I experienced the authority of Christian unity Sunday — denominations worshiping together against the backdrop of the Philippines’ colonial history, and the body of Christ as a scandal against empires of racism and hate, as personified by the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Sunday morning’s Santo Niño Fiesta at St. John and Holy Child Church in Wilmington, near Los Angeles Harbor, was an opportunity to celebrate the unity of the body of Christ. Santo Niño de Cebú is a 500-year-old artifact, an image of Christ venerated by many Filipinos and Filipino Americans. This year’s theme was “Santo Niño, we are one.” In the evening at Christ the Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in historic Leimert Park, we gave thanks for a prophet and martyr of God who often preached, based on Galatians 3:28, that all are one in Christ Jesus.
Our Wilmington mission, dating from late in the 19th century, occupies one of the oldest buildings in the neighborhood. Artisans in a Pearl Harbor naval yard fashioned its altar rails from brass taken from a captured World War I German submarine. These days it’s a small miracle of ecumenism, two denominations in one, The Episcopal Church and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente, catalyzed by an anti-colonialist spirit in 1905 out of elements of the Roman Catholic Church.
We began common mission in 1961. My colleague the Rt. Rev. Gerry Engnan is the IFI bishop in charge of congregations in the western U.S., Canada, and the Pacific Islands. With all that, he also serves as bishop in charge at St. John and Holy Child. I visited Sunday to preach, preside, and help the Holy Spirit confirm Max and reaffirm the baptismal vows of seven others. We began with a procession down the street and back with scores of Santos Niños, at least three newborns, and several members of the family of the legendary vicar, the Rev. Greg Bayaca, including his widow, Annie. According to ancient fiesta tradition, a school-age hermana mayor passed the scepter to this year’s hermano mayor, who was a little startled when Bishop Gerry told him he should actually take it home.
My patient yet fast-acting volunteer chaplains were Carlos “Caloy” Culas and Edwin Fabiero. At a fabulous lunch and party after church, with gifts, prayers, and hugs, more than the usual amount of attention was paid to this probably being my last visitation. I have learned so much about the IFI from Bishop Gerry, Fr. Greg, other IFI bishops it has been our privilege to host over the years, and my colleague in the Diocese of Hawaii, the Rt. Rev. Robert L. Fitzpatrick. While we love praying with the psalmist that it is good when those who are related to one another live together in unity, it’s discouraging how seldom we Christian relations manage ecumenism over the long haul. May the spirit of unity, which is always an anticipation of heaven, continue to be with St. John and Holy Child.
For Dr. King on Sunday evening, the Program Group on Black Ministry, and the H. Belfield Hannibal Union of Black Episcopalians offered a festive two-hour, 40-minute service featuring a rousing sermon about environmental racism from the Rev. Melanie Mullen of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and sublime music from the four-voice, four-piece Voices Band. Canon Suzanne Edwards-Acton offered stirring, challenging words of welcome. I did some presiding and proclaiming. The Revs. Susan Anderson-Smith and Guy Leemhuis celebrated Holy Eucharist. Guy previewed a discernment retreat aimed at sparking a renaissance of Black ministry through inter-generational conversation.
Thanks to the people of Christ the Good Shepherd and other friends, at dinner in the parish hall we had gumbo in two types plus peach cobbler. Saying thanks earlier in the day in Wilmington, it occurred to me that we’re fed up to three ways in church — at Holy Eucharist, breaking bread after, and feasting on one another’s minds as we listen and learn and nourish our unity by accommodating ourselves to one another in joy and fellowship. I do believe that if we remain together in this trinitarian meal, no earthly power will get the better of us.
