BREAKING NEWS: Foster Care "Faith in Action" victory in Sacramento!

Just moments ago, Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 12!


With this legislation, 1 in 5 youth who “age out” nationally will receive the support of the foster care system to age 21, ending an era of neglect and providing youth in foster care with the same common-sense assistance provided to children from in-tact families. Thousands of relative care providers will participate in the new, federally-funded subsidized guardianship program, providing much needed support that promotes stability among children.

Thank you to everyone who has made this historic moment possible. You made calls, visited Sacramento, wrote letters and together, you sent the message that California can and must do better for its children and youth in foster care.

Thank you again and stay tuned! Much work ahead -- but for the moment, let's be grateful for this step forward for our children -- and take a minute to email the governor and thank him for his support by clicking here!

(To find out more about the All Saints Foster Care Project visit the ASC website.)

Rector’s Forum: Journey to All Saints with Carissa Baldwin and Juliana Serrano

What lured two bright, energetic, capable young women from productive and interesting jobs to come to work on the staff of All Saints Church?

Juliana Serrano, Director of the Office for Creative Connections [pictured left] arrived on June 1 from her position as Director of Operations and co-founder of ENCOMPASS based in Monrovia, CA, a non-profit youth development organization dedicated to sparking compassion, personal responsibility and an appreciation of differences among California teenagers.

Carissa Baldwin, Director of Peace & Justice [pictured right] came on board September 1 from her position as Assistant Rector and Outreach Center Director at St. Stephen’s Church in Houston, Texas.

Come meet these dynamic young leaders and be inspired by the journeys that brought them to All Saints Church and the vision they have for the work and witness ahead of them as members of the All Saints team!

The BEST EVER Celebration of Ministries Sunday!

All Saints didn't let a little thing like record heat (103!) get in the way of a FABULOUS celebration of the many ministries that make up the work and witness of All Saints Church! Here's a peek at the energy and excitement of Celebration of Ministries 2010:


And to find out more about any of the ministries on the lawn today, visit the new All Saints website Ministry pages.Whoever you are and wherever you find yourself there IS a place for you here! Let us help you find it!

All Saints welcomes a new arrival!

IT'S A WEBSITE!!

After many months of gestation, including much tender care, feeding and nurturing from our fabulous website team -- and with a little "Lamaze breathing" through the final server migration phase last night -- we are thrilled and excited to announce the arrival this morning at 12:39 a.m. of a bouncing new website for All Saints Church in Pasadena.

Team and website are doing fine -- and the new arrival is receiving visitors here.

While there will be much more content to add and expand -- including the extensive sermon and presentation archives still under reconstruction on the new server -- we are excited about the opportunities this new era of communication will open for All Saints and looking forward to watching "our baby" as it grows, expands and matures in the weeks and months to come.

Here are a couple of snapshots to show off our new baby:

Worship is the center of our life at All Saints Church and it is from that center that we respond to God’s call to put our faith into action. All Saints is a place where inclusion is expected, where people of all faiths are welcomed and where we continually live into the challenge of expanding our capacity for diverse and dynamic celebrations of God’s inclusive love.

"Our Community" is where to start to explore and connect with the many ministries, program and small groups in the All Saints Church community -- from local to global.

"About All Saints" connects you with everything from our mission & vision to directions to the campus to staff directories to our wider church networks to ... well, check it out.

At All Saints Church putting our faith into action is a core value, so the new website has a dedicated "Take Action" section that not only gives information on specific Sunday actions (this week is voter registration) but also pages with deeper resources for ongoing actions, such as ...

... Interfaith Work, where you'll find not only archived resources about our commitment to interfaith work and witness but a way to get involved in our still-evolving "Islam 101" program scheduled for this fall.

Our design team worked very hard to create a website that would resource the needs of congregation members and leaders with pages dedicated to administration, resources and ministries ...

... while equally welcoming the newcomer and visitor looking to find out more about all Saints Church and find their way toward us ... either on campus in Pasadena or on the web as a "long distance member."

These are just the tip of the iceberg! Visit www.allsaints-pas.org to explore — and stay tuned for even more exciting additions in the weeks and months to come!

With thanks to all who’ve worked so hard to make this long-dreamed of new web presence a reality and especially to our brilliant partners at Arroyo Design! Our website is yet-another-way for us to proclaim the Good News of God’s inclusive love to world in desperate need of it as we work to turn the human race into the human family — one ―link at a time!

The Blessing of the Beasts!

On Sunday, October 3rd All Saints will take its mantra --"Whoever you are and wherever you are in your journey there is a place for you here" -- to a new level with our annual St. Francis Day Blessing of the Animals service.

All pets and their owners are invited to JOIN THE PROCESSION and then adjourn to the outdoor worship service on the quad lawn. This concludes with a blessing of animals with the staff of Children, Youth and Families. Any interested persons with animals are asked to please arrive no later than 8:45 a.m. to participate in the procession.

For more information contact Isabel Leus in the CYF department ... by email or at 626.583.2733

"Faith in Action" for Sunday, September 19th

This coming Sunday, September 19th, is a "Feast Day" at All Saints Church: The Feast of Homecoming Sunday!

As we give thanks for all the abundance we've been given in the food we'll share and in the community we'll celebrate, we also take on the challenge of putting our faith into action on behalf of the children who go to bed hungry each night.

So if you're with us at All Saints on Sunday for Homecoming, stop by the Action Table and take action on the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act of 2010 (HR 5504)

And if you're not able to be with us on Sunday, you can take action here by copying the text of the letter below and sending it to your Representative:

Dear Congressmember_____________________________,

I write to you on behalf of the nearly 17 million children who struggle with hunger in our country. For millions of children, the meals that they receive at school or in child care are their only nutritious meal all day. I ask that you vote for the Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act. (HR 5504).

I especially support the provisions in this legislation that would increase the number of eligible children, increase outreach to underserved children, expand before and after school programs, and make access to these programs easier for families. I also support the provisions in this legislation that provide for enhanced funding for nutrition education, and that help communities establish local farm-to-school networks.

As a person of faith, I believe that we are called to care for one another, especially the most vulnerable among us. Please ensure that strong and robustly funded child nutrition legislation is passed in the House of Representatives.

Sincerely,

Add your own comments to this letter, and mail to your Representative.

Since security screening in Washington, DC delays mail for a week to, we suggest mailing this to your Representative’s local office. You can locate your Representative on the website of the California Council of Churches.

For further information, contact the Peace & Justice department at 626.583.2734

Ed Bacon at the Southern California Islamic Center 9/11 Peace Vigil

All Saints @ 9th Anniversary 9/11 Vigil, Islamic Center of Southern California

The 9th Anniversary of 9/11 was observed today at the Islamic Center of Southern California with an Interfaith Peace Vigil. All Saints' rector Ed Bacon was one of the featured speakers and a number of members of the All Saints community were in attendance.

Here are photos from the event along with the text of the rector's remarks.

Video to come.



Assalamu alaikum. Peace and shalom to all.

I am moved and honored to be in this sacred place where members of the Los Angeles interfaith community gathered today nine years ago to stand in solidarity with our sister and brother Muslims who were the targets hate speech and hate crimes immediately after the Twin Towers were hit. We also gathered to recommit ourselves to the proposition that peace and justice making are not options for the world’s great religions. Rather peace and justice making are central mandates for us all.

I am sick and tired of Christian preachers lying about God.

I grew up in the state of Georgia where I heard as boy some influential Christian clergy preach that God is a segregationist God. In other words, God was a racist God. That is a lie. Now a Christian preacher in Florida, acting in the same spirit of distortion, fear mongering, discrimination, and lies claims that Islam is of the Devil. That is a lie.

There are two ways to interpret the world’s religions today – a fear-based interpretation or a love-based interpretation. Discrimination, exclusion, and violence are the faces of fear-based religion. Compassion, mercy, inclusion, and peace-making are the faces of religion that is love-based. Islam and all the religions represented in this room today are love-based religions.

Where there are practitioners of any religion who demonize another religion, they are perverting their own religion.

Let me give you some advice about Christian preachers. If a Christian preacher is spewing hate and violence in the name of God or in the name of religion, that preacher is lying about his own religion. If that preacher doesn’t know the truth and beauty of his own religion, how can he be trusted to tell the truth about anybody else’s religion? He can’t. Don’t trust a fear-based religious leader to tell the truth about faith. Fear is faithless. A fear-based life has no room for faith. A fear-based life has no room for God. Fear has no vision for a world of peace. Fear cannot understand the compassion and mercy of God.

What we need in our time are people who refuse to give into fear.
people who refuse to be polarized
people who refuse to tell lies about other religions
people who refuse to hate
people who refuse to contribute to the spiral of violence.

Love-based religions and love-based lives are absolutely necessary for the survival of our civilization

Dr. King said, “The strong person is the person who can cut off the chain of hate, the chain of evil. And that is the tragedy of hate….It only intensifies the existence of hate and evil in the universe. Somebody must have religion enough and morality enough to cut it off and inject within the very structure of the universe that strong and powerful element of love.”

We don’t need to be burning the Holy Koran. We need to study it That is why at my church, All Saints Church, Pasadena, we will have a muti-week program this fall called Islam 101. I hope you will join us in learning from Islam what millions of other Muslims already know that God is merciful, kind, full of compassion and seeks us to be the same.

Peace, Shalom, Salaam

For more information visit the All Saints webite.

All Saints Church says, “Read the Qur’an, Don’t Burn It’

MEDIA RELEASE: For Immediate Release 09/10/2010

All Saints Church says, “Read the Qur’an, Don’t Burn It’

All Saints Church, Pasadena has a decades-long commitment to turning the human race into the human family. In light of that commitment, members of the All Saints community will stand together with members of our interfaith family tomorrow at the Islamic Center of Southern California at a 9/11 Peace Vigil. All Saints’ rector Ed Bacon will be one of the featured speakers at the interfaith event honoring the victims of 9/11 and working together to build our nation’s future.

“While we believe the flurry of attention given this week to the Florida pastor and his ill-conceived plan to burn the Qur’an on 9/11 is regrettable, it also points out the crying need for education rather than polarization – and that is a need All Saints Church is mobilizing to meet in collaboration with our interfaith allies. In the days ahead, we will be offering opportunities for members of our congregation and our community to come together to read the Qur’an and to learn more about Islam and the Muslim faith.”

“As a priest and pastor my Christian faith has been strengthened by sharing the Ramadan journey with my Muslim brothers and sisters and by celebrating the High Holy Days with my Jewish colleagues,” said Bacon. “A core Christian teaching is to love our neighbor as ourselves – and you do not love your Muslim neighbors by burning their holy scriptures.”

“We will not stand by while fear mongers attempt to make September 11th events moments of demonization and polarization by advocating tactics that are neither American nor authentically religious. All the world religions advocate living out of the House of Love, not the House of Fear. We encourage all people of good will, religious or not to overcome hatred and fear with love by seeking to understand Islam as a religion of peace.”

For further information contact:
Susan Russell, Senior Associate for Communication
714.356.5718 srussell@allsaints-pas.org

Ed Bacon will be available for comment on Saturday, September 11 following the Interfaith Peace Vigil at the Islamic Center of Southern California, 434 S. Vermont Ave, Los Angeles 90020

9/11 Interfaith Peace Vigil

All Saints' rector Ed Bacon will be one of the featured speakers at this Saturday's Interfaith Peace Vigil at the Islamic Center of Southern California. Located at 434 South Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, the event will begin at 11:30 a.m. and conclude by 1:30 p.m.

For more information contact the Islamic Center at 213-382-9200