February 23, Seventh Sunday After Epiphany
Thursday, February 20, 2014 at 9:32AM Episcopal Visitation: The Rt. Rev. Diane Bruce
Episcopal Visitation: Sunday February 23.
We are privileged to have Bishop Diane Bruce with us on Sunday February 23. Bishop Diane is one of the Bishop Suffragans (Assisting bishops to our Diocesan Bishop Jon Bruno) Bishop Diane will be here for both the 7:45 and 10:15 Liturgy.
Episcopal Visitation: Conversation with Bishop Diane 9:00 a.m. Sunday February 23
Between the services at 9:00 a.m. Bishop Diane will participate in a conversation with parishioners. In her previous life Bishop Diane was a banker, and so we thought it might be fun to have a conversation on matters economic and how Christian people seek to integrate those aspects of life with their Christian faith.
Episcopal Visitation: Rite of Confirmation, Reception, and Renewal Sunday February 23
Bishop Diane will also administer the Rite of Confirmation, Reception, and Renewal as part of the Sunday liturgy
The Rite of Confirmation: If you were baptized as an infant, this is a chance to claim those promises for yourself. The bishop lays hands on you and asks for an increase of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that you received at baptism.
The Rite of Reception: If you were confirmed or some sort of adult recognition in another Christian body, you can be received into the Episcopal Church. The bishop offers you a welcome.
The Rite of Renewal: If you are baptized and confirmed, and simply want to renew these promises, the bishop has a special prayer for you.
If you are interested in any of these speak to Fr. Bob.
Episcopal Visitation: Parish Potluck and Reception for Bishop Diane Sunday February 23
Following the 10:15 Liturgy we will have a Parish Potluck and Reception for Bishop Diane. We had great fun at the Annual Meeting. Here’ s another chance to show off our parish’s amazing culinary skills. Chris Ortiz is coordinating the potluck. The Sign Up sheet will be outside Church on Sunday. You can also email in what you’d like to bring. The Sign Up list is attached to the email.
Author! Author! Rebecca Woods Book Signing
Pasadena Library celebrates local writers at an author fair this Saturday, February 22 from 10:00 to 12:00. Parishioner, Rebecca Woods will be signing and selling her novel, Living Through Charlie. Central Library, 285 East Walnut, Pasadena. See http://www.ci.pasadena.ca.us/library/ for more information.
The Young Person’s Guide to Love and Wealth Management Part 2 Sunday March 2, 2014
Bill & Rebecca Woods and Fr. Bob will once again offer their Young Person’s Guide to Love and Wealth Management following the 10:15 Liturgy on Sunday March 2. We’ll gather for lunch in the Parish Hall.
Following lunch, Rebecca Woods and Fr. Bob will give a presentation on relationships that hopefully lead to life long love and marriage.
The Young Person’s Guide to Love and Wealth Management is intended for the young adults in the congregation and also for those who are seniors in High School and preparing to go to college in the fall. Veterans of previous Love and Wealth Management meetings are welcome to join in as well.
For information speak to Fr. Bob or Rebecca Woods
Extra! Extra! Read All About It! You Now Access God Online!
Daily Morning and Evening Prayer available on IPad, Smartphone, or computer.
The Episcopal Church has two liturgies for its ongoing worship. The first one is the Sunday Eucharist with which we are all familiar. The second one is called The Daily Office which consists of two services: Daily Morning and Evening Prayer. In the bulletin insert we include the Daily Scripture readings which is the Lectionary for Daily Morning and Evening Prayer. Unlike the Sunday Lectionary which is a three year cycle of Scripture readings, the Lectionary for Daily Morning and Evening Prayer is a two year cycle. The readings are sequential and if one follows the Daily Lectionary one can read the entire Bible in the space of two years.
Daily Morning and Evening Prayer is similar to the Liturgy of the Word, the first half of the Sunday Eucharist. In the Liturgy of the Word we hear four readings from Scripture: The Old Testament, a Psalm, The New Testament, and the Gospel. We also sing hymns whose texts are often paraphrases of Scripture, closely related to the Scriptures we’ve just heard. In addition we recite the Nicene Creed and have a set of prayers. We end at the Peace and then proceed to the Liturgy of the Eucharist where we consecrate the Bread and Wine and receive the Risen Christ through them.
Daily Morning and Evening Prayer does not include the Eucharist. It is essentially an encounter with God through an ongoing reading and reflection on God’s word to us in the Bible. Like the Liturgy of the Word at the Eucharist, Daily Morning and Evening Prayer includes a reading from the Old Testament, Psalms, New Testament and the Gospel. In addition to these, it also includes what are called “Canticles,” these are portions of Scripture set as worship and praise functioning the in the same way as the hymns we sing at the Eucharist. Daily Morning and Evening Prayer also includes a recitation of the Apostle’s Creed, which we say at baptisms, as well as some prayers and a General Thanksgiving.
The reciting of Daily Morning and Evening Prayer is an obligation for anyone who is ordained. However, the genius of the Book of Common Prayer was that it made the sources of Christian identity and worship accessible to all the members of the Church. Everyone, clergy and lay can have a practice of ongoing reading and reflection on the Scripture. There many lay people in the Episcopal Church who make this a part of their spiritual practice.
Up to now, doing that required that one have two books: a Book of Common Prayer and a Bible. To find one’s way through, one would need ribbons or bookmarks to find the lectionary, the psalm, the table of canticles, and the prayers. You would shift back and forth from the Prayer Book to the Bible.
Well, now all of this has been made available on line. There is a website called Daily Office West It is sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis. Going to the website you can get both Morning and Evening Prayer with everything in its proper sequence and participate in it using your computer, IPad or smartphone. You can sign up on the website and then you will get an email message in the morning and afternoon and you can jump in to the Daily Morning and Evening Prayer when it is convenient for you. Instead of jumping from pages and books, you simply scroll down through it. The site also provides photos of other Episcopalians doing the liturgy and pictures that illustrate the themes of the readings.
So this may be something you might like to try.
You can Google “Daily Office West,” or go directly to their website at dailyoffice.org
Coffee Hour:
The Sign Up Sheet for Coffee Hour will be outside Church on Sunday. It is also attached to By Way of Reminder. You can sign up by Email.
Emmaus Road
Emmaus Road will meet Monday, February 24 at 7:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall Living Room. The group concludes its reading of No Ordinary Men, the story of Dietrich Bonehoffer and Hans von Dohnanyi, and discuss and decide what they will read next.
Food For Thought
On the Food For Thought table this weekend we continue our exploration of faith with two articles. One article comes from the current issue of Philosophy Now: The God Issue: Theism, History, and Experience: How Standard Arguments Against God Miss the Point. The second article is a reflection on the nature of faith from New York Times columnist David Brooks: Alone, Yet Not Alone. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/opinion/brooks-alone-yet-not-alone.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0
For good measure we throw in another article from David Brooks, The Prodigal Sons. This is a reflection that most famous of Jesus’ parables in the light of contemporary economic experience. What makes it so interesting is that Mr. Brooks is Jewish. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/opinion/brooks-the-prodigal-sons.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Twenty One Shopping Days till Lent!
Shrove Tuesday: March 4 Annual Shrove Tuesday Dinner at 6:00 p.m
Join us Tuesday, March 4th, for our annual Shrove Tuesday dinner. Shrove Tuesday, in many parts of the world Mardi Gras – “Fat Tuesday” – is the day we clear our cupboards of all those things we’re not supposed to eat during Lent – like bacon, butter, cream and sugar. So it’s not wasted, we try to eat it all in one decadent dinner the night before Ash Wednesday. This year our decadent dinner will star crêpes, the French pancake from a Julia Child recipe, with a choice of rich fillings like chicken a la king, ham and brie, spinach-mushroom-bacon (and a spinach-mushroom-swiss for the meat-free among us.) A green salad too. For dessert, fill another crepe with fruit and whipped cream, Nutella, a variety of preserves. Or just powdered sugar and butter. Lots of butter. It’s Fat Tuesday, remember? If you’d like to help, or have questions, contact Chris Askew at 626 200-5209, or christopher.askew@gmail.com.
We will once again have our. in the Parish Hall.
Ash Wednesday March 5
The Ash Wednesday Liturgy will be 7:00 p.m. with the Imposition of Ashes and the Holy Eucharist.