St. Andrew's Episcopal Church Ojai

Peace and Love in Mark

St. Andrew’s will not be doing in-person ashing for Ash Wednesday this year (according to the Diocesan Covind-19 safety protocols). Below are some good online options from three of the greatest cathedrals in the Anglican Communion. In person worship, socially-distanced and masked, will resume Sunday at 8 am. 10 am Zoom and Facebook Live services also continue on Sunday, with Zoom virtual coffee hour afterwards. Cathedral of St. John the Divine (NYC): 9 am (PT) or afterward...s Ash Wednesday worship can be accessed via YouTube or Facebook https://www.stjohndivine.org/calend//ash-wednesday-service Christ Church Cathedral, Canterbury (UK) Ash Wednesday worship can be accessed via YouTube (UK is 8 hours ahead of us) https://youtube.com/user/DandCofCanterbury York Minster (UK) Ash Wednesday workship can be accessed via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/yorkminsteruk The Rev. Greg Kimura, Ph.D. (Cantab.) Rector, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church 409 Topa Topa Drive Ojai, CA. 93023 213-220-0241 (cell)

Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Folks have been asking, What can I do to deepen faith and reflection this Lent? Below you will find a link to the Church of England’s Live Lent programme. You can download an app for your IOS or Android phone/tablet or sign up for emails that will include a daily reflection sent to you every morning. This is a simple way to increase Lenten discipline. During the 40 days, the St. Andrew’s FB page will include reflections on the reflection and folks can share their thought...s in a threaded discussion. BTW, if you haven’t checked out the C of E’s website, you should! They have very rich digital resources that help in keeping faith in a time of pandemic! https://www.churchofengland.org//livelent-gods-story-our-s

Hello Ojai! Grab-and-Go Meals are available today for all community youth, 18 years and younger, regardless of where they attend school. Visit us at any Elementary Site, and Nordhoff between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Click link to read more!

Greetings in the Name of the Lord This is Father Greg writing. Many folks have been contacting St. Andrew’s about the status of church now that Ventura County has declared the Covid-19/Coronavirus pandemic an emergency and the OUSD cancelled school. ... As was indicated in a parish-wide email on Wednesday, among other changes, the office has been closed until further notice and hand-sanitiser has been stationed in the narthex. We have also been following Diocese-wide protocols regarding distribution of the Holy Sacraments, including a prohibition on distributing wine. The St. Andrew’s Vestry is meeting tomorrow morning, Saturday, March 14 to prayerfully consider additional steps. Several dioceses around the country (including our neighbor, the Diocese of California), as well as a number of parishes in our Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, have decided to cancel all public worship and social gatherings for the time being, opting to livestream Sunday services. Prior to any Vestry decision, after taking advice from medical professionals, I have suspended coffee hour and music, until further notice. As soon as the Vestry has decided on next steps, an email will be sent out and information disseminated here and via other social media. During this time, I encourage everyone to take such precautions as are prudent and to pray for and support those who are especially vulnerable. Together, in faith and with clear vision, we will get through this difficult time! Faithfully, Greg+

Ojai Valley Family Shelter will host showers for the homeless community today, Wed., 11/4, at ST. ANDREW’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, as well as on Saturdays (as usual).

"But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs." George Eliot--MIDDLEMARCH

Let us now praise: the Dodgers, the O'Malley's, and Sweet Lou!

Songs in the Key of Life

National Idolatry and the Parable of the Wedding Banquet

I want to share this powerful sermon by a rabbi friend Niles Goldstein with whom I collaborated on an ecumenical book back in 99. This was his message on Yom Kippur this year, just published by The Forward: Ashamnu I confess, I am guilty....Continue reading

Paul,kenosis, and the theological virtue of humility

Today is the Feast of St. Hildegard of Bingen. Hildegard was a 12th century abbess, composer, scientist, writer, and mystic one of the truly remarkable saints of the Middle Ages! She began seeing holy visions at the age of three. Educated by the Benedictines, she wrote down her impressions in a series of books and letters. Her visions caused her to see humans as ‘living sparks’ of God’s love. ... Hildegard corresponded with St. Bernard and Pope Eugene III (amongst others) and much of her writing is extant. She wrote on the natural sciences, medicine and botany. She had a gift for liturgical music, such that she is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, as well as the most-recorded in modern history. It is, however, her mystical reflections that have made her such a popular saint today. Although it came late, she was canonised in 2012 by the Roman Catholic Church.