Tag Archives: St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

December 28, 2013 · 11:08 am

After Christmas

Only a few Christmas presents are left to be distributed. We sadly bid farewell to Jessica and Matthew, who have traveled back to their jobs. John and Paul and I are still happily investigating our own presents here at home. For me, this means watching the Joss Whedon’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and the four movie set of The Hollow Crown (Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, “Henry IV” i and ii, and “Henry V”). Yesterday, John posted his code and instructions on how to program a Christmas tree, on: http://www.spcoast.com/wiki/index.php/Christmas2013. Paul is enjoying post-final-exams, pre-quarter-start downtime. John and I went out on a movie date to see “Ender’s Game”, which was a good representation of that disturbing and superb book. It is pleasant to have some quiet days together.

Highway Angels

The Highway Angels of St.Andrew’s met at 7 am this morning to clean up our adopted section of California Highway 85, near the Saratoga Avenue exit. This was my first time picking up trash along the freeway and, despite our very early start, it was fun and interesting. Since 1999, our church has participated in the Adopt a Highway program, sending out a volunteer crew with trashbags, hardhats, tongs, and yellow safety vests about once a month.

Most of what we picked up was paper (cups and food wrappers, cardboard) and plastic bags, plus bits of metal, glass, and plastic off of cars. There were very few recycleables and only two big items – an old rug and a cardboard box. We found one empty wallet and quite a few gift cards: 2 from Starbucks, one from Jamba Juice, and one from Powell’s Sweet Shoppe. I also found a library card, a dime and a marble but everything else was trash. I shared a road section with Bob who started the Highway Angels ministry, who said he once found a $100 bill – which he donated to St. Andrew’s. We left the trash bagged along the road for Caltrans to pick up next week.

While pulling plastic bags out of the bushes, I thought about how much cleaner the public roads are than when I was a kid. I remember on our cross-country drives at night, the highways back then were lined with cans and bottles reflecting in the headlights. The strong culture of recycle-reuse-reduce has eliminated most of that, in California at least.

Reading Dickens’ “Christmas Carol” Aloud

The St.Andrew’s Shakespeare Reading Group decided to read Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” in honor of the season. Above you can see our hostess, Melita Thorpe, with John Watson-Williams dressed for his lead role as Ebenezer Scrooge. It took about 4-1/2 hours to read the entire short novel aloud (with breaks between staves for refreshments and a potluck dinner). We considered using one of the plays but decided that reading Dickens original 1843 text was better – since the plays both add and remove some of Dickens’ excellent prose. We distributed the text among our dozen readers:

Taking turns reading narration (about half a page before going to the next reader).
Dialogue was spoken as assigned parts. Some famous parts (including the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come) have no spoken lines. We doubled up on small roles.

It was a delightful evening! Several of us plan to follow up by going to the Dickens Christmas Fair (at the Cow Palace) and to the ACT “Christmas Carol” stage play in San Francisco.

Dunk the Bishop and Other Convention Activities

Last weekend, the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real on California’s central coast held its 2013 convention – and celebrated the start of our seventh year under the inspiring leadership of Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves. I have been honored to be elected to serve as a convention delegate (or alternate) for the last ten years. My home parish of St. Andrew’s hosted the convention this year in Saratoga.

ECR includes 13,000 people in 47 congregations:

The Diocese of El Camino Real stretches from south of San Francisco to north of Santa Barbara. The congregations of El Camino Real are found in the five counties of San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey. Although the youngest diocese in California, ECR’s Trinity Cathedral, in San Jose, is the oldest cathedral structure in the State of California.

Conventions are for celebration of our ministry, updates, and managing the business of the church. However, this year we also enjoyed dunking Bishop Mary. She gamely “volunteered” to get wet as a fundraiser for our youth mission trip. Tickets were sold: $10 for 3 balls to try to dunk, or $20 not to dunk the Bishop. The youth raised $1,200 from ticket sales in one night! As always, the Rev. Stephenie Cooper and my husband John Plocher were the “Assistant Secretaries for Everything Else” – that is, running the computers and displays for the ECR convention.

Other more-conventional (ahem) activities included:

Celebrating the two month visit of The Rev. Fred Kalibwami to ECR from the Diocese of Western Tanganyika (DWT)
Bishop Mary’s annual address to the diocese, including announcing the purchase of Sargent House for the Bishop’s new offices in Salinas.
Honors to notable volunteers and lifetime contributors:
- Bishop’s Cross Recipients: The Rev. Roger Barney, and The Rev. Canon Linda Taylor
- Simple Servant Awards: Don and Diane Cooley, and Rosemary Tisch
Lunch gathering of the Education for Ministry mentors in ECR (including me!)
Reports on key ministries – outreach to the jails, campus ministry at four universities, and caring for the poor and homeless in our communities.
Election of delegates to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (held every three years). I was elected as first Alternate for the 2015 General Convention.
Displays by diocesan and charity groups, plus sales of crafts and Bishop Mary’s newest book Unearthing My Religion

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October 20, 2013 · 8:38 pm

Honoring My Parents with Sacred Threads

Two of the twelve newly-embroidered chairs dedicated at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Saratoga, California) today were donated by my husband and me in honor of my parents: Wade and Eleanor Dickinson. The replacement chair seats were created as part of the Sacred Threads project. The new chair seat designs are inspired by the 1957-era stained glass church windows by Mark Adams. I think my mother was pleased to sit in a chair with her name on it!

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September 1, 2013 · 4:12 pm

Honored Women’s Day

On 17 August 2013, the Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real held the 8th annual event to celebrate its women. Honored Women’s Day was held at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church in Salinas, California. The gathering was organized by the diocesan Episcopal Church Women. Sixteen awards were presented by Wanda Bryan for dedicated leadership and inspiring volunteerism. The day include a worship service lead by the Right Reverend Bishop Mary Gray-Reeves who blessed the women of the diocese. Some of the awards were for lifetime service but young women were also acknowledged for their remarkable contributions. One lady was represented by a cardboard cutout and another by her granddaughter as they were not well enough to attend.

Before the awards, there was a brief reading of “Yet We Persist”, a 2009 historical reflection on Episcopal Church Women by Katerina Katsarka Whitley that opens with

Voice 1: We are called old-fashioned;
Voice 2: We are called passe;
Voice 3: We are thought of as irrelevant;
Together: Yet, we persist. Why?
Narrator: Our history declares that we cannot be ignored, that we have relevance, and that the church could not have functioned without us.
Voice 1: Look at Mission in the past two centuries: Without us, who would have cared for the needs of missionary families?
Voice 2: Who would have raised the money?
Voice 4: Without us, who would have worried about young girls and children working in factories?
Voice 2: Who would have raised the money?
Voice 5: Without us, who would have taken action against the sickness of alcohol and its damage to families?
Voice 2: Who would have raised the money?
Voice 4: Who would have worked to claim the vote for women?

The “Yet We Persist” story starts in 1867 and tells of the hundred years of letter writing, lobbying, disappointments, but persistent efforts to have women deputies finally seated in the Episcopal General Convention in 1967, and the further work required for women to be ordained as priests in 1976. In 1989, the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris of the Diocese of Massachusetts became the first woman Bishop of the Episcopal Church – and of the worldwide Anglican Communion. “Yet We Persist” ends in 2006, when the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori became the Episcopal Presiding Bishop and the first woman elected as a primate in the Anglican Communion. It was an inspiring presentation and inspiring day.

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March 21, 2013 · 4:00 pm

Pre-Easter (aka Lent)

We are getting ready for our annual family Easter Egg Hunt here in Willow Glen (San Jose, California): tidying the garden, coordinating schedules with guests and family, thinking about menus and decorations. This Lent (the forty days before Easter), I am also enjoying the unique Episcopal devotion called Lent Madness:

Lent Madness began in 2010 as the brainchild of the Rev. Tim Schenck. In seeking a fun, engaging way for people to learn about the men and women comprising the Church’s Calendar of Saints, Tim came up with this unique Lenten devotion. Combining his love of sports with his passion for the lives of the saints, Lent Madness was born on his blog “Clergy Family Confidential.”

The format is straightforward: 32 saints are placed into a tournament-like single elimination bracket. Each pairing remains open for a set period of time and people vote for their favorite saint. 16 saints make it to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen; eight advance to the Round of the Elate Eight; four make it to the Faithful Four; two to the Championship; and the winner is awarded the coveted Golden Halo. The first round consists of basic biographical information about each of the 32 saints. Things get a bit more interesting in the subsequent rounds as we offer quotes and quirks, explore legends, and even move into the area of saintly kitsch.

Today’s contest is “Hilda of Whitby vs. Harriet Tubman“. It sounds silly and it is (but I am also learning more than I ever knew about the inspiring lives of 32 men and women who have given their lives to the service of God).

My flowers in full bloom for Easter:

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Tag Archives: St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church

After Christmas

Highway Angels

Reading Dickens’ “Christmas Carol” Aloud

Dunk the Bishop and Other Convention Activities

Honoring My Parents with Sacred Threads

Honored Women’s Day

Pre-Easter (aka Lent)

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