What Is Your Reaction When Someone Wrongs You?

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What Is Your Reaction When Someone Wrongs You?
Psalm 52

Judgment on the Deceitful
To the leader. A Maskil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

1 Why do you boast, O mighty one,
of mischief done against the godly?
All day long 2 you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
you worker of treachery.
3 You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking the truth. Selah
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.

5 But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous will see, and fear,
and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,
7 “See the one who would not take
refuge in God,
but trusted in abundant riches,
and sought refuge in wealth!”

8 But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever,
because of what you have done.
In the presence of the faithful
I will proclaim your name, for it is good.
– – – – – –

David wrote this Psalm in reaction to a personal betrayal. Fearing for his life in Saul’s court after yet another attempted murder (see the book of 1 Samuel), David took refuge in the home of Ahimelech, the high priest. The chief herdsman, Doeg, informed Saul that David had taken refuge with Ahimelech, and accused the priest of confederacy with a traitor. Saul responded by ordering Doeg himself to kill all the priests.

David was clearly angry and wrote his reactions in this Psalm. But besides anger and despair, in the midst of all of his sorrows, David also finds joy. He triumphs and rejoices, full of life like a green olive tree, and gives thanks. He writes his anger into his song, blasting those who betray and lie. But David also uses his individual circumstance as an illustration of choices we make every day: One can take refuge in God, or in riches of power and wealth. For individuals or nations, the choice to live with God will make us rejoice!

  • What is your reaction when someone wrongs you?
  • How can you turn to rejoice in God’s love amidst human drama and betrayal?
This Bible study, written by Christopher Sikkema

Hundreds of Bishops & Episcopalians March, Calling for an End to Gun Violence

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Hundreds of Bishops & Episcopalians March, Calling for an End to Gun Violence
 A murder on July 7 near the site of General Convention and the urging of two bishops, including one who happened upon the scene as it unfolded, prompted a march of hundreds of people from the Baltimore Convention Center to an open area a few blocks from the scene of the shooting, coordinated by Bishops United Against Gun Violence.

According to news reports, 48-year-old Timothy Reynolds was shot and killed after an altercation with two young men who were washing drivers’ windshields at an intersection near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, about two blocks from the Baltimore Convention Center where the 80th General Convention is taking place July 8-11. After words were exchanged, Reynolds got out of his car and swung a baseball bat in the direction of those who sometimes are called “squeegee workers,” one of whom shot Reynolds. He later was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

When marchers, who had been joined by local journalists, some onlookers and curious tourists, reached an area deemed large enough to accommodate the crowd, Perry noted the march was taking place “to remember all the victims – those where were attacked by a baseball bat, and for the folks who shot a person who died, for the structures of poverty and racism that cause things like this to happen, but mostly because of the ready, accessible nature of guns in our country.”

EC Bishop PraysBishop Susan Haynes of Southern Virginia, who happened upon the scene of yesterday’s murder, reads a passage from Isaiah. 

Bishop Susan Haynes of the Diocese of Southern Virginia told Episcopal News Service that she was walking back to her hotel yesterday afternoon when she saw first responders approaching a nearby intersection. She then noticed a body lying in the street and paramedics beginning to administer CPR, later placing the man into an ambulance. “I just felt the need to stay there and pray, because there was nothing else I could do,” she said. “I had a sense that this man was dying, and he needed to have prayer as he died.” Then, she said she “spoke a word of encouragement to the police officers and thanked them for their work.”

Do You Cultivate The Fruits of the Spirit?

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Do You Cultivate The Fruits of the Spirit?

Colossians 1:1-14

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2 To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. 7 This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
– – – – – –

This letter, which claims Paul as an author, is written to the church in Colossae. We hear in this introduction that Paul and Timothy heard that the church here has become a faithful and love-filled community of believers, thanks to the work of Epaphras. Colossae was a haven for mystery cults at the time this letter was written, and the intent of the author is to stave off any wrong ideas about who Jesus was, is, and will be.The introduction of this letter focuses on three things: thankfulness, the importance of unceasing prayer, and the efficacy of the wisdom and strength of God in enabling believers to do good works and live worthy lives. It contains a beautiful prayer for the community at Colossae (vv 9 – 14) containing these themes. In this letter, prayer becomes a connection between the authors, the recipients, and the church as a whole, through God and the saints. It encourages gratitude as the posture of the Christian and reminds the readers of Jesus’ work of rescue and liberation for each of them.

  • Concern about how communities of Christians understand Jesus comes up repeatedly in the New Testament writings. Who is Jesus to you?
  • This passage links prayer, thankfulness, and good works. What do you see as the relationship between these things, in this reading and in your own life?
This Bible study, written by Kirstin Swanson

Bishops call for end to Ukraine conflict, approve racial equity resolutions

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Bishops call for end to Ukraine conflict, approve racial equity resolutions
                             JHT_HofB_070922_md_byPatM image

The House of Bishops, moving rapidly through their June 9 legislative calendar, called for an end to the conflict in Ukraine and concurred with deputies to approve racial equity resolutions, marking a new chapter for The Episcopal Church.

On the 80th General Convention’s second legislative day, bishops approved Resolution A129 which directs presiding officers and the Church Pension Fund to conduct historical research on the ways in which financial and other assets of The Episcopal Church are directly tied to the enslavement of humans, the slave trade, and historical and current racial injustices, allocating $150,000 for the work.

An amended Resolution B008, “A Call for Cessation of Conflict in Ukraine,” offered by the Committee on Social Justice and International Policy, elicited lively debate.

The Rt. Rev. Mark D. W. Eddington, bishop of the Convocation of Churches in Europe, said he supported the amendment but cautioned: “We will all agree that Russia is uniquely responsible for a war of aggression in Ukraine. However, atrocities in war have a funny habit of being equal opportunity employers.

“I’m concerned that as a church our role ought to be to call on all sides in this conflict to cease war immediately. That’s the call of the Gospel and, while I support this resolution as amended, I want to offer caution that, after this is over, we will have to continue to work with churches in Russia and Ukraine and this makes it a little more difficult for us to be an even-handed broker.”

Another amendment, to remove a paragraph calling upon “the leaders of the Russian Federation and its supporters” to cease aggression and to begin negotiations, was challenged by Los Angeles Bishop John Harvey Taylor and ultimately defeated. Taylor said: “I find it difficult to imagine we can’t find a way both to identify the cause of initial aggression as well as to call upon both sides to behave humanely.”

Read more here.

Diocesan Commission To Host Mental Health Justice Town Hall, July 19th via Zoom

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Diocesan Commission To Host Mental Health Justice Town Hall
Tuesday, July 19th via Zoom; All Welcome To Attend

A Mental Health Justice Town Hall – set to underscore professional best practices for dealing with mental health crises often referred to local police – will be hosted via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 19, by the Bishop’s Commission on Gospel Justice and Community Care of the Diocese of Los Angeles. All are invited to attend; registration links will be published on the diocesan website.

The town hall will be opened by Bishop John Harvey Taylor, who will introduce a pre-recorded video presentation by U.S. Congresswoman Katie Porter, who represents the 45th congressional district in Orange County. An Episcopalian, Porter has long advocated for deploying mental health professionals to respond when people living with psychological issues need assistance or restraint.

Porter’s remarks will be followed by a live discussion with panelists Taun Hill, founder of the Miles Hall Foundation in memory of her late son who during a mental health crisis was fatally shot by police; Gigi Crowder, executive director of the National Alliance of Mental Illness, (NAMI), Contra Costa County; and Pete Cohen, retired sergeant, San Diego Police Department.

Read more here.

Do You Cultivate The Fruits of the Spirit?

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Do You Cultivate The Fruits of the Spirit?

Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16

1 My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if those who are nothing think they are something, they deceive themselves. 4 All must test their own work; then that work, rather than their neighbor’s work, will become a cause for pride. 5 For all must carry their own loads.

6 Those who are taught the word must share in all good things with their teacher.

7 Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. 8 If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. 10 So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.

11 See what large letters I make when I am writing in my own hand! 12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that try to compel you to be circumcised—only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 Even the circumcised do not themselves obey the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast about your flesh. 14 May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything! 16 As for those who will follow this rule—peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

– – – – – –

Like many people who grew up in the church in America, I grew up in an environment that imposes our socio-political context on the Scriptures. Paul’s letter to the Galatians was not immune from being funneled through a myopic, individualist lens. The first half was misinterpreted to mean that each person should “do their own work” or “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” However, Paul’s intentions were quite the opposite. Paul is motivated by the desire to see communal unity. At the beginning of the letter, we remember that Paul is writing to people struggling to accept non-circumcised Jews as faithful followers of “The Way.” This is where the Galatians are reminded that the law is a trusted way to encourage and correct, but the law neither negates nor supersedes the movement of the Spirit.

Furthermore, the law is not an end in itself. The law, coupled with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, is a means to bear the fruits of the Spirit, which Paul outlines in the previous chapter. Therefore, the work that Paul is referring to is those transformational practices that allow the community to be bound together in unity – to be the hands and feet of Christ. Some may do this by following the law, and some may not, but their “work” should produce a cruciform life of self-giving love for one another, their community, and the world.

  • How do you cultivate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?
  • Can you recall a time when you were corrected with gentleness? How did you work through that correction?
This Bible study, written by Brittany Sparrow Savage

All Saints, Pasadena, Hosts Vigil Protesting Supreme Court ‘Roe vs. Wade’ Decision

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All Saints, Pasadena, Hosts Vigil Protesting Supreme Court ‘Roe vs. Wade’ Decision
All Saints Church, Pasadena, hosted a June 24 community protest against the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling overturning Roe vs. Wade. The decision will allow states to decide whether or not to allow abortions, or to restrict access to the procedure.

The rally drew hundreds of people of all ages, many carrying signs protesting the court’s decision.

California law permits abortions up to the point of viability (about the 24th week); terminating a pregnancy after that point requires certification from two doctors. Abortions are legal in California at any time in cases of rape or incest, or if the pregnant person’s life is threatened.

Since 1967, The Episcopal Church has maintained its “unequivocal opposition to any legislation on the part of the national or state governments which would abridge or deny the right of individuals to reach informed decisions [about the termination of pregnancy] and to act upon them.”

The Rev. Canon Susan Russell of All Saints (pictured below left) was among those who spoke at the rally. “Today, we catch our breath, because we’ve been gutpunched,” she said. “We grieve because we’ve been wounded. We lament because we can. And we vent and we rage, and, yeah, we say, ‘I told you so.’ We grieve, and then we fight.”

Photos by Luwin Kwan.

Secular press coverage of the rally:

Hundreds Rail Against Supreme Court Abortion Decision at Pasadena Protest (Pasadena Now – June 25, 2022)

Joy, fear, anger at Sunday church services shows widening divide over abortion (Los Angeles Times – June 26, 2022)