December 15
THE
Episcopal News Weekly WWW.EPISCOPALNEWS.COM
SERVING THE SIX-COUNTY DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES
Scan to subscribe to
The Episcopal News
DECEMBER 15, 2013
Remembering Nelson R. Mandela By Lester Mackenzie
awubona, Yebho. This is a salutation you would hear if you were to travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town, the cities where my family live and where I was born and raised. The Zulu greeting, “Sawubona” means “I see you” and the response “Ngikhona” means “I am here.” As always, when translating from one language to another, crucial subtleties are lost. Inherent in the Zulu greeting and our grateful response is the sense that until you saw me, I didn’t exist. By recognizing me, you brought me into existence. Sawubona (“We see you”) is an invitation to a deep witnessing and presence. At its deepest level this “seeing” is essential to human freedom, and at the heart of freedom for South Africans was Madiba. I remember the Trojan Horse Massacre on Thornton Road, Athlone in October 1985. All of us were at school and needed to run home because the army and police were out to get students who were protesting the government by burning tires in the streets. I remember the “whites only” signs on the beaches as we drove past in my grandfather’s brown Valiant station wagon and searched for the handful of “blacks only” beaches. I remember police coming into the rectory at St. John’s Church on Belgravia Road, Athlone, looking for my uncles and any students who
JANET KAWAMOTO
S
‘Seeds of Hope’ at Diocesan Convention: A stunning array of current challenges beckon the church to a pivotal moment, the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, retired bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Massachusetts, told Diocesan Convention on Dec. 7 in the Margaret Parker Lecture. Harris touched on and broadened many of the motifs embodied in the convention theme “Seeds of Hope,” which focused largely on projects intended to alleviate local hunger. Full coverage of convention will be in the Winter 2014 issue of The Episcopal News magazine, due out this week: visit www.episcopalnews.com.
were hiding from the security forces. The church took the lead in turning out the lights on Wednesday nights and we would stand in the streets with lit candles singing, crying and remembering all who had died. These are some of the wounds that Madiba and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission helped heal. On February 11, 1990 I stood watching Madiba speak in Cape Town in the City Center Square, calling fellow South Africans to work for peace, democracy and freedom for all. Madiba stood in front of us not as a prophet, but as a humble servant to all South Africans. Tata Madiba reminded us to believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that we can be the change. He showed us how to forgive and how to talk to those whom we call our enemies. Madiba reIn 1993, Nelson Mandela (right) met with the synod of South Africa’s Anglican minded us that everyone, Bishops in Johannesburg to share how he needed the help of the church to no matter how small or fulfill his vision. Here he greets Bishop Edward Mackenzie (grandfather of insignificant they might Lester Mackenzie), at left, and Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu. seem, has a part to play
in the work for peace. I remember sitting with my family in May 1994 listening as Madiba, our then-president, and Deputy President F.W. DeKlerk challenged all South Africans to focus our daily deeds on our goal for justice. We all carry the pain of the history of apartheid and we need to work together to rebuild our country. The time for the healing of wounds has come. The time to build is upon us. Never, never and never again shall it be that our beautiful land will experience the oppression of one by another. To have been there growing up during apartheid and to have journeyed with the stories of my elders and now to share that legacy with my children and be a seed of hope in our Episcopal Church is a blessing and a gift for me. To remember Madiba and the South African story is to remember that we are a people of song. A people who sang songs of freedom, of justice and of love. Ndiyakukhumbula Madiba. Enkosi Kakhulu uTata Madiba (I will miss you, Madiba. Thank you, father Madiba. — Xhosa language). ? The Rev. Lester V. Mackenzie is associate for emerging ministries at the Parish of St. Matthew in Pacific Palisades. He is a native of South Africa and a third-generation priest.
AROUND THE DIOCESE EVENTS ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15: 3:30 p.m. Advent Organ Series Trinity Episcopal Church 1500 State Street, Santa Barbara Information: 805.687.0189 or 965.7419 4 p.m. Concert: A Ceremony of Carols Grace Episcopal Church 555 E. Mountain View Avenue, Glendora Information: 626.335.3171
FROM THE BISHOPS
The silence of Advent By Mary D. Glasspool
A
Trinity Episcopal Church 1500 State Street, Santa Barbara Information: 805.687.0189 or 965.7419
t the beginning of most vestry retreats I am asked to facilitate, I like to have the group with whom I am working establish norms. “Norms” express the group’s expectations of how we are with one another and how we behave during the time we meet. On one such occasion, after listing some of the more common norms for meetings, such as “beginning and ending on time,” “respecting each other’s differences,” and “maintaining confidentiality,” one person suggested the following: “I would like not to be interrupted when I am speaking, and maybe we could have a few moments of silence after each person speaks.” Another member of the vestry said he understood the desire not to be interrupted, but didn’t understand the request for silence following speech. “Let me tell you why I asked for the silence,” said the member who made the suggestion. “When you jump in to say something the second I have completed what I am saying, even if you’re not interrupting me, I get the impression that you’re not really listening to me, but rather using the time during which I am speaking to formulate in your own mind what it is you want to say. If we have some silence after each person speaks, then maybe we will really listen to each other and hear what is being said.” We live in a wordy world. Wherever we go we are surrounded by words: words that are
More listings are at right; additional event information is at www.ladiocese.org (Calendars).
EVENTS ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21:
4 p.m. Jazz@George’s St. George’s Episcopal Church 23802 Avenida de la Carlota, Laguna Hills Information: www.jazzministry.org 4 p.m. Blue Christmas Service Trinity Episcopal Church 419 South Fourth Street, Redlands information: 909.793.2014 5 p.m. Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas St. Ambrose Episcopal Church 830 West Bonita Avenue, Claremont Information: 909.626.7170 ext. 222 5 p.m. Advent Evening Service All Saints Episcopal Church 132 N. Euclid Avenue, Pasadena Information: 626.583.2750 5 p.m. Blue Christmas Mass Episcopal Church of the Messiah 614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana Information: 714.543.9389 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 7 p.m.
The Gooden School’s Lessons and Carols St. Rita’s Church 318 N. Baldwin Avenue, Sierra Madre Information: 626.355.2410
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 7:30 - 9 p.m.
Christmas Carol Sing-along & Wassail Party
THE
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 50
Episcopal News Weekly Editor: Janet Kawamoto, [email protected] Correspondent: The Rev. Patricia McCaughan, [email protected] Art Director: Molly Ruttan-Moffat, www.mollyruttan.com Advertising: Bob Williams, [email protected]
5:30 p.m. Las Posadas Episcopal Church of the Messiah 614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana 714.543.9389
8 p.m. Praetorius’ Christmas Vespers St. John’s ProCathedral 514 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles Information: 213.477.2929
Spain in the Age of Faith St. Edmund’s Church, San Marino, invites you on the most enjoyable tour of southern Spain ever.
The Diocese of Los Angeles has a full-service Credit Union. The Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union has been in existence since 1994, and any Episcopalian in the diocese can join.
ECFCU offers a full line of financial products: Saving and Checking Accounts Free Income Tax Preparation Holiday Club Accounts Debit/ATM Cards Individual Credit Counseling 24-Hour Telephone Information On-Line Banking
6 p.m. Posadas Holy Trinity Episcopal Church 100 North Third Street, Covina 626.967.3939
5 p.m. Advent Festival of Lesson and Carols St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church 7501 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood
Did you know?
spoken, written, or sung; words that are whispered, shouted, loudly proclaimed or angrily screamed; words to be heard, read, seen, or glanced at; words that flicker off and on, move slowly, follow the bouncing ball, or flash across a neon screen. Words, words, words. Yet it is silence that is the home of any word. Silence gives strength and fruitfulness to the word. Words are born out of silence and can lead deeper into the mystery of the silence from which they come. The Word of God is born out of the eternal silence of God, and it is to this Word out of silence that we seek to be witnesses. But we must know the silence first before we can hear and receive the Word. And we must find that silence deep within us before we give birth to the Word enfleshed in us. Advent is not a time to declare, to tell God things, to “keep God posted” on where we are. Advent is a time to listen to whatever God may want to tell us through the darkness of the night, the whispering of an angel, the awareness of an internal life. Listen. Quietly. Humbly. Without arrogance. In silence. Not a silence in which we are formulating what it is we want to say to God, but a silence in which we are listening for God, to God, with God. It is out of that silence that the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. ?
Bill Pay Auto Loans Signature Loans Business Loans Wire Transfers Financial Education
800-366-1536 ext. 254 www.efcula.org
13 days: June 16 - 28, 2014 Visits to Madrid, Avila, Segovia, Seville, Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Toledo and more, including Spain’s most glorious art. For a brochure, contact [email protected] with your name and address
Episcopal News Weekly WWW.EPISCOPALNEWS.COM
SERVING THE SIX-COUNTY DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES
Scan to subscribe to
The Episcopal News
DECEMBER 15, 2013
Remembering Nelson R. Mandela By Lester Mackenzie
awubona, Yebho. This is a salutation you would hear if you were to travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town, the cities where my family live and where I was born and raised. The Zulu greeting, “Sawubona” means “I see you” and the response “Ngikhona” means “I am here.” As always, when translating from one language to another, crucial subtleties are lost. Inherent in the Zulu greeting and our grateful response is the sense that until you saw me, I didn’t exist. By recognizing me, you brought me into existence. Sawubona (“We see you”) is an invitation to a deep witnessing and presence. At its deepest level this “seeing” is essential to human freedom, and at the heart of freedom for South Africans was Madiba. I remember the Trojan Horse Massacre on Thornton Road, Athlone in October 1985. All of us were at school and needed to run home because the army and police were out to get students who were protesting the government by burning tires in the streets. I remember the “whites only” signs on the beaches as we drove past in my grandfather’s brown Valiant station wagon and searched for the handful of “blacks only” beaches. I remember police coming into the rectory at St. John’s Church on Belgravia Road, Athlone, looking for my uncles and any students who
JANET KAWAMOTO
S
‘Seeds of Hope’ at Diocesan Convention: A stunning array of current challenges beckon the church to a pivotal moment, the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, retired bishop suffragan of the Diocese of Massachusetts, told Diocesan Convention on Dec. 7 in the Margaret Parker Lecture. Harris touched on and broadened many of the motifs embodied in the convention theme “Seeds of Hope,” which focused largely on projects intended to alleviate local hunger. Full coverage of convention will be in the Winter 2014 issue of The Episcopal News magazine, due out this week: visit www.episcopalnews.com.
were hiding from the security forces. The church took the lead in turning out the lights on Wednesday nights and we would stand in the streets with lit candles singing, crying and remembering all who had died. These are some of the wounds that Madiba and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission helped heal. On February 11, 1990 I stood watching Madiba speak in Cape Town in the City Center Square, calling fellow South Africans to work for peace, democracy and freedom for all. Madiba stood in front of us not as a prophet, but as a humble servant to all South Africans. Tata Madiba reminded us to believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that we can be the change. He showed us how to forgive and how to talk to those whom we call our enemies. Madiba reIn 1993, Nelson Mandela (right) met with the synod of South Africa’s Anglican minded us that everyone, Bishops in Johannesburg to share how he needed the help of the church to no matter how small or fulfill his vision. Here he greets Bishop Edward Mackenzie (grandfather of insignificant they might Lester Mackenzie), at left, and Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu. seem, has a part to play
in the work for peace. I remember sitting with my family in May 1994 listening as Madiba, our then-president, and Deputy President F.W. DeKlerk challenged all South Africans to focus our daily deeds on our goal for justice. We all carry the pain of the history of apartheid and we need to work together to rebuild our country. The time for the healing of wounds has come. The time to build is upon us. Never, never and never again shall it be that our beautiful land will experience the oppression of one by another. To have been there growing up during apartheid and to have journeyed with the stories of my elders and now to share that legacy with my children and be a seed of hope in our Episcopal Church is a blessing and a gift for me. To remember Madiba and the South African story is to remember that we are a people of song. A people who sang songs of freedom, of justice and of love. Ndiyakukhumbula Madiba. Enkosi Kakhulu uTata Madiba (I will miss you, Madiba. Thank you, father Madiba. — Xhosa language). ? The Rev. Lester V. Mackenzie is associate for emerging ministries at the Parish of St. Matthew in Pacific Palisades. He is a native of South Africa and a third-generation priest.
AROUND THE DIOCESE EVENTS ON SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15: 3:30 p.m. Advent Organ Series Trinity Episcopal Church 1500 State Street, Santa Barbara Information: 805.687.0189 or 965.7419 4 p.m. Concert: A Ceremony of Carols Grace Episcopal Church 555 E. Mountain View Avenue, Glendora Information: 626.335.3171
FROM THE BISHOPS
The silence of Advent By Mary D. Glasspool
A
Trinity Episcopal Church 1500 State Street, Santa Barbara Information: 805.687.0189 or 965.7419
t the beginning of most vestry retreats I am asked to facilitate, I like to have the group with whom I am working establish norms. “Norms” express the group’s expectations of how we are with one another and how we behave during the time we meet. On one such occasion, after listing some of the more common norms for meetings, such as “beginning and ending on time,” “respecting each other’s differences,” and “maintaining confidentiality,” one person suggested the following: “I would like not to be interrupted when I am speaking, and maybe we could have a few moments of silence after each person speaks.” Another member of the vestry said he understood the desire not to be interrupted, but didn’t understand the request for silence following speech. “Let me tell you why I asked for the silence,” said the member who made the suggestion. “When you jump in to say something the second I have completed what I am saying, even if you’re not interrupting me, I get the impression that you’re not really listening to me, but rather using the time during which I am speaking to formulate in your own mind what it is you want to say. If we have some silence after each person speaks, then maybe we will really listen to each other and hear what is being said.” We live in a wordy world. Wherever we go we are surrounded by words: words that are
More listings are at right; additional event information is at www.ladiocese.org (Calendars).
EVENTS ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 21:
4 p.m. Jazz@George’s St. George’s Episcopal Church 23802 Avenida de la Carlota, Laguna Hills Information: www.jazzministry.org 4 p.m. Blue Christmas Service Trinity Episcopal Church 419 South Fourth Street, Redlands information: 909.793.2014 5 p.m. Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmas St. Ambrose Episcopal Church 830 West Bonita Avenue, Claremont Information: 909.626.7170 ext. 222 5 p.m. Advent Evening Service All Saints Episcopal Church 132 N. Euclid Avenue, Pasadena Information: 626.583.2750 5 p.m. Blue Christmas Mass Episcopal Church of the Messiah 614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana Information: 714.543.9389 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 7 p.m.
The Gooden School’s Lessons and Carols St. Rita’s Church 318 N. Baldwin Avenue, Sierra Madre Information: 626.355.2410
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 7:30 - 9 p.m.
Christmas Carol Sing-along & Wassail Party
THE
VOLUME 2, NUMBER 50
Episcopal News Weekly Editor: Janet Kawamoto, [email protected] Correspondent: The Rev. Patricia McCaughan, [email protected] Art Director: Molly Ruttan-Moffat, www.mollyruttan.com Advertising: Bob Williams, [email protected]
5:30 p.m. Las Posadas Episcopal Church of the Messiah 614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana 714.543.9389
8 p.m. Praetorius’ Christmas Vespers St. John’s ProCathedral 514 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles Information: 213.477.2929
Spain in the Age of Faith St. Edmund’s Church, San Marino, invites you on the most enjoyable tour of southern Spain ever.
The Diocese of Los Angeles has a full-service Credit Union. The Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union has been in existence since 1994, and any Episcopalian in the diocese can join.
ECFCU offers a full line of financial products: Saving and Checking Accounts Free Income Tax Preparation Holiday Club Accounts Debit/ATM Cards Individual Credit Counseling 24-Hour Telephone Information On-Line Banking
6 p.m. Posadas Holy Trinity Episcopal Church 100 North Third Street, Covina 626.967.3939
5 p.m. Advent Festival of Lesson and Carols St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church 7501 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood
Did you know?
spoken, written, or sung; words that are whispered, shouted, loudly proclaimed or angrily screamed; words to be heard, read, seen, or glanced at; words that flicker off and on, move slowly, follow the bouncing ball, or flash across a neon screen. Words, words, words. Yet it is silence that is the home of any word. Silence gives strength and fruitfulness to the word. Words are born out of silence and can lead deeper into the mystery of the silence from which they come. The Word of God is born out of the eternal silence of God, and it is to this Word out of silence that we seek to be witnesses. But we must know the silence first before we can hear and receive the Word. And we must find that silence deep within us before we give birth to the Word enfleshed in us. Advent is not a time to declare, to tell God things, to “keep God posted” on where we are. Advent is a time to listen to whatever God may want to tell us through the darkness of the night, the whispering of an angel, the awareness of an internal life. Listen. Quietly. Humbly. Without arrogance. In silence. Not a silence in which we are formulating what it is we want to say to God, but a silence in which we are listening for God, to God, with God. It is out of that silence that the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. ?
Bill Pay Auto Loans Signature Loans Business Loans Wire Transfers Financial Education
800-366-1536 ext. 254 www.efcula.org
13 days: June 16 - 28, 2014 Visits to Madrid, Avila, Segovia, Seville, Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Toledo and more, including Spain’s most glorious art. For a brochure, contact [email protected] with your name and address
