“Wacky and wonderful.” That’s how the Rev. Canon Pat McCaughan, the longtime vicar, describes life around Saint George’s Episcopal Church in Laguna Hills. So I had been looking forward to a wacky and wonderful visit last Sunday to preside and preach and conduct other episcopal duties as appointed. With the vagaries of the pandemic and visitation schedule, I hadn’t been there of a Sunday since the fall of 2019, when we’d celebrated the 50th anniversary of the beautiful church building (the parish has existed for well over a century).
Wacky is in the eye of the beholder, but it was indeed a wonderful Sunday, especially the way St. George’s took to heart the national shift from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. Members have been studying the doctrine of discovery, used to justify European appropriation of property belonging to native peoples whom God had already made and numbered one by one. Sue Stewart and Colin Stewart (who continues his advocacy for queer people living in oppressive countries) supplemented the land acknowledgement at the beginning of the service with displays and handouts containing rich detail about St. George’s’ forebears and neighbors in the Tongva and Acjachemen nations. In the midst of the liturgy, Jackson Rollingthunder Tahuka and his daughter Sequoia, 16, offered dance, song, and narration. As he spoke, Jackson wove a small basket which he presented to me. His work is now a jewel of St. Paul’s Commons, Echo Park.
All that, plus the Holy Spirit baptized Ethan, 18; confirmed Barbara, who began her preparations at a parish in Oklahoma before moving to Orange County to be closer to family; and received Diane, who adopted us Episco-Pals when the music minister at her Roman Catholic parish, Emett Loera, took the same job at St. George’s, and Diane came along to take a look. Under Emett’s leadership, the music was spectacular and the growing choir in mighty voice. It was a special joy to see lifelong Anglican Faye Williams and her movie producer son, Ivan, old friends from St. John Chrysostom Church.
Mike Ziegler, on his second tour as bishop’s warden, served as my gracious chaplain, also for the second time, and convened the bishop’s committee for an hour’s conversation after a lovely reception. Like St. George’s, the committee is diverse, lively, and open to innovation and change. They’re leveraging their real estate in innovative ways, enabling them to keep glorifying God and caring for God’s people (including their hungry neighbors and students at Sherman Indian High School in Riverside) without worrying too much about money. All in all, maybe they’re discovered the sweet spot for our church in the midst of the anxieties of our time. Just be wacky and wonderful.
