Pentecost, May 20, 2018 Pray Globally, Worship Locally There’s a popular bumper-sticker phrase: “Think globally, act locally,” which urges people to take action within local communities to help care for our fragile earth. As we have been praying our prayers on Sunday mornings, a variation of this phrase has come to mind: “Pray globally, worship locally.” This phrase comes to mind partly because of some additions that I have brought to our Prayers of the People. Last month, I wrote about the reintroduction and inclusion of the Common Doxology in our Sunday morning worship, which I especially enjoyed singing on Pentecost as the red balloons ascended to the rafters (and then later gently descended upon an amused audience during the Sunday afternoon concert). This month, I want to briefly explain the addition I brought to our Prayers of the People. We had already been praying for our Diocesan Bishop Barry Beisner, the Archbishop Suheil Dawani of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, who has recently become almost as famous as the NBA player with the same last name. Whenever we pray for these bishops, we pray not only for the bishops themselves but also for the many Christians within their jurisdiction whom these bishops represent. During the last couple months, I have added prayers for the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby as well as for the bishops and dioceses within the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, an online prayer cycle that reminds us of the many Anglicans across our global communion.1 Following this cycle of prayer, we have so far prayed for Anglicans in Kenya, New Zealand, and Melanesia; and we will soon be praying for Anglican brothers and sisters in Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria, and beyond. I added these prayers because it is important for us Episcopalians in Eureka to “pray globally,” to remember that we are part of a much larger Episcopal Church, which is composed of almost 2 million members. Moreover, it is important for us to remember that the Episcopal Church is only one of 45 churches across the globe that comprise the Anglican Communion, which includes about 85 million members in over 165 countries. For those who may not know, the Anglican Communion is a communion of churches that share a common heritage of liturgy and prayer, rooted historically in the 1549 Prayer Book, which was composed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (1489 – 1556). Many of the prayers we pray on Sunday are prayed by millions of other Anglicans around the world who are worshipping in their own particular language and within their own local context. The churches of the Anglican Communion are also held together by “bonds of affection” as they remain in relationship with the Archbishop of Canterbury, whom we pray for every Sunday. Our current Archbishop of Canterbury is Justin Welby, who officiated last month’s Royal Wedding. He is a distant successor of Thomas Cranmer (the composer of the first Prayer Book), St. Anselm (whom we celebrated at our Celebration of New Ministry in April), and St. Augustine of Canterbury (who evangelized the Britons way back in 597 AD.) 2 Whenever we gather to worship locally in our corner of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California, behind that thick redwood curtain, let’s remember how connected we are, through prayer, to our many fellow Anglicans in Australia, Hong Kong, Burundi, Pakistan, Haiti, Honduras and beyond. Through prayer, we help strengthen our bonds of affection and embolden a communion that was born 1,420 years ago, when Pope Gregory the Great sent St. Augustine to England to share the Gospel with the indigenous peoples of Britain and taught them to pray globally and worship locally. _____________________ 1You can access the Anglican Cycle of Prayer here: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/cycle-of- prayer.aspx 2Unlike the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury exercises no ecclesiastical authority beyond his province (England). However, like the pope, he functions as a “focus of unity” for the churches in the communion and represents the Anglican Communion to the wider world. Other famous Archbishops of Canterbury include Thomas Becket (1162 – 1170), William Laud (1633 – 1645), William Temple (1942 – 1944), Michael Ramsey (1961 – 1974) and Rowan Williams (2002 – 2012). 2 Fr. Daniel pictured with the Most Rev. Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church who represents the Episcopal Church to the wider Anglican Communion This month, we will be praying for… (June 3) The Anglican Church of Melanesia and the Most Rev’d George Takeli (Archbishop of the Anglican Church of Melanesia and Bishop of Central Melanesia) Headquarters: Honiara, Solomon Islands Membership: 200,000 (June 10) Anglican Church of Mexico and the Most Rev’d Francisco Moreno (Presiding Bishop of La Iglesia Anglicana de Mexico & Bishop of Northern Mexico) Also known as “Church of Jesus” Headquarters: Mexico City Membership: 100,000 Divided into five dioceses: Mexico, Northern Mexico, Western Mexico, Cuernavaca and Southeastern Mexico 3 (June 17) The Anglican Church of the Province of Myanmar (Burma) and the Most Rev’d Stephen Than Myint Oo (Archbiship of Myanmar and Bishop of Yangon) Headquarters: Yangon Membership: 70,000 June 24 The Church of Nigeria and the Most Rev’d Nicholas Okoh (Metropolitan & Primate of all Nigeria & Bishop of Abuja) Headquarters: Abuja Membership: 18 million 4 5 On Sunday, Father Daniel told us a story about a small homeless girl on the streets of China. After being brutalized for years, she is ready to give up and move on to the next life. A persistent little bird refuses to leave her alone, and this gives her the courage to get up out of the gutter and the girl ends up living a life full of meaning and service to others. This story may sound familiar because it is about our own Betty Kwan Chinn. How did that little bird know that little girl would change our community for the better? Because I have always loved birds and sometimes thought they were trying to tell me something, I decided to google birds as spiritual beings and, as I started to type, the search line auto populated with “Bird Symbolism and Spiritual Gifts”. After doing a little more research, I found out that China’s most common bird is a type of Sparrow. Here is what the article said about Sparrows: As a Christian symbol, the sparrow represents the concern of God for the least among all people. They are always under God's protection According to the Bible, " . even the lowly sparrow was invited to make her home in the Lord's temple." (Psalm 84:3). Sparrows are also symbols of pious families who live humble, lowly lives in obedience of God's will. So, my friends in Christ, may the Lord grant us faith to see the sparrows in our midst and the strength to be the sparrows within our community, helping those less fortunate to lead lives rich with meaning and purpose. 6 Hello my friends, welcome to the beginning of summer 2018. As I am writing this article, the inside of my house is in utter disarray. My yucky green wall is now covered in white primer, with half of it painted in a color that my daughter says looks like "mac and cheese", and the other half is painted with 3 sample colors that we're still deciding on. This painting project has really shown me how even though something looks simple enough to accomplish by myself, it may not always be so easy. But, with help from my family, especially my younger brother Jason, this wall will be completed in no time. Now on to OUR beautiful buildings and grounds. I would like to invite you all to be a part of another Work Day Saturday on June 23, 2018 from 9am-2pm. Our wonderful, hard working, queens of Christ church landscaping, Irene Hannaford and Beth Powell will be leading us in landscaping activities on this day. These fabulous women devote so much of their time to pulling weeds, trimming bushes and whatever else needs to be done, in the landscaping area. We really owe it to them to step up and help them out more than we do. So, grab your work gloves, clippers and little hand spades and come on down to Christ Church for a fun, rewarding experience. We will also need someone with a pick up truck (or two) to carry a load of mulch to Christ Church to be spread around. For more information on that aspect, please talk to Beth Powell. I also have two other projects for the "not so green thumb" folks: The first is re-painting some steps with a yellow strip for safety precautions. We have 4 sets of steps that need to be re-painted around the church grounds. So, anyone that likes painting, please grab a brush and come on by to show us your painting talent. The church will provide the paint. The second project will be guided by our Sexton John Hammond. He will need some strong, sturdy folks with shovels to help replace one of our "holy" pipes on the outside of Lewis Hall. Though we sign hymns like "Holy, Holy, Holy", a holy water pipe is NOT what we are talking about. Not to worry, this is not an underground sewer pipe, you won't be grossed out. This pipe is for the spring water that comes bubbling up from the ground and needs to be moved along. The pipe really needs to be replaced and if we can entice some handy, ready to get a sweat going, people to help that would be glorious.