Category Archives: Church

We are in the second week of the new book club at
SMUM Studio 17 (Santa Maria Urban Ministry). Each of the older children
in the after school homework program has the opportunity to check out a book
from Studio 17’s book shelf, read it, then give me an oral report. Prizes are
offered! Credit will be given for each book read before Thanksgiving.
(Studio 17 does not meet between Thanksgiving and Christmas.)
Prizes to be paid in a Target gift card.

We did well in week one. Most of the books were started, some were finished.
Several of the kids decided to trade books. Each child gave me a brief
report on the book before passing it on. Here is where we are:

• James Howe The Bunnicula Collection (3 books in 1 volume)
  
  1st reader: Abigail – started 6 Nov (read most of book 1, passed it on)
  
  2nd reader: Jose – started 13 Nov
• Madeleine L’Engle A Wrinkle in Time
  
  reader: Stephanie – started 6 Nov (extended for a 2nd week)
• C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
  
  1st reader: Jose – started 6 Nov (read half, passed it on)
  
  2nd reader: Abigail – started 13 Nov
• Christopher Paolini Eragon
  
  1st reader: Robert – started 6 Nov (read half, passed it on)
  
  2nd reader: Carlos – started 13 Nov
• Tamora Pierce Alanna
  
  reader: Leslie – started 6 Nov (extended for a 2nd week)
• Tamora Pierce First Test
  
  reader: Jocelyn – started 6 Nov (extended for a 2nd week)
• Louis Sachar Holes
  
  1st reader: Carlos – started 6 Nov (read it, passed it on)
  
  2nd reader: Robert – started 13 Nov

Several more kids were begging to join the club this afternoon but I had no
more books. Tonight, I went to the Recycle Book Store (1066 The Alameda,
San Jose, CA) and picked up four more:

• Roald Dahl The BFG
• Jack London Call of the Wild
• J.K. Rowling Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• E.B. White Charlotte’s Web

The Studio 17 kids liked the three pictures I posted on
6 November
from the
Make Your Own Kaleidoscope software toy. (I gave the three girls
color printouts of their pictures to take home.) More kids requested that I
take their photos today so that they can play with their own images next
week. Here are some of the Kaleidoscopes from today:

Images Copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

My husband John and I are both delegates from our home parish of
St. Andrew’s Episcopal
Church (Saratoga, California) to the Convention of the Diocese
of El Camino Real. This weekend was our annual meeting and the first
after the ordination of our new
Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves. There were many references to the
Year of Wonder declared by Bishop Mary during our last convention.
A
Baldachino or hanging of the word WONDER was a feature of the
stage during the entire convention.

Convention takes place over a day – from late afternoon Friday through
late afternoon Saturday. The last few years, we have met in Salinas.
Our Central Coast diocese is very long and thin – running from Palo Alto
in the north to Nipomo in the south. Salinas is more-or-less convenient
(or equally inconvenient) for most delegates. There were presentations,
dignitaries, music and dancing, much prayerful discussion, knitting by
delegates, and extensive debate over the difference between majority
and plurality voting. We passed the budget in record time as well as
passing resolutions on conservation, gang violence, the
Millennium
Development Goals, Marriage Rites in Civil Jurisdictions that Permit
Same-Sex Marriages, Consents to Episcopal Elections, and matters of
pay and governance. Full texts are on the

Diocesan Convention 2008 web page.

WONDER Baldachino

Bishop Mary

Mariachi Eucharist

Anthony Guillen

Fiero Nuevo Folklorico

Fiero Nuevo Folklorico

Santa Maria Urban Ministry display

Lambeth Conference Report

Garza Family Delegates

Giraffe Presentation

Bishop and Giraffe

Holy Child Delegates

Rev. Vincent Raj speaks

Jennifer Ezell speaks

John Plocher speaks

Images Copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

This blog is the start of a new book club at
SMUM Studio 17 (Santa Maria Urban Ministry). Each of the older children
in the after school homework program has the opportunity to check out a book
from Studio 17’s book shelf, read it, then give me an oral report. Prizes are
offered! Credit will be given for each book read before Christmas break.
Prizes to be paid in a Target gift card.

The books we are starting with are:

• James Howe The Bunnicula Collection
  
  reader: Abigail – started 6 Nov
• Madeleine L’Engle A Wrinkle in Time
  
  reader: Stephanie – started 6 Nov
• C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
  
  reader: Jose – started 6 Nov
• Christopher Paolini Eragon
  
  reader: Robert – started 6 Nov
• Tamora Pierce Alanna
  
  reader: Leslie – started 6 Nov
• Tamora Pierce First Test
  
  reader: Jocelyn – started 6 Nov
• Louis Sachar Holes
  
  reader: Carlos – started 6 Nov

Some of the SMUM Studio 17 girls and I were playing with the
Make Your Own Kaleidoscope
software toy. Here are the pictures they made with images of themselves:

Images Copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson

On
14 October, I wrote about
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church’s annual Blessing of the Animals
service. St. Andrew’s has an amazing choir that sings every Sunday.
For special celebrations, St. Andrew’s sometimes presents
handbells or
bagpipes.

English handbell ringing started out around 1700 as a way for
change ringers to
practice music outside of the church tower. (You can read more about change
ringing in Dorothy Sayers’ superb mystery
The Nine Tailors,
with Lord Peter Wimsey.) St. Andrew’s handbell choir is called Bells Angels.
They play during the service several times a year, most recently two weeks ago.

St. Andrew’s hires the
Los Gatos – Monte Sereno Police Pipes and Drums marching bagpipe band
for events such as the blessing of the tartans service
in March 2008. Because Andrew
is the patron saint to Scotland, bagpipes are an appropriate instrument in a church
named for him. Some photos:

English handbells

Bells Angels in action

English handbells

St. Andrew’s Banner

Bagpipes in Church

Marching band

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Last Sunday was the popular Blessing of the Animals service at
St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church
(in Saratoga, CA). We took our cockatiel “Birdie” in her basket.

Last year, we took our cat, Valentino. The service, starting off with
a green parrot singing “Jesus Loves Me”, was predictably wild and well
attended. There were occasional dog squabbles, yips, and barks from the pews.
There were more dogs than any other animal but cats, turtles, rodents, and
even a fish came to church to honor

St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of animals.

Singing Parrot

Dog in Church

Cat Blessing

Dog Blessing

Bulldog Smile

Church Turtle

Enjoying the Service

Calm Cat

Church Hamster

Blessed Beta Fish

A Girl & Her Cat

Birdie Blessing

Birdie in the Car

Images Copyright 2008 by John Plocher and Katy Dickinson

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Please Join Us – All Are Welcome!

On
August 28, 2008, I wrote a blog entry called “Make Poverty History” about
“U2Charist” – the
U2 music and worship service
which will be at 7 pm tonight (20 September) at
Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church (13601 Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga, CA).
The funds offered at the event will benefit
Peter Kithene’s
project Mama Maria Kenya, and
Episcopal Relief & Development (ERD).

For some, it is nothing special to go to a Christian church for a service
or event, but for others this is a strange and scary prospect. For them,
I have a book to recommend:

How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook 4th Edition, Editors: Stuart M. Matlins,
Arthur J. Magida (Skylight Paths Publishing, 2006), ISBN-10: 1594731403,
ISBN-13: 978-1594731402

I have the 1999 book by the same authors: How to Be a Perfect Stranger:
A Guide to Etiquette in Other People’s Religious Ceremonies. I have
found this book helpful when attending religious celebrations outside of my
experience.

The chapter on Episcopalian and Anglican includes “Guest Behavior
During the Service” such as:

“…a guest who is not Episcoplaian/Anglican
[is]…expected to stand and
kneel with the congregation, read prayers aloud and sing with the congregants,
if this does not compromise their personal beliefs. If one does not wish to
kneel, sit when the congregants do so…”

and “General Guidelines and Advice” such as:

“Episcopalians/Anglicans are quite diverse – socially,
racially, and ethnically. Generally, they rejoice in this diversity and
celebrate it. … What represents ‘good manners’ at home would be considered
‘good manners’ in church. Politeness is the key. Appearing overly reserved
or non-communicative – which can imply disapproval – is a typical mistake
that guests can avoid….”

The Barnes and Noble
Fundraiser for Santa Maria Urban Ministry
is coming soon! This fundraiser is to collect money to finish the SMUM playground.

Since 1983 SMUM has provided basic services in the inner city
of San Jose, CA: both short-term needs such as food, clothing and transportation,
and long-term transformation through education, counseling, and after-school
and seasonal programs. SMUM serves the needs of the community and promotes
self-sufficiency. My husband and I are volunteers for SMUM’s Studio 17
after school homework and computer lab club – this is a great program!

Shop at the five Barnes and Noble stores in the San Jose area (Almaden,
Gilroy, Westgate, Pruneyard, and Stevens Creek) on
Monday, October 6. Invite your friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
If you are unable to shop on that day, you can place an order by phone at
any time from now until closing on October 6. (Be sure to mention that this
is part of the fundraiser for SMUM.) Present this voucher at Barnes and Noble
when making your purchase on 6 October:

Pictures from the 2007 ballet folklorico group dancing at last year’s
SMUM benefit sale:

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher