On Saturday, April 22, Day 1 of El Camino de la Pascua will begin in Manzanar and end in Ridgecrest.

• 9 a.m.: Meet in the St. Michael's parking lot so we can carpool to Manzanar. We will leave the church parking lot at 9:30.
• 11 a.m.: Opening Service at Manzanar National Historic Site, 5001 Highway 395, Independence, CA
• 11:45 a.m.: Lunch at site, question and answer time
• 12:30 p.m.: 3.2-mile walking tour of the World War II Japanese-American Internment Camp
• 2:45 p.m.: Begin drive to Owens Lake Trails Plaza, Keeler Drive off Highway 136
• 3:30 p.m.: 3 mile walk of the Dry Lake Bed
• Drive to St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Ridgecrest
• At 6 p.m., we will offer a free spaghetti dinner for the community and for the Hikers of El Camino in the Parish Hall.

Notes

• If you can help set up the Parish Hall for the Spaghetti Dinner, please contact Dave Waller

On Sunday, April 23, Day 2 of El Camino de la Pascua will be a Sabbath Day.

• 10 a.m.: Holy Eucharist at St. Michael's Episcopal Church followed by a potluck lunch hosted by the congregation.
• Bishop David will preside and preach.

Deacon Cathy has graciously offered her home to host the Travelers of El Camino for the evenings of April 22 and 23. If you desire to help, please contact Deacon Cathy.

To make donations for El Camino de la Pascua visit www.diosanjoaquin.org/donate-1.

A note from our Treasurer

St. Michael's is changing our online giving platform from Tithely to Vanco.  Vanco is much more user friendly and provides more flexibility in giving and reporting.  The new sight is up and running now, but I will keep the Tithely sight operational until April 30, 2023, to allow time for our generous donors to make the switch.  Each donor currently signed up in Tithely will need to stop their online giving in Tithely and set up their information in Vanco.  It's a very seamless process for your donations.  Once the donation is stopped in Tithely and started in Vanco, the process works the same way.  You have the option to select the donation method, which funds you want to make your donation, the frequency, the duration, & whether you want to cover the fees.
 
The links to each platform are as follows:
Tithely: https://tithe.ly/give?c=2212452
Vanco:   https://secure.myvanco.com/L-Z9KQ/home

I apologize for any inconvenience encountered during this transition, but in the long run, it will be worth it.  Your year-end statements will now show your donations totaled and broken down by each fund, if applicable.  The new reporting will also ease the accounting functions for the church treasurer.
 
If anyone has any concerns, questions, or issues encountered making the change to Vanco, please do not hesitate to contact me directly by email at smectreasurer@mail.com, or my cell phone number at (562) 673-7559.
 
God's Blessings to one and all,
 
Lisa Kidder
Treasurer
St. Michael's Episcopal Church, Ridgecrest

Mesa Verde (MV, Bakersfield) and Golden State Annex (GSA, McFarland) are the two remaining ICE detention facilities in Northern California, operated by private for-profit corporation, GEO. People detained at MV and GSA have been fighting for improved living conditions for YEARS. After multiple attempts to meet with ICE and GEO, being ignored and worse, retaliated, they have launched a joint hunger strike demanding the immediate release of all individuals detained at the facilities and the shutdown of both detention centers.

On Feb. 15, 77 people began the hunger strike at MV and GSA, and the number soon grew to 84 strikers. On March 7, 10 ICE agents and 5 GEO staff, violently detained 4 of the lead hunger strikers at MV, and transferred them out of state to El Paso TX. On March 14, 20 officers came into dorms at GSA with rubber bullets, pepper spray, and forcibly removed 3 hunger strikers who are being transferred to El Paso for forced feeding.

While the hunger strikers are traumatized from that attack, they are resolved in forging ahead. They are calling on the outside community to stand in solidarity with them, and help them elevate their demands to elected and ICE officials. 
Many faith traditions have a practice of fasting as a way to deepen our spiritual focus, our intentions and practice. When done in community with others, a fast can unite people together. Politically, fasting is a part of key strategies in nonviolent resistance to obtain political goals and disrupt the status quo.

During the week of April 2-8, numerous sacred holy days are converging. Faith communities around the globe are celebrating Ramadan, Passover, Easter, and Buddha’s birthday. We are looking for at least 84 faith leaders, congregations, organizations, and community members across the state to join a fast dedicated to and in solidarity (1 day) with the 84 siblings inside MV and GSA. The fast will be conducted for approximately one day (for example, fasting from sundown one day to sundown the following day, or another format depending on spiritual tradition or personal preference), and can be done from home.
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For information on how you can become involved and support this initiative click here.

We encourage each member of the church to meditate on a single scripture passage for the month of February.

​On March 5, we will share our reflections during Coffee Hour.

The Anti-Racism Commission invites congregations to join in reading The Land is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery during the months of January and February. (This book was released back in June 2022.)

Then join us for a discussion of the book the weekend of February 24-26 via ZOOM! Each day will build upon the previous day's conversation, but you can join as you are able. We hope to have a minimum of 5 laypersons from each congregation.

The Food Pantry is 9 - 11am on the following days:

24 January (4th Tuesday)
28 February (4th Tuesday)
28 March (4th Tuesday)
25 April (4th Tuesday)
23 May (4th Tuesday)
27 June (4th Tuesday)
25 July (4th Tuesday)
29 August (5th Tuesday)
26 September (4th Tuesday)
24 October (4th Tuesday)
28 November (4th Tuesday)
26 December (4th Tuesday)

10:30 - 11:30 am
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17 January (3rd Tuesday)
21 February (3rd Tuesday)
20 March (3rd Monday)
17 April (3rd Monday)
15 May (3rd Monday)
20 June (3rd Tuesday)
17 July (3rd Monday)
21 August (3rd Monday)
18 September (3rd Monday)
16 October (3rd Monday)
20 November (3rd Monday)
18 December (3rd Monday)