The Vestry of St. Augustine, Rocklin has elected The Rev. Anny Genato as their rector. "Pastor Anny is blessed with many gifts. She has a heart and passion for leading and developing congregations and individuals..." said Kathy Dillon, Senior Warden.

Pastor Anny is excited to join the congregation in their ministry together. She said, "I predict we will feel like family very quickly. I can already see us sitting down together over coffee and hearing your stories..."

Godspeed to Pastor Anny and the people of St. Augustine, Rocklin. We will be praying for your transition.

Click here to read Kathy's letter to the congregation.

Click here to read Pastor Anny's greeting to her new church.

When the shelter in place orders first began, St James’, Lincoln, decided to close their food ministry, The Pantry, that provides groceries to their neighbors. Instead, through the generosity of their members, they provided the low-income apartments near the church with Walmart gift cards to distribute to those in need.

A few weeks ago, when some of the shelter in place orders were lifted in Placer County they decided to begin a soft reopening of The Pantry. On Thursday mornings, the Very Rev. Sarah Quinney and one or two volunteers (Emily and Ryan are pictured) collect food donated to the ministry from those in their community and pack grocery bags. The volunteers then distribute the bags, with masks and gloves, to those who drive by the church garage. They are also able to give gift cards to those in need from time to time. The Pantry ministry has recognized the gift of expanded service to more people in our community during this re-opening time. Another gift the ministry has received during this time is the gift of new relationships with those they are able to assist. Guests want information about online services and one of the guests will begin volunteering alongside them soon!

Updated March 23, 2020 12:00 pm
The Rev. Anne McKeever, Diocesan Recovery Facilitator

Isolation is perilous for people in recovery. We learn that our sobriety depends upon keeping connected to sober people, being accountable to others, being of service to others.
Some people in recovery attend one or more meetings a day. Many people attend several meetings a week.

With quarantines, self-isolation, and lockdowns spreading in response to the COVID-19 virus, and with many in-person support groups ceasing to meet as ordered, other sinister viruses can spread as well: powerlessness, loneliness, anxiety, fear, shame, all the hurts and harms that fuel addictive behaviors.

As our Diocesan Recovery facilitator, I’ve begun compiling this collection of online/virtual recovery support resources. It’s just the beginning. Please share with me resources you find, too. Please share these resources with your congregations and friends. Learn who might need frequent check-ins by phone. Let’s work together to stay as healthy as possible in these tender times.

Online meeting links:

addictionrecoveryguide.org/resources/online_communications/online_meetings

onlinegroupaa.org/

slaaonline.org/

12step.org/social/online-meetings/

aa-intergroup.org/directory.php

oa.org/find-a-meeting/?type=1

gamblersanonymous.org/ga/locations

12stepforums.net/alanon_family_group.html

adultchildren.org/quick-search/?onlinebt=Click+Here

Recovery Organization Websites:

adultchildren.org/

aa-intergroup.org/index.php

oa.org/

na.org/

Articles

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AA Grapevine

It was Feb 26^th and it felt like spring on this winter's morning in Rancho Cordova, California. The sun was shining and the trees were in full bloom. Zinfandel Drive was nearly bumper to bumper with cars rushing to work or school.

Dressed in black cassocks and lining the street in front of St. Clement’s Episcopal Church, the Rev. Kenn Katona and a ten person evangelism team waved to passing cars, held up “Ashes to Go” signs, greeted pedestrians, and offered the imposition of ashes for all those who, for whatever reason, might not be able to make it to a traditional Ash Wednesday service. “Ashes to Go” is a nationwide movement in which churches of various denominations will meet people where they are to impose ashes, pray, and help connect them to the Church as the Lenten season begins.

The imposition of ashes has been practiced on Ash Wednesday since the ninth century. Ashes remind Christians to claim repentance, grace, and deep relationship with God for the challenges of daily life. The power of receiving “Ashes to Go” in ordinary places, where people travel in their everyday life, emphasizes the fact that the gift of prayer and moments of grace can be found anywhere, not just within the church walls.

It was not just about the ashes on this particular morning. It was also about healing relationships and brokenness in our world. Waving to someone and seeing them break into a smile, wave back, or cheerfully beep their horn in response was proof that people are eager to bring joy into their lives.

Deepening the relationship between God and each other was in evidence on the curbside in front of St. Clement’s Church on this Ash Wednesday as well as in our church. Our traditional evening service doubled in attendance, with many of the new people who attended coming because they drove by us that morning.

Contributed by Terry Sandhoff - Vestry member, St. Clement's, Rancho Cordoba

Jerusalem Greer is the Staff Officer for Evangelism in the Office of the Presiding Bishop. She facilitated a workshop at St. Patrick's, Kenwood on Feb. 21 and 22 called Evangelism 101. In that workshop she used a phrase that may be strange to some of us; she talked about Episcopal evangelism. She then gave a definition of that phrase as:

"We seek, name and celebrate Jesus' loving presence in the stories of all people - then invite everyone to MORE."

Jay Elmquist, the Director of Communications for the diocese, sat down and asked Jerusalem three questions. The accompanying video records her answers.

In the coming weeks, look for more information about how to do evangelism in your church, whether clergy or lay.

 As you add pictures of your evangelism efforts to social media, use the hash tags #episcopalevangelism and #norcalevangelism so we can all watch what you're doing.

The theme for this Lenten Quiet Day is “Mystical Voices of our Christian Tradition”. Four gifted teachers from among our own clergy will be interviewed concerning a Christian mystical voice of their choice, followed by a contemplative practice. The day will offer several moments of learning, interwoven with times to be still.

The quiet day facilitator will be The Rev. Rodney Davis who is an associate priest at St. Michael’s in Carmichael. A priest in our diocese for ten years, Rev. Rod serves the diocese in a variety of roles and is looking forward to offering this program.

When: Wednesday, March 18, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Where: Mercy Center

535 Sacramento St.

Auburn, CA 95603

 This clergy event is free and registration is required. Please register here

The College for Congregational Development (CCD) is a program designed to build skills and increase capacity for participants to develop congregations of all sizes, locations and conditions into more vital, faithful, healthy and effective communities of faith. CCD equips participants with tools to assess the needs of their congregations, develop strategies for growth, prioritize their needs and focus energy on those areas.

CCD also gives participants the skills to lead change processes, manage conflict and articulate the identity and purpose of their congregation. This training helps participants refine their facilitation skills, so they can lead effective meetings, small groups, and teaching sessions.

When:

• Weekends:
  • Fri, Oct 16, 2020, 9:00 am - Sun, Oct 18, 2020, 4:00 pm PT -AND-
  • Fri, Mar 19, 2021, 9:00 am - Sun, Mar 21, 2020, 4:00 pm PT  
    • Click here to register for the weekend sessions.

Where: The Bishop's Ranch

• 5297 Westside Road
• Healdsburg, CA 95448

Please join Jerusalem Greer, Staff Officer for Evangelism for The Episcopal Church in the Office of the Presiding Bishop and Rev. Nancy Frausto, Associate Rector at St. Luke’s, Long Beach for an informative and inspiring experience learning how to share the joy of our faith in the communities we serve.

When: Feb. 21 and 22
Friday dinner and presentation $35
Saturday workshop and meals $45

Where: St. Patrick's Episcopal Church
9000 Sonoma Highway
Kenwood, CA 95452

Registration:
Print registration form here or
Call or email Miriam Casey at 650-380-2747 or mlcasey5@yahoo.com

For the informational flyer, click here.

She continues, "This is a great opportunity to hear what it's really like to be a priest or deacon in the Episcopal Church today, and to learn how the ordination process works in our diocese."

During the Day of Discernment, presentations on the priesthood, the diaconate, and religious orders active in our diocese will be provided. There will also be an overview of the ordination process (including handing out an application packet and a copy of The Manual and Guide for Ordination). Spouses are also welcome to attend the Day of Discernment.

Attendance is mandatory as the first step in the formal discernment process. Space is limited, so be sure to register ASAP!

There will be two Days of Discernment in 2020:

• Saturday, Mar. 28, 2020 at the Office of the Bishop in Sacramento
• Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 at a location TBD.

 Advance registration is required. For more information and to register, click here

A Celebration of New Ministry was held at St. Mary's, Napa on Jan. 17, when Bishop Megan instituted the Rev. Robin Denny as the rector of that parish. Rev. Robin's family and many colleagues, including clergy from four California dioceses were present to witness and rejoice with her. "I was so delighted and moved by the presence of all my clergy and interfaith colleagues at the service. It was a joyful moment for me," Rev. Robin said, "I look forward to deepening new friendships through years of ministry together, while also celebrating the long support of old friends and family."

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori was the preacher for the service and in her sermon she spoke of the long history of the Napa area, it's ecosystem, the ministry of the church and the call to reach out into the community. "We are all part of a long faithfulness...the eternal, never failing relationship with the source of all life," she said.

"My friends, greet your new rector," Bishop Megan proclaimed after the prayer for Rev. Robin's institution. "I would commend to you her care and keeping." She went on to describe that care as guarding of Rev. Robin's time, using transparency in communication, and making sure that there was plenty of her favorite Mexican food available to her. Welcome Rev. Robin!

 Watch clips from the service and Bishop Katharine's sermon here

When: July 7-11, 2020

Where: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Who: Youth from across the diocese

Youth participants must be currently enrolled high school students in 9th, 10th, 11, or 12th grade during the 2019/20 school year.

They must be a minimum of 15 years old by July 7, 2020, and no older than 19 by that same date.

Registration: The deadline to register is February 9, and payment of $900 (includes registration, room and board, and airfare) is due on February 23. Click here for the application.

Erika Mueller, youth director at Grace St. Helena, will be handling all registration and collecting payments for the delegation from Northern California. Please email her at erika@grace-episcopal.org for more information or to register your youth participants. Adult chaperones are already in place.

 More information about EYE can be found here: events.episcopalchurch.org/eye

The Episcopal church has a very robust but simple way to keep the Season of Advent. We place an Advent Wreath in our worship space; glowing with light, often surrounded by evergreens as a sign of life. Each day in December we look toward the Light of the World - Jesus Christ. In remembrance of his coming we light the candles on our wreaths at the beginning of worship each of the four Sundays of the season. Read more.

The Rev. Ann Sullivan, the Very Rev. Richard Yale, the Rev. Lew Powell and the Rev. Delia Fay at a interfaith remembrance service. Rev. Richard and Rev. Ann led the congregation in recommitting their parishes to working together and to recovery.

This memorial at Magalia Community Church in Paradise was unveiled and dedicated. About 200 people came out for the dedication. #ButteStrong

This sculpture of a Phoenix was created by artist Jessie Mercer from over 18,000 keys which were collected from the various cars, businesses, homes and more which burned in the fire. A Phoenix is a mythical creature that who dies but is then reborn from the ashes.
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncell)

The week of Nov. 3-10 was a tender time for many in our diocese as remembrances and commemorations of the Camp Fire were held. The parishioners and clergy at St. Nicholas', Paradise, and St. John's, Chico, participated in several events and church services: including an interfaith service, a memorial dedication, a sculpture unveiling and more.

While those on the Ridge grieved and remembered the fire that started a year ago on Nov. 8, others in the diocese were gathered for Diocesan Convention in Sacramento. Convention also held its own commemoration. As we said during convention, we stand with all those affected by the Camp Fire and other fires that have burned throughout the diocese.

Here is a link to an article on one of the remembrances where the Very Rev. Richard Yale is featured.

The Rev. Babette (Babs) Haggenjos, Deacon at St. John's, Roseville, will be transferring to St. Matthew's, Sacramento. Her last day at St. John's will be Oct. 20, and her first day at St. Matthew's will be Oct. 27.

 Read the full announcement from St. John's here.

We are excited for the great work that is happening at The Center at St. Matthew's, and we invite to consider joining this work! There is a high need for volunteers to pack and distribute food the second and fourth Fridays of each month. If you are interested in helping, please contact the Rev. Cindy Long at deaconcindy@stmichaelscarmichael.org.

 In recent St. Michael's newsletter, Jim Hamill of St. Michael's, Carmichael, shared his experience on volunteering. He said: "I wasn't sure I would be comfortable volunteering with River City Food Bank at The Center at St. Matthew's. Now half a dozen visits later I look forward to those second and fourth Fridays. Handing out food to the needy with a welcoming smile helps me realize this is what we're supposed to be doing."

Members were able to greet, pray, and worship together, alongside visitors from St. John's, Chico, and the Office of the Bishop. Canon Andrea brought greetings, saying, "Even as we are healing from great pain, and some of us are still working through great grief, this prayer service in this space is a stepping stone on the path to healing. We all stand here together on that path - and Bishop Megan is with us in that healing. The bishop's office, the whole diocese, we pray for you and with you, bringing resources and support as we continue towards the new horizon that God is calling us to."

There was great joy as the clergy gathered together after the service. Pictured from L to R are: The Rev. Patricia Park, the Rev. Jana Branson, the Rt. Rev. Megan M. Traquair, the Rev. Brian Rebholtz, and the Rev. Bill Hefti.

Bishop Megan, the Rev. Aidan Rontani, the Rev. Anne Powell, and members of St. Peter's, Red Bluff look on as the bell is rung by Penny Metherd-Johnson on Sunday morning.

Grace, St. Helena, parishioner and artist Whitney LeBlanc, with the window he created entitled "Justice."

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry invited Episcopal churches to join the National Park Service and other institutions in remembering and honoring the first enslaved Africans who landed in English North America in 1619 by tolling their bells for one minute on Sunday, Aug. 25 at 12 p.m. Pacific time.

Several congregations in the diocese participated by ringing their bells at noon, but for Grace, St. Helena, the day was particularly special as they also celebrated the installation of a new window entitled "Justice." The window was created by parishioner and artist Whitney LeBlanc who made several of the windows at Grace, and "draws on themes of freedom from slavery," said Rev. Anne Clarke, assistant rector at Grace. Read more about the window here and about the ringing of the bell on Sunday here.

At St. Peter's, Red Bluff, the commemoration was introduced by the Rev. Aiden Rontani, Priest-in-Charge, who rang the bell first. Bishop Megan then rang the bell a few times, followed by the Rev. Anne Powell, Deacon. Finishing up the ringing was Penny Metherd-Johnson. Father Aidan wanted to have representation from each order present in the ringing of the bell.

As you have just read, earlier this afternoon we received word about a fire that has broken out northeast of Redding. The Mountain Fire is being watched very carefully by the Office of the Bishop and those of us in the Alta California Deanery who have been in partnership with our communities in the last year responding to the recent fires.

We are hopeful that the fire will be managed with speed, and prayerful that there will no loss of life or property. As of now none of the region’s Episcopal Churches are near the fire.

All Saints’, Redding, is busily preparing to serve their neighbors, and to receive evacuees if that becomes necessary. For the present moment, they are most grateful for your prayers. We ask that at this time that everyone refrain from calling the Rev. Carren Shelton or the All Saints’ office. The Office of the Bishop will alert people when and if assistance is needed.

Many of us in the North State have undergone much in the last year in the wake of the numerous fires in recent years. The news of a new fire or even the scent of smoke in the air may evoke a strong and negative emotional response. If you are someone experiencing these kinds of responses, please do not neglect dealing with such reactions, reach out to clergy caregivers, counselors, and your support network.

Both as Dean of Alta California and member of the Camp Fire Long Term Recovery Group, I have discovered in this past year that there is an incredible community of support and care, both within our churches and the wider community, that pull together for healing, wellness, and recovery. Our prayer that that wide community continue to embrace us all as we move forward in the midst of our trauma and need.

Grace and Peace,

The Very Rev. Richard Yale

Dean, Alta California Deanery

Chair, Spiritual and Emotional Wellness Committee, Camp Fire Long Term Recovery Group

Daphne Vernon, Director of Spiritual Formation at Church of the Incarnation in Santa Rosa, wrote a reflection about her experience in youth ministry and as a leader of Pathways.

"What is the measure of success in youth ministry? Is it loud music and a large crowd of kids, so many you couldn’t possibly remember who they all are? Or is it about building relationships in Christ and really seeing and shepherding the youth you meet with on a regular basis?

I measure success when I still have coffee with youth group members who are now in their 30’s. When kids come to ask how does my faith connect with my actions, how do I deal with my stress levels or peer pressure. I’m overwhelmed with the state of the world right now and where is God in all this?

It is tempting to think something is more successful when more kids show up. Teenagers do like to get lost in a pack, but is that because it’s easier to hide and fly under the radar? We will spend our lifetime making peace with what it means to be truly loved and known by God; adolescence and social media don’t make that process any easier.

Where in our Diocese do youth and young adults have the opportunity to serve Christ, practice self-love, and look at the hard edges of life? 

Pathways! A pilgrimage, not a summer camp, that consists of a six-day journey deeper into our faith. Walking our baptismal covenant, creating a space that’s safe enough to look at the hard truths of our history, explore what self-love looks and feels like. Truly understanding social justice and how all of us can play a role in healing and spreading love. Pathways is where young adults in our Diocese have a place to contribute and lead as they transition from children/youth to adults. It is a place where relationships are built in small groups and shared conversations. What I value in Pathways is that it’s a place to really hold evolving human beings in a knowingly intentional way. We are entering into our fourth year and kids and the young adults keep coming back; when preparing to come home each year I notice the kids have grown a little more into themselves, taking some of Pathways and Christ’s love with them. 

What can we do as adults to support Pathways back in our own congregations? Pray for all of us while we are away really stretching ourselves, pray for the youth in your congregation who are attending Pathways. When they return ask them how the pilgrimage was for them, ask if they have any new ideas or projects they would like help with. Remember back when you were most supported in deepening and growing your faith and how are you sharing that now."

For more information or to make a donation to Pathways, please contact Sarah Quinney at sarah@norcalepiscopal.org.

“This is the third evacuation I’ve experienced in 12 years. I didn’t know how serious the fire was going to be at that point, so I did drive my family to school, but when we got to the school, everybody was turning around. That was my sign that this was a serious evacuation. I turned around, went straight to the gas station, filled up, and zipped to my house.

I felt a lot of grace because I got out of there before the chaotic flames took over the town. We just grabbed our computers, medications, and that was pretty much it. We got in the car and went to Chico, to some relative’s house. We stayed there for six weeks. We learned 48 hours later that we had lost our home. I put off four, five weeks going back. I wasn’t going to go back. I kept telling myself I didn’t want to, but my husband wanted to go, and I knew I was going to go with him. That was hard. It really was.

But it was also hard to see the church, which I’ve poured my life into for the last 12 years, be so dysfunctional right now. There’s new life in Chico, but the part that’s so difficult is that our church family is all over the place. It’s totally different. So many people have left. It’s hard – grief and adjusting is so hard.

But we’re doing it. We have a new place in Chico, and I’m going to go to the music store and get some piano music. Somebody sent me a guitar, and somebody’s going to lend me a piano. I really like music, so I’m going to try and do the things that are familiar to me.”

- Ann Sullivan, Rector at St. Nicholas’, Paradise

“When Robert Frost, the poet, was asked what he learned about life, he summed it up in three words: ‘it goes on.’ And that is what I have found, and I have moved on. Life goes on, and you do the best you can.

I got out with fire on both sides of the skyway and spent almost two weeks in a FEMA shelter. I moved to Eugene, Oregon, and spent some time with my sister, and then moved from Eugene to Sisters. It’s a smaller community of 1,700 people rather than the 160,000 in Eugene.

I’m very comfortable here. I’m in the process of getting the flooring in on a new home. I’m doing the best I can with what I’ve got.”

- Les Zemansky, former parishioner at St. Nicholas’, Paradise

“If it hadn’t been for my daughters, I wouldn’t have known. One of my daughters called me to tell me she was leaving and that I should leave. Then my other daughter called -- she works for a senior living complex, and she said, ‘I’m being evacuated with my residents; can you please get my baby and get him out of town?’ So, we got the baby – he’s three. As we pulled out… you could practically hear him vibrate, and he’s going, ‘Papa, papa! Look at the cars!’ Not only were there so many cars going that way but there were fifth wheels, campers, and trailers, and so Grandpa had a calm discussion with him about what they were, what they were for… he did this to keep him busy.

I had about half a tank of gas so every time traffic would stop, I’d turn my car off. And it just got darker and darker, until it was darker than any midnight darkness I’ve ever seen. We got down to where the fire was, and I don’t know how to adequately describe it… it was like driving into hell. There was fire everywhere. It was so hot you could feel the intensity of the fire in the car, and the windows were so hot you couldn’t touch them. It was chaos.

As we got out, it was like coming out of a storm – the skies cleared. We stayed with my stepson in Chico, and we had the baby with us for 11 days because his mom couldn’t leave the residents. After that, my sister in Sacramento put a shout-out on her network, saying my sister needs a place to stay, and within an hour, a friend of hers found us a place. We’ve been staying there ever since.

It’s small and really tight quarters, but they let us keep our dogs here. It’s right on the river, a very beautiful place and it’s been a very healing place to be. The challenge is now finding a long-term place to stay --- there’s nothing. Everything is priced out of our range. We had a roommate, but she’s left the area. So, it’s just the two of us. We both have PTSD… my husband’s is really bad. I’ve been trying to cope by using humor to keep my sanity, just trying to find ways to lighten things.

The biggest impact for me was the first Thursday night and not having the music group to go to. I felt lost without that community… that’s all gone. I’ve been a church musician since I was 13 years old. To not have that, and your neighborhood, the places you used to go, your medical care, and things like my grandmother’s rolling pin that I learned how to bake pies with… it’s just all gone.

- Diana Love, parishioner at St. Nicholas’, Paradise

“I woke up at 6:30 and went upstairs to wake the girls up for school. When I looked out the window, I saw that the sky was an odd color of orange and a bit cloudy. I woke them and told them we might have to evacuate today. I’m looking on my phone because the sky looked like there’s a fire, but I haven’t got a warning. So I’m not sure what’s going on… my phone says the fire’s in Pulga, but it turns out the fire’s just a few blocks away. At that time, I didn’t realize it, so I took the kids to school. I came home and as I pull into the driveway, my sister-in-law calls me, and she said, ‘You need to get the kids from school. The whole town is going to be evacuated.’ I had literally just dropped them off, so I picked them all back up.

I came back to the house, and we started to get ready to put things into the car, when my neighbor says, ‘Get out! Get out now! There’s flames in your backyard!’ Some of the kids has listened earlier and packed a few things, so they had some clothes and a few pictures. We drove away, and there were literally flames in our backyard. As I looked back, the whole side of our street was on fire.

We drove to the Walmart in Chico, but when Chico received a warning of possible evacuation, we decided to leave then and drove up to Antioch, where my stepmother lives. With all of us and our pets, I knew we couldn’t comfortably stay there for long. One of our church friends’ daughter reached out to me and offered a 10-person trailer for us, where we stayed for four weeks. Finally, our insurance money kicked in, and we purchased a rinky-dink house. We didn’t have much of a choice with a family of nine.

I miss my Paradise church family so much. It’s so hard. The church was something extraordinary. We had an awesome music team, and everyone was so different and eclectic, a bunch of strange people being strange together every Sunday. The other day I felt this void in life, and I realized I didn’t have my Bible or my Book of Common Prayer. So, I reached out to my online Cursillo group, and they’re sending over several copies, so that’ll be good for my family.”

- Nicole Lawhun, parishioner at St. Nicholas’, Paradise

“I used to be a firefighter, so I know a bad fire when I see one, and it was clear that this was different than any fire that had been up here. We had enough time to grab essentials and our animals and evacuate. We live in lower Paradise. The fire burned around us, but we didn’t lose our home.

After we got to Chico, I jumped in and helped Father Richard as best as I could. You could not, for any price, buy a proper N95 mask so you could breathe. The first night, we went to the downtown plaza to try and get some kind of masks to the local homeless because they were just stuck. They weren’t impacted by the fire per se, but they were just as much subjected to not being able to breathe. We just did it because it needed to be done. Those people needed help.

As a Street Pastor, I also went with Richard and some other locals to ‘Tent City’ in Walmart, which was a pop-up evacuation center that just grew on its own. There was a couple thousand people there, and there was a storm coming in that we knew would flood the area. We tried to convince some of the local folks to move into actual shelters and get them out of harm’s way.

Tent City was a rough, rough place. In the first two weeks, there was a ton of gift cards and clothing being sent, but a lot of ‘opportunists' found their way into Chico. There were folks who were actively dealing and using heavy-duty drugs. It was a dangerous place, and out of the 30 people I interacted with, only 6 were evacuated from their homes. The rest were homeless, and they didn’t just lose a house, they really lost everything. And they didn’t have much to begin with.

I was able to get back up to Paradise the following Sunday and see firsthand the damage and confirm St. Nicholas had not burned. That was the church I grew up in and was baptized and confirmed.

Since then, it’s been this surreal experience of trying to get our house back up and running, cleaning smoke damage and repairing plumbing and water damage. There was a significant amount of stuff to be done, even though our house didn’t burn.”

- Alan Rellaford, parishioner at St. John’s, Chico

“I lived in Magalia, which is just above Paradise. I left at 6:30 to go to Oroville, where I teach. I had a parent conference that morning, and the parent walked in and said, ‘I know I’m early. But my mom lives in Magalia, and there’s a fire up there.’ And I went, ‘You’ve got to be kidding -- that’s where I live!’

So, I had my principal take over my class. My mom, who’s 91, also lived in that area, in assisted living. I called the center, and they told me to pick her up. As we pulled out, it was just gridlocked. I sat there with my mom, and we could just hear propane tanks going off. We made it down, flames on both sides of the rode, to Chico. It took us until four in the afternoon. Back home, my husband he was able to pack up a few things and knock on some neighbors’ doors, and he made it out safely.

We stayed with friends for a bit, but we called around for apartments and were able to get an apartment a week later. Not many people were able to do that, as it was already flooded in Chico, even before the fire. We found out a couple days later that we lost our home, so we’re still here.

Work started three weeks later for me in Oroville, and it was really difficult. Going back, the kids knew that I lost my home. So many of their family members lost their homes, and aunts and uncles moved into their homes or parked trailers in their driveways. It’s changed the dynamic of my third-grade classroom. Their attention level, as with all of us – they call it ‘fire brain’ – we’re not able to concentrate well. I’m seeking some counseling at this point because of PTSD, as so many of us are. I’m taking it day by day. Things are getting a little better.

St. John’s has been so wonderful, all along the way. Our personal GoFundMe page received so much generosity and has been really valuable. We’re looking into moving back up into the mountains, above the burn line into Magalia. We really want to be a part of the rebuilding of Paradise.”

- Lori Phelps-Zink, parishioner at St. John’s, Chico

“I had just started the position of parish administrator here at St. John’s on Nov. 1. There was a huge learning curve that I wasn’t quite prepared for when the fire hit. Nov. 8 came and went, and there was a lot of unknowns. We didn’t know where the fire reached and who was being affected. On the ninth, we showed up around six in the morning and didn’t leave until after nine at night. We reacted to whatever was occurring, and out of that was born the collection of gift cards, which had a huge impact on the office from where I sit. All checks, cards and well wishes were coming through, which then brought the people who needed those funds, and I encountered people from all walks of life.

We discovered our facilities were going to be useful in housing those who were here to help. I became responsible for monitoring that, making sure, one, that our church family still had access to the church campus, to try to keep things as normal as possible. Because it’s frightening for everyone, whether you’ve lost your home or whether you’re in the city that has grown by 30,000 people overnight. We had those people that were coming in but had no place to stay, like Team Rubicon and other teams like that. And it has just continued. I have a great opportunity because I see both people who are helping and people who need help.

I lived in South Carolina before, so there’s always the potential for flooding, water being our greatest enemy. But the water recedes, you go back, and everything’s okay. But this isn’t like that. The fire came through, it altered the landscape, it altered people’s lives, and it altered ultimately our entire county.

There was one gentleman from Davis who walked into the church and just stood in the office. I asked him if he was okay, and I thought for sure he would tell me he was a victim of the fire and had lost everything. But he just handed me a check, and he had huge tears in his eyes. He said, ‘Please do something for those people.’ And I said, ‘I will.’ And he just started crying. I showed him the church campus and told him, ‘We have people coming; this is what we’re doing. We have gift cards coming, and we’re making sure people have a place to stay and food.’ He just sobbed. I haven’t seen him since.

As Street Pastors we walked around the parking lot of Walmart when it became this huge ‘Tent City’. We encouraged people to get to Gridley before the rain came and it became a toxic cesspool. It was the next day, and this young man called me and said ‘I was homeless in Paradise, but I’ve lost everything because my camp burned down. He said, ‘I went to Walmart and took everything they were giving out because I was a pig, but now I don’t know what to do. They want me to leave.’

I told him, ‘You need to leave.’ He was close to 30, and so I asked him, ‘Have you ever served in the military?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I was in the Navy.’ I said, ‘Great, you’re going to look at all of your stuff. You know the difference between wants and needs. You’re going to roll up your stuff and pack a bag just like a sea bag. You’re going to get on a bus and go to Gridley because you need to be safe.’

And he went to Gridley. A couple days later he showed up at the office, and I was able to give him enough cards and he got a bicycle – and a job.”

- Sherry Wallmark, parish administrator at St. John’s, Chico

“I work for the city of Chico, where I do mapping, and I was called in to be a part of the emergency operations. The first three days I was there quite a bit, for over 12 hours, helping with mapping services. More importantly, the Air Force came in with their drones, and I helped set them up. I did specific mapping for trucks that went up, trying to track what the fire line was. Working with the city, we also tried to track where different shelters were popping up and where fire marshals could go. As time went on, we studied different vacant parcels where FEMA could operate, and then different buildings where schools could open up. When Team Rubicon came here – they work with lower income people – I created maps with census information.

In the beginning, I also worked with the firemen coming to the emergency operating center. The second and third day, they were just so tired, but it was more than tired. They were almost battled. I asked them what was going on and all they could say was it was bad, and they were just so tired.

Another thing that will stick with me is one guy that I work with who had built his own house up in Paradise. He’s a building inspector and is kind of a guy’s guy. He lost everything and was very sad, but then he broke down and cried because he realized now had no pictures of his girls growing up… no pictures of his mom and his dad. He’s an older guy, but he broke down in front of me. And there’s not a lot you can say.

We probably had 15 people in my work building that had lost homes, and I was able to take some gift cards from Sherry and give them out. People were so generous. And I actually got thank-you notes back, addressed to me, city of Chico. With some of the notes, I didn’t know who the people were because I’d hand the gift cards out, saying give these to your family members. I didn’t know who they were, but they took time to write me a thank-you note.

The money that was sent definitely made a difference in people’s lives. I was so proud to be a conduit and to help. Some of the guys I work with would just come and sit at my desk and say ‘Thank you. Tell your church thank you.’ It helped them get through that first week, those first four weeks.”

- Brad Pierce, parishioner at St. John’s, Chico

“After the fire, a shelter opened up where they asked for clergy volunteers to be crisis counselors, and I’ve been serving as a crisis counselor in many capacities since then.

A request for a crisis counselor came in from a small town called Sterling City, and I went to their community gatherings to listen to people. The other part of that are the people of Magalia Community Church. Once a week, every Thursday, I go up to the church and make myself available for the people that come into their distribution center. It not unusual for me to see upwards of eight people at any one time. Sometimes I pray with people, and sometimes I end up talking.

Several weeks ago, I was up there, and a woman was referred to come talk to me. But I was told she was afraid of germs and had locked herself in her house. Her family had to talk her into seeing me, but she came in. We spent about an hour talking. She was still quite afraid, but she chatted about what made her happy and what she could do differently if she could. And she said she’d like to visit her son in Australia. And I asked, ‘What’s keeping you from doing it?’ She told me she didn’t have a passport and didn’t know how do it. So we chatted about how to make it happen.

Last week, she came back in again and said, ‘I have my passport. And my son has set up my transportation to Australia.’ That brought great joy to my heart, to know that in some small way, with someone with those types of restrictions in their lifestyle, was able to listen, follow-up and do this long 14-hour trip.

Now, I’m seeing people move into the recovery stage where trauma and grief intersect, which is different from the initial triage of crisis. I’m seeing people who got the money to replace some things, and now, they’re beginning to be angry because of the slow pace of resettlement. It’s just not going to happen for a long time. And then there are those who are grieving the loss of community.

Trying to get away is a difficult thing for many of us involved. We’ve all committed ourselves to be present for these people affected by the fire, while also trying to take care of ourselves. I keep reminding myself that this is holy work. I believe this is a gift that God has given me, just to be present with those people."

- The Rev. Lew Powell, Deacon at St. John’s, Chico

“A quick glance at the kitchen clock told me the time was 7:24 on Thursday morning, Nov. 8. I pulled the chair a bit closer to the table, but before I could get a bite into my mouth the telephone rang. ‘Damn, I murmured, ‘what now?’ Little did I know that I would never see that clock again.

My daughter, Cheryl, who lives in Arizona, was on the other end of the phone and said, ‘How’s it going?’ Somewhat irritated, I replied, ‘Fine, I’m just starting to eat breakfast.’ Cheryl then asked if I was packed and I silently wondered: ‘why would I pack? I’m not going anyplace.’ She then informed me she had just been talking with a friend who lived nearby and was packed and leaving her house because Paradise was on fire and the town was going to burn down.

I turned on the television and saw the main street, Skyway Drive, the main road into and out of town, jammed with automobiles and pickup trucks, all moving downhill slowly, if at all. I threw a spare pair of shoes and a few other items into my car, checked with my close neighbors to see if they were preparing to leave – one was and the other didn’t seem overly concerned – and started down toward Skyway Drive, a mere quarter of a mile away. Twenty minutes later I managed to squeeze the nose of my car into the line of slow-moving cars.

Occasionally, I managed to gain a couple feet of progress, but traffic from intersecting streets kept filling open spaces with cars from other neighborhoods. Skyway Drive was the only way out. After two hours I reached Neal Road, where another exit from Skyway Drive opened and traffic was able to thin out slightly. Neal Road is two miles from my home, but the problems didn’t stop there.

Burned out cars and trucks began to appear in the medians, burning pieces of power poles and trees were lying in the roadway, and several telephone lines fell across my car and were dragged along the roadway until they detached.

I looked out the driver’s side window and saw a wall of bright yellow flames about 20 feet high. They were quite beautiful, but there was no other color but bright yellow. I looked to the passenger’s side and saw the same thing, still all yellow. Horizontal pieces of lumber were flaming everywhere, and I thought ‘There goes somebody’s house,’ but it was more than just one ‘somebody;’ it was many ‘somebodys’ houses on fire.

Knowing that these two fires would merge somewhere ahead of me, I knew I had to get past the merge point before it happened or I would be a ‘goner.’ Thankfully, with the Lord’s help, I made it. Eventually, I reached the bottom of the hill and headed for St. John’s, where I knew I would receive some kind of help. Without having any memory of how I got there, I reached the church and was happily greeted by office director Sherry Wallmark and Rector Father Richard Yale, who solved my immediate needs and concerns. I relaxed in a comfortable chair and offered my thanks to God and everyone else who kept me from being a ‘goner.’”

- Art Paymiller, parishioner at St. John’s, Chico

Every Spring, about 64 migrant farm-worker families take up residence in the Davis Migrant Center. While the children and youth attend the public schools in Davis, there is a real need for homework support and enrichment programs for them. For the past several years, a group of volunteers led by Natalia Deeb-Sossa, an associate professor of Chicano/a Studies at UCD, has brought such programming to the Davis Migrant Center. This summer Natalia plans to lead a photojournalism project for the young people at the migrant center.

St. Martin's, Davis, has made it their Lenten Project to collect money to help finance the photojournalism project and to also collect in-kind donations for other programs for children and youth at the Davis Migrant Center.

"We have actively been trying to incorporate families, children, and those who cannot always donate funds into these justice ministries. In this instance, the cross with tags [pictured above] acts as a sort of a wish tree. People can take a tag and donate the art supplies on it," said Heather Celia Baugh, who helped implement the project.

"Our Sunday school kids helped decorate the cross with the understanding this would support the Lenten project, and discussed what their peers might be experiencing out at the migrant center." 

This Lenten project ties into St. Martin's larger attempt to help support two asylum-seeking families, and although immigration and the issue of separated families is a serious one, it's one St. Martin's believes children should be involved in. "They understand some kids were separated from family at our border, and they want to help those kids and any immigrants here in our community feel like they belong and are loved by St. Martin's," said Baugh.

Rector the Rev. Dr. Pamela Dolan said, "Every time we can include children in a concrete, participatory way in the work of the church, we are furthering the kingdom of God. It is so important for them to learn through our example, not just through our words, and to know from a very young age that they are full members of the parish and that their contributions matter.

Sometimes their ideas about how to reach out to those on the margins of our society are even more insightful than our own. Almost always, reaching out in compassion seems to come naturally to most children and can inspire the rest of us to do more and be better."

If you'd like to help, please make out checks to St. Martin's in Davis, with “Lent Project” in the memo line.

The CIM works with worshipping communities throughout the diocese as they welcome and appreciate the diversity of people around them. The ministries that the CIM works to serve and support include Asiamerican ministries, Black ministries, Indigenous Ministries, Latinx/Hispanic ministries, LGBTQ+ ministries, and the Welcoming the Stranger task force.

Key CIM Goals for 2019

Starting with prayer and Bible study and ending with Eucharist, the retreat helped CIM members develop goals for 2019:

• Racial Reconciliation Training in Our Diocese: We will continue to enhance our Racial Reconciliation and Healing training (changed from “Anti-racism Training” per GC Resolution B004). This is in light of GC Resolutions A045 and D011, which concern the need to prepare lay and ordained leaders for the work of dismantling racism.

• Doctrine of Discovery training in Our Diocese: Our Indigenous Missioner, the Rev. Lewis Powell, will continue to develop and present training on the Doctrine of Discovery, especially for people in the ordination process pursuant to Resolution D011.

• Work with the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing: We will continue to plan for our hoped-for consultation with Dr. Catherine Meeks and staff at the AJCRH in Atlanta. The AJCRH is a convenor for the Episcopal Church on racial reconciliation and healing initiatives.

• Develop ecumenical links: We will seek to strengthen our collaboration with the Sierra Pacific Synod of the ELCA, among other denominations in the region, especially in regard to our Latinx ministries efforts.

Please Join Us

You do not need to be a CIM member to join us in this vital and Spirit-filled work. Nor do you need to live in Sacramento.

Our members and volunteers live throughout the diocese, and our other meetings throughout the year are held via Zoom. (This is one reason we all look forward every year to the fellowship and trust we create at our in-person retreats.)

If this work calls to you, please reach out to one of our co-chairs: Linda Jensen at lmjensen.rio@gmail.com or Lynn Zender at LynnZender@sbcglobal.net.

Church Divinity School of the Pacific student and candidate for ordination Julie Vice knows that seminary is a time to grow and learn new ways of being the Church. In order to step out of her familiar leadership roles, Vice set for herself the challenge of visiting all 68 of the churches in our diocese.

Vice got her inspiration because of her class schedule at CDSP, where she has been taking hybrid courses, meaning most of her time is spent doing her classes online, as opposed to spending three years on campus.

Due to this schedule, Vice said, "When you do the program and stay home, you're trying to grow while in your same water. That makes it really hard because you're trying to become something new but you're surrounded by who you used to be and what you used to do."

But when she met with the Commission on Ministry last year, Vice came up with idea of traveling the diocese, where she could "see what other churches in the diocese are doing.”

“Susi (my wife) and I sat down, made a spreadsheet to figure out where all the churches were, and said, I'm going to see how many of them I can actually make it to," Vice shared.

In February of this year, Vice ended CommUnity, a Saturday night service she led at St. Mary's, Elk Grove, where she had attended for several years, but took the idea of CommUnity on the road, naming her mission CommUnity Wandering.

"It's been a really enriching experience, and it's a powerful tool. You go to churches and find out, 'Hey, I really like the way this church is doing this, or oh wow, I don't think I want to do that. But there really is so many good things going on in the diocese, even in little churches that I didn't know were churches, where there are amazing groups of people I didn't know existed.

I wish more people could actually go out and see the vastness of our diocese because it's huge and ridiculously diverse," Vice said.

As of the new year, Vice has been to 53 churches, and even if she can't get to her goal of all the churches by February, Vice said she plans to visit all the churches at some point. Vice was approved to the transitional diaconate in December 2018 and will be graduating from CDSP in May 2019. She will be ordained on Feb. 16, and God willing, one of our newest priests in the year to come.

Vice has been documenting her travels through her CommUnity Wandering Facebook page, where you can learn more about her experiences at each church. 

Lisa Biersch Cole, who will be ordained to the priesthood at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3, at Trinity, Sonoma, was a busy mom and marketing-advertising professional who had never thought of herself in the role of a priest when her spiritual leader suggested she might be called to preach. " 'What?' I said. I had suggested a few things I wanted in the sermon for my second son's baptism, but it just about floored me when he asked if I wanted to preach. 'Oh, no, no,' I said. 'That's the priest's job,' " she recalled. 

But he didn't let it drop, and later suggested she should take a few seminary courses and explore whether she was called to the priesthood. Still, she felt that "my faith wasn't formed enough" to go down that path. But she stayed involved in the Episcopal church, raising her family and attending faithfully, believing that the parish model for spreading the gospel "is the best marketing plan ever. I found my professional and church life intersecting like that." There were many highs and lows along the way: moving to Alameda after a year in Italy and raising her three children in the first parish to sponsor her for Holy Orders; a lot of travel while going to seminary - "I did CPE (clinical pastoral education) in Maine, some field education work in the Los Angeles area," then more field education in the Diocese of California; her parents' move to Sonoma as she completed her master's of divinity at CDSP, which in turn introduced her to worship at Trinity, Sonoma. 

Cole still wasn't sure she was ready. But others had faith in her and eventually, she entered the process to become a priest in the Diocese of Northern California. 

She was able to serve as a transitional deacon in Sonoma, where she worked on strengthening their lay ministries, and started a summer Friday prayer service at 4 p.m. at Trinity on the fourth Friday of the month, with lay-led evening prayer. It has proved popular, and with a desire to "cover Sonoma with prayer" throughout the year, she talked to Methodist, Congregationalist and Jewish congregations in the community about providing a prayer service of their choosing for the other three weeks of the month and that rotation will start in the fall. She will continue to assist at Trinity in the immediate future. Rev. Lisa says she's looking forward to parish ministry, celebrating Eucharist and preaching. "All the stops and starts really made it clear that God did want me to do this," she said.

All are invited to the ordination; clergy are asked to wear red stoles. A reception will follow. 

- Lori Korleski Richardson is a freelance writer and editor based in Sacramento. She attends Trinity Cathedral.

During the week of the 2018 Pathways Youth Pilgrimage, participants engaged with truths from California's history and listened to each other's stories and perspectives. This year, the 70 Pathways participants and leaders hailed from all over Northern California, from Eureka to Yuba City to Benicia. They traveled to Marin Headlands and Angel Island, and hosted a variety of speakers and educators on the Sonoma State University campus.

Pathways, which just completed its third year, developed after a group of youth and adults from our diocese traveled to North Carolina for the Lift Every Voice Freedom Ride (LEV). LEV was a three-year initiative held in North Carolina and Cape Town, South Africa. It focused on bringing to light the historical truths of racism and preparing young adults from the United States, Botswana and South Africa to lead their dioceses' programming on race and reconciliation. After returning from the first year of LEV, the participants developed Pathways to highlight similar themes in Northern California.

Click here or on the image above to view scenes from the trip.

"At the end of LEV I was just wishing I had a camp like LEV growing up. Getting an opportunity to make that happen was like a dream! You go to events and talk about these grand plans you're going to do when you get back and they never happen. This time it did, and I'm honored to plan and attend it every year. We learn so much, and it better prepares us to improve the future while we learn about the past," said young adult leader Kirstyn Teuscher. 

The pilgrims spent a day at Marin Headlands, where they visited the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and the Marine Mammal Center. The Marine Laboratory studies coastal ecosystems, addressing environmental crises such as the dramatic rise in ocean temperatures as carbon dioxide levels rise. The Marine Mammal Center is a hospital for sick, wounded and malnourished animals, primarily seals and sea lions.

"Touring the center showed us the negative impact of our recklessness on marine life but also demonstrated the positive impact we can make when we come together with a common goal and a passion for making a change," said young adult leader Elizabeth Potts. 

Former Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori joined Pathways for two days, sharing her knowledge about the intersection of faith and science. Bishop Katharine has a PhD in oceanography and worked as a marine biologist before being ordained as a priest. She was an invaluable voice on he conversation about humanity’s responsibility to the earth.

“We can’t change anything that is wrong if we don’t name what is wrong. That is what lament means. The Earth is lamenting,” Bishop Katharine said, emphasizing God’s command to hold protective dominion over the earth rather than dominance. 

The day in Marin Headlands ended with Eucharist on the beach and an evening Q&A with Bishop Katharine.

"One of the many times I felt God’s presence on this trip was at the beach. I was standing with a group of people who when asked the question of ‘what’s been your favorite part of this trip so far’, kept quite. All of a sudden a big wave crashes on the beach, and they all start talking about their favorite parts of Pathways. I felt as though that wave was a sign from God, telling everyone to share their experiences," participant Emily Dedo shared.

At the second pilgrimage site, Angel Island, Pathways participants learned about the history of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the hardship immigrants faced as they tried to enter the United States. The tour of Angel Island took participants through the various rooms where immigrants were detained, often for months at a time, in three-level bunk beds that packed one against the other. 

The walls of the detention centers are covered in Chinese poetry, and the tour guide emphasized the range of emotions in the poems, from joy and hope at the possibility of entering the United States, and frustration and fear as months passed in the dirty, crowded detention center. That night, Bishop Barry Beisner spoke about God’s unbounded love and the Bible’s call to love everyone.

During the days on the Sonoma State campus, several speakers shared their stories with the Pathways participants. Sagnicthe Salazar, dean of an Oakland middle school, discussed restorative justice in the public-school system, which replaces punishment with dialogue and the expectation that the offender will work to help repair the damage they inflicted on the victim. 

Rose Hammock spoke about the history of the Pomo people, the indigenous tribes in the Bay area. She emphasized the historical trauma that continues to affect the tribes and the responsibility of communities as active support systems. Another highlight of the week was a panel of Episcopal advocates that included Heidi Kim, Lacey Bromel, Lewis Powell and Pamela Dolan. They described their work, which ranges from lobbying for social justice at the federal level on Capitol Hill, to leading outreach programs in local parishes.

The long days of learning were interspersed with games, music, crafts, worship and time for reflection. Pathways places the hard work of reckoning with our history and present alongside the safety of community and spirituality. 

As the community grows each year, Pathways will travel to new pilgrimage sites, continuing to learn the seldom-told stories of the land we live on, and preparing participants for the work of reconciliation.

A few photos from the week-long pilgrimage are below. For more photos, please visit Pathways NorCal on Facebook.

This will be my first General Convention as a Deputy, but I have attended General Convention three other times in a couple different capacities. I attended via the Young Adult Festival (YAF) in 2009 and 2012, and I attended as a visitor and volunteer in 2015. My trip to the Young Adult Festival in 2009 was actually my college graduation present. In 2015, the most recent General Convention, it was important for me to go because of the chance Bishop Michael Curry would be elected to be Presiding Bishop; he was my bishop in North Carolina before I moved to Sacramento in 2011.

I am eager to do work on the Convention floor and during committee meetings, but I am also looking forward to seeing friends from across the Church. Growing up, I attended dozens of youth events including the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) and provincial gatherings where I met youth from across the entire Episcopal Church. Many of these same friends are now my peer group of active lay and ordained members of the church and I look forward to seeing them every three years. I also look forward to seeing friends from dioceses where I have previously lived and served, including the Dioceses of North Carolina and Eastern North Carolina. I'm also looking forward to the daily worship services and Eucharists. In past years I recall services including Taiko Drummers; I also recall a U2Charist; and there is usually an effort to include music in English, French, and Spanish.

This upcoming General Convention is Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's first presiding over the House of Bishops and I look forward to seeing how his leadership style is different from Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's (hopefully I'll have a chance to visit the HOB at some point); I also expect the House of Bishops will be feeling the transition as many bishops are retiring in the coming years.

I'm mostly focusing on resolutions in two committees: 1) Social Justice and United States Policy & 2) Evangelism and Church Planting. I am looking at issues of diversity in the wording of resolutions, especially as it relates to disability, gender identity, poverty, and health. I am also taking an interest in resolutions that deal with supporting small ministries and nontraditional clergy. Some resolutions I'm taking a specific interest in:

A143 Study Career Development of Female and Minority Clergy

C022 Supporting Transgender Access

C037 Call to Respond to Opioid Epidemic

A082 Training for [Digital] Evangelists

A005 Continue a Church-wide Network for Planting Churches

A030 Small Evangelism Grants

- Charis Hill, member at Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento; Communications Liaison on the 2018 Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California

My focus is on Racial Justice and Reconciliation ... also issues that impact on indigenous people and those dealing with the Doctrine of Discovery. (According to Wikipedia, the doctrine has been primarily used to support decisions invalidating or ignoring native possession of land in favor of colonial or post-colonial governments.)

This is actually my first General Convention as a deputy. I was at one other, 2012, in Indianapolis, participating in a special worship service for indigenous peoples. 

(The following from Deacon Lew's statement in the 2016 Diocesan Convention booklet.)

The most important thing that I bring to the position of General Convention Deputy is my love for Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and the Episcopal Church. I have been honored to serve in many areas of leadership in the greater Church and in the Diocese. I respect and understand the structure of the Episcopal Church, both locally and churchwide. I bring a level of tenacity and dependability to assigned positions within the Church. I was awarded the prestigious Stephen's Award by the North American Association for Deacons for Outstanding Diaconal Leadership in 2007 while serving in the Diocese of Rio Grande.

- The Rev. Lewis (Lew) Powell, Deacon at St. John's, Chico

I volunteered at GC1985 (when Edmund Browning was elected Presiding Bishop). Represented the Executive Council Committee on Science, Technology, and Faith and volunteered at GC006 (when Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected) and at GC2009. Served as Lay Deputy at GC2015 (joyfully voting to confirm Michael Curry as Presiding Bishop), and will serve as First Alternate Lay Deputy at GC2018.

GC2015 was very exciting. After the achievements of the previous nine years, GC2015 selected an electrifying Presiding Bishop, energetically refocused on the Church's Mission, joined in the Jesus Movement, reaffirmed the inclusivity of the Church especially of the LBGTQ community, started confronting racism in the Church and beyond, and restructured the Church's governance and operations structures to support the focus on Mission.

I'm delighted to have the opportunity to learn of the Church's progress in the past three years. I expect this Convention will be exciting and productive, too, but calmer and more focused on Mission and the Care of Creation.

Having helped restructure our Diocese, I was particularly interested in the GC2015 restructuring effort and am interested in the GC2018 resolutions tweaking the structure, especially those relating to Provinces.

Coming from a small, isolated, lay-led Episcopal/Lutheran congregation worshiping in a Roman Catholic sanctuary, I'm also interested in resolutions relating to the formation of non-traditional congregations, to the planting of churches, and to the formation of lay leaders.

Coming from a community with a growing Hispanic population and with three Pomo rancherias, I am interested in the resolutions relating to the full inclusion of diverse ethnic and racial groups.

Finally, coming from a beautiful part of Creation, I'm interested in the resolutions relating to Care of Creation.

Much of the fun of Convention comes from working within our deputation, seeing friends from other dioceses, telling Shepherd by the Sea's story, and learning the stories of other congregations. There are always Spirit-filled serendipitous surprises.

- Jim Jordan Jr., member at Shepherd by the Sea, Gualala

This will be my fourth General Convention as an alternate since 1997, making me possibly the senior alternate at General Convention. One of the advantages of being an alternate is I can float around to different committee hearings rather than being tied down to a single panel. 

At the last General Convention, in Salt Lake City, I primarily focused on proposals concerning faith formation and seminary education, and offered testimony as a trustee of the Church School of the Pacific. I probably will do that again. 

I will also watch closely the proposals for a same-sex marriage rite, and proposals for a process for revising the Book of Common Prayer. I also will attend the hearings on the Church's possible response to the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

And I hope to get a little floor time substituting for one of our deputies when they need a break. 

But General Convention is more - much more - than a legislative meeting. There are receptions, reunions with old friends, displays and a daily Holy Eucharist (with thousands) that are amazing and awe-inspiring. It is a very full couple of weeks, and I am much looking forward to being in Austin, even if it is in July.

- The Rev. James (Jim) Richardson, Interim Dean at Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento

Northern California deputies and alternates, from left: Myles Clarke, the Rev. Lewis Powell, the Rev. James Richardson, the Very Rev. Sara Potter, Jim Jordan, Charis Hill, John Miller, Canon Charles Mack, the Very Rev. Cliff Haggenjos and the Rev. Andrea McMillin, Canon to the Ordinary.

By Lori Korleski Richardson, Interim Communications Director

For many faithful Episcopalians who attend services every Sunday come rain or shine, the General Convention is something far away that happens every three years. But for deputies, alternates, bishops, and 300 or so volunteers who handle everything from checking badges, data entry, worship setup and take down, language services, greeters, gofers, and community awareness, the convention center they share with the Episcopal Church Women Triennial will become their island home for nearly every waking hour almost two weeks.

This year the 79th General Convention will be in Austin, Texas, which is also home to 14 Episcopal Churches and the Seminary of the Southwest.

Major topics to be discussed include racial reconciliation; revision of the Book of Common Prayer; evangelism; rites for the marriage of all persons and blessings of relationships; and how to support peace in Israel and the dignity of every human being in that country. Bishop Barry Beisner is sponsoring at least one resolution, On the Status of Jerusalem, which asks that the 79th General Convention strongly re-affirm its long-established position calling for the city of Jerusalem to be the shared capital of both the State of Israel and of a future Palestinian state.

The Rev. Andrea McMillin, Canon to the Ordinary and chair of the Northern California deputation, said, "General Convention is where the Church as a body talks, and it informs and affects how we respond and act on important issues down the road."

An overview of how General Convention is structured and how to prepare for it is available here. 

Photograph posted by Christina Strevey

By Lori Korleski Richardson, Interim Communications Director

The Rev. Dr. Daniel DeForest London is steeped in Christian spirituality, having recently completed his thesis on the spiritual response to suffering in the Gospel of John.

And the new rector of Christ Church, Eureka, was surprised and pleased that there were several small groups in the church that were devoted to spiritual disciplines. He will not be traveling the path alone.

"Prayer, the emphasis on outreach, especially the Betty Chinn Center, and the tight interfaith fellowship group in Eureka, all of these encouraged me to apply for this position," he said.

Father Daniel, who spoke by phone from his rectory library in the former Transfiguration House, where several Episcopal nuns had lived for more than 25 years, said he loves the spirit he feels in both his new home and Christ Church.

"Christ Church is one of the most beautiful churches, if not the most beautiful church, in Humboldt County. It makes it easier to worship in such a beautiful sacred space," as long as that appreciation doesn't turn into idolatry of the space, he said.

Christ Church knew it was in for something extraordinary when Father Daniel drove into town on a rainy January night earlier this year. Even before he had a chance to celebrate his first Eucharist, he was at the bedside of a beloved former rector, Doug Thompson, who passed from this world into the next on Jan. 27.

During Lent, he adapted his recent doctoral work from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley for a Soup Supper class at Christ Church, and it was well-received. "Teaching a class isn't the same as writing a chapter," he mused - something that was brought home as he worked to complete a book based on his thesis for Fortress Press, which set a pre-Easter deadline for the manuscript.

Another issue he tackled during Lent was gun violence. He said he approached the subject cautiously in preaching about it "just a little bit" on the first Sunday in Lent. "I knew it was going to be a hot-button issue; it's obviously a very polarizing issue." Afterward, one of his more conservative vestry members came up to him and said she had read Bishop Barry's letter on gun violence and "I want to do something about this." He invited her and another church leader to lead an open forum after church about "how we as individuals and a community and church respond to the problem of gun violence." The forum was a hit: people got to tell their stories and brainstorm about what actions could be taken, and the leaders of it plan to write an article about it for the Eureka Times-Standard. "There's something really exciting about an NRA member in the parish leading this conversation, among people who aren't all on the same page, and coming to agreement that, yes, we have to take action."

Father Daniel, who graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena and was ordained in 2014 in the Diocese of Los Angeles, was on the staff at St. Paul's in San Rafael, interned at St. Clement's in Berkeley and St. Alban's in Albany, and taught classes both at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific and the School for Deacons in Berkeley. He is a native of Los Altos.

He and his wife, Ashley Bacchi, a noted scholar on Hellenistic Judaism, met while they both were pursuing and completing their doctorates. They were married at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco in May 2016.

The Belfry campus ministry in Davis California is seeking an executive director.  The Belfry is a 40-year-old campus ministry for UC Davis undergraduates and graduates.  In addition to its ministry to students, it operates the Lutheran Episcopal Volunteer Network, an intentional Christian community of young adults engaged in a year of volunteer service in the Sacramento region.  The Belfry is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Episcopal Church.

Working as a partner with the Belfry’s pastor, the Rev. Casey Dunsworth, the Executive Director will be responsible for all business operations of the ministry, including financial administration, budgeting, marketing and fundraising, maintaining relationships with local, regional and national church bodies, managing relationships with LEVN non-profit placement sites, and ensuring the smooth operation of the ministry.  The executive director will report directly to the Belfry board of directors, and will maintain both a “big picture” of the organization as well as manage daily operations.  The Belfry is seeking candidates with substantial education and experience in business operations and fundraising.  Salary will be in the range of $45,000 to $70,000, DOE, with performance incentives.

Detailed Job Description is available here: Belfry Executive Director Responsibilities.

Applicants should send cover letter, resume, and 5 references to pastor@thebelfry.org.

Besides the March for Our Lives in Sacramento to the state Capitol, there will be others in Santa Rosa, above, and in the northern part of our diocese.

By the Rev. James Richardson, Priest-in-Charge, Incarnation, Santa Rosa

The epidemic of mass shootings, as horrific as they are, have felt distant to me. They have been in someone else's town, someone else's state, someone else's church, someone else's school.I must confess after every mass shooting, that without realizing it, I have become a little less shocked.

Until the shootings in Yountville last week. Among the three women shot and killed was Jennifer Gonzales, who Lori and I had known when she was a teenager growing up in Sacramento.

She was always smiling, always enthusiastic, always caring for others. We knew her especially as a bubbling teen presence at Camp Sacramento in the Sierra during the summer.

Jennifer had gone off to college and become a dedicated clinical psychologist working with the Department of Veteran Affairs with veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. She was 32, and married a year ago. When she died, she was seven months pregnant with their first child.

Jennifer was best friends with another young woman who we have remained close to over the years, Susan Hennessey, who grew up at Trinity Cathedral and now lives on the East Coast.

Susan was quoted last week in the San Francisco Chronicle, remembering her friend as a "sunny, beautiful, unfailingly kind little girl who grew up to be a sunny, beautiful, unfailingly kind woman."

"Jenn was good, from head to toe," Susan said. "Thoroughly good in a way that is exceptionally rare. ... She dedicated her life to helping veterans who were hurting."Many are left hurting, Many, many hearts are broken.

***
It is time to march for our lives.

On Saturday, March 24, Deacon Pamela Moore, from my parish in Santa Rosa, and I will join other Episcopal clergy and lay leaders at the state capitol at the March for Our Lives. We are marching to say, "Put down the guns - we have had enough of this." 

There will be other marches nationwide, including in Santa Rosa a few blocks from our parish.

The Episcopal Church has long stood for reasonable gun controls, and the bishops of our church, including Bishop Barry Beisner, issued a statement last week urging us to support this march and these efforts at gun control. We hope you will join us.

Deacon Pamela preached a powerful sermon at the Church of the Incarnation a few days after the Yountville shootings about why we march, and please let me close with a few of her words:

"We are all entitled to live lives free from fear, oppression, humiliation, conquest, and domination. We have the right to live in peace, to make a good living, to feed our families, to have housing, to love whom we love, to do good works, and to prosper...

"The #NeverAgain movement (organizing the march), begun and led by young people, challenges the status quo and demands that we move beyond saying, 'Our thoughts and prayers are with you' after each mass shooting to having real national conversations about gun violence, how to address it, and how to ensure that it does not happen again."

You can get more information about the march in Sacramento here. Our clergy plan to meet near the corner of 3rd and O streets on the southeast corner of Crocker Park around 9:30 a.m.; the march to the Capitol is scheduled to begin at 10. Parking may be a problem; the two nearest garages are:

• Old Sacramento Garage, entrance on I Street between 3rd and 2nd.
• Tower Bridge Garage, entrance on Capitol Blvd at Neasham Circle near the Tower Bridge.

You can get more information about the march in Santa Rosa here. 

In Arcata, Deacon Anne Pierson says, "The students at Arcata High School are planning to put on a March for our Lives at noon on 3/24, meeting at the Arcata Playhouse, located at 1259 9th St., Arcata. To date, everything is being learned via word of mouth and, in a small community, that works fairly well!"

I am not generally a believer in the effectiveness of rallies, marches, etc., but I have had enough of kids being shot without any kind of response from our increasingly ineffective government at all levels. I am not an advocate for eliminating guns, but we need to do something as a nation and we need to do it soon. 

Therefore I am joining the march on the Capitol in Sacramento which is being set up by youth who would like their school experience to be one of safety, as it was when I was growing up, rather than wondering when and where the next school shooter will show up - and it will happen, as the power of copycat crimes is borne out by the increasing number of those shootings in our lifetime. For me, this is not an attempt to support any one of the multitude of solutions proposed by both sides of the debate, it is a message to our elected officials to DO SOMETHING! Thanks for your prayers, legislators, but we have been praying that this situation will get resolved ourselves and now are praying that you will, hard as it may be, become the hands of the one to whom you are praying; it is time to do what we hired you to do - difficult as it is for both sides of this debate, drop your position long enough to try something and if that doesn't work try something else. 

Anyway, I am letting you know about this rally on March 24 at the State Capitol so you can join me IF you would like to do so. Personally I don't think I could ever forgive myself if a young person from my own family were killed in a shooting and I had to say that I did nothing to try and prevent it. Here is the site for details:

March For Our Lives Sacramento

Peace and love,

The Ven. Gary N. Brown, Episcopal Diocese of Northern California

Applying the Episcopal Church’s motto that all are welcome, the Rev. Sarah Quinney, priest-in-charge at St. James, Lincoln, is seeing how implementing the Special Needs Ministry at St. James is changing lives, not only for those with special needs, but for their loved ones as well.

As a mother of a 14-year-old with autism, Jessica Frick started attending special needs services because it provided an opportunity to worship with her son, Dylan. Due to Dylan’s limited communication skills and loud behaviors, the Fricks are unable to attend regular church services.

Quinney met first Dylan and his family through her music therapy practice for kids with special needs and has known them for nine years. Naturally, when she started her special needs ministry, she invited the Dylan and his mom to St. James. Jessica’s two older sons attend St. Augustine’s in Rocklin, and Quinney proudly holds the title of being their godmother.

During St. James’ special needs Easter service last year, Dylan attended for the first time, and initially, “he wouldn’t come inside the church. He kept walking around outside and looking in,” Quinney said.

“Then, as I was singing and playing my guitar with the kids, all of a sudden, I look up and he’s right there in the circle with us. He was totally engaged and stayed with us for the rest of the time,” Quinney said.

When Dylan attended the special needs Christmas service held later that year, he didn’t have any problem going inside the church.

“Dylan is always excited to go to the special needs services, and he sings, dances, and socializes with the other children – you can tell he feels loved there,” Jessica said. “Overall, my experience at St. James has been exceptional, and I’ve always felt loved and accepted there. It’s wonderful to be able to take my son to a social situation where his loud behavior is not frowned upon.”

Once Dylan was comfortable with attending services, another rite of passage became imaginable: baptism. “For as long as I’ve known them, it’s been Jessica’s dream to baptize Dylan,” Quinney said.

In December, the dream finally became a reality when Quinney was able to arrange a special service for Dylan’s baptism. Quinney had to overcome the challenge of keeping Dylan engaged and present in the process, and figured that the best way to make Dylan comfortable would be to do the baptism in a small service.

“Yes, it’s ideal to have all the church members present when you’re baptizing a new member so we’re all there to support them in their life, but for a kid like Dylan, he’d be way too overwhelmed by the presence of all the people he doesn’t know very well,” Quinney shared.

So, Quinney decided to hold the baptism after the normal Christmas morning service at St. James. Dylan’s entire family showed up for his baptism, and a few parishioners stuck around to help, totaling around 20 people. Dylan’s older sister also made the decision to get baptized, and the plan was for her to be baptized first, so Dylan could observe and be less inclined to be feel anxious about his baptism.

“I had gone over the service with the family before and we decided to shorten some aspects of it so we could keep his attention. I didn’t want to drone on and on with the language where he might disengage,” Quinney said.

“We had no idea how this was going to happen, and we didn’t practice it with him. We just talked to him and told him we going to baptize him and asked if that was okay… He nodded, and so we did our best to explain why we were doing it,” Quinney said. “We told him, ‘You’re so special and God loves you so much, and we want you to have this experience where God can wrap you in a giant hug.’ He loves hugs, so he was really excited.”

As everyone gathered around the font, Dylan was jumping up and down and being loud, but as soon as his older brother started on the prayers, “we look over and Dylan is kneeling at the altar with his hands clasped. He’s never been to church, so he’s never seen that, except maybe on TV. He’s smiling and looking forward at the altar and smiling, looking back at us and smiling, and being really quiet,” Quinney said.

Quinney said the prayers and blessed the water, and she made sure to be dramatic about pouring the water, which got Dylan’s attention. Then she baptized his sister, and when it came time to baptize Dylan “he walked over, smiling, bent his head and let me do it,” Quinney said.

“I thought he was only going to stand the water this one time, and that I’d only be able to say ‘In the name of the Father,’ and make the rest really quick, before I lost him or he became uncomfortable with the water on his head. But he let me do it three times, and stood there, completely calm.”

After the anointing and the words, “You are marked as Christ’s own forever,” “Everyone started crying, and he was so peaceful and happy. We were all so completely speechless, and couldn’t believe how it happened, especially because it’s something he’s never seen before in his life and he was totally engaged in it,” Quinney said.

“It gets frustrating when people say you shouldn’t do these things until people can understand what’s happening. But we’ll never quite understand what people with autism are experiencing because they don’t communicate in the same ways we do.

“We have to enter their world and learn how they communicate. But to withhold something just because you’re not sure someone understands what is happening can take away from a really meaningful, powerful moment in their life. Apparently, he knew something we didn’t that day.”

Since the Rev. Dave Rickert was ordained a transitional deacon in June 2017, "I actually have enjoyed jumping around," he says, both figuratively and literally. He's been splitting his time between Trinity, Folsom and St. Jude's, Cupertino, in the Diocese of El Camino Real, where he works with extra-active youth.

Rickert's first career as an architect and experience as a father of special-needs children have encouraged him to think of many different ways to show children the abundant love God has for them. 

One example from his Cupertino youth group: He constructed mazes out of colored tape to show that everyone has obstacles in their lives, but you can break through them. Then he asked the kids to write on the tape what obstacles they've had and they then talked about how they could deal with them, "knowing that they are beautifully made, that God loves them, that there is a Christian thing you can do" to overcome many obstacles, he said.

Rickert says many Episcopal churches have been really challenged on how to integrate their communities to include the very young as well as the very old. Even when a church has a lot of children, "this is hard when we get that much diversity in a room and there may be a child that isn't really verbal and does a lot of flapping around and everything. How do we embrace that diversity?"

"I'm also very, very lucky that I get to be in these different places," he says. Rickert says Trinity, Folsom, is "probably the most Anglo-Catholic parish I've been in." St. Jude's, Cupertino, well, "you may not see the terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in their liturgy as a prominent thing. Having that diversity, both ends, pushes me a little bit," he says.

"I have learned that my architecture background keeps coming into play in my ministry. As an architect, I have to see something that no one else sees. I have to imagine this solution to a problem physically worked out in real time with real budgets, with real gravity and things like that. Gravity is not an architect's best friend," he says. But it is the law.

"I can't tell you how many times (his clients asked), 'How are we going to put a roof on that?' 'Skyhook,' I'd say. The skyhook - that's a typical architect fantasy. As a Christian architect, now, I just say, 'God. Yes, God is my skyhook,' " and then he finds a way to turn his imagined building or program into reality.

"I know I'm called to make God plain. But in the Episcopal Church, when the liturgy is at its best, in my opinion, it's full of mystery. I can think of moments where I've had either great joy or great challenges in my life and hearing words very differently. And it's completely mysterious."

Also a mystery is where he will land. "My next step, I don't know what that looks like. I've been juggling all these different things, and then I have a very busy family life, with three kids and a husband, and now I have a grandbaby, too, in Oakland. I assume I'll be applying for stuff immediately, and I don't know what that looks like. I would like to stay in the Sacramento area if I could."

Rickert will be ordained to the sacred order of priests at 7 p.m.,Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018 at Trinity, Folsom, 803 Figueroa St. Clergy: red stoles; reception to follow.

From the Diocesan e-News, Feb. 13, 2018:

Dave Rickert Ordained into the Sacred Order of Priests

Nearly 150 people packed into the 1856 wooden Trinity, Folsom, church on the evening of Feb. 8 to witness the consecration of David Gilman Rickert. 

Bishop Barry was in good spirits despite having just returned from leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and the Rev. Todd Bruce, rector, gave a moving sermon on how Christ alone can satisfy us, punctuated with a wee bit of humor and occasional wry smiles. 

Presenters included Northern California priests Anne Clarke, Charlie Knuth and Sonya Reichel, and former archdeacon Canon Cookie Clark was the bishop's chaplain and read the gospel. 

A festive reception followed in the hall across the alley from the historic church.

The Rev. Kenn Katona of Rancho Cordova receives a blessing from the new priest.

Lovingly know as Father Doug or Flooger Dooigie by his younger parishoners, he ministered to many and was loved by all who knew him. Father Doug was a graduate of Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, and was ordained into the Episcopal Preisthood on Jan. 25, 1965.

Doug earned his Bachelors degree at Southern Oregon College in 1961, and this is where he met the love of his life, Hannell (Nellie) Rippee. Doug and Nellie cebebrated their 56th wedding anniversay just days before his death. Doug served at many parishes in his 50+ years as an Ordained Episcopal Preist — they included Curat at St. Matthews Episcopal Church, Portland, Ore. 1964-1966; Vicar at St. Mary’s Episcpal Church, Gardiner Ore. and St. Andrews Epsocpal Church, Florence Ore. 1966-1970; Curat at Calvary Episcopal Church, Santa Cruz Ca. 1970-1972; Rector at Episcopal Church of St. Anne, Stockton, CA 1972-1976; Rector at St. Pauls Episcopal Church, Klamath Falls, Ore. 1976-1982 and finally as Rector of Christ Episcopal Church, Eureka Ca. 1982-2000. On January 26th 2003 Doug was bestowed the honor of Rector Emeritus by the members of Christ Church, Eureka.

Doug was the only son of Walter Louis Thompson and Alta Fay MacDonald, brother of Maudie Jane Thompson Williams, loving husband of Hannell (Nellie) Rippee Thompson, Wonder Dad to daughters Sarah Diane Thompson (deceased) and twins Julianna Marie Thompson- Corliss and Suzanna Lynne Thompson Spencer and amazing Grandpa to James Francis Brady. He was also a fun loving uncle to numerous nieces and nephews.

Doug loved to travel and spent much time pitching and repacking the family’s canvas tent and driving for hours on end from camp site to campsite. Summertime aways found him planning and taking an educational, scenery filled roadrip with Nellie and the girls. He was an absolute master at trivia and when someone needed a diffiult question answered the statement “Ask Doug Thompson” was shouted aloud!

Doug spent countless hours volunteering and showing supprt in each community he was part of, from coaching soccer when his fifth grade daughters suddenly had no coach for their team (season record 1-22, or so it seemed) to ringing the Salvation Army bells at Christmas, driving groups of kids to summer camp, and using his booming bass/baritone/tenor voice (depending on his health) in carolling trips to those who needed beauiful music during holidays past. Doug was a lifetime blood donor, often being called in the middle of the night to be a live donor for a newborn in need, and his favorite was, of course, the time spent overseeing (and sometimes napping amongst) the historical archives in the Humboldt Room at the County Library.

In a more official capacity he served on boards for Eureka Senior Resource Center, Lions Club (Klamath Falls), Rotarty Club and Rotary Scholarship Board (Eureka) and Dioscean Council for the Diocese of Northern California, to name a few.

Doug was a friend to many, a source of common sense, unconditional love, a mentor, a non-judgmental ear and the giver of the biggest bear hugs around. He will be missed greatly by for those of us fortunate enough to have loved him. He will be a perpetual beacon of light and hope.

Our Pathways planning team is proud and excited to announce some of the details of this summer's Pathways pilgrimage, from June 24-30, 2018. Registration is open for all youth finishing grades 7-12. Learn more about Pathways and register here.

First of all, we are incredibly honored to welcome the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori to Pathways this summer! Bishop Katharine will join us for two days during Pathways, and she will worship and travel with us during part of our pilgrimage. We can't wait to join with her in conversation about faith and science, and to talk more about ways to equip ourselves to be "climate ministers" working for environmental justice and reconciliation with our earth.

"Northern California has developed a remarkable ministry in Pathways. I look forward to joining these young people in learning more about how loving 'this earth, our island home' manifests in loving our neighbors as ourselves. We are keepers of our brothers and sisters as well as the garden in which we're all planted, and I know we'll find joy in this pilgrimage of exploration in June!" Bishop Katharine said. 

Our home base during Pathways will be Sonoma State University, where we'll stay in dorm rooms and eat in their fantastic dining hall. We are looking forward to swimming, Frisbee, and basketball on their beautiful campus.On Tuesday and Thursday during Pathways, we will head off on our pilgrimage, to learn stories that Sonoma and Marin County have to offer about the relationships among humans, and between humans and the land:

• We'll visit the Bodega Bay Marine Laboratory to learn about climate change research from some of the country's leading scientists. 
• The Marine Mammal Center rehabilitates animals, and during our visit there we'll have the chance to learn about the relationships between humans and animals, and how we can help keep them and their environment healthy.
• We'll pray and reflect at the Marin Headlands, and learn some of the history of native people who first lived in this land. 
• Angel Island, the site of an immigration station for many years, is a rich site of history about the struggles and triumphs of many immigrant families. Our visit there will invite us into conversations about immigration in our own families and communities. 

This is a small window into what we have planned and are planning! We hope you will join us, and encourage the young people in your lives to join us. If you have questions, please get in touch with the Rev. Sarah Quinney or the Rev. Anne Clarke.

Youth of our diocese trekked through Yosemite in 2017. This year, the group heads to points west.

Young Adult Leaders Form New Bonds

By the Rev. Anne Clarke, Lifelong Christian Formation Coordinator

The first few days after the end of a semester are made for sleeping in and catching up on Netflix episodes missed during finals week. But for our Pathways young adult leaders, many of whom had just finished high school and college finals, Christmas break began by gathering together at Mercy Center in Auburn to plan next summer's Pathways youth pilgrimage.Seven of these young adult leaders met each other during the 2015 Lift Every Voice pilgrimage in North Carolina, and they have continued working together to bring a similar program to young people in Northern California. Along the way, they've welcomed new leaders into the group, and together they've learned a great deal about what it means to be ministers of reconciliation.During the retreat, these young leaders worked with Bishop Barry and other older adult leaders to reflect on everything from how to provide pastoral care for homesick participants to the best ways to engage a group of 7th - 12th graders about connections between the history of indigenous people and environmental justice. 

Together, the group sketched out a week that includes two day trips from the host site at Sonoma State University: one day to visit sites in Sonoma county related to environmental justice, and another to visit Angel Island and learn about past and present immigration issues.

For Kirstyn Teuscher of St. Barnabas, Mount Shasta, who participated in praying, reflecting, and planning during the retreat via a Zoom video conference, Pathways has become something she looks forward to each summer. "Each year has its own feel, and it leaves you excited to see what the next trip will bring ­- always a new adventure and always a new message from God about how we affect the world around us and how we can continue to contribute to its well-being."

Archdeacon Gary Brown, participating in Pathways for the first time, remarked that "the Pathways planning retreat was an experience of rejuvenation and inspired hope in me. It was delightful to work with such a dedicated, bright, and wholesome group of young people as well as some very devoted adults."

Teuscher added that this collaborative planning is one of the highlights of this experience: "I also like the design or teamwork that we've created in the development and execution. It makes it more than just a summer camp, but more of an experience to take with you in life. You learn skills, history, communication. And it feels more like you've added your personal touch to this camp that you are honored to be a part of."

By the Rev. John Harris

The pews were overflowing at St. Timothy's, Gridley, on Dec. 10, when Bishop Barry Beisner visited to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, and help mark the congregation's 60th anniversary.

The Bishop confirmed one individual, and received two others. He also presided at a baptism, and blessed the recently renovated Church Yard.

The first service for the congregation was on Nov. 10, 1957, in the chapel of a funeral home. Early parishioners talk about Sunday School in the coffin room!  The congregation was formally enrolled as a mission of the Diocese on April 30, 1958.

Eventually, the present church building was constructed at the corner of Magnolia and Jackson Streets, and dedicated in 1961.

St. Timothy's was a pioneer congregation in establishing and growing what has come to be called Total Ministry in this diocese, and was a founding member of the Valley Episcopal Ministry, a Sacramento Valley Cluster. St. Timothy's now functions as a single Total Ministry congregation with its own "locally grown" priest and deacon. The renovation of the church yard began in 2016, and was completed early this year.

By the Ven. Gary Brown

As one drives by, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church and its school appear to fit comfortably within their Carmichael neighborhood. The church itself was originally started as a mission by the then-growing St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church when the Arden-Arcade area was being developed during the prosperous era following WWII. Even though the areas surrounding St. Michael’s neighborhood have gradually become less affluent, tied to the closure of a large military facility, the church and school continue to thrive and have become examples of Christian service to the community.

In a reversal of fortune, St. Michael’s has recently joined with St. Matthew’s, whose neighborhood is now home to immigrants and the working poor, as a partner in mission. Dynamically service-oriented in nature, St. Michael’s is not merely a safe haven for its parishioners and their families; it is also a model for a loving Christian response to a chaotic and changing world.

Deacon Cindy Long served at St. Matthew’s for seven years, and she exemplifies the consummate Episcopal deacon. “I knew early on in my life that I wanted to help people in need,” she says. A registered nurse for many years before ordination as a deacon, she describes becoming a deacon as “a calling which I consider a perfect melding of my secular career and my desire to serve people and lead others to serve in the name of God.”

While at St. Matthew’s, she has managed to spark the creation and development of many services for the low-income residents of the neighborhood. Most notable is a health clinic, which provides basic medical screening and referral services. Deacon Cindy says, “I was involved in starting a free clinic, overseeing outreach programs and serving a diverse population with many pastoral needs.” Only those who saw the work that she did at St. Matthew’s can realize what an understatement this is. She managed to establish an agreement with a local university for RN students to be part of the screening process. In addition, some of the residents being served were enlisted as volunteers for both the health screening program and a program for feeding and clothing the indigent. Deacon Cindy also served as deacon at worship services, often serving with supply priests when there was no priest-in-charge.

When the Very Rev. Mary Hudak, now rector of St. Michael’s and dean of the Capital Deanery, was called to serve at St. Michael’s in 2013, she came with a strong affinity for serving people outside as well as inside of the church. “My passion is ignited daily through our many adventures serving the community around us in need. I was ordained to the diaconate in 2007 and ordained to the priesthood in 2008. While serving as a deacon, I fell in love with marginalized ministry, homeless women's ministries and generally serving those in need,” she says in her bio on the church website. She does not confine her interest to developing and pastoring a congregation; she also guides parishioners in their growth as servants of Christ. It would be very difficult to be a member of St. Michael’s and not be moved by the rector’s enthusiasm for serving the less fortunate. 

The genuine sense of team that these two epitomize is impressive. As a clergy team, they see their ministry as a full partnership and attributed the team’s success to a genuine mutual respect. There is role clarity – no doubt that Rev. Mary is in charge of the parish, but Deacon Cindy is fully empowered to act and make decisions within her area of responsibility for pastoral care and outreach activities.

Deacon Cindy’s style, however, is not to do it herself, but to encourage and assist members of the congregation to live into their baptismal covenant. One member of the congregation, Mary Davy, says, “Mary and Cindy collaborate together with an inspiring and dedicated group of lay leaders to set up ways we can serve each other in important pastoral ministries and also reach out to the community in love and service.”

Through their own modeling as a team, Rev. Mary and Deacon Cindy have created the space for full participation of the congregation in service to the community, an effort that truly lives out the mission of the Episcopal Church.

Gary Brown is one of two Archdeacons in the Diocese of Northern California. He can be reached at garybrown6@yahoo.com.

In mid-October, as fires were still raging across Northern California, Molly's Revenge, a Celtic trio featuring an assortment of flutes, bagpipes, strings, a vocalist and Irish dancers, called the Rev. Cliff Haggenjos of St. John’s, Roseville, with some good news: The date of Dec. 10 had opened on their schedule, and they wondered if the church would be interested in hosting their Winterdance show.

December is an unusually busy time for clergy, and knowing that the bishop was scheduled to visit a week later, at first Father Cliff was hesitant to say yes. But, after briefly praying and listening for the Holy Spirit, he realized that the event could quickly be turned into a benefit for fire relief. 

So he found a donor to foot the band’s bill, and announced that all the proceeds for the evening would go to Bishop Barry’s discretionary fund, which the bishop has been using to write checks to churches in the diocese that are helping those affected by the fires. 

The folks at St. John's are great fans of the band, which has performed there many times in the past, often helping to raise funds for the congregation's outreach to Haiti and Uganda. 

St. John’s had donated $5,000 for fire relief before the event, and Fr. Cliff said he has another $5,000 now to give the bishop during his Dec. 17 visitation. It was a very successful event, with about 130 people attending the rollicking show.

After a prayer for the people of Southern California who are now going through firestorms, Fr. Cliff told the crowd, "Having spent the first four years of my ministry in Napa, I knew many of the people whose lives were affected by these fires. It was easy to say yes once I realized we could help in this way. I also knew the people of St. John's would get behind this event. Many of our folks had family and friends who were affected. Some who evacuated came up to stay with them until they were allowed to return to their homes."

During the intermission, several people walked up to the Rev. James Richardson, who spoke of his experiences at Incarnation, Santa Rosa, helping those affected by the fires, offering their stories and an offer of a recreational vehicle for someone displaced by the fire.

Incarnation, Santa Rosa

Pastor Jim said “We have experienced an amazing outpouring of generosity since the October fires that killed more than 40 people and destroyed more than 9,000 structures in our region. In our parish, we know of 11 families who have lost homes.

“To date we have collected more than $80,000 for our fire relief efforts. We are exceedingly grateful for your contributions. Most of these donations have come from outside parish, including from a family foundation that has given us an unsolicited grant of $10,000. We also collected more than $2,700 at a recent fire relief concert we hosted in the church.

“We are using these funds to help those who are the most vulnerable, and are “falling between the cracks” with government agencies or other charitable organizations. Here are a few ways we are spending these funds:

• Rent aid for a family who lost not only their apartment but whose dad lost his job when the hotel where he worked burned.
• Rent for a woman who lost her income when the houses she cleans burned. She has since begun rebuilding her clientele.
• We assisted with car repairs for a young man whose car top melted while he was helping others evacuate.
• A hotel room for a mom and her daughter who were living in their car after being burned out of their apartment. We subsequently paid the first month’s rent for them for a new apartment.
• One month’s rent for a single mother whose condominium burned; she had only minimal contents insurance.
• Gift cards for a gardener who lost not only his home but all of his tools.

“We’ve been assisting people in other ways as well. We have a camper truck parked in the church parking lot. The couple living inside it lost their apartment and its contents and they had no insurance. The camper is not street-legal, so we are allowing them park until it is fixed and they find a new place to live.

“We are also exploring the possibility of using one of our Sunday School rooms during the week for a licensed child care provider who lost their home-based business during the fire.

“Great thanks goes to Stacy Duvall, who is connected to us through her work on our website, and David Jasper, our treasurer. The two have become our unofficial case managers, working with each of these families as they rebuild their lives. None of this could be done without them – or without your generosity. You can still donate by writing a check to the Church of the Incarnation with “fire relief” in the notation line or by going on-line to our donation page.

St. Stephen's, Sebastopol

Pastor Jim has been in close contact with Deacon Kate Sefton at St. Stephen's and says she is “still working overtime on this and connecting with other, secular organizations.”

St. Luke's, Calistoga

Meanwhile, In Calistoga, Deacon Susan Napoliello of St. Luke’s gave this update:

“We have a partnership with the UpValley Family Centers, a nonprofit doing amazing work in responding to the needs of our community. I just spoke with the Calistoga Program, Indira Lopez, when I brought in St. Luke's Christmas Adopt a Family contribution for a single mom and her son. She said they are very busy, but have received amazing financial support to help families and seniors impacted by the fires. So far they have been able to find shelter (for their clients) and address basic needs. At the moment, they are well-resourced.

“As a congregation, we have been listening to ourselves, each other and our neighbors. … I have heard young adults express anxieties that initially appear to be driven by the fires, but underneath express deep concerns regarding events of the past six months: for example, incidents of racism, sexism, human violence and natural disasters. Seniors, even those with safe places to go during the evacuation, ruminate about the vulnerability they experienced coupled with anxiety for the direction of our country.” She said is thinking about how to get people together to talk about their feelings and how to listen to one another.

St. Mary’s, Elk Grove, has an Adult Education series entitled “Who Is My Neighbor”. Recently, attendees heard a presentation from Usama Khalil, the founder and executive director of Refugee Enrichment and Development Association (REDA) in the Sacramento area. Khalil made a very moving presentation about how refugees work hard to be successful in our country and the barriers refugees must overcome.

Our local resettlement agencies are contracted to work with refugees for just the first 90 days they are in our country. As you can imagine, that is not enough time to get settled. Learning English, learning our culture, getting a job, taking care of health care issues, having a car, having income so they can take care of housing and its side costs, and so on and on - pretty overwhelming tasks when they all come at once.

REDA was just developed as a nonprofit organization. Its mission is to work with refugees after that first 90 days so they will have an opportunity to be successful in our country. REDA offers the refugees two critical kinds of services: The first helps them to address their daily logistical needs such as translation, sorting their mail, filling out their social services forms and applications, getting to medical appointments for the entire family, helping them deal with medical insurance, helping them find and apply for jobs, enrolling the adult children in colleges, plus many other similar daily critical; the other REDA service provides referrals to local agencies and other nonprofit organizations for specific professional service such as counseling, professional training, housing assistance, etc.

How Can We Help? 

Khalil identified one possibility, the collection of nonfood items.

Almost all refugees receive food assistance from the county that in most cases is adequate for their basic nutritional needs. Because they receive a very limited cash assistance (that in many cases is not even enough to pay the rent and utilities) and because of lack of significant cash flow, Usama suggested that one way we could help would be buying the other very urgently needed household items that we all use at home: paper products, cleaning supplies, and hygiene items, babies diapers, etc.

If your congregation is interested in working on a collection project to collect the items mentioned above, please contact the REDA Center at 916.500.4299 or you can drop your donated items directly at their office located at 2919 Fulton Avenue, Sacramento, CA, 95821 Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is one very easy way we can help our neighbors!

Lynn Zender of St. Martin's, Davis, is the Northern California coordinator for Welcoming the Stranger Immigration & Refugee Ministries.

Healdsburg, a quaint little town about 70 miles north of San Francisco, has been through a lot in the past six weeks: a massive fire that burned 36,807 acres came dangerously close to the Episcopal church, and several of its parishioners who live in outlying areas lost everything but their lives when they evacuated in the middle of the night.

But as the rector of St. Paul’s, the Rev. Sally Hubbell said: “We know how to feed people here.” So on the night of Nov. 18, about 60 people from St. Paul’s and its neighboring parish to the south, Incarnation, Santa Rosa, gathered to eat chili, slaw, cornbread and desserts. And once they had eaten and had a glass of wine - this is, after all, the heart of the Sonoma wine country - the stories began. 

Hubbell started off the storytelling by saying she had hoped that she had left the dealing with wildfires behind her when she moved to Healdsburg from Colorado Springs in 2016. “Yet, even with everything I went through in Colorado, when it happened here, it was totally different.”

“We had less than four hours to evacuate, trying to figure out where people are, with no cellphone coverage, no Internet. ... I went to the church thinking that I could at least use the landline. But I got there and no landline. I had no idea what was happening. Then I looked out the window and saw a guy in a North Carolina sweatshirt talking on his cellphone. He had AT&T and an East Coast number, so he was able to dial out. I followed him to his room, explained the situation and he let me use his phone, so I got a little info that way.”

She had to pack up the sacristy later that week when evacuations were ordered. “I took my BCP, my ordination certificate off the wall, the Body of Christ in the ciborium, the record books and the silver.” Luckily, the fire stopped short of downtown.

Hubbell choked up a bit as she said, “I was trying to be in a position of leadership, and it’s hard to be a leader when your flock, everyone, was so scattered.” She tried writing a sermon for that Sunday “but I really couldn’t envision how this would play out.”

Suzanne Kurtz said she got her car packed up as her husband, Richard, urged her to go ahead. “You just go and drive and stop where it feels safe.” She said she got to Petaluma and thought to call the deacon at St. Paul’s, the Rev. Mary Taggart. “Mary called (the Very Rev.) Daniel Green and he found a place for us to stay in Petaluma. We got back home a few days later and everything was fine.”

One man said he “smelled smoke at 2, got out at 2:30 and by 5:30 a.m. our house was gone.” He shook his head sadly, shrugged, but managed a little smile as he continued: “The love I’ve felt from this congregation... I can’t thank you enough for that.”

Colleen Carmichael, executive director of Reach for Home, said, “Trying to find housing for our clients before the fire was hard, and now it’s even harder.” But she did have good news: The two houses she was trying to secure in Cloverdale in early October were approved for loans and a $75,000 grant she had applied for in the first part of the year came through as well. “It was as if God said, ‘OK, you got two, let’s make it three.’ ” She has put an offer in on a house in Windsor. “Now the real work of helping people begins,” she said, ticking off fundraising projects such as a dance marathon that raised $5,000 the previous weekend.

Senior Warden Linda Maxwell said she felt helpless since she was up in Lake Tahoe when the fires broke out, but she started calling everyone she could think of. “Nobody said they needed anything, but later they told me it meant the world to them that someone called. Because,” she said with deep emotion, “we’re family here at St. Paul’s. We may not be biologically related, but we’re spiritually related, here,” touching her heart.

Randy Collins, who has spent his life fighting fires and leading fire-safety efforts in Northern California, reminded the crowd that its family in disasters is vast. “You have a huge family out there that extends across the state. Many people have experienced wildfires in this state, and they are ready to help,” he assured them. He urged those who still had dead trees on their property to remove them and to follow the “Ready, Set, Go! Program.” “History repeats itself,” he said, reminding the group that the year after the Hanly fire in 1964, the grass grew back and burned again, much like the cycle so familiar in Southern California.

Betty Banda, who grew up in the hills outside Geyersville, a little community north of Healdsburg, remembers many close calls and hurried trips down the mountains when fires would threaten, but she says she takes them all in stride. “I’ve always thought of it as nature,” said the Apache Nation woman. “You get too many people on her back, the Earth shrugs and moves on.”

After those who could manage to talk about what they had been through had their say, they hugged many more who could not, not yet. The crowd looked forward to the confirmations of several youth and adults from both congregations in the morning, so they brought their empty bowls and glasses to the kitchen, and with many hugs and good wishes, said goodnight.

All photographs © 2017, Lori Korleski Richardson

From top: The Rev. Sally Hubbell directs the crowd to dinner; Colleen Carmichael talks about her work with Reach for Home, as Suzanne Kurtz listens, seated; Randy Collins talks about fire safety; Betty Banda tells of her experiences with fire growing up near Geyserville.

Bishop Barry Beisner's Sermon, November 26, 2017 - Matthew 25:31-46 from St. Augustine Church on Vimeo.

The River City Food Bank had an open house on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017, to introduce its second location at St. Matthew's Center in Sacramento. From top: Executive Director Eileen Thomas addresses the crowd; two RCFB board members welcome the visitors; a view from the street; the Rev. Ann Hallisey, her husband and Diocese of Northern California Bishop Barry Beisner, and Eileen; group shot that includes priests Rik Rasmussen, Lucretia Jevne and Anne Arthur; a display for RCFB's Empty Bowls event; guests enjoy the appetizers provided for the open house in the courtyard.

Monetary donations are the best way to support the victims of the fires, which officials are calling the deadliest series of fires in California history:

• Episcopal Relief & Development, through the U.S. Disaster Fund. 
• Episcopal Diocese of Northern California bishop's discretionary fund through the diocese's website. The bishop has begun disbursing funds; please contact your clergy person with any needs involving fire relief and we will respond promptly. 
• Incarnation, Santa Rosa, through its fire-relief fund.

Most Gracious God:
Hear our prayer for all whose lives are impacted by this crisis.
Shield and deliver all emergency responders;
 give wisdom and guide those in authority;
watch over all who have been forced to evacuate,
and all who wait with uncertainty.
Comfort those who mourn great loss. Help those who wish to help
 to be patient and effective in compassion.  
 Bless us all, and help us trust in you.
 In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
- Bishop Barry Beisner

(Oct. 24, 2017)  The worship space and parish hall at St. Patrick's, Kenwood, appears to be undamaged, and the Rev. Karen King says they will have a "no-frills service" there this Sunday. "There is a large branch on the office. PG&E has to assess the situation and possibly will cut the power until the limb can be removed, which depends on the insurance company," she said.

Grace, St. Helena, hosted "Navigating the Insurance and Home Rebuild Process" last week, and the Rev. Amy Zuniga said "About 30 fire victims and local real estate and insurance brokers attended the workshop; the information was really helpful." 

At the regular public worship at Stanford Memorial Chapel during homecoming weekend on Oct. 15, students, staff, faculty and alumni of Stanford University contributed $3,367 to the Incarnation, Santa Rosa, fire-relief fund. 

(Oct. 20, 2017) Read the day's update here.

(Oct. 19, 2017) Read the day's update here.

(Oct. 18, 2017) Read the day's update here.

(Oct. 17, 2017) Read the day's update here.

(Oct. 16, 2017) After a week, many of the fires are approaching containment, but there is ash and smoke everywhere in the area. Read today's update, with donation and volunteer opportunity links, here.

(Oct. 14, 2017) Read the weekend update here.

(Oct. 13, 2017) Read the day's update here.

(Oct. 12, 2017) Read the day's update here.

(Oct. 11, 2017) Read the day's update here. (video below)

By Lori Korleski Richardson, Interim Communications Director

River City Food Bank, 1800 28th St., Sacramento, is opening a second food distribution center at The Center at St. Matthew's in Arden Arcade later this month.  Bishop Barry Beisner, in a statement welcoming the addition to St. Matthew's, said, "We know, as faith teaches us, that together we can do more for others. Our partnership with River City Food Bank to provide food and resources on the St. Matthew's campus is a pledge worthy of our common history to help our low-income seniors, adults and families."

River City Food Bank is the oldest continuously operating food bank in our community, and the only food bank in our area which is open every weekday to provide food to anyone experiencing hunger in Sacramento County.

The ties between the food bank and our diocese are wide and deep, going back to its beginnings at St. Paul's in downtown Sacramento in the late 1960s, and its longtime presence, as River City Community Services, next to the diocese offices before an arson fire destroyed both buildings in 2010. Trinity Cathedral housed the food distribution for a while until funds could be raised to buy its current building.

Executive Director Eileen Thomas said she hopes everyone will come to an open house on Oct. 21 to get a first look at the food bank's new location. "We will host light refreshments and will provide guests with a tour of the new space," she said.

Where: The Center at St. Matthew's, 2300 Edison Ave., Sacramento
When: Saturday, Oct. 21, from 1-3 p.m.
RSVP: Please RSVP to Laura Garcia by emailing lgarcia@rivercityfoodbank.org or calling 916.217.1951.

It’s Friday afternoon and the kitchen is buzzing. A group from a local Vacaville congregation is preparing 350 meals. The kitchen is in the parish hall of the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany. The cooks are from one of five congregations that make this ecumenical feeding program possible: Unity, Lutheran, Episcopal and two Catholic congregations.

This program, pioneered by the late Warren Dunning (see sidebar), has been feeding those in need since the turn of this century. Our Episcopal Community Services established a major yearly grant in his name.

Outside Epiphany, a group developed by the Vacaville Police Department’s Homeless Roundtable is greeting and counseling the waiting diners. The group, A Better Way, is designed to help the homeless navigate “the ‘system.” They find housing, recovery placements, and many ways to help. One important service is helping to secure Social Security benefits. A program provides free cell phones and the county social workers are regularly available. A Veterans Administration volunteer also is working the crowd.

Indoors, in a library of books that any child may borrow or keep, nurses from Touro University are preparing to offer public health assistance: blood pressure readings, diabetes testing, toiletries and women’s sanitary supplies.

Regularly someone offers help in applying for food stamps. And A Better Way navigators are chatting with the diners. They have found housing for about 15 homeless.

Other groups have prepared “anytime snacks.” About 100 are kept in a closet so that any time someone comes by the church, staff has nutritious food to give away.

In winter, hats, scarves, and dry socks are provided. The Church of the Epiphany is a pickup stop for winter shelter from the rain. At Christmas, Valley Church has gifts for everyone. On the longest night of the year, a memorial service recognizes the homeless who have died.

Tuesday at noon, a different group of volunteers prepare 70-90 lunches. This includes Latter Day Saints volunteers; another Episcopal congregation, St. Brigid of Kildare, Rio Vista; Epiphany volunteers, families, and sometimes public service groups. Solano County sends a mobile dental clinic and a mobile medical clinic twice a month.

Two mornings a month, parishioners work with two dinner guests who are underemployed or unemployed to do upkeep around the buildings. Painting, cleaning and yardwork. Notes are kept so that the helpers can receive a reference. The volunteer workers receive gift cards.

Brown Bag, a service to indigent seniors, sponsored by the Solano-Contra Costa Food Bank, comes two Wednesdays a month. Often they leave bags and boxes of produce and some canned goods. These are available for diners to help themselves.

The Church of the Epiphany has funded the equipment, upkeep and supplies through fundraising and by grants from Episcopal Community Services and United Thank Offering. Several local businesses are partners in providing food.

One man’s dream that no one should go hungry when he has food has morphed into a full-service ecumenical program for the hungry and needy. Thank you, Warren Dunning.

David Deerfeeder of Vacaville remembered Dunning fondly: “When I first attended Epiphany, Warren was there to welcome me. His warmth and kindness were like clear streams.”

The Rev. Lucretia Jevne, president of Episcopal Community Services, noting that Dunning worked tirelessly over the years for ECS, for Jubilee Ministries, and in several other capacities, all in the service of serving the least, the last and the lonely, spearheaded a special grant that ECS now awards each year to honor his memory and his ministry. “He modeled service to others for Christ. His death leaves a large hole in the life of our diocese,” she wrote.

Dunning died Feb. 9, 2016, of complications from lymphoma.

For some, it was a full summer of participation in several youth events offered by our diocese, other dioceses and the larger Episcopal Church. For some, it was summer camp, either at Camp Living Waters in Humboldt County (see story here), St. Dorothy's Rest, Bishop's Ranch or Camp Galilee on Lake Tahoe. The diocese provided 37 camperships to help kids deepen their formation as Christians.

But the youth have much to say about the blending of faith and fun, and learning how to lead others to make a difference in this fast-changing world.

"Attending Pathways for the past two years has opened my eyes a lot more to what is going on daily in our local, national, and global community," said Giovanna Zampa, a parishioner at St. Paul's, Benicia. "I learned so much that I wouldn't ever see in my history books." 

"At the end of the week both years, we did something called a Media Museum. This included fold out presentation boards with different subjects, such as gender inequality, environmental injustice, LQBTQ+ issues, and refugee rights. On these boards there were articles, photos, and infographics. In addition, we watched videos and mini-documentary things throughout the activity with interviews and personal experiences. We were encouraged to leave post it notes on the boards where we wrote our ideas and thoughts. When reading about such heavy subjects, it was comforting to write about my feelings about certain matters, without starting arguments, and knowing I was in a safe space to do so," she said.

In 2015, Kevin Briggs wasn't sure he was even had a place at the Episcopal table, or wanted one.

But then he went to Lift Every Voice, a three-year program developed by the Diocese of North Carolina to revisit the historical truths of slavery and the Civil Rights movement in North Carolina and apartheid in South Africa, and went on their Freedom Ride, (https://vimeo.com/135565228) visiting places in that state where horrendous episodes of racial injustice and violence took place. The experience was so moving that the Northern California participants came back and developed Pathways for our diocese, to expose and deal with injustices that have happened here.

“When I first got involved with it, I was exploring my faith, wondering if (the Episcopal way) was right for me. I didn’t really feel I was part of the community, and I was hesitant about going. In the grand scheme of things, I wasn’t sure how my faith was going to affect my life. But then I went and I had an amazing time. I met great people from participants to clergy members, and we are still friends today.”

After being a LEV participant for the prior two years, Kevin this year had the privilege of working on staff. “It was challenging and it asked a lot more of us. We had to fly out a couple of days earlier, put on two fundraisers, and basically worked on program and scheduling, offering feedback and it was like editing a rough draft. And through that you are growing closer with the other teammates. … Overall, it was the most influential moments of the summer for me.”

But the other events he attended this summer, Pathways and the Episcopal Youth Event, were very special as well. Kevin, who recently started classes at Occidental College in Los Angeles, said he enjoyed EYE, which only happens every three years, because he was able to connect with youth from all over the country; he said he tried to meet someone from every state. With nearly 1,400 participants, there were many connections, and he got to know some people from his own diocese better as well.

And Pathways, he said, “I love Pathways so much … the youth are driving the program. With the participants, it engages them more when it’s their peers, and it’s almost a training for the leaders as well.”

Besides the youth, parents get a boost to their own faith watching what the programs do for their kids.

Said Giovanna’s mom, Betsy Zampa: “I am so grateful that the Diocese of Northern California made Pathways available to the youth. As my daughter approached her teenage years I thought and prayed about what types of ministries I'd like to see her involved in. Service projects abound, but I was looking for an experience where she could have a deeper, more meaningful and educational experience.

“I think we found that in Pathways,” Zampa said. “(Giovanna) learned much about social and environmental injustice and ways to be a minister of reconciliation. They not only talked about the injustices, but went to the actual places these injustices occurred. They also had multiple opportunities to practice their nonviolent communication skills. I felt it was very useful to take the time and energy to practice, because often this type of communication doesn't come naturally.”

“Many thanks to Bishop Beisner and Rev. Anne (Clarke) for the time, energy and funds to continue this important pilgrimage,” Zampa said.

"In Afghanistan I lived in fear every day that I would be killed because I worked for the United States military for 13 years.”

These were the words of Maqbool, one of the Afghan refugees that St. George’s Episcopal Church in Carmichael, California has tried to help. He told some of our parishioners, “My wife’s brother was killed by the Taliban because he was a policeman. Those that belong to the Taliban are like animals. They even kill women and children. When the U.S. military offered me the chance to come to America with my family, I decided to go.

"I have only been in America two months; here in Carmichael, I no longer live in fear.”

Maqbool, the manager of a U.S. military laundry and Abdurrazig, a translator between the Afghan and U.S. military forces, first appeared at our church after we invited our surrounding neighbors to a community barbecue at our church.

The two refugees each brought their children and participated in our barbecue and Sunday School arts and crafts activity. The church was giving out children’s Bible stories. Abdurrazig’s face lit up when he saw the book about David and Goliath. He told us their holy book has the same story. He happily took it for his children.

Our church members were very impressed with Maqbool and Abdurrazig’s positive attitude and their desire to find jobs to allow them to make a transition into American life. Many church members decided they wanted to help.

Because of these two men, our church learned that there were Afghan refugees living in a nearby apartment. Maqbool told us that the DHA (Defense Health Agency) gives them $920, but their rent is $1,100, which includes SMUD, PG&E and utilities.

Each month this leaves them $180 short. They say they feel anxious knowing they will lose their apartments if they don’t find jobs. Fortunately, they speak English and have enough skills to apply for jobs.

They get food stamps and say they have enough to eat. Their apartments are furnished and they have medical insurance. Our church helped one family find a car to buy.

Currently, our church has found the greatest need of these refugees is finding jobs - temporary and permanent. One of the refugees has done some painting for a church member. He also has gone on a job interview arranged by a parishioner and was offered a job in a few weeks.

Both Afghan refugees are extremely motivated to get a job that is good enough to allow them to become financially independent. The wives want to study English, but their young children and their husband’s lack of a driver’s license limits the wives’ ability to participate in English classes. A very old computer was donated to one family; Maqbool’s teacher has promised to bring him a DVD that would help his wife learn English.

We will further investigate other agencies referred to us by First 5, Sacramento, to help these refugees: Sacramento Covered, Folsom Cordova Unified School District's Farsi-speaking staff, Folsom Cordova Job Center and 2-1-1 (a 24-hour resource and referral language line). They also referred us to the American Muslim Society.

We at St. George’s realize we have met two very motivated, appreciative Afghan refugees who in the future will improve their own family lives and make America a better place. The sorrows that have come to Afghanistan and its people are more real because we have met and interacted with these people.

A couple weeks ago I was in Austria, and I decided to go to Bratislava, Slovakia for dinner one night. It's only an hour by train so I thought... let's go on an adventure! I had no idea where I was going or what I would see, but I knew that the old town wasn't far from the station.

I met a woman on the train who gave me some tips, and I made my way to the old town for a lovely evening. I enjoyed walking around town for a few hours, had a great meal and took a several great pictures.

I started making my way back to the train station when I noticed a fork in the road, and I wasn't sure which way to go. I saw a couple millennials (a man and a woman) close by so I decided to ask them if they knew the right direction. (Millennials also tend to speak English.)

So I asked them, "Do you speak English?” in which they replied, “Yes, and we want to ask you a question."

"I'm about to ask you a question!” I said. And we both asked each other the same question: "Do you know which road to take to the train station?"

Since we were in the same boat, we decided to walk together, and plus there was a cool building they wanted to show me along the way. As we walked, the time was getting a little close to catch my train so I said, "Hey, I'm going to grab a taxi, but you are both welcome to join me. I'm paying since my train leaves earlier than yours."

"Sure!" they both responded, and so I hailed a taxi.

The millennials were from the Czech Republic, and the taxi driver was Slovakian. Although they spoke different languages, they could understand each other.

The young man asked for the train station, and the taxi driver said something that indicated going to the train station was not a possibility. The young Czech was our interpreter, and he said in English, "Oh $#!%... there's a bomb scare at the train station, and it's completely shut down. No trains are running."

It was now 10:30 p.m. at night, and I was catching the last train to Vienna. The millennials and I were then contemplating going to the bus station so that I could get back to Vienna, and they could get back to Prague.

I said to the taxi driver, "How crazy is this? A bomb scare? Seriously?" All I was thinking was that now the bus station was going to be packed with people because the trains weren't running and that would be a mess.

I said to the taxi driver, "Seriously? No trains are running? Are you messing with me?" I jokingly said, "You're lying to me!" (I knew he wasn't.) He said in Slovak in earnest, "No, seriously. The train station is shut down."

I said to the taxi driver, tongue-in-cheek, "Well save me then! Drive me to Vienna!" The millennial interpreted, "The taxi driver is willing to drive you to Vienna for 80 Euro."

I thought for about five seconds... 80 Euro for a taxi or a hotel room in Bratislava for 100 Euro. I said to the millennials, "Well, I'm having the taxi driver take me to Vienna, and I'm paying. Wanna go?" They looked at each other and said, “Okay!"

Suddenly a short taxi drive to the train station turned into a road trip to Vienna! We stopped to get gas, and the millennials bought some Czech beers for us to drink. They gave me a swig of something out of their liquor bottle that burned my throat, so I said, "I'm good. I don't need another swig!"

As we drove along the dark, long highway in the summer heat, we introduced ourselves. The young man’s name was Honza Dibitanzl, and he was a poet. He was performing with the woman he was with, an interpretive dancer named Karolína Voleská. They had come down from the Czech Republic to perform, and their show sounded awesome! I hope to see it someday.

Our driver’s name was Milan Petrovic Bodinger, and when they asked my name I said, "Pamela."

Milan immediately said, "Ahhhh... Pamela Anderson!" And I said, "Yes...that is actually, really my name!" All three of them didn't believe me so I had to pull out my ID to show them the truth. They thought that was hilarious!

"How crazy is this? Less than an hour ago we met you on the street. Now we're heading to Vienna, and I'm in a taxi with Pamela Anderson!" Honza said.

Just then a news flash came on the radio, and Milan said in Slovak, "See! The news is confirming that the trains are shut down!" Honza interpreted for me, but I just looked at Milan and jokingly said, "You lie!" Milan laughed, and we kept driving to Vienna.

So what do you do when you're on a road trip with three new friends? You exchange Facebook information!

Honza asked about Milan's profile picture, and Milan said that it was a symbol of knighthood and that he had it tattooed on his back as well.

In his broken English Milan said, "I'm a knight, a good guy,” and he pumped his chest. It was then that I realized I was rescued by a knight in shining armor (albeit a Toyota Corolla!)

As we talked about our dream jobs, I asked Milan what his dream job was, in which he responded, "To chauffeur you!" Nice answer, Milan! No wonder you're a knight, I thought!

When we got into Vienna, Honza and Karolina were so excited that they stuck their heads out the window like puppies!

Once the short-lived road trip was over and we parted ways, we had to take a selfie with our rescuer and then give him some love, of course. It was a hilarious night and a great adventure! It could have been a night that was a pain, but instead it's just a great story to tell! 

The recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, struck especially close. Seeing photographs of young men holding torches and giving Nazi salutes directly across the street from my former church, St. Paul’s Memorial, made this feel exceptionally personal.

White supremacists descended upon what is normally a bucolic university town that has worked very hard to lower racial barriers and become an community for all people and many faiths. The white supremacists were in Charlottesville ostensibly to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. But they came looking for a fight. Three people - including two police officers - lost their lives. A deranged young man with Nazi sympathies drove his car into a crowd, killing a young woman and injuring many others.                         

We need to name it: What happened in Charlottesville is evil.

These events are a reminder that the moral stain of slavery, segregation and racism still lives in our country. The demons of hatred, bigotry and homegrown terrorism are still with us. We cannot, and should not, remain silent. The Gospel of Jesus Christ demands that we oppose such hatred with love, strength and decency. When the fabric of our nation is torn, all of us are torn.
 
Yet something else happened in Charlottesville last weekend that is also deserving of your notice.

Even while white supremacists were gathering across the street from my former church, many more people of many faiths, from far and wide, gathered inside the church to meet evil with courage and resolve. They prayed, sang hymns, and walked peacefully in the streets showing the path of peace and love. 

My music director in Charlottesville, Daniel Hine, wrote a reflection Saturday evening, and I’d like to share what he wrote with you: “What you aren't seeing on the news media: the hundreds - no, thousands of people who were there, on the ground, bringing medical care, sunscreen, water bottles, washing off chemical attacks, giving hugs, singing songs of peace, truly showing forth God's love in this hurting world!” 

“What else didn't you see? You didn't see how respectfully people were parking, keeping our narrow downtown roads (all colonial, I believe) cleared so ambulances could rush where they needed to go - all day long. You didn't see how perfect strangers would form small groups so that everyone could get back to their cars or bus stops safely.” 

“While I pray that my town will never again have to suffer through another such outpouring of pure hatred (and this was the 2nd this summer!!), I am beyond proud of how the Lord used us and moved through us to show the kind of GOOD people that live in this town!” 

What does this mean for us in our community? Let me suggest we too are called to stand up to racism, hatred and bigotry with love, courage and strength. We need to repent of our own evils, whatever they are, and seek God’s forgiveness. Then we need to form alliances in our community with those who are also standing against these evils, and we need to reach across racial, economic and religious barriers to do so. 

This is hard work, and long-term work, but this is nothing less than the call of the Gospel. 

In the days ahead, please keep the people of Charlottesville in your prayers, and please keep the leaders of our community, our faith communities and our state and nation in your prayers. 

A collect for social justice (BCP, p. 823):

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Rev. James Richardson is the priest-in-charge at Incarnation, Santa Rosa. He was the rector of St. Paul’s Memorial Church at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, from 2008 to 2015. He was ordained in the Diocese of Northern California in 2000. He can be reached at revjimr@yahoo.com.

When she couldn't hide him any longer, she got a little basket-boat made of papyrus, waterproofed it with tar and pitch and placed the child in it. Then she set it afloat in the reeds at the edge of the Nile. The baby's older sister found herself a vantage point a little way off and watched to see what would happen to him.

In a glade of trees about 7000 miles away from the Nile, at Camp Living Waters in Humboldt County, a little girl crouched behind a rock and pretended to look through a pair of binoculars, while another kid laid down nearby, waved his arms and legs in the air, and pretended to float down a river. A suggestion comes from an onlooker to this drama: "You should probably cry. You're a baby floating alone down the river-you would NOT look that happy.

From there, we acted out the rest of the story. Pharaoh's daughter scoops the baby out of the water (with further commentary from the crowd: "Wait, does that make her, like, a princess?" "She might have killed the baby.") and clever Miriam emerges from her hiding place and suggests a solution ("Did she know that the Pharaoh's daughter wasn't mean?" "What happened when the baby grew up?

From here, we all sat down to talk about the drama they had just helped to act out: What do you think Miriam felt when she went up to Pharaoh's daughter? How would you have felt? ("Scared!" "Probably nervous but also excited because she knew exactly what to do." "Smart, like the midwives were when they tricked Pharaoh before, but they were probably scared too.") Why do you think she did it anyway, even though she was scared? ("She loved her brother.

It was a great joy to get to join this mighty community of faith for a few days and get to help lead these reflections on some of the great stories of our faith.  At Camp Living Waters, a week-long summer camp for kids ages 9-15 and their young adult counselors and staff, every day starts with Eucharist, and later in the morning, continues with Christian education time in the shade of the big trees on the beautiful river bank land in Humboldt County where the camp is held every year. There the campers engage with the Bible stories from that day's worship through discussions and activities.

This year, the theme of the camp was "Justice and Courage: Standing up for God's World," and the Scripture stories centered around individuals (including children) and communities that embodied courage and standing up for justice.

The Very Rev. Sara Potter, rector of St. Alban's, Arcata, one of the North Coast Episcopal congregations that plans and runs Camp Living Waters, reflected on what makes Camp Living Waters such an important ministry.

There's a balance between structure and [the kids] just getting to be themselves...it's really a place where people create the community together. For some of the kids who come, it's their first experience of Christian community, and for some of them it's their only experience of Christian community.

Kiana Simmons, a young adult staff member who grew up attending the camp, added, "I was here as a camper and the staff watched me grow, and now I'm watching the campers grow. I feel like it's a big circle. It's such a community feeling and I love that.

The leaders of this camp have done such an amazing job of making these Scripture stories understandable and relevant that even kids who have no other experience of reading the Bible were ready and eager to jump into the discussion and to find meaning in these stories for their own lives. Like Kiana, many of them reflected on how one of the best parts of camp was watching the campers grow as they worked and learned and had fun together during the week.

I also learned and grew from being a part of these campers' experiences of finding themselves and their own struggles in the stories of Miriam speaking to Pharaoh's daughter, the Corinthians forgetting about justice, and in the little boy offering his lunch to feed the 5000.

Camp Living Waters is a ministry for kids, but the entire community, people of all ages, benefit from creating this community together. Spenser Erickson, another young adult staff member, put it well, "Camp Living Waters rejuvenates me for the year. The kids come in with their youthful spirit, and it wakes me up for the rest of the year.

***

In 2017 we are telling stories of how and why we read the Bible in a variety of ways in our diocese, and the ways in which it has changed us. We hope this will be a chance to learn from each other, to share ideas and encouragement, and to tell our Bible stories outside the walls of our churches. More information on this is available here.

See our first stop on the Bible Challenge in 2017, a photo essay on St. Andrew's, Antelope's Bible Study, here. Participate by sharing your own practices around Bible study on social media using #norcalbible, or by emailing me at anne@norcalepiscopal.org.

Discernment is the process of clarifying what God is calling us as individuals to do. By looking at yourself, your beliefs and your gifts in the context of a group of fellow seekers, you will be assisted in identifying and listening to the direction of the Holy Spirit as it leads you in the direction that God has in mind for your life.

Although there is a diaconal theme to the workshops, they are not only for those questioning whether they have a call to ordination as a deacon.  Discernment is important for everyone who desires clarity about God's call in their daily lives.   Using the deacon as an example, participants are given a process by which they can pursue this clarity.  

In the workshops, we will look at what a deacon is more than what a deacon does, and on the process of formation into the deacon role.  We will look at the qualities that make a good deacon, and talk about the ordination process.  We will also discuss briefly the path for pursuing the priesthood as well as the ministry of the laity.

The first session will be conducted on Saturday, Sept. 16, at Church of the Epiphany in Vacaville.  Workshops are held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and future sessions will be scheduled, including location, at this first session, based on participant input.  The morning is time for theological reflection and discussion; the afternoon includes a deacon telling the story of their own call, formation and ministry. Participants will take turns leading worship and bringing snacks; lunches are brown bag.

To register for this first workshop on Sept. 16, contact the Ven. Cookie Clark at cookie.clark@sbcglobal.net or the Ven. Gary Brown at garybrown6@yahoo.com.  Also, if there are any  questions or for further information, contact one of us at one of those email addresses.  We look forward to seeing you in September!

The Rev. Deb and Deacon Stephen’s pilgrimage, from the perspective of Rev. Deb:

That afternoon we set up camp at Coloma resort and had dinner with some parishioners who joined us for a night of camping out. We sang songs and told stories before getting into our tents, RVs and under the stars. The next morning we had our church service on the lawn of Emmanuel Episcopal Church.

The first day - on Friday - Deacon Stephen and I met up with Joann and Tom in Kelsey. The clouds looked ominous, and that was the day it was supposed to rain heavily. We didn’t want to get caught out walking in a heavy storm, so we decided to drive to Georgetown instead. We were glad we did because it began to pour heavily for a few hours. CC Peirce would have kept on walking even in the rain.

We resumed our walk the next morning from that place in Georgetown and headed towards Cool. We had walked about 300 feet and met up with a man, Mr. Collins, who was walking into town. He said that his great great-great-grandfather began the Free Church in Coloma in the 1860s. No doubt his great-great-granddaddy and CC Pierce would have known each other.

A few miles later we saw a man who was digging a hole for his mailbox. He looked up and saw Deacon Steven carrying the gospel staff and exclaimed, “I know what those symbols mean!”

Matthew as a man or angel represents Jesus incarnation and Christ's human nature. Mark is a lion a figure of courage and monarchy; he lion also represents Jesus' resurrection and Christ as King. Luke is a bull or ox; it is a figure of sacrifice, service and strength. And John is the eagle - a figure of the sky.

We had a good talk with him about Caleb Peirce and what we were doing and then went on our way.

A few miles later we came up to the Ace Hardware store in Greenwood. Ed Hawkins warned the manager that were coming and asked him to watch out for us. Ed's friend greeted us warmly and showed us to the Ace Hardware lunchroom. It felt like a banquet hall to us - and was great place to sit down rest our feet and enjoy our lunch.

It felt like we were two walking along the road to Emmaus - we kept imagining and talking about the kinds of people Caleb Pierce would have met on his travels.

Walking has a way of slowing things down and stretching out time so that you stop and have conversations with people you run into. The road Caleb walked would not have been the same paved highway with the logging trucks rushing by and no shoulder. It was a bit harrowing at times.

After about mile eight or nine, my knee started to hurt. In my infinite wisdom I had chosen to wear my new speedo water shoes on the walk, which was definitely not a good idea. Not only were they new, they had NO support. We got to Cool, five miles later, at about 4 p.m. It was too early to set up camp, and so we decided to go home for the night. Rob picked us up and drove us home.

My knee got more and more swollen, although I kept an ice pack on it. I was not much better the next morning, so I picked up Deacon Steven, dropped him off in Cool and wished him well. He continued the journey and evangelized the people in Coloma Club over a cold beer.

A bit of history on the founder of Our Saviour, as researched by Rev. Deb:

When the then 35 year old Charles Caleb Peirce came to Placerville in 1861, there was no church building.  There was one in Coloma, however (shown at left).  It was built in 1855, and Caleb Peirce served there while he was building up the congregation here in Placerville.

The Know Nothing political party, sprang up nationwide in 1855 was a big hit in Placerville. In fact it swept the county’s 1855 elections. In 1856, the party dissipated. This is the world Caleb Peirce entered and ministered to; it was the Wild West.

He was an attorney before he became a priest, but he could not last because - according to a biography by Charles Upton - he could not endure the “bitter rivalries, the sordid mesh and the immoralities of the courtroom and that he would be better following the call of a Christian minister.”

While in seminary Peirce met some who also followed the words of wisdom and kindness from the Lord but was dismayed by other seminarians he met whose “creeds of hate and a vengeance made a mockery of the mantle they wore as Christians. There were those who tried to reconcile eternal love with everlasting torture and were led by an abnormal doctrine of hate.” (Upton)

He was ordained in Trinity Church in New York City in 1860 and left the next day, bound for San Francisco. He came via the Isthmus of Panama and ended up at the Grace Church - now Grace Cathedral - for a year.  He was out of his element there and was advised to befriend the wealthy members of the congregation more because his success depended on them. He said that he was not there to support the wealthy and resigned.

On March 29, 1861 he took a small steamer to Sacramento, then a train to Folsom and then the Placerville stage from Folsom to Placerville. He arrived at the Cary Hotel and on March 31, 1861, Easter Sunday, he held worship services in the Placerville Court.

From that time on, he spread the news of God's love to those all over the county. He had four congregations - Placerville, Coloma, El Dorado and Diamond Springs. (And no, I don’t think I’m planning a pilgrimage to Diamond Springs soon.)

Peirce believed in a Christianity which is seen as well as heard. According to the Upton biography Peirce held positions as superintendent for the Board of Education, the clerk of the Board of Trustees, a member of the independent order of Red Men, the secretary for the trustees of Union Cemetery, member of El Dorado Lodge, member and High Priest of Templar lodge, a member of the masons, and politically a Christian socialist. Not much is written about the particularities of any of those just that he was a member.

He was driven by a commitment to Jesus Christ grounded in the message of love for all regardless of their sect or creed. The more I learn about him the more I am in awe of his physical and a spiritual stamina and passion.

What has stayed with me is that he seemed to have a way to befriend all -and there was more diversity of people then than now I think - Chinese, Native Americans, farmers, miners, business owners, bar owners - and it seems that his way of sharing God’s love was to engage with them - not to criticize or make them accept Jesus, but simply to show them love.

There is a large stained glass window dedicated to him in the Coloma church which has the phrase, “The Good Shepherd layeth down His life for His sheep”.

Born into an Episcopal family, the Rev. Mary Heller Taggart grew up going to church - first in California and then in Connecticut, where she spent much of her adolescent and adult life.

In 1976, St. Paul's, Healdsburg, became Taggart's new home parish when she and her husband moved to California. During the following years, Taggart had thoughts about becoming a deacon; however, it seemed the timing was never right, as her life was busy with her three kids, her career as an elementary school librarian and her family's guitar supplier business, Allied Luthrie Inc. 

Through this time, Taggart said she always kept praying, "God, where do you want me to be?" Although she regularly attended church at St. Paul's, Taggart said she wasn't exposed to deacons there, so it wasn't until her retirement three years ago that Taggart actually engaged with deacons.  

"Then, all of a sudden, I kept meeting deacons who told me about the various ministries they were participating in," Taggart said. "It was through such a short period of time that I thought, 'Okay God, you've really got my attention now.' There was no way to ignore it because it was so persistent." 

Shortly after, Taggart made the decision to attend the Episcopal School for Deacons in Berkeley, in which she graduated in May of this year. Now, Taggart is living out her answered prayer at St. Paul's, with "one foot in the Church and one foot out in the world."

"St. Paul's has a vital shower ministry, is involved with the local food pantry, and provides the space and support to a free community dinner every Sunday. The local homeless agency, formerly part of St. Paul's (then known as NSCS, now known as Reach for Home) is close to my heart. I am also enjoying being a part of the Spanish Sunday Eucharist," Taggart said.

 "I look forward to listening to people at St. Paul's and in the wider community as I move into my new role as a deacon."

"It’s not a coincidence that in the Scriptures, poverty is mentioned more than 2,100 times. It’s not an accident. That’s a lot of airtime. You know, the only time Jesus Christ is judgmental is on the subject of the poor. 'As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.' " (From Bono's speech at the 54th National Prayer Breakfast in America)

Homelessness is not new, but in Humboldt County we are seeing new efforts in collaboration between churches, community organizations, and caring individuals that are making a difference. Since last year, over 800 people have been housed. 

In addition, nearly 300 people have taken advantage of the TAP (Transportation Assistance Program) where they receive help to relocate to places where they have family and/or a support group. 

One of those who recently took advantage of this program is a young man named Jesse. He attended Christ Church on Easter Sunday and engaged with many of our parishioners in conversation. Later that day we helped him connect with Betty Chinn, founder of the Betty Kwan Chinn Foundation for the Homeless. He stayed at her Blue Angel Village that evening and then the next day got on a bus to Arizona where family and a job opportunity awaited him.

The Christ Church community in Eureka has been privileged to support Blue Angel Village, featuring retrofitted ocean containers that are currently housing over 30 formerly homeless people.

The Chinn Foundation’s newly opened Family Shelter is another example. In partnership with a local hospital, the lower level contains a Respite Center to give recently released medical patients a safe and secure place to heal and regain strength. The upper level of the shelter houses up to 40 mothers, fathers, and children.

Photo: Betty Chinn, in pink, watches as police recover some of the items stolen from her warehouse. Photo from Lost Coast Outpost.

These steps forward do not happen without challenges and setbacks, sometimes very personal ones. A storage unit Chinn uses to house many of the donated and purchased supplies targeted for those transitioning into housing was recently broken into and vandalized twice in rapid succession. When she found out that the perpetrators were members of the very population she tries to help, it was devastating ­- as it brought back terrifyingly powerful memories of her own experience of being a homeless, Christian child in Maoist China.

Just after the break-in the Rev. Lesley McCloghrie, interim rector at Christ Church, and senior warden Lyn Klay, contacted Betty about the possible donation of furniture from Transfiguration House. The timing could not have been better. The same week that Betty received news of destruction she also received an overwhelming spirit of encouragement from the faith community.

Toward the end of his address, Bono said that a wise person once told him,

"Stop asking God to bless what you’re doing. Get involved in what God is doing -- because it’s already blessed.”

Betty Chinn is an example of someone who is involved in what God is doing. God is always with the poor. That's what God is doing. That's what He’s calling us to do.

A great movement doesn’t always begin with great big steps. And the youth of the Diocese of Northern California are discovering that when it comes to racial reconciliation and environmental justice, the small steps they are taking may help others to understand what it takes to break down the barriers and truly become the family of God.

From June 19-23, 24 youth ages 14-18 joined with nine young adult leaders and 12 older leaders, the bishop and a couple of visitors from the Office of the Bishop to explore unusual and historic places where racial discrimination and environmental degradation led people to fight that injustice.

After a day of hiking through Yosemite, and talking about the national parks system and the prophetic voice of John Muir, they boarded a bus on June 21 to take them to the Central Valley, where they visited Cesar Chavez’s 40 Acres and Allensworth State Park, enduring 109-degree walks across nearly-treeless farmland.

As one of the older adult leaders, the Rev. Kathy Hopner of Trinity Cathedral, pointed out, the younger participants had the most incredible insights into their pilgrimages:

"This week has been full of discovery. Not only discovery from all the different sites, but from each other and our adults."

"I loved how we went straight to the source of water. Most groups just talk about issues, but never get to truly experience them."

"Water is everywhere and is part of everyone, and connects all of us despite our differences."

"It's eye-opening to see all the good in the world amidst all the bad."

Bishop Barry Beisner said he was awed and impressed by the depth of the involvement of the participants. “They really took seriously what it means to be followers of Jesus and I was taken with how responsive they were to the call to be part of the Jesus Movement. They were so authentic and involved in the music and liturgy. It was so inspiring to me.

“Without a doubt, Lift Every Voice and Pathways in the past three years have been the greatest lessons in my time as bishop.”

Another one of the older adult leaders was Beth Crow, youth missioner of the Diocese of North Carolina, who came to see how the program she started, Lift Every Voice, traveled across the country and was uniquely reborn as Pathways. Crow said, “The young adult leaders (most of whom were returnees from previous years of the program) really ‘get’ this, in ways that us older leaders don’t, whether it’s from our woundedness from growing up segregated or not having the chance to explore our feelings about race in a safe environment. They are really running with this, and it’s beautiful to see.”

This year, the Northern California group spent a sweat-drenched day in the Central Valley, but after dinner, they seemed very grateful for the experience.

Giovanna Zampa from St. Paul’s, Benicia, said, “I didn’t think I’d learn much more, since we had already heard about Cesar Chavez in school, but being there where he was on his hunger strikes” made it come alive for her. And most agreed that Chavez’ longtime personal assistant, Marc Grossman, who now works for the Cesar Chavez Foundation, not only provided a wealth of information on the United Farm Workers movement then and now, but spiced up the talk with personal recollections of Chavez’ meetings with growers, politicians (including Robert Kennedy) and world leaders, and the toll his work took on his personal life. “I never got bored – I’ve met presidents and movie stars – you name it,” Grossman said.

Allensworth provided another perspective, and one that is not well-known: The Col. Allensworth State Park is the site of a failed farming community that had started as a place of refuge for African Americans after the Civil War.

“It was sold as an agricultural community,” said park ranger Steven Ptomey, “and they were farming, farming successfully alfalfa, but then California had one of its worst droughts on record. And the land that was gushing with water when they arrived” got drier and drier, and the soil became too alkaline to farm, he said. Ptomey led the group through the modest houses, the church and a glass-walled drug store that sold all manner of merchandise.

Later, the group met to process all they had seen during the day, talking about the role of race and how they personally felt about the role of racial relations has played out in their lives. They sang, they prayed, they thought deeply, but still many were in awe of the day. The insights would come later.

“I was particularly struck by the curiosity, sharp minds and open hearts of all the participants. Both years I’ve learned so much from these young people, and I am inspired by them and their willingness to take on tough issues and to dig deeply with evidence of strong faith,” said the Rev. Mary Heller Taggart, a deacon at St. Paul’s, Healdsburg.

Crow said Pathways grew out of a program she was a part of starting in the Diocese of North Carolina, Lift Every Voice, which started out as a “freedom ride” to civil rights sights around the state. On the bus was the Most Rev. Michael Curry, who was elected as presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church just before the ride. Because the ride was intended for the spiritual development and growth of the youth involved, the leaders decided they could not allow a media presence, since that would put the focus on Curry, Crow said. But it also hampered the spread of the program, she said.

Lift Every Voice was responsible for inspiring Pathways in Northern California. (Watch Elizabeth Potts, a young adult leader from Epiphany, Vacaville, talk about her experience with both Lift Every Voice and Pathways in this video.)

The second year’s program took a group, including six Northern California representatives, on a Pilgrimage of Reconciliation in South Africa (focusing on the history of apartheid in South Africa and on the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.) That same summer, the newly formed Pathways pilgrimage, led by most of those who had been in Lift Every Voice (LEV), took a group of pilgrims to sacred Indian sites near the Oregon border and Tule Lake Segregation Center to learn what had happened when Japanese-Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Growing up in the area, a park ranger said she was told the stories that the camps were for the protection of those interned.

As Potts so aptly said: “At the end of LEV in 2015, we were tasked with what we wanted to take away from the week and take home with us. And the group from Northern California decided that we had such a spectacular week and that it was so influential to us that we wanted to bring back some sort of similar experience for the other young adults and youth in Northern California that weren’t able to go with us… . We still have reconciliation work to do.”

For a photo album of the Pathways experience, click here (it is on Facebook, but you don’t have to join Facebook to view it. If you are logged into FB, it will take you to the diocese's page).

For a video of Bishop Beisner talking to Pathways participants about the difference between pilgrimage and tourism, click here.

Save the Date: Pathways 2018 will be June 24-30, with location to be determined soon. Open to youth finishing grades 7-12.

On May 23-25, clergy of all ages, minstries, congregations and walks of life came together at The Bishop's Ranch, for what the Ven. Gary Brown, deacon at Emmanuel, Grass Valley, described as "definitely one of the better clergy conferences."

The keynote speaker was Dr. Ellen Davis of Duke Divinity School who spoke on the Old Testament and how to preach it in a way that is relevant to our lives today

From left: The Rev. Dr. Ann Hallisey, Dr. Ellen Davis, The Rev. Suzanne Guthrie

Besides listening to Davis, other activities included fellowship and prayer, which Brown stated he enjoyed. "I like the fellowship and getting to mingle. You don't really get the chance to do that much at convention; you spend most of your time at a table with people from your own church.

"I feel like I'm treated like a colleague there, and the other deacons are, too. We are coming together as a team (with the priests) - this is an evolution that's very welcome. There's a lot less focus on the structure in this diocese and more on our common mission. I like that."

Bishop Barry Beisner is proud to share that the clergy took an offering for the Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM) and gave a total of $1,011.

"Our recent Clergy Conference was an important time of being nurtured spiritually and challenged intellectually, of affirmation of our faith and strengthening of the bonds of our communion. I pray that we will all be better servant leaders for this experience, and I look forward to next year's conference, which is set to be May 22-24," Beisner said.

The diocese's Fresh Start program is a two year cycle and is required of all new clergy and clergy new to positions in the diocese. The program is designed to support clergy and promote collegial relationships among clergy and diocesan leadership.

The idea is to create a safe environment for clergy to address transition issues and strengthen relationships so that ministry together is a 'fresh start'. Starting this year, one big change to the program was that deacons were included in the gatherings.

And since both priests and deacons participated, the Rev. Pam Gossard, deacon at Christ Church, Eureka, said she got a great sense of diversity because of the "gender differences, various age groups and experiences.

The chapel at The Bishop's Ranch, where both Fresh Start and Clergy Conference were held. (photograph by the Rev. Andrea McMillin)

"The biggest take-away was getting to know new people. It was time very well-spent, and everyone was so 'in the moment'. I'm very hopeful with what this diocese can do, because the people show such passion and expertise."

This year the program was set for three gatherings, one of which occurred in February, and the second, which landed right before Clergy Conference. This meant Fresh Start participants were at the Bishop's Ranch for four days, which makes for a busy week. The third date is set to take place in September and will include an orientation of the Office of the Bishop.

Despite the busyness of the week, rector at Grace, St. Helena, the Rev. Amy Denney Zuniga said, "Fresh Start was a great opportunity to connect with other clergy new to the diocese and new to cures. There was a tremendous diversity in the group, including newly ordained deacons and priests, seasoned second career folks, and people serving in a variety of positions.

"This afforded us the opportunity for rich and real conversations, which I think will be echoing in our relationships and in collaboration from the local to diocesan levels for a long time to come."

With immigration presenting a major debate in today's politics, St. Martin's, Davis, decided to support and spread awareness about Episcopal Migration Ministry for their 2017 Lenten project.

"We had already selected EMM, and then a couple of [presidential] executive orders came out [regarding immigration] so it increased our determination," Judith Stanley, chair of the Social Justice and Outreach Commission, for St. Martin's said.

Every year, the commission's goals for their Lenten project include bringing visibility to a certain topic for their congregation and community, and also raising money for an organization that reaches out to those in need.

It's predicted that with President Donald Trump's executive order, the number of refugees allowed into the U.S. in 2017 will drop from 110,000 to 50,000. Consequently, the organizations that work with current and future refugees, such as EMM, will be at risk.

This month EMM started a fundraising campaign, called "Stand to Support Refugees," aimed at raising enough funds for the organization to remain intact.

Join St. Martin's in their Lenten project to fund the EMM. Click here to learn more about EMM and click here to donate.

A couple of years ago, the Wingfield Deanery prepared a meditation booklet for Lent with contributions from members of different churches. But, as often happens in too-busy lives, there hadn’t been an effort to prepare a new booklet for a time.

Until Archdeacon Cookie Clark decided that this year – a year when many people felt a need for words of reconciliation and healing – was the right time to revive the Lenten booklet tradition in the deanery.

Clark’s method of gathering the meditations was simple – she needed 40 meditations to cover each day in Lent, so a point person in each of the 10 churches in the deanery received four cards with the Lectionary readings for the day to be distributed to volunteers.

Suggestions to the writers for possible reflections included how they were preparing for Easter, a past Lenten memory or the lessons appointed for the day.

Paul Murgatroyd, of Church of the Epiphany, Vacaville, based his meditation on Deuteronomy 8:1 – “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth,” by writing, “So as we reflect during the season, let’s remember to ask for the true wealth that God gives us: our own continued development as his children.”

Writing about what it was like to have a birthday that often fell during Lent, Anne Seed, St. Paul’s, Benicia, said that the practice of giving up sweets during the season raised a difficult dilemma for her as a young person. But that grew into an awareness that what Lent was really about was trying to “live my Baptismal vows to the best of my ability, respecting the dignity of all, loving my neighbor as myself, righting wrongs when I can, caring for those in need.”

Linda Jensen of St. Brigid's, Rio Vista, said in an interview that when she was asked to participate, she thought about a stranger who recently stopped to help her when her car broke down as she was trying to get a critically ill friend to the hospital.

Her piece contains encounters with a number of people she describes as being meetings with Jesus along the road of life, including the person who helped with her car: “He wore a red sweater and his hair was pulled back in a ponytail,” Jensen wrote. “He helped me fix my car using the shoelace from his own boot so I could get to the ER with my friend.”

These stories, Jensn said, are the “basis for my belief that Jesus came to reconcile me with God. And that reconciliation is achieved through reconciling with all of humanity and all of the earth.”

Writing is something that Asleain Scotty Hodges, from Grace Church, Fairfield, does on a regular basis.

“It’s always helpful to write things down and to get a little bit of perspective on it,” she said in an interview. “When you write it down and you review it, you can get a little bit of objectivity and see if that it’s manageable.”

Adding to the Lenten meditations was a good exercise for her this year, she said, because she’s “always amazed at what God does for me; the people he brings in and out of my life.”

Her experience appears to have been shared by others who received the booklet. Clark said that a parishioner said she was glad to get it in PDF form so that she could download it to her iPad and read it each morning.

And, at Epiphany, where printed copies were put out for people to take home with them, all copies were already gone, Clark said.

Church members – those who didn’t have to heed evacuation notices – rallied to be present for those fleeing a potential disaster, with waiting and anxiety being some of the worst aspects of the situation.

And for some, it wasn’t the first time they were fleeing from disaster.

The Rev. Richard Yale, rector of St. John’s, Chico, which was designated an official evacuation center, posted Monday morning on his Facebook page: “Putting a crisis in perspective: one of our Iraqi guests mentioned that being evacuated because of the spillway at the dam doesn't quite compare to having to flee Baghdad because terrorists threaten to kill your family.”

The Oroville Dam, which is the tallest in the U.S., is one of the main features of California’s water system. It stores 3.5 million acre-feet of water, which is used for irrigation and drinking water from northern to southern California. Water crested over the emergency spillway Saturday, for the first time since the dam was opened 48 years ago, according to the Sacramento Bee. For a while, officials thought they had it under control.

Water rushes down the Oroville Dam main spillway on February 11, a day before officials discovered erosion in the emergency spillway. Photo: William Croyle, California Dept. of Water Resources.

But then they found that the emergency spillway had eroded, raising concerns that it could fail, and trigger an uncontrolled release of water. The dam is about two hours north of Sacramento, though officials said so far, there was no “imminent threat” to the capital city.

Yale said that though there had been some chaos, there had also been great ecumenical support. “There’s been real sharing and caring and openness,” he said.

Though St. John’s didn’t lack for food and necessities like baby formula, thanks to the local Presbyterian church, there was a shortage of cots to house the 40 people or so who slept at the church Sunday night.

One St. John’s parishioner, who had been homeless, but had found permanent housing with the church’s support, spent hours throughout the night locating cots for the evacuees, until Yale finally sent him home to rest.

“It’s those angel moments,” he said, that kept him going through a long night.

Bishop Barry Beisner, who had been in touch with clergy and lay leaders in the affected region throughout the evacuation, wrote to his diocese, asking for prayers: “As I write this Monday morning, at least one of the towns evacuated last night has had the order lifted, and some of the nearly 200,000 displaced last night will soon be home.

“But major disruption is still an issue in many lives right now, and uncertainty still looms, as assessing/repairing damage to the dam continues,” Bishop Beisner wrote.

The Rev. Gary Brown, deacon at Emmanuel, Grass Valley, reached by phone, said that he was manning a coffee and tea station at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. About 500 people were at the center, Brown said.

“It’s hard,” Brown said. “There’s a lot of sad faces and apprehension. The thing is, folks don’t know how long it is that they will be out of their homes. They didn’t have time to get the things they would like to have taken.

“It’s the little things,” Brown said, recalling one man who left so fast he didn’t have time to retrieve a leash for his dog. So a parishioner from Emmanuel fetched rope from his car for an improvised leash.

The Rev. Terri Hobart, rector of St. Luke’s, Woodland, said she had checked in with the Red Cross shelter at the Yolo County Fairgrounds and that they were set with everything they needed, for the time being.

“People at the fairgrounds are tired, they’re shocked,” she said. “If they slept, they slept on cots in a huge room. Everybody is just waiting to see what’s going to happen.”

The disaster coordinator for the diocese, Margaret Dunning, said that while now was not the time when people should send in food and other things because the Salvation Army was there to provide food and basic necessities, that time might come as things progressed.

“We need to hang on, pray, and wait to see what goes on,” Dunning said.

By Monday, water releases from the dam had lowered the level of the lake and the erosion appeared to be contained.

There’s still concern, not only about the erosion, but also about another storm system that’s due to move into the area later in the week.

Hobart said she was hopeful that the evacuees would get to go home soon.

“And if not, we’ll figure out what they need and get it to them,” she said.

That’s what happened in January when record rain brought much-needed relief from drought – and also flooding that forced some from their homes, made transportation difficult or impossible and caused widespread power outages.

For those who plan for disaster preparedness, that points up the need for church members to keep up-to-date on their resilience and disaster recovery plans, according to Margaret Dunning, who coordinates the diocese’s response to disasters.

The same way others have their phones set to their favorite tune’s ringtone, Dunning has hers set to the National Weather Service alerts.

Keeping in mind that forest fires, earthquakes and floods will always be a fact of life in the region, the diocese in 2014 passed a resolution calling on all congregations to prepare a disaster plan. Those plans are a way for each congregation to track vital information in the case of a disaster, including insurance policies, critical contact information and parishioners who may need extra assistance.

The disaster plans are available from Episcopal Relief & Development, which has developed templates that range from a simple list to elaborate recovery plans, depending on the size of the congregation and its needs. (Click here for available templates.)

So far, about one-third of the diocese’s parishes have filed their disaster preparedness plans with the Office of the Bishop or the diocesan coordinator.

Another aspect of these plans is the emphasis on recovery – not only for a church and its congregation, but also for its community. To that end, ERD has developed the asset map, where congregations can list not only information about their outreach programs, but also the kind of assets in the community that would be available should a disaster occur.

Before the 2014 resolution was passed, Northern California deacons took surveys to each congregation and populated the diocese’s asset map. Updating the map is simply a question of entering information in an easily accessible web program, Dunning noted. It’s also another way for people to find the church in their area and to learn more about the congregation and its service to the community.

The importance of the diocese’s disaster preparedness and community resilience program, Dunning said, is “to help people to have things ready when the unexpected arises.”

To get help with your church’s disaster preparedness plan or for assistance with your church’s listing on the asset map contact Margaret Dunning at margaret@dunning.com or Paula Schaap at paula@norcalepiscopal.org.

The Sacramento march was one of more than 600 around the world that drew millions the day after the inauguration of Donald Trump as the U.S. President.

Church members – both clergy and laity – were there to bear witness to the power of those numbers.

“It’s about the power of community,” said the Rev. Betsey Monnot, co-rector of All Saints’, Sacramento. “There are people here exercising their First Amendment rights to say they’re not happy with the direction things appear to be going, and I want the Episcopal Church to be part of that.”

About a dozen church members from the Sacramento area met up by a sculpture in a park where marchers gathered before they walked to the state Capitol. Among signs that declared, “Love Trumps Hate,” and “Make America Kind Again,” the Rev. Anne Clarke held up a hand-lettered sign: “Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. – Micah 6:8.”

The Revs. Sarah Quinney and Anne Clarke before the start of the Women's March on Sacramento.

Many of the marchers wore the hand-knitted pink hats that have become the unofficial symbol of the movement.

When people began moving out of the park to begin the Sacramento march, church members took a moment for prayer, as the Rev. Sarah Quinney, Assistant Rector, St. John’s, Roseville, invoked the healing power of peace.

Church members from around the diocese, including from St. Mary’s, Elk Grove; Trinity Cathedral, Sacramento; Trinity, Folsom; Church of the Incarnation, Santa Rosa; Trinity, Sutter Creek; and Emmanuel, Grass Valley; as well as others, joined in a march that was dedicated to women’s and individual rights.

Mari Briggs, a parishioner at St. Martin’s, Davis, who marched with her son and daughter, said it was important to “speak up for the values we hold for human dignity.

“This is consistent with my faith and trying to follow Jesus’ teachings,” she added.

Church members share in a prayer, led by the Rev. Sarah Quinney, before the Women's March on Sacramento.

The march moved out of the park and onto streets clear of cars. “You’re beautiful,” a man shouted from the sidewalk before joining the marchers.

“Love, not hate, that’s what makes America great,” marchers chanted.

By the time the march reached the Capitol’s steps, police estimated that the participants numbered about 20,000, the Sacramento Bee reported.

More Episcopal church members attended local marches around the diocese, according to enthusiastic posts on Facebook and other social media.

As the marchers waited in front of the state Capitol building for the speakers to begin, Clarke said the march, for her, was about valuing women and the “dignity of every human being.”

Clarke also said that one of her seminary professors had taught his students that the Eucharist’s primary symbol is about “the people gathered.

“That,” she said, gesturing at the thousands around her, “is what this is about, too.”

That’s what happened in January when record rain brought much-needed relief from drought - and also flooding that forced some from their homes, made transportation difficult or impossible and caused widespread power outages. It was particularly hard on homeless people who are already at nature's mercy. (To read about St. Paul's, Healdsburg's ministry to the homeless during the storms, click here.)

For those who preach and plan for disasters, that points up the need for church members to keep up-to-date on their resilience and disaster recovery plans, according to Margaret Dunning, who coordinates the diocese’s response to disasters. 

The same way others have their phones set to their favorite tune’s ringtone, Dunning has hers set to the National Weather Service alerts. 

Keeping in mind that forest fires, earthquakes and floods will always be a fact of life in the region, the diocese in 2014 passed a resolution calling on all congregations to prepare a disaster plan. Those plans are a way for each congregation to track vital information in the case of a disaster, including insurance policies, critical contact information and parishioners who may need extra assistance. The disaster plans are available from Episcopal Relief and Development, which has developed templates that range from a simple list to elaborate recovery plans, depending on the size of the congregation and its needs. 

So far, about one-third of the diocese’s parishes have filed their disaster preparedness plans with the Office of the Bishop or the diocesan coordinator. Another aspect of these plans is the emphasis on recovery -- not only for a church and its congregation, but also for its community.  To that end, ERD has developed the asset map, where congregations can list not only information about their outreach programs, but also the kind of assets in the community that would be available should a disaster occur. 

Before the 2014 resolution was passed, Northern California deacons took surveys to each congregation and populated the diocese’s asset map. Updating the map is simply a question of entering information in an easily accessible web program, Dunning noted. It’s also another way for people to find the church in their area and to learn more about the congregation and its service to the community. 

The importance of the diocese’s disaster preparedness and community resilience program, Dunning said, is “to help people to have things ready when the unexpected arises.”

To get help with your church’s disaster preparedness plan or for assistance with your church’s listing on the asset map contact Margaret Dunning at margaret@dunning.com or Paula Schaap at paula@norcalepiscopal.org.

It may signal the end of a long, hard drought for California, but the storm that blew in the weekend after New Year’s also brought flooding and misery, especially for those with no shelter.

With the Russian River near Healdsburg cresting at close to 20 feet in one day on Sunday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – 23 feet is considered flood stage – people who call the bank of the river home had to be moved quickly to safer areas.

But St. Paul’s, Healdsburg, was ready for the influx of homeless people set adrift again by the rising waters. And they did it by marshalling the resources of an entire community.

The Rev. Sally Hubbell said in a phone interview that she began making plans last week with Colleen Carmichael, executive director of North Sonoma County Services, who is also a parishioner. Weather forecasts were predicting that Northern California was due to be hit by what’s known as an atmospheric river. The last major event of that kind happened in 2005 and caused $300 million in damage, according to news reports.

Hubbell and Carmichael arranged for cots to be brought into the church parish hall and volunteers from the church and the community to staff an emergency shelter.

The advanced planning turned out to be fortuitous.

“Around 6:00 or 6:30 [on Sunday morning] we got a call saying people’s camps had been washed out,” Hubbell said. “And we started getting people coming into our parish hall.”

St. Paul's regular coffee hour became an extended lunch as people without shelter joined parishioners in the church's parish hall.

More than 30 people displaced by the storm came to church Sunday and 16 spent the night, she said.

“This storm was a reminder that we have a community that is impacted more than others during these types of events,” Carmichael said in a statement. “We were grateful to all the people in the community who came together to help those in need.”

The community kept on showing up. On Sunday evening, after the people staying over were already resting on their cots, a person unknown to the volunteers delivered five pizzas to the temporary shelter.

One of the reasons St. Paul’s was able to mobilize so quickly is that it has a long tradition of service to the homeless, as well as being a focal point for coordinated efforts with government agencies and neighboring churches.

St. Paul’s has a regular shower ministry from Tuesday to Friday every week, providing an essential service for those without shelter. It also founded a group that managed 11 units of transitional housing owned by the city – that group is now a separate non-profit organization, but it still has close ties to the church.

Hospitality celebrated through communal meals is another tradition at St. Paul’s. The church has a large coffee hour on Sunday, along with three services, plus a community meal in the evening where a consortium of area churches offers a meal and hospitality. This Sunday it was the Healdsburg Adventist Church’s turn to provide a meal and there were also “lots of other food donations,” Hubbell said.

Neighbors and parishioners also donated clothing, much needed by people who spent the night in the soaking rain.

Still another faith community, Healdsburg Community Church, answered the call and brought food to St. Paul’s on Monday to provide breakfast for those seeking sustenance and shelter.

It was fitting that in her Sunday sermon celebrating the Baptism of Our Lord, Hubbell preached about “a partnership in righteousness.”

Hubbell said in her sermon, “How about when one person washes dirty towels for the shower ministry, delivers them folded and clean, and another person hands them out to people who have come to take showers. The whole shower ministry at St. Paul’s is a partnership in righteousness!”

Though the worst of the rains may have passed, the partnership between St. Paul’s, its other faith partners and its community will continue, Hubbell said, with the church committed to keep the temporary shelter open until the storm has clearly abated. Further down the road, the church hopes to find and support more programs that offer solutions to the complex problems of homelessness.

There will be long-term recovery needs, and individuals can donate at www.gofundme.com/sonoma-county-homeless-flood-relief. Funds will be used to replenish items depleted in the emergency, as well as to continue the shower ministry for homeless people.

Dear President-elect Trump,

Recently (December 12, 2016) our brother and sister bishops in the Episcopal Church in the State of Massachusetts wrote you to strongly question and oppose your nomination of a climate-change denier to be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Like the bishops in Massachusetts, we, the Episcopal bishops in the State of California oversee a body of faithful people who pray for our country’s leadership every Sunday. We have faithfully prayed for President Obama over the last eight years, and we are already naming you to God, for your safety and protection, and for wisdom from God in the leadership of our country and in the councils of the nations of the world. There are 422 Episcopal congregations in the State of California, and they carry you in their prayers to God, as do we.

We join with the Episcopal Bishops of Massachusetts in questioning and challenging your choice for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. The great majority of reputable scientists recognize not only the reality of human-induced climate change, but the looming danger to our children and grandchildren from the worst, unchallenged effects of climate change. We have a slender period of time in which we can, with great concerted effort, and under your leadership, avert the worst consequences of climate change for future generations. We need you and your cabinet to work hard to prevent a bad future for all of the world’s children and all of life on the planet.

We also wish to register with you our strong, continuing and resolute support for the rights and dignity of refugees and immigrants in the United States, for people of all faiths, and especially Muslims and Jews who continue to be the objects of prejudice and hatred, for women, for people of color, indigenous peoples and for those economically disadvantaged. It is our belief that the President of the United States is a leader for all the people of the United States, but especially he or she is protector for the vulnerable. We ask you to re-examine your choices for your cabinet in light of your responsibility to guard the dignity and welfare of all.

Recently we celebrated the birth of Jesus, who has taught us, by his radiant life, how we should live. His life informs our call to you, our President-elect.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop Diocesan of California
The Rt. Rev. Barry L. Beisner, Bishop Diocesan of Northern California
The Rt. Rev. Diane M. Jardine Bruce, Bishop Suffragan of Los Angeles
The Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, Bishop Diocesan of Los Angeles
The Rt. Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves, Bishop Diocesan of El Camino Real
The Rt. Rev. James R. Mathes, Bishop Diocesan of San Diego
The Rt. Rev. David C. Rice, Bishop Diocesan of San Joaquin

Big stuffed monkeys scattered on the floor in front of the altar and beanbag chairs weren’t what you’d expect to see at St. James’, Lincoln, Lincoln, which usually holds services in its simple white-washed church building in traditional prayer book fashion.

But on December 17, the parish had prepared its worship space for a different kind of service – a Christmas service for special-needs children and their families.

Just as the Christmas story is one story of journeys – the young couple looking for a place to have their baby, the shepherds and the three wise men looking for the savior – the evolution of St. James’ service was also a journey, one that began with the mother of an autistic child who wanted a way for her son to be in church. The mother’s priest, the Rev. Andrew Kadel, interim priest-in-charge at St. James’ connected with the Rev. Sarah Quinney, assistant rector at St. John’s, Roseville, who wanted to bring the children she works with as a music therapist into the church she loves.

Developing a special-needs service

The Rev. Sarah Quinney, assistant priest at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Roseville, California, and a music therapist, leads a special-needs Christmas service that she helped design.

For Quinney, who led the special-needs service at St. James’, it was a chance to develop the kind of service she had wanted to see happen since she went to seminary at Church Divinity School of the Pacific. As a music therapist experienced in working with children on the autism spectrum and other special-needs children, Quinney has a passion for finding ways to help them enjoy worship with the rest of the church.

“Until we figure out a way where they can experience all the sacraments with us in worship, we’re not actually being the church, because they’re not welcome around the table,” she said recently. “They can’t come around the table because their body and their brain don’t allow it. We need to come around their table.”

When she was in seminary, Quinney developed a Eucharist for autistic children as a project for her liturgics class, a service she presented at a youth ministry day sponsored by CDSP and the Diocese of California. Though it was a good way to work out the theology of such a service and invite discussion from the attendees, children weren’t present. So Quinney still hadn’t seen her theory put into practice.

Until St. James’ came to her for her expertise.

Making connections in the diocese

The congregation is in an agricultural center, north of Sacramento, that is experiencing some of the highest rates of suburban growth in the nation, mostly from retirees, but also from families attracted to the region’s lower-cost, newer housing.

Maria and Drew Johnston and their three boys are one of those young families who live in Lincoln community and attend St. James’. The Johnstons’ 13-year-old son, Braden, is autistic and his oldest brother has been diagnosed as being on the spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome. Tyler, their middle son, is “neuro-typical,” Maria Johnston said, as she described a desire to see a service that could include her family. And not only her family.

Drew and Maria Johnston with their son, Braden, who is holding the picture he drew for the special-needs Christmas service bulletin.

“It’s a joyous way to help families who feel isolated,” she said, speaking from her own experience. “We want the families to know that we hear them, we see them. They are precious to us, as they are to God.”

But having Johnston’s desire turn into a full service needed connections to someone who could support that commitment while also figuring out a liturgy that would work. The Diocese of Northern California has been trying to strength its ability to connect people with resources elsewhere in the diocese. One way is through a reorganized deanery structure and it was the deanery structure that made the special-needs connection happen.

When the Rev. Cliff Haggenjos, the rector at St. John’s and dean of the Central Deanery, heard about Johnston’s plans to start a service, he referred her to Quinney, said Kadel.

Quinney, Johnston and Kadel met a number of time to work out the mechanics of the service and the physical layout to make sure all felt welcomed and safe. Johnston’s son Braden also got involved – a gifted draftsman, he drew and colored the cover for the service program.

Another key element was involvement of other Lincoln churches, Kadel said, including Grace Lutheran Church, where Pastor Judith Morgado was an enthusiastic supporter.

“It’s very important that this kind of service be a community service and not about a single parish or denomination,” he said. “We need to provide a time for relaxed and non-judgmental worship for families who have all sorts of pressures on them.”

A special service happens

Hence the stuffed animals. And the beanbag chairs because autistic and other special-needs children often need something that makes them feel safe when too much stimulation overwhelms them.

The parish had always been supportive of including special-needs children. Two years ago, there was a small service that told the story of Noah’s Ark, done by the Rev. Bill Rontani, the rector at the time, in honor of April’s Autism Awareness Month.

This, however, was the parish’s first special-needs service for a major holiday. And with all the stress that those holidays bring, organizers were uncertain whether families, who have all the extra pressure of a special-needs child, would be able to come.

Emily Rhoades, 19, a helper at the special-needs Christmas service, arranges the nativity scene.

The appointed hour arrived. Parish members who had helped rearrange the church to make a safe space in front of the altar for the children sat waiting in the back pews. The children and their families began to enter. Some of the children made a beeline for the front and the stuffed monkeys. Some hung back, preferring the safe arms of their parents.

Quinney asked a time-honored question: “Does anyone want to hear a story?”

Using wooden carvings of the nativity scene to keep the children’s attention, Quinney told the Christmas story – she described it as a stripped-down version of the one used in the Godly Play version. Colored light from a stained-glass window fell on a boy’s face and the face of the monkey he cradled, as Quinney told them about the angel who told the shepherds: “Run, hurry, go to Bethlehem. A baby has been born. A baby who changes everything.”

One girl became restless and was helped out by her caregiver, who made soft chirping sounds to distract her. But the others stayed with Quinney’s narrative all the way through to the end. Then, they sang, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and sat through a short closing prayer that ended with, “Go forth to eat cookies.”

At the Christmas party in the parish hall, Natalie Cooper said she had brought her oldest, son, a special-needs child, along with his younger brother and sister. She said she was happy for “all three kids to connect to the story.”

Cooper looked over at her eldest, who had installed himself on a chair next to Santa Claus – Kadel in a Santa costume – after receiving a treat bag.

“It’s huge that he’s getting so much time with Santa,” she said.

It was also true for a parishioner from Grace Lutheran, an older woman with Down syndrome, who declined to name what she wanted for Christmas, insisting simply, “I love Santa.”

The joy in the service and the Christmas party went both ways. “I was looking back at the faces of the families during the service and they looked so pleased,” said St. James’ senior warden Jeptha Rogers. “That was special.”

St. James’ is already talking about using their experience with Christmas to develop a special-needs service for Easter.

The Rev. Andrew Kadel, interim priest-in-charge at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Lincoln, California, as Santa, listens to the wishes of a young participant during the Christmas party after the service.