Presiding Bishop Curry’s Word to the Church:
When the Cameras are Gone, We Will Still Be Here
[May 30, 2020] A word to the Church from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:
“Our long-term commitment to racial justice and reconciliation is embedded in our identity as baptized followers of Jesus. We will still be doing it when the news cameras are long gone.”
In the midst of COVID-19 and the pressure cooker of a society in turmoil, a Minnesota man named George Floyd was brutally killed. His basic human dignity was stripped by someone charged to protect our common humanity.
Perhaps the deeper pain is the fact that this was not an isolated incident. It happened to Breonna Taylor on March 13 in Kentucky. It happened to Ahmaud Arbery on February 23 in Georgia. Racial terror in this form occurred when I was a teenager growing up black in Buffalo, New York. It extends back to the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 and well before that. It’s not just our present or our history. It is part of the fabric of American life.
But we need not be paralyzed by our past or our present. We are not slaves to fate but people of faith. Our long-term commitment to racial justice and reconciliation is embedded in our identity as baptized followers of Jesus. We will still be doing it when the news cameras are long gone.
That work of racial reconciliation and justice – what we know as Becoming Beloved Community – is happening across our Episcopal Church. It is happening in Minnesota and in the Dioceses of Kentucky, Georgia and Atlanta, across America and around the world. That mission matters now more than ever, and it is work that belongs to all of us.
It must go on when racist violence and police brutality are no longer front-page news. It must go on when the work is not fashionable, and the way seems hard, and we feel utterly alone. It is the difficult labor of picking up the cross of Jesus like Simon of Cyrene, and carrying it until no one – no matter their color, no matter their class, no matter their caste – until no child of God is degraded and disrespected by anybody. That is God's dream, this is our work, and we shall not cease until God's dream is realized.
Is this hopelessly naïve? No, the vision of God’s dream is no idealistic utopia. It is our only real hope. And, St. Paul says, “hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). Real love is the dogged commitment to live my life in the most unselfish, even sacrificial ways; to love God, love my neighbor, love the earth and truly love myself. Perhaps most difficult in times like this, it is even love for my enemy. That is why we cannot condone violence. Violence against any person – conducted by some police officers or by some protesters – is violence against a child of God created in God’s image. No, as followers of Christ, we do not condone violence.
Neither do we condone our nation’s collective, complicit silence in the face of injustice and violent death. The anger of so many on our streets is born out of the accumulated frustration that so few seem to care when another black, brown or native life is snuffed out.
But there is another way. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a broken man lay on the side of the road. The religious leaders who passed were largely indifferent. Only the Samaritan saw the wounded stranger and acted. He provided medical care and housing. He made provision for this stranger’s well-being. He helped and healed a fellow child of God.
Love, as Jesus teaches, is action like this as well as attitude. It seeks the good, the well-being, and the welfare of others as well as one’s self. That way of real love is the only way there is.
Accompanying this statement is a card describing ways to practice the Way of Love in the midst of pandemic, uncertainty and loss. In addition, you will find online a set of resources to help Episcopalians to LEARN, PRAY & ACT in response to racist violence and police brutality. That resource set includes faithful tools for listening to and learning from communities too often ignored or suppressed, for incorporating God’s vision of justice into your personal and community prayer life, and for positively and constructively engaging in advocacy and public witness.
Opening and changing hearts does not happen overnight. The Christian race is not a sprint; it is a marathon. Our prayers and our work for justice, healing and truth-telling must be unceasing. Let us recommit ourselves to following in the footsteps of Jesus, the way that leads to healing, justice and love.
“What Does Love Do: The Way of Love during Pandemic”
Additional Resources for Responding to Racist Violence and Police Brutality
When the Cameras are Gone, We Will Still Be Here
[May 30, 2020] A word to the Church from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:
“Our long-term commitment to racial justice and reconciliation is embedded in our identity as baptized followers of Jesus. We will still be doing it when the news cameras are long gone.”
In the midst of COVID-19 and the pressure cooker of a society in turmoil, a Minnesota man named George Floyd was brutally killed. His basic human dignity was stripped by someone charged to protect our common humanity.
Perhaps the deeper pain is the fact that this was not an isolated incident. It happened to Breonna Taylor on March 13 in Kentucky. It happened to Ahmaud Arbery on February 23 in Georgia. Racial terror in this form occurred when I was a teenager growing up black in Buffalo, New York. It extends back to the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 and well before that. It’s not just our present or our history. It is part of the fabric of American life.
But we need not be paralyzed by our past or our present. We are not slaves to fate but people of faith. Our long-term commitment to racial justice and reconciliation is embedded in our identity as baptized followers of Jesus. We will still be doing it when the news cameras are long gone.
That work of racial reconciliation and justice – what we know as Becoming Beloved Community – is happening across our Episcopal Church. It is happening in Minnesota and in the Dioceses of Kentucky, Georgia and Atlanta, across America and around the world. That mission matters now more than ever, and it is work that belongs to all of us.
It must go on when racist violence and police brutality are no longer front-page news. It must go on when the work is not fashionable, and the way seems hard, and we feel utterly alone. It is the difficult labor of picking up the cross of Jesus like Simon of Cyrene, and carrying it until no one – no matter their color, no matter their class, no matter their caste – until no child of God is degraded and disrespected by anybody. That is God's dream, this is our work, and we shall not cease until God's dream is realized.
Is this hopelessly naïve? No, the vision of God’s dream is no idealistic utopia. It is our only real hope. And, St. Paul says, “hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). Real love is the dogged commitment to live my life in the most unselfish, even sacrificial ways; to love God, love my neighbor, love the earth and truly love myself. Perhaps most difficult in times like this, it is even love for my enemy. That is why we cannot condone violence. Violence against any person – conducted by some police officers or by some protesters – is violence against a child of God created in God’s image. No, as followers of Christ, we do not condone violence.
Neither do we condone our nation’s collective, complicit silence in the face of injustice and violent death. The anger of so many on our streets is born out of the accumulated frustration that so few seem to care when another black, brown or native life is snuffed out.
But there is another way. In the parable of the Good Samaritan, a broken man lay on the side of the road. The religious leaders who passed were largely indifferent. Only the Samaritan saw the wounded stranger and acted. He provided medical care and housing. He made provision for this stranger’s well-being. He helped and healed a fellow child of God.
Love, as Jesus teaches, is action like this as well as attitude. It seeks the good, the well-being, and the welfare of others as well as one’s self. That way of real love is the only way there is.
Accompanying this statement is a card describing ways to practice the Way of Love in the midst of pandemic, uncertainty and loss. In addition, you will find online a set of resources to help Episcopalians to LEARN, PRAY & ACT in response to racist violence and police brutality. That resource set includes faithful tools for listening to and learning from communities too often ignored or suppressed, for incorporating God’s vision of justice into your personal and community prayer life, and for positively and constructively engaging in advocacy and public witness.
Opening and changing hearts does not happen overnight. The Christian race is not a sprint; it is a marathon. Our prayers and our work for justice, healing and truth-telling must be unceasing. Let us recommit ourselves to following in the footsteps of Jesus, the way that leads to healing, justice and love.
“What Does Love Do: The Way of Love during Pandemic”
Additional Resources for Responding to Racist Violence and Police Brutality
May 28, 2020
Dear Members and Friends of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church,
Aloha! This Sunday, May 31st is the Day of Pentecost. On this day we remember and give thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit, which both empowers and enlivens us as Christians. The lessons for this Sunday is the story of the disciples being together when they were filled with the Spirit, when it came like a wind (Acts 2:1-21), the Apostle Paul’s teaching to the Church in Corinth about the spiritual gifts given by the Spirit for the sake of unity (1 Corinthians 12:3b-13) and the Risen Lord coming among the disciples on Easter evening and giving them the Holy Spirit (John 20:19-23).
Today, we remain Sheltered-in-Place in order to stop or slow down the spread of the novel Coronavirus. We are wise to be careful to limit our interaction with one, wearing masks, maintaining a safe social distance and washing our hands frequently so as not to give the virus an opportunity to infect us or others. In this way, we are like the disciples on Easter evening behind locked doors.
Although the nation and our state are having a phased-in reopening, the church will continue to wait to have in-person worship until all the congregations of the diocese have created plans to have a phased re-gathering. (The term re-gather is used instead of re-open because the ministry of the church never really closed or stopped, but merely went virtual.)
Bishop Marc Andrus and key diocesan leaders held a webinar for the clergy and wardens of the congregations of the diocese. The Bishop has appointed a phase regathering task force which will be developing guidelines for congregations to develop their own plans. Once these guidelines are sent out, our own task force will develop our plans for St. Ambrose. The chair of our task force is David McIntyre, and members include Alison LeBlanc and Jim Neubert. If you are interested in working on this, please contact David at ntkod@icloud.com.
Unlike the story from the Acts of the Apostles, the Spirit is not sending us out from our Shelter-in-Place policy. We will be continuing with our virtual worship with You Tube live-streaming on Sundays at 10 a.m.
This Sunday, our live-streaming You Tube worship will be led by the Rev. Karen Swanson as the Presider. I will tape a sermon and will be the preacher.
The link for the live-streaming You Tube worship is below, and the worship bulletin is posted on the church website at www.stambrosefostercity.org.
The link is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfCRkqxS1Ii-yYov5kMpvDg.
The preschool will open for a summer session of four weeks on June 22nd. They will be following guidelines developed by licensing. In short, only ten children per classroom will be taught by two teachers. There will be no mixing between classes.
I invite you to pray for those who are ill, especially Peggy Redmond, Yvonne Sidell, Charles Saunders, Daniel Tate, Jerelyn Weber, Ariel Rallos, Miles Martin, Kevin and Matt, Mary Ota and John and Barbara Milligan.
I invite you to pray for those who lost employment, those whose loved ones have been stricken with COVID-19, those who are alone, health care workers, first responders, essential workers, those affected by natural disaster, those who live alone, the Episcopal Church in Navajoland, victims of violence in all its forms, and the city of Minneapolis in the aftermath of the police killing George Floyd.
The Spirit calls us Christians to work for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). In our prayer and in our actions, let us strive for the good of all, so that each person will live in the love of God and be returned to their right self no matter what happens in her or his life.
May our God continue to bless you with the Holy Spirit.
Yours,
David Y. Ota, Rector
Dear Members and Friends of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church,
Aloha! This Sunday, May 31st is the Day of Pentecost. On this day we remember and give thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit, which both empowers and enlivens us as Christians. The lessons for this Sunday is the story of the disciples being together when they were filled with the Spirit, when it came like a wind (Acts 2:1-21), the Apostle Paul’s teaching to the Church in Corinth about the spiritual gifts given by the Spirit for the sake of unity (1 Corinthians 12:3b-13) and the Risen Lord coming among the disciples on Easter evening and giving them the Holy Spirit (John 20:19-23).
Today, we remain Sheltered-in-Place in order to stop or slow down the spread of the novel Coronavirus. We are wise to be careful to limit our interaction with one, wearing masks, maintaining a safe social distance and washing our hands frequently so as not to give the virus an opportunity to infect us or others. In this way, we are like the disciples on Easter evening behind locked doors.
Although the nation and our state are having a phased-in reopening, the church will continue to wait to have in-person worship until all the congregations of the diocese have created plans to have a phased re-gathering. (The term re-gather is used instead of re-open because the ministry of the church never really closed or stopped, but merely went virtual.)
Bishop Marc Andrus and key diocesan leaders held a webinar for the clergy and wardens of the congregations of the diocese. The Bishop has appointed a phase regathering task force which will be developing guidelines for congregations to develop their own plans. Once these guidelines are sent out, our own task force will develop our plans for St. Ambrose. The chair of our task force is David McIntyre, and members include Alison LeBlanc and Jim Neubert. If you are interested in working on this, please contact David at ntkod@icloud.com.
Unlike the story from the Acts of the Apostles, the Spirit is not sending us out from our Shelter-in-Place policy. We will be continuing with our virtual worship with You Tube live-streaming on Sundays at 10 a.m.
This Sunday, our live-streaming You Tube worship will be led by the Rev. Karen Swanson as the Presider. I will tape a sermon and will be the preacher.
The link for the live-streaming You Tube worship is below, and the worship bulletin is posted on the church website at www.stambrosefostercity.org.
The link is: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfCRkqxS1Ii-yYov5kMpvDg.
The preschool will open for a summer session of four weeks on June 22nd. They will be following guidelines developed by licensing. In short, only ten children per classroom will be taught by two teachers. There will be no mixing between classes.
I invite you to pray for those who are ill, especially Peggy Redmond, Yvonne Sidell, Charles Saunders, Daniel Tate, Jerelyn Weber, Ariel Rallos, Miles Martin, Kevin and Matt, Mary Ota and John and Barbara Milligan.
I invite you to pray for those who lost employment, those whose loved ones have been stricken with COVID-19, those who are alone, health care workers, first responders, essential workers, those affected by natural disaster, those who live alone, the Episcopal Church in Navajoland, victims of violence in all its forms, and the city of Minneapolis in the aftermath of the police killing George Floyd.
The Spirit calls us Christians to work for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). In our prayer and in our actions, let us strive for the good of all, so that each person will live in the love of God and be returned to their right self no matter what happens in her or his life.
May our God continue to bless you with the Holy Spirit.
Yours,
David Y. Ota, Rector
The Episcopal Church in Navajoland Needs Help. Please click the link for more information.
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Sunday Service Announcements and Worship Bulletin for the week
Worship Bulletin 5.31.20
Announcement Sunday 5.31.20
Virtual Liturgy of the Word, Sunday, March 22-May 31, 10 am link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfCRkqxS1Ii-yYov5kMpvDg
Announcement Sunday 5.31.20
Virtual Liturgy of the Word, Sunday, March 22-May 31, 10 am link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfCRkqxS1Ii-yYov5kMpvDg
SUNDAY SERVICES
8 AM Holy Communion with Hymns, cancelled until May 31st
10 AM Virtual Liturgy of the Word Services
Zoom Sunday School for Children (Pre-school – 2nd grade)
11 AM Zoom Sunday School for Children (3rd – 5th grade)
4 PM Zoom Youth Group Meeting (Middle School to High School)
8 AM Holy Communion with Hymns, cancelled until May 31st
10 AM Virtual Liturgy of the Word Services
Zoom Sunday School for Children (Pre-school – 2nd grade)
11 AM Zoom Sunday School for Children (3rd – 5th grade)
4 PM Zoom Youth Group Meeting (Middle School to High School)
The mission of St. Ambrose Episcopal Church of Foster City is to proclaim the good news of God in Jesus Christ as we care for each other and our larger community. In the Episcopal tradition, we extend an open and inclusive invitation to all people. We care for others and the stranger, we welcome children into our family, and we serve those in need.
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"Life is short and we do not have much time to gladden the hearts of those who walk the way with us. So be swift to love and make haste to be kind. The Blessing of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be among you always. Amen"