FALL 2021 | VOLUME 83 | NO. 3
S PE CI AL E DI T ION:
WE ARE FED SO WE CAN FEED
IN THIS
ISSUE
FROM THE EDITOR: This edition of the Colorado Episcopalian invites us to explore the theme: “We are fed so we can feed…” We are fed in life and faith and are called to extend ourselves and our resources to feed other people in their lives and faith. How do we, as faith leaders and as the church, both feed ourselves and feed others? We are blessed, and so we bless. We receive the gifts of God not for our own sake, but for the call to share them. How are we being blessed, and how are we blessing? Explore with us how we are being fed and feeding others across Colorado and the world. 01
From Bishop Kym Lucas: Feeding Others
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The Quarter
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WE ARE FAMILY
“We are fed so we can feed.” As a mother, wife, aunt, and sister, I see this statement as an expression about being family. We share our blessings and nourish one another because we are family. Whether feeding nuclear or extended family members, or the human family at-large, we desire to feed one another because of our shared humanity.
What I’ve Been Missing
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FEEDING OUR YOUNG PEOPLE: CAMPUS MINISTRY For undergraduates intent on belonging, we create a table with room for everyone. We strive to feed students with the fruit of the reality that we belong, first, not because we like or believe the same things or have proven ourselves, but because we all belong to God.
Feeding Our Young People: Campus Ministry
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Welcome. Nourish. Love.
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By the Grace of God, We Go
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We Are Family
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A Multicultural Congregation Enriched by the Presence of the Hmong Community
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The 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center: A Ministry of Love & Compassion
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PUBLICATION INFORMATION: A publication of the Bishop and Diocese of Colorado Copyright 2021 The Bishop and Diocese of Colorado Published Quarterly
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Colorado Episcopalian 1300 Washington St., Denver, CO 80203-2008
The Right Reverend Kym Lucas Bishop of Colorado
Canon Mike Orr
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Canon for Communications & Evangelism, Editor
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Church of the Transfiguration, Vail, prepare meals for their Mobile Canteen Operation to support firefighters. Photo courtesy the Rev. Emily Anderson Lukanich
Volunteers from Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, Vail, prepare lunches for firefighters. Photo courtesy the Rev. Emily Anderson Lukanich
FEEDING OTHERS BY BISHOP KYM LUCAS Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. — James 2:15–17
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ave you ever been hungry? And by that, I do not mean have you ever skipped breakfast and become famished by lunch; I mean have you ever gone to bed hungry without knowing where or when your next meal was coming? Growing up in the small-town North Carolina, my family did not have many financial resources, but we did have land. And every spring we tilled the soil and planted a garden—it was, in fact, a small
farm on half an acre of earth yielding everything from tomatoes to rhubarb. We had beans and peas, squash, okra, sweet corn, and an assortment of greens. We also picked apples and peaches from my grandmother’s mini-orchard and berries from the wild brambles that grew near the creek edging our property. So we also had jams and preserves.
I spent many summer evenings with my cousins prepping the fruits and vegetables for canning or freezing. I remember my mom and her twin getting up before the sun rose, and the steam of the kitchen as they began “putting food up” for winter. Our food wasn’t fancy, but it was abundant and delicious. To this day, I think my mom’s garden-grown, handcanned tomatoes were the best ever. And they probably were. I never knew food insecurity until I became an adult and moved to New York City for seminary. I
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My mantra has been, “We don’t feed people because they are grateful or deserving or make good decisions. We feed them because they’re hungry, and Jesus said so.” went to school and worked two jobs. Yet there were still times when nothing was left in my refrigerator but condiments, and no money to buy more food. Even in those difficult times, I didn’t go hungry. I volunteered at the shelter run by my friend Ruben and took home leftovers. My field education supervisor and my (now) husband’s roommate always sent extra food with me whenever I visited. When I was particularly in need, I availed myself of the seminary’s community food basket, where fellow students donated food for those who might need it.
My experiences around food, paired with my Savior’s command (“feed my sheep”) stokes my passion for feeding others as ministry, as the Gospel work of the Church. I’ve been involved in everything from delivering food to the elderly, to packing backpacks for kids so they could eat on the weekends, to expanding ministry to the homeless and hungry neighbors who came to Charlie’s Place in Washington, D.C. My mantra has been, “We don’t feed people because they are grateful or deserving or make good decisions. We feed them because they’re hungry, and Jesus said so.”
In 2017, it was estimated that as many as 2.9 million homes struggled with food insecurity. As we emerge from this pandemic, I am aware that many more people will find themselves going hungry, whether or not they work or have sufficient shelter. And we who are blessed with adequate food and 2 Colorado Episcopalian
we who “hunger and thirst for righteousness” are called to share out of our abundance. James’s epistle reminds us that our faith in Christ is revealed in how we treat others, especially those who are in need. Our piety rings false if it carries no concern for those whose physical needs are not being met.
This is why I am so grateful for all of those congregations in the Episcopal Church in Colorado who have given themselves to the ministry of feeding people: through meal programs, food banks, and mobile food pantries. In big and small ways, Episcopalians all over our state are feeding people; we are nourishing others. We who have been nourished with Christ’s own body are called to work for a world where all are fed.
And there is Grace in this. When we feed people in the Spirit of love, when we engage the needs of our community with compassion and curiosity and without judgment, our own souls are fed.
The Rev. Gary Darress and a beneficiary of the ministry of Laundry Love. Photo courtesy the Rev. Gary Darress
THE QUARTER On BY THE REV. GARY DARRESS, DEACON
Sunday, July 11, the Rev. Matt Holcombe and I had a great home visit with a parishioner— with the pandemic restrictions largely lifted, the three of us were able to spend time together. During the visit, Fr. Matt, the parishioner, and I learned more about each other. After 15 or so months of isolation and separation, we were beginning to rebuild our relationships. We did not share a meal or a snack.
The conversation was nourishing enough as we gathered in the presence of Christ.
After the visit, I headed to downtown Colorado Springs, where two homeless ministries are based— one a ministry of St. Michael’s. I exited I-25 where brothers or sisters sit to ask drivers for money. It was no different this Sunday. One man, after speaking with the driver immediately to my left, headed over to my car. I rolled the window down, ready to listen. I was still in
my collar, so he recognized me as clergy. He smiled and asked me for a quarter all the same. I responded to say, truthfully, that I had no quarters. Still smiling, he replied disbelievingly—how could I not have a quarter? He reached into his pocket and handed me a quarter, saying, almost like a benediction: “You know what you need to do.” He was right. After recovering from the surprise role reversal, I knew what I needed to do with my quarter.
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If we hoard the gifts and talents God has given us, how are we living out our baptismal vows as followers of Christ? Are we following the examples of those firstcentury brothers and sisters who sold their possessions and combined the proceeds to help others? I would use it for the “Laundry Love” ministry our church was starting the next day, Monday, July 12. The coin would serve as the “seed quarter” for the first load of laundry in St. Michael’s laundromat ministry. Having clean clothes is a big deal, especially for the poor and the unhoused. And parishioners can support those who need help paying for their laundry with donations. And I used that quarter for the first load of laundry the following day, feeling humbled by the generosity of my benefactor at the highway exit. We are fed by God in many ways. God then expects us to feed others with whom we have direct contact—or contact through other people or organizations. If we hoard the gifts and talents God has given us, how are we living out our baptismal vows as followers of Christ? Are we following the examples of those first-century brothers and sisters who sold their possessions and combined the proceeds to help others? I have been fed by God throughout my life. I have received nutritious food for my body. I have received love from God in Christ. I have a loving family and devoted friends. I have also been privileged to have been able to work for a wage I can live on—a wage that provides for my family and others.
On Sunday, I was able to help feed others through a home visit and great conversation. I assisted in two homeless ministries. I was 4 Colorado Episcopalian
also fed by a man at an interstate exit who gave me a quarter—a coin he possibly received from a driver who had earlier that day had stopped at the stoplight. I think he was truly perplexed with me. How could I have nothing to give? He showed me how easy it was by reaching into his pocket. At the laundromat the next day, I was wearing my Franciscan habit, since I am a Third Order Franciscan. St. Francis had given up all of his wealth and status to live a life imitating his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by serving the poor in and around Assisi. I have found that people tend to let down their guard and are more open with me when I wear my habit.
I did use the donated quarter I had received from the person at the off ramp to help a person with the cost of washing and drying their clothes. As the two of us stood by the machine this person said that they had not been to church for a number of years. This person had been thinking recently about going to church. I was happy to hear it. My ministry that day, however, was to support with cleaning clothes, because just yesterday I was supported by a loving, forgiving, merciful God in ways far greater than I have ever deserved or needed. THE REV. GARY DARRESS is a deacon at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs.
Moonset from the back (west) side of Barberry Cottage at Cathedral Ridge. Photo courtesy the Rev. Mary Kate Réjouis
What I’ve Been Missing BY MARY ANN RYAN
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didn’t know I was missing it. I’m not sure I ever had it, so how could I know it was missing? The long, deep talks. The serene surroundings. An affirming community. The … lack of wifi?!
But I’m getting ahead of myself. The story starts back in March 2021, when I am still self-isolating due to the pandemic, tired of being cooped up. Then, an article in our church’s monthly newsletter, Family Camp 2021. “Honey, have you ever been to church camp?” I asked my husband, now retired. “Hmm, it’s been a long time,” he replied. “You interested in going?” “Yeah, sure.” And just like that, we were signed up for a long July Fourth weekend at Cathedral Ridge.
The months pass, and we kind of forgot about it. Then suddenly, it’s next weekend? What to pack? What to expect? Hubby is not the social type—unlike me, the family social butterfly— so I was starting to have second thoughts. Kumbaya around the fire pit? Speaking in tongues and public witnessing? Nah, I thought—these are Episcopalians! My homies. Colorado Episcopalian | Fall 2021 5
And hubby said that we don’t have to participate in anything we don’t want to. Well, OK then.
And, so, we arrived. Talk about welcoming with open arms! The camp counselors knew our names and immediately made us feel right at home. “We are here to serve,” was their motto. And serve, they did. We didn’t know a lot about Cathedral Ridge, but it is, in fact, a gem. Tucked away in the mountains near Woodland Park, it is a secluded paradise. It is not the large, sprawling facility I had imagined, but, rather, a homey group of cabins and lodges with a personal touch. There is a dining hall that served our meals, and two outdoor chapels—both of them outfitted with log pews and rustic altars. Church where we feel God most acutely! The grounds revealed other secrets during our exploration—secluded cabins, a rope course, a labyrinth, and a horseshoe pit, to name a few. The work-in-progress silently spoke of growth and of enjoyable times to come. Trees, forests, seclusion— then open space, mountain views, community. It was all there and ripe for the taking.
Cathedral Ridge is a family camp. And my husband and I felt like part of one big family here—not the “retirees” but, rather, the grandparents. We overheard one of the mothers say how “safe” she felt here. She remarked how blessed they were to be at a place that she knew her kids were safe, where she was able to be fed—literally to not have to cook—and where the entire church family was watching out for each of them. We realized that the safety that we all felt extended well beyond our physical security. Some of the best things about the weekend were the “programs” and experiences they had in store for us. There was something for all ages, which was perfect since we campers ranged in age from 2 years to late 60s. There were families with small children, a single dad with teenagers, a lone woman in her 40s, retirees—you name it. All ages, all colors, all gender varieties—all God’s children. All welcome. We didn’t think we came for the programs, but they came for us. “Come play corn hole with us! Is it too far to walk? If so, we’ll bring it to you!” Labyrinth walk, check. Arts & crafts with the preschool set, check. Rope course for the teenagers (and teenager wannabes!), check. Best of all, the encouragement, the affirmation. The sense of community, of family, under the starry heavens. 6 Colorado Episcopalian
And the talks. Unplugged from the grid, we found ourselves having deep, soulful talks. “Do you think the soul can grow?” was one typical question. “Well, maybe not grow in size,” one response spooled out, “but it can be fed. And diminished. Remember the guy on Breaking Bad?” We talked for hours about the mysteries of the universe, the mysteries of God. When I ran out of books, I turned to … the Bible?! It’s been a long time, but it spoke to me in these hidden hills and crevasses as cool water slakes a thirsty soul. On the last evening, sitting around the campfire with the families from our parish, our rector (who was serving that weekend) asked us to describe—using one word—how we were feeling at that point in time. I offered the word “sated.” “Satiated?” asked those unfamiliar with that word. No, something deeper and more soulful than satiated with food, I replied. Full, content, fed. I didn’t know I was missing it! And yet, here it was—up in the mountains, at church camp of all things—that my entire being radiated with peace, joy, and contentment.
The glow afterwards lasted for days and even weeks. We still talk about our weekend. “We are fed so we can feed.” I’ve always loved that quote by St. Francis: “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” I try to use everyday kindnesses and Christian behavior to feed others, as it were. Whether it’s talking to the lonely man at the doctor’s office, or the distraught neighbor whose dog went missing, or the lady at the grocery store whose toddler is having a meltdown. Or whether it’s volunteering at the local homeless shelter, or with Junior Achievement, or as treasurer at my church. My experience at Cathedral Ridge has helped me to bring that “everydayness” back into focus—resisting the urge to fling the doors wide open after the pandemic, to rush headlong back into the social commitments of before. Rather, take a pause, take a deep breath. Remember that it’s really all about feeding others as you have been fed. I know now what I’ve been missing.
MARY ANN RYAN is the treasurer and a vestry member at St. Stephen’s, Longmont. Support the mission and ministry of Cathedral Ridge by making a donation today at cathedralridge.org.
Photo courtesy Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash
FEEDING OUR YOUNG PEOPLE: CAMPUS MINISTRY BY ELIZABETH CERVASIO, THE REV. KRISTA DIAS, PASTOR ZACH PARRIS, & THE REV. JOSEPH WOLYNIAK
F Students across Boulder receive meals from St. Aidan’s and local Lutheran congregations. Photos courtesy Pastor Zach Parris
ormation feeds us. It brings us together, sustains our souls, and helps prepare us to go out and feed others. It reminds us that we are blessed so we may go out and bless. But when we say “formation,” we often think of just two groups— children & youth on the one hand and adults on the other. What about young adults? Spiritual food is vital for everyone, and perhaps especially for people in these in-between ages! The following is an account of three such young adult ministries as described below by their leaders: Colorado Episcopalian | Fall 2021 7
For undergraduates intent on belonging, we create a table with room for everyone. We strive to feed students with the fruit of the reality that we belong, first, not because we like or believe the same things or have proven ourselves, but because we all belong to God. ST. LUKE’S, FORT COLLINS: A CAMPUS-LESS MINISTRY THE REV. KRISTA DIAS St. Luke’s, Fort Collins, is just a few minutes’ drive from Colorado State University. Proximity to campus has meant that the church has long had students in and out of its doors. A new student ministry emerged, however, during the pandemic. The 2020–21 school year was a tough one for college students— maybe harder for them than for the rest of us. Most of us had completed this experience and generally recall a pleasant whirl of studies competing with social gatherings, meeting new people, and exploring the world mostly on our own terms. But the pandemic meant students on virtual lockdown in dorm rooms, having to choose between safe and responsible behavior (limited social interaction) and venturing out and, before the vaccine, getting sick and quarantined. The work of the church in fostering community and connection in the midst of isolation therefore became critical.
Some CSU professors are also parishioners at St. Luke’s and identified the brewing calamity. Together with Mother Krista, they contacted a few CSU students, asking them if they would be interested in checking in via Zoom early in the fall of 2020. 8 Colorado Episcopalian
The idea was to Zoom and pray together about once a month. Immediately it became clear both that there was energy in this group and that the ministry would be more essential and Spirit-filled than we had first dreamed. The group asked to meet not once a month but every week. Soon more than just CSU students became involved. Word traveled among students who had experienced other ministries within the Episcopal Church in Colorado. Students who knew each other from Cathedral Ridge, Quest, or other regional youth gatherings began to participate. We soon had students zooming in not only from Colorado State but also from Colorado College and the University of Northern Colorado. We even had a college-aged man zoom in from Maryland, where his family had recently moved. We dubbed it the “Campus-Less Ministry” because it is anchored not to one place. Anyone can participate no matter where they are. Each week the group checks in, shares what is happening in life, and how these events relates to their faith. Sometimes the group participates in a prayer practice, watches a sermon, or engages in reflection. Sometimes the group is just social. They have continued to meet over the summer and look forward to welcoming more students in the fall. Students in northern Colorado will also have the opportunity to gather in
person soon. If you are interested in participating in Campus-Less Ministry or know someone who might be, contact the Rev. Krista Dias at motherkrista@stlukesfc.org.
ST. AIDAN’S, BOULDER: LUTHERAN/EPISCOPAL BREAD AND BELONGING PASTOR ZACH PARRIS For nearly ten years, St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church in Boulder has worked with Lutheran Campus Ministry to support students at the University of Colorado (CU). Called Bread and Belonging, the community gathers every Tuesday evening at St. Aidan’s for a meal and formation. For undergraduates intent on belonging, we create a table with room for everyone. We strive to feed students with the fruit of the reality that we belong, first, not because we like or believe the same things or have proven ourselves, but because we all belong to God. Amidst the uncertainty that comes with college life, a meal every Tuesday night can bring a life-changing stability. In the fall of 2020, we did everything we could to keep this ministry going—outdoors and socially distanced. On that first Tuesday night of the fall semester, last year, masks were required. We used QR codes to check people
in, chalked instructions on the ground, and used signs indicating the number of people allowed at each carefully sited picnic table. When students arrived, they meticulously followed our instructions. Yet after picking up their food, they walked right past our elaborate arrangement of picnic tables and sat down in a giant circle on the lawn. After six months of isolation, they wanted nothing more than the opportunity to see one another and to reconnect. It was wonderful. We found a way to continue feeding students during a particularly uncertain time. This success would not last. A few weeks later, after a student-driven spike in COVID cases, the city of Boulder issued a weeklong stayat-home order that applied only to those ages 18 to 22. With only three days before our next Tuesday night dinner, we adapted again.
Our regular meals are provided by dinner hosts, most often members
of St. Aidan’s and local Lutheran congregations. We put the word out to our regulars. If students couldn’t come to us, we would bring the food to them. Thus BreadEx, Boulder’s nonprofit food delivery service, was born! This project had logistical challenges on par with the Feeding of the Five Thousand. (I kid, sort of.) Instead of feeding just our Tuesday night regulars, we realized we needed to feed their roommates as well because we were bringing dinner to their homes. It was important to us. Suddenly we found we needed meals delivered to more than 50 students, many of whom had complex and sometimes conflicting dietary requirements, all with three days’ notice. We were overwhelmed by the response of our dinner hosts! By Tuesday afternoon the carefully labeled meals began to pile up and with lots of coordination and communication, we found a way to keep feeding students.
College students gather at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, Boulder, for Bread & Belonging, a joint program of the Episcopal and Lutheran Campus Ministries. Photo courtesy Megan Sawyer
The stay-at-home order was then extended by a week, then another, and another until students had spent nearly a month stuck inside their homes. Still, our dinner hosts, alumni, and friends responded each time. They kept preparing meals for students, they connected with their assigned students to order takeout, and they gave funds to support the project. Over the course of September, we fed over 200 students who were isolated from their friends, families, and campus ministry.
This fall we look forward to welcoming a new class of students in a relatively normal, hopefully post-pandemic way. We eagerly anticipate that first Tuesday night when our staff and student leaders can welcome and feed the coming year’s freshmen and new students. We will engage in this ministry anew, nourished by the work of our dinner hosts, our donors, and the wider church that have so graciously fed us.
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At the heart of DU’s history is, you could say, the transformative encounter with Jesus: we are nourished with the spiritual food of Christ’s forgiveness and grace, then sent to do the work God has given us to do. CHRIST CHURCH, DENVER: REVITALIZING THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER CAMPUS MINISTRY THE REV. JOSEPH WOLYNIAK Originally located near downtown Denver, and founded in 1864 as Colorado Seminary, the University of Denver (DU) moved south to its present location when one Rufus “Potato” Clark donated a generous plot of land. Nicknamed for his notable success as a potato farmer along the Platte, Clark had built a reputation both as a successful businessman and as a profligate philanderer—on all accounts, a raging alcoholic and frequenter of the brothels that dotted downtown. That is, until he met Jesus at a Methodist tent revival. The rest of his life would be spent giving his possessions away, turning him into one of the more noteworthy philanthropists in the history of Denver. At the heart of DU’s history is, you could say, the transformative encounter with Jesus: we are nourished with the spiritual food of Christ’s forgiveness and grace, then sent to do the work God has given us to do.
Located just a mile and a half south of DU on University Boulevard, Christ Church is endeavoring to reconstitute and revitalize a currently quiescent ministry—The Foundation at DU (https://thefoundationdu. org). Once known as “The Wesley Foundation” (a Methodist chaplaincy rooted in University Park Methodist, just to the east of the iconic University Hall), The 10 Colorado Episcopalian
Foundation became a mainline ecumenical collaboration decades ago. Struggling with the same forces of disaffiliation and secularization we are all facing, the ministry dwindled into dormancy just before COVID hit. We are now praying the Spirit would breathe new life into this campus ministry, building on our one foundation—Jesus Christ— as we endeavor to live and love like Jesus among the students, faculty, and staff at DU and the surrounding community.
Our main goal is to recruit, equip, and support two “Dyer Fellows,” lay student leaders empowered to live out their baptismal ministry among their peers. Named after “Father Dyer,” the snowshoeing itinerant Methodist minister considered one of the sixteen founders of Colorado, we are hoping these students will help us recover the best of the pioneer spirit (while, pray God, avoiding the notable mistakes of the past). We are hoping, too, to recover The Foundation’s history of feeding the hungry—spiritually and physically. For years, students would gather to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for AfterHours Denver (https://youtu.be/ T0Z9DYLCtGk), a Methodist ministry started by a bartenderturned-pastor that meets in pubs for frank (sometimes colorful) conversations about faith and distributes meals to the homeless in Civic Center Park. Continuing that tradition of encounter and mission, as the prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi reminds us: “it is in giving we receive” (BCP, p. 833).
St. George’s Episcopal Church, Leadville, provides a food bank for local residents. Photos courtesy the Rev. Ali Lufkin
Welcome. Nourish. Love. BY AMY FRYKHOLM
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hen I had first arrived at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Leadville, I was a desperately spiritually hungry person. I didn’t walk around saying to myself, “I think I might be spiritually hungry,” but whenever I walked into the church and sat down in a pew, I started to weep. I had this sensation of reaching toward something for which I had no name, and, whenever I reached, I cried. Gradually, I felt calmed by the recitation of ancient poems: the Psalms, the Canticles. Those words entered my body, somehow, like an IV drip into my veins, allowing me to slow down, stop crying, look around, and take things in. Everywhere I looked someone was being fed. There were canned goods given out from the Sunday School room and meals steaming in the dining room. There was communion. There were psalms (more nourishment). Music. Snacks. There was soup. It was like every space inside the church had been turned into food of one kind of another—and not just to feed other people. The food was there to feed ourselves too.
This appears to be one of the many paradoxes of spiritual life: in order to be fed, we feed. In feeding, we are fed.
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But in the summer of 2020, all of the following things happened at once to St. George’s:
1. Our small community meal, along with the sanctuary, was transformed into a 200-person-aday food pantry. 2. A refugee family being threatened by ICE asked for sanctuary (asylum) in the church. 3. A man moved into the church parking lot and wondered if he could speak with a priest. He was contemplating suicide.
In the tumult, I turned to Luz Escalara. Luz has been running things around the place for a decade. “Where is this going?” I asked. “What does it mean?” Luz shrugged and smiled. All we knew was that it was all bigger than we were, that it was demanding something new of us, and that we didn’t have a plan for it. But we did what we knew how to do: we showed the family how to use the kitchen and the food pantry. We showed the man the parking lot how much he could help us, if he wanted to lend a hand, and he did. There was something exhilarating in the atmosphere, like a sense of adventure or the presence of an intriguing new scent. What would
St. George’s Episcopal Church, Leadville, provides a food bank for local residents. Photos courtesy the Rev. Ali Lufkin
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happen next? Who would come? What would they say or need or do? The building was bursting with the energy and questions and strangeness.
Almost a year to the day after we first saw what was happening around us, we gathered for a retreat. It had been a year of radical change. We’d lost our beloved priest, hired a mobile food pantry coordinator, tripled our church budget, and handed out hundreds of thousands of pounds of food. We stepped back to articulate our mission. What did we want to say about who we were? Our working mission during the pandemic had been, “If we have food, by God, we’ll share it.” Our official mission was, “To seek and serve Christ in all persons.” But what did we want to say now? We spent an hour playing with words, all the while knowing that everything we did had to do with feeding and being fed. Finally, the words came clear: “We welcome, nourish, and love our neighbors as ourselves.”
AMY FRYKHOLM is a community meal supervisor at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Leadville and a senior editor at The Christian Century. Her most recent book is Wild Woman: A Footnote, the Desert, and My Search for an Elusive Saint.
(From left to right) Pete Montaño, Andy Schwartz, and the Rev. Doug Bleyle. having fun with lunch at Grace’s Kitchen, June, 2021. Photo courtesy Victoria Atkins
BY THE GRACE OF GOD, WE GO BY VICTORIA ATKINS & THE REV. DOUG BLEYLE
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hat happens when a Roman Catholic, a Jew, and an Episcopal priest. . . .
No—not walk into a bar.
Let’s start again: What happens when a Roman Catholic, a Jew, and an Episcopal priest gather in the Fellowship Hall at St. Barnabas in Cortez? It’s no joke.
Since 1998 Grace’s Kitchen, a ministry of St. Barnabas of the Valley Episcopal Church, has been providing one full meal, three days a week, to whoever asks. This happens in Cortez, a town near Mesa Verde in the southwest
corner of Colorado. A founding member of the feeding program summed it up: “We knew this was going to be a challenging ministry, and we all quickly realized,” she said, “that we can only go by the grace of God.” Over the nearly twenty-plus years of Grace’s Kitchen, grace powers every aspect of the ministry.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted our reliance on grace. At the outset we gathered to assess—with what Bishop Kym would call “ruthless clarity”— what we could and could not do in our ministry. People would continue to face hunger
during the pandemic. And the volunteers and staff felt called to continue to serve, as it is in our DNA to feed. So we quickly implemented and followed the public health and safety measures so our core ministry would be available to those in need. Grace once again fed us all. Among our volunteers are physicians, nurses, educators, psychologists, archeologists, anthropologists, contractors, and many with food service backgrounds and credentials. We all felt reassured that these people would work diligently to keep our community members nourished and safe in navigating COVID-19. Colorado Episcopalian | Fall 2021 13
As we adapted and furthered the program, we began to be nourished in other ways. We communicated, frankly, about our health and well-being, particularly as the pandemic extended from months to more than a year. We counted among our ministry volunteers three recent graduates of Colorado’s certification program for food management. In February and March of 2020— even as the pandemic began— they had already taken the lead with health-and-safety training sessions in food handling. The training gave us assurance that we were providing a safe and healthy environment for food preparation and distribution. The training was crucial as we moved into late March, implementing CDC, state, and county recommendations on masks, distancing, ventilation, and temperature checks to prevent COVID-19.
We had to adapt quickly in a number of ways—foremost among them was the challenge of maintaining our volunteer base. Meal ministries that address poverty and hunger depend on people who have the resources, and flexible schedules, that retirement affords. We fed upon grace once again, as our volunteers excused themselves from serving, with some needing to be excused. Yet we could continue our ministry by deploying smaller volunteer groups, transforming our long tradition of sit-down meals to the takeout model, which pandemic-era restaurants were
The extended Snyder Family packing their homemade rolls. Photo courtesy Victoria Atkins
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adopting, along with curbside pickups and even delivery. These were simple adaptations for Grace’s Kitchen because our Saturday meal had retained the original sack-lunch model from Grace’s beginnings. This system made it easier for Grace’s Kitchen to deliver to homebound individuals or isolated families. And this discernment, along with our camaraderie and ability to act safely and respectfully, strengthened us all to continue. As we adapted and furthered the program, we began to be nourished in other ways. We communicated, frankly, about
our health and well-being, particularly as the pandemic extended from months to more than a year. We learned to accept with grace that our people had health decisions to make about how they served. We adopted a three-month planning calendar and developed a calling tree to fill slots for a cohort. We also reestablished connections with the broader Cortez community as supplies and food became more unpredictable, strengthening our collaborations with Hope’s Kitchen at Cortez’s United Methodist Church, in addition to the Good Samaritan Food Bank and the Bridge Shelter, as they extended their “shelter in place” accommodations to the unsheltered community. These collaborations continue, especially with Hope’s Kitchen. In late August 2020 we were
able to present the gift of a meal to the Montezuma County health department in support for their leadership. Our county health department director, along with her entire staff, was being publicly harassed by local politicians who claimed COVID-19 was a hoax. The attacks were hugely demoralizing for an already stressed team. So, doing what we do best, Grace’s Kitchen prepared and delivered lunch—chef’s salads and slices of zucchini chocolate cake—to the entire health department staff of Montezuma County. The burdens of the pandemic fell away as we saw the happiness and gratitude on the faces of the staff.
Then came the long-standing tradition of a Thanksgiving meal, when we serve nearly 350 people. This took place in November 2020, as the pandemic ratcheted
up. We adapted for COVID-19, scheduling curbside pickups, deliveries, and meals “ready-togo” for those who showed up.
As St. Barnabas goes through its “visioning” stage of the priestin-charge model, we know Grace’s Kitchen is our heart and soul. This is a sustainable ministry, supported across the community of Cortez by those offering their time, talent, and money. We now look to this ministry to boost related programs in Montezuma County because, during the pandemic, we can say we never closed our church doors. Grace powers us as we navigate this ministry, focused on the manifest need to feed the hungry.
VICTORIA ATKINS is senior warden and THE REV. DOUG BLEYLE the priest-in-charge at St. Barnabas of the Valley Episcopal Church, Cortez.
One of our first COVID cohort cooking crews early in the pandemic. Photo courtesy Victoria Atkins
Colorado Episcopalian | Fall 2021 15
We Are Family “We BY TERESA HENRY
are fed so we can feed.”
As a mother, wife, aunt, and sister, I see this statement as an expression about being family. We share our blessings and nourish one another because we are family. Whether feeding nuclear or extended family members, or the human family at-large, we desire to feed one another because of our shared humanity. My story is the story of church communities that relate to one another, across borders, as so much more than partners—we are family.
I am a member of St. Mary Magdalene (SMM) in Boulder and a longtime volunteer for Locally Haiti, formerly the Colorado Haiti Project.
I first learned about Locally Haiti (and our partnership with St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Petit Trou) through SMM. Parishioners have long been engaged with the church’s work in Haiti, providing dedicated ambassadors and liaisons who had worked hard, through visits, photos, and stories, to bring the beauty of Haiti to the rest of us. The beauty of the work is what drew me in: the faces of kids at school, the voices of the community leaders, the work of the women. In so many ways, it was clear to me that we are family. To support this family connection, the natural next step is that we feed one another. I visited. Then I visited again. The visits and relationship fed me in a way I hadn’t been fed before. And I worked hard to make sure that the relationship was nourishing for our Haitian siblings as well. Soon, when I spoke of St. Paul’s and Locally Haiti, I was using the pronoun “we.” We were, and are, a family. Ten years ago, we began annual support for a class of students at St. Paul’s. We worked hard to know 16 Colorado Episcopalian
the students through stories, photos from visitors, and their artwork. Over those years, we’ve planned an annual dinner that celebrated the community and our students and raised money for the next year’s class. We have made a difference. I know this. I feel blessed to be a part of a church community that understands and isn’t daunted by the distance separating our communities. If your family needs a health visit, school tuition, or even food during a rough time, you receive help. St. Mary Magdalene treated the community of St. Paul’s this way. Now more than ever, we in our disparate Colorado congregations need to keep doing our part. “We
Teresa Henry with students of the St. Paul’s School, Petit Trou, Haiti. Photo courtesy Teresa Henry
The beauty of the work is what drew me in: the faces of kids at school, the voices of the community leaders, the work of the women. In so many ways, it was clear to me that we are family. To support this family connection, the natural next step is that we feed one another. How can one feed and be fed through this special relationship? Perhaps the simplest way is to engage with us this fall as part of our Harvest Series. What an appropriate name for this theme. We plant, we harvest, we feed—and this is what these events are all about: Harvest. Across Colorado, in August, Sept, and October, we’ll be gathering to break bread, share information about Haiti, create opportunities for support and partnership. You can learn more at locallyhaiti.org/harvest or you can email Locally Haiti’s director, Wynn, at wynn@locallyhaiti.org. If there is no one in your parish currently involved with Locally Haiti, but you think it could be a nourishing opportunity, take up the mantle and reach out! A dedicated parishioner or group of parishioners who commit to this cross-border relationship is the key to keeping the family together and helping us share and receive blessings.
This relationship has fed my soul in a truly unique way. It is with great joy that I invite you to the banquet table. I promise you that you’ll receive more than you give. are fed in life and faith and are called on to extend ourselves and our resources to feed other people in their lives and faith.” This, to me, is Locally Haiti. Despite many challenges, the relationships between Colorado and Haiti continue to grow and continue to be strong! Still, a troubling COVID-19 spike in Haiti is complicating insecurity and violence in the capital. And yet the leadership of Locally Haiti is finding ways to visit our partners in person, to communicate daily in order to get updates, and, perhaps most important, to continue to build bridges of support.
P.S. Since I wrote this letter, much has happened in Haiti. You’ve likely heard the news of the assassination of Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moise. It is shocking and traumatic for our friends and family in Haiti. While the assassination was a heinous and tragic act on a historic and deeply troubling level, it was not an isolated incident, disrupting an otherwise stable situation. The situation in Haiti, and in Port-au-Prince in particular, has deteriorated to new levels, and our partnership is more important than ever. For updates from Locally Haiti, visit their blog at locallyhaiti.org/blog. Please keep Haiti in your prayers. TERESA HENRY is a member of St. Mary Magdalene (SMM) in Boulder and a longtime volunteer for Locally Haiti. Colorado Episcopalian | Fall 2021 17
Walee Vang, the Rev. Becky Jones, & the Rev. Toua Vang. Photo courtesy Fred Mast
A MULTICULTURAL CONGREGATION ENRICHED BY THE PRESENCE OF THE HMONG COMMUNITY BY THE REV. QUIRINO CORNEJO
In
May I participated in a virtual conference: “Church Planting In The Asian Diaspora” to learn more about the Critical Principles in Asian American Congregational Development, sponsored by the Asiamerica Ministries and the Church Planting offices of the Episcopal Church. I was so blessed and energized to hear the stories of fruitful ministries spanning Episcopal congregations of Chinese, Filipino, Hmong, Korean, Pakistani, and Arab Christians from the Middle East
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and North Africa, in addition to multicultural congregations throughout the provinces of the Episcopal Church.
Asians compose two-thirds of the world’s 7.5 billion people. China and India combined already have over 3 billion people. Asia is characterized by plurality and diversity of races, cultures, languages, ethnic, religious, and ideological backgrounds. Many countries in Asia were colonized or influenced by Western powers for better or for worse, for richer or poorer. In the United States,
there are approximately 18 million Asian Americans; 6% of the U.S. population and are growing fast. Asian Americans are still largely treated as either Model Minorities or Forever Foreigners by the American mainstream. Episcopal Asiamerican churches have developed as an umbrella of 9 Ethnic Convocations: Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, South Asian, Southeast Asian, Pacific Islanders, Arab/Middle East, and Asian American Youth and Young Adults. Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries serves
Asian immigrants, Asian Americans, and works as a “bridge building agent;” connecting churches and communities across the AsiaPacific and Asian churches in diaspora.
Amid learning about these statistics and facts on Asiamerica ministries, I was struck to learn about a flourishing Hmong community planted right here, in our home church of Colorado. A Hmong congregation was recently born at St. James Episcopal Church in Wheat Ridge. Walee Vang was commissioned as the first Hmong catechist just a month before the pandemic set in—in February 2020—as St. James made history in Colorado by welcoming and embracing the Hmong community as a ministry of the Episcopal Church.
In June 2021, Bishop Kym Lucas received the four members of the Vang family into the Episcopal Church: Walee and Ker, along with their daughter See and sonin-law, Tommy Thao, at the Front Range Regional Confirmation service.
the Lord’s Prayer in Hmong. Back in the fall of 2019, a number of us in the parish took Hmong classes—taught by Fr. Toua Vang, the Hmong missioner for the Episcopal Church—but I doubt if anyone remembers much of what we learned. We’ll have to plan a refresher class.
The people of St. James are a faithful witness in living intentionally and faithfully into what God calls us to be, a Church becoming “the Beloved Community,” striving to reflect the multiethnic richness and unity of the Body of Christ. This striving to become extends to welcoming and embracing each person in their wholeness, including their questions, complexities, ethnicity, culture, and all.
THE REV. QUIRINO CORNEJO is the Missioner for Multicultural Ministries for the Episcopal Church in Colorado.
Walee Vang was commissioned as catechist for the Hmong community on February 9, 2020. The Rev. Becky describes the big celebration below:
A HU-HMONG-GOUS CELEBRATION
BY THE REV. BECKY JONES St. James took a historic step on Sunday, commissioning Walee Vang as catechist in a stunningly beautiful service. He becomes the first ethnic Hmong to be so recognized in Colorado and will equip us to better reach out to the Hmong community. Although Walee is the first Hmong catechist, we trust he won’t be the last. As the Rev. Dr. Fred Vergara, Missioner for Asiamerica Ministries for the Episcopal Church, said in his sermon on Sunday, February 9, 2020, “People of St. James, because of your incredible hospitality and grace, you have made this Hmong light to shine in Colorado today.”
Vang’s family celebrates with the St. James community. Photo courtesy Fred Mast
The people of St. James have faced both challenges and opportunities for diversity and inclusion. The Rev. Becky explains:
Due to the pandemic, we weren’t able to accomplish all we had hoped as quickly as we wanted. When we were doing prerecorded services, Walee read the gospel in Hmong once a month, and Ker sang the Lord’s Prayer in Hmong. Now that we’re back together in person, we’ll resume doing that regularly, and we’re going to get Ker to teach us all how to sing Colorado Episcopalian | Fall 2021 19
Our Sunday service was gracefilled, joyous, and colorful! In addition to the Hmong families who have been worshiping with us since last spring, St. James was packed with other Hmong —most of them members of Walee’s extended family, many outfitted in their traditional Hmong garb. Walee and his wife, Ker Chang, who are patriarch and matriarch of the clan, have seven children, thirty-two grandchildren, and five great grandchildren—many of them present on Sunday to see Walee officially take up in the Episcopal Church a position, catechist, he held for many years in the Roman Catholic Church.
As catechist, Walee will be responsible for teaching the faith to those in his community— and by “his community” I’m referring not just to our small St. James congregation but also to the estimated six thousand Hmong individuals who call Colorado home. Walee is now empowered to be a pastoral presence when members of that community suffer death or celebrate an achievement. He will be a light of Christ to them—especially when the situation calls for a fluent speaker of Hmong. Walee will be an extension of my pastoral ministry and help us to serve many in his community, especially those we could not possibly hope to reach without his assistance and good standing.
“Thank you to everyone in this church who has helped me and my family and my people,” Walee said. “Thank you for welcoming us. Thank you for supporting me.” Sunday’s service was an experiment for us: Could we
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Top: The Rev. Becky Jones and Dr. Fred Vergara. Bottom: Members of the Hmong community at St. James. Photo courtesy Fred Mast
conduct a bilingual service in both Hmong and English? The answer was unreservedly yes. We easily alternated between English and Hmong. Hearing the Hmong chant the Lord’s Prayer in their native tongue brought goosebumps. The Rev. Toua Vang, Hmong missioner for the Episcopal Church, and I jointly celebrated Holy Communion, and the meaning of the words flowed forth, regardless of the language spoken.
Of course, we won’t often do that. For now, Walee, Ker, and their immediate family are happy to be part of our English service on Sunday. Their daughter, See Thao, has just been elected to the St. James vestry. Walee will begin
training to become an acolyte, and you’ll soon see him at the altar. He also will take training to become a Eucharistic Visitor so he can take communion to any homebound members of the Hmong community.
What an extraordinary gift this community of Hmong worshipers has been and will continue to be to our parish. May God bless our efforts to be a light to all people and that St. James will be home to many more Hmong congregants in the future.
THE REV. BECKY JONES is the Rector of St. James Episcopal Church in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
The 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center.
Photos courtesy the Rev. Jan Pearson
The 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center: A Ministry of Love & Compassion
T
BY THE REV. JAN PEARSON, DEACON
wenty-one years ago, a new curate arrived at St. John Chrysostom Episcopal Church in unincorporated Jefferson County. He and I shared an office before he moved on to become vicar at Our Merciful Savior, on 32nd Avenue, then a struggling neighborhood beset with low-income housing, unemployment, food insecurity, and little or no access to health care. It has changed now—more of this later.
But 21 years ago, the vicar and I were soon envisioning a Jubilee Ministry. Jubilee Ministry is a nationwide network of more than 600 social outreach organizations and ministries all affiliated in some way with The Episcopal Church. In Colorado, we have 30 Jubilee Ministry centers, including food banks, day shelters, feeding programs, prison ministries, health care ministries, ministries serving immigrants, Native Americans, children and other vulnerable populations.
A board of directors was formed to help coordinate ministry outreach to the neighborhood. We drew up articles of incorporation, established bylaws, and called on school leaders and colleagues. The work of the 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center was underway.
The vision remained steadfast: to serve our neighbors with love, justice, and mercy out of the abundance provided by through grants, benefactors, the generosity of Episcopal churches, other faith communities, and others who support our mission and the work of the 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center staff and volunteers. The Jubilee Center has provided food, health care, transportation vouchers, and educational assistance for all who come through its doors. We offered respite for the unhoused by offering a place to rest for a spell, refreshed by glass of cold water, and nourished by a hot meal. The Jubilee Center was the incubator of St. Benedict’s Health and Healing Ministry, which now is a ministry for the underserved in Boulder County.
The 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center also became a pilot site, funded by the Episcopal Church, to develop a model for Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD). For many years we hosted the Bienvenidos Food Bank. Our afterschool tutoring and our summer educational enrichment camps became a mainstay
Colorado Episcopalian | Fall 2021 21
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” (Eccl. 3:1) for at-risk students, many of them lagging their peers by one or two grade levels. The center established lasting relationships with parents and students. Jubilee Center staff members were invited to college and high-school graduations, fifth- and eighth-grade continuation ceremonies, even kindergarten “graduations.”
We helped with DACA applications and renewals, forging relationships with the students and the young adults. High school and college students found internships at the Jubilee Center, and modest scholarships were extended to low-income families so their children could attend college.
I cannot tell you how many students, individuals, and families became a part of my life, allowing me to take part in both their pains and to celebrate the joys and milestones of their lives—birthday parties, weddings, baptisms, first communions, quinceañeras, and even funerals. I’ve gone to court with individuals, vouching for their integrity as they set on the path to citizenship, and visiting those incarcerated at detention facilities to pray with them and offer encouragement to those being deported. We arranged first-time mammograms for 40-year-old women who had never been screened for breast cancer; eye exams and glasses to those applying for driver’s licenses and employment. These were the blessings, the fringe benefits, from the relationships formed through the Jubilee ministry headquartered at Our Merciful Savior Episcopal Church on 32nd Avenue; some brief and others lasting for years.
A changed neighborhood, in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, has caused the 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center to rethink its ministry. For months children were unable to come for in-person tutoring. With technology, however, our tutoring support continued. I met with students via Zoom, phone calls, email, and even text. We could continue to provide children and their families with 600–700 pounds of food each week owing to our long relationship with the Food Bank of the Rockies.
We are now facing another reality. Scripture tells us “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” (Eccl. 3:1) Regis University and its many student-interns have 22 Colorado Episcopalian
long supported our ministry, both through the school year and during the summer-camp season. Regis facilitated a gathering of nonprofit leaders to have dialogue and share the work that was being done in Denver and surrounding communities to serve the least, the lost, and those most in need.
One professor has asked me over the past three years about our location in a historic northwest Denver neighborhood, with its abundant, affordable housing stock. His questions prompted me to begin reading about gentrification. After some research and other preparation, I made presentations to his classes, discussing the evident gentrification around the 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center and how it was affecting the people we serve. Gentrification occurs when newcomers—generally younger and white high-income homeowners— begin to move into ethnically diverse working-class neighborhoods with underdeveloped housing stock. 32nd Avenue was ripe for redevelopment, it became clear. Due to gentrification, our longtime neighborhood had become less diverse, to the detriment of current residents. In these areas where gentrification is occuring in Denver, economically disadvantaged residents are unable to pay increasingly higher rents and are then forced to move away, usually to the far reaches of Metro Denver, in order to find affordable housing. In Northwest Denver, where the 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center is, those who have still managed to arrive at our doors seeking overnight shelter or food, face the suspicion of our new neighbors. Our neighborhood, for the most part, is no longer welcoming to those in need.
The 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center board of directors has therefore with sadness and grief voted to close its doors, ending our programs at the end of 2021. Yet the memory of sweet relationships, people served, and the lives changed will undoubtedly inspire new ministries in new places, where we shall work alongside those most in need. And we will revel in the remembered joy of our service over these past 21 years of God’s work in northwest Denver. THE REV. JAN PEARSON, DEACON, is the general manager and founding board member of the 32nd Avenue Jubilee Center.
PERSPECTIVES
Above & Top Right: Canon Alex Dyer and Bishop Kym Lucas, along with archeologist Dr. Cynthia Smith Bradley, explore the 12th century home of the Ancestral Puebloan people at the Wallace site, an active archaeological excavation near Cortez, Colorado, while visiting St. Barnabas of the Valley in May. Photo courtesy Victoria Atkins
Below & Bottom Right: Brandon and Joshua Garcia baptize their child at Grace & St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Colorado Springs. Photo courtesy Br. Steve Starr
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Right & Below: Bishop Kym ordains Alexandra Bilow and Amy Newell Large to the Sacred Order of Deacons and Laura Osborne to the Sacred Order of Priests at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Colorado Springs. Photos courtesy David Futey
Below: Bishop Kym prays for the ordinands before they are vested at the 2021 Ordination at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, Colorado Springs. Photo courtesy Fred Mast
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Below: The confirmation class of St. Peters of the Valley Episcopal Church, Basalt, clean up the river together as a service project. Photo courtesy the Rev. Wendy Huber
Below: The Rev. Kimberlee Law and Lay Pastoral Leader Tamaira Terry baptize new members of the Lundin family at St. John’s Episcopal Church, New Castle. Photo courtesy Jaci Spuhler
Colorado Episcopalian | Fall 2021 25
THE
BISHOP & DIOCESE OF
1300 Washington Street Denver, Colorado 80203
