Category Archives: Church

As a lifelong Episcopalian,
I know there is one sure way to quiet down a meeting, you say:
The Lord be with you. Everyone will immediately shush and reply:
And also with you. It’s like magic. You can have 300 Episcopalians
chatting in a room but as soon as someone steps to the microphone and says
The Lord be with you, the meeting starts and everyone settles down.
In non-church life, there are rough equivalents but nothing quite so effective.
I find a rousing shout of Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the meeting
will now begin! works OK but not as well.

On Saturday, my husband and I attended the 16th anniversary dinner and dance
to celebrate the founding of
Holy Child Episcopal Church, a Filipino-American mission congregation
in San Jose, CA. I found that they have an additional crowd quieting
call-and-response ritual which works very well. The Rev. Ruth Casipit-Paguio stood at
the microphone and said God is good! and the ballroom (which until
a minute before had been full of conversations and laughter) chorused back
All the time! She then reponded with All the time! and they
cheered back God is good! Then, everyone was quiet to hear what
Ruth had to say.

The Rev. Ruth Casipit-Paguio is the Vicar of Holy Child. Ruth is the first
Filipino-American woman clergy ordained in California and only the third in the
USA. I had the honor of participating in her ordination to the priesthood
a year ago. Ruth is a capable and energetic leader but also a modest person.
Having more than one crowd quieting ritual available must be of help to her.

Saturday’s dinner-dance seemed like a big success. There was a live band and
a DJ, raffles and plaques to honor notables, Bishop-elect

Mary Gray-Reeves spoke, as did Holy Child’s founding Vicar
(and the current national church Director of Ethnic Congregational Development)

Rev. Fred Vergara, as did

Joe Esteves, Mayor of Milpitas, and Holy Child Senior Warden, Angie
Dela Cruz. The food was very good, the dancing was fun (yes, Bishop
Mary can dance!), and the company was charming.

The All Saints’ Episcopal Church
Library used book sale and free lemonade stand last weekend was a
success in many dimensions. We intentionally priced the donated books low
($1/hardcover, 50 cents for paperbacks) but we still took in our
highest amount ever:

• 2007 book sale: $1225
• 2006 book sale: $1117
• 2005 book sale: $1009
• 2004 book sale: $643

$1225 represents maybe 700 people who came to browse or buy last
weekend during the annual Palo Alto Festival of the Arts. About a dozen
book browsers also asked to talk with the Rector, wanted a
church tour, or sought more information about the courtyard

labyrinth. The book sale made the church available to people in a
comfortable way. Evangelism comes hard for us
Episcopalians (who are
sometimes jokingly referred to as God’s “frozen chosen”). Talking
about books and making new friends over lemonade is easier.

I don’t know how many people came because of
the two craigslist entries
I posted but that may have helped boost sales.

Come by and buy books from me tomorrow!

Used Book Sale (All Saints’ Library)

25-26 August 2007 (Saturday and Sunday)

11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

All Saints’ Episcopal Church presents its annual Used Book Sale
along with a free Lemonade Stand during the weekend of the
Palo Alto Festival of the Arts.

Hardcovers are $1 Paperbacks are 50 cents.
Some collectibles for higher prices. Bag sale after 4 p.m. Sunday.

http://asaints.org/
555 Waverley (between University/Hamilton)
Palo Alto, CA

Hope to see you there!

In 2003, Bishop Richard Shimpfky asked me to become the Convener for the
Department of Intercultural Evangelism and Ministry
(DIEM)
of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR). Since then, in addition to its day-to-day work, DIEM has been discussing its vision and mission, plus how to improve the structure, policies and procedures, financial and administrative oversight, and support for our diocesan
missions. At ECR’s convention in October 2006, a new diocesan structure was
approved, including a change in DIEM. After the October 2007 convention, DIEM will
be renamed the Department of Missions (DOM) with a new charter. We have been
discussing and composing our charter documents since October 2006.

At DIEM’s meeting last Saturday, we approved the following Vision and Mission
statements along with our proposed new structure for DOM. We are looking forward
to making this vision real with the help of our new Bishop-elect
Mary Gray-Reeves.

Department of Missions: Vision

• That a rich variety of congregations be developed to include diversity in language and culture.
• That congregations will intentionally worship and work across cultural lines, listening to and learning from each other, collaborating and working to fulfill the
  Great Commission.
• That the diocese will encourage and support the spiritual and organizational growth of its new and existing mission congregations while respecting the need for good stewardship of both mission and diocesan resources.
• That mission congregations will be encouraged and supported to grow toward parish status to the greatest extent possible.

Department of Missions: Mission

We seek to serve and equip the people of the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real for ministry in our multi-ethnic society, by providing:

• Oversight of missions, including financial and organizational management
• Resources and financial accountability for missions (including distribution of
  budgeted diocesan funding for operations)
• Practical ideas and information for missions, especially for those sharing a campus with another congregation
• Help to plant new congregations and develop existing missions
• Assistance in developing partnerships between congregations of different ethnicities and among individuals and churches ministering to specific groups
• Awareness and proposals for response to demographic patterns and shifts within our diocese (racial, ethnic, language, and other patterns)
• Visibility for missions and promotion of their wider participation in diocesan convention and operations
• Support for verbal and written translation services to communicate with diocesan congregations in their primary language (as needed) and avoid barriers to participation. This is of particular importance for diocesan press releases, Bishop’s monthly messages, pastoral letters, convention summaries, major policy documents, diocesan surveys, and similar official communications.

We wrote the first versions of these vision and mission statements in 2004.
I am delighted to have them done, approved, and published at last on the
DIEM web page. On this day before the

American Independence holiday celebrating the

Declaration of Independence, I feel a small shadow of the satisfaction
Thomas Jefferson
must have felt when everyone signed, 231 years ago tomorrow.

I am delighted that
The Venerable Mary Gray-Reeves won today’s election for 3rd Bishop of the
Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR)!
Hooray!

If you check out ECR’s

Ballot Results, you will see we almost elected her on the first ballot:
we were just three votes shy of the required majority. There had been so much
discussion back and forth these last two weeks about whom to prefer between
The Venerable Mary and The Reverend David, I was surprised that the first
ballot was so lopsided. The Venerable Mary Gray-Reeves will start her
episcopacy with a strong mandate.

Because the

“Rules of Order in the Convention” were so strict, there was no discussion
during the convention except quietly between people in the rows of chairs.
We opened with a communion service by our
beloved and funny
Bishop Romero (The Rt. Rev. Sylvestre Romero-Palma, who has been
acting as ECR’s Assisting Bishop). As usual, the singing was excellent.
Being in a room of over 300 people who can sing harmony without practice
from printed music is entirely charming.

After instructions on how to complete
the ballots followed by prayer, we used paper forms for the first ballot
(laity light blue, clergy darker blue), when complete these were
deposited in open boxes. We then waited 45 minutes for the results.
Those who were not delegates had to wait in a nearby room but they could
join us outside between ballots.

It felt so odd to have to wait so long for a simple count. I am too
used to computers. However, it was fun to talk and visit with the
rest of the convention delegates. I had briefly glanced at this
morning’s Mercury News
article about the election:
“Episcopalians seeking bishop to help mend fractured diocese”,
By Kim Vo. During the counting time I talked with someone who had been
interviewed for that news story.

The mood of the convention was much brighter after the first ballot
results were announced. We had been worried that the election might even
take more than one meeting to complete. After instructions on how to complete
the ballots followed by prayer, we used paper forms for the second ballot
(laity yellow, clergy goldenrod). After another long wait outside, we returned to
the convention floor to hear the tally – with guidance from the Holy Spirit,
we had elected a new Bishop! There was an immediate standing ovation. The
convention delegates signed the testamonials and then heard the

acceptance speech in English and Spanish from our very excited Bishop-Elect
by phone. We also heard some gracious and funny words from

The Reverend David Breuer (who also got a standing ovation) and
a closing statement from Bishop Romero (who also got a standing ovation).
It seemed like everyone was smiling; there was much hugging and happy excitement.

Instead of lunch being between ballots, the election was done at just about
noon so the food was distributed in bags after the close of convention and
everyone got to go home early! This has been a delightful and inspiring day.

The election for the 3rd Bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of El Camino Real (ECR) is tomorrow,
Saturday, 16 June. Email evaluations of the
5 candidates have been passing
between the congregation members and the lay delegates and clergy of my
home parish, All Saints’ (Palo Alto) all week.
I feel blessed to receive so much prayerful and wise advice.

I have been reading
The Book of Common Prayer on the

Ordination of a Bishop. It is the people of the diocese who present the bishop-elect to the Presiding Bishop for
ordination
saying: “…the clergy and
people of the Diocese of name, trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit,
have chosen name to be a bishop and chief pastor. We therefore ask you to
lay your hands upon him and in the power of the Holy Spirit to consecrate him a
bishop in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.”

Tomorrow, we choose. There is an

Ballot Results ECR web page to check since electronic communication from
the convention floor is forbidden by the

“Rules of Order in the Convention”.