Stewardship Reflection from Amy Miller

Hello, my name is Amy Miller. I joined All Saints in 2010 when I married Marshall Miller.

We had planned an anniversary party for last summer – to celebrate our first decade of marriage, but 2020 had other plans. It has been a staggering year. I can imagine no other set of circumstances that would have made me reorder my life so quickly. Basketball, ballet, and music lessons stopped – all in one day. Our home, one I tried to emotionally disconnect from as we evacuated over and over again just a couple years ago, is now our sanctuary. Truly. It is a classroom, a movie theatre, a concert hall, a gym, a toy store, a place of worship.

I’ve always felt my Mom superpower is empathy. Even as a child, I felt the needs of others deeply. As a Mom, I have honed my craft. Crying babies make me want to swaddle them, rock them, get them to sleep. My friends tease that I am the only member of our book club (perhaps their circle of friends) who happily holds crying babies. I want contentment for everyone.

2020 has challenged me. How can I be Elenora’s missed playdate? She is my six-year-old daughter and I am not her peer, not a teacher, not a ballet instructor, and – in the midst of COVID-19 – not someone who has all the answers for her. I wrestled with these emotions until they sat with me long enough that they have become my new normal and I’m leaning into them. Unplanned is okay. Dirty dishes? Okay. Unfinished homework? Okay. Half-done sewing project? Also, okay.

My value does not lay in these tasks. My identity is tied to my faith and my role as a wife and a mother. I cannot make whole all the missing parts of 2020, but I can seek out what truly matters and focus intently on it. We are at home. When Elenora asks what goes into veggie spaghetti, I can do better than tell her. I can show her. I can cover her in an apron, move the kitchen stool and we can cook. I’m not rushing anywhere. I have time to spend, cooking then cleaning, but most of all with her.

Slowly, these small tasks of cooking together, reading, playing in our backyard, making elaborate train tracks, setting up doll hospitals, building forts… these have become the hallmarks of 2020. It doesn’t seem to be missing as much. It is rich. It has my family, very safe and content.

We aren’t in church these days, but we talk more about faith. We each take a turn saying grace before dinner. We have the time for 4 graces. We have witnessed more sunsets, celebrated more accomplishments, and found more grace this year than most. Our slower, deliberate pace puts things in perspective. Elenora Bass, Ernest Boetcher, your little namesakes are growing, learning, become faithful stewards of Christ in the midst of quelled chaos.

The values, people and institutions that sustain us are more important in 2020 than – perhaps even – other years. As evidence of my faith and my tremendous blessings, I am happy to tithe to All Saints.

Outreach Committee and Local Pandemic Relief

As we all do our best to adapt to the ever-changing needs and budgets brought on by recent events, your All Saints-by-the-Sea Outreach Committee has continued to meet and discuss meaningful ways to support the local community.

Beginning in March, the Committee unanimously agreed to award $20,000 of the spring grant funds to United Way of Santa Barbara, 805 Undocufund, and Food Bank of Santa Barbara. An additional $4,000 was made available to provide twice weekly meals to residents of the Victoria Hotel, a feeding ministry supported by All Saints. In April, the Committee agreed to donate $2,000 for the purchase of textbooks for Cleveland Elementary School students who do not have the resources to access them online.

This month the Committee is awarding a total of $15,000 to three more organizations: Hospice of Santa Barbara, Storyteller Children’s Center, and Immigrant Hope. Perhaps new to some of you, Storyteller Children’s Center helps Santa Barbara’s homeless, at-risk toddlers and preschoolers achieve Kindergarten readiness through therapeutic preschool and support services for their families; and Immigrant Hope, recognized by the US Department of Justice, provides low-cost legal advice and other services regarding the immigration process in a safe, caring environment.

As you all are aware, the annual Jim Bower Community Golf Tournament could not take place, eliminating our primary source of grant funding for 2021. The Committee is exploring creative fundraising ideas that respect social distancing and other necessary limitations, however, losing the golf tournament creates a significant gap in our ability to continue providing support to local organizations in need.

In lieu of supporting the tournament, our generous golfers, tournament supporters, and all who are able, are invited to donate directly to the Outreach Committee. Donations can be made at any time and will be designated for 2021 giving. Our hope is for a return to normal in the near future. The Committee thanks you for helping us help others.

–All Saints-by-the-Sea Outreach Committee

Stewardship Reflection from the Messerlians

Sally: Good morning! George and I are here to tell you all a little about how our faith has grown at All Saints-by-the-Sea.

As many of you know, I grew up in England and Switzerland in the Church of England. We went to church sporadically, Christmas and Easter for sure, and my first memories of Sunday school are at the Anglican Church in Geneva, Switzerland, where we learned the Lord’s Prayer.

Fast forward, through Evensong services at English boarding school, with all those lovely prayers and hymns, and then high school years here in Southern California. We attended St Edmunds Episcopal Church in San Gabriel where my twin sister and I taught Sunday school and attended Youth Group meetings regularly. We were confirmed by Bishop Rusack. Then, as many young Episcopalians do, I stopped going to church for a while, during college, but the seeds had been planted.

George and I were married at St Edmunds and, soon after, we moved to Santa Barbara. I started attending All Saints by myself then, again sporadically, until our first child was born. We wanted her to experience church and Sunday school, so I brought her to All Saints with me. Our other 2 children followed, as did George. He will tell you about that in a bit! I taught Sunday School here for many years, having as my students, along with my own children, many wonderful members of this congregation: Marshall, Nicholas and Claire Miller, Sally, Tom and Gillian Conway, Diane Andonian’s boys, Loren and Sean, and many others. I have served on the Outreach Committee, as a Lay Eucharistic Minister, as a Lay Reader and as the Acolyte Coordinator. In the past, I have organized our themed summer picnics, as well as other get-togethers over the years.

And as I did so, you became part of our family – our church family.  And of course, along the way, we have been supported by and we have supported our All Saints family. That goes without saying. Now George will tell you how his faith grew.

George: I was a Roman Catholic dropout when I came to the Christmas Pageant at All Saints. And I was hooked – especially when I spotted my daughter, an angel in the procession. That was 35 years ago!

We have had many wonderful rectors over the years and we have made many friends. Our children and 2 granddaughters were baptized here. They participated as acolytes, and Sally and I had the renewal of our wedding vows at All Saints on our 25th wedding anniversary. We have both served on the Vestry, and as Acolyte Coordinators. Fifteen years ago, we started the Outreach Golf Tournament.

Gethin Hughes, a former rector at All Saints, asked me to be a Lay Eucharistic Minister after the death of my father, a job I enjoy very much and hope to resume when things settle down from this pandemic.

Over the last year, as many of you know, I was diagnosed with 2 different cancers. Through surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, the church family was there for me – I even had a pastoral visit by Father Paul at my hospital in Santa Monica! What a surprise! Your prayers have been much appreciated every Sunday and I am glad to report that I am cancer-free at this time. Through all this, All Saints by the Sea has been a refuge and constant in our lives. So stewardship comes easily to Sally and me. We can’t imagine our lives without the church.

The church restoration has been very exciting to watch, and although we have enjoyed the virtual services, we can’t wait until we are back in our beloved Sanctuary. So I hope you will join us in offering a pledge during this stewardship drive – to continue God’s work in this place.

As it says in the Gospel of St. Matthew, For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

2020 Stewardship Campaign Launch Message

Good Morning. I’m George Ittner, Junior Warden at All Saints, and this morning we are kicking off our annual Stewardship campaign. As you know, a successful campaign is absolutely vital for All Saints to fund parish ministries and programs in the coming year. The theme this year is Faith Grows Here. Over the next two weeks, you will hear fellow parishioners speak about their experience here, their faith, and their thoughts on Stewardship. I know you will be interested in their stories…and warmed by them.

My job today is to talk briefly about the campaign and where All Saints stands financially.
This year, 2020, our operating budget was planned with revenues and expenses closely matched. During the year, we received help from the Payroll Protection Plan which was a Godsend and allowed us to protect staff from layoffs at the Church and Parish School. These funds provided a one-time boost to our finances, and we now estimate that we will end this very difficult year somewhat favorable to budget.

In planning our finances for 2021, we recognize the need to plan for increased expenses due to the coming move back into the Sanctuary and the return, at some point during the year, to normal Sunday services. Additionally, we face the need to hire a full-time Music
Director. But, be assured, we will continue our stringent control of expenses overall and will seek to budget pledge income at only a one percent increase.

We’re doing everything we can think of to keep the campaign reasonably short and easy for you. It is our hope to have the campaign wrapped up by All Saints Day, November 1st. This week you will receive a stewardship packet in the mail. It has a letter from Aimee along with answers to frequently asked questions. Also enclosed is a Ministry Pledge Card.

If you pledged last year, the amount you pledged will be indicated on the card. If you are new, please do pledge. We need your help, and we are grateful for every pledge received. Once you have filled out your card, simply put in the stamped, already addressed envelope, and mail it off. We know that pledging is a matter to be considered prayerfully, but the Stewardship Committee has tried to make the mechanics as easy as possible.

This is a moment to be particularly thankful for our life together at All Saints. The reconstruction of our sanctuary is nearing completion, and we know the separation necessitated by the virus will end. I invite you to join the Clergy, the Vestry, and me in making a pledge to continue, and strengthen, our ministry in 2021. Thank you.

An Update about Returning to In-person Worship

Dear Saints of God,

It has been seven long months since we closed the church to in-person ministry due to COVID-19. These months have been challenging ones for our nation, our neighbors, and for each one of us. It has been particularly difficult for people of faith to be physically separated from the very communities to which we turn for support in times of trouble.

As your priest, I am honored and privileged to be invited into the joys and sorrows of your lives. Having listened to so many of you in these months, I can assure you that wherever you are in your journey with COVID-19, and Christ, you are not alone. Though our circumstances differ, your brothers and sisters in Christ each face their own challenges during this pandemic. And, as always, our crucified Christ is with us in our suffering.

If you are at all like me, you long for a return to in-person worship. Though we all know church will look and sound different when we physically gather again, we yearn for the Spirit to stir among the church assembled like She did that first Pentecost. And yet, circumstances necessitate the delay of our return to in-person worship.

As you know, our beloved Sanctuary continues to undergo seismic retrofitting. The project is progressing with competence and confidence. Currently, insulation and drywall are being installed! Based on the current construction schedule, we anticipate Armstrong Associates, our general contractor (GC), to complete their work around year-end. Once Armstrong’s work is complete, All Saints’ leadership can begin further preparations to the sanctuary that are beyond the GC’s scope of work. We prayerfully anticipate a return to in-person worship in early 2021. The completion of construction and return to in-person worship is good news, yet I imagine this timeline may feel a world away.

I want to assure you that I and parish leadership have been in many conversations about the viability of holding worship services outdoors. While we desire to make a way for in-person gathering, the public health guidelines (from both the County and the Diocese) and the limitations of our campus, made more complicated by construction, make holding in-person worship unfeasible at this time. I am grieved by this reality, and I trust the discernment of the faithful leaders of this congregation, myself included. No one could have foreseen that we would face a global pandemic during our Sanctuary Preservation and Readiness Project and Sojourn in the Parish Hall. Yet, that is the reality facing us. We have no choice but to face this reality with courage and faith.

In the meantime, we continue to hold each other in prayer; gather on Zoom to visit, pray, learn, and meditate on the Word of God; worship virtually together (did you see All Saints’ FANTASTIC Virtual St. Francis Day service?!); and write and call one another. The task force charged to prepare for our return to physical presence continues to plan and work. And we continue to be the Body of Christ, even as we are physically separated from one another.

I have been praying a prayer written by the Christian theologian and ethicist Reinhold Niebuhr; I offer it to you below, that it might be a means of grace for you in these times.

God’s peace be with you all,
Rev. Aimée

A Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Labor Day Reflection

Labor Day Reflection

by Rev. Vicki

Did we just have a federal holiday? We had one but I must ask, did we celebrate one? Covid-19 put a damper on that. Restrictions were in place for our health and safety so at least for me, it felt a bit like any other Covid day. If we had been able to celebrate as usual, we would have seen lively activity with parades, beach outings, gatherings in parks or yards, and perhaps experienced wonderful smells like barbequed food. If we had been celebrating, where would our thoughts have taken us? Mine would have taken me to by gone family beach trips and family barbeques where admittedly we really celebrated togetherness more than the contributions of the work force. How easy it is over time to take for granted the efforts of those who went before.

Labor Day originated during one of our labor history’s most dismal chapters. In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. Despite restrictions in some states, children as young as 5 or 6 toiled in mills, factories, and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages. People of all ages, particularly the very poor and recent immigrants, often faced extremely unsafe working conditions, with insufficient access to fresh air, sanitary facilities, and breaks.

As manufacturing increasingly supplanted agriculture as the wellspring of American employment, labor unions, which had first appeared in the late 18th century, grew more prominent and vocal. They began organizing strikes and rallies to protest poor conditions and compel employers to renegotiate hours and pay. Many of these events turned violent during this period costing the lives of workers and police. Others gave rise to longstanding traditions: On September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first Labor Day parade in U.S. history. The idea of a “workingmen’s holiday,” celebrated on the first Monday in September, caught on in other industrial centers across the country, and many states passed legislation recognizing it. Congress would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later.

Although thoughts of my family and past celebrations were on my mind this Labor Day, I also thought of what it really meant, especially with the overlay of Covid. It was humbling to think of all the workers who have made my life possible, those who lived before me and those who live now. As a Christian, I think of the Body of Christ as a whole entity in which each person is essential to the delivery of God’s salvation message; I feel we should apply the same idea to our country. We need all of us to work together to ensure our country can function at its utmost. I feel there is no such thing as AN ESSENTIAL WORKER, especially as defined by Covid, ALL ARE ESSENTIAL WORKERS no matter what the occupation. As Christians we have vowed to respect the dignity of every human being and since we are dependent on their work efforts, I might add, appreciate all that they do to make our lives possible.

–Rev. Vicki

Right Beside You

Right Beside You

by Sheridan Voysey
shared with All Saints by Barbra Mousouris

Each day at a post office in Jerusalem, workers sort through piles of undeliverable letters in an attempt to guide each to its recipient. Many end up in a specially marked box labeled “Letters to God.”

About a thousand such letters reach Jerusalem each year, addressed simply to God or Jesus. Puzzled by what to do with them, one worker began taking the letters to Jerusalem’s Western Wall to have them placed between its stone blocks with other written prayers. Most of the letters ask for a job, a spouse, or good health. Some request forgiveness, others just offer thanks. One man asked God if his deceased wife could appear in his dreams because he longed to see her again. Each sender believed God would listen, if only He could be reached.

The Israelites learned much as they journeyed through the wilderness. One lesson was that their God wasn’t like the other gods known at the time—distant, deaf, geographically bound, reached only by lengthy pilgrimage or international mail. No, “the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him” (Deuteronomy 4:7). What other people could claim that? This was revolutionary news!

God doesn’t live in Jerusalem. He’s close by us, wherever we are. Some still need to discover this radical truth. If only each of those letters could be sent the reply: God is right beside you. Just talk to Him.

God’s accessibility to us is a profound gift. How can you avoid taking it for granted? Who in your life needs to know of God’s readiness to hear their prayer?

God, You are bigger than the universe yet closer than a breath. Thank You for being so interested in us, attending to every prayer.

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day

by Allison Grisham

One of my husband’s favorite movies is the Bill Murray classic Groundhog Day. In it, Bill Murray plays the self-absorbed character Phil. Every day Phil wakes up on February 2nd and has to live out the same day again. Towards the beginning of the movie, he is lying, cheating, fighting, committing suicide, and even killing the groundhog, just to get the day over with. Soon we see Phil begin to evolve: he develops new friendships, learns to play the piano, masters the art of ice sculpting, discovers French poetry, and performs acts of kindness. During each of the instances, Phil is present and in the moment. When he finally has a “perfect” day, Phil doesn’t want that day to end. He is so present, so in the moment, and content that he wants each moment to last thus ending the cycle of repeated Groundhog Days.

At the moment, every day since March feels a bit like Groundhog Day for me. Wake up; kids are here; feed and water dogs and kids; go to work at home; kids are still here and they need things; a work lunch full of chatter about Pokemon and dragons, not quiet reading; everyone stays in pajamas for half the day; going hiking or to the beach for family time feels forced because each parent longs for solitude; family dinner mirrors lunch; the emotions I feel when the kids fall asleep each night mimic the blessed relief, which I felt when my youngest’s colic finally passed out. Then I sleep, only to get up and do it all again, exactly as I did yesterday and last week and last month and in the spring.

I feel like Phil in Groundhog Day, only I don’t have seem to have the motivation to better myself as he did. I am also struggling with celebrating the present as Phil does towards the end of the movie.

Michelle Obama recently shared on her new podcast that she is struggling with “some form of low-grade depression” and said that “Spiritually… these are not fulfilling times.”

When I heard this, all I could think was: yes. This might be me as well. This might be you also. Everyday is the same in an unfulfilling way. I miss connecting with people, so do my children and husband. I bet you do, too. We worry about the health of our older relatives. We mourn for friends and relatives who have died. We feel disconnected. We worry about online school and about in-person school for our children. We have no childcare. We are troubled by the racial injustice and strife. We are concerned for the upcoming elections. We worry for friends and neighbors who struggle with rent, mortgage, and businesses. These are all individual stressors and collectively they compound upon us leaving us discombobulated, especially when we know that tomorrow will be the same as today and yesterday.

When we find ourselves living with stress or low-level depression (and let’s face it, this is recent and familiar territory to us: the Thomas Fire, the mudslide, and every rainstorm and fire since), we often feel paralyzed from making a decision. At this moment, for parents, especially working parents, there are no “perfect” decisions. All the decisions we make for our children (including the Children, Youth, and Family Ministries Program at All Saints) are imperfect decisions because all decisions are impacted by coronavirus social distancing. I don’t want to make “imperfect” decisions for my children or myself, and I know that you don’t either. But as long as we are stuck in COVID Groundhog Day, every decision we make is imperfect. But by making decisions, we start to break that depressive loop, and then we can move from low-level depression to functionally-depressed and finally to acceptance and action.

We can draw on our faith traditions to show us how to move through difficult times. The Hebrew people survived years of slavery in Egypt, wandered in the desert, struggled under unjust rulers, and waited for David and the Messiah. During this time, they prayed many prayers of lament, anger, anguish, and grief. Yet God is constant. God is faithful. The psalms are full of these. In Psalm 46, verses 5 and 6, the central concern of the psalmist is his anxiety and worry:

Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul, *
and why are you so disquieted within me?

Put your trust in God, *
for I will yet give thanks to the Holy One,
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

We don’t know what has the psalmist worried. Perhaps his mother is ill, or his crops have failed. But instead of fretting and remaining in a state of perpetual, paralyzing worry, he makes a decision to trust in God. That first step changes his perspective and allows him to be in the moment. Once he is in the moment and present, the psalmist finds gratitude. The psalmist has shown us a way to live in 2020. Finding moments for gratitude and being intentional about thanking God for all of the blessings and trials in our lives will help us to remain centered and calm, ready to face each day and/or crisis as it comes.

Eventide Reflection on Ephesians 1:3-14

Eventide Reflection on Ephesians 1:3-14

By Marni McGee

Today, Ephesus, or what’s left of that once-great city, lies on the western edge of modern Turkey, about five miles inland from the Aegean coast – across the sea from Greece. It’s no longer important geographically or politically, but in the early Christian era, Ephesus was a powerful city – one of the many cities where St. Paul traveled to preach the gospel. He established many communities of faith and later wrote to the Christians in those places. The book of Ephesians is one such letter. I’d like for us to consider some of the concepts in the opening chapter. The first verse is not so different from the style of a modern letter. We learn who it’s from and to whom it was written: “Paul, an Apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul’s greeting is interesting: He says, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The word “Grace” was a typical Greek greeting, and “Peace” was a typical Hebrew greeting. Paul combined the two in this letter. In the Christian context, “grace” as a greeting was more than “hello.” It expresses something far deeper. It speaks of the ineffable joy flowing outward from the fountain of God’s abundant love, forgiveness and mercy, knowing that these gifts come to us without the slightest merit of our own. Similarly, “God’s peace” is, yes, the quietness and tranquillity of a soul in harmony with the Creator. But that phrase too goes deeper, symbolizing one of the great values of Christianity – the belief that peace in all its forms is far better than war – in all its forms.

Following Paul’s greetings to the Ephesians comes an exuberant song of praise: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ.”

What an extraordinary statement! God destined each one of us for adoption through Christ – even before the foundation of the world. Adoption is a choice – a dramatic, powerful act of love. Paul’s message is not just for the Ephesians. It’s for us as well. We have been chosen. We have been adopted by God.

I recently saw a short but powerful video filmed in Africa showing an astonishing act of kindness within the animal kingdom. One of the animals was a lion. Lions, don’t forget, are carnivores – they eat meat. Lions will catch and eat anything from mice to elephants, but on this spectacular day, an elephant rescued a baby lion and carried him to safety in the curve of her trunk. It was a gesture that was eerily like a human mother – or father – cradling an infant in curve of her arm. The elephant had come across an exhausted lioness and her weakened cub as they desperately searched for water. The two were in great danger, and the elephant sensed their need for water. She understood: the cub couldn’t walk any further, and lioness wouldn’t abandon her young one. So that huge creature scooped up the little cub in her trunk and carried him to a watering hole while the lioness trotted along beside them. The lioness knew instinctively that all three of them were safe. The image was beautiful, and to me, the message was clear. It was about the grace of adoption that crosses borders, the grace that erases differences, the grace that erases danger.

I’m sure we all know of adoptions within our own families, neighbors and friends. It’s a beautiful thing – where it is formal and legal or not. A few weeks ago, Nancy Jessee told us that Le Bron James was adopted. He was not formally adopted but taken in by a wonderful man and his family. I was fascinated by Nancy’s story about Le Bron – because I really like and respect him. I looked up the story online to read more. There, I learned that Le Bron loves to tell kids about how being adopted in fifth grade completely changed his life. He doesn’t talk about how much money he makes or how fantastically he plays. He tells them about the people who took him in. He tells them about the man who loved this shy, awkward, huge boy and taught him to play basketball. That man made the choice to love.
God has chosen us to be his through adoption. There is freedom, love and grace in that relationship. Mark Nepo writes in The Book of Awakening, that “the dearest things in life cannot be owned, but only shared. In truth,” he writes, “we share this mystery called life the way sea creatures share the ocean. While each . . . has its nest . . . none can live without the deep that flows through them all.”

I’ll close with Paul’s words in verses 13 and 14: “In him, when you had heard the . . . gospel of your salvation and had believed in him, you also were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit. This is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.” These verses include, according to some biblical scholars, some of the grandest and most perplexing words in the Christian vocabulary: adoption, redemption and heritage.