St Edmund's Episcopal Church San Marino

STEDY, January 24, 2018

Those people you see water skiing on vacation with beautiful smiles and tans, the people with the shiny new cars parked in front of their massive homes or sitting at a table full of fancy food picking up the bill for all their friends – have pity on them, their lives are so sad. They should be jealous of those who are furious, sobbing in heartache or unable to pay their bills, how lucky are they because according to Jesus, they are truly blessed. Wait, what? How can being filled with grief, anxiety and anger be a good thing, let alone something that reflects well upon your life? While unpleasant, Jesus warns us that such feelings guard against something much worse, something more damaging which is complacency.

An unknown author wrote,”complacency is a blight that saps energy, dulls attitudes, and causes a drain on the brain. The first symptom is satisfaction with things as they are. The second is rejection of things as they might be. “Good enough” becomes today’s watchword and tomorrow’s standard. Complacency makes people fear the unknown, mistrust the untried, and abhor the new. Like water, complacent people follow the easiest course — downhill. They draw false strength from looking back.” Another person said, “it invades areas once occupied by our passion, interest, desire, and focus. When complacent, the valued things that had captivated our thoughts, hearts, and energies tend to fade from priority and can even become mundane or the boring routine of everyday life. Burnout in our work life, loss of fire in relationships, and the lack of zeal for things we once held important are common experiences. The shame is not in complacency but in the failure to recognize it and take corrective measures to regain our footing.”

Experts have identified two major sources for this malady: Too busy, or not busy enough. Both are problems in our society. Some people feel as though they have made it and have a right to live without a care in the world. At the opposite extreme there are those who feel as though they have had too much imposed on them. They are overwhelmed, tired, uncertain and hopeless. When people are on one side of this extreme or the other it can be quite fatal as neither is either willing or able to do what needs to be done. In many ways the Church has become very complacent; there are some who feel like they have tried everything, nothing has worked, the situation is hopeless and then there are others who think we are fine, they can show up whenever its convenient because the church will always be here. Both opinions are dangerous because ultimately neither side has a passion and that is why complacency is single-handedly the biggest culprit for churches closing.

We, the congregation of St. Edmund’s are at a place where we need to nudged, aware that we could fall victim to this as well. It has recently been announced that we will be losing our longtime and very beloved priest, the person we have leaned on to keep the church running, the person we assumed would always be there. While a sad and uncomfortable place to be, the reality is the reigns are in the hands of the congregation and we need to be very careful how each of us responds. We can throw our hands in air, assume that this is the death of our church and leave. Having assisted churches through several pastoral changes, it’s a great idea if the congregation as a whole promises to never utter such statements or even allow ourselves to think them. Another option is to draw false strength from looking at previous successes and continue to attend worship when we have nothing else to do, volunteer when other obligations have been met and overall assume that the “new guy” will keep things drumming along. If we do either of those things, the church will not thrive, in fact either response could lead to a very sad future. Instead we need to remember Jesus’ crazy words that our fears, our anxiety, our sadness at losing a dear friend and wise companion is a blessing that we need to embrace. First, we are blessed to be sad at the thought of losing Father George, we are tremendously blessed to have felt loved, educated and cared for and that his absence will be tremendously hard. This is also a time in which we can regroup, remind ourselves of why we love this church, we call St. Edmund’s home – our home. It’s up to us to keep our home thriving and moving forward.

~ Upcoming Events ~

We need a vote!
Aladdin is playing at the Pantages and we would like to organize a trip to see it. We have two dates in mind, if you are interested please Heather or Antonio know which date you prefer so we can get tickets before they run out.

Options are:
Sunday, March 25th at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $50
or
Tuesday, March 27th at 8 pm. Tickets are $35.
(this is spring break week for San Marino USD)

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Sunday, January 28
Team 4 Acolyting

Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel

Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms
Teaching: Rebecca, Heather & Antonio

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Sunday, February 4
SCOUT SUNDAY
Team 1 Acolyting
Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel
Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms
Youth Group
5 – 7 pm
Holly Hulick’s
2270 Paloma Street
Pasadena 91104.
Please RSVP so we can provide enough food.
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Sunday, February 11
Team 2 Acolyting
Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel
Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms
Teaching: Vicki, Antonio and Heather

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Sunday, February 18
Team 3 Acolyting
Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel
Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms

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Sunday, February 25
Team 4 Acolyting
Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel
Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms

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Sunday, March 4
Team 1 Acolyting

Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel

Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms
Teachers: Shawna, Antonio and Heather

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Sunday, March 11
Team 2 Acolyting

Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel

Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms

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Sunday, March 18
Team 3 Acolyting

Children’s Liturgy
10 am | Chapel

Sunday School
10:30 am | Sunday School Classrooms