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Jesus is not ambiguous in his instructions to us: love God and love your neighbor. He makes it clear that everyone is our neighbor. But he also instructed his disciples not to spend time with people who wouldn’t listen to them. “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your word, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet,” (Matthew 10:14, NIV). Loving our neighbor means knowing when to step in, and when to step away. We aren’t going to argue anyone into faith; if a person can be argued into faith, that same person can be argued out of it. We need to be able to point to what is wrong in our world and work to change it, not convince others of its wrongness.

Isaiah 58 has appeared twice in our worship this week, at both the Sunday and Wednesday services. It is the appointed lectionary reading, which makes its appearance all the more noticeable (it would not be a big deal if I were choosing the readings). We will hear it again next week at the Ash Wednesday service. “Is this not the fast that I choose? To loosen the bonds of injustice, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and provide shelter to the homeless, to clothe the naked and not turn away from your fellow humans?” Further in the chapter, Isaiah says, “If you remove the yoke of oppression, the pointing of fingers and evil speech, if you spend your time feeding the hungry and taking care of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night become like noon day.” Sometimes God works in mysterious ways, and sometimes God blares a trumpet and puts the Word right in front of us.

People are scared. People are angry. People are tired. The easy thing to do is to block out the world and attend to our own lives and ignore the rest. Jesus never told us to take the easy way, nor did he model living a life that ignores the world around us. Jesus lived in our messy and divided world, among us and with us.

How would Jesus respond to the world we live in today? What would he say about our arguments, divisions, and anger? Are we looking and listening for Jesus in our lives? We are meant to live in the world, not ignore it. We are taught to care for and love the least of those among us. Jesus is clear in all of this. How are we responding? Are we feeding the poor, sheltering the unsheltered, clothing the naked, visiting the imprisoned, and tending to people in need? Not all of us are called to work with the indigent, and the indigent are not the only people in need; all of us are in need of something.

God calls us to serve one another, and in serving one another, we become the truest form of who we are meant to be; Jesus came into this world not to be served, but to serve. And when we serve, the light of God will drive away the darkness in our lives; our fear, anger, and dread will be replaced with love, grace, and hope.

The Rev. Jason Shelby
Rector
jason.shelby@stfrancispalosverdes.org

“Your church is very busy!” I heard someone say this as we finished up the discussion portion of our Liturgy Lab on Sunday evening. I ended the discussion at 7:00 pm because I knew that AA would be there soon to set up for their meeting at 7:30, and sure enough, just as we were pushing back our chairs, someone came in to begin setting up.

Our church is busy. Both AA and Al-Anon have weekly meetings in the Parish Hall, as do quilters and beaders. In addition, there are yoga classes that meet twice a week and our grief group that meets once a week.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Lunar New Year with a delicious dinner and a wonderfully fun auction, and on Saturday we will have a celebration of music put on by David Knight, Alex Sams, Kathy Capellino, and multiple other people. Saturday’s musical celebration will be raising money for Harbor Connects and our music program.

The Lunar New Year’s party raises money for St. Teresa’s, one of our many guilds at St. Francis. The money raised by St. Teresa’s is used to fund various charitable projects in and out of the church.

On Monday, February 9, the Friars will be hosting a dinner that begins at 6:00 pm.

On our last Sunday service before Lent, we will have an instructed Eucharist, a chance during worship for people to learn why we do what we do.

There is a lot happening at St. Francis – we ARE a busy church! Come and see!

The Rev. Jason Shelby
Rector
jason.shelby@stfrancispalosverdes.org

What is the mission of the church? According to our catechism, it’s to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ, through prayer, worship, proclaiming the gospel, and promoting peace, justice, and love. This is accomplished through the ministry of all its members. How well are we fulfilling this mission at St. Francis?

From January to December, we had the following events (please excuse any omissions): Lunar New Year hosted by St. Theresa’s, Mardi Gras, Lenten Program and Dinner, Jesus Christ Superstar watch party, the Antiques Show, Art Camp, the Rummage Sale, Women’s Lectionary Study, Trunk-or-Treat with Ancient Ways Karate, Christmas Celebration with Ancient Ways Karate, St. Anne’s Auction, Nativity Set Construction, and Christmas Cookie Exchange. We also hosted the Bishop on Palm Sunday, a confluence of events that was incredibly challenging, and executed perfectly; numerous baptisms and funerals, an Agape Meal/Foot Washing on Maundy Thursday, cinnamon rolls and mimosas on Mother’s Day, delicious BBQ on Get Connected Sunday, and our coffee hour treats after church get better and better. We have the weekly healing service, monthly Taizé service, and our annual Blessing of the Animals. We also have the weekly grief group, Women’s Lectionary Study, and Youth Group. Both St. Anne’s women’s group and the Men’s Group meet monthly. Nearly every week, there is a chance for us to invite someone to an event that isn’t church, though my hope and prayer is that you feel comfortable enough to ask people to “come and see” what is happening at St. Francis.

We also offer a number of opportunities to serve the outside community. We serve breakfast six times a year at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach, make quarterly collections and deliveries of items for families at Camp Pendleton, and sort through the clothing and other items in the Blue Bin every other week. Last January, we collected food and supplies for firefighters and rescue workers, food for people who otherwise wouldn’t have Thanksgiving, gifts for children in foster care, and gift cards and supplies for a young man aging out of foster care. We are a community striving to live out our baptismal creed: to seek and serve Christ in all persons, respect the dignity of every human being, and promote justice and peace among all people. This is not something any of us does alone, but together, as a community, and always with God’s help.

The Rev. Jason Shelby
Rector
jason.shelby@stfrancispalosverdes.org