridged in Christ.

It seems as though two sisters had been given parts in the annual Christmas pageant at their Church. At dinner that evening they got into an argument as to who had the most important role. Finally the 15 year-old said to her 10 year-old sister: “Well, you just ask Mom. She’ll tell you it’s much harder to be a virgin than it is to be an angel.”

The truth in the sister’s observation can be attested to in St. Luke’s Gospel It all began in an obscure village, in a remote province of the great Roman Empire, with a simple peasant girl. She was young. She had no impressive degrees, or resume, or achievements. She had no stature in the community. In order to be accepted and function socially at all she had to have a husband. The arrangement was made between two families and the couple remained apart, engaged for about a year before they got married. This was Mary’s situation when one day she had a surprising visitor.

The archangel Gabriel appears to Mary and salutes her: “Greetings, highly favored one!” (translated in the Latin Vulgate, “Hail Mary, full of grace!”) St. Luke says that Mary was “greatly troubled and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be”: You think?! what nonsense was this that the angelic messenger of almighty God was telling her, that she was “full of grace” and “highly favored.”!!! This wide-eyed peasant girl, though counseled by the angel, “do not be afraid,” must have been scared to death! Of course, one day she had plans to have a baby with her husband-to-be, Joseph… but the “Son of the Most High?!”

Can you imagine what the comfortable self-righteous establishment would have to say? Probably something like this: “Another unwed teenage mother for the welfare roles; no money, no education… see how these people are! And this one has hallucinations about angels to boot! Then she goes and has the kid in a filthy barn full of animals… she should be reported to Child Protective Services…Shame on her!"

It is in this wonderous story of the Annunciation that we must encounter the shame of Mary. Her shame is that so many rational, scientific-minded of the world raise their eyebrows, or even outright sneer at her being miraculously with child. Her shame is that so many today are no more sensitive to the condition of the humble and downtrodden than the brutal Roman occupiers of 1st cen. Palestine. And her shame as that simple Hebrew girl, is knowing that she is defenseless in the court of human rationality and the self-interests of the world.

But the key to Mary’s greatness, the central reason why she stands as first among the saints and why “from henceforth all generations will call her blessed” is her ability to listen, to hear the voice of God, and then to say “let it be to me according to your word.” She doesn’t do what Abraham and Sarah did when they got the news about Isaac being born to them in their advanced retirement, namely double over with hoots of laughter. She doesn’t do what any of us would probably do in such a situation; she doesn’t press Gabriel for a sign, or make excuses of personal defects in order to wrangle out of the deal, like Moses did. She doesn’t remind the Holy One, like Jeremiah did, that she is too young and unequal to the task. And unlike Jonah, she doesn’t try to run away and hide. Mary’s greatness is her choice to walk away from the secure future she had outlined for herself and into the frightening unknown future God offered her. That is hard; that is always hard.

We no doubt have plans for Christmas and for our families and for our lives. These plans should certainly include God. As Advent ends, we need to realize also that God has plans for us. We need to remember that, very often, it has been those times in our lives when things did not go as we had planned that God was most present, and the most real. We read about Mary’s consent to the freedom of God on this fourth Sunday of Advent, not only to fill us in on the details of Jesus’ birth, but also to consider whether our Advent ponderings have prepared us to make the Christmas consent to God becoming one of us. Do we have the strength of Mary to ponder the impossibility of God being with us as an outcast, hopeless, helpless infant?

Consenting to Christmas is difficult, but the real obstacle is not the big, bad ‘secular world’, as is so often suggested. Sure, the outrageous commercialism of the season distracts us from our Advent disciplines of pondering and preparing the way of the Lord, but our own busyness is not the real problem: God is… or rather God’s plan for us is. Saying ‘yes’ to ‘God with us’ is difficult because in order for us to get in touch with the impossible becoming possible, we have to be willing to critique our fear of being surprised by the unexpected… and then allow our conflicted selves to be amazed by the annunciations going on around us all the time. Through Mary we are modeled faith, heroic faith. Not faith that says ‘yes’ and then does nothing, but faith through which nothing will be impossible.

Mary, then, is not just the mother of Jesus, but our mother too… the mother of all believers. We, too, are touched, adopted, and grasped by the same Spirit which animated creation and the same Spirit which came upon Mary. We are impregnated by the same Spirit to have conceived within the womb of our souls, the same Jesus.

What good is it if Mary gave birth to a son 2,000 years ago and I do not give birth to Him in my own life, in my time, in my society? God is the initiator of change. God is on the side of the poor, humble, neglected, and oppressed… supremely represented in the person of blessed Mary. And we are to bear the Christ and bear witness to the saving acts of God by ministering to the world. Are we accepting, allowing, and assenting to the birth of Jesus Christ in our lives each day and are we taking that new birth to those people and those places where heroic Mary-like faith directs us to go? Our true validity as Christians of the Incarnation lies in the answer…

Amen.

December 11, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-12-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

‘Tis the season of Christmas letters.

We’ve all received them; some of us have written them.

Remember?

“Our Susie had a perfect score on the SAT’s and at the age of 15 will graduate as valedictorian of her class. With all the Ivy League Schools vying for her, the only difficulty will be trying to decide which school to attend! Our Jamie managed to be Player of the Year on his football team and still win the Tchaikovsky piano competition. In addition to his music and sports, he finds time to volunteer at the local homeless shelter and maintain a 4.0 in all his classes. .. And our precocious little Jennifer…”

You know how it goes: we put our competitive foot forward, share the brightest and best of our accomplishments…

No diminishing here!

I wonder how Elizabeth and Zachariah’s Christmas letter might read:

“We’ve had little contact with our son John since he wandered off into the wilderness a few years ago, shouting something about needing to prepare the way of the Lord… If we can’t have the comfort of grandchildren in our old age, it would be nice at least to have the consolation of knowing our John was the long-awaited Messiah, but he seems willing to settle for “second best” and defer to this man, Jesus… ‘He must increase, and I must decrease,’ he says…”

Or Anna’s:

“Our little daughter Mary shocked us all by becoming pregnant! Fortunately Joseph, her betrothed, was kind enough to marry her anyway, although both of them protest vehemently that the child is not his, saying something about the ‘Holy Spirit’… We pray the scandal won’t be too hard on Mary – or on her child… ‘The Almighty has done great things for me,’ she says; I can only hope it’s true.”

John and Mary don’t exactly fall into the category of parental bragging-rights.

We meet them again today, John the Baptizer and Mary, on “Rose Sunday,” the day when the darkness of Advent brightens with the promise of God’s new creation.

What is it about them that we recognize? A teen mom – and a wilderness man who wags his finger at us and preaches repentance in such a way that it knocks us out of our complacency and into the waters of baptism?

Media studies and communication theory teach us that three elements are important in any message: the content of the message; the messenger him or herself; and the impact of the message on its hearers.

Both Mary and John are messengers, of course: witnesses to the reality of God.

Mary witnesses in quiet humility with her body: “Here I am,” says Mary. “It shall be with me according to your will. I will bear this child…”

John witnesses in the fiery passion of his words and actions: “Repent!” John commands us. “Turn away from your sins, die in the waters of baptism and be reborn, transformed and ready for the coming of the Lord.

There is something compelling in both witnesses: we’re caught up in the tension between the quiet and the strident voices as we let the message wash over us, baptizing us with word and example.

Each voice is authentic, resonating from a “true self,” and not a false persona, and it is the authenticity of that witness which engages us.

Each speaks with a voice which points toward God; “self” seems to fall away as they respond to God’s call. This is not their story. They are players in a drama far bigger than themselves. Who they are and what they do isn’t about them – but about the God who works through them, the God who grows in their being, whose paths they proclaim…”Each is an instrument in the birth of a new creation, “decreasing oneself,” to paraphrase John the Baptist, “that he may increase.”

The message itself is arresting: this isn’t about whitening your teeth, or a younger, sexier image, either through a particular brand of clothing or a fifteen minute a day workout with your new “bowflex” exercise equipment.

This message matters, not by creating a need, but by responding to one: it speaks to the darkness and despair of a people waiting for hope, waiting for God’s promise of the Messiah. It holds up the promise of a new creation in which righteousness displaces purity, and repentance leads to a salvation accessible to all. It promises an ideal attainable in society, a world in which the mighty are cast down and the lowly uplifted; the hungry are fed; and God’s mercy abounds.

Sound good?

Or, can we even hear that message in a culture of youth and beauty, extreme sports, celebrity, fame, and fortune?

Can we feel the impact of such promises when we live in a middle-class culture where our experiences of hunger or terror come through the media, and our own lives are relatively free of oppression?

Or, perhaps in our culture, we hear the message through our interior wilderness layers of loneliness, anxiety, depression, and addiction where many of us are held hostage?

We prayed today, the Collect for Advent 3: “Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us!”

We long for the impact of this message! The promise of God is powerful!

Imagine a world filled with these promises:

A world in which we live long and fully and well;
A world in which our children have the promise of a future into which they can grow and live.
A world in which God anticipates our every need.
A world in which there is peace, even among traditional enemies, and no one will inflict harm on another.

We hear of it – God’s promises in Isaiah, and again from Mary and John, whose lives were certainly stirred up by God’s power.

Dare we hope for such a world?

Do we feel the message stirring inside us?

Can we even imagine such a world?

Quietly or stridently, Mary and John each bears witness to God’s new creation, the incarnation in the world, not through proof texts or rational explanations, but from their own experiences, their own encounters with the God who has stirred up and transformed their lives.

They have had an experience of God.

In his book, Testimony: Talking Ourselves into Being Christian, Thomas G. Long (p. 93) comments that because we live in a scientific age, “we may think we base our knowledge and decision-making on hard evidence, but in fact we live life mainly on the basis of testimony. Everyday life is dependent on people’s speaking truthful words to us.”

It is experience, shared.

Everyday life is dependent on people’s speaking truthful words to us.

Mary and John reach across the centuries, reach through the pages of Scripture, stirring us up, perhaps, as they bear the Good News of Jesus: “Prepare the way of the Lord,” they cry. “The Messiah is coming!”

Their experience, and their witness, engages us and makes us part of the story.

Can we feel the Messiah, nascent, waiting to be born in our lives?

Can we feel that incarnate God stirring within us, stirring up our lives, ready to break open our hearts, claim us?

Which brings me back to those Christmas letters.

What might our Christmas letter look like this year – a real, authentic account of who we are and where we are in our lives right now?

Can we give our own witness about the transformation from despair to hope that God has brought us? Isn’t that a significant part of our Good News this year, and a wonderful gift we can give others?Can we share our relationship with God, and the faith which has meant so much to us?

I read somewhere that sharing faith is simply “one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.” And there are a lot of hungry people out there!

So… how might that letter read?

“Dear Friends:

It’s been a typical year – but not! Oh, the ordinary things have happened – crises of one sort or another – but somehow I’ve felt so blessed! I’ve met Jesus, over and over again, in my friends and family and my church community here at Messiah, and they have loved and supported and sustained me in ways I never knew possible. Truly I know what is meant by “living waters,” for the Almighty has indeed gone great things!

May the blessings of this Christmas season be with you and your family, and may you, too, know the joy of God’s new creation in your life!

Love,
Me.”

Amen.

December 4, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

2011-12-04T10:15:00.000-08:00

May I speak in the Name of God Who is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

In my varied parochial experience I once served as Vicar of a rural mission parish in a classic mid-American small little town in central Kansas. Two of the pillars of the tiny congregation were also well-known pillars of the community. They were a revered old couple that had been around just about as long as anybody could remember… their Christian names were Mildred and Chester, but it didn’t really matter, because everyone called them “Nana” and “Pappy.” Besides being at the social hub of town all year round, Nana and Pappy always had a lot of company for Christmas; in fact, as grandparents of a large “clan” their place was where Christmas “happened” for many people and generations. It always took weeks of preparation.

Nana loved the holidays and the gathering of people in her home – and she was busy with all the things she would do to make Christmas “happen” once again. She started the day after Thanksgiving and worked right through Christmas day. Pappy, on the other hand was a kind of grouch about the whole thing and Nana used to laugh that he was the inspiration for Dr. Seuss’ book, “The Grinch who stole Christmas.” So, a standard part of Christmas was Pappy’s grumbling about how much time Nana took baking cookies, shopping for gifts, and decorating the house.

If he said it once, he said it a thousand times, “That woman of mine is going to have us all in the poor house before the New Year!” But Nana was undaunted, “Oh, Chester,” she would scold, “don’t be such a grouch. Run down to the Co-Op and get me another bag of flour!” Then Pappy would snort his grouch snort, blowing a few ashes from his pipe as he rustled his newspaper back into place, cutting everyone from view; but probably more so that they couldn’t see him smile. Pappy’s grouching was as much a part of the preparation for Christmas as was Nana’s baking.

This went on year after year, as long as everyone in the family could remember, because as long as everyone could remember there was always Nana and Pappy’s place as sure as there was a Christmas. That was until the year Nana died and the sense of Christmas dramatically changed for the whole family. It was clear that Pappy would have given anything in the world to have had Nana back so he could complain about all the fuss she made over the holidays. But she was gone and he finally spoke the words that had been there all along, “Preparing was the biggest part of Christmas. The spirit of Christmas is gone without Nana and her incessant preparations.” Actually, after over 60 years of marriage losing her broke his heart and it was never more clear how much he missed her than at Christmas. He never made it to the following Christmas, just couldn’t bear to face another one without all the preparations and he joined Nana in heaven where they could enjoy Christmas together for all eternity.

Well, Pappy was right about one thing: preparing is one of the most important parts of Christmas. The Gospel of St. Mark begins with the theme of preparation but the Evangelist never even mentions the familiar birth narratives we all hold so dear at Christmas. Actually, the prophet Isaiah spoke it hundreds of years earlier: “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord…” The central meaning of Advent is the preparation of God’s people for the coming of Christ whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.

No one can deny that most of us spend a good bit of time preparing for Christmas. It is not so clear that such preparation is really a spiritual thing, however. Advent affords us the opportunity to explore the vast difference between seasonal preparation and spiritual preparation. All of us have our favorite and not so favorite ways of preparing for the Christmas season. Whatever our circumstances, we are all aware of the seasonal preparation that is a part of this time of year.

We also understand the pressure that this time of preparation brings about. Each of us will have at least one experience looking at the calendar and wondering, “Where in the world has the time gone?!” And that’s the point: “Where in the WORLD…” That is – the outward secular Christmas world… but there is another world that begs our attention and preparation. Spiritual preparation is not so obvious. It is so very easy to buy into the notion that if we have gone through the season, done all the “Christmasy” things and made a rare appearance at church warming a place on the pew for an hour and an half on Christmas Eve, then we have celebrated Christmas and done our spiritual duty.

Authentic spiritual preparation, however, means much more. It begins with a call to attention from a strange little man out in the desert who preaches a stern message about preparing the way of the Lord. This odd fellow named John who wears camel’s hair and eats locusts in the desert is indeed very strange. So strange as to suggest that when we have literally worn ourselves out with preparations for and celebration of Christmas; we have not really prepared the way of the Lord.

Why did so many folks make the long trek from Jerusalem and far environs way out to the southern wilderness past the Dead Sea to have this John the Baptizer get in their faces about repentance? Obviously there was something more that they were seeking, something missing… maybe this eccentric hermit had the answer. They considered themselves “good” religious people, no doubt, and yet they hear John say that even he as a holy man, is unworthy to untie the sandals of the great One yet to come. It must have been a shock for the pilgrims to hear those words; for if John, the holy man they trekked so far to see, was “unworthy” where does that leave them?!

An essential element in preparing for Christmas – for the coming of Christ – is taking a serious personal inventory of our inner life. Not anybody else’s – we’re very good at doing other people’s inventories – but “my own inventory.” It is the reflective part of preparation, getting my own personal house in order. John’s message was quite simple and reaches across the ages to us this season right now: “Prepare the way of the Lord.” Not prepare your greeting card list, not prepare your credit card limit, not prepare your holiday party schedule… no, prepare the way of the LORD!

In proclaiming “prepare the way of the Lord” John hearkens the words of the prophets, not the least of whom is Isaiah, so popular with Christians in interpreting his message as foretelling the advent of Jesus Christ. But prophets are never really popular in the age they live and with the people to whom they direct their message; because they are the people’s conscience. Isaiah was no exception and accused Israel of degenerating into a wealthy nation that forgot to exercise justice and charity to the poor and oppressed. Israel’s sin then was not unlike the sin of which our own nation has been guilty: The sin of supporting the wealthy and ignoring the poor. Have we in our own community heeded a “wake up call” before disaster strikes? I fear not! However, where injustice prevails there is still hope - if but humans turn from the crooked paths and make the way of the Lord straight and smooth and uncluttered. Because God is a compassionate God who tells the prophet Isaiah to “Comfort, comfort my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to the city that its warfare is ended, that its iniquity is pardoned.”

We believe in a merciful and liberating God, Who is at the heart of the Advent message. This is the One Who became human to be made poor so that mankind could recognize both its sin and its redemption. Christianity is a faith of anticipation. We await the coming of the Lord in glory. We also await the magical season of Christmas, a time of peace and justice, and equity; not passively waiting, but as active participants in aiding to make that happen. In Advent, we Christians bridge the past of our Hebrew forbearers in faith with future expectations of the “Parousia” – the Lord’s return. Jewish expectations become ours as we both await the coming Messiah. And when He comes, may we welcome Him not just through our words but most importantly through our lives and through our actions!

Amen.

November's Journal Entry from the Nicaragua 13

2011-11-29T18:38:00.000-08:00

Wow.. what amazing people there are at Messiah and so much to be thankful for ...... Danny McKee for the beauty products and services from Bushire Salon...the winner of the drawing was Claire Stoneman - she is already beautiful but will enjoy a day relaxing and getting ready for Christmas. Esther and Frank Lopez for the weekend in Palm Springs...the winner of the drawing was Rosario Casares - the whole family is so excited and will have a fun weekend at the beautiful resort. THANK YOU to all who participated and for supporting this medical mission trip. We raised almost $1000 with this event. Everyone has been so wonderful and the entire Nicaragua team appreciates the generosity of the Messiah family.
Now we are in the final preparations for the trip and will begin packing the dental, school and craft supplies that we are taking with us. We are planning many fun activities for the children in addition to the health screening we will be doing with the medical team in Nicaragua... and we are getting excited.

by Carol Harvey

November 20, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

2011-11-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

May I speak in the Name of God Who is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

It was the Franciscans, the followers of the poor little man from Assisi, who led the Church to designate this last Sunday of the Christian year the Feast of Christ the King. So, today we all gather to celebrate the reign of Christ. Our music is filled with images of Kings and Kingdoms and Kingship. Our prayers are filled with royal themes. The Scriptures proclaimed today likewise speak to the theme.

We’re not supposed to like royalty in this country ever since our forbearers decided in 1776 that we could live quite well without kings and prelates, thank you very much! But there is something about the idea that still appeals to us (even more so among Anglophile Anglicans). It is the British royal family that continues to capture our imagination and interest, whether it was the abdication of Edward VIII or the death of Princess Diana, the maturing of the young princes William and Harry and this year the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middelton, not to mention all the fuss when they visited Southern California not long after. It seems like we are all inclined to join in the words of the number from the popular Broadway musical Camelot, “I wonder what the king is doing tonight.” Today, however, we celebrate a different sort of King.

This Feast of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the Church year, the Sunday before Advent, celebrates the reign of Christ, the completion of the ministry of our Lord and the inauguration of his universal kingdom, the new age when all “the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin are brought together under his most gracious rule.” To live under the divine and just rule of God was the hope of most of the Old Testament. Much of the people’s longing was to have once again a king like David, the ideal king, beloved of God. Jews living during the time of Jesus needed a hope like this, a hope that life under God’s rule would be better than life under Roman rule; the Jews could remember the time of the Maccabees, only four generations back, when they controlled their own country. The people hoped for a political and religious restoration which would turn things back to the way they used to be.

None of these hopes came to fruition. God intervened, but not in the way anyone expected. When Pilate asked Jesus at His trial if he is a king, Jesus answered that his kingship is not of this world. The kingship of Christ celebrates the last victory, but it celebrates a victory that turned the expectations of kingship upside down. The Jesus we celebrate came in human history born as one of us, moreover born amongst the poor. We need to reaffirm our King in His Gospel integrity.

Let us dare to take a look at our King. Our King: born in a dirty stable because there was no lodging willing to take his family in. Our King: poor, powerless, and apparently uneducated. Our King: no army to command, no navy to deploy, to power to tax, no bureaucrats to order around, no pageantry, no court. Our King: clothed in sandals and a working man’s garb, no jewels, no finery, only dust and sweat. Our King: dying a shameful death on a cross, naked, jeered by the crowds, taunted by the soldiers, abandoned by friends. What a strange King. What a strange faith… Who could believe all this? Through the centuries, the answer to that is simple… people like you and me, that’s who!

We know our King and he know us and loves us. Our King walked from town to town, mingled with the common people, saw their needs and reached out his hand, knelt and washed his disciples’ feet. That is our strange King. When the King comes into the fullness of His kingdom his subjects will consist of those who ministered to Him in the manifestation of His lowliness. Job asked: “Can you by searching find God?” The reality of Christ’s message is that God lies hidden in our neighbor who needs our help.

Since most of us tire of just meeting the needs of people with whom we live and interact on a normal daily basis; the destitute, victims of war, AIDS patients, abused children, the elderly, or prisoners are easily forgotten.

St. Paul writing to the Church in Corinth said: “Consider your own call brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.” These are the ones blessed by Christ the King.

I hope and pray that every faithful member of Messiah parish has come to accept the practical implications of Jesus’ kingship in their lives and in the corporate life of the parish. This means not only our doctrines and practices; but also the parish’s year-to-year programs and community outreach; all of its week-to-week activities and the budget which allows it all to happen are subject to Christ’s will and purpose. A parish that acknowledges Christ as its head cannot be a comfortable little closed community where people gather just for another social opportunity.Too often we Episcopalians have been rightly accused of having a “country club” mentality. I certainly don’t see that here at Messiah parish and as soon as I arrived here I was pleased to witness the open, welcoming attitude which characterizes this place. Christ commanded His Church to reach out to the community and throughout the Gospel story there stretches a motley array of people; mostly outcasts, the despised, the rejected and neglected, those at the end of their ropes to whom Jesus reached out and who allowed a holy, kingly encounter with Him to enter and transform their lives. And so we must follow the King in embracing the world with all its diversities and differences, in its pain and unpleasantness, concerned for all persons extending our arms in Gospel witness of loving service and in defense of their basic human dignity.

So, this is our King. This the One who forsook all regal privileges to enter the totality of human existence, literally to enter the realm of hunger, poverty, disease, and oppression as one of us. This is He Who when His own followers tried to keep sick women and little ragamuffin children away from Him says, “No, let them come to me. Anyone who cannot welcome them cannot welcome my kingdom.” Our King doesn’t sound at all like Emperor Constantine or Henry VIII. He does not look like the power brokers of our present age either, be they prime ministers, presidents, sports heroes, film stars, or software manufacturers. So, this Sunday we are called to consider who we choose to follow… it’s up to us, it’s our choice.

“When the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the angels with him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one form another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and He will place the sheep at His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those at His right hand, “Come, O blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”

Amen.

November 13, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-11-13T10:15:00.000-08:00

It’s jarring to hear this morning’s Gospel lesson against the current reality of our lives: the media accounts of corporate greed and the populous “Occupy Wall Street”; the rising number of un- and under-employed and uninsured; the shock of opening our own quarterly statements to find that we have lost more than we have invested in the last several months… That’s our “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth!”

Here is the face of our economy in our own parish:

A desperate man coming to the window in the office for help with a prescription. He spends his days, sick or well, in the parking lot of Home Depot, hoping to pick up jobs as a day laborer.
A couple at coffee hour talking about their fear and insecurity as they live from paycheck to paycheck, knowing that they have nothing to fall back on in an emergency.
A retired couple confiding that their decrease in income with this economic downturn has meant that some months they have to make decisions between food and medicine.

We wonder if the recipient of one talent weren’t just being prudent – one talent would buy a lot of food or medicine in an emergency! So it is shocking to hear Jesus castigating the man who “played it safe,” saving his talent, and apparently lauding the risk-takers, the investors. It all sounds a bit like the “Prosperity Gospel”: Jesus wants you to be rich! Send money, and wealth will come to you!”

It doesn’t seem like the Jesus we have come to know: the one who up-ends the traditional values, drawing the marginalized to the center, exalting the lowly, saying the first shall be last and the last shall be first. THAT Jesus is more reflective of the parable by Kafka in which a thief breaks into a department store in the middle of the night, and, instead of stealing anything, simply re-arranges the price tags, so that the next morning shoppers are surprised and delighted to find that diamonds now cost a dollar, and ceramic mugs and key chains demand thousands.

As followers of Jesus, we’ve gotten used to those re-arranged price-tags, so now we’re confused! What is Jesus doing, rewarding the investors? Validating once again the truism that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer?

Ah, but the translation of money as “talent” gives us an out! Of course – this isn’t about economics! We needn’t read this literally, as money. (Or, perhaps, we should read this literally, as talents!) God has given us each gifts, aptitudes and abilities, to use, to share: playing the piano, singing, drawing, cooking, writing poetry, fixing things… Suddenly we are more comfortable. Of course: we are to use our God-given abilities – and many of us do: the choir we so enjoy, for example, or the many other individuals whose time and talent maintain the infrastructure of this old building and its ministries…

But since when do Jesus’ teachings make us comfortable?!!I think focusing on money – or on talents as gifts and abilities – is to take the easy way out of this difficult passage. What we lose sight of in the focus on economics or the focus on aptitude and ability is the fact that a “talent” – just one talent, let alone two or five! – was a veritable treasure – an amazing amount of money, an amount of money unimaginable to Jesus’ hearers then – or to us today. Think Bill Gates. Think Fort Knox. Think our national debt. Think “treasure.”

Treasure. There’s the focus. Not on money. Not on aptitudes and abilities.Treasure.That which is of immeasurable value.Jesus has spoken of treasure before: the pearl without price; the treasure buried in the field. This isn’t a matter of simple – or complicated! – economics, nor of the development of our assorted gifts and abilities.This is about how we use that which is of immeasurable value, a treasure given to us, entrusted to us.

We all have treasure in our lives, of course.Family.Health.Home, job, lifestyle…Ask the victims of any natural disaster or health crisis about the treasure in their lives…What is the treasure in our life?What do we save, value, take with us, guard and keep?Is it the fine china we only occasionally use for fear it will break?Often it is the crisis which helps us know what it is we value, which helps us shed the detritus of our lives and realize what is truly meaningful.

Think for a moment of the treasure in your life.In your mind’s eye, peel away the layers of what you are and what you have.Consider: what is “unpeelable”? What can’t be taken away from you?What is left underneath everything else?

Your relationship with God.God’s gift to us in the incarnation, in Jesus.We were each given the gift of Jesus, that treasure of immeasurable value, in our baptism.There is our windfall!We are washed in water in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and voila! We are in possession of this amazing gift!

And, because many of us were too young to remember our own baptisms, every time as a community we baptize someone, we all renew our own baptismal vows. We revisit that time of gift-giving in our own lives.

Consider for a moment your own baptism.Hold it in your mind’s eye.As the waters of baptism washed over you then, let the magnum of the event wash over you now.You have been sealed as Christ’s own forever!Allow yourself to experience it as the treasure it is.

What are the feelings evoked?Do we receive it with excitement, this treasure of our baptism?Are we filled with plans, eager with anticipation? Confident that we can accomplish with God that which we could never do alone?Are we breathless? In awe, anxious – or perhaps even frightened of the responsibility?Or have we sunk into complacency, not even realizing the treasure we possess?How do we feel?

Today’s Gospel lesson challenges us to recognize the gift for the treasure it indeed is, and to consider how we use that gift.

Not “use” as in outcome – at the end of your life no one is going to tally the Sundays you’ve been to church, or the amount of money you’ve donated, or the number of converts you have made! Notice that the servant who received two talents and the servant who received five talents are rewarded identically. To each the response of the master is, “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of your master.”

The servants have been praised for their faithfulness, not for having doubled the talents their master gave them.Even so, we servants, baptized into life in Jesus, are responsible for being faithful to the gift of that baptism, honoring it, living it, bringing forth the life of Jesus Christ through us: not losing it in the busy-ness and distractions of our day-to-day living, or burying it in some forgotten recess of our lives.

How do we keep that gift real? Alive?How do we live the import of that gift in a culture which seduces us with so many false gods and insubstantial “treasures”?How can we be faithful to the gift?

Jesus tells us that faithfulness involves risk; not simply hanging onto what we have, but investing it, putting it out there, allowing it to grow. Jesus tells us there is more to honoring the gift than coming to church on Sunday mornings because it “makes us feel good.”

He challenges us, like the servants with the talents, to invest our treasure!And we do that. Messiah has community outreach and social justice “down pat”, and most of us are comfortable with what we do! But with words? Now, there we’re a bit more uncomfortable…
Tell someone about my treasure?
  Share the Good News of Jesus?
  Pray with someone?
  Invite someone to church?
There’s our challenge!

I read recently that Vincent Van Gogh, more re-known for his art than his pithy remarks, once commented: “One may have a blazing hearth in one’s soul and yet no one ever came to sit by it. Passers-by see only a wisp of smoke from the chimney and continue on their way.”I wonder if that describes us as Christians?We have in our soul the blazing hearth of our baptism.Do people see only the wisp of smoke when we could be inviting them in to sit by the fire?

Walter Bruggemann writes:
We will not keep silent.
   We are the people who must sing you,
         For the sake of our very lives.
   You are a God who must be sung by us,
       For the sake of your majesty and honor…
     We are witnesses to your mercy and splendor;
           We will not keep silent…ever again.

Jesus, our master, has given us each a great treasure.May we be faithful servants.

Amen.

Thanksgiving Day Eucharist

2011-11-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

10 a.m.

The Thanksgiving offering will go to CatholicWorker. The Orange County home of Catholic Workerin Santa Ana offers hot meal and Christianhospitality to the homeless population. We areseeing more and more mothers with littlechildren. To make a donation that will go directly to the purchase of foodfor the Catholic Worker ministry, please contact the church office.

Parish Posada

2011-11-11T13:18:00.000-08:00

SaturdayDecember 17th, 5:30 p.m.

Children from our 12 noon membership offer aPresentación or Christmas Pageant in Spanish. Weprocess with Mary and Joseph to neighborhood homes,seeking shelter for them, then return for fabulous tamalesand a piñata for the children. Bring a flashlight,comfortable shoes, and a warm jacket.

Advent Family Workshop

2011-11-11T13:14:00.001-08:00

Sunday,November27

Crafts for kids of all ages.

4 - 7p.m.Potluck Dinnerat 5:30 p.m.

Bring something toshare and enjoy afun evening for thewhole family (evenif that’s only you!).

In the Parish Hall

Advent Eucharist Services

2011-11-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

Wednesday Mornings beginningNovember 30

at 6:30 a.m. followed by breakfast
and at 12:05 p.m. followed by lunch

Eucharist is followed by a lightbreakfast or lunch and Book Discussion inthe Conference Room. Find time inyour busy week to meditate andpray about the real meaning ofChristmas.

November 6, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

2011-11-06T10:15:00.000-08:00

May I speak in the Name of God who is: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Amen.

For those of you who have ever had an indoor-outdoor cat or dog, it can sometimes be a challenge in the morning, or any other time of day for that matter, giving your animal friend the opportunity to go out or to stay in. There is the sniffing of the air, the tentative testing of the temperature or precipitation, and having to make up one’s mind if going outside was really the desire, after all. Over the years with our feline companions, Bob and I came to recognize this routine.

In these indecisive feline moments, depending on the kind of mood we were in, or if it was a winter morning with cold air blowing on our bare feet, and if we were unsuccessful in verbal coaxing, we had to make the decision for them: they were either nudged out the door or pulled back in to stay inside. Thus, Bob and I were not only primary care-givers: providers of meals and treats, and attention, affection, and love; but we were our cats’ doorkeepers. We ultimately determined when they would go out and when they would come in.

In a similar way, some of us are regularly going to the door and pushing some people out and inviting others in. We determine that certain people belong inside with us and others don’t. We do it as individuals; we do it as churches; we do it as communities. We divide people into friends or foes, saints or sinners, attractive or unappealing. We are doorkeepers, not only for our animal companions, but for people as well.

Yet in order to follow Jesus and hearken to His words specifically conveyed in the Beatitudes from today’s Gospel lesson, we must be willing to give up our self-appointed role as doorkeepers. What He is basically saying is that everyone who is in will be out and everyone who is out will be in. Jesus has taken the door off its hinges. The two distinct groups, the “haves” and the have-nots,” will be constantly changing places with each other until they become indistinguishable.

If the question is asked, “What is it exactly that you want out of life?” most people in our society would probably respond that they want to be rich, they want to have plenty to eat, they want to be happy, and they want others to admire them (usually because they are better looking, have a better body, or are more charming, talented, intelligent, or successful). If those are the things you also want out of life, then today’s Gospel should come as a terrible shock to you! Jesus says in no uncertain terms that it is the poor, the hungry, the sad, the rejected who are blessed. So, what you want out of life makes a difference when it comes to whether you are blessed or not.

In the original Greek of the New Testament, the word we translate as “blessed” is makarios. It had a variety of connotations, but in all its meanings, the blessed ones clearly existed on a higher plane the rest of the people: they were either gods, or they were humans who had gone to that other world of the gods; or they were the “upper crust” of society; or they were those whose supposed righteousness brought them many possessions. But Jesus uses makarios in a totally different way. It is not the elite, the rich and powerful, the high and mighty, the beautiful and buff, the possessors of many things who are blessed, though it may appear so by the world’s standards… Rather, it is the lowly, the poor, the hungry, the sobbing, the unattractive ones looked down on… who are the truly blessed.

Sadly, many really don’t want to hear this, because they’ve created a set of values which command their energies and desires, like insatiable addictions. Admittedly, it’s hard to contradict the values of the society and culture in which we live; where our role models are those celebrities and pro-athletes who seem to have attained all the “blessedness” one would ever hope to have in life; no matter how transitory or how many of the famous, mighty, and wealthy constantly fall off their pedestals. But the fact is, Jesus so strongly declares, that when you let the world call the shots for you, offering you the final word about the meaning and significance in life, you will not be blessed and will instead be relegated to hopelessness and despair.

Today is All Saints’ Sunday, when we as Christians celebrate a different set of celebrities and role-models, who lived by a different set of standards than those promoted by common notions of popularity and success. In the New Testament “saint” (small “s”) is a term used for all faithful believers. In many languages the word for saint and for holy are the same, or very similar (like in Spanish, for instance – “santo”); clearly indicating that all Christians are holy by virtue of their baptism.

The marvel is that we imperfect, deeply flawed human beings can be called by God, who alone is holy. And given the fact that in Jesus the world’s values are turned topsy-turvy; the role models we are given as His followers don’t drive the fastest most expensive cars, live in lavish homes, have the biggest bust or biceps, and command the most prestige. Confronting this “all about me” lifestyle are those new role models, the makarios, the blessed ones Jesus refers to; they are our new role models, the Saints. They exemplify the perfect stewardship to which God calls all of us.

The late noted Episcopal theologian, William Stringfellow described the Saints as “those men and women who relish the event of life as a gift and who realize that the only way to honor such a gift is to give it away.” The Church Catholic has declared these wonderful folk as bright examples for us in something that is really quite simple: namely, a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ, a faith that issued forth in actions, more often than not leading to their deaths, frequently under painful circumstances.

These are not remote inapproachable people; these are people like you and me who chose to do the right thing at the right time in a multitude of situations and cultures across the globe spanning the ages… they did not choose the easy way, they chose the right way… They are the ones recognized through their example by the Church on the date of their death (which is really their date of birth to the glorious life in heaven), a specially dedicated annual remembrance to them, their Feast Day, a practice going back to the Christian victims of the pagan Roman persecutions in the earliest days of Church.

On All Saint’s, we remember all of them collectively as that great company of saints which surrounds us like a cloud of witnesses, so beautifully portrayed in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown LA, on the tapestries which line the nave, with Saints from the ages facing in procession toward the high altar. Because we Christians believe in the eternal life offered us by our Lord’s Resurrection, we know that the Saints continue to live and exercise even more compassion and care in their new heavenly existence. Just as we freely ask for prayers from our close friends, parish, and loved ones, so too we ask the prayers of the Saints…the intercessions of the Holy Ones is nothing different than asking someone you love and who loves you, to pray for you.

And so we celebrate the Blessed Ones today… all the Saints on earth and all the Saints in heaven, with all the Saints who have gone before us and all the Saints who will come after us. We rejoice this day in the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. We rejoice that the “doorkeeper” of souls is Jesus Christ our Lord, who pronounces true “blessedness.” We rejoice in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for having called us into God’s blessing and for having given us a totally new way of looking at life… a way which turns out, to be the only way there truly is.

Amen.

Thank You, Father Brad!

2011-10-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

October 30, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-10-30T10:15:00.000-07:00

It’s costume-time! My grandchildren have vacillated from one thing to another – Batman, assorted princesses, a dinosaur, Matt Kemp, ghosts… meanwhile, even as my sewing machine has been churning out costumes – Wendy for Alex, Peter Pan for her brother, Captain Hook for their father – the adults have been fielding questions:

Who is that, really?
Is that scary witch REALLY a witch?
And, scariest of all: If I wear a Superman costume, can I fly?

It’s an identity issue they will carry into Christmas, when the younger ones will be frightened of Santa, while the older ones will reassure them that it’s really just Grandpa, all dressed up…

Who is this person, really?

And, more importantly, who am I, really?

Today’s Gospel lesson is basically about identity:

Those scribes and Pharisees you see all dressed up? Don’t be fooled! It’s not in the phylacteries and the long fringes. The clothes don’t make the man!

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat,” Jesus tells his followers. “Therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.”

Those scribes and Pharisees – they know a lot of important stuff that you should know! Learn it! Do whatever they teach you…

But sadly – knowledge does not necessarily inform behavior.

Just look at those scribes and Pharisees!

And we know in our own experience that is true as well:
most smokers can cite the Surgeon General’s report, and they smoke anyway;
and, “Just say no!” is an admirable program – but some children going through that curriculum have also fallen into drug use, and we discover that “just saying no” isn’t quite as easy as we had thought or hoped.
And, we all know that a healthy diet and regular exercise is important in our lives – but how many of us take what we KNOW and make it a part of what we DO?

Closer to home, we all – you and I – know the Christian imperative to love our neighbor – to love whoever is in front of us at any particular moment – and yet we find ourselves again and again falling tragically short.

What does that say about who we are as Christians?

So – today’s question would seem to be, “How do we bridge that gap between what we know, and what we do; what we have learned, and how we live? How do we integrate who we are ‘up here’ (in our heads) and who we are ‘in here’ (in our hearts)?”

Because Christian teachings are not simply something we put on, like a Halloween costume, a cloak or a mask which we use to cover us – and then discard when we get tired or uncomfortable or it’s inconvenient, and we’re through... Christian teachings are something we absorb and live into…

So I ask myself: HOW can we take those Christian teachings into ourselves so that we can BE Christians?

Because the teachings are hard, and, if you’re like me, it can be a struggle to fully live into them!

Of course, it is a process, and it takes practice. We know that – that’s why we come together as a community – to support and inspire one another, to celebrate our successes and confess our failures.

But it also takes faith:

Faith in the one whose teachings we follow;
Faith in the relationship we have with Jesus;
Faith to risk and to take that first step;
Faith that what sounds crazy – turning the other cheek, for example, or the last shall be first, or loving one’s enemies – are in fact important Truths.

Our lesson from Joshua today is a concrete example of that kind of faith: as instructed, the twelve priests bearing the ark of the Covenant step into the Jordan River – which parts to become dry land so that the people may cross over. It is reminiscent of the story in Exodus of the parting of the Red Sea. According to Midrash when the Israelites were trapped between the Sea of Reeds and Pharaoh's army, and while Moses was praying to God for help, an Israelite named Nachshon decided to take matters into his own hands and leaped into the sea. Then God said to Moses "Stop praying already! Turn around and look at what your friend Nachshon has done. While you stand here praying he is taking some action!" Only then does God part the sea so that the Israelites can cross.

So yes, we pray.

But we also act.

And our world presents us with many challenges and gives us many opportunities to respond, to act, as Christians.

Certainly, we can step with love into our relationships in such a way that the waters of bigotry, or animosity, or fear, or injustice, are parted, trusting that indeed love is the better way to live.

And sometimes it feels “crazy.” Unimaginable. It doesn’t make sense! The seas don’t part like that, leaving dry land for us to walk on from one side to the other!

That’s not the way the world works!

No, it’s not.

Jesus knew that, also. That’s why he tried to teach us a different way to live, a different way of being in the world.

Because, when we’re different, the world is also different!

And when I get forgetful or discouraged or begin to question WHY? How so? Is it true? Or begin to look for loopholes and exceptions, I am sustained by Stanley Hauerwas’ remark that “I have tried to live a life I hope is unintelligible if the God we Christians worship does not exist.”

“I have tried to live a life I hope is unintelligible if the God we Christians worship does not exist.”

Such informed lives, shaped by the teachings of Jesus and unintelligible if the God we Christians worship does not exist, will surely transform this world, one life at a time.

Amen.

October 23, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-10-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?

Today’s lesson is the last in a series of stories from Matthew in which “the authorities” try to entrap Jesus, including, “Is it legal to pay taxes to the emperor?”; followed by: “Which of the woman’s seven husbands can claim her as wife in the resurrection?”; and now, “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

I can almost hear Jesus thinking, “You want to do some legal sparring? I’ll show you legal!” before he poses his own questions:

What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?

Good questions. Legitimate questions. Orthodox questions.
I wonder if they invite in us the same sort of catechetical response we hear from the Pharisees: we’ve learned the “correct” answer and proffer it accordingly.

The son of David, the Pharisees respond.
Jesus, the son of God, we say.

But Jesus isn’t looking for a catechetical response. He doesn’t want to know the correct, or appropriated answer. This isn’t about vocabulary, or parsing a phrase; it’s not a quiz to see if we did our homework, or a check of our memory or a test of our faith – although I think we, like the Pharisees, are easily drawn into that world. Number two pencils in hand, erasers at the ready, we’ll bubble in the right response, fill in the blank…

What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?

And then, of course, Jesus muddles up our “correct” response, making us think a bit more deeply about what we’re saying, by posing another question. (It kind of reminds me of my childhood fascination with a friend whose babysitter was her niece – the teenage daughter of her mother’s oldest sibling. Or, the mind-bender riddles kids ask: “Someone at a party introduces you to your mother’s only sister’s husband’s sister-in-law. He has no brothers. What do you call this lady?”)

Jesus uses the Pharisees own focus on the law to shift the paradigm, to move us out of the world of legal gamesmanship. His riposte is semantic, as though to expose the emptiness of the legalisms and the tests: But, David calls him ‘Lord’ – how, then, can he be his father?

All of a sudden the questions aren’t quite so simple.
What is Jesus asking, anyway?

What do you think of the Messiah?

How would we answer, really answer, that question?
Forget our catechism for a minute. And our Sunday School lessons.

What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?

Jesus asks that question right on top of having discoursed on the two greatest commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind… And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

It’s no mistake, I think, that Jesus poses this question the way he does, placing it firmly in the context of love of God and love of neighbor.

He doesn’t ask “WHO do you think the Messiah is?” – although I think that’s what we hear.
He asks “WHAT do you think of the Messiah?”

It isn’t the WHO that’s important; it’s the WHAT.
It isn’t the name that’s important – but the action, and the interaction.

The Messiah comes to bring salvation to his people – and he does it in the context of love of God and love of neighbor!

We can all play the legalistic games of figuring out sonship and authority, or trying to name our neighbor – someone like me? Living within what radius? Looking like me? Similar lifestyle? Someone with whom I agree?

We have only more grown-up versions of my granddaughter’s foot stomping, tearful wail, as once again she expresses her frustration with her meddlesome older brother: “But I do love my neighbor. I just don’t love my brother!”

Our obsession with details can cause us to lose the message – or generate the exceptions and qualifications which render it meaningless.

The power of the commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves does not lie in the definition of neighbor, but in the mandate to love.
The “what” of the Messiah is not in his lineage to David, but in his love of God and humankind.

If we’re focused on counting how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, we lose sight of the fact that the angels are dancing!

Jesus’ question takes us out of that realm of “literal” and moves us into a more fundamental, more life-giving realm. It is underneath those designations – Lord, son, neighbor, brother, sister, wife, gentile, Jew – that we find the essence of the Messiah, the love of God and neighbor on which hang all the law and the prophets.

Jimmy Carter tells of learning the profound implications of love of God and love of neighbor, not from Scripture, not from theological commentary, but from the real life lessons of working with Elroy Cruz, a pastor from Brooklyn, in the dangerous alleyways of the barrio, rife with gangs and drug dealers and the desperate lives of the marginalized poor. “In the midst of all the violence and despair - where did you get your gentleness?” Carter asked him, “and your love?” “Well,” Elroy responded, “our Savior – the Messiah! – cannot do much with a man who is hard.” And then he added, “You only need two loves in your life: for God, and for the person in front of you at any particular time.” (cited in Christian Century, October 4, 2005, p. 6).

Our Savior – the Messiah! – cannot do much with a man – a woman, a person! – who is hard.
And I am reminded of how easily we allow ourselves to become hard – shaped by pride or anger, or resentment, or bitterness, or hurt; how our hearts can be hardened by grudges or stubbornness or frustration or guilt…

The Messiah cannot do much with a person who is hard.
And, we need only two loves in our life: for God, and for the person in front of us at any particular time.
Soft hearts.
Love of God.
Love of neighbor.

What do you think of the Messiah?

I think Jesus challenges us to think of the Messiah as embodied in the loving relationships between us and God – and us and one another, our neighbors.
We find the Messiah in those two great commandments!
And, as we live them out, the Messiah is being born, again and again, into our midst!
Lord, son, brother, sister, neighbor, mother, wife…
Not in the name, but in the relationship, the love.

In the book Testimony: Talking Ourselves Into Being Christian, the author, Thomas Long, tells about an exchange between a young bookstore clerk and a Hasidic Jew. (p. 21) “Would you like any help?” the clerk asked. “Yes,” the man responded, “I want to know about Jesus.” She led him to the religion section where there were shelves filled with books about Jesus, academic as well as popular, and about the early history of Christianity, but as she turned to go, he called her back. “No,” he said. “I want to know about Jesus the Messiah. Don’t show me any more books. You tell me what you believe.”

Tell me what you believe.
Is it a name?
Jesus?
Whose son is he?
Or is there more, deeper? What does it mean?

What do you think of the Messiah?
Amen.

November 6, 2011 - John Rutter Requiem

2011-10-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

Spirit of Gibran

2011-10-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

To purchase tickets, please visit

www.messiah-santaana.org/give

October 16, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

2011-10-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

May I speak in the Name of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Last Sunday in my sermon I reminded you that one thing we can count on in life is change. But to defer to one of my favorite American authors, Mark Twain; we can also add that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. These days it appears that most Americans seem to be more graciously accepting of death than of taxes. With local, state, and federal budgets all seemingly in crisis with the current economy; and the topic of taxes much in the public debate these days, I am going to resist partisanism by saying nothing further on the subject. But I will add - did you know that April 15th is not only income tax day, but it is also the date the Titanic sunk and the date Lincoln was shot? Most people don’t enjoy paying taxes, except maybe the magnanimous Warren Buffet; but we just do it.

Well the people of Jesus’ day had to pay taxes, too. Even worse, they had to pay them to the Roman occupying government they despised. A portion of their hard-earned income ended up in Caesar’s pocket and this made the Jews very unhappy, indeed! They were a proud people and truly resented the Roman domination. Thus, Jesus’ dilemma when asked the loaded question: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Either likely answer would potentially lead into dangerous waters for Jesus; he would either offend the devout Jewish populace or be accused of treason by the Romans.

Well, Jesus very deftly avoided both. “Whose likeness do you see on this coin?” he asked. “Caesar’s” they answered. “Render then,” he said, “to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” The modern translation of this text in our lectionary, reads, “give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s…” Being a bit of a wordsmith, I prefer the word most of us probably are familiar with in this story, “render.” According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the meaning of “render” in this context is to give in return or in acknowledgment of dependence and thus has a richer meaning than just the word “give.”

Of course, the very clever thing about this story of Jesus’ encounter with the Herodians and Pharisees is that he never answers their question. But his answer ought to settle the matter, doesn’t it? There are things that belong to Caesar, like the money with which we pay taxes and there are things that belong to God… Such as? Well, there’s the problem. Jesus’ response raises some important questions. How and where do you draw the line between the things that belong to Caesar and the things that belong to God? What are the things of Caesar and what are the things of God?

In our contemporary Western mindset we like to put things neatly into compartments and easy to find categories. Being well-organized Westerners we find it makes sense to categorize our information for quick and efficient access. In this mentality one could look at our Gospel story today and infer that “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s,” means that some things belong to Caesar and other things belong to God. But we need to revisit such an interpretation.

Many of us old time Episcopalians remember what we used to say every Sunday when the offering plates were presented at the altar: “All things come of Thee. O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.” Jesus was a devout Jew who every Sabbath recited the Shema: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Our God has a claim on all our life, so what then is left to render unto Caesar? The image of Caesar was printed on the coins, but the image of God is on every human life. Still, rendering unto Caesar is pretty clear in our society. What Caesar wants Caesar gets – end of subject.

Rendering unto Caesar does not evoke a dilemma, but for many rendering unto God does. We all have heard from certain church members of any denomination that the church talks too much about money. Giving to the work of God through the tangible community of the Body of Christ in the world, namely the Church; is a low priority for a lot of folks. One might assert that is the case for two reasons.

First, as a culture we are becoming more materialistic; it’s difficult to have the latest I-Phone, the fanciest car, the biggest HD, 3-D plasma TV, and all one’s other toys and still give 10% to the church. It’s like the little boy who was given two quarters – one for Sunday School and one for an ice cream cone. Walking along the street one day, one of the quarters slipped out of his hand and fell through the grillwork and into the drain below. The little boy raised his face toward heaven and said with genuine sorrow, “Well, God, there goes your quarter.” Think about it – we are increasingly materialistic.

In the second place, there is something intrinsically seductive about money. Money can become like a drug. It’s like the true story of the German businessman who was worth over 11 billion dollars when the recession hit a couple of years ago. He lost 5 billion dollars in the careening stock market and was absolutely devastated he was now only worth 6 billion dollars. Wrought with grief over his tragic circumstances he threw himself in front of a train, because his life was not worth living with only 6 billion dollars in assets. This true story sounds more like a parable of Jesus.

Jesus devoted more to the subject of money and belongings than to any other subject in all his teaching and preaching. Some things don’t seem to change in 2,000 years – the worship of material possessions and money is the most widely practiced religion in our country today. But please don’t misunderstand; as you know Scripture does not say that money is the root of all evil. It is, rather, the love of money that is the problem, when the worship of money and material things competes with God.

When we understand that everything we have, everything we are, and everything we can ever hope to be is a gift from God, and when we understand the magnitude of this reality our hearts will be captivated with the love and grace God has lavished upon us. Then we will comprehend the great joy and privilege of being faithful with our whole being. When you find the perfect gift to give someone you love very much, you are thrilled to present it to them and don’t fret about the cost. You feel the joy they will have in receiving it and the joy you yourself experience in giving it. That is what rendering unto God is like. When we are in tune with the Holy Spirit we will know the joy of rendering unto God which brings joy and fulfillment the way rendering unto Caesar never can!

Amen.

Greetings from your Discernment Committee Chair!

2011-10-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

This article is the first in a series on the status of our search for a new rector. Many of you have asked about the logistics of the process and how the parish interacts with the Diocese in calling a new rector. This article is to provide you with a brief overview of how the rector search process works, and explain the initial steps involved in the process.

We have already completed the first step in the rector search process, which is to prepare the Parish Profile. The Parish Profile is an in depth description of the parish, based on interviews and focus groups with members conducted over the last several months. The Profile provides potential rectors with a brief history about Messiah, including our congregation and our ministry focus. Our Parish Profile will also be a wonderful tool to introduce newcomers to our parish. If you have not yet had a chance to look at it, it can be seen on the Messiah website at http://www.messiah-santaana.org/news/profile.pdf. Now that the Parish Profile has been completed, it has been sent, along with other information about the rector position at Messiah, to the Clergy Formation and Deployment Office of the Diocese. This office is staffed by the Rev. Canon Joanna Satorius, canon for formation and deployment. The information in the profile is posted on a national data base which is available for clergy who may be considering pursuing a calling at a new parish. Our profile is now posted on this database and available for review by potential clergy.

At this point, we are at the “name gathering” stage of the process. Any clergy person who is interested in being considered for the Messiah rector position will submit his or her name to Rev. Canon Satorius. This gathering of names may take several months, while potential clergy consider whether or not they feel called to pursue a position at Messiah. Although it may seem as if not much is happening during these months, this waiting time is an important step in allowing the Holy Spirit to enter into the process, not just for our parish, but for the potential candidates.

After the names have been submitted, Rev. Canon Satorius then reviews the list and does a preliminary background check of the candidates. During this process, Rev. Canon Satorius only reviews the names for any “red flags” which would prevent the priest from serving in the Diocese; neither she nor the Bishop makes any other decision as to whether a priest should remain on the list. Once this process has been completed for each candidate, a list is compiled, and the list is sent to the Messiah Discernment Committee. Although we do not know for sure when that will happen, we expect it to be sometime after the beginning of the year.

When we receive our list of names, the potential candidates will be sent a few written questions, and will be requested to submit answers to the questions, along with other supplemental materials, such as sermons. The Discernment Committee has already met and drafted the questions to be sent to the candidates, so we will be ready as soon as we receive our list. The candidates will also be provided with additional information about Messiah, which may include bulletins and the monthly newsletter. Then, there is a waiting period while the candidates put together their responses and packets. Only after the materials have all been submitted will the Discernment Committee begin interviewing candidates. Some candidates may also be visited at their home parishes by members of the Discernment Committee, so that there is a chance to see the candidates in their own current parishes. Ultimately, after this process and lots of prayer, the Discernment Committee will pass three names on to the Messiah Vestry. The Vestry makes the final decision as to who to call to be the next parish rector from the three finalists.

What can you do now? Continue to pray for our parish, for the discernment committee and for the potential candidates. With your prayers, we know that the next rector of Messiah parish will lead us in the direction God has chosen.

Nancy Whitehead

October 9, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

2011-10-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

May I speak in the Name of God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

“Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.” They went our into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests… For many are called but few are chosen.” (Matt. 22:9-10, 14)

Here we go – another Gospel story involving eating, a banquet, and a party! Most Episcopalians (including me) love to get together and eat, for whatever reason – I was glad to learn that Messiah parish has so many potlucks, parties, lunches, and even active supper clubs!

Those who heard Jesus’ parable about the wedding banquet may or may not have understood his veiled reference to the people who rejected him, but through the benefit of hindsight we know to whom he was referring. He was the banquet, the Bread of Life, but not everyone wanted to attend. So Jesus flung the gates open to anyone who was spiritually hungry – anyone could now come to the banquet.

Unfortunately, throughout history there have always been those who reject the gifts they have been offered. There have also been those who ignore or make light of others with significant accomplishments. Whether from envy, the desire to deny power, or the sin of neglect the contributions of women, people of color and of other cultures, or LGBT persons have been devalued over the centuries. Sadly, even some in our nation’s government also make light of the Gospel, sometimes using Christian rhetoric even as it denies its very message by pandering to the rich and neglecting the poor.

The Judeo-Christian ethic emphasizes the responsibility of the powerful to use their power to help those with no power. When that mandate is made light of and power is enjoyed for its own sake, or is abused to reward only those with influence, then the channel of God’s will for alleviating the plight of the marginalized is circumvented.

We Christians, wanting to fit into the secular culture of this age, can be tempted to trivialize our commitment to God’s kingdom. Instead of being a light to the world, we sometimes make light of our responsibility toward the world in the name of God. When we are Christians in name only, or when we adopt a stance we call Christian but overlook justice and hospitality toward others, we are depriving the world of Christ’s influence through us. If that is the case then we can also deprive ourselves of the spiritual vitality that could change our lives.

Jesus never made light of people and their concerns, but poured out his life as he listened, healed, taught, and loved people, both friends and strangers. The people originally invited to the marriage feast declined the invitation. It was not a high priority for them, so others were invited to take their places. Christians are to take very seriously the invitation to divine intimacy and community with others. In doing so, we become light that shines in the darkness, highlighting what had previously been obscured by darkness with the light of God’s grace and justice. Of course, this can be a challenge in this age with all of its injustices and uncertainties.

But one thing is certain in life and that is change. Change is something that does not come easily to most folks, but it will happen whether you like it or not. Some people view change like death, when actually death is only a change. Personally, I have certainly struggled with this in my own life. But change is actually a sign of growth and an opportunity for growth in fulfilling one’s purpose. Embracing change and, yes, even death, is to embrace growth trusting in God’s merciful loving kindness that in the end it will all work out for the best, sometimes better than we could have ever imagined.

This is a time of change – for me as well as for you as a parish. All of you knew for a while that Fr. Brad would be retiring and last Sunday being his farewell, I’m sure was full of a spectrum of emotions for many of you. You probably have many questions about your future as a faith community after three decades of capable leadership with your former rector. But I would like to remind you that we as persons and corporately as a faith community are always in transition – things never stay the same. In parish life that means members move or die; babies are born; new persons come into the community – and each one of those things changes the dynamic of the whole; the same holds true in our personal lives, as well.

I am excited to be with you now at Church of the Messiah at such an important and challenging time in your life as a parish and for a new chapter in my own ministry. But I must confess I feel a bit nervous this morning, because I’m the “new kid on the block.” You are probably wondering, “Who is this Mark Stuart?” as much as I’m wondering, “Who are these people of Messiah parish?” And to be totally candid, I’m a bit nervous because I want you to like me. I want you to like me for who I am, the person you will get to know during this transition period. I cannot be your former rector and I am not going to try. I will, however, be sensitive to your needs and concerns because first and foremost I am here for you and I will give you my very best and I promise you that I will love and serve you as a pastor and priest, which I take very seriously.

As we enter into this phase in the long, rich history of Messiah parish let us remember that the Lord of life offers us the joy of a wedding feast, blessing it with his presence and with his gift of abundance. There are many challenges in churches today. Some faith communities like Church of the Messiah are entering a period of transition in which there is a degree of uncertainty regarding the future.

In our passage from Philippians today, Paul offers hopeful encouragement:
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

I see probably one of the greatest problems facing many churches today is that they are plagued by a mindset of scarcity – a false impression of scarcity that is not faithful to a God of abundance. They feel that they never have enough and may ask why another church has all the blessings and theirs has only the leftovers. That is a sorry position that excuses lack of vitality and denies the work of the Holy Spirit and insults God’s promise.

Every Christian’s task is to lay aside the things that daunt us, that make us afraid, and hold us captive to scarcity. As Paul reminds us we are to rejoice that God delights in us and celebrate the gifts God has given us to move forward in mission. We acknowledge in our Scripture lessons today that we have a generous God who wants us to have all good things and wants us to have abundance. When Jesus provides an answer to our prayers it can often be more glorious than what we could even expect. By giving us something other than exactly what we could have anticipated, he is able to give us so much more!

As we enter this challenging time of transition as a faith community in this place, Paul’s additional words offered to the Philippians can bring us further assurance: “Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Amen.

Are You a Fair-Weather Messiah Parishioner?

2011-09-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

I will always be grateful to our previous rector Father Gary Adams. He had to deal with several divisive groups, including members of the John Birch Society, a new Book of Common Prayer, ordination of women as priests and a dramatically changing inner city Santa Ana. He laid the ground work for social justice in the parish by welcoming the Episcopal Service Alliance program for the homeless and poor and the Santa Ana Neighborhood Organization, a grass roots community organizing program sponsored by the Jesuits.

My first couple of months at Messiah back in 1981 I experienced the sudden departure of several parishioners. My priority that first year was to visit every single parishioner in their home. But some were grieving the loss of Father Gary and could not imagine the parish without him. People I never had the chance to say hi to left the parish.

Certainly with my 30 years here we have some strong personal bonds and a lot of precious history. I know that there are a lot of feelings moving in your hearts as we both experience big change in our lives in relationship to this congregation. My advice to you is be faithful. We have almost 130 years of history. I grieve that this congregation is my dream of what a church should be and I have to leave you and worship at another parish.....so far that has not been an attractive thought. You get to stay here. This is a very special place and a healthy spirituality requires commitment to some community.

At the adult education class I offered on September 11, we reflected on the Four Pillars of Essential Christianity according to Ron Rolheiser. I share some of his thoughts about community from his book Holy Longing.

The grounding, earthiness, and necessary pain that only real involvement within a concrete, parish-type family can give you. In parishes, as we know, we do not get to pick who we will be standing beside as we worship and celebrate various things together. A parish-type family is a hand of cards that is randomly dealt to us, and precisely to the extent that it is truly inclusive, will include persons of every temperament, ideology, virtue, and fault. Also, church involvement, when understood properly, does not leave us the option to walk away whenever something happens that we do not like. It is a covenant commitment, like a marriage, and binds us for better and for worse.

Accordingly, if we commit ourselves to a church community and stay with that commitment, we will, at some point, have the experience that Jesus promised Peter would befall every disciple: Prior to this kind of commitment you can gird your belt and go wherever you want, but after joining a concrete church community, others will put a belt around you and take you where you would rather not go. And Jesus is right. What church community takes away from us is our false freedom to soar unencumbered, like the birds, believing that we are mature, loving, committed and not blocking out things that we should be seeing. Real churchgoing soon enough shatters this illusion, and gives us no escape, as we find ourselves constantly humbled as our immaturities and lack of sensitivity to the pain of others are reflected off eyes that are honest and unblinking.

We can be very nice persons, pray regularly, be involved in social justice, and still not be fully responsible. It is still possible to live in a lot of fantasy and keep our lives safe for ourselves. This gets more difficult, however, if we start going to a church, most any church, especially one that is large enough to be inclusive. To be involved in a real way in a church community is to have most of our exemption cards taken away.

I will be praying all of you through these days of transition, remembering the goodness of God that has blossomed in this congregation, and trusting that a new good shepherd will be coming to you.

Faithfully,
Brad

The Parable of the Trapeze

2011-09-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

As we move into the interim period between rectors – take a moment to reflect on the Parable of the Trapeze. Sometimes I feel that my life is a series of trapeze swings. I’m either hanging on to a trapeze bar swinging along or, for a few moments in my life, I’m hurtling across space in between trapeze bars. Most of the time, I spend my life hanging on for dear life to my trapeze-bar-of-the-moment. It carries me along at a certain steady rate of swing and I have the feeling that I’m in control of my life. I know most of the right questions and even some of the answers.

But every once in a while as I’m merrily (or even not-so- merrily) swinging along, I look out ahead of me into the distance and what do I see? I see another trapeze bar swinging toward me. It’s empty and I know, in that place in me that knows that this new trapeze bar has my name on it. It is my next step, my growth, my aliveness coming to get me. In my heart of hearts I know that, for me to grow, I must release my grip on this present, well-known bar and move to the new one.

Each time it happens to me I hope (no, I pray) that I won’t have to let go of my old bar completely before I grab the new one. But in my knowing place, I know that I must totally release my grasp on my old bar and, for some moment in time, I must hurtle across space before I can grab onto the new bar.

Each time, I am filled with terror. It doesn’t matter that in all my previous hurtles across the void of unknowing I have always made it. I am each time afraid that I will miss, that I will be crushed on unseen rocks in the bottomless chasm between bars. I do it anyway. Perhaps this is the essence of what the mystics call the faith experience. No guarantees, no net, no insurance policy, but you do it anyway because somehow to keep hanging on to that old bar is no longer on the list of alternatives. So, for an eternity that can last a microsecond or a thousand lifetimes, I soar across the dark void of “the past is gone, the future is not yet here.”

It’s called “transition.” I have come to believe that this transition is the only place that real change occurs. I mean real change, not the pseudo-change that only lasts until the next time my old buttons get punched.

I have noticed that, in our culture, this transition zone is looked upon as a “no-thing,” a noplace between places. Sure, the old trapeze bar was real, and that new one coming towards me, I hope that’s real, too. But the void in between? Is that just a scary, confusing, disorienting nowhere that must be gotten through as fast and as unconsciously as possible?

NO! What a wasted opportunity that would be. I have a sneaking suspicion that the transition zone is the only real thing and the bars are illusions we dream up to avoid the void where the real change, the real growth, occurs for us. Whether or not my hunch is true, it remains that the transition zones in our lives are incredibly rich places. They should be honored, even savored. Yes, with all the pain and fear and feelings of being out of control that can (but not necessarily) accompany transitions, they are still the most alive, most growth-filled, passionate, expansive moments in our lives.

We cannot discover new oceans unless we have the courage to lose sight of the shore. --Anonymous

So, transformation of fear may have nothing to do with making fear go away, but rather with giving ourselves permission to “hang out” in the transition between trapezes. Transforming our need to grab that new bar, any bar, is allowing ourselves to dwell in the only place where change really happens. It can be terrifying. It can also be enlightening in the true sense of the word. Hurtling through the void, we just may learn how to fly.

From the book Warriors of the Heart by Danaan Parry. www.earthstewards.org,
Copyright Reprinted by permission

Updated Transition Timeline

2011-09-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

Fall 2011 – Winter 2012

Discernment/Search Committee will:

Revisit Profile
Send information packages to candidates
Review candidates resume, biography, and sermons
Interview candidates by phone and/or in person
Conduct site visits of candidates and/or visits to their parishes
Select qualified candidates and present to vestry

2012

Vestry will:

Review finalists
Interview finalists
Call the final candidate
Conduct negotiations
Complete agreement
Make announcement to parish

New rector arrives

Upcoming Adult Education Classes

2011-09-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

The Apocalyptic Literature
The Rev. Carolyn Estrada
October 2 - 30

“Where the Wild Things Are”
A discussion on Shame and Guilt
Dr. Linda Barnhurst
November 6 - 20

Compassion
Karen Goran
December 4 - 18

Hispanic Heritage Lunch & Program

2011-09-30T15:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 30

10:15 a.m. Bilingual Eucharist
11:30-2:00 Luncheon

Wonderful Latin Food and Musical Program

Adults: $10
Children: $5

Blessing of the Animals

2011-09-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 8, 10 AM

Bring your favorite pet to the church patio for a Blessing liturgy, photo with your pet, and special pet treats too!

Parish Halloween Party

2011-09-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 28 at 6 p.m. in the Parish Hall

All Saints Day

2011-09-30T14:59:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, November 1st

12:05 Eucharist Followed by festive lunch in the Parish Hall.

Please sign up at coffee hour, so we know how much lunch to prepare.

Family Nature Hike

2011-09-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

Sunday, October 9 at 2 pm.

Join us at Crystal Cove for a hike, picnic, and enjoy lots of cool, fresh air! Bring food, drink, and your walking shoes. Sign up at coffee hour so we know who’s going and can organize carpools. Cost - $15 per car.

September 25, 2011 - Cov Davis

2011-09-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

15th Sunday After Pentecost

Exodus 17:1-7 Philippians 2:1-13 Matthew 21:23-32

In the wilderness, the people were so thirsty and so furious at Moses that they cried out, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Moses protested to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They’re almost ready to stone me!” But God promised Moses he would be with him, standing in front of him on the rock at Horeb.. And Moses struck the rock and the water gushed out. Yes, the Lord is among us. And Paul says to the people of Philippi that it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. This is God’s promise, and here at Messiah it’s fulfilled.

Messiah is especially blessed by the beauty of our old red-frame building, its stained glass, its wood. Many of us have felt God’s presence here from our very first experience of walking in the door, have felt intuitively that this is a “thin” place, a much prayed-in place. We sense that God is among us, here, especially, in this place.

But more than that. If Father Brad hadn’t had a vision of a church filled with all the people of God, Messiah’s soul could have died, moved to the suburbs, this building sold to be used as a restaurant or a movie theater, horror of horrors.

Instead, by much work and inspiration by Fr. Brad, and all our assisting clergy over the years, we have a living, breathing congregation that represents God’s creation, black and brown, and white and all the shades in between; young and old, English and Spanish-speaking, gay and straight, and all varieties of political belief. This is a glimpse of heaven, this wonderful mixture of people; this is how God intended the church to be. The people are the church and in this glorious kaleidoscope of God’s creation that we have here, we show that God is indeed among us. Ultimately, we have this treasure because Fr. Brad really believes that all people everywhere, not just at Messiah, are children of God. Lots of churches have different ethnic groups using one church building, but Messiah isn’t like that. Fr. Brad & Carolyn have succeeded in building one congregation worshipping often together, and spending more and more time together in picnics and beach parties and book clubs and supper clubs, retreats and blessings of the animals; more and more of the myriad functions of the parish are integrated into one congregation. The egg toss at the picnic in June (I hope that you got to see it) was a perfect example of the beautiful conglomeration of people that is Messiah.

But Fr. Brad didn’t just wish this mixture of people to happen, he worked hard, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to make it happen.

Years ago he had to fight to get a gay man, Michael Kehtel, seated on the vestry. He has had a conscious policy of having people of every description in visible leadership roles in the church at every level. And now, over and over we have said that this inclusivity is what we love about Messiah.

Actually, if we are honest, Messiah has some elements of all kinds of religious belief as well, despite the fact that we have extraordinary preaching in this church. We’ve all heard Carolyn’s fantasy of the church reciting the creed, and people standing and sitting, rising and falling depending on whether they believe each phrase. People in Messiah aren’t afraid to admit that they’re not quite sure of this or that aspect of the faith; we, most of us, are working on it, a work in progress. This isn’t a place where doctrines are pushed down our throats. Instead, we are encouraged to use our God-given brains to think, and probe, and question, in classes on an incredible range of topics over the years. Members of Wednesday’s Women and Men Seeking God aren’t given canned answers to questions, but are challenged to ponder the mystery that lies at the heart of creation and in our inmost souls. God is at work here, in this place, in this questioning and in the answers. We struggle, as with the people of Philippi, with working out our own salvation, but not as Paul says, with fear and trembling, but with joy and peace. And we all rejoice when the celebrant says, “Wherever you are in your journey, you are welcome here at Christ’s table.”

Jesus calls us to love God and our neighbor, but Messiah has shown us who our neighbor is. Hands Together, the Noah Project, the Morning Garden for homeless mothers and children, & the Literacy Center have changed the lives of thousands of people for the better in this area of great need. Bishop Bruno chose Messiah as the place for the Archbishop of Canterbury to visit because it best exemplifies out of the whole diocese the place where God is at work. And Messiah does this, not with a huge endowment, but with Fr. Brad’s vision of justice and lots of people (led so well by Glenn Howard) working with intelligence and effort. God is here.

We walk, always a wonderful mixture of people, into this neighborhood carrying the huge cross on Good Friday. We process singing, volunteers creating their own prayers at the stations. An incredibly moving experience, the church, the body of Christ, doing God’s work in the streets. Or we worship at Morning Prayer in the choir stalls at 6:30 am on Wednesday mornings, or give each other the Eucharist around the altar during Advent and Lent, or learn to meditate in Karen Goran’s Tuesday night group. Or experience God alone in the pews in the middle of a service, or on a retreat. Or find God in this community itself of like-minded souls, or through the arts, through poetry, or drama, (even a sword fight!) In so many different ways we can meet God here….

But especially, we meet God in our worship, in our music. The liturgy is the beating heart of Messiah. Often I find myself with tears in my eyes; God speaks to us through the music. Our choirs love Jim Gilliam and Jim Vaskov and Miguel Conniff and love to sing. Many of us are sometimes tired on a Sunday morning, turn over and go back to sleep. The choirs keep coming, Sunday after Sunday, year after year. They are our treasure, our unsung heroes. We forget to thank them. And do you realize the great variety of music which Jim Gilliam has chosen for us? Music to suit all our tastes, perfect to fit this congregation with our eclectic nature. And we can choose the meditative eight o’clock service with soloist and organ, or the slightly rowdy ten o’clock, but if you want even more energy and passion, you can experience the twelve o’clock service. Messiah shows forth the whole world of God’s musical magnificence in the liturgy and in our concerts.

Messiah is a place with a world full of ideas and people, but also with action. Our members have gone to Mississippi, to Kenya and now to Nicaragua, protested against apartheid, brought Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Messiah, supported AIDS Walk and gays.

In 1990, 21 years ago, I was sent on a stewardship call to Chad De Leeuw, whom I had never met. Out of that encounter grew Sts. Aelred and Hildegard, our ministry to the gay community in Orange County. Chad was a deeply religious person who had lunch with Fr. Brad once a week for years. Do you love the statue of Christ the Good Shepherd, which is in the Upper Room? Did you know that, before he died, Chad had it carved in Europe as a gift for Messiah? Aelred and Hildegard worked, mostly because we could get away with being radical in 1991 because we were little old ladies. The simple message chanted in the parades: “2, 4, 6, 8, Jesus loves us, Gay or Straight” is what we taught, all these years here, and at convention, working to help create the change in attitudes that resulted in our lesbian Bishop Mary’s election. And we do real evangelism at our booth at the Gay Pride festivals among people who haven’t had the benefit of experiencing a place like Messiah, and still need to be told that God loves them as they are, as God made them.

And now, Vicki Tamoush is following in the Messiah tradition of social justice by founding Interfaith Witnesses earlier this year. I went on July 24th with Vicki and Biff Baker to walk in silent witness at the La Mirada mosque, which had been vandalized. Over fifty of us, including the 89-year-old former mayor of La Mirada walked with signs proclaiming our different faith traditions and desire for peace. Friendly motorcycle police escorted us; the grateful mosque leaders served us food afterwards. It was a very satisfying way to be able to stand up for freedom of religion in America.

In so many different ways Messiah sends us out as God’s hands, feet, and voice into the world.

So, finally, God is at work in Messiah. Let it be your work, too. You are part of it when you make a pledge. Why pledge? Why not just put your offering in the plate? The church has a light bill, a water bill, a gas bill, just as you do. What if you didn’t have any idea what your income was going to be? How could you plan? The church (which is us) needs us to pledge so that the church (which is us) can plan how to meet its expenses, which are all laid out in black and white in the annual meeting in detail.

How do I decide how much to pledge? Some time ago I gradually worked up to the traditional tithe, ten percent. (Though I was a bit shocked to discover that someone I know pledges fifteen percent, so don’t consider ten percent a maximum!) I take it off the top, first of the month, God comes first. And I epledge, so I don’t forget. But in these tough times, don’t worry. If something unforeseen happens, you can change it. Easy. When my ex-husband died and my pension was cut, I lowered my pledge, no questions asked, no problem.

So, come, join us for breakfast, send in your pledge card, and rejoice that God has brought you here, to this holy place, the testimonial to Fr. Brad’s thirty years of ministry.

July 17, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-07-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

Genesis 28:10 – 19a
Psalm 139:1 – 12, 23 – 24
Romans 8:12 – 25
Matthew 13:24 – 30, 36 – 43

“God was in this place, and I, I did not know,” Jacob tells us.

We have another place this morning: a field of wheat and weeds. I wonder if we, like Jacob, may not recognize that God is in that place?
When most of us look at that field we see – well, wheat. And weeds.
We make judgments.
We see what “belongs” – and what “doesn’t belong.”

It’s an important parable for us, for it addresses two salient questions at the heart of our Christian living:

One: What is the appropriate Christian response to evil? We all do recognize that evil exists – even if we sometimes disagree on the nature of that evil. Are we just to do nothing?
And two: if we believe, as we say, that good overcomes evil – why do we so fear what the weeds will do to the wheat? Why isn’t it the wheat that overcomes the weeds?

What is the appropriate Christian response to evil?

It’s an issue I – and I think all of us – struggle with.

Our tendency, of course is to react – do something! Get rid of it! How can we ignore it, just do nothing?

First – we are never told to do nothing. We are told not to destroy the weeds – and to allow them to grow. Allowing them to grow means that they are on the receiving end of our love and care and nurture, as is the wheat. Uncomfortable as that thought may be, we allow the weeds to thrive.

Why? We might ask. Why, when it’s so clear they’re there – and we can eliminate them! And they’re so – well, evil!

The first reason, I think, is that we don’t have a good track record when it comes to identifying weeds – or wheat!

We in the church have been quick to label and exclude. Weeds or wheat, sheep or goats, saved or damned – people on both sides have been strident in their convictions and sure of their hold on “truth.”

History provides us with many examples of the truth of our inability to identify weeds and our fallibility as judges:

We can look at the many people – including Thomas Crammer, who was responsible for much of our Prayer Book, and William Tyndale, who made one of the first translations of the Bible into English – who were burned at the stake for their “heresies.” Weeds, surely!
We can look at the resistance of the church in the 16th and 17th centuries to the science of Copernicus and Galileo – or, in some places today, to Darwin and evolution. Weeds, surely!
We can look at racism and segregation – until recently, a reality in the church as well as in the greater society. Weeds, surely!
Or, misogyny when it comes to the inclusion of women at all levels of church life. Indeed, the Church of England is still embroiled in contentious discussions about how to ordain women as bishops without offending those for whom submitting themselves to the authority of a woman would be an anathema… And, of course, some, like the Roman Catholics and the Southern Baptists, won’t ordain women at all. Weeds, surely!
Or, again, at this country’s historic and current response to the immigrants who have enriched our culture and made us who we are: beginning with the Irish, and continuing with the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Mexicans… Weeds, surely!

Equally important, I think, is that Jesus recognizes how vulnerable we are to become exactly like that which we seek to eradicate, destroying life in the name of preserving it. It reminds me of that long-ago comic strip from my youth, Pogo, in which he says, “We have met the enemy – and it is us!” And it is not only we, as individuals, who are in danger from this kind of response; it evokes toxicity which affects the community as well.

Albert Einstein, that great scientist of the 20th century, said,

A human being is a part of the whole that we call the universe (the field in Jesus’ parable), a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical illusion of his consciousness. This illusion is a prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only the few people nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living beings and all of nature.

It is incumbent upon us to recognize that if there are those whose actions are a trial to us, we still have no right to exclude them from our fellowship. To do so harms the fabric of the community.

We resist evil most effectively, not by uprooting it, but by being fully who we are: members of the body of Christ, followers of Jesus who himself opposed the evils of Rome, not with a sword, but with love. In becoming a weed brigade, we lose sight of what it is that we’re really about, what it is that truly matters. Certainly it’s easier to focus on the other guys’ sins than on our own lives, but as Christians we define ourselves, not against “other,” but in relationship to God in Christ. Being a Christian isn’t about enforcing purity; it is about growing in God.

The second issue raised by this parable is intrinsically related to the first: If good overcomes evil, if love overcomes all, why then doesn’t the wheat overcome the weeds?

Why are we so quick to think it won’t?

Indeed, isn’t that exactly what we, as Christians, believe? That in Jesus not only we, but the world, have been redeemed?

I think that sometimes we get impatient – we want “victory” to happen on our time table – this harvest, please! – and not in God’s time. We get lost in our zeal and begin to think that we have sole responsibility for creating that kingdom of God, and we know what it will look like, and, of course, it will be full of “people like us…”

Jesus teaches us a love that includes waiting, - the patience that St. Paul talks about in this morning’s lesson – sustained by a belief that evil and justice will somehow be reckoned with.

Jesus teaches us of a kingdom of God that includes love for weeds as well as wheat, a kingdom realized through care and nurture rather than death and destruction.

Jesus teaches us of a kingdom of God that is a reality, now, if we participate in it. It is a kingdom come to us through the Word of Christ, and we must only discover ourselves – and one another! – in it, already here, for he was here first…

There is a wonderful midrash on the lesson from Genesis that we heard this morning. It suggests that when Jacob says “God was in this place, and I – I did not know,” what really happened was that Jacob came upon God, because God is the place of the world, and not the other way around. “God, the Holy One of Being,” the midrash continues, “is more than everywhere; God is the bosom in which creation happens day after day, the ground and the source of everything that exists, the very Place of Being itself.”

God is the place of the world, the very place of Being.

Imagine how that understanding might change our reading of this morning’s Gospel.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a field…” Jesus tells us.
Imagine the field as the Place of God, the very place of Being.
Might that change our response to the weeds?
Might that make us a little more patient, a little less judgmental?

Yes, consider: the kingdom of heaven is like a field…
…the kingdom of heaven is a place where God is.
The kingdom of heaven is where WE are.

Amen.

Peace and Justice Film Series - Temple Grandin

2011-07-12T17:13:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, August 10, 7:00 PM

“Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American doctor of animal science and professor at Colorado State University, bestselling author, and consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior. As a person with high-functioning autism, Grandin is also widely noted for her work in autism advocacy and is the inventor of the hug machine designed to calm hypersensitive persons.

“Grandin is listed in the 2010 Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world in the category ‘Heroes.’”

Wikipedia: “NPR’s David Bianculli unambiguously named the film ‘the best tele-movie of the past several years... I can’t praise this movie highly enough. It’s not maudlin or sentimental, but it is excitingly inspirational. It scores big emotional points with very small touches, the sound of a heartbeat, a tentative touch, a victorious smile. The acting, writing, directing, production values, every sight and every sound in HBO’s Temple Grandin is perfect.’”

Hot Coffee/Cool Jazz - August 13, 2011

2011-07-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

You're invited to the beautiful courtyard of the historic Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Santa Ana. The Ken Kawamura Jazztet will be presenting their creative and often playful renditions from the Jazz Lexicon. Enjoy selections from their repertoire, including compositions from jazz masters such as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and others. Snacks and drinks will be provided. Free admission, and donations will be gratefully received.

7-9 p.m. on Saturdays July 9th and August 13, 2011
614 North Bush Street, Santa Ana
(corner of Bush and Civic Center; enter by the garden gate on Civic Center)
www.Messiah-SantaAna.org
For more information, contact Kitty Crary (714-838-9498)

Messiah Family Beach Bonfire!

2011-07-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

August 20

Celebrate the last days of summer and kick off a new school year with us at Messiah’s Beach Bonfire on August 20th. Play games in the sand, watch the sun set, and roast your hot dog dinner on the fire. Bring a side dish to share and your own drinks (no alcohol), and we’ll pro- vide the hot dogs and marshmallows. Meet us at Bolsa Chica, near the inter- section of PCH and Warner. Official start time is 3 pm, but we will be there ear- lier. Maps will be provided.

July 10, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-07-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

Isaiah 55:10 – 13 Psalm 65: [1 – 8] 9 – 14 Romans 8:1 – 11 Matthew 13:1 – 9, 18 - 23

Well-worn paths.
Rocky ground.
Thorny soil.
Good earth.

What we refer to as the “Parable of the Sower” often seems to wind up being a commentary on the ground. And, because we’re clearly not the sower in the story, we can’t help but examine ourselves, doing an inventory of our own internal landscape to assess our receptivity to the seed:

Which type am I?
Am I so set in my ways that the seed has no where to go when it lands on the path of my daily rhythms and routines?
How much depth do I have? Do I react with enthusiasm – and then lose interest, going on to something else?
Do I get lost in the distractions of life, those pervasive weeds which seem to pop up everywhere? Do I allow them to choke out what I know to be the Way, the Truth, and the Light attempting to grow in me?
Have I done all I can to prepare the ground of my being?

We assume—
Responsibility for the ground on which the seed lands.
A straight trajectory – a direct, immediate, and obvious correlation between the seed sown and the crop harvested.
A kind of all-or-nothing thinking in which God’s purposes require ideal conditions under which to thrive. We forget that with God all things are possible…

Things to think about, all, and yet this morning I’d really like to shift the focus. I think this parable has a lot to tell us about the sower.

“Well, what kind of irresponsible sower is that?!” you might demand, still focusing on the ground conditions. “If he wants that yield of a hundredfold, or sixty, or thirty, why cast seed on ground that has not been prepared? Why throw it away – a total waste of time and effort, as well as seed?!”
What is with this random scattering – on the paths, on rocky ground, among thorns, as well as on good soil?!!
Why not just plant where the seed actually has a chance of growing, producing a crop?
What a profligate sower!
What a profligate God!

What a profligate sower.
What a profligate God.

We are much more careful about how we do things, of course: we like our seeds to bear their yield in carefully planned rows neatly labeled, “green beans,” “peas,” “squash,” “hope,” “forgiveness,” “peace,” “mercy…”

We have a sense of what soil merits what seed, and we plan accordingly, sowing here, not there…
In contrast, this morning’s sower seems positively reckless!
This sower works with abandon, seemingly less concerned with WHERE the seeds fall than with the fact that they are generously sown.

And that is good news for us! For, in spite of ourselves, our lives are not ordered in neat rows, nor are they so precisely compartmentalized and labeled… The reality is – they are every bit as messy and mixed up as the nature of which we are a part!
And we, in all our messy-ness, are every bit as much on the receiving end of those blessings falling from the sower’s hand, the mercy dropping from heaven, the seeds of love and hope cast so freely over us.

If we can shake ourselves free from that human mindset conditioned to measurable outcomes, we can take great comfort in this Sower, for he reminds us of all that God is:
God bestows blessings generously; we don’t have to be worthy; we don’t have to earn them.
God gives without condition.
God is patient; God doesn’t need immediate gratification.
God sees in each of us, not our limitations, but promise and possibility.
God believes in us, and trusts us.

I am reminded that at the close of each day in creation, God looked at what God had made, and pronounced it good.
Of course God wants to bless it – all of it!
Of course God wants to bless us – all of us!

I think of how narrow is our sense of “yield” compared to God’s: apple seeds grow apples in this amount of time, and corn, corn, in that....
God, on the other hand, sees the possibility that “yield” may well be birds fed from the seeds which have fallen on that hard path we’ve trod.
“Yield” may well be the hard and stony ground, softened and broken up a bit by the sprouting of seeds, beautified by their appearance, however brief, perhaps more ready and receptive for a crop the next time...
“Yield” may well be the long-term influence of seeds cast among the weeds and the thorns: who knows? One day, as Isaiah prophesies, instead of the thorn, shall come up the cypress!

There’s an extravagance about this sower, this God!
And it includes us, no matter what our condition!
It’s an extravagance we see upheld in the lushness of some of the Psalms or passages from Isaiah, conjuring forth images of just that sort of spilling-over abundance:

It’s as though all of creation is a glorious symphony, in which the Creator with his baton draws the music out of first one “section” and then another – here, you! Earth! Sprout forth! And you, mountains! Burst into song! Now, trees – clap your hands! Let’s feel the seeds, scattered everywhere – I want to hear them falling! Lots of seeds! Now, valleys – fill with grain – and meadows, fill with flocks!! And water – let’s have the sound of water everywhere – softening the ground, drenching the furrows, filling the rivers… Now the swell – let’s hear it! – and crescendo into the bursting forth of God’s plenteous abundance, leaving suspended in the air the iridescent sounds of goodness hanging over all…

Let’s rest in that abundance.
Amen.

Save the Date - Messiah Family Photo

2011-07-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

Quick! Before Father Brad retires, we want to take a “Messiah Family Photo”!

The date has been scheduled for HOMECOMING SUNDAY, September 11 at 11:30 a.m. in the Patio.

Don’t miss out!

Be part of this one-time opportunity to be photographed as one of the many Faces of Messiah”!

July 3, 2011 - The Reverend Canon Brad Karelius

2011-07-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

Celebrating American Independence Day brings my mind back to a summer day many years ago, when little Katie, Jan and I visited Concord, Mass. We had left the dry, brown landscape of Southern California, and now we were walking on an historic path through verdant green woods of Maple, Ash and Pine. Everything was so green. We came to the historic Concord Bridge and joined a small group of tourists listening to a National Park Ranger’s narrative.

You have heard those monotone lectures before, and usually our minds wander, looking around at other things or our watch. But not this time. This ranger had passion and energy about his story. We were transported back to June 19, 1775. As we stand on the bridge facing east, three regiments of a force of 90 red coated British soldiers march at quick step toward us. Behind us on the other side of the bridge stands a company of Minutemen. Other Minutemen stand on the hill above us protecting a large manor house where their guns and weapons are stored. In the distance smoke rises from the town of Concord: had the British set the town on fire?

The British soldiers draw closer, bayoneted muskets pointed forward. They stop and there is silence. Minutemen face the soldiers. The British represent the face of oppression and injustice. Beating in the hearts of these colonial farmers and merchants is a fiery hope for freedom and justice.

Ralph Waldo Emerson captured the event in his Concord Hymn:
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
  Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
  Here once the embattled farmers stood
  And fired the shot hear round the world.

The ranger described the chaos following that first shot, Minutemen standing firm and firing back, three British soldiers fell, the other troops withdrew and began a forced march retreat back to Boston. Dozens of other soldiers were picked off by Minutemen shooting from trees and stone walls in the torturous retreat.

I can see the rock wall beside that Concord Bridge, where two of the soldiers were interred. James Russell Lowell, in his poem Lines, also remembers those men:
  Two graves are here: to mark the place
  At head and foot, and unhewn stone,
  O’er which the herald lichens trace
  The blazon of Oblivion.

In 1910 resident of Concord placed a plaque that I could read marking those graves beside the bridge, using other lines from Lowell’s poem:
  Grave of British soldiers.  
  They came three thousand miles and died,
  To keep the past upon its throne.
  Unheard, beyond the ocean tide. 
  Their English Mother made her moan.
  April 19, 1775.

My imagination returned again to that tense moment of the face-off between soldiers and colonists: it seemed to be a primal moment that reflected other similar encounters and struggles for freedom and justice.

March 1965, a wall of Alabama State Troopers blocks the march of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Edmond Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday. East German demonstrators face East German soldiers at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate 1989. Chinese students face Chinese soldiers in Tiananmen Square, Beijing 1989. Egyptian citizens face security forces in Tahrin Square, Cairo, 2011. Desmond Tutu faces South African security forces during the struggle against apartheid.

On this celebration weekend of American Independence, we remember the proclamation of July 4, 1776. And it is good in this Eucharist to have the grounding of these scriptures to remind us that the core values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness did not come originally from John Locke and the other Enlightenment philosophers.

These core values were first imagined in another face-off of Moses and Hebrew slaves in Egypt, challenging the imperial power of Pharaoh. This was a world where nothing new could happen, only life and death. If you were a slave, you hoped to eat and live another day and to die a quick death.

But Moses emerged as the first Jewish prophet, who as Walter Bruggemann describes, “imagined an alternative reality to the dominant consciousness.” The dominant consciousness was Pharaoh, who was God. He had the power. The alternative reality promised at Sinai was that a people of slaves would overcome the world’s number one political power and be led into wilderness and the land of promise. Out of the Exodus experience, the Hebrew people were given the radical ideas of freedom, of progress, of a future of hope.

They were also given another radical idea: that they are to work for the common good, for the widow, orphan, the immigrant, the foreigner. Everyone should have enough. At the heart of their spirituality was the Torah commandment to remember: remember what God did in that face off with oppression, what God did in the wilderness and how the unimagined reality of freedom became their new identity.

Life, Liberty, the pursuit of happiness are all gifts of the Jews from the Exodus event that have inspired unconsciously all struggles for freedom and justice.

As Americans the struggle of the American Revolution is part of our identity and we remember that freedom is never free. We remember that even today, this day, people are dying for the hope for freedom.

As Americans, we are reminded that we are not just citizens of one country, members of one religion, members of one family, and members of one race and gender. We are citizens of the whole world, one with all who believe, brothers and sisters with all who are sincere, and part of the one family of humanity. And these wider loyalties constitute our deepest identity.

Ron Rolheiser reminds us that Jesus redefined both our citizenship and our loyalties.
“Real family, real country, real religion, and real identity are not based upon blood relationship, skin color, gender, church affiliation or shared geography. What makes real family, country, religion, or identity is a share spirit, the Holy Spirit of charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, long-suffering, faith, fidelity, gentleness, and chastity. These transcend all other boundaries of country, religion, family, race and gender. They are what ultimately ask for our loyalty.”

Our real passport is not issued by an individual country and baptism puts us in solidarity with others beyond any one faith or denomination. On this American Independence weekend we remember those who fought and struggled for freedom and those today in the global family who struggle against powerful forces and who also are inheritors of the gifts of the Jews.

Amen.

Resource used:

Multi-citizenship---Wide Loyalties, Ron Rolheiser, April 17, 2006.

Warden Report

2011-06-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

June 27, 2011

Dear Messiah Parishioners,

As you know, Father Brad will retire October 2, 2011. The Vestry has been in transition planning since the announcement. The Profile Committee has completed their work under the awesome leadership of Kitty Crary. Mark Hendrickson has taken all your words, ideas, and pictures and created a beautiful document. The profile is basically a marketing tool for priests who might want to apply to work here. Yet, it is much more
– it is a living history of where we have been and testifies to the dynamic diversity and programs of the present and our visions for the future. As soon as the profile is reviewed by the Diocese copies will be available, both in print and on our website. You will be proud!

The Discernment Committee was commissioned June 5th. Nancy Whitehead is chair. Other members are Biff Baker, Kitty Crary, Carol Harvey, Len Hightower, Lamar Hill, Jean Hollingshead, Janet Hryniewicki, Janette Lange, Larry Reddel, Bill Turpit, and Leonora Will. We have decided to use the term “Discernment Committee” rather than “Search” as we believe God knows who our next rector will be and it will be the job of that committee and the Vestry to discern God’s choice for Messiah once we have received our list of candidates from the Diocese, probably in December or January.

The Vestry and Discernment Committee had a very productive weekend retreat in early June at which we studied the search process and envisioned our future. Bishop Diane Bruce joined us Friday night. Here are some comments from members of the Discernment Committee:

“The retreat was very fruitful in preparing us for this journey. I gained a new way of looking at what’s to come: That Father Brad fostered strong lay leadership in the parish, and led us to this point well-prepared. And that the interim [period] is a critical time of growth and discernment, where God will reveal to us new possibilities of who we can be in the future. I left the retreat believing in the process and filled with anticipation of the good things that lie ahead for Messiah.” –Janet Hryniewicki

“An awesome group who all have the best interest of Messiah and the entire congregation (both English and Spanish) in mind as we take this responsibility seriously and spiritually… We are honored to be chosen to participate in this discernment…and will focus on the mission of Messiah at all times as we move forward in the months ahead.” –Carol Harvey

“Our retreat was educational and inspirational. I left with a sense of confidence that we will go through this process with open minds and open hearts. God is calling Messiah to new and exciting possibilities.” –Leonora Will

During the time between Father Brad and a new rector, we will have an interim rector, Father Mark Stuart. We think you will find him warm, open, and flexible. Father Mark is just finishing an interim appointment to St Augustine’s by-the-Sea, Santa Monica. The senior warden there, Darrel Menthe, e-mailed us, “Glad to hear you're getting Father Mark. He's been a very non-anxious presence who has helped avoid division in the church. [With the Vestry’s unanimous choice of our permanent rector] we have all gone from being anxious to almost giddy with excitement at our new future.”

Your wardens went to St Augustine’s to hear Father Mark preach, see him with his congregation, and visit with him; the Vestry met with him and liked him; and Glenn Howard, your finance chair, and the wardens have worked out a contract with him. Father Mark will start October 3, 2011.

It is important that everyone understand the position of our interim.

Father Mark Stuart will be at Messiah only during the transition. He will stay until we have chosen a permanent successor to Father Brad.
Father Mark is an “intentional interim” whose calling is to help parishes stay stable, build lay leadership. and deal with grief after the departure of a beloved rector.
As an intentional interim Father Mark will not be eligible for consideration as our permanent rector. He will be able to advise us on the relationship between the Diocese and a parish during the discernment process, but he will have no part in the actual search and will not even know the names of our candidates.
His main functions will be liturgical and pastoral. He will be work closely with Carolyn Estrada at the noon service as well as at the 8 am and 10:15 am services. Father Mark has started learning the liturgy in Spanish and will be studying basic conversational Spanish. He has made it clear that he wants the Hispanic congregation to continue to feel an integral part of our parish.
Father Mark will be commuting, sometimes by train, from his home in Hollywood but will keep regular office hours here and will be available for evening meetings and special functions.

Inevitably there will be changes, but with the stabilizing presence of an interim rector and the continued inspired ministry of Carolyn Estrada, our Associate Rector, Messiah’s going to be OK! There are exciting times ahead! Please continue to pray for Messiah’s future, and mark your calendar for the grand celebration of Father Brad’s 30-year ministry, which will be held at The Hacienda on October 2, 2011, following our services.

Yours in Christ,
Dee Tucker, Sr. Warden
Lorna Adkins, Jr. Warden

Every Amazon.com purchase can be a donation to Church of the Messiah!

2011-06-23T10:29:00.000-07:00

If you make any Amazon.com purchases through the icon on the Messiah Parish website, the church receives a donation of 4% of your purchase. If seven items are purchased in a month, the donation goes up to 7%. But you must access Amazon through the icon on the church webpage, or by following this link directly to Amazon.com.

Great American Hot Dog Feast - Sunday, July 3

2011-06-23T10:23:00.000-07:00

Join us after the 10:15 and Noon services.

Sing in the Summer Choir

2011-06-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

The warm weather months of June, July and August are when we settle in to our tradition of Summer Choir: rehearsals on Sunday mornings at 9:00 am in the Chancel, easy anthems, a hymn sing after the prelude, and the big draw, no choir robes! The Parish Choir welcomes you to sing with them and enjoy their hospitality and good cheer. Plus, it's a great way to warm up a voice that hasn't sung in a few years! We hear from you often that your voice is a bit rusty, well, here's just the right setting for you to get back in vocal shape, join us in the Summer Choir!

-Jim Gilliam, Choir Director

Save the Date: Bilingual Mass & Celebration - Sunday, October 2, 2011

2011-06-22T10:33:00.000-07:00

Bishop Jon Bruno will celebrate with Father Brad on his last Sunday at Messiah. When a rector leaves a parish there are prescribed steps required by canon law. Everyone should plan to attend the bilingual service to demonstrate our love and passion for this man that has served for 30 years.

Immediately following we will ‘party’ at the Hacienda Restaurant on 17th and College Avenue in Santa Ana.

More details will follow. If you have any ideas or suggestions please contact Lorna Adkins or Dee Tucker.

June 19, 2011, Trinity Sunday - The Reverend Canon Brad Karelius

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St. Augustine was strolling along a sandy beach on the coast of North Africa in deep contemplation about the mystery of the Holy Trinity. As he walked with his head in the clouds, he almost stumbled over a boy with a little pail. The boy was running back and forth, empting bucket after bucket into a hole in the beach sand. When Augustine asked the little boy what he was doing, the child answered that he was putting the ocean back into that hole. When Augustine told him that was impossible, the boy responded that it was just as impossible for Augustine to comprehend the mystery of the Trinity.

On this Trinity Sunday many clergy throughout the world will attempt the impossible, to explain in some way the nature of the Trinity. Augustine wrote some where that if we ever think we finally have understood God, then what we understand is not God. I think this is true, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t know something about the triune God. We can work at expressing in words and images and symbols what we have personally experienced of God, knowing that we only have a brief glimpse of God’s mystery.

I am sitting on the remains of a huge old cottonwood tree that fell during a horrific windstorm that recently blew through the Owens Valley, near Olancha. I sit on the tree and contemplate another living cottonwood tree standing majestically in a rocky field strewn with sage brush, Angus cattle munching tender green grass near by. The leaves on the cottonwood twirl and flutter. Sitting with me in my imagination of this scene is the Hassidic Jewish mystic Martin Buber. He tells me: “Look at that tree, Brad. We can give it a name in the Linnaean system. We can describe it’s height, color, texture, and how it’s root system goes very deep searching for water. We can make a complete, informed description of the nature of this Freemont Cottonwood. And we think we know it.”

Martin Buber continues, “But let me tell you about one day when I sat like this contemplating another tree. I first saw it as another tree. But as I was captivated by the rhythmic movement of the branches swaying in the wind, back and forth, back and forth, time stopped. I forgot where I was. And I had this weird feeling that the tree was moving toward me and I was moving toward the tree and then we were one. The tree was no longer an it, object, thing, but had become a Thou.”

“Stay with me a little more, Brad. There is more. Some time later I was sitting back on the tree truck, reflecting on that surprising encounter, thinking that maybe I was hallucinating and it came to me: This is how God is.”

“I can be reading Torah or arguing with the Rabbi about some theological question. But that tree embraced me, reminding me that God is not an it to be dissected or fixed in some static theological place. God is a Thou and I am a Thou to God. God deeply desires relationship with me.”

I imagine this encounter with Buber, based on his book, I and Thou, I believe that our encounters with creation can be similar invitations to relationship with God.

As Karl Rahner wrote, “Knowing God is more important than knowing about God.”

Our celebration of the Holy Trinity today is another encounter with God’s deep desire for relationship with you and me.

The Trinity is not a monad. Our God is a tissue of relationships. Therefore in all of our relationships we are who we are and God is implanted there. Katie and Erik and my marriage are thous to me and God is revealed as Thou in relationships and you are Thou to me and I to you. God, the Trinity, is within the tissues of all those relationships.

The icon of the Trinity painted in 1410 by Andrei Rublev depicts the Holy Trinity. Three angelic figures are seated at a table on three sides, the front is open to you and me as we look at the icon. The faces look toward us. On the table is the Eucharistic Bread. The Trinity invites us to come close in intimate relationship.

If you have participated in Greek folk dancing, you have been arm and arm dancing in an open circle. The Greek Orthodox Church has a term they use to describe the relationship of God as Trinity as perichoesis. It means literally “going around.” It suggests a dance where each person circles, interweaving, whirling in vibrant interaction with others. The dance is an open circle that invites all onto the dance floor, drawing them right into the midst of the energetic flow of divine light. If some hesitate, preferring to sit on the sidelines, the Three in One circles back again and again, extends the invitation over and over to each and to all, changing the pace and the rhythms so that even the most introverted or clumsy of us can learn the steps in this divine dance of love.

The Trinity is then:

The open table inviting you to draw close to the circle of relationship.
The dance encircling around you, enticing you to join the circle
The precious relationships of Thous in your life.
All giving you and me eyes of the heart to see the mystery of God.

Amen.

Resource used: America, “A Dance of Love”, Barbara Reid, June 6, 2011.

June 12, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-06-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

Numbers 11:24 – 30 Psalm 104:25 – 35, 37b Acts 2:1 – 21 John 20:19 – 23

“…behind locked doors….” we hear again today.
Again?
Still?

Several weeks ago we saw how the appearance of the Risen Christ had transformed Jesus’ disciples, their fear and despair, palpable behind the closed doors of the room in which they were gathered, turning to a feeling of peace and hopefulness:

We weren’t deceived!
Jesus was the Messiah, after all!
He really did rise from the dead!
Things are going to be okay!

So why, fifty days later, does it seem as though everything has changed – and nothing has changed? Their angst has been soothed, certainly – but today we find them once again gathered together in a room. Although they are no longer anxious and fear-ridden – their faith and confidence has been restored, knowing that their friend Jesus really is Jesus the Christ – they aren’t yet the disciples we meet post-Pentecost.

I’m wondering if the atmosphere in the room today isn’t almost “clubby” – a fraternity of followers with a shared experience, each having personally witnessed the resurrection. I can imagine the feel-good atmosphere in that room as they tell stories and laugh and reminisce about “the good old days” when their buddy Jesus walked the earth among them:

Hey, Peter – remember that time when you decided to walk on water with Jesus?
You should have seen the steward’s face when that water was turned to fine wine!
How about the time he exorcised all those demons and they went into the pigs and the pigs jumped into the water?!!

So here they are.

The Holy Spirit has been a personal gift to each of them, bringing them peace and comfort after the emotional roller coaster they have been on...

But today, on the day of Pentecost, all that private, shared experience changes abruptly when the Holy Spirit descends!

They’ve been having a good time, when whammo!

This is a different kind of visitation of the Spirit: not one which is received on a gentle breath, as before – but one which seems to come out of nowhere, with a force that is overpowering!

With the sound of rushing wind come divided tongues, as of fire, filling them, moving them from their healing sanctuary into the wider and infinitely more dangerous world!

How frightening that must have been for them! To experience the unexpected, to feel so suddenly out of control! To have their peace shattered in such a way, their lives disrupted like that!

Whoa! What is happening to me?!!
Where did this come from?!!
I don’t understand…

And yet, as quickly as the force and the abruptness frightens them, just as quickly they must have become aware that this is a benign presence – not something threatening, but something empowering, and their terror-fear is transformed into the fear that is awe.

They realize that they have received a gift.

They now have a mandate to speak what they know – not coming from without, as a rule to follow, but welling from within and empowering them, moving them almost involuntarily beyond their comfort zone…

Prophesy they must.

It becomes something they can’t not do.

Thomas Merton tells us that a prophet is “one whose life God has disrupted and through whose life God disrupts the lives of others.”

And thank goodness for that, for WE are the products of that disruption in their lives – the result of those prophets those Jesus-followers became on this day of Pentecost, as the ripple effect of their transformation is felt across time and geography.

I feel the trajectory of these fifty days, the days from the resurrection to Pentecost, as a shape of our own lives in Christ.

Often our life in Christ contains times of healing, renewal or refreshment.

We find ourselves in a gathering of like-minded believers, in a “feel-good” place with our faith, finding in it an assurance, a peacefulness and a comfort – something reliable, yet undemanding, that we can draw on…

It is very personal: it belongs to us. It makes us feel better.

Yes, I know Jesus is the Messiah.
Yes, he lives!
Wherever two or three are gathered together in his name…
Yes, there is resurrection on the last day…

It can lull us into a kind of complacency.

And at some point there is Pentecost!
We NEED Pentecost, because, as important as those times of healing or refreshment are, they are not enough; in and of themselves they do not make us disciples of Christ, followers of the Way.
We need that realization that our faith is more than just “make-me-feel-good.”
We need to be propelled beyond ourselves and into the community, the world beyond our doors.

Pentecost demands that we, too, begin to prophesy, each one in his or her own language, using his or her own gifts, in ways that others might understand.

Most of us take the old adage of St. Francis seriously: “Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.”

We open day care centers for the working poor, and support after-school tutoring programs.
We feed the homeless.
We take stands on immigration or peace or discrimination of all sorts.
We donate time and money.
We go on mission trips and tear down houses, as we did in New Orleans, or repair damaged ones, as we did in Mississippi.

The “using words” part of prophesying, or preaching the Gospel, is a bit more of a challenge for many of us: it’s often hard to articulate the source of our Christian living, what it is that inspires – and empowers! – us to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world.

Something to think about on this word-drenched day of Pentecost!
What is the “language” you/we speak?
How is it that YOU/WE prophesy?

Unlike the disciples on that day of Pentecost, we are not surprised by the Spirit this morning – after all, Pentecost does show up on a regular basis in the course of our liturgical year! Nevertheless, it is a day that reminds us of the importance of being more than the Social Club of Jesus-Followers, and it challenges us to be open to allow the Spirit to work in and through us, to propel us, too, into the streets to prophesy and to preach the Good News of the Gospel.

The poet Rilke (Ninth Elegy) has written:

Maybe we’re here only to say,
bridge, well, gate, jug, olive tree, window –
at most, pillar, tower… but to say them, remember,
oh, to say them in a way that the things themselves
never dreamed of existing so intensely.

This Pentecost may we say the old familiar words so that they exist with a here-to-fore undreamed-of intensity:

Jesus
Resurrection
Disciple
Hope
Presence
Love.

Amen.

May 22, 2011 - The Reverend Canon Brad Karelius

2011-05-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

There are some people who have the gift of “non anxious presence” in stormy times. I wonder if you can think of someone in your life who is like that? This would not be someone who is indifferent to suffering or a sunny optimist who only thinks happy thoughts. I am thinking of someone who radiates a deep trust in the goodness and amazing grace of God, even in tough times. Can you think of someone in your life who has been like that for you?

In today’s Gospel Jesus encourages the disciples to not be anxious and he helps them to find the way to peace and serenity in desperate times. The setting is the Last Supper. This is a night dense with fear, apprehension and anxiety. Jesus has predicted that some who are there will betray him and that he is going to leave them and be taken away into suffering. That kind of dinner speech could certainly create anxiety. Where are you going and how will we know the way to find you?

The Gospel of John is concerned about answering these anxious questions about where. The first recruited disciple asks Jesus: “Where are you staying?” Pilate asks Jesus: “Where are you from?” On Easter Day, Mary sees an empty tomb and exclaims, “We do not know where they have laid him.” Where.

John is not concerned about the geographical space of “where.” Instead there is an inner place that can’t be seen. Throughout John, we hear Jesus’ desire that the disciples have the same indwelling connection with Abba Father God that Jesus has. For Jesus this communion with Abba is his spiritual ballast. “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.”

For 41 years I have almost always used this gospel at Funeral services as the gospel reading. Often, when we are thinking of someone we love who has died, we think of many dwelling places in God’s house, a mansion in heaven with a special place for our loved one. But as I look at this gospel again, I think Jesus is teaching about an invitation to enter into a deep relationship of union with him.

Mystics understand this kind of invitation, because they know that is where solid ground will be found in the storms and uncertainties of life. It’s hard for us to grasp this invitation. But it is a very simple invitation Jesus has repeated again and again. Jesus is the way. Thomas, who needs GPS or Map Quest step by step turn guidance toward this way, asks, “Master, we do not know where you are going, how we can know the way.” Give us some specific help here please.

Once again this invitation comes to you: Come my way, my truth, my life. But Jesus needs to be invited and asked. You and I are invited into a personal relationship with the living Jesus. If you invite him, there will be a response, and you can build on that friendship over and over through all the storms and challenges and difficulties ahead of you.

For many years, the Episcopal Church has been teaching this organizational theory called “System’s Theory” based on Rabbi Edwin Friedman’s classic book, Generation to Generation: Family Process in Church and Synagogue. He wrote that book in reflection on his own experience when his synagogue blew up in conflict and he had to leave. The book was the organizational Bible of this Diocese in the 1990s. At the core was the leader/ rector/rabbi who needed to have a non anxious presence to guide a congregation through change.

How does a leader handle conflict and difference within a family or organization? The leader doesn’t have to get caught up in the maelstrom of emotions going on around them. Balancing intimacy and autonomy. How to enjoy close contact with siginficant others in their lives without losing one’s independence? He wasn’t teaching how to manage conflict, but how to manage oneself in times of conflict. The leader can chose not to be caught up in the dynamic reactivity going around him or her. The trick is to step back from all the emotion and stay connected and committed to the organization. Reactions to the leader during these times will be resistence and stabotoge. So the leader needs to be self-differentiated. That is a two step process. First, he/she needs to know deep within them what they believe. Second, he/she needs to define themselves to the others. It’s a balancing process, no one is perfect at this.

Family systems like a church want homeostatis and resist change. It is very difficult to change a family system like a church or synagogue.

If you have been in our parish since 1981, we are a very, very different congregation than 1981.

When I first came here in 1981 Messiah Parish was the Santa Ana Country Club at prayer. Most of the old timer families had fled to the suburban churches, leaving an urban core going through dramatic change. Today we are a church that radically welcomes everyone, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, social class, and political persuasion to the heart of ministry and activity.

This kind of change rarely happens, but it had to happen for us to have the vitality we have now. I am not a model of non anxious presence. But I do know that my personal relationship with Jesus as the Way, has been the spiritual ballast for me through many storms. I remember the loneliness of leadership in 1990 when we lost important parishioners because of our inclusion of Latino and gay-lesbian members and our ministry with the homeless. You can ask Ellen Hill how I was doing back then. It was especially difficult when patriarchs of this parish who were key leaders and had guided me through my first years hear expressed their very strong disapproval of the vision I was proposing. That was when I began to learn that not everything people say that is critical is necessarily a personal attack on me.

Non anxious presence does not mean becoming a self actualized tough guy in the perfect storm. The only way I know to make it through the wilderness of tough, challenging or changing times is companionship with Jesus, fostering friendship with him, listening for his voice, and trusting that the amazing grace that came out of no where in the past, remembering that, will be with us as we both enter the uncharted waters of the future. For me it is retirement, and a total change of identity. For you it will be a new pastor. Our ability to be faithful disciples will be related to how we keep our eyes on Jesus who is the way and listen for his counsel in our prayer. That will be when our hearts will become steady and hopeful.

Amen

Resources used:

America Magazine, “Untroubled Hearts,” by Barbara Reid, May 18, 2011.

Generation to Generation, Edwin Friedman.

Evensong Piano Concert and High Tea: A Taste of England - Sunday, June 12, 2011, 4:00 p.m.

2011-05-16T18:24:00.000-07:00

Parish Choir

James Gilliam, Director

Michael Sanders, Piano and Organ

Experience a bit of England in the OC in this British-style church. The all-British composers are some of the greatest musicians ever produced "across the pond."

Sanders’ performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was “glorious.”
Mart in Bernheimer, Los Angeles Times

We are excited to welcome organist and pianist Michael Sanders of San Juan Capistrano to join us in this service of Choral Evensong. Mr. Sanders will also present a short program of music for piano by Domenico Scarlatti and York Bowen.

C.V. Stanford was the first important composer of English church music since the time of Byrd and Purcell. Born in Ireland in 1852, he studied law at Cambridge before his father permitted him to study music in Leipzig. His unrivalled knowledge of contemporary music (Wagner, Brahms, Meyerbeer and Offenbach), together with his love and respect for earlier choral music, allowed him to make the biggest impact of all his colleagues in the renaissance of English music in the late 19th century. In addition to his work as a composer (he also wrote oratorios, 10 operas, part-songs and instrumental works), he was a distinguished conductor and editor. Perhaps most importantly, he taught virtually all the significant British composers of the first half of the 20th century: Bridge, Holst, Howells, Ireland and Vaughan Williams.

One of his less-well-known students was Edgar Bainton (1880-1956), a composer, teacher and conductor like Stanford. Bainton was born in London, and became principal of the Conservatory of Music in Newcastle upon Tyne after his studies with Stanford. In 1938 he was appointed director of the Conservatory in Sydney, Australia, where he remained for the rest of his career. Although he composed symphonies, operas, chamber music, song settings and piano pieces – some of which are now beginning to be recorded -- he is perhaps best known for his setting of the tonight’s anthem: And I Saw a New Heaven.

"Blessed are the Pure in Heart" is the work of Walford Davies (1869-1941). Davies played the organ at the Temple Church in London and was a composer and musical director at the University of Wales. He is known for his oratorios and choral suites. We invite listeners to let these musical settings of the anthems and service music be their prayer to Almighty God, and hope that hearing them tonight will bring God’s grace, God’s peace, and God’s joy.

High Tea in the Parish Hall following the concert.

Episcopal Church of the Messiah
614 N. Bush Street

Santa Ana, CA 92701

714.543.9389

Admission and parking are free.
For directions and more info: messiah-santaana.org

May 15, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-05-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

Acts 2:42 – 47 Psalm 23 1 Peter 2:19 – 25 John 10:1 - 10

They were believers

devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
having all things in common
selling their possessions and goods and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
daily spending much time together in the temple…
eating their food with glad and generous hearts
praising God and having the good will of all the people…

And daily the Lord added to their number…

This morning’s lesson from the Acts of the Apostles gives us quite a description of the early Christians and their community!

They certainly sound joyful and generous and non-anxious!

Clearly Jesus is foremost in the hearts and minds of these followers, and his life and teachings are the organizing principle of their lives. In him they had found a home.

How might Christians in today’s world – followers of this same Jesus – be described, I wonder?

We are believers,

coming to church on Sunday mornings when we are free of outside demands, to hear the Word of God, to pray, and to break bread, and perhaps to have some fellowship at Coffee Hour….
donating our time and our money to charity, debating whether a tithe should be based on our net or our gross income…
breaking bread, our food fresh from the microwave, the drive-through, or take-out window, and eating hastily, being distracted by many things…
allowing complacency or preoccupation, or a sense of entitlement, or the stridency of our own opinions or beliefs, to get in the way of praise for God and the good will of all people.

And week by week, the statistics tell us, the church is shrinking in membership…

What has changed?

How did we get from there to here, from that tightly knit group of followers of Jesus to the scattered, fragmented, distracted, group of individuals today who identify as “Christians”?

Today we celebrate Jesus as “The Good Shepherd.” It is an image that had powerful resonance for the early Christians, the metaphor coming out of their experience and needing no explanation. They recognized in that imagery Jesus, fortifying them through difficult times, knowing him as the shepherd and guardian of their souls, the one who walked with them through the valley of the shadow of death and sustained them in the face of evil. There might be evil in the world – wolves or Roman soldiers – yes! – but there was also this Good Shepherd, who assuredly was with them, caring for them, leading them to that ultimate safety…

Good shepherd imagery doesn’t have quite the same resonance in 21^st century America.

Val Webb, author of Like Catching Water in a Net, observes: “We continue to teach high-tech city children about ancient shepherds, believing we must preserve the biblical metaphor of Divine Shepherd, yet as author George O’Brien notes, “A God who travels only on camels may end up as a subject only for tourists, not for life’s daily commuters. How is the modern commuter to engage his or her imagination with that Biblical narrative so overstocked with sheep and figs?” (p. 19)

It is a challenge.

Something has happened – as society has become more complex, offering us greater freedom and more choices; as increasingly we have become urban dwellers, living at a remove from the land; our sense of dependency has shifted from God – however we conceptualize God – and become compartmentalized. In a sense it has been “outsourced”: we’re far less likely to speak of dependence on God that we are to recognize our dependence on an auto mechanic, financial planner, therapist, handy man, cleaning lady…

And in some ways we have become like tourists making a weekend trek into a spiritual landscape…

Yet underneath all that busy-ness and self-sufficiency and making-our-way-through-this world, we all have a yearning, a longing, to feel ourselves sheltered and protected at some more basic level – there is an appeal to the IDEA of a Good Shepherd, to what that metaphor represents, regardless how foreign the image – or how loathe we are to think of ourselves as sheep. We long for a God of intimacy, a God who is accessible, not remote, absent, judgmental, frightening…

And perhaps that metaphor can lead us where we need to go.

Within the sheep world there is a concept of “being hefted.” Lest you not visualize some apocalyptic image of Jesus dramatically swooping down from the heavens and scooping some up and leaving some behind, let me hasten to explain that sheep who are hefted have a “sense of place” about them, a sense of “home.” Hefted sheep can be left to roam freely, as they will not stray from the land that they know very well. They instinctively can locate therapeutic plants to eat and, on the basis of wind, where they will most likely find shelter when needed. It is home.

In our deracinated lives, what we sorely need is to be hefted – to have a spiritual landscape in which we are secure as we make our daily commute to work or to school, as we move through the routine pieces of our lives, from dry cleaners to grocery store to theater… We need to have that sense of home (that) an intimate God provides; a place where a loving God is accessible; a landscape we have internalized and carry with us, a landscape that we know well and from which we do not roam.

We need it, and we long for it.

And sometimes we misdirect just what it is that will offer us that nurturing and security we so desire, and we fortify walls, perhaps even become militant, or self-medicate or become hyper-vigilant.

We take it upon ourselves rather than allowing ourselves to lean into God, to listen to the voice of the shepherd who is calling us.

And so this morning, let’s lean into God.

Let’s listen to the voice of the shepherd who is calling us.

If the shepherd imagery doesn’t work for you, ask yourself what does?

How do you visualize God as God envelopes you, holds you, reassures you of God’s care for you?

What resonates with you?

How do you image the sustaining, life-giving relationship we hear about in this morning’s lessons?

What makes the words of that beloved 23^rd Psalm a reality in your life?

I heard the other day of someone who said that as a child she thought that Shirley Goodness was her Guardian Angel, and that Mercy was her assistant. She felt totally safe: they would follow her all the days of her life, and she would dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

I myself for many years carried with me the image of God-as-hazelnut. I have no idea where the image came from – I’m not sure I even knew what a hazelnut was at that time, and it was long before I had read Julian of Norwich and what she had to say about God and hazelnuts! All I know that it made God close, and it was a comfort to me. I would regularly “take out” my hazelnut image, and finger it, or tuck under my chin when I went to sleep at night. For whatever reason, in that hazelnut was all I needed to know of God’s love and care for me, and to have it right there, with me.

The image of Jesus-as-Good-Shepherd offers similar reassurance and accessibility: the nurturing and protection right here, with us, all the days of our lives.

Guardian Angels.

Hazelnut.

Good Shepherd.

It’s not the image, but the relationship.

It is a relationship that helps orient our lives around the God who loves us.

It is a relationship that gives us a home – a loving home, and hefts us into a spiritual landscape, allowing us to roam freely without getting lost.

For surely God’s goodness and mercy does follow us all the days of our lives, and we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.

Greetings from your Search Committee!

2011-05-03T12:18:00.000-07:00

The Search Committee is the group that will review resumes, conduct interviews of potential candidates, and recommend final candidates to the Vestry for the new Rector to assume the clergy leadership of the parish after Father Brad’s retirement.

The most important news to report in this month’s update is that the Vestry has approved the Search Committee members, each of whom accepted the invitation to serve on the Search Committee. The members of the Search Committee are Biff Baker, Kitty Crary, Carol Harvey, Len Hightower, Lamar Hill, Jean Hollingshead, Janet Hryniewicki, Janette Lange, Larry Reddel, Bill Turpit, Leonora Will, and me, Nancy Whitehead, as Committee chair.

In March, the Search Committee met for an introductory meeting. At the meeting, the sentiment of each member of the group was how honored and humbled we are to have been requested to serve Messiah at this important time. “Each of us love this parish and are intent on discerning God’s will in calling a Rector who will care for this parish and its people.”

The first step for the Search Committee will be to attend a retreat in early June, with the Vestry, to prepare for the search process. Over the next months, the parish profile will be approved, and the Diocese will provide us with names of potential candidates. At that time, which we estimate will be sometime in Fall 2011, the work of the Search Committee in evaluating candidates will really begin.

Thank you for entrusting us with this important task. You will continue to be informed at each step of the process through the newsletter, regular announcements at services, the church website (www.messiah-santaana.org), and through regular mailings. Please feel free to ask me, or other members of the Search Committee or Vestry, if you have questions about the process. Please continue to pray for the Search Committee and the Vestry, that we may ultimately call a Rector who will lead Messiah in the direction God chooses.

Respectfully,
Nancy Whitehead, Search Committee Chair

May 1, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-05-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

Acts 2:14a, 22 – 32 Psalm 16 1 Peter 1:3 – 9 John 20:19 - 31

Last week you and I experienced the Risen Christ.

Some of us may even still be a little raw from the experience – dazed, perhaps, wondering, What happened? Was it real? Could it be? Did I dream it?...

Trying to remember exactly, perhaps to make sense of, or even reclaim, the experience.

After all – nothing seems to have changed, really.

The streets beyond these walls are still pretty scary – Roman soldiers everywhere, violence and threats of violence.

No wonder we’re huddled behind these walls, hiding, despairing – at loose ends, really.

What’s next? Where do we go from here?

And then Jesus – the Risen Christ – comes and stands among us, and says, “Peace be with you.”

He shows us his hands and his side.

He breathes his Holy Spirit into us, and suddenly we are different, transformed!

Thomas isn’t with us. We don’t know where he was, or why.

Perhaps he’s gone searching for food for our evening meal, coming back with the groceries. He uses the “secret knock” to gain entry to the room, and bursts through the door. “Whew! Here’s the food you asked for, Peter! Wow! It’s dangerous out there!”
Or perhaps he’s gone to Galilee as directed, and is only now returning, dragging his travel-weary and discouraged body through the door: “Hey, guys! I looked everywhere around Galilee! No sign of Jesus anywhere! Couldn’t find him at all!”

What we do know is that Thomas must have been drawn up short, startled and amazed at the change in the disciples, at the atmosphere in the room, at the way anxiety and despair have been replaced by Peace.

“Whoa! Something’s different! What happened to you?!”

And the disciples tell him. “We have seen the Lord,” they say.

But it’s more than “We have laid eyes on the Lord.”

Clearly, they have experienced the Lord.

They can tell Thomas all about it, but he can’t know it in here, their words can’t give him that same experience.

“I want what you’ve got!” we can almost hear him exclaim! Whatever it is, I want it, too! Let ME “see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side…”

I, too, want the experience of the Risen Christ!

Thomas has been a faithful follower of Jesus.

He knows a lot about Jesus, about his earthly life and ministry. He has followed him; he has heard his teachings; he has been loyal, willing even to go to Jerusalem with Jesus to die; he has undoubtedly been grieving Jesus’ death; but, when we first meet him in this morning’s Gospel lesson, he has not experienced the resurrection.

Just as words cannot convey the power of a work of art – we must experience for ourselves the painting, the concerto, the poem, the ballet – so, too, with Thomas and Jesus.

He doesn’t want simply to HEAR ABOUT the disciples’ encounter with the Risen Christ.

He can see the power of that encounter, the transformation – and he wants that experience for himself!

I think of this morning’s Gospel lesson as giving us two “snapshots” of the early church which are important for us today, especially as Messiah faces Brad’s retirement and this time of transition:

In the first, we see a motley assortment of Jesus-followers, frightened, confused, depressed, despairing – wounded in spirit if not in body – huddling together for security behind the walls of that room.
In the picture, “taken” as it were just a short while after the first, we have that same group of Jesus-followers after their encounter with the Risen Christ: a group altogether transformed and empowered by the Spirit!

It is clear that “the church” is NOT about Peter, or the Beloved Disciple, or James the brother of Jesus, or any other one person who might assume a leadership role. Even so, the Church of the Messiah is not about the clergy, or the wardens, or the vestry. The church is about the gathering of followers of Jesus who have been transformed by their experience of the Risen Christ.

The other remarkable fact about this passage, these “snapshots,” – and an important lesson, at least for me – is that when Jesus appears to this assembly, never once does he say: “Why did you all scatter while I was on the cross? Where were you?!” Or, “Peter, why did you deny me?” Or, “Didn’t I ask you to go meet me in Galilee? I looked for you there…”

The encounter is free of reprimand, chastisement, criticism, or guilt. Instead, Jesus says to them: “Peace.”

Peace.

He gives them the gift of the Holy Spirit.

THERE is the Church!

The Church – then and now! – is what happens when we encounter the Risen Christ!

This morning of course we hear that Jesus does come once again into the closed room where the disciples are gathered, and he does offer himself, his hands and his side, to Thomas.

As Jesus offers himself, so Thomas receives, so Thomas experiences.

Thomas may well be the model for St. Augustine’s observation: “When you begin to experience God, you realize that what you are experiencing cannot be put into words.”

Thus, Thomas’ response: “My Lord and my God.”

My Lord and my God.

He can say no more; he can simply acknowledge his experience.

But what about you and me?

How can we experience our Risen Lord? We, who cannot see, who struggle to believe what we cannot see?

Jesus’ life and death happened in a specific time and place: two thousand years ago, in and about Jerusalem.

But his resurrection liberated him, not just from death, but from the confines of time and space.

Fortunately for us, Jesus does not reside in that hut Peter wanted to build for him on the mountain at the Transfiguration.

And his body is not in a tomb in Jerusalem.

The resurrection makes the experience of the Risen Christ available to each one of us, to you and to me.

Of course we can’t invoke experiences of the sacred: they don’t come on demand.

Thomas asked for what he wanted; but he did more than ask: he also opened himself to receive.

So, too, with us:

We can pray.

We can open ourselves to receive.

We can move through our daily lives alert to possibility.

A rabbi taught that experiences of God can never be planned or achieved. “They are spontaneous moments of grace, almost accidental.” His student asked, “Rabbi, if God-realization is just accidental, why do we work so hard doing all these spiritual practices?” The rabbi replied, “To be as accident-prone as possible.”

So, what about you and me?

How can we be “accident-prone”?

How can we experience our Risen Lord?

We can’t put our fingers in the marks of the nails and our hands in his side…

Or can we?

For I believe that:

Whenever we reach out to the poor, the downcast.
Whenever we sit with someone in their pain.
Whenever we oppose injustice, or exhibit solidarity with the oppressed.
Whenever we feed, or clothe, or nurture, or care for, or weep with, the broken parts of creation,

then we are touching the wounds in the hands and the side of Christ.

Whenever we feed, or clothe, or nurture, or care for, or weep with, the broken parts of creation, then we are touching the wounds in the hands and the side of Christ.

Do we recognize him?

Peter said, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.”

Not just the disciples.

You and I, also, are witnesses.

Witnesses who have seen, and who know – who have touched his wounds and been transformed.

Witnesses whose lives have been changed in such a way that others may see, also.

Henry David Thoreau once asked, “With all your science, can you tell me how it is, and whence it is, that light comes into the soul?”

Not with knowledge, but with experience.

Knowledge tells us about.

Experience makes it ours.

May we each reach out to touch the wounds of Christ in this creation, and find the experience which renders speech inadequate even as it lights our soul, so that our witness, like that of Thomas, is a reverent: My Lord and my God.

Amen.

April 23, 2011, Easter Vigil - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-04-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

Romans 6:3 – 11; Matthew 28:1 - 10

I can imagine Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, walking to the tomb. They have waited for the first light after the Sabbath, and now, their hearts heavy, they make their way slowly along the path to where Jesus was laid.

What are they saying, I wonder?

Are their low voices exchanging the “would-a, could’a, should’a’s” with which we are so familiar?

You know:

If only he had gotten more exercise…
If only she had watched her cholesterol…
If only he had quit drinking…
If only they hadn’t gone out that night…
If only…

The “Jesus variations” might read:

If only Jesus hadn’t gone to Jerusalem…
Couldn’t Jesus have just kept his mouth shut and followed the Law?! Why did he have to heal on the Sabbath or call Lazarus out of his tomb – or raise such a ruckus in the Temple?!
Jesus should have fled the garden instead of staying there to pray…
If only the disciples had insisted Jesus get rid of Judas – he never fit into their inner circle anyway, and nobody really liked him!
Well, those guys certainly shouldn’t have fallen asleep! If they’d been awake they’d have heard the guards coming and could have alerted Jesus! Why, they could have fought them off, and Jesus could have escaped!

Human thinking! But – they – we – are human, after all, and grieving.

What they – we – long for; what they – we – miss and beg God to give back – is dead. So mostly we flagellate ourselves or others with “if only’s,” or ask the inevitable question: Why? Why?! as though the answer could somehow undo what has happened.

I read recently that the grief resulting from death is the sorrow that knows no remedy. That great 18^th Century English “man of letters,” Samuel Johnson, observed, “Ordinary desires, virtuous or vicious, contain within them the theoretical possibility of their satisfaction: the miser always imagines that there is a certain sum that will fill his heart to the brim, and every ambitious man, like King Pyrrhus, has an acquisition in his thoughts that is to terminate his labours, after which he shall pass the rest of his life in ease or gaity, in repose or devotion…”

But with death – well, we can’t yell loud enough, pray hard enough, work smart enough, to “fix it.”

Jesus is dead, and his friends and followers are grieving; they are suffering “the sorrow that knows no remedy.”

And so the Marys make their way to the tomb.

They know Jesus is dead – that he won’t “be there” – and yet, unable to let go of him, they want to be as close as possible to his body, to what remains of this person whom they loved, to hang on...

We hear what happened, of course: the earthquake; the angel; the rolled back stone and the announcement that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

Raised from the dead?

How is that possible?! It doesn’t make sense!

Yet “How?” is the wrong question to ask about the resurrection, just as “Why?” is the wrong question to ask about death.

We should be asking, What does it mean, to be raised from the dead? Is it

raised like Lazarus, who will only have to die again?

Raised so that things can go on just as they were before? A kind of resuscitation, a breathing-back-into-life of what was, so that things continue after that inconvenient “blip” or hiatus of crucifixion?

Because, for many of us “the resurrection” is about restoring things as they were: The disciples can still wander through the countryside, eating and talking and healing in that camaraderie they have developed; we can still gather for holiday meals around the family table, with everyone there. We want to restore things as they were – or as we would like them to be! (Thus, the questions and comments we get about hoping that in the resurrection we will have our own teeth or wondering whether our bodies will be their aged selves, or a younger, less lived-in version of us…)

As in our response to death, so in our response to the resurrection: we do not think with the mind of God; we are limited in our thinking by our human and finite minds. But living in the past is impossible – we need to let go of the hope that Jesus will take us back to the way things were – or, perhaps, to an improved-upon version of what they were.

Just as the earthquake causes the solid and familiar ground to roll and crack and tremble under our feet, and caused the stone to roll away from the tomb, something shattered on Easter Day: the world as it was understood. The Resurrection breaks all the rules: life, the “normal” and the “familiar” are no longer the same.

Oh, things may look the same on the outside: we still have to do our laundry and pay our taxes! – but there is something different about the WAY in which we do these things, something different within us that shapes our priorities and animates us as we move through our lives. We see things through a different lens: the Resurrection changes our perception of reality.

So, what IS the reality of the resurrection? What DO we know about this world that was changed as the result of the rolling away of the stone on that tomb?

What we Do know is that that Easter morning, the Resurrection BEGAN with the empty tomb – but it did not end there.

What we DO know is that the Resurrection is about encountering the risen Christ – outside the tomb that morning; in Galilee where he has asked his disciples to go to meet him; in the Upper Room where Jesus encountered them, huddling together in fear; journeying on the road to Emmaus, barbequing fish beside the lake – and here, in the Church of the Messiah, on the streets of Santa Ana, in our own homes or workplaces, today.

Resurrection is our completion in God. It is qualitatively different from “life as we have known it.” It has nothing to do with having your own teeth or recognizing your long-lost relatives… all those things we’ve been concerned about, which are translations of our this-world needs/longings/desires. Resurrection is God gathering up our broken pieces and making us whole.

What does the Resurrection tell us?

That nothing we can do can kill God.

NOTHING we can do can kill God.

Nothing.

Not our active hostility – the nails we drive into his hands and feet, or the abusive language we hurl as we try to force the fullness of life into a rational and manageable cognitive box, or seek to justify our ego-centric lives;
Not our benign neglect – our being too busy or too stressed or too caught up in the many idols we make of drugs or work or electronics or opinions…

Because Jesus is here, risen and present, and wants to reveal himself to us.

Jesus is here, risen and present, and wants to reveal himself to us.

I heard someone once issue an apt Easter Day warning: The Risen Christ is on the loose. And he knows our names!

Imagine:

The Risen Christ is on the loose – and he knows our names!

What good news is that!

Amen.

April 22, 2011, Good Friday - The Reverend Doctor Ellen R. Hill

2011-04-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

Today is a dangerously honest day for those of us who profess to be Christians. It’s the one day in the church year when we’re forced to confront our own pain and fear and anxiety about what life ultimately holds in store for us. And so this day we call Good Friday doesn’t really make us feel very good at all. In fact, it’s a day which steals our comfort from us because it reminds us that we’re also going to die and it does it in an incredibly graphic and material way. For this Gospel we’ve just heard describes Jesus’ physical pain in such minute detail that we almost feel as if we’re watching some gruesome newsreel. There’s just no way that you and I can escape the blood, the anguish and the hopelessness of this event that we remember today. That time when God allowed Jesus to be crucified and to die. For the reality is, it’s God’s will, not Pilate’s, not the Jewish religious establishment’s nor the pathetic disciples’ but God’s will which is done this day.

It’s that fact, and that fact alone, which causes you and me the biggest problem. Because it forces us to confront a deep...and very troubling question. Can this God of ours really be trusted? Is this the kind of God we can cling to when we feel utterly forsaken and afraid? The reason those questions surface in our minds is because we have to admit that the source of the great discomfort which Good Friday lays bare is the reality of the chaos in the universe. The witnesses of that first Good Friday were never able to convey in words what actually happened on that day. It probably was exactly the kind of experience which was most deserving of that expression we hear so often today, “You just had to have been there!” So it’s not so surprising that what this day communicates to you and to me, who weren’t there, is a sense of confusion and chaos which only serves to trouble our rational minds and hearts.

You and I are creatures of order and control. Most of us place a high value on having our lives under control and relatively hassle free and we work very hard to achieve that. So what do we do with this day? This day when God not only allowed Jesus to die but also allowed nature itself to run amok. The scriptures tell us that on that first Good Friday there were violent storms and an earthquake at midday which was followed by darkness that seemed to cover the whole earth. What makes us even more anxious, as we struggle with this issue of the trustworthiness of God, is the reality that this sort of chaos continues to invade our lives today. All that we know of rationality and normal human behavior defy our attempts to explain how God can allow can allow an earthquake and a tsumani to wipe out thousands of innocent lives as we just witnessed in Japan; or allow someone to gun down a young president on a bright November day; or a space ship and it’s crew, which represented the highest achievements of the scientific mind, to dissolve into millions of tiny fragments; or a mentally disturbed young man gun down an innocent 9 year old who had come to meet her congressional representative on a Saturday morning in January. Who can even begin to explain the complex mix of pain and shame and suffering those events brought to the people who were the closest to the victims or the ones who had the responsibility for their safety? What do you suppose the disciples felt like on that first Good Friday? What to do you think the staff and Secret Service agents felt like on that day in Dallas when John Kennedy’s brain was shattered by that bullet? How do you think the scientists and engineers who had designed that spacecraft felt as they watched it explode into millions of pieces on the TV screens in front of their eyes? Just think how the religious and political establishment felt in Jerusalem when they realized that while they had honored the letter of the law they had also in fact slaughtered the Spirit.

Chaos has been a part of our universe from the very beginning. The scriptures tell us that God created the universe from the void. From the formless matter swirling in space which is only one of the definitions of chaos that you’ll find in the dictionary, “disordered, formless matter, supposed to have existed before the ordered universe”. The other definition you’ll find in Webster’s is the one that seems to describe Good Friday, “complete disorder, utter confusion”! The issue of trusting God essentially means that we have to grapple with the question of what kind of God it is that you and I worship.
As many of you know a whole new science of chaos theory has been emerging for the last 50 years which has presented us with yet another definition of chaos. In fact, experts say that there are only three theories developed in the 20th century that have significance for the future: the theory of relativity, the theory of quantum mechanics and chaos theory. The new science of chaos theory defines chaos as “Lawless behavior governed entirely by law!” As a result of the development of chaos theory a conflict has arisen in the scientific community which is centered around the question of whether the universe, as Einstein believed, is governed by immutable laws of physics with no room for chance or randomness or whether there is, in fact, some order or some law within the chaotic and seemingly lawless behavior of the universe.

About 20 years ago a book was written for non-scientific laypersons which dealt with this issue. Some of you may remember it because it had the provocative title: Does God Play Dice? For what these scientists are proposing with their new chaos theory is that the real question isn’t whether God plays dice. In other words, whether God allows chance or chaos to affect the universe, but rather, how God plays dice. But it just might be that we’ll never find the answer to that question no matter how sophisticated our scientific theory becomes. Because we’re creatures of order and control, our normal pattern is to confront chaotic situations by analyzing and psychologizing them. In this case, however, the why eludes us because we’re still left with the reality of a dead Jesus, a dead President, a spacecraft in pieces, a nuclear reactor leaking radiation and a little girl from Arizona who’ll never celebrate her 10th birthday because the why lies beyond both our control and our understanding.

Ultimately what this Good Friday causes us to struggle with is whether we can trust this God of ours. Whether we, as faithful members of the Body of Christ, can admit that the God we believe in created all that we know from utter chaos and that throughout time events have occurred which defy our ability to explain or even understand them. So it’s probably for that reason alone that it might be very appropriate that we do call this day GOOD. For it’s good for us to stare into these chaotic messes which are so far beyond our control. It’s good for us because it reminds us of what happens when our designs, no matter how ingenious, prove to be inadequate. It reminds us that we’re never in complete control, even when we think that we’re operating at our highest level of intellect, creativity and order. For the reality is that we are the children of chaos. We were born as creatures created from it’s confusion. We were fashioned from it’s corruptible elements by God who shaped us from that mess into God’s own perfect creation.

The real lesson to be learned from today is simply trust. Jesus didn’t solve the age old problem of evil or why events like the crucifixion have to happen. But through the reality of what we’ll celebrate at the Easter Eucharists, Jesus has shown us that it’s possible to live through the chaos of Good Friday triumphantly. So we too shall live through the chaos of our individual lives not by obedience to institutional traditions or scientific theories but rather by trusting in our God and by following the example of Jesus and his ministry of forgiveness and unconditional love which was made possible by his secure faith in God. For if we are able to do that, then we too will be able to live through the chaos of our lives, because we’ll have come to understand and to trust, that if indeed God does play dice, the reality is that God always wins in the end.

AMEN

Holy Week Services - April 17 to April 24

2011-04-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

Palm Sunday, April 17th

8 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. Procession of Palms, Passion Accordong to Luke, and Eucharist. 12 noon Misa del Domingo de los Ramos 4 p.m. Blessing of the Streets. We join our friends at St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church for this traditional procession through our neighborhood.

Tenebrae, Wednesday, April 20th

7:30 p.m. Tenebrae (from the Latin word for “darkness” or “shadows”): is a dramatic, candlelight service using the Psalms and Lamentations, and providing an extended meditation upon, and a prelude to, the events in Jesus’ life between the Last Supper and the Resurrection.

Maundy Thursday, April 21st

6:30 p.m. A simple supper of soup, salad, cheese, bread and wine in the Parish Hall. Bring a pot of your favorite soup to share.
7:30 p.m. Choral Eucharist, washing of feet, and stripping of the Altar in the church (bilingual).
8 p.m. All Night Vigil keeping watch in the church.

Good Friday, April 22nd

7 a.m. Liturgy of Good Friday
12noon Stations of the Cross with special music.
1 p.m. Liturgy of Good Friday: Passion According to John, homily, Veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion from the Reserved Sacrament
6:30 p.m. Via Cruces: in the Latin custom, we take turns carrying a large cross to 14 stations of suffering and struggle in the inner city. We return to the patio for concluding prayers. (Bilingual).

Easter Eve (Saturday), April 23rd

7:30 p.m. The Great Vigil (in English). This ancient liturgy is the principal Easter celebration. We begin in the patio blessing a new fire and a new paschal candle. We process into the dark church bearing candles with the Christ light. We listen to the promises of redemption from scripture lessons. We baptize new members into the family of Jesus. With the Easter acclamation, we ring the bells we have brought, lights, incense and glorious music acclaim the resurrection of Jesus and we celebrate the first Eucharist of Easter with the Parish Choir and a Brass Quartet. Festive champagne reception follows in the Parish Hall.

Easter Day, April 24th

8a.m. Easter hymns and Eucharist
10:15 a.m. Festive Easter Eucharist with Parish Choir and Brass Quartet
12 noon Misa de la Pascua

Upcoming Concert By Candlelight - May 1, 2011

2011-04-17T19:00:00.000-07:00

Messiah Friends of Music Presents:

Sunday, May 1, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
PETER SPRAGUE TRIO

Bossa Nova to Beatles

Enjoy Brazilian-style jazz, plus a few Beatles tunes, performed by virtuoso guitarist Peter Sprague, his brother Tripp on saxophone and flute, and bassist Gunnar Biggs, all world-class performers and recording artists.The trio combines a deep interest in Brazilian music and American pop and jazz into a style all their own.

April 17, 2011, Palm Sunday - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-04-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

Mark 11:1 – 11a Psalm 118:19 – 29

Isaiah 45:21 – 25 Psalm 22:1 – 11 Philippians 2:5 – 11 Mark 14:32 – 15:47

Who doesn’t love a parade?!!

And we’ve just had a glorious one: Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord Hosanna in the highest heaven!

Where was Jesus coming from, with all his talk about suffering and death and taking up one’s cross?

Why were we anxious about returning to Jerusalem, as though we were walking into our deaths?

Look at this greeting!

Whether we’re part of the crowds because we’re a follower of Jesus, or because we’ve simply gotten caught up in the excitement and love a parade, it’s a glorious day! Perhaps the kingdom really IS coming – we may yet get to sit one on his right and one on his left!

(And yet, as we know, the people on Jesus’ right and on his left wind up being, not favored disciples, but robbers, bandits, criminals, revolutionaries – sinners like you and me.)

Palm Sunday is a day of contrasts.

We enter in triumph: Jesus is king, and all will be right with the world!

We exit in despair: our expectations are casualties of Sanhedrin power and Roman control. The nails of the crucifixion pierce our hope, and never-ending darkness descends on the world as we know it.

What kind of Messiah – King – God – is this?

What kind of Messiah – King – God – is this who, as Yann Martel’s character Pi says (Life of Pi, p. 55 – 56), “goes hungry, suffers from thirst, who gets tired, who is sad, who is anxious, who is heckled and harassed, who has to put up with followers who don’t get it and opponents who don’t respect Him – what kind of a god is that? It’s a god on too human a scale, that’s what…

I’m sure that passage reflects some of the murmuring and distress of Jesus’ disciples on that Thursday night in Gethsemane, on that Friday morning of the crucifixion.

Is this just one more leader who turns out to be nothing but an empty promise?

I’m sure, if we really allow ourselves to think about it, to be in that despairing, confusing space in which the Passion Gospel leaves us, these same sentiments reflect some of our own questions and confusion. What sort of a god is this?!!

However, most of us look at the crucifixion through the lens of the resurrection, and for many of us there is a tendency to leap from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem of Palm Sunday to the resurrection of Easter, skipping over Good Friday as much as possible.

The crucifixion is too painful to bear, physically and spiritually, and we are afraid.

Like the young man following Jesus, we run off naked, leaving our linen cloth behind.

Like Peter, we try to protect ourselves by denying Jesus, by distancing ourselves from the painful reality of who he is – and what is going to happen to him.

We want the empty tomb – without the crucifixion, thank you very much!

Unlike the followers of Jesus, we know the end of the story, so our tendency is just to go there… to skip over the painful parts and into the joy of new life.

But there is a danger in such “skipping over” – without the reality of the crucifixion, the resurrection loses some of its power, some of its meaning.

The Passion Gospel today leaves us in a despairing place: Jesus is dead, his body wrapped in a linen cloth and laid in a borrowed tomb, sealed with a large stone; his followers scattered, wandering isolated, wrapped in cocoons of grief.

Can things be any worse?

Like Shelley, we cry out:

“Then black despair,

The shadow of a starless night, was thrown

Over the world in which I moved alone.”

This is not a “feel good” story.

We do not leave church with the same excitement with which we entered.

But we must resist the temptation to skip over this part of the story, to leap to next Sunday.

It is incumbent upon us to sit at the foot of the cross, to be in this place, to know the magnitude of the pain, the sacrifice, the confusion, the desolation and the disarray. For it is in the midst of this abject despairing place that the resurrection occurs, that new life is born, that, to paraphrase Blake, a “Heaven is built in Hell’s despair.”

We must first know this anguish in order to know the joy it births; this death in order to know that death, now, is vanquished, this entombed body in order that we might dance on the empty tomb.

No, today we do not leave church with the same excitement with which we entered it. We leave heavy, with the magnitude of the sacrifice which has been made for us.

But, if we allow ourselves to walk through this Holy Week, carrying the words of today’s Passion Gospel in our hearts, if we can go to the cross with Jesus on Good Friday, what an Easter awaits us!

For the love of Jesus, which has held in tension suffering and joy, death and life, greets us in the presence of the Risen Christ, in whom all mortal death is vanquished and all earthy despair is transformed.

May we live into this Holy Week, conscious that the love which sustains us is also the love which leads to Calvary - and the hope of the resurrection which lies ahead, at the dawning of Easter Day.

Amen.

ALL ABOARD!! - Church Auction, May 21

2011-04-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

The Queen Mary is pulling out of the harbor on Saturday, May 21st, and you have a First Class ticket to dine and play the night away! We’ll be celebrating her maiden voyage at our annual Dinner & Auction Fund-raiser at the Tustin Community Center, starting at 5 PM with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. We’re having a great time planning the menu, photo opportunities, fabulous baskets, and amazing entertainment packages for your bidding pleasure. Wear your most glamorous ’30s attire (long gowns for the ladies, tuxedos or tails for the gents), and be prepared for a wonderful evening. This event supports many of our most important outreach ministries: the Noah Project, Hands Together, and Morning Garden are some of the programs that depend on the money we raise on this one night. You can help by donating items or events (see Janet, Claire, Paul, or Su for ideas), or funding the purchase of new items to fill out our basket creations. Buy your tickets today, after church or on-line at the Church web page... and bring a friend! Bon Voyage!

Paul Cook-Giles

April 10, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

2011-04-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

Ezekiel 37:1 – 14 Psalm 130 Romans 8:6 – 11 John 11:1 - 45

We see the pictures of the devastation – earthquakes, tsunami, nuclear disaster! – in Japan and hear the cries, “Jesus, if you had been here, my loved one wouldn’t have died!”

Or watch the funeral of a young soldier, killed in Afghanistan.

“Jesus, if you had been here, my loved one wouldn’t have been killed!”

Or go home to an empty house, feeling simultaneously the silence and the memories of fifty years.

“Jesus, if you had been here, my loved one wouldn’t have died!”

How do we reconcile today’s Gospel lesson with the realities of our experience? If Jesus can raise Lazarus, what about fixing all these other things?!

The raising of Lazarus is small comfort in the midst of all the calamities of our world!

It might leave us wondering: where are you Jesus?!

It might leave us wondering: does God play favorites?

What does one have to do to get coinage with Jesus? To have him come to us and say, “Show me where you’ve laid him.” “Roll away the stone.” “Unbind him.”

The writer Annie Lamott reflects our own sentiments when she comments, “I don’t know why God won’t just spritz away our hardships and frustration!”

After all, we have expectations of God!

As Eugene Peterson wryly observes, most of us consider God not as a deity to be worshiped, but as a trusted and valuable assistant.” (Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places, p. 124) “That was your job, Jesus!

These global catastrophes are not going to look very good on your performance review!”

Ours is a culture that assesses blame – a modern, more secular version of the sentiments we heard expressed in last Sunday’s Gospel when Jesus was asked: “Who sinned, this man or his father, that he was born blind?!”

We assert:

it’s not my fault I burned myself with that coffee while I was driving – Starbucks shouldn’t serve it so hot!
It’s not his fault he got in trouble at school – those other kids led him astray!
How were we supposed to know that was a bad investment? No one told us!

I can imagine it now: Mary or Martha calling Jacoby and Myers to see about filing a lawsuit against Jesus for wrongful death: If only he had been there, Lazarus wouldn’t have died!

Our litigious culture and our tendency to want to attribute blame, I think, creates a lens which causes us to focus on the wrong part of this Gospel story: it’s Jesus’ fault! “If you had been here…” we hear, admonishment in Mary’s voice.

George Everett Ross, clergyman and author, observes that, after more than thirty years of ministry, he has come to recognize that “there are two kinds of faith. One says ‘if’ and the other says ‘though.’ One says: ‘If everything goes well, if my life is prosperous, if I’m happy, if no one I love dies, if I’m successful, then I will believe in God and say my prayers and go to church and give what I can afford.’ The other says ‘though’”: ‘though the cause of evil prosper, though I sweat in Gethsemane, though I must drink my cup at Calvary – nevertheless, precisely then, I will trust the Lord who made me…’”

How do we move from the “…if-faith…” to the “…though-faith…”?

Not “…if you had been there…” but “…though you were not there…”?

Perhaps we should step back from the text a bit, and remember instead, that John also tells us that “Jesus began to weep.”

Jesus began to weep.

Imagine!

This is a God who is not at far remove!

This is a God who is vulnerable!

This is a God who is so close to us that he feels pain!

Maybe he’s weeping out of grief for his friend.
Maybe he’s weeping because his compassion is so great that he feels the pain of Mary and Martha as they grieve their brother.
Maybe he’s weeping because already he sees his own fate, and the shadow of the cross which awaits him.

But he’s weeping!

His friend has died – and Jesus cries.

Here is a God who loves us enough to weep with us!

Can we put ourselves there, alongside a Jesus who cries with us in our tragedy?

Might the knowledge of that love help us to respond differently to the news of the devastation in Japan? Or Afghanistan? Or our own lives, our own losses and griefs, fears and anxieties?

What does it tell us about Jesus, this man, this God, who loves us enough to weep with us?

Reinhold Niebuhr points out that most of us experience life as a struggle between love and chaos, and how it is through Jesus that we discover that love at the center of things guarantees victory in every apparent defeat.

Through Jesus we discover that love at the center of things guarantees victory in every apparent defeat.

Even death.

Just as Jesus’ footsteps have taken him this morning to Bethany, for the raising of Lazarus, and will then take him on to Jerusalem and his death, we Christians are nearing the end of our Lenten journey.

It is a journey that challenges us to find the love at the center of apparent defeat.

It is a journey that challenges us to move from “…if-faith…” to “…though-faith…” moving as we do into the solemn days of Holy Week, and the despair of Good Friday where we will witness another death.

Will we find Jesus there?

Not just the Jesus of the story – but JESUS!

Jesus.

More importantly, where will we be? Will we be there?

Not as observers – but will we be THERE?

As participants?

“…though he be crucified…”?

Will we be weeping?

Because it is his love for us – and our love for him – that guarantees victory in every apparent defeat.

Even death.

Amen.

Senior Warden Report

2011-04-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

Dear Messiah parishioner,

The most frequently asked question these days is “How is the search for a new rector going?” The process is continuing although it may not be obvious. We want to thank you for your participation in the parish survey and the focus groups. There were 150 written responses, which demonstrate how many of us care about this place. The information gathered is being tabulated and will be shared with the parish at forums on May 1st at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. At the forum you will also have a chance to share your vision for Messiah in the next five years. Please plan to attend.

The next step, which has already begun, is to compile the information into a profile of our church. After the profile has been approved by the Vestry, probably in May it will be submitted to the diocese. Our profile will be used to inform the diocese and prospective candidates about who we are. Diocesan experts will match prospective candidates with the profile, complete background checks, and verify the application information on each candidate. They will also interview the deployment officers from the applicant’s diocese. All of this takes time and ensures that we get a clean and workable list of qualified applicants.

Meanwhile, the Vestry has approved the Search Committee with Nancy Whitehead as chair. The Vestry and Search Committee will have a joint working retreat in June to prepare for the important work ahead. Then the Search Committee will meet regularly during the summer to assemble information packets, formulate interview questions, and talk with other churches that have completed the process. As soon as the Diocese provides names of potential candidates, the actual search will begin, probably in the fall.

You may wonder what you can do to support this process. First, you can pray. We are in a prolonged process that might challenge our patience, yet we know the Holy Spirit walks with us. Pray for clarity, wisdom, and faith. Secondly, continue to be engaged in the work of Messiah so that our community will remain strong even after Fr. Brad leaves. We are the Church.

In my own life I have noticed lately so many things are changing rapidly. It is crucial for me not to fear in the midst of all the change, for having fear keeps me from being awake and open to the God of love that is giving me everything I need in this moment. So I invite you to join me in this prayer for our journey ahead:

O most loving Father, who wills us to give thanks for all things, to fear nothing but the loss of thee, and to cast all our care on thee who cares for us: Preserve us from faithless fears and worldly anxieties, so that no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which is immortal, and which have made tangible for us in thy Son Jesus. Amen.

Yours in Christ,
Dee Tucker
Senior Warden

Junior Warden Report

2011-04-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

Dear Messiah Parishioner,

2011 is a very important year for this congregation as we prepare for Father Brad’s retirement in October. As part of that preparation your Vestry is focusing upon six broad areas: Finance, Facilities, Church Growth, Christian Formation, Parish Life, and Transition. Here is an overview of those areas and special emphases for 2011, with names of Vestry members who are working to achieve those goals.

Finance goal (Glenn Howard): to increase our financial resources and assure their effective stewardship. This area includes not only Stewardship and Planned Giving but this year also a close look at Messiah’s financial practices and procedures to see that they are up to date and accurately followed. In the fall we will also need to fund a search for a new rector and to pay for both an interim rector and our current Associate Rector, Carolyn Estrada. Your generosity in the fall stewardship campaign will be essential.

Facilities goal (Jim Sperber, Peggy Patterson, Nancy Whitehead; Lorna Adkins, Columbarium): to ensure regular and long-term care of our physical plant, including this beautiful historic church with its old-age creaks and leaks and need for constant patching. This year it is also Fr. Brad’s hope that we will complete our Columbarium fund drive (we’re over halfway there!) so that the planned Columbarium at the back of the church will be underway before he departs.

Church Growth goal (Mark Hendrickson, website; Cécile Whiting, Ken Kawamura): to develop an awareness of Messiah in order to draw people in. Only thereby can we ensure the future vitality of this parish. A crucial component of that goal is the redesign of Messiah’s Website, which will go live in April. Not only will our website be an easy way for newcomers to find us and to know who’s who and what’s going on here, but it will allow for on-line payments and donations and will have links to outside resources such as a lectionary and Bible browser. This website will also be an important way for prospective rector candidates to recognize all that Messiah has to offer.

Christian formation goal (Larry Budner, adults; Stephanie Miller, children and families): to facilitate programs for the spiritual formation of adults and children. In Adult Education the 2011-2012 outline of programs to be held between or after Sunday services has been developed. In addition to Sunday School, the emphasis for children and families will be the incorporation of special children’s activities at all parish events and the creation of a series of family events. We need to continue to make Messiah family-friendly, for young families are Messiah’s future.

Parish Life goal (Isabel Mata, Peggy Patterson): to oversee parish events, including the procurement of event chair (person s and communication of job description/needs. In order to keep up a full calendar of those parish events we all enjoy, we need each of you to step forward to help. In return the Vestry is working to see that you have a current “job description” for your event.

Transition goal (Dee Tucker, Sr. Warden; Lorna Adkins, Jr. Warden; Ken Kawamura; Nancy Whitehead, Rector Search Committee chair): to develop (and utilize) written systems with authority and accountability to increase lay leadership. Accordingly, the Vestry committee members are painstakingly reviewing the office Policy and Procedure Manual and all other written guidelines, procedures, and policies that a new rector or an interim or a lay leader will need to know. We don’t want the entire how-to’s that are stored in Fr. Brad’s head to remain there and to leave with him when he retires! In addition, we are working hard to find lay leaders to take responsibility for areas often left to the clergy so that Messiah will remain a stable community during the coming period of transition.

Together WE are the church here at Messiah, where “all are welcome at God’s table.” Your Vestry invites YOU to share your time and talents in the challenging year ahead.

Sincerely,

Lorna Adkins, Jr. Warden

March 27, 2011 - The Reverend Doctor Ellen R. Hill

2011-03-27T10:15:00.000-07:00

This morning’s gospel tells the story of the person who brought Jesus his first converts as well as the person with whom he had the longest conversation recorded in the gospels. In Greek sermons written from the 4th to the 14th centuries the Samaritan woman is often compared to the male disciples and frequently found to be their superior. During this same period many hymns were composed to honor this woman who encountered Jesus at the well. One 6th century hymn called her “wise”, “holy”, “faithful” and “god-bearing”. In time she was canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church and enrolled among her saints.

The Samaritan woman’s cult spread throughout the Eastern Mediterranean world and reached as far west as Spain. In Roman martyrology she was known as Photina. There’s also a legend which claims that she preached the gospel in various places, went to Carthage, was imprisoned for three years for her faith and finally died a martyr during the reign of Nero. Martyred along with her were her two sons, Joseph and Victor; three sisters and three others. A Spanish legend says that Photina converted and baptized Nero’s daughter, Domnina, along with a hundred of her servants.

The legends about this woman have always been much more widespread in the Eastern Orthodox Church than in the West and her feast day was celebrated last Sunday. A modern Orthodox writer, Eva Topping, points out that Photeine is still a name that’s very common among Greek Orthodox women and describes her as the “nameless woman of the Gospel who becomes transfigured into light and is listed in Orthodox liturgical books as the “Glorious Saint and Great Martyr Photeine, the Samaritan Woman”.
Now all that’s very interesting, especially to us women as we have so few role models in the Scriptures. But the real question is what does this woman have to say to us today? Well in the first place if we’re going to understand her story, we have to remember the rigid Levitical legalism to which Jesus would have been subjected as a faithful Jew because it provides the essential backdrop for this gospel story. First of all, there isn’t any other story in the scriptures which more powerfully reveals God’s evolution of grace through Jesus’ transformation of rules into relationships than this intense encounter between Jesus and the woman at the well because so many of the prohibitions of the Levitical Holiness Code come into play.

For example, in Jesus’ day Jewish men could neither speak to nor touch a women who wasn’t their wife. Why? Because they didn’t want to run the risk of becoming unclean. Since they wouldn’t have had any way of knowing where the woman was in her monthly cycle. If she were “unclean” then they would have become unclean simply by touching her.

As the story in this morning’s gospel unfolds we discover that this woman is promiscuous. If not a prostitute then certainly someone who seems to have had a very hard time staying married. It’s highly probable that she’d also broken the strict divorce codes of the time which would explain why she was at the well at noon all alone instead of coming to the well at daybreak or dusk which was the time women gathered water for their families and gossiped among themselves. So you see, simply by talking to her, Jesus was breaking the holiness code in several different ways.

We also have to remember that she was a Samaritan, a despised foreigner, in many respects; the equilivant of a Palestinian in the eyes of today’s Israeli. So this morning we should be just as astounded as the disciples were when they found Jesus talking to this woman. In some ways Jesus willingness to talk to the Samaritan woman revealed his own human need to make a connection with the deep spiritual need within her. In a way, Jesus plumbed the well of the Samaritan woman’s soul just as deeply as she had plumbed the ancient well of Jacob.

What we have in this story is a stunning example of Jesus embodying a new understanding of holiness. This story isn’t about the purity code of ritualistic law but rather the compassionate code of the human heart. For in this story Jesus completely rewrites the definition of piety. Instead of rigidly excluding people on the basis of behavior or status or law, in this story we have Jesus radically including people on the basis of need and value and worth. Dorothy Sayers, the great English mystery writer, once wrote, “Perhaps it is no wonder that the women were first at the cradle and the last at the cross. They had never known a man like this Jesus. There had never been such another”.

In today’s gospel we have an example of Jesus demonstrating a new way of being human. He looked into the eyes of this woman and met her as she was. He ignored the cultural stereotyping and judgment which was expected from a Jew toward a Samaritan and he refused to behave according to the expectations of his tradition. By doing this Jesus threw down the gauntlet to all of us who bear his name. As a result, you and I are faced with seriously evaluating how well we’re doing at this business of grace? How open, accepting and non-judgmental are we to the rich variety of people, both sinners and saints, who come our way? Are we sensitive, intuitive and responsive to their needs?

Justice Harry Blackmun was named to the Supreme Court by President Nixon because he was considered a constitutional conservative. Blackmun served for 24 years and surprised everyone including himself as he gradually broadened his understanding of the law. One of his former law clerks, who wrote an eulogy at the time of his death, remarked that Blackmun grew in his sensitivity to the needs of the people who lurked behind the pages of the court briefs. Because of his own Christian faith Blackmun began to realize that compassion had to serve as the basic foundation of judicial reasoning. Or as another colleague put it Blackmun worried about the “little people who had no angels on their shoulders. He insisted on seeing the litigants as individuals and not as abstract categories”.

A street minister in Chicago tells the story of a young mother who came into his homeless shelter sick, frightened, and completely racked by guilt and despair. She was a prostitute and a drug addict who in a cocaine-induced hysteria had offered her two year old daughter for sex so that she could feed her own ravenous addiction. Completely revolted by this revelation, at first the street minister was speechless. Finally, when he spoke he asked her whether she’d ever thought of going to church for help. “I’ll never forget the look of pure astonishment that crossed her face” he said. ‘Church” she cried. ‘Why would I ever go there? They’d just make me feel even worse than I already do!’” What a condemnation of the contemporary Christian Church? After all aren’t we the community which is called to represent Christ to the world in our times?

But let’s take another look at our gospel story because there’s more here than a gracious, generous, compassionate, inclusive Jesus. For if we listen carefully we’ll also hear that our warm fuzzy Jesus quickly became as hard as nails. Before very long the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well quickly became intense. For as they connected spiritually, emotionally and intellectually all the pretense and politeness was stripped away. Suddenly the comforting Jesus had become a confrontational Jesus. For if he was going to engage this woman as a child of God then he needed to engage all of who she was. In other words, her brokenness, her weakness, her corruption, her need, and most of all, her deep, deep thirst for a sense of purpose and worth. That’s why Jesus confronted her with her sexual history.

He told her, with no holds barred, that until she encountered God she would never experience the abundant life. Until she drank deeply of the living water, the very roots of who she was would remain shriveled, dry and barren. Because she was so precious in the eyes of God, Jesus showed her in glaring detail the unworthiness of her present lifestyle. The result of that confrontation was her transformation. She was transformed from a woman living on the edge of society into the first Christian evangelist, a glorious saint, the great martyr Photina. Instead of being offended by Jesus’ confrontational approach she was empowered. For through seeing herself in the mirror of Jesus’ truth, she was able to meet herself honestly for the very first time. It was that clear view of who she was that enabled her to change. She wanted more from life. She wanted relationship and authentic intimacy. So with great courage she reached for more.

That’s probably why she left her water jar behind as she ran to the village. She ran back to share the living water that was now overflowing from her soul. Because of those actions this fallen, rejected, broken woman became the first evangelist in the gospel of John. The first person who, with passionate joy, proclaimed the Good News of the Gospel. “Come my friends,” she cried. “Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done. He is the Messiah! He is the God who sees us as we are! He is the God who loves us as we are! He is the God who empowers us to become who we still need to be!

Once upon a time there was a Rabbi who was much beloved by the people. He was a brilliant, wise and charismatic leader. Crowds surrounded him constantly seeking blessing and healing and truth. But there was always one surly man in the crowd who always appeared wherever and whenever the Rabbi would speak. This old man contradicted the Rabbi pointed out the Rabbi’s weaknesses and generally made fun of his defects. This heckler infuriated the people who loved and revered the Rabbi. And then one day the heckler died. Everyone heaved a sign of relief and thought to themselves “Good riddance!” Everyone that is, except the Rabbi, who came to the heckler’s funeral overcome with grief and loss. When he was asked if he was mourning over the eternal fate of this wicked man the Rabbi responded, “Oh no, no! Why should I mourn over our friend who is now surely in heaven? It is for myself that I am grieving. This man was the only true friend I had. I’m surrounded by people who revere me. He was the only one who ever challenged me and now I fear that with him gone I’ll stop growing.” As he said these words he burst into tears.

This morning, my friends, I want to urge you to come to the well to meet Jesus. For he’s the only true friend you really have. That’s why you must come. Come in the glare of the noonday sun like she did. Come and offer your thirst as well as your need. The promise of our faith is that Jesus will be there to greet you, to touch you, to comfort you, to confront you and ultimately to help you grow. Never forget, that there’s nothing you have done or have not done that will turn him off. All you and I have to do is to be open and receptive and if you’ll do that Jesus will fill you with living water. The living water of hope and grace and possibility so that you’ll never be thirsty again. AMEN

Peace and Justice Film Series - Waiting for Superman

2011-03-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

"Waiting for Superman"

Wednesday
April 13
7:00 PM

Controversial but much-praised documentary on the state of children’s education in America, by the director of An Inconvenient Truth. Audience Award for best documentary at 2010 Sundance Film Festival, Best Documentary Feature at Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.

From Wikipedia: "Joe Morgenstern, writing for the Wall Street Journal, gave the movie a positive review saying, ‘when the future of public education is being debated with unprecedented intensity’ the film ‘makes an invaluable addition to the debate.’ WSJ’s William McGurn also praised the film in an op-ed piece, saying it is a ‘stunning liberal expose of a system that consigns American children who most need a decent education to our most destructive public schools.’ Kyle Smith, for the New York Post, gave the movie 4-and-a-half stars, calling it an ‘invaluable learning experience.’ Forbes Melik Kaylan similarly liked the film, writing, ‘I urge you all to drop everything and go see the documentary Waiting For Superman at the earliest opportunity’."

Spirituality and the Arts

2011-03-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

Returning, by popular demand:

Many remember – and have favorably commented upon – the Spirituality and the Arts series we did two years ago during Lent, and have requested a “return engagement.” I’m happy to say that a sub-committee of our Adult Education Planning Committee has met, and we have scheduled the following series of events for this Lent:

Sundays at 11:30:

March 13 - David Stoneman: The Bach Passion Pieces. Johann Sebastian Bach composed four (or five) settings of the passion story to be used during Holy Week. Two have survived, and each of these is a grand accomplishment of theater, sermon, concert and liturgy that deserves exploration.

March 20 - Jack Miles: Is the Bible Self-Conscious? Do you file the Bible under literature or religion? If under both, do you make a distinction between the two? Does the Bible, which has no word for either fiction or nonfiction, recognize a distinction between the two? Did Isaiah know he was a poet? Can music, painting, or literature be religious without reference to God? If so, how do we recognize it as religious? We will engage these questions with two simple examples from popular music and two from the Bible.

March 27 - Kitty Crary and Jack Miles: Messiah Reader’s Theater Presents G. K. Chesterton’s “The Surprise” Explore your inner actor as we organize to present an informal Readers’ Theater performance of G. K. Chesterton’s “The Surprise.” Readers’ Theater is a dramatic presen-tation of a play by actors reading from the script; the focus is on reading the text with expressive voices and gestures and there is no memorization. This charming short play is a lively consideration of free will and what can go wrong when we misuse it. “The Surprise” includes puppets that miraculously become real, romance, marriage and two sword fights.

“The Surprise” has roles for eight readers, including a princess, a poet, a brave king, several soldiers and God. We’re looking for volunteer readers, no acting experience needed. We’ll be doing this for our own pleasure.

Join us Sunday, March 27 at 11:30 a.m. to learn more about the play and about G. K.Chesterton, the English Anglican and Roman Catholic writer famous for his wit, his weight, and his paradoxical way with words. (A “Chestertonian Paradox” is a statement that at first seems obviously wrong but turns out, on second thought, to be surprisingly right.) On the 27^th, we will cast the actors/readers who will present “The Surprise” at Messiah on Saturday, April 16 as part of Spirituality and the Arts. Join us at the casting call!

April 3 - Lorna Adkins and Carolyn Estrada: The Poetry of Transition: an exploration of poetry as a means of expressing life-changes, especially through the works of Charles Wright, Christian Wimen, Seamus Heaney and others.

April 10 - Jim Herbert: Renaissance Perspective and the Infinity of God. Painting in 15^th-century Italy developed a system called “linear perspective,” a new technique useful for depicting the ordinary space of this world. And yet these images often depicted Gods that exceed such ordinary space. In this presentation, Jim Herbert will look at how Gods came to take a place in such pictures without losing their divine attributes.

April 16 - Saturday Workshop

9:00 – 9:15 - Registration and Coffee

9:15 – 9:30 - Plenary Session: The Relationship of Arts and Spirituality: How is engaging with art like a spiritual practice? What is it about the arts that puts us in a mindful or prayerful state?

9:15 – 11:00 - Hands-on Art Experiences:

Rose Windows: Beca Hendrickson
Quilting: Sylvia Middlebrooks
Poetry: Lorna Adkins and Mark Hendrickson
Musical Improvisation: Ken Kawamura
Scrapbooking: Deanna Richeson

11:10 – 12:00-ish - Act I of The Surprise, by G. K. Chesterton.

12:00 – 12:45 - Lunch from the Messiah Soup Kitchen (Participants who find spiritual expression in cooking may also spend the morning helping to prepare the soup for our lunch!)

12:45 – 1:45 - Act II of The Surprise.

2:00 – 4:00 - Workshop on the Aramaic Lord’s Prayer: John Middlebrooks

4:10 - Taize service

If you have an interest in participating, either as participant or as facilitator of a group, please sign up at Coffee Hour or contact Carolyn.

Episcopal Church of the Messiah - Santa Ana

￼Holy Week Services

Prosperity - Year of the Dragon

February 12, 2012 - Father Mark D. Stuart

Svetlana Smolina Piano

Pancake Supper

Lent Events to Help You Grow In Christ

Parish History Day

Help Connect Us!

Nicaragua Mission

History Day: Save the Date!

Nicaragua Videos

January 22, 2012 - Dee Tucker, Senior Warden

January 15, 2012 - Father Mark D. Stuart

Steps to Selecting a New Rector

Book Discussion Group

2012 Annual Meetings

What is Stephen Ministry?

Peace and Justice Film Series

Supper Clubs!

Upcoming Adult Education Class

January 1, 2012 - Father Mark D. Stuart

Christmas at Messiah

December 18, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

December 11, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

December 4, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

November's Journal Entry from the Nicaragua 13

November 20, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

November 13, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

Thanksgiving Day Eucharist

Parish Posada

Advent Family Workshop

Advent Eucharist Services

November 6, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

Thank You, Father Brad!

October 30, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

October 23, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

November 6, 2011 - John Rutter Requiem

Spirit of Gibran

October 16, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

Greetings from your Discernment Committee Chair!

October 9, 2011 - Father Mark D. Stuart

Are You a Fair-Weather Messiah Parishioner?

The Parable of the Trapeze

Updated Transition Timeline

Upcoming Adult Education Classes

Hispanic Heritage Lunch & Program

Blessing of the Animals

Parish Halloween Party

All Saints Day

Family Nature Hike

September 25, 2011 - Cov Davis

July 17, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

Peace and Justice Film Series - Temple Grandin

Hot Coffee/Cool Jazz - August 13, 2011

Messiah Family Beach Bonfire!

July 10, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

Save the Date - Messiah Family Photo

July 3, 2011 - The Reverend Canon Brad Karelius

Warden Report

Every Amazon.com purchase can be a donation to Church of the Messiah!

Great American Hot Dog Feast - Sunday, July 3

Sing in the Summer Choir

Save the Date: Bilingual Mass & Celebration - Sunday, October 2, 2011

June 19, 2011, Trinity Sunday - The Reverend Canon Brad Karelius

June 12, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

May 22, 2011 - The Reverend Canon Brad Karelius

Evensong Piano Concert and High Tea: A Taste of England - Sunday, June 12, 2011, 4:00 p.m.

May 15, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

Greetings from your Search Committee!

May 1, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

April 23, 2011, Easter Vigil - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

April 22, 2011, Good Friday - The Reverend Doctor Ellen R. Hill

Holy Week Services - April 17 to April 24

Upcoming Concert By Candlelight - May 1, 2011

April 17, 2011, Palm Sunday - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

ALL ABOARD!! - Church Auction, May 21

April 10, 2011 - The Reverend Carolyn Estrada

Senior Warden Report

Junior Warden Report

Holy Week Services