My third consecutive weekend twinning of a celebration of a rector’s new ministry and an episcopal visitation had me in Torrance Saturday, celebrating two parishes becoming one, and in San Gabriel Sunday, celebrating two churches in one plus an epic 41 baptisms and confirmations — including Kathy’s and my grandson Silas.
A diplomat’s daughter and a former non-profit executive, the Rev. Julie Beals was called in late 2021 as a curate at Christ Church in Redondo Beach. It was an instant success. Before long, she was priest in charge and the world’s most natural choice as rector.
Christ Church and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Torrance have been exchanging a long hello since 2017, when they began to explore the the Holy Spirit’s call to common mission. Most worship is in Redondo Beach as the community discerns together about the Torrance campus, now leased to a nondenominational church.
But Julie and parish leaders chose St. Andrew’s for her celebration of new ministry and installation. I was along to preside and celebrate. Kevin Wood led the choir expertly; diocesan altar guild director Canon Marjorie Cooley and her colleagues saw to every detail. With Julie’s spouse, Ken, a VA official, beaming from the front pew, their twins, Hazel and Jasmine, helped run the service. We prayed that uniting the two parishes, a foretaste of the perfect unity of heaven, would enable them better to glorify God and care for God’s people.
The Church of Our Saviour in San Gabriel is two churches in one, too, in a way, since it has English- and Mandarin-speaking congregations that usually worship separately — but not when it’s time for confirmations. On Sunday, a record 20 were baptized and 21 confirmed, received, or reaffirmed. The able and gracious rector, the Rev. Jeffrey Stoller Thornberg, and his colleagues, including congregational life missioner Hannah Riley, organized everything beautifully.
And I had the incredible privilege of mediating the Holy Spirit’s work for all 41. They included Charlie, infant son of Jeff and the Rev. Anne Stoller Thornberg, and Silas, Kathy’s and my baby grandson, the second child of Mark and Valerie Passarella. Kathy and Silas’ aunt Lindsay were his sponsors. Also assisting were the Revs. Tim Hartley, Brian O’Rourke, Marilyn Omernick, and Bill Doulos.
Throughout the liturgy, the Rev. Dr. Thomas Ni, associate rector in charge of the Mandarin congregation, co-presided and translated. The combined choirs traded off verse by verse in their respective languages. At the first Pentecost, followers of the risen Christ from all over the world could understand one another in their own languages. But since truly bilingual worship is hard to achieve, most people still preferring to hear the prayers in their own languages, Sunday’s service blending two languages was a Day of Pentecost miracle in its own right.
As The Episcopal Church speaks up for the federal government’s favorite scapegoats, trans and nonbinary people and immigrant workers, in my sermon, I took Poppy privilege. “In these times especially, kindness must a civic as well as a spiritual virtue,” I said. “The dignity of every human being must be respected both in church and in the public square. When it comes to the primacy of the divine law of love, there can be no separation of church and state.
“Last week, many of us heard in church about Paul and his friend Silas. We’re pretty sure Valerie and Mark named their Silas after a character in the Showtime series ‘Weeds’ starring Mary-Louise Parker. But I’ll always think of our Silas when his name comes up in songs and Bible stories.
“Also from the book of Acts, we heard that an earthquake busted Paul and Silas out of jail in Macedonia. They were being persecuted for their witness for Christ Jesus.
“But Paul and Silas didn’t escape that night. They insisted on staying until the following morning to force the magistrate to apologize for mistreating treating Roman citizens. See, Paul and Silas got a little political. Their feet may have said get up and run – but the Advocate said stay, and speak truth to power.
“May it be so for Silas and all our candidates this morning, as they grow into their vocations of private kindness, public kindness, kindness all the time — all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
