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By Dennis Moran
Our church is unique because most Episcopal churches are named after a saint. Ours isn’t. Fr. John Benz thought he was being pragmatic when he named us. He didn’t know that he gave us a multi cultural and historical name. Our name, Almaden, comes from an Arabic word, correctly pronounced in Arabic, al-ma-had-in. Around 700 A.D., the Moors carried the word across North Africa into southern Spain. From there, the name was brought to the new world into Mexico then north to here. We were multi ethnic and didn’t even know it. A mine is a source of wealth. I would suggest that you are the wealth in this mine because God’s Spirit is inside you.
What was mined here? It was a vermillion colored rock the Ohlone Indians called “mohetka”. The rich color was religious for them. They would grind it into a powder, mix it with animal fat and put designs on their bodies for protection from evil and direction from the Great Spirit that is in everything.
When Andres Castillero saw the mercury sulfide ore in 1845, he saw something different: wealth. The Mexican government was offering $100,000 to anyone who found mercury because mercury was used to separate gold from the quartz. Castillero suspected it to be cinnabar.
Cinnabar is another Arabic word meaning ‘dragon’s blood’. When it was heated to 675 degrees, it created the pungent smell of evaporating sulfur. A mirror-like liquid called mercury was left. After condensation, it was poured into a vat and the impurities would float to the surface. The refiner would scrape these off, and when he saw his own image in it, he knew it was pure. Mercury’s value is that it was used to extract gold and silver from the native
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By Mike Schmidt
George asked me a couple of weeks ago to talk for a few minutes about how I feel about stewardship as it relates to my Christian journey. Without going into a lot of detail, after a long straightaway, my Christian journey has taken some unexpected turns. I became a Christian when I was 18, and was very active in a pretty conservative Baptist church, for the next 30 years. It was a growing and exciting church, the place where we raised our family and invested our lives. And for most of that time I assumed that things would just continue in that same way for the rest of our lives. But we gradually changed and began to feel uncomfortable and out of place. And through a series of events and realizations, we unexpectedly found ourselves leaving that church. We thought we’d quickly find another place where we felt more comfortable, but we didn’t, and we spent the next 15 years of our lives as somewhat disillusioned “semi-believers,” skeptical about much of what we had formerly believed so easily. I still considered myself to be a Christian, but that was about as far as I was willing to go.
Nearly 2 years ago, we first visited ECA. Why? There was some spiritual hunger and some loneliness there. Why ECA? We had learned a little bit about the Episcopal Church. We understood it to be tolerant of a wide range of spiritual beliefs and personal choices. The three-legged stool concept (scripture, tradition, and reason) was appealing to us. Why did we continue attending? People here were very welcoming. You kept inviting us to various events, breakfast, and into your homes; and we were hungry enough spiritually and socially to accept. We were invited to the two meetings
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By Mary McPherson
The opportunity to speak is a blessing and I feel privileged to do so. I was told to tell you “how I view stewardship as it relates to my Christian journey”. So here goes.
Most of you know I have a passion for bible study. It began in my mid 20’s but really ignited when I was diagnosed with an “incurable” cancer 26 years ago. Since then, I have relied heavily on my relationship with the Lord to guide me in every trial and every decision I make. By the way, regarding the cancer, the support ECA was to me during those dark days, especially in terms of prayers is something I will forever be grateful for.
Having a passion for Bible Study means that, when it comes to stewardship, I am a “by the book” type person. I know you all know what the good book says on this subject. Give of the first fruits. Tithe. I’ll share some of my implementations/interpretations of these.
The way I have put this into practice is still evolving. God is still speaking. I realize I am speaking to a faith community which could teach me a lot, but I was asked to speak which I guess gives me license.
When I think, “give of the first fruits”, I think not only of crops or money, but time. My best time of day is in the morning. I am fresh, alert, and energetic. My kids are now out of the house, so my mornings are my own. After breakfast and walking the dog, I sit down with a cup of coffee and read my bible, study, and pray. By doing this, I am giving to the Lord the best part of my day, and his abundance has been profound. He shows me
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By George Romer
The meaning of Christian stewardship has focused many times on tithing, but this is not the priority definition when discussing the subject. The priorities involved are how time is spent, how relationships are retained, and then how money is spent. There are a lot of things that have to do with this responsibility that many people have never been aware of. Most agree that a good idea is to spend time studying ways to become a responsible Christian. The meaning involves how the precious gifts that God has given to all are used and cared for. The good steward is someone who is doing the best he can with the things that God has given them.
The reality shows up in how a person reacts in situations and how much they are willing to sacrifice to exercise their responsibility. These perspectives all have a common thread – unselfish behavior for the common good of our relatives, friends, neighbors, nation, and the world. We have a common relational community which is strengthening as we go through this cycle of good stewardship, over and over. We encourage one another and celebrate our successes. We praise God for the opportunities He gives us to serve others as good stewards of the skills and talents He has bestowed on us.
On a humorous note, someone quipped that, “going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.” You’ve got to get involved on the mission! It is a journey. Cars don’t go anywhere in the garage!
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Sunday services 7:30 a.m. - Rite II
11:00 a.m. - Rite II
(child care available)
Sunday school
10:10-11:00 a.m.
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