Circles of Color Weekly Newsletter

Ethnic Ministries Circles of Color

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Diocese of Olympia

Weekly Newsletter

December 3, 2022

A Word from the Canon

The past weekend included a visit to St Luke's Memorial in Tacoma. I was not there to preach or to preside or to present. I was there as a worshipper. The Rev. David Bishop was the preacher. It was a good way to start Advent by hearing a deacon call us to a state of readiness.

On Tuesday I met with the Racial Justice Task Force. We are putting together our plan for keeping the promise we made at convention. At convention we promised that we would ask all congregations in the diocese:

1) to read the Executive Summary of the Racial Justice Audit of Episcopal Leadership

2) to discuss, consider, and answer 5 questions the task force has developed, using whatever forum works best for each congregation.

3) to submit their responses to the Office of the Canon for Multicultural Ministries and Community Transformation by the end of June 2023.

Also on Tuesday I met with the Rev. Mauricio Wilson.

He is the Regional Director of the West Region of the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE). I met with him to talk about leadership for the Pacific Northwest chapter of the UBE. To read more about UBE please click on the button below.

UBE website

The rest of the week was spent digging into important pastoral and administrative matters. And there was lots of preparation for a series of upcoming meetings. More about those next week.

In love and service,

Carla+

December 25 - St Matthew San Mateo, Auburn

January 8 - 1st Service of New Mission at Christ Church, Puyallup

January 15 - St Mark's Cathedral

(Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration)

January 22 - Christ Church, Puyallup

January 29 - Christ Church, Puyallup (yes, again)

February 5 - Christ Church, Blaine

February 12 - St Anthony's, Silverdale

February 19 - St James, Kent

February 26 - Holy Cross, Redmond

Events

Follow the Star: The Ballad of the Brown King

December 10 @ 8:00pm at St Mark's Cathedral, Seattle

This special annual holiday event will amplify messages of diversity and hope for this festive season. "The Ballad of the Brown King," a Christmas cantata composed by Margaret Bonds, in collaboration with the Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes, will be performed in Seattle for the first time.

Winner of the President Joseph R. Biden Lifetime Achievement Award, Dr. Catherine Meeks is the Executive Director of the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing in Atlanta, GA. The event will feature prolific leaders from across the Church as they come together to look inward and reflect on the meaning of social justice and what it means to love one another.

Click here to register