1 Stained Glass, St. Helen’s Roman Catholic Church, Milwaukee, WI Newsletter Shepherd by the Sea Episcopal/Lutheran Mission www.shepherdbythesea.org Gualala, California April – May, 2012 “As baptized Christians, we reach out to the community through worship, prayer, study, and ministry.” LILLIAN THOMAS (1915 – 2012) Lillian Walker Thomas died on February 20. Age 96, Lillian was Shepherd by the Sea’s oldest member. A memorial service and celebration of Lillian’s life will be held later this Spring. Lil Thomas Holding Forth from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1937 with a BA degree in History. After graduation, she and two college friends traveled to Alaska and up the Yukon on a sternwheeler, the first of many trips for Lillian. She then moved to San Francisco where she worked in the Ferry Building before and during World War II as a government purchasing agent. On Valentine’s Day weekend in 1942 she met Frank Allen Thomas, a Navy Chief Petty Officer from Kansas City, Missouri, who was stationed at Mare Island while his ship, the USS Penn- sylvania, severely damaged in the attack on Pearl Har- bor, was being repaired. Lillian married Frank in May 1942, after a whirlwind courtship of a few weeks. After the war, Frank and Lillian settled in Redwood City where she taught elementary school for 31 years, first at Washington School, Redwood City, and later at Selby Lane School, Atherton. In the early 1950s, Frank started working for Hewlett-Packard, then a small company with only a hundred employees. In 1954, Frank and Lillian built a home in Woodside where they lived with their three daughters Laurie, Victoria and Elaine. After their retirement in 1981, Frank and Lillian built and moved into their home on The Sea Ranch. Lillian served on the Gualala Arts Board when it was planning the Arts Center and coordinated the monthly Sea Ranch Lillian was born at home in Redwood City, California on August 17, 1915, the youngest daughter of Ben- jamin and Laura Walker, who had emigrated from England in 1910. Ben Walker was a brick mason who designed and built the family home on Arling- ton Road in Redwood City in 1925. He had been a soldier in the Boer War; Lillian and her daughters published his memoir of that experience. After attending Sequoia High School in Redwood City and San Mateo Junior College, Lillian graduated
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Stained Glass, St. Helen’s Roman Catholic Church, Milwaukee, WI
Newsletter
Shepherd by the Sea Episcopal/Lutheran Mission www.shepherdbythesea.org
Gualala, California
April – May, 2012
“As baptized Christians, we reach out to the community through worship, prayer, study, and ministry.”
LILLIAN THOMAS (1915 – 2012)
Lillian Walker Thomas died on February 20. Age 96,
Lillian was Shepherd by the Sea’s oldest member. A
memorial service and celebration of Lillian’s life will be
held later this Spring.
Lil Thomas Holding Forth
from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1937 with
a BA degree in History. After graduation, she and two
college friends traveled to Alaska and up the Yukon on a
sternwheeler, the first of many trips for Lillian.
She then moved to San Francisco where she worked in
the Ferry Building before and during World War II as a
government purchasing agent. On Valentine’s Day
weekend in 1942 she met Frank Allen Thomas, a Navy
Chief Petty Officer from Kansas City, Missouri, who was
stationed at Mare Island while his ship, the USS Penn-
sylvania, severely damaged in the attack on Pearl Har-
bor, was being repaired. Lillian married Frank in May
1942, after a whirlwind courtship of a few weeks.
After the war, Frank and Lillian settled in Redwood City
where she taught elementary school for 31 years, first
at Washington School, Redwood City, and later at Selby
Lane School, Atherton. In the early 1950s, Frank started
working for Hewlett-Packard, then a small company
with only a hundred employees. In 1954, Frank and
Lillian built a home in Woodside where they lived with
their three daughters Laurie, Victoria and Elaine.
After their retirement in 1981, Frank and Lillian built
and moved into their home on The Sea Ranch. Lillian
served on the Gualala Arts Board when it was planning
the Arts Center and coordinated the monthly Sea Ranch
Lillian was born at home in
Redwood City, California
on August 17, 1915, the
youngest daughter of Ben-
jamin and Laura Walker,
who had emigrated from
England in 1910. Ben
Walker was a brick mason
who designed and built
the family home on Arling-
ton Road in Redwood City
in 1925. He had been a
soldier in the Boer War;
Lillian and her daughters
published his memoir of
that experience.
After attending Sequoia
High School in Redwood
City and San Mateo Junior
College, Lillian graduated
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Bridge Group meetings for many years. She also partici-
pated in community activities including the piano group,
quilting, needlepoint and the RCMS Auxiliary.
She and Frank traveled extensively during their retire-
ment years, taking trips to Europe, including the first
Swiss Trek with Rex and Charlotte Burnett, to Japan,
West Africa, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, a
South American circle tour, and a Semester At Sea
around-the-world university cruise that included stops
in the Bahamas, Venezuela, Brazil, Madagascar, Kenya,
India, Malaysia, and Hong Kong.
Lillian and Frank had been married for 53 years when he
died in January 1996. Lillian is survived by her daughters
Laurie Mueller and her husband Leigh Mueller of The
Sea Ranch, Victoria Olson and her husband Ronald Ol-
son of Benicia, and Elaine Thomas and her husband
Richard Nardini of Portland, Oregon; seven grandchil-
dren, Matthew Mueller, Elizabeth Mueller, Kristin (Ol-
son) Ballowe, Erik Olson, Robin Olson, Thomas Nardine,
Jonathan Nardine; and five great-grandchildren.
Lillian was a life-long Episcopalian, an active member of
St. Innocent of Alaska Episcopal Mission and its prede-
cessors prior to formation of Shepherd of the Sea in
2006. She had sung in church choirs and her strong
voice was heard at Shepherd by the Sea until age and
illness caught up with her in 2011. She was a cheerful
presence at Coffee Hour, at meetings, and at social
events. In later years, she drove her yellow Mercedes
to church early enough to be one of the first seated – in
the front chairs.
Lil Thomas was a blessing to our congregation and we
will miss her.
PALM SUNDAY AND HOLY WEEK
On Palm Sunday, April 1, first we celebrated Jesus’ tri-
umphal entry into Jerusalem, triumphal for His follow-
ers, but foreboding for Jesus who knew the inevitable
result at the hands of fearful Jewish and Roman estab-
lishments. Then, together, we read the long Passion
story from Mark’s Gospel, listening to Jesus’ forebod-
ings come true, ending with the Crucifixion and burial.
Good Friday, April 6
The Redwood Coast's traditional ecumenical Good Fri-
day service – Stations of the Cross followed by Com-
munion – will be held at Noon at St. Aloysius Church, 70
School Street, Point Arena. The offering at the Good
Friday service goes for the South Coast Crisis Line and
helps residents and indigent transients who are
stranded on the Redwood Coast without food, lodging,
or transportation.
Following the service, there will be a soup and bread
lunch at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, down the
block from St. Aloysius.
The climax of Lent and Holy Week is the emptiness that
follows Good Friday, the day of the Crucifixion, a long
pause before Easter, and the Resurrection when love
triumphs over evil, life in God triumphs over the death
of life without God
EASTER! – APRIL 8 – AND THE EASTER SEASON
THE EASTER SERVICE – 9:00 AM
Easter Altar
The Easter service will be a joyful celebration of Our
Lord’s Resurrection, of the Love of God overcoming the
darkness of the prior week.
Pastor Walter Pieper will return to Shepherd by the Sea
to preach and celebrate, and Fr. Gillett Bechtel will con-
celebrate, maintaining the joyful tradition.
Shepherd by the Sea’s Joyful Noise Choir will be joined
by friends from the community in singing Otche Nash,
the Lord's Prayer in Church Slavonic.
Easter Brunch
Shepherd by the Sea’s Easter Brunch will be held at
Gualala Arts Center following the service. Please talk
with organizers Dolores Christ or Lillian Carter about
bringing a favorite dish to the potluck brunch. There
will also be opportunities to help with set-up and clean-
up.
The Season of Easter – April 8 - May 26
The celebration of the Resurrection continues until Pen-
tecost, this year May 27. Our readings in this season
will focus on the immediacy of the Resurrection, Jesus
reappearing and teaching his Disciples, the actions of
the Disciples, and the retelling of the Gospel in the let-
ters of 1 John.
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The “Brick by Brick” campaign to rebuild Holy Trinity
Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, Haiti will end formally on
Easter Sunday. (Donations will be accepted gratefully
after Easter, too.) This very important reconstruction
project is a grass-roots effort of the Episcopal Church to
restore a key Haitian institution, a spiritual home as well
as a center for Haitian education and social services.
We are asked to support the effort by donating “bricks”
at a cost of $10/brick. Please make your checks out to
Shepherd by the Sea with the memo notation of “Brick
by Brick.” If you would like to make your donation in
honor of a loved one or friend, you can send them a
certificate of the donation. See Joan Jordan for certifi-
cates.
The Église Épiscopale d'Haïti is significant because it is
the most populous diocese in the Episcopal Church. It
is more significant because the Église is among the few
Haitian institutions providing stability, education, and
social services. These activities have their foundation in
Holy Trinity Cathedral, located in central Port-au-Prince.
The Cathedral and many of its associated school and
social services buildings were destroyed in the January
2010 earthquake. In spite of the devastation, many re-
lief efforts have been centered on the Cathedral
grounds ; the diocese is using the grounds to serve the
homeless and needy of Haiti as it prepares for its own
physical reconstruction.
While the relief efforts are on-going, it is time to rebuild
the Cathedral, to reconstruct a spiritual home for the
Haitian people and a permanent home for the schools
and other agencies of the diocese. A team of Haitian
and American architects are designing the new Holy
Trinity Cathedral to modern earthquake-resistant stan-
dards. “Brick by Brick” funds will build it.
COMING EVENTS
Spiritual Needs of Veterans, April 26
The Interfaith Center at the Presidio in San Francisco is
sponsoring a one-day conference, Beyond Memorial Day: Understanding the Hidden Wounds of War, on
Date: Thursday, April 26th, 2012, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm, at
Orinda Community Church, 10 Irwin Way, Orinda.
The conference is focused on helping clergy, spiritual
leaders and members of all faith communities to under-
stand the spiritual needs of veterans as thousands of
warfighters return from the zones of war. Wounds to
the spirit, difficult to express, are experienced side by
side with the strengths and competencies honed in mili-
tary service.
The goal is to assist
congregations and
spiritual communi-
ties to become heal-
ing, welcoming
places for veterans
as they seek spiritual
wholeness in their
lives.
Lunch and refreshments are included in the registration
fee of $20.00. Reservations with your check to the In-
terfaith Center at the Presidio may be sent to
Rev. Brian Stein-Webber
Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County
1543 Sunnyvale Avenue, Walnut Creek, CA 94597
For more information, see www.interfaith-presidio.org.
Bishop’s Conference, April 27-28
This year’s Bishop’s Conference will be held Friday, April
27, and Saturday, April 28 at Trinity Cathedral in Sacra-
mento.
The annual Bishop’s Conferences are designed to pre-
sent programs, resources, and tools to help congrega-
tions with their mission and ministries. The theme of
this year’s Conference is Renewing the Church.
Exciting leaders will conduct workshops for every size
and type of congregation, workshops that will engage
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the mind, spirit and heart with a hope-filled vision for
renewal.
There will be two dynamic keynote speakers. T he Rev.
Thomas Brackett is the Episcopal Church's missioner for
church planting, ministry redevelopment, and fresh ex-
pressions of church. The Rev. Canon Neal O. Michell,
Canon to the Ordinary for the Diocese of Dallas, is an
expert on church transformation and church planting.
Both Rev. Brackett and Dean Michell are experienced
and articulate developers of congregations with strong,
practical messages.
There will be three sets of workshops. The options in
the first set are:
• Presentation – The Rev. Thomas Brackett
• Implications for the Church as the People of God in
Exile – the Rev. Canon Dr. Neal O. Michell
• Communication Strategies for Large Congregations –
Keri Lopez, Director of Communications
• Lay Ministry Licensing Training – Catechist
• Spotlight on Outreach – Susan Swift, Episcopal Com-munity Services
After lunch, the workshop options will be:
• Presentation – The Rev. Thomas Brackett
• Communication Strategies for Small Congregations – Keri Lopez, Director of Communications
• Soul Collage – Karen Lawler, MFT
• Discerning the Deacon in Your Congregation – the Rev. Deacon Cookie Clark, Archdeacon and the Rev. Canon Tina Campbell
• Beyond performance – paperless music-making for
formation in community – the Rev. Donald Schell, All
Saints Company
Later in the afternoon, the third set of workshops in-
cludes:
• Forming Disciples, not Running Committees – the Rev. Canon Dr. Neal O. Michell
• Building Programs – The Very Rev. Cliff Haggenjos, the Rev. Mark Allen, the Rev. William "Mac" McIllmoyl and the Rev. Richard Yale
• Contemplative Spirituality and Worship – Kayleen Asbo, the Rev. Daniel Green and the Rev. Donald Schell
• Lay Ministry Licensing Training – Evangelism Facilita-tor
• Total Ministry, a Transforming and Spiritually Driven
Experience
The workshops will be conducted by some of the most
talented people in the diocese, joined by the Confer-
ence Keynoters and The Rev. Donald Schell, who devel-
oped the innovative St. Gregory of Nyssa Church in San
Francisco.
The Conference will start with registration at 5:00 PM
on Friday, April 27, followed by the Conference dinner
and a keynote talk. On Saturday, there will be addi-
tional keynote presentations and the opportunity to
participate in three of the fifteen workshops that will be
offered. The Conference will close about 6:00 PM fol-
lowing the Conference Eucharist.
West Deanery Spring Convocation, May 5
The West Deanery will meet for its first Spring Convoca-
tion on Saturday, May 5, at Grace Church, St. Helena.
This deanery-organized meeting is designed to allow for
open discussion of timely topics so that members of the
Deanery can begin the process of discerning the gifts
and needs of the Deanery. This year's agenda will in-
clude election of a Trustee who will serve on the Dioce-
san Board of Trustees, election of youth and young
adult representatives to the 2012 Annual Convention,
discussion of the recent Portal leadership survey results,
and other business specific to West Deanery. This im-
portant meeting will shape the Deanery and its opera-
tions for the next year. All of the congregations in the
Deanery are invited and encouraged to have leadership
representation in the Convocation.
West Deanery will elect a Trustee who will sit on the
new Diocesan Board of Trustees for a two-year term
Under the Diocesan restructuring adopted at the 2011
Annual Convention, seven Deanery-elected Trustees will
be joined by three Trustees appointed by Bishop Beis-
ner and five Trustees elected at the 2012 Annual Con-
vention to form the new Board of Trustees.
The West Deanery’s Trustee shall be a confirmed mem-
ber of the Episcopal Church, resident in the West Dean-
ery, and a communicant in good standing of a congrega-
tion of the Deanery. The Board of Trustees will:
• Through a Mutual Ministry process with the Bishop,
help set goals for the Diocese and periodically evalu-
ate progress toward goals.
• Help develop Diocesan Policy and Strategy in support
of mission priorities and operations priorities estab-
lished by Convention.
• Contribute to Strategic Planning for the Diocese, look-
ing ahead and helping develop policy options to meet
changing circumstances.
• Help oversee Diocesan Finance and Administration in
support of mission priorities, including the develop-
ment and adoption of the annual operating budget of
the Diocese.
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• Serve as Directors of the Diocesan Corporation, the
civil legal face of the Diocese. The Diocesan Corpora-
tion is the owner of all of the assets of the Diocese,
including all real property, endowments, funds, and
other assets of the Missions in the Diocese.
Trustees may expect monthly meetings augmented by
the Diocese’s communication network. They may be
invited to work on subcommittees. They are asked to
participate in a planning retreat, January 4-6, 2013, at
Mercy Center, Auburn.
2012 Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly, May 18-20 This year’s Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly (equivalent to
the Diocesan Annual Convention) will be held Friday –
Sunday, May 18-20, at the San Jose Marriott Hotel and
the McEnery Convention Center. The theme of this
year’s Assembly is For the Love of God: Caring for Crea-tion. The program, which will center on sustainability,
will be posted on the Synod website, www.spselca.org,
about April 1.
THANK YOU, DAVIS LUTHERAN CHOIR
The Davis Lutheran Choir was at The Sea Ranch, Febru-
ary 10-12, for their annual retreat. Their retreat means
our treat, as they conduct a service with special music
for us. This year, Davis Lutheran’s Pastor Jeff Irwin was
our celebrant and preacher. Davis Lutheran’s Music
Director Mary Lowry led the combined Davis Lutheran
and Shepherd by the Sea choirs, with additional accom-
paniment by Renata, and a flute trio from Davis Lu-
theran. During the offering, the combined choirs (ac-
companied by handchimes), sang a beautiful arrange-
ment of Create in Me by Michael Burkhardt..
At Dinner with Davis Lutheran Church
The evening before, a large and enthusiastic group
gathered in the Gualala Community Center for our tra-
ditional potluck dinner. More than fifty people at-
tended the dinner, and a good time was had by all.
Nine children accompanied the Davis group, which
added to the fun. Thanks to all who helped with set-up,
clean-up, and brought very tasty dishes.
MISSION COMMITTEE
Shepherd by the Sea’s Mission Committee met on
March 25 and:
• Agreed to increase the usage fee given to Mary, Star
of the Sea, to $400.00/month.
• Thanked Peter Mohr for transporting Renata to
church from Point Arena while Renata is without a
car. With Peter scheduled for surgery soon, there
may be a need for other volunteers to pick her up and
take her home.
• Took on the role of Producer for the 2012 Messiah
Sing, with Renata as Director, Accompanist, and Con-
sultant.
• Heard that at the end of the year, Jim Jordan will step
down from doing the Newsletter and liturgy booklets.
• Discussed closing the Mission’s office at Dolores
Christ’s home. Vestments, books, and church records
are kept in the office, which has also served as the
meeting place for the Mission Committee and other
small meetings.
• Discussed raising Shepherd by the Sea’s profile in
Mendonoma, including advertising, having a logo for a
the quick public recognition of Shepherd by the Sea
materials, having a cell phone so that callers could al-
ways leave phonemail that the Mission Committee
could access.
• Discussed the Rebuilding the Episcopal Cathedral in
Haiti, Brick by Brick, campaign.
• Discussed the Congregational Visioning effort includ-
ing a potential venue and a potential facilitator.
The next meeting is scheduled for Sunday, April 15. It is
open to all members of the congregation.
THE BIBLE CHALLENGE (TBC)
Across the world, people are taking on The Bible Chal-
lenge (TBC) – the challenge to read the entire Bible in a
year. Many take it on as a personal spiritual discipline.
Others take it on as a member in a community that is
reading the Bible from beginning to end at the same
pace.
Bishop Beisner will lead such a community of those
within the Diocese of Northern California who are inter-
ested in a comprehensive study of the entire Bible. The
effort will begin in the Fall, with three or four chapters
scheduled for each day for 365 days. We will hear more
of the Diocesan invitation in coming months.
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The Bible Challenge started in 2010 as a personal chal-
lenge undertaken by the Rev. Marek Zabriskie, rector of
St. Thomas Church, Ft. Washington, PA. He came up
with the Bible Challenge as a way to rejuvenate his own
spiritual life.
“After three to four days I found it so incredibly spiritu-
ally gratifying, that it felt like God put it on my heart to
invite others,” Rev. Zabriskie said. He sent an invitation
to a few friends, then to church members and then to
“those not in our church, who I play tennis with or so-
cialize with and got the same response. I kept on pro-
moting it. We had 50 people within 24 hours.”
The idea has quickly spread, nationally and globally. It
led to creation of the Center for Biblical Studies (CBS)