To View the San Joaquin Anglican please click on the sections below. To download or print the San Joaquin Anglican Please click the icon to the right --->
January San Joaquin Anglican
File Size: 1209 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
The Bishop's Corner
The Right Reverend Eric Vawter Menees
​
A very Merry and blessed Christmas to you all!

Christmas is, of course, a good season to reflect on Christ’s in-carnation, something we usually take for granted. Oftentimes when we think of things becoming human, like in fairy tales and myths, their becoming human is a desirable or good thing. Just think of the Little Mermaid wanting feet, or Pinocchio becoming a real boy. It figures that in our myths other creatures would desire to be like us. As a result, people often take a similar position when it comes to God becoming man, which is not a fairy tale but reality. What we don’t think of, though, is that the mere act of becoming man is actually an act of humility. Jesus before the incarnation is the Son, the second person of the Trinity; he is in all places at all times. In becoming man, Jesus limits himself. As Paul would write in Philippians 2, Jesus “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

In the Church year this humility and obedience of Jesus is seen at multiple points. A week after we celebrate Christmas, the church celebrates the feast of the Holy Name on January 1. Holy Name commemorates the day when, a week after his birth, Jesus would have been named and circumcised according to Jewish law. This is followed by the feast of the Presentation on February 2, 40 days after Christmas. This commemorates the day that, 40 days after his birth, Jesus would have been taken to the Temple, and Mary would have been purified. These days continue the theme of humility from Christmas and show that Jesus also lived a life that was in accordance to biblical law. Even as a little baby, his life was in accordance with scripture. These events show us that Jesus becoming human wasn’t an easy thing, it was tough. Jesus had to put up with all the frustrations that we put up with on a regular basis, but all of it was done out of his love ​for us. We may get caught up in all of the decorations, food, and music around Christmas – the glittering things that catch our attention – but we need to remember that the reason for Christmas is God assuming humanity, becoming one of us out of his love for us.

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) Jesus took on human flesh, experienced every human emotion, trial and tribulation, in order to re-deem humanity. That through his life, death and resurrection, the gap between God and man would be bridged and eternal life may be found for all who received him and believed in his name. (John 1:12)

If we truly want to celebrate this holiday season, we should remember each of these holidays, not with the glittering things that attract us, but with a deep faith that drives us to live lives similarly in obedience to God’s word. May this Christmas season remind you of the humble place among us that Jesus took out of his love for us, and may it lead you to seek him in humility in your own life.

Bishop Menees
Transitions
  • ​On the First Sunday of Advent, Faith Anglican, Shafter, merged with St. Luke’s, Bakersfield, becoming a new congregation named Ascension Anglican Church, Bakersfield.
  • On the First Sunday of Advent, St. Andrew’s in the Desert, Lancaster, folded into St. Jude in the Mountain’s, Tehachapi.
  • January 1st, the merged churches of St. Mary’s Fresno and Good Shepherd Reedley, meeting in Sanger, have become Holy Cross Anglican Church. Their new website is http://www.holycrossac.org/.
​Diocesan youth mission trip

Diocesan Youth Mission Trip:
Come Build Hope
​July 14-19, 2019

​Once again, the diocese will partner with Amor Ministries in Tijuana to build a home for a family in need. This trip is geared for youth entering the 7th grade through college and is open to adults as well. Younger children may come if accompanied by their parent. The cost will most likely be between $200-300 per missionary. This includes lodging in a tent, food while in Mexico, along with the building materials and tools needed to build the house. The amount will be determined by the fundraisers participating congregations hold along with diocesan scholarships. All participants must have a passport and some spending money for meals while traveling. It currently takes 6-8 weeks to get a passport and the cost varies by age between $115-145. Look for more details to come in the next couple of months. If you have any interest or questions, please contact Father Mark Hall at hallfour@gmail.com 
The Anglican relief and development fund
reflections from the former archdeacon
By The Ven. Donald A. Seeks

Stewards of God

Recently in the past, I have been writing about God’s ownership of all things and His call to us to be faithful stewards over all the things He has given us to manage; for that is the definition of a good steward. He also tells us that we are to be held accountable for the manner in which we practice that stewardship. If we are faithful in that effort, by His grace, we will receive an abundance of blessings both in this life and the life to come. His grace is greater and more magnificent than we ever can imagine.

Accepting responsibility for managing God’s gifts, then, can be a joyful but challenging task. It involves every facet of our lives. A famous theologian and teacher once wrote, “Much of the unhappiness and discontent in the lives of many Christian people is their basic dishonesty when it comes to honoring God with their substance.” Our “substance” is best represented in this present culture by money, but faithful stewardship is much more.

A Christian practicing stewardship will ask the Lord how to show him or her in the way to manage our time more wisely. The killing of time, which often is a temptation realized, is never murder. It is suicide, for the one who is a time-killer is a great loser.

It is important to remember that with the killing of time, there can be no resurrection. The stewardship of time is like money; we can spend it only once. How, then, shall we deal with time as Christian stewards? For one, each of us needs to faithfully spend some time on the Body of Christ – the Church. If many Christians gave a percent-age of their time to the Church, it would be a lot stronger than it is. We learn each moment of time belongs to God and His Body deserves more consideration. So while we have time here on earth, let us do good to the household of faith – our congregation – and God will teach us to number our days, so that each moment counts for something.

A Christian steward also has a responsibility for the physical body God has given and He expects us to care for it so that while we are in it, it will give us dependable service. I write as one who has done poorly in this area, and I believe my “thorns in the flesh” are due directly to poor stewardship. But by God’s grace He has given me insight concerning the problems and the opportunity to be forgiven and go on from here. In many ways, my weakness echoes that of St. Paul, who saw this weakness as strength in the Lord. But how much more would God have been pleased and given me even more had I practiced good stewardship at the beginning? A serious Christian steward will refuse and abstain from immorality and excessive habits that degrade, weaken, and even destroy the body. We are called by the Word of God to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God.

In his book, Peace With God, Dr. Billy Graham writes of characteristics which define Christian stewardship: “The Christian ideal certainly does not demand that a person renounce all interest in the affairs of this life, but rather that we seek God’s guidance in performing our daily tasks to the best of our ability, and that we keep both our work and our ambitions in subordination to God at all times. We find that Christ offers us positive help in our daily living.”

​Christian stewardship also calls for constant witness. Dr. Graham’s father-in-law, Dr. D. L. Nelson Bell once wrote, “If you are in Church on Sunday, the people who see you there may presume you are a Christian. But what about the people with whom you come in contact during the week – on the street, in your office, school, store, or in all the multiple places where you make those inevitable contacts? Orthodox Christian profession has its place.

Attendance at and active participation in the worship, program, and activities of the Church are an inescapable part of Christian living. But the business of making a living, the responsibilities of a home and family, the daily routine, all combine to test the reality of our Christian experience (stewardship) and faith. In these daily contacts what do others see?

Can our weekday associates tell we are Christians? Do casual acquaintances see anything in us to suggest that we are different from those who do NOT know Christ?”

The reality of our Christian stewardship is shown in the things we say or we fail to say, in the things we have done, or left undone. Can people discern from our lack of emphasis on material things just how mature is our Christian stewardship? God calls upon each one of us to be amplifiers for that “still small voice”.

Christian stewardship involves concentration on the new birth we have been given through our holy Baptism and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Growth inevitably follows birth.

Since our new birth is spiritual, good stewardship will mean we will rely on the Holy Spirit combined with our deliberate desire to grow. It will mean constant reading of His Holy Word, obedience to His commands, regular attendance at the Holy Eucharist, witnessing our faith, and dedicating our service. It has been said that when we get busy for God, we grow in His grace.

Christian stewards, above all others, should be deeply concerned with the problems of society including injustices. We are called by God not to surrender our social responsibility to the political bureaucracy, but to get personally involved at some level or another, so that the poor and unfortunate will hear the Good News because someone cares for them. Captives will find release because someone cares enough to show them a different way.

The blind, physically and spiritually, will begin to see the glory and the love of God. Those oppressed by the world around them will begin to see the freedom that comes through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Life symposium

The Bishop's Note

​The Bishop's Note is a pastoral message published weekly by Bishop Eric Menees.
To subscribe, send an email message with your email to receptionist@dioceseofsanjoaquin.net.
The San Joaquin Anglican is published monthly by The Anglican Diocese of San Joaquin, California.

Submissions will be accepted for consideration any-time; Contributions must be received by the 20th of the month for possible inclusion in the newsletter in the following month.
​
Please send these to akr93555@gmail.com and cc: melody@ctkridgecrest.org
Thank you!

Bishop’s Schedule And Diocesan Calendar

January 4-5
ACTS Retreat

January 7-11
College of Bishop's

January 13
Bishop @ Ascension Anglican Church (formerly known as St. Luke's), Bakersfield

January 17-27
Bishop Assisting an REC Bishop

February 8-10
Diocesan Vestry Retreat