June 7, The 2nd Sunday After Pentecost

Praying the Anglican Rosary
Hosted by Kelly Brandt and Briony James Saturday June 6 at 9:00 a.m.
Some twelve people attended the first Anglican Rosary gathering at the Church last Saturday morning.  People had a really good time and expressed a desire to continue and to meet regularly.   The Anglican Rosary gathering will again take place this coming Saturday, June 6, in the Church at 9:00 a.m.   If you haven’t come before, you are more than welcome.  Everyone will be happy to show you how to participate.   

 Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

Level 1

June 7,  Pentecost 2

Ordinary Time

 Green is for the Growing Time

 The Church year revolves around the life of Christ and salvific words of God.  Throughout its cycles and seasons, we are able to reflect on the core mysteries of our faith. 

 The colors used during liturgical celebrations have symbolic meaning which catches the child’s attention.  Introducing children to their names and meaning helps them to understand and identify the different liturgical seasons during the year: purple is for preparation (Advent and Lent), white is for celebration (Christmas and Easter), green is for the growing time (Ordinary Time), red is for Pentecost (the feast of the Holy Spirit).

 In the Level I atrium, our observance of the liturgical seasons have come full circle.  We began with the color green at the start of our session. The color green is used for the time following the feasts of Christmas and Easter, during the time when these great feasts are growing in us.  We end this Sunday with glorious green.  When we return to the atrium in the fall, the liturgical color is green.  

 For the child [and adult], the season of growing or Ordinary Time is very, very long; 29 weeks in the Episcopal tradition.  This Sunday, we will change our prayer table cloth from red to green.  We will have an informal “closing” of the atrium prior to our dismissal to the main sanctuary at Eucharist. 

 For those who are interested, I will continue to invite you into the atria via By Way of Reminder.  I will be using this Ordinary Time to write about work in Levels II and III.   It is my hope you will find the information useful as you continue to grow in knowledge and understanding of the love of God, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 Have a blessed summer.  The atria will open again this fall, around week [Proper] 20.  

 Ms. Georgie 

 Level 4

Last week we continued our exploration of the story of King David’s affair with Bathsheba.  We got to reflect on all sorts of things in this story, now 3000 years old that are relevant to our life today.  We discussed such things as,  unintended consequences, how nothing is kept secret, how the consequences flowing from our decisions can fall on those least able to bear them,  the Rule of Law, (One participant brought up the Magna Carta, the King has to obey the law) and what was it that David  really did wrong.  We contrasted how God treated David in his battle with Goliath (God gave David everything) with David, being in a place of power treated Uriah the Hittite.  (David took everything)   Finally we pushed forward to the attempted coup by David’s son Absolom, fulfilling Nathan the prophet’s pronouncement, “Because you have done this, the sword will never depart from your house.”   Good stuff!

 Parents and  Children Barbecue  Sunday June 7, 4:30 p.m.

We’ll do our first of two Annual Parent and Children Barbecues at the Rectory on Sunday June 7.  We usually do two, one at the end of school and the other right before school begins again.  Parents and children are invited to the Rectory for fun and food.  Details will follow as we get closer.

 An email has gone out to all parents in the parish.  A lot of people are coming.  We look forward to a good event.

 Emmaus Road:  New Book:  The Imitation of Christ

Emmaus Road continues its reading of The Imitation of Christ.   The book presents us with two challenges.  One is to engage the Medieval thought forms, which is a quite different sensibility than our own time.   At first the strangeness can be off putting and one might easily dismiss what Thomas a Kempis is saying.   However, such modern peoples such as Dorothy Day, the founder of The Catholic Worker community, carried it with her at all times.  Penetrating below the surface we encounter the second challenge,  a timeless wisdom about the human condition.   It may be a “distant mirror,” but mirror it is nonetheless.   The book is not very long, only very deep, and it is available from Amazon.  We’ll be using the Dover Thrift Edition which is only $4.00.  

There is no problem jumping in at any point.  For Monday we’ll read to page 115.

 Disaster Preparedness.   

Fr. Bob, Stephanie Hseih, and Jim Goltz attended the Disaster Preparedness workshop at Ascension Parish Sierra Madre last Saturday.   We learned of some good tools to help us in our preparation.   We will continue working on a Disaster Recovery plan for the parish and keep you informed of its progress.

Young Adult Barbecue:  Saturday, June 13, 4:30 p.m.

A number of young adults have started attending COA.  In an effort to help connect them to each other and the parish as well, Fr. Bob will host a barbecue at the Rectory on Saturday June 13.   We look forward to a nice gathering and deepening fellowship.  

 An email has gone out.  We hope everyone will come. 

Music with the Angels

Jouyssance Concert:     The Song of Songs

Sunday, June 14, 4:00 p.m.

The evocative poetry of the Song of Solomon inspired composers of the Middle Ages and Renaissance to produce some of their most beautiful music.  Enjoy songs of love from Josquin, Victoria, Palestrina, Dunstable, Guerro, and selections from the Montpeillier Codex

$25.00 General Admission

$20.00 Seniors and SCEMS members

$15.00 Students

www.jouyssance.org