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A Woman of Comfort

Combined Deanery Meetings – February 9,10,11, 2021

Psalm: 121:7-8

“The Lord will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”

As we face the continued saga of Covid-19 I would like to take a few minutes to talk about our role as women in the church and the world. We are all facing that new term of “compassion fatigue”. We may be growing weary of the requests for help on all fronts in this isolated and precarious time. How can we “give” any more than we already are? Time, talent, and treasure are beginning to run thin.

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner of Great Britain spoke about the need for resilience during this time. Her message was delivered at a virtual worldwide symposium on January 28, 2021 entitled; The Role of Religion and Faith Based Organizations in International Affairs. “Dream and hang on” are her words for us. Dream of Covid-19 being over and reaching our new normal. She suggests that we use our “emotional language” of caring for others and “call things out” such as gender disparity and inequality for us as a church family. Yes, it is difficult for us to go on.

As Episcopal Church Women the comfort ministries often find their way to us. Women of the National Episcopal Church will celebrate 150 years of comfort to the world in 2021. In our Diocese of Southwest Florida, we are beginning our 51^st year of service.

As I visit the seven deaneries in our diocese, I am always moved by the way in which women are serving in their local parishes. In one, the ECW supports women of low income by providing free mammograms. They also, comfort women who are going through treatments for cancer and other diseases by driving them to appointments, providing meals and childcare and just being there.

ECW, in some churches, brings comfort so often by providing mourning families with beautiful funeral receptions. These women are the quiet force behind preparing the church with tissues, lovely memorial service bulletins and even serving at the altar during the service.

It is our joy to bring comfort to others through serving on prayer support groups; holding in thought and prayer those in our parishes who are charged with the tasks of searching for a new rector, preparing for stewardship campaigns, and bringing communion to our shut-ins. In our weekly prayers on Sunday, we ask that God will “… comfort and succor all those in need, sorrow or any other adversity.”

Comfort for me is the bringing of hope to those who feel hopeless, lost, unloved and those crying out to the Lord. Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and his love for all of his children is a way for us to comfort each other.

I know that I personally turn to the Psalms when searching for comfort. Psalm 121:7-8, “The Lord will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” is especially comforting during times of uncertainty. Also, there is much comfort in Psalm 23 not only in times of grief but also in those times that anxious thoughts fill my mind. He is always there.

Think about that small baby, born in a stable, to parents of few means. Where did they find comfort? Surely, most of us would not consider a stable as comfort however it gave shelter and comfort to this family and to a great miracle. He came as a baby. He taught us an itinerant preacher. He brings us joy and comfort to this day to those who believe in Him.

We need to think about these words from Rachel Martin as we remember our role as women in the church and world.

“Cheer when you friend wins.

Hold her when she’s sad.

Love her when she needs hope.

Care for her when she says she’s fine.

Believe in her when she doubts.

Show up for her when she’s alone.

Be the one she knows is in her corner

not because she’s perfect

but rather because you are the friend to her that she needs there.

In good and bad and fabulous and hard and normal.

That is friendship.

Cherish it.”

Michelle Schombs,

President, ECW Diocese of Southwest Florida

Episcopal Church Women2021-04-22T13:10:27+00:00April 22nd, 2021|

Episcopal Church Women in the News 04-17-21

Summary

6KPVI TV – ‘Greatly blessed,’ still ‘coaching’: Retired Eutawville teacher sees much change in 100 years – Eliza Read Spiers Couturier, of Lawson’s Pond in the Cross community, turns 100…

Daily Telegram – COVID care packages contain items to help people through quarantine – would you have enough household supplies and food to avoid going to the store for fourteen days?…

Episcopal News Service – Meet the Episcopal priest moonlighting as a Mars rover mission scientist – From her living room in Maryland, Conrad connects virtually with scientists around the country and at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for several shifts a week, monitoring sensors that she helped design as they transmit data about the Martian environment

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‘Greatly blessed,’ still ‘coaching’: Retired Eutawville teacher sees much change in 100 years

6KPVI TV – Lawson’s Pond, ID

From coaching the Eutawville High School girls’ basketball team to decades of teaching and church involvement, Eliza Spiers Couturier has had experiences of a lifetime while enjoying small-town living.

“It’s something I didn’t think would ever happen. I’m amazed by it all and I feel greatly blessed,” said the soft-spoken Couturier from a rocking chair on the porch of her historic home, Lawson’s Pond, in the Cross community.

On April 16, she will turn 100.

“Most of my life, I have enjoyed good health,” she said. […]

COVID care packages contain items to help people through quarantine

Daily Telegram – Adrian, MI

If you were told today that you had to stay home for up to 14 days because you had tested positive for COVID-19 or were a close contact of someone with COVID, would you have enough household supplies and food to avoid going to a store?

A community initiative aims to help people who need a few things to get through a quarantine with COVID care packages. So far, about 40 care packages have been distributed, said the Rev. Dan Buchin of Christ Episcopal Church in Adrian. Christ Episcopal and City of Refuge Ministries International in Adrian are working with the Lenawee Community Foundation, Meijer of Adrian and the health department on the care packages. […]

Meet the Episcopal priest moonlighting as a Mars rover mission scientist

Episcopal News Service – Glen Burnie, MD

When Episcopal News Service recently spoke to the Rev. Pamela Conrad, rector of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Glen Burnie, Maryland, she was exhausted – but not only from the liturgical marathon of Holy Week or the weary slog of daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of that, Conrad is a member of the tactical operations team for NASA’s Mars rover mission, often working through the night, analyzing feedback from the Perseverance rover as it searches for signs of potential life.

From her living room in Maryland, Conrad connects virtually with scientists around the country and at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California for several shifts a week, monitoring sensors that she helped design as they transmit data about the Martian environment. Among the instruments she works with are the cameras that have sent back over 25,000 photos, including Perseverance’s first selfie, which shows the rover and the small helicopter that is expected to take the first-ever powered flight on another planet later this week. […]

Episcopal Church Women2022-09-28T18:14:08+00:00April 17th, 2021|

Episcopal Church Women in the News 04-10-21

Summary

Episcopal News Service – Episcopal priest goes viral for wearing the same dress for 100 days as a fashion sustainability challenge – “I’ve always been concerned about fast fashion anyway and the impact on the planet…

Tap Into Hawthorne – Episcopal Church Condemns Anti-Asian Racism; Rev. Soldwedel of St. Clement’s Calls for Justice – We need to embrace our covenant of baptism and the last commandment, which is to love one another as we were loved…

Our Town – St. Mark’s Cross Memorial in a Pandemic Year – Guided by the Christian moral compass of “love thy neighbor” and treating others equally as children of God, St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery has been working towards racial justice and human rights for over 50 years.

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Episcopal priest goes viral for wearing the same dress for 100 days as a fashion sustainability challenge

Episcopal News Service – Holliston, MA

For many who have worked from home during the pandemic, wearing the same clothes for more than a day has become a normal occurrence. But one Episcopal priest is doing it to the extreme, on purpose.

In 2020, the Rev. Sarah Robbins-Cole, rector of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Holliston, Massachusetts, and chaplain at Wellesley College, wore the same dress for 100 days in a row as a challenge to counter “fast fashion” – the now-ubiquitous practice of buying cheap, mass-produced clothing and throwing it away or donating it to charity when it’s no longer fashionable. […]

Episcopal Church Condemns Anti-Asian Racism; Rev. Soldwedel of St. Clement’s Calls for Justice

Tap Into Hawthorne – Hawthorne, NJ

“As Episcopalians and as Christians, we need to embrace our covenant of baptism and the last commandment, which is to love one another as we were loved,” Reverend Erik Soldwedel told TAPinto Hawthorne. Soldwedel is the deacon-in-residence at both St. Clement’s Episcopal Church on Lafayette Avenue and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church found at the corner of East 18th Street and Broadway in Paterson. He said that Christians need to stand for justice and spoke of the church’s own history on race—and what he thinks should be done in light of recognizing its own failings. […]

St. Mark’s Cross Memorial in a Pandemic Year

Our Town – Manhattan, NY

Guided by the Christian moral compass of “love thy neighbor” and treating others equally as children of God, St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery has been working towards racial justice and human rights for over 50 years.

The 250-year-old church is known for its annual Cross Memorial to honor the year’s victims of gun violence. The memorial has been a constant at St. Mark’s since 2013, a former rector’s response to the shootings in Aurora, Colorado and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Dolores Schaefer, a parishioner of the church for 28 years, has worked on the memorial for years and led this year’s installment. […]

Episcopal Church Women2021-04-09T14:43:48+00:00April 10th, 2021|

Episcopal Church Women in the News 04-03-21

Summary

Laguna Beach Independent – St. Mary’s Episcopal women give back to Laguna Beach nonprofits – Last summer, ECW started a series of five small, socially-distanced concerts held at the parish’s ocean view terrace…

The Northern Light – Women’s rights trailblazer joins Christ Episcopal Church as pastor – Christ Episcopal Church recently welcomed the church’s new reverend, Susan Mills, a trailblazer for women’s rights…

The New York Times – At least 36 states give clergy vaccine priority, for the risks they face and the example they set – The vaccines come at a critical time: As religious leaders continue to work on the front lines of the pandemic in hospitals, mortuaries and long-term care facilities, many are now working with health officials

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St. Mary’s Episcopal women give back to Laguna Beach nonprofits

Laguna Beach Independent – Laguna Beach, CA

The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) of St. Mary’s parish annually holds fundraisers including bake sales, bingo, bazaars, and chili cook-offs to contribute philanthropic causes locally and around the world. The pandemic quarantine made all those events unsafe and unworkable at a time when the need was the greatest, the group said in a press release

Last summer, ECW started a series of five small, socially-distanced concerts held at the parish’s ocean view terrace. Every event was sold out and the group far exceeded its fundraising goals.

“It is that effort and community support that has made this year’s donations possible,” ECW’s leadership said in a press release.

Past recipients of the grants included the youth program at an Alaskan church north of the Arctic Circle and a rural church in Muhangi, Uganda, to assist in the building of their church. […]

Women’s rights trailblazer joins Christ Episcopal Church as pastor

The Northern Light – Blaine, WA

Christ Episcopal Church recently welcomed the church’s new reverend, Susan Mills, a trailblazer for women’s rights being one of the first women ordained by the Episcopal Church back in 1976.

“These are people who care about the community,” Mills said of Christ Episcopal Church. “The community of Blaine, but also the greater community. These are people who are involved in the world and caring for the world. They’re thoughtful, kind and hardworking people and I’m grateful to be a part of this community.”

Mills started her journey with the church in the mid ’70s. Through her time in ministry, Mills worked in small churches from the east coast to the Diocese of Southeastern Mexico, where she spent nine years of her retirement serving in a small congregation. After serving in Mexico, Mills served as an associate priest at two small congregations in Berkeley, California, and then moved to Indiana before finding her position in Blaine. […]

At least 36 states give clergy vaccine priority, for the risks they face and the example they set

The New York Times – National News

At least 36 states have made some members of the clergy eligible for a vaccine before the rest of the population, according to a New York Times survey.

The vaccines come at a critical time: As religious leaders continue to work on the front lines of the pandemic in hospitals, mortuaries and long-term care facilities, many are now working with health officials to help combat vaccine hesitancy in their communities.

In Utah, mosques are sharing videos on social media of imams receiving the vaccine. In Michigan, a rabbi is weaving messages of support for vaccination into his sermons and conversations with his congregation. And at the Washington National Cathedral this month, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious-disease specialist, and other health officials joined 25 faith leaders from across the D.C. region as they received their vaccines on camera. […]

Episcopal Church Women2021-04-02T13:00:14+00:00April 3rd, 2021|

Episcopal Church Women in the News 03-27-21

Summary

Tapinto.net – Bowie Snodgrass Becomes First Female Rector at Vestry of Christ Church – The Vestry of Christ Church in Short Hills has called The Rev. Bowie Snodgrass as its 12th Rector…

The Living Church – Filling People with God – Once a month, 15 people roll out yoga mats inside their homes and hop on Zoom for a session with YogaSoul…

Los Angeles Sentential – Tutu Connects with God’s People Through Gift of Pastoral Care – Nontombi Naomi Tutu’s approach to ministry. After years of ignoring God’s call, she finally became ordained in 2016, and has been astounded by her deep love of pastoral care. While admitting that she has always enjoying speaking and preaching in public

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Bowie Snodgrass Becomes First Female Rector at Vestry of Christ Church

Tapinto.net – Short Hills, NJ

The Vestry of Christ Church in Short Hills has called The Rev. Bowie Snodgrass as its 12th Rector, effective immediately.

Rev. Bowie, as she is known, has served as the Priest-in-Charge at Christ Church in Short Hills since January 2019. She is the first woman to be called as Rector of this historic Episcopal church.

Snodgrass joined Christ Church in Short Hills as Curate in 2016 and subsequently assumed the role of Associate Rector, focusing on spiritual formation, newcomers and outreach. She is active in the Coalition of Religious Leaders of Millburn and Short Hills and launched a monthly Interfaith Bible Hour in collaboration with Temple B’nai Jeshurun, Short Hills, and St. Stephen’s, Millburn. She serves as the Chaplain at Christ Church Nursery School and has been a guest preacher at Saint Rose of Lima. Rev. Bowie also is a member of the Diocese of Newark’s Commission on Ministry on the Priesthood. […]

Filling People with God

The Living Church – Casper, WY

Once a month in Casper, Wyoming, 15 people roll out yoga mats inside their homes and hop on Zoom for a session with YogaSoul. It’s a gathering for people who love yoga, appreciate sacred texts, and don’t attend church.

“We always start with a centering practice that could be both yogic and Christian,” said Jessika Girod, an aspirant to ordained ministry in the Episcopal Church who coordinates YogaSoul and leads traditional worship at Christ Church in Douglas, Wyoming. “The stillness, the quietness. … There’s nothing you have to do or be. Just dwell in the presence of God.”

As the body loosens up, so does the spirit. Regulars at YogaSoul look forward to gathering in person as they used to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Then they’ll sit on their mats in a circle, have what Girod calls “an embodied experience,” and share in the Eucharist with a priest who practices yoga. […]

Tutu Connects with God’s People Through Gift of Pastoral Care

Los Angeles Sentential – CA

Surprising herself is one way to describe the Rev. Nontombi Naomi Tutu’s approach to ministry. After years of ignoring God’s call, she finally became ordained in 2016, and has been astounded by her deep love of pastoral care.

While admitting that she has always enjoying speaking and preaching in public, Tutu believed she was an introvert and was never inclined to get close to people. But, since joining the staff of All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills and being assigned as the minister of pastoral care, she realized that God had blessed her to spiritually bond with hurting people.

“It felt like a gift to me that people were allowing me into their lives in times of real difficulty and darkness that I could sit with people at hospital beds, when they were dying, or even celebrating the birth of a child” recalled Tutu.

“That is such an honor to be able to be with people at those times and I had not realized that until I was actually doing the work. Since then I have come to truly love pastoral care and the opportunity it gives for a truly meaningful connection with people.” […]

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T12:37:31+00:00March 27th, 2021|

Columbia Food Bank at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Columbia, PA Province III

Over 60 years ago, in the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Women served free, hot lunches to the community six days a week. It quickly became evident that many of the people who came in for lunch did not have food to start or end the day. Community members were living in hunger. The ECW started sending groceries home with them after each lunch. And the food bank was started.

The food bank was partially supported by state and federal programs, which provided free food and equipment. Additionally, food and monetary donations, and volunteers from the local area, helped the food bank meet the community’s people in need. In order to receive free food, people could sign up for a voucher at the local Community Action Program (CAP) office, present it to the food bank, and take their groceries home.

In 2006, St. Paul’s discovered that the voucher system was no longer including a screening process. After a number of meetings, the church elected to forego all government support and become self-sufficient even though it meant losing free food and government-provided refrigeration equipment. The food bank instituted a screening and qualification system that was still in force prior to the pandemic.

In 2013, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church decided it was in the best interest of the church, the food bank, and the community to have the food bank become a separate corporation with its own 501 (c) (3) designation. On September 18, 2014, The Columbia Food Bank received its nonprofit status as a charitable organization.

In 2020, the food bank served 1,043 households, or 2,053 individuals, which equates to 41,657 meals. From 2019 to 2020 there was not a dramatic change in the number of people they served but more the demographics. There was a shift of the 61 and older population that stayed home, and therefore those numbers dropped while the working force numbers rose.

Community giving of both money and food has skyrocketed. Financial organizations outside their normal territory are giving. A Chicago-based company sent them a donation because an owner who was originally from the Columbia area had decided that the Columbia Food Bank would be their charity of choice. In 2019 their food distributions were 66,000 pounds, and in 2020 distributions rose to 69,000 pounds.

The food bank staff feel fortunate as even in the midst of COVID, they continue to receive donations. At times they needed to go on scouting missions, like all of us, for certain items like jelly and hot dogs. The day we spoke they received 35 $25 gift cards to a local grocery store for perishables. They have never had to turn anyone away. “We adapt and persevere.”

Information provided by Danielle Peters and Sue Ollar and the Columbia Food Bank columbiafoodbank.org

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:45:30+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Desmond Tutu: Una Biografía Espiritual del Confesor de Sur África

Rev. Michael Battle, Ph.D.
Herbert Thompson: Líder de la Iglesia y Sociedad:
Director del Centro Desmond Tutu
Seminario Teológico General, New York

Seria hipócrita de mi parte si no ofrecería esta reflexión acera de la reconciliación racial si no promoviese a un agente anglicano de la reconciliación racial. Lo hago, no porque quiera ufanarme de vender libros; en cambio, como una manera de ofrecer un artículo introductorio acerca del tema de reconciliación racial. Muchos de nosotros hemos pasado por la era apocalíptica del virus COVID-19, agitación social, y la polarización política. Un prominente líder dentro entre las mujeres de la Iglesia episcopal me escribió que ella había trabajado como una guardiana designada por la corte de aquellos con discapacidades mentales y por consiguiente observo de primera mano situaciones graves sobre la humanidad en necesidad de sanación y reconciliación. A pesar de ello, para algunos de nosotros, debido a nuestro estatus socioeconómico, nos damos cuenta de que estamos “resguardados” de estas tormentas apocalípticas, pero queremos ser parte de la solución y no del problema. Bueno, el agente anglicano que mencione arriba es una guía maravillosa para educarnos en lo atinente a estos tópicos, especialmente sobre el ministerio de reconciliación.

El Agente Anglicano que describí es, de hecho, una santa bajo mi perspectiva. Él es arzobispo Desmond Tutu, reconocido por su ministerio de reconciliación en Sur África y el resto del mundo. Por mi parte yo voy un poco más allá y lo catalogo como místico cristiano en mi nuevo libro, Desmond Tutu: Biografía Espiritual del Confesor de Sur África (Westminster John Knox Press, publicación el día 16 de marzo de 2021). Por más de 25 años, yo he visto de cerca la espiritualidad profunda que ayudo a Tutu a desmantelar el “apartheid”, tras haber vivido con Tutu en los años 1993 y 1994. Su espiritualidad esta enraizada en la práctica Cristiana Antigua a la vez que el concepto africano de Ubuntu, interdependencia Humana. En este libro yo examino como el misticismo Cristiano de Tutu forma su compromiso para la justicia restauradora y conciliatoria.

“La vida de Tutu y su trabajo son cruciales tanto para el bienestar del mundo como para la supervivencia de la iglesia que parece estar parcializada hacia la crisis y las guerras culturales,” Escribo. La pelea de Tutu en contra del “Apartheid” es una batalla espiritual, la cual engloba lecciones de como resistir el auge del nacionalismo cristiano de hoy. “Sometiendo al opresor para vea a Dios en la cara del oprimido fue su contribución más grande.” Concluyo. Para que el opresor pueda confesar que su Dios fue ultimadamente disminuido en la religión del “Apartheid’ fue un milagro que debemos replicar.”

En cualquier ministerio de reconciliación, necesitamos entender la fuente de la que fluye dicha reconciliación. Aunque yo puedo argumentar que las mujeres son más una fuente de reconciliación que los hombres, la última fuente de reconciliación es Dios mismo. Entendiendo a Tutu como un místico cristiano es esencial para comprender la siguiente perspectiva: “El objetivo de la vida de un místico es alcanzar la unión con Dios,” Yo explico en mi biografía sobre Tutu. La manera en que Tutu trato de alcanzar su meta no solo esta animada a través de su liderazgo en la iglesia, pero a través de su liderazgo político también. Tutu ofrece a la Iglesia Episcopal de mujeres inspiración y a la misma vez estrategia para ser una fuera política y espiritual para ser conciliatoria en un mundo apocalíptico. Al cultivar tal fuerza del alma la Iglesia de Mujeres Episcopales contrarresta el sistema de racismo y de falta de humanidad y establece en un mundo que carece de autoestima la practicidad de construir comunidades y redes de contactos que apoyen a todos los marginados en el mundo.

Acerca del autor

Michael Battle es profesor de Herbert de la Sociedad e Iglesia y director del Centro General Teológico Desmond Tutu en Nueva York, y presidente y Jefe Estratégico del instituto PeaceBattle. El autor de 11 libros, incluyendo Reconciliación: La Teología Ubuntu de Desmond Tutu, el enfoca su ministerio en la no violencia, reconciliación cristiana, espiritualidad humana, y Ubuntu (La comunidad africana a nivel mundial) Battle vivió en residencia con el arzobispo Desmond Tutu en Sur África por dos años y fue ordenado sacerdote en Sur África por Tutu en 1993. En el 2010, le fue otorgado una de las condecoraciones más distinguidas en la Iglesia Anglicana como lo fue “Six Preacher.”

Para más información, visita su página web: michaelbattle.com

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:41:35+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor

Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor

The Rev. Michael Battle, Ph.D.
Herbert Thompson Chair of Church and Society
Also, Director of the Desmond Tutu Center
General Theological Seminary, New York

I would be remiss in offering this reflection on racial reconciliation if I did not promote a primary Anglican agent of racial reconciliation. I do so not out of the aggrandizement of selling a book; rather as a sort of introductory article to the subject of racial reconciliation. So many of us have waded through an apocalyptic era of COVID-19, racial unrest, and political polarity. One prominent leader among the Episcopal Church Women (ECW) wrote me that she worked as a court-appointed guardian for the mentally ill and therefore saw firsthand grave situations of inhumanity in need of healing and reconciliation. And yet, some of us, due to our socioeconomic status, are more “sheltered” from these apocalyptic storms but want to be part of the solution rather than the problems of our world. Well, the Anglican agent I mentioned above is a wonderful guide to educate us all about such topics, especially the ministry of reconciliation.

The Anglican agent whom I describe above is in fact a saint in my perspective. He is Archbishop Desmond Tutu, renowned for his ministry of reconciliation in South Africa and the rest of the world. I go further and describe him as a Christian mystic and saint in my new book, Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor (Westminster John Knox Press, launching on March 16, 2021). For more than 25 years, I have seen up close the deep spirituality that helped Tutu dismantle apartheid, having lived with Tutu in 1993 and 1994. His spirituality is rooted in ancient Christian practice as well as in the African concept of Ubuntu, human interdependence. In this book I examine how Tutu’s Christian mysticism shapes his commitment to restorative justice and reconciliation.

“Tutu’s life and work are crucial for both the wellbeing of the world and the survival of the church that seem equally bent toward crisis and culture wars,” I write. Tutu’s fight against apartheid is a spiritual battle, one with lessons for resisting the growth of Christian Nationalism today. “Getting the oppressor to see God in common with the oppressed was Tutu’s greatest contribution,” I conclude. “For the oppressor to confess that their god was ultimately diminished in the religion of apartheid is a miracle that we all need to replicate.”

In any ministry of reconciliation, we need to understand the source from which reconciliation flows. Even though I would argue that women are more of a source of reconciliation than men, the ultimate source is not from human beings but from God. Understanding Tutu as such a Christian mystic is essential to understanding this often-neglected perspective. “The aim of the mystic’s life is to achieve union with God,” I explain in Tutu’s biography. The way that Tutu tried to reach this goal is not only animated through his leadership in the church but through his political leadership as well. Tutu offers the ECW inspiration as well as strategy to be both a spiritual and political force for reconciliation in an apocalyptic world. By cultivating such a soul force the ECW counteracts systems of racism and inhumanity and establishes in a world that lacks self-esteem the practicality of building communities and networks that support so many who are marginalized in this world.

About the Author

Michael Battle is Herbert Thompson Professor of Church and Society and Director of the Desmond Tutu Center at General Theological Seminary in New York, and President and CEO of the PeaceBattle Institute. The author of 11 books, including Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu, he focuses his ministry on nonviolence, Christian reconciliation, human spirituality, and Ubuntu (the African worldview of community). Battle lived in residence with Archbishop Desmond Tutu in South Africa for two years and was ordained a priest in South Africa by Tutu in 1993. In 2010, he was given one of the highest Anglican Church distinctions as “Six Preacher.”

For more information, visit his website at michaelbattle.com

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:36:17+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Grace Episcopal Impacts City of Alvin: Province VII

by the Reverend Suzanne Smith

How one small church has made a big impact in her community by feeding souls and hungry bellies…

Grace Episcopal Food Drive It started with a little blessing box beside the church and has become a major ministry to the community, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The blessing box evolved into a weekly Houston Food Bank distribution site. Then, in the middle of the third month of operations, the pandemic hit. At this time, the organizers pivoted to a drive-through distribution, which at its peak has been visited by over 400 families a week. The parish hall, previously used for Christian formation and fellowship, became a food storage warehouse for pallets upon pallets of non-perishable food items.

The mobile food pantry has been providing food in Alvin on a weekly basis since December 6, 2019. We partnered with the Alvin/Manvel and Houston Food Bank in order to bring fresh food and produce to Alvin, an area that struggles with food insecurity. 51.7% of Alvin Independent School District (AISD) students qualify under Title 1 for Free or Reduced-Cost breakfast and lunch. The district has 18 Title 1 campuses.

Every Thursday morning, the Houston Food Bank brings a refrigerated truck containing 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of fresh food and vegetables. The truck is set up in the Grace Church parking lot. Before COVID, volunteers from Grace and other community organizations unloaded the food from the truck, bagged it, and then the guests would shop each fresh food station.

When COVID began, in one week, Grace seamlessly transitioned to a drive-thru mobile food pantry underneath the beautiful oak trees in front of our church. Our first attempt provided food for 281 families. The families were given 35-40 pounds of food, and we estimate around 1,000 people were fed in Alvin because of these efforts!

The drive-thru option allowed food to be given out in a safe way by the volunteers boxing up the food and then guests driving through the parking lot and the food delivered to their trunks. Some of these folks waited in the car line for up to two hours to get their food. It was calm and ordered, and all who received food were profoundly grateful.

Since the first mobile food pantry, the people of Grace, along with other churches and members of the community, have distributed nearly 500,000 pounds of food through the mobile food pantry to over 30,000 people in Alvin.

We have also expanded our Blessing Box ministry to include an outside Blessing Refrigerator. A team of parishioners keep the fridge stocked with cold items such as milk, juice, butter, cheese, and eggs. Combined, the Blessing Box and Fridge see between 65 and 100 visitors a day.

Grace has long been a beacon in the Alvin community, and over the last year it has become a vital component to the well-being of her citizens through our food initiatives. We said “YES” to God in one way, and the doors kept opening, so we have continued to walk through them. This ministry is more than a blessing to Grace. It is a blessing and gift to the Alvin community.

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:27:24+00:00March 26th, 2021|

Serving the Community with Love as Christ Teaches Us

Mónica Elías Orellana My name is Monica Elias-Orellana. I was born in California and moved to Chelsea, Massachusetts, when I was 11 years old. It was then that I was introduced to the Episcopal Church, where I found myself embraced by God’s call to “serve thy neighbor.” I was taught early in life that I must help others even if I possess little.

As a teenager I volunteered at the soup kitchen and pantry at St. Luke’s-San Lucas. I also got involved with the youth group at what I began to call my church. The Rev. Edgar Gutiérrez -Duarte, who is the priest there, encouraged my sisters and me to reactivate the youth group, and with his support we were incredibly happy to lead it.

After I graduated from high school, I attended the University of Massachusetts in Boston, where I graduated with a degree in Biology and a minor in Asian American Studies.

I thought I wanted to be a physician, but my call and my passion has always been serving the community. While in college, I volunteered at a local nonprofit, The Neighborhood Developers, where soon after I was hired, I became the Chelsea Community building manager, a position I still hold. My role is to organize the Chelsea residents who have been most impacted by the housing crisis. Together, we work to create systemic change. Other areas of my work include relationship building, leadership development, and creating opportunities for empowering residents to participate in municipal decision making.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic started, we have seen a high rate of infection and sadly many deaths in Chelsea. Families are forced to live in a single apartment because rents are awfully expensive in the city. Chelsea has a housing crisis, and the community has an ever bigger and immediate need for food and other urgent necessities.

When I found out that my church was the center of food distribution for the city of Chelsea, I offered to help. Soon after, I started volunteering my time at St. Luke’s-San Lucas. The Neighborhood Developers saw value in the service I was offering the Chelsea community. So, since March 2020, they have allocated some of my hours to St. Luke’s-San Lucas as their volunteer coordinator.

In my work as community organizer, I am fortunate to work with a strong base of community members. I am able to constantly recruit volunteers to help run the operation of St. Luke’s, where every week we receive more than 19,000 pounds of food, serving more than 500 families.

Mónica Elías Orellana at the pantry For me it is an honor to work with community members who, with love and dedication, serve families in need. My heart is full of joy and my eyes rejoice at seeing the beauty of local community members coming together to help one another. I have met incredible people who have worked many hours unloading boxes of food into the church, unpacking them, and distributing the food and other necessities given to the community. I admire that labor of love despite fears of exposure to the deadly virus. I am moved as I watch families come to the pantry for food and sometimes see tears and expressions of gratitude as they receive what they need to survive these difficult times.

It has been a blessing to work in my childhood church along with amazing individuals like Rev. Edgar Gutiérrez-Duarte. I am filled with joy now as an adult working with my childhood leaders! Now, I lead with them and call them my peers. Although sometimes it has not been an easy journey, I have met amazing people along the way. My hope is to be able to similarly inspire others to serve the community and to serve as mentors to young women of color.

Episcopal Church Women2021-03-26T13:17:08+00:00March 26th, 2021|

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