Growing as Disciples of Jesus Christ May 2015 Through Worship, Learning, Fellowship and Outreach The Messenger OF TRINITY ANGLICAN CHURCH Reaching Forth Our Hands and Growing as Disciples As this month begins, we find ourselves mid-way through our sermon and study series Reaching Forth Our Hands in Love: Drawing Others to Jesus. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to share the good news of Jesus with a perishing world dearly loved by God. Too often, we have been taught or have come to view the sharing of good news, evangelism, as a one-size-fits-all endeavor that is frequently confrontational. A closer look at Scripture, though, reveals that there are many different ways of sharing the good news, ways that fit well with our own unique personalities and temperaments. We have all been equipped by the Holy Spirit to reach forth our own unique hands in love as we share the good news of Jesus. Once we know our own style and a few basic skills, we have all we need to faithfully reach out to the world. But why should we do so? The first sermon in the series reminded us that we should do so because God does so. God so loved the world that He sent Jesus to rescue humanity from sin and death. By reaching forth our hands, we respond to the love that saved us, draw people into a saving relationship with Jesus, and see the Church, God s family, grow. But I would like to suggest a further reason why we should share the good news: we need to in order to grow. In the beauty of God s ways, the more we become like Jesus, the more we will reach forth our hands, and the more we reach forth our hands, the more we will become like Jesus. us in the posture of abiding in God s grace. The life of following Jesus is the life of being transformed into His image from the inside out. The more we abide in Him through the exercise of spiritual disciplines, the more we open ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts conforming us to the image of Christ. So how does that relate to the work of ministry, mission and outreach? Does the work flow out of our abiding in Christ as a necessary byproduct? Does the work itself transform us? Or is something else going on? Not too long ago, we studied how we grow as disciples of Jesus, and one of the things we suggested is that we need to engage intentional disciplines of weakness. Drawing upon Paul s understanding that God s grace is made perfect in weakness, we come to realize that a key component to spiritual growth is putting ourselves in a position of having to trust God to provide. When we can t, we come to experience that God can. This active experience of God s grace both changes us and strengthens our faith in His grace. Intentional disciplines of weakness put That s why ministry, mission and outreach are so vital to spiritual growth. They become disciplines of weakness. They become opportunities to experience God s grace and provision in action in a way that strengthens our faith. So work is not so much a byproduct of abiding in Christ or even directly transformational as it is an intentional posture of weakness that cultivates abiding faith in a way that opens us more and more deeply to the work of the Holy Spirit in and through us. When it comes to the work of evangelism, we are in a place of special weakness because we can t make anyone believe in Jesus, all we can only faithfully bear witness to our Savior. In the beauty of God s ways, the more we become like Jesus, the more we will reach forth our hands, and the more we reach forth our hands, the more we will become like Jesus. To fail to engage in ministry, mission and outreach, is to stunt our spiritual growth. Sharing our faith, reaching forth our hands in love, not only grows God s Church, but furthers our spiritual growth. Evangelism is not an added extra for the spiritually gifted and ambitious, it is the call of every disciple. It is our deepest prayer that we, clothed in the Holy Spirit, may reach forth our hands in love that God s family may grow in both numbers and depth. 1 Yours in Christ, Fr. Karl+
The Open Harbor: The Family on a Mission (Part 1) One of the early and perennial objections to the monastic movement is that monastic communities with their intense internal rhythm of prayer and worship, discipleship and work functioned more as barricades against the world rather than centers of evangelistic engagement with the world. Surely the latter is what Jesus envisioned for his followers in, say, the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20! The ready rejoinder to this is, of course, that if the body does not seriously build up its own internal life as, say, 1 Corinthians 12 envisions, then there will be no community into which the evangelized may enter! Saint Augustine offers a most satisfying image of the monastic community: it must be envisioned as a harbor city. From the harbor ships can be sent out on expeditions and ships can come in for refuge, but a civic community, with its own internal life, can flourish there too. I bring this up not to give an apology for or against monasticism per se. Rather I wish to take Saint Augustine s image of an open harbor city and apply it to the family. At the risk of running roughshod over the finer points, I think that Christian families mine included, friends are often tempted in one of two opposite directions. On the one hand, some families take very seriously the moral and intellectual distinctiveness of Christianity; they live serious lives of Christian piety; but they are barricaded against the world. Let s call them inlanders. On the other hand, some families are very much engaged in the world, constantly brushing shoulders with unbelievers, but in word and deed, Monday through Saturday, they blend in perfectly with the world; the Christian distinctives are distinctly thin. Let s call them seafarers. The trick is to maintain the distinctiveness of the Christian way of life (like the inlanders) and to be deeply engaged in the world (like the seafarers). In other words, what if our families were more like open harbors? What if they ventured out into the world rather than remaining safely barricaded? What if they maintained a deeply Christian way of life that could offer hope and refuge for those unbelievers searching for a better way? The questions could go on and on. In the coming months, I will be exploring what it might look like for us to be engaged in Christian mission as families, to live family life in the open harbor. Trinity Family Ministry Growing Together in Christ Sunday School on the Campus of St. John s Pre-K 8th meet in the Sanctuary and then process to class at the Gloria hymn Youth Group - Sundays: 5:30-7:00 pm 5/3 Youth Group 5/10 No Youth Group (Mother s Day) 5/17 Youth Group 5/24 Youth Group 5/31 No Youth Group (Parish BBQ) Sunday School Summer Activities begin Sunday, June 7 Interested in Volunteering? Contact Fr. Joe ADULT CONFIRMATION CLASS The service of Confirmation will be held on May 31st, the day of the Bishop s visitation. We are holding one class of preparation for this sacrament on Sunday, May 17th, 9:30-10:15 a.m. @ St. John s Lutheran Contact Fr. Joe or Fr. Karl {Save the Date} Men s Camping Trip Fr. Joe+ 2 August 28th-30th
Save the date now - FLOOD MINISTRIES Our next FLOOD drive will be on Saturday, May 30th at 1:30, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. We will be once again collecting bagloads of groceries. It will be announced when bags can be picked up. Each bag will have a list of what is needed to be purchased by you. CHURCH BBQ Our church BBQ will be held on Sunday, May 31st, right after our 10:30 worship service. All members and friends are invited. COOK BOOKS If anyone would like to buy a Trinity cook book, we have several in our office. You may come by and purchase one for $10. They would make an ideal gift for Mother s Day! ICE CREAM SOCIAL Our ACW will be hosting a no host Ice Cream Social on Saturday, May 16th, at 2 p.m. We have decided to share an afternoon of enjoyable ice cream delights at Rosemary s Creamery at 2733 F Street. You may R.S.V.P. to Tara in the church office (861-6020). HOLY BAPTISM The next date for Baptism will be on Pentecost which is on Sunday, May 24th. If you or your child are ready to be baptized, please call Fr. Karl in the church office to make arrangements. WEAR RED ON PENTECOST On the day of Pentecost, which is May 24th, when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, it was under the guise of tongues of fire above their heads. What color do we associate with fire? Red. We encourage you to wear something RED for our Pentecost celebrations. A field of red filling the pews will surely have an impact, especially on children, and may create lasting memories for everyone, memories of the fire of the Holy 3 SENIOR SINGLES Please mark your calendars for May 3rd. All single people, who are seniors, are invited to join our group We will be going right after the 10:30 service for lunch at the Double Tree. TRINITY STATS Attendance April 5 395 April 19 204 April 12 194 April 26 Giving If you have any questions, please call Janet Poteete at 872-0842 Year-to-Date March Actual Budget Actual Budget Income $50,053 $47,691 $155,971 $143,073 Expense $48,362 $46,783 $131,022 $140,349
In The Parish Family MAY BIRTHDAYS Congratulations to In Sympathy to Gary & Nancy Randall on the death of her son, Richard. Thank you... to all those who hosted our Guest Who? Dinners. Those offering their homes were: Jerry & Robin Starr, Stephen & Jennifer Faulk, Mark & Juliet Smith, Rob & Mary Jo Sawyer, Steve & Merry McCalley, and R.J. & Donna Chaffee. It was a wonderful event shared by 66 people. Andrew Chaffee Aria Poon Ed Taylor Kresten Carroll Chris Hoss Lisa Thomas Roman De Dios Jeff Roberts Milton Pope Ann Lingo Elsie Bergman Bette Clark Ken Bomar Jack Salter Benita Chase Cindy Bomar Roxanne Starbuck Bryan Oberg Maxine Chesney Stephanie Faulk Steven Brown Edwin Camp Mira Landucci Fred Kotowske Ken Pitchford Mike Chase Patty Page Thomas Smith If we have omitted your birthday, please call the office (861-6020), and give Tara the date. The city has completed their necessary work for the parcel map to record and escrow will close very soon! A sign, shown below, will shortly be installed on the property to let people know we will be coming soon! As soon as parking and timing issues are coordinated, we hope to have a service for the blessing of the ground. The Architectural Committee is nearing the completion of their work in Design Development. Work with the electrical and mechanical engineering consultants has been refined and should be completed soon. Cabinetry for the Fellowship Hall, Learning Center, and Administration Buildings has been completed. The initial landscape design for the interior areas has been completed and will be refined in the beginning of May. Letters were sent out to Campaign Contributors the first week of April in order to ensure accurate accounting. If you found any discrepancies in the records, please contact the Ages to Ages Treasurer, John Cronen, as soon as possible. 4
Trinity Anglican Church 5100 California Avenue Suite 108 Bakersfield CA 93309 May 2015 WORSHIP SERVICES Sunday Morning at St. John s Lutheran Church 8 a.m. Holy Communion (1928 Prayer Book) 10:30 a.m. Holy Communion (Rite II) Thursday Morning 10 a.m. Healing Service 5100 California Avenue Suite 108 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mike Young Kevin Ray John Cronen Anne Giles Marilyn Brown Ron Christolear Lynne Hall Guy Lingo Steve McCalley Jeff Mendoza Chad Savage Olga See Mark Smith Sr. Warden Jr. Warden Treasurer Clerk 5100 California Avenue #108 Bakersfield CA 93309 661-861-6020 Office 661-861-6026 Fax office@trinitybakersfield.com www.trinitybakersfield.com OUR CLERGY The Rev. Karl E. Dietze, Rector The Rev. Joseph Lawrence, Assistant The Rev. John M. Wilcox, Retired The Rev. John LaMar, Deacon OUR STAFF Sue Wagner, Director of Music Tara Michaels, Office Manager Kendi Miller, Bookkeeper The Messenger 5