All Are Welcome! ¡Todos están Bienvenidos!St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Bakersfield welcomes you to worship. We invite you to join our inclusive community as we deepen our awareness of the presence of Jesus Christ in us through the Episcopal tradition of inclusivity, worship, and service. We welcome all to share His joy and love with us, rejoicing in the transforming power of the Spirit.
This Week by The Rev'd Luis Rodriguez, Priest-in-Charge
Two days until November and my favorite month. The weather in the Central Valley really takes on the chill of autumn and the promise of winter. I appreciate how during November the Church in her feasts and lectionary seems to be especially reminding us that things are not all about us, but rather that we are intimately involved in an entire web of relationships and connections. All Saints’ Day helps us to focus on a Church much bigger than what we normally imagine: the entire People of God in heaven and earth. All Souls’ Day/El Dia de los Muertos reminds us the ways in which any talk of salvation is communal, and that we are still bound by prayer with those who have died. The lectionary readings themselves focus on the end times with stories of life beyond the social conventions of husband and wife, of insider and outsider, of sinner and redeemed. They remind us that all things will come to pass according to God’s time. They present to us a world much bigger than our church or neighborhood or country. They present to us a world beyond even our allotted fraction of time, pointing out that what we do has global and even cosmic implications. The gospel passages in November question and challenge us about our values and our passions: what do we care about, where do we invest our time and efforts? Moreover, we are left with the clear indication, that while things indeed do happen according to God’s will and timetable, what we do, how we live and what we believe still has implications and significance. They still have an effect on the conditions of our world, and that by these we are working either according to God’s vision or not, working for God’s kingdom or not.
The promise of the end-times is that God will utterly and definitively renew all things. Yet, the message is also that the process of renewal has begun with the resurrection of Jesus, and that by our baptism into his life, death and resurrection we are called into that process of renewal, within and without the church. Not only are we called, but in our profession of the baptismal covenant (see pp. 304-5 of the Book of Common Prayer) we promise to engage actively in this process. We are called and have promised to place at least a part of our time and efforts to the work of creation's renewal and the realization of God’s kingdom, even – and perhaps particularly – at the cost of our comfort and convenience. Giving of our time, energy, and resources is a way of engaging with the reality of God’s promised renewal of creation. It is a way in which we acknowledge that the we are all connected to one another and to the earth. Spend some time this month, as you reflect on the readings and the observances of November, thinking about how you spend your time and resources – God’s time and resources, and whether you are really engaged in God’s project of renewal, God’s vision of the kingdom which Jesus preached. As the Church year comes to an end this month, it’s not a bad idea to take stock. I hope you will find your own stocktaking insightful and beneficial, and I hope you will consider what you are doing to make the world a place that reflects God’s vision of peace and justice, and which reminds you that somehow not everything is about you. |
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Updated 11/03/19
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Holy Eucharist Services Sundays 10 am (Child care available 9:30am-12:00pm) followed by Coffee Hour in Grace Hall St. Paul's Episcopal Church 2216 17th Street Bakersfield, CA 93301 (661) 869-1630 Email St. Paul's Church Office Hours:
Monday-Thursday from 9am to 1pm. Check out our
Facebook Pages below Upcoming EventsNovember 3, 2019
All Saints Sunday 8am Eucharist 10am Eucharist 12pm-2pm Food Co-op Tuesday, November 5 6.30pm Choir Practice Wednesday, November 6 8.30am Morning Prayer (Chapel) November 10, 2019 Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost 8am Morning Prayer 10am Morning Prayer 12pm-2pm Food Co-op |
