This Sunday we remember the Baptism of Jesus and we remember our own baptism and reaffirm our baptismal vows. Especially, in these times of increased imperialistic actions and ideologies in our world and in the US government, let us renew our promise to: "strive for justice and peace among all, and respect the dignity of the Earth and of every human being."![]()
Click here for this week's newsletter: - mailchi.mp/orcasepiscopal/january-11-2026
Message from the Bishop of Minnesota on the shooting in Minneapolis by ICE agents killing a 37-year-old mother of three: Renee Good, a US citizen. ![]()
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From The Rt. Rev. Craig Loya is the X Bishop of Minnesota![]()
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January 8, 2026![]()
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Beloved in Christ,![]()
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Matthew’s account of Epiphany, the feast we celebrated yesterday, shows that there are two responses to the manifestation of a poor, helpless, migrant child lying in a feeding trough as the the place where the God of the whole cosmos resides: fear and joy. King Herod meets the news of King Jesus with fear that quickly turns into a murderous rage as he slaughters an untold number of infants to eliminate the threat to his power. The wise men who had been watching the skies for a sign are overwhelmed with joy at the good news that Herod’s campaign of terror through violent force has met the unstoppable power of God’s love. ![]()
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The Herods of the world, and their fear driven campaigns of terror, are ever with us. Today in Minneapolis, after deploying thousands of federal immigration agents in recent days, an individual was shot and killed by those agents. The news is crushing, to be sure, but we ought not be shocked. The federal government has been making good for a full year on its promise to enforce immigration policy through a racially narrow lens and with a cruel delight. An incident like the one today in Minneapolis was inevitable, and such violence is likely to remain a feature of our common life as long as federal agents are being deployed to cities seen to oppose the current administration for the sole purpose of provocation and intimidation. ![]()
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As people of the Epiphany, our call is to stand in the midst of a world where Herod continues to flex and posture, not in outrage or with reciprocal violence, but gazing in wonder and expectation for the joyful manifestation of Jesus wherever the poor, the outsider, the weak, and the oppressed are to be found. As people of the Epiphany, in the midst of a world where cruelty tries to pose as power, we continue to rejoice in the assurance that absolute and final power resides in poor and crucified Jesus, who alone is the true king. Our Epiphany joy is not some naive and shallow notion that everything will be ok, when everything is so obviously not ok. Our Epiphany joy is the deep, defiant, revolutionary hope we have in the assurance that love is the most powerful force in the universe. Like the wise ones searching for Bethlehem, we wait, we watch, we follow where love leads, knowing that only God’s action in the world can finally and fully heal all that the lust for a false and hollow power had broken down, world without end. ![]()
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episcopalmn.org/blog/bishop/bishop-loyas-response-events-minneapolis-january-2026
A blessed feast of the Epiphany![]()
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Let us pray,![]()
Radiant Morning Star,![]()
you are both guidance and mystery,![]()
Visit our rest with disturbing dreams,![]()
and our journeys with strange companions.![]()
Grace us with the hospitality![]()
to open our hearts and homes![]()
to visitors filled with unfamiliar wisdom![]()
bearing profound and unusual gifts. Amen. ![]()
(RCL Prayers)![]()
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Matthew 2:1-12 (New Testament: A Translation DBH) ![]()
Now, Jesus having been born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days when Herod was king, look: Magians arrived in Jerusalem from Eastern parts, Saying, “Where is the newborn King of the Judaeans? For we saw his star at its rising, and came to make obeisance to him.” And, hearing this, King Herod was perturbed, and so was all of Jerusalem along with him; And, having assembled all of the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Anointed is to be born. And they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judaea, for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah. For from you will come forth a leader who will shepherd my people Israel.’”![]()
Then Herod, secretly summoning the Magians, ascertained from them the exact time of the star’s appearance And, sending them to Bethlehem, said, “Go and inquire very precisely after the child; and when you find him send word to me, so that I too may come and make my obeisance to him.” And, obeying the king, they departed. And look: The star, which they saw at its rising, preceded them until it came to the place where the child was and stood still above it. And, seeing the star, they were exultantly joyful. And, entering the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary and, falling down, made obeisance to him; and, opening their treasure caskets, they proffered him gifts: gold and frankincense and myrrh. Having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, however, they departed for their own country by another path.
episcopalnewsservice.org/2026/01/05/episcopal-leaders-respond-to-us-attack-on-venezuela-president...
Episcopal leaders respond to US attack on Venezuela, president’s capture
episcopalnewsservice.org
[Episcopal News Service] Following last weekend’s U.S. military attack on Venezuela and the removal of President Nicholás Maduro from office, Episcopal leaders have released statements calling for ...
Reflection by the Bishop-elect of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, the Rev. Antonio Gallardo, who was born in Venezuela and left when he was 25, on the mixed emotions arising from the US intervention in Venezuela
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