EPiPhANy: ShAriNg ThE lighT of ChriST Epistle...

1 The Epistle – January 2017

Th

e Ep

istle

The monthly newsletter of

St. Matthew’s Parish, Pacific Palisades, CA

January 2017Volume 44 No. 5

please turn to page 4

EPiPhANy: ShAriNg ThE lighT of ChriST

Bruce A. Freeman

The story of the magi forms the core of the Epiphany Story. Three wise ones, from different parts of the world, follow a star to find the place in which the Son of God

had been born. Having been guided by the light of the star, the magi find the Son of God, the visible reality of God’s Holy light. They offer valuable gifts as a sign of their worship and faith and leave to return to their countries. As they travel they bring the light of Christ to the world in which return. Having had an epiphany, a dramatic recognition of the truth of God’s entrance into the world, they could do nothing but share this news wherever they found themselves.

In the current climate in our country, many have found themselves searching for a moment of epiphany which provides a sense of clarity regard-ing how move forward positively. In my sermon on January 8th, the Baptism of our Lord, I pointed to the difficulty of knowing the light of Christ in the midst of chaos. Where is our star to guide us to the truth? And if we find this truth, how are we to share it in the strange world in which we find ourselves? It’s feels like we’ve lost our sense of agency. The truth is obscured and our ability to influence events lost. Quoting the poet Naomi Shihab Nye in her poem “Famous” I pointed to the truth that we reclaim our sense of agency when we operate out of love. These are the last few lines:

“The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.

I want to be famous to shuffling men who smile while crossing streets, sticky children in grocery lines, famous as the one who smiled back.

I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous, or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular, but because it never forgot what it could do.

Annual Parish

Meeting: Sunday,

January 22, 9am (between

Services)


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Staff Directory

Weekly Calendar

To reach any of the numbers below:

Dial 310/573-7787, then the extension

The Rev. Bruce A. Freeman, Rector (Ext. 130) [email protected]

Mr. Josh Castellanos, Facilities Coordina-tor (Ext. 108) [email protected]

Ms. Amy Childress, membership Coordina-tor (Ext. 123) [email protected]

Mr. Craig Ehlers, Chief Financial Officer (Ext. 126) [email protected]

Mr. Greg Heidt, Director of Facilities and Operations (ext. 108) [email protected]

Ms. Karen Johnson, Stewardship Secretary (Ext. 100) [email protected]

Ms. Jennifer McCarthy, Director of Com-munications (Ext. 128) [email protected]

Mr. Jeremias Mendez, Special Projects Man-ager (Ext. 133) [email protected]

Ms. Missy Morain, Director of Formation for Youth and Children; (Ext. 139) [email protected]

Mr. Thomas Neenan, Director of Music (Ext. 127) [email protected]

The Rev. Kristin Neily Barberia, School Chaplain (Ext. 125) [email protected]

Ms. Haesung Park, Parish Organist , [email protected]

The Rev. Christine Purcell, Associate Rector (Ext. 129) [email protected]

Mr. Stu Work, Day School Head of School (Ext. 146) [email protected]

Like us on Facebook

To see more about events and activities in our community, be sure to follow “The Parish of St. Matthew” on Facebook!

Sundays8:00 am The Holy Eucharist

(with infant and toddler care available)

10:15 am Choral Eucharist

(with infant and toddler care available)

10:15 am Godly Play

Mondays7:30 pm Contemplative Prayer

Wednesdays10:00 am The Holy Eucharist

MISSION STATEMENTThe Parish of St. Matthew, a community of

faith in the Episcopal tradition, is called by God to love, serve and worship Jesus Christ.

Our mission is to spiritually nourish those who seek unity with God and each other in Christ.

As stewards, entrusted with God’s gifts, we are committed to carrying on Christ’s work in the world.

Sunday Sermons online - Recorded versions

If you would like to listen to a sermon that you heard at Saint Matthew’s, or one you missed for some reason, most of the Sunday sermons are now available online. Just navigate your web browser to: www.stmatthews.com and click on the “Sermons Online” link. Happy listening!

In A Pastoral Emergency...We want to know about all pastoral emergencies at St. Matthew’s so we can respond as quickly as possible. In such a situation, for example a death, a sudden hospitalization, an accident, or any kind of emergency, please contact our pastoral care hotline (310/573-7787, ext. 199) in order to reach the on-call priest right away. For the fast-est response, please do not call the parish office or clergy cell-phones, as these are often not the fastest way to contact us. Thank you!


requests for Prayers and Parish Announcements Pr

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need to schedule an event or have an announcement to share?

If you have a meeting or event that your ministry would like to hold at St. Matthew’s, please coordinate its placement on the parish calendar through Jennifer McCarthy. She will also coordinate your announce-ments as possible. Please contact her at 310/454-1358, ext. 128 or [email protected]. Thank you!

Pray the Rosary

All are invited to the chapel to pray the Rosary to-gether at 8:30 am on the first Saturday of the month. This contemplative, spiritual practice takes about 20 minutes and we’ll offer a brief “clinic” for all. Rosaries will be available for those who may not have them!

The Church in the Canyon - On Sale Now

You can still purchase your copy of The Church in the Canyon, The Parish of St. Matthew 1941-2016 on the patio for $25 after church services or stop by the office to purchase a copy. Proceeds go to our many outreach partners!

Please pray for Betsy, Audrey, Betty, Blair, Jon Bruno, Chuck, Anne Carson, Bill and Erica, Dave, Elizabeth, Greta, Bob Guyett, Jane Halgren, Mathew Hand, Lydia Heston, Jack, William Jeffrey, Catherine Jones, Steve Kerr, Carol, Patsy Lanter, Loretta, Matthew, Kathleen, Red, Joan Sather, Nancy Ufkes, and Molly Wooden.

We also remember those who have died in the hope of Christ’s resurrection: Lori Newman, Nicholas Linesch, Len (Hal) Brode, and Larry Gutteridge. Please know that in addition to your praying for these persons, they are prayed for regularly throughout the week by clergy and by members of our Intercessory Prayer Group.

If you would like to add, keep, or remove someone from this list, please call The Rev. Christine Purcell at 310/573-7787, ext. 129. Prayer requests will automatically be kept on the list for one month only.


Community Children’s Choir

Bruce freeman, continuedMy sense is that our faith counsels us to never forget that there is always something we can do to impact the world. The thing

we can do might not be big, or earth shaking or will change the fundamental political or economic reality of our society. However, if we operate out of love, from that place where our God says to us, as God said to Jesus after he was baptized, that we are the “beloved in whom I am well pleased” (MT 3:17) we will see and approach our world with love. In that movement of love we will find the way that we CAN touch the world in transformative ways. Who is to say that a kind smile to a shuffling man or sticky child doesn’t change the world in a fundamental way? I think that it does. It is a sign that the Kingdom of God is present and will be the final reality in the end. The magi certainly seemed to understand that what they experienced in that manger was a light that would change the world. They could do nothing but share this light with the whole world. This is our call right new my dear friends. We must seek the light and love of God in Christ and know that as we share what we have found we will change everything for the God of love.

In Christ,Bruce

Our St. Matthew’s Community Children’s Choir is off to a great start! The choir meets on Mondays from 3:15-4pm with fearless leader John Rockwell. Each week the choir learns about a famous artist - David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson to name a few - and practices. Most recently, the choir rocked the house at Atria Senior Living in the Palisades performing sev-eral Christmas carols and songs including Bob Dylan’s “Must Be Santa”. Now is a great time to for kids in grades 1st through 5th to JOIN as the choir is just starting to learn the new songs for the next performance which will be at the Shrove Pancake

Supper on Tuesday, February 28th. For more information, email [email protected].

Mark your Calendars–

February 12 - 75th Anniversary Historical Service

Don your best 1940s church style for our “retro” service as part of our yearlong, 75th Anniversary celebration! you bring your vintage duds and we will bring the 1928 prayer book (8 & 10:15)


This letter was sent to Outreach representative Jocelyn Cortese by Sharon Browning on behalf of the Pacific Palisades Task-Force on Hunger.

Dear Jocelyn,

I just returned from vacation to find that St. Matthew’s Par-ish sent a donation of $10,000 to our PPTFH-OPCC homeless outreach effort. We thank you allfrom the bottom of our hearts.

That St. Matthew’s offered this donation after its past gener-ous gift and without being asked is beyond belief. From our very first meeting in 2015 with Bruce Freeman, he and your parish boldly stepped forward to lead. It was your parish that seeded the very first gift we received and set the standard for other individuals and organizations to follow. It was your staff that helped us convene the other members of the faith community

to ask for support.

The “walk” is part of the gift. How St. Matthew’s has and continues to walk with PPTFH is every bit as important as are the crucial funds that you provide. There are no words to tell you the impact that your caring spirit has had and how much it means to all of us on the Task Force but especially to those people we seek to help who are living on our Palisades streets.

Yes, we have raised the funds to cover 2017. Praise the Lord! However, we have a three-year commitment to OPCC so we must raise funds to support the outreach team through 2018. The St. Matthew’s donation will be applied to covering 2018. Also, because your recent donation put us into 2018 we are now able to demonstrate to a large funder our sustainability and believe we can now be considered for a large grant to support 2018.

You probably know that Malibu is now replicat-ing our model with OPCC…very exciting…and we are helping them the way St. Matthews helped us…we are passing it on.

Again, thanks to everyone at St. Matthew’s for your boundless spirit of love, generosity and the “walk.”

Peace, Joy and Love,

SharonPPTFH Vice President and OPCC Liaison

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CAngel

interfaith Network

Your gifts to Angel Inter-faith Network bring comfort and hope to patients and families at LAC + USC Medical Network.

Who We Respond To:

A family from Lancaster had two children in hospital after a major car accident: their twenty-year-old daughter was brain dead and a younger son was in ICU. The mother and father and their other two children stayed overnight in the waiting room. The social worker asked for motel voucher for the weekend so the family could be close to the hospital. Because of your sup-port, we were able to offer that small comfort.

Victor is an eight-year-old patient whose mother was killed in an accident. Victor himself is underweight and needed a car seat to go home with his Auntie. Victor went to his new home in a car seat from AIN.

We got a call from the preemie clinic alerting us to four-month-old twins that needed clothing and diapers. Father had lost his job and the family had two older children as well. AIN delighted the family, bringing two baskets with all the items the babies would need to get started. Thanks to our Angel donors who make our baby baskets possible.

Urgent Needs:

Ensure or Boost supplement for adults (any flavor). Need continues for L/XL Sweats, as well as men’s and women’s socks for homeless patients treated in the ER.

outreach news

outreach Thank yous

From Molly Moen and Kristen Laskaris at CHRYSALIS:

“Thanks to you, we are able to restore dignity, self-esteem, and stability to people’s lives. Your recent gift directly supports Chrysalis’ life-changing programs and services, making it pos-sible for the courageous men and women who come through our doors to find employment, regain a sense of hope, and move forward on the pathway to self-sufficiency.”


PlU’S Choir of ThE WEST in concert at St. Matthew’s, Sunday, January 29, 4pm

The Choir of the West, Pacific Lutheran University’s premier choral ensemble,

embarks on a tour of the Southwest United States this January. The choir will visit the Phoenix area, Las Vegas and southern, performing contemporary pieces in styles that are both sacred and secular.

Choir of the West is comprised of undergraduate students from a variety of academic disciplines. Choir members are chosen through a rigorous audition process and perform several concerts each year, in-cluding shared programs with other PLU ensembles and the annual Christmas concert series. Their 2015 Christmas Concert “A Christmas Invitation” was broadcast nationwide in more than 60 markets on PBS during the 2016 holiday season.

The choir was founded in 1926, and was the third Lutheran college choir to tour extensively throughout the United States. The Choir of the West has toured to Europe, Scandinavia, Japan and China, and has been selected to appear at several regional and national conferences of the National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association. During summer 2011, Choir of the West competed among choirs from 47 nations at the prestigious Harmonie Festival in Lindenholzhausen, Germany, winning two gold certificates and one silver. In 2015, the choir competed in the Anton Bruckner Choir Competition, held in Linz, Austria. The choir won both the mixed choir and sacred music categories, and was awarded the Anton Bruckner Prize as the most outstanding ensemble in the competition.

guitarist ines Thome, Soprano Katina Mitchel and friends - Music guild Concert friday, January 20, 8pm

Boccherini’s “Fandango” Quintet for Guitar and Strings

Music for Solo Guitar by Dowland and Henze

Songs for Soprano and Guitar by Schubert and Britten

Ticket and complete information: MusicGuildOnline.org


WHAT DO I NEED TO HAVE? •  Re l iab le t ranspor tat ion & a

va l id dr iver ’ s l icense

•  A c lean background check

•  4 to 6 hours/ week to spare

•  A des i re to a see more inc lusve Los Angeles & the pat ience & love to he lp a young person succeed

WHAT CAN I EXPECT?

•  Tra in ing on type & locat ion of hous ing resources

•  1-on-1 mentee pai r ing

•  To prov ide a needed serv ice for a young person in our community & bui ld a meaningfu l re lat ionsh ip

If interested in becoming a HOMIE! please contact:

Youth CES Regional Coordinator Rachel Pedowitz [email protected] | 323.762.5542

BECOME A HOMIE! Have you ever searched for an apartment or home?

Do you remember feeling some stress, anxiety, or confusion as you went through your search?

For many young people in our community, seeking housing is a new, daunting process that they face with limited support and access to public transportation only.

YOU CAN HELP!

Become a Housing Opportunity Mentor, In Effect! (HOMIE!) and share your housing search experience with someone who could use it most. This isn’t just about finding a place to live; it’s about finding a place to thrive.

EPiPhANy: ShAriNg ThE lighT of ChriST Epistle...

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