Year of the Horse - Unexpected Adventures and Surprises

From the PARISH NEWSLETTER of
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
Saratoga, CA

By the Rev. Debbie Low-Skinner

January 31st marks the start of the Chinese New Year of the Horse.

Also, January 24th marked the 70th anniversary of the ordination of the Rev. Florence Li Tim- Oi, who was the first woman priest ordained in the Anglican Communion.

Both dates are worthy of note.

The Year of the Horse promises (according to one website) to be “a year of great energy and power for those who can grab hold and hang on. You won't get left in the dust if you've planted a lot of seeds in the previous Snake year (2013).” If you were born in the Year of the Horse (i.e., 1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1980, 1992) you “will want room to run, so have big dreams and goals worthy of a powerful steed and you'll ride your way to success.”

According to astrologer and feng shui expert Susan Levitt, this Year of the Horse will be "a time of fast victories, unexpected adventure, and surprising romance."

Speaking of unexpected adventures and surprises, both were true for seminary-trained deaconess Florence Li Tim-Oi, when Anglican Bishop Ronald Hall of Hong Kong made the unprecedented move in 1944 of ordaining her a priest.  He wasn’t trying to make a symbolic gesture in support of women’s ordination.  He simply saw this as filling a dire pastoral need, in response to the dearth of priests in China in the midst of World War II.

Florene Li Tim-Oi served in Macau until after the war. Then, in the face of opposition by the Anglican Communion, she chose to not exercise her priesthood. She faithfully continued to serve in a parish in Hepu then at the cathedral in Guangzhou.

For 16 years, while the Cultural Revolution closed churches, she was forced to work on a farm then in a factory and undergo “political reeducation”.

In 1981 she was allowed to visit family members in Canada. To her great joy, she was licensed as a priest by the Diocese of Toronto and lived there until her death in 1992.  On the Episcopal liturgical calendar, she is recognized as a saint and her feast day is January 24th.

I give thanks for her courage and faith, and for paving the way for other women priests to serve in the Anglican Communion.  These include the first Episcopal women priests (called the Philadelphia 11) ordained in 1974; the Rev. Fran Toy, the first Episcopal Asian-American woman priest, ordained in 1985; my ordination in 1997; the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts-Schori ordained Presiding Bishop in 2006; and the Diocese of El Camino Real's own Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Mary Gray-Reeves, ordained in 2007.

These events may not have taken place in a Year of the Horse.  But, serving the Episcopal Church as women priests, has been a wild ride for us all!  And we are all still holding on to see what God has next in store for us and our ministries.

Wishing you all “Gung Hey Fat Choy”!

_______________________________

The Rev. Debra L. Low-Skinner

Episcopal Priest, Diocese of California

Pastoral Associate, St. Andrew's Parish

13601 Saratoga Ave., Saratoga CA  95070

DebraL@st-andrews-saratoga.org

.

Lunar New Year Parade and Festival in Chinatown on February 2

Last year, 2013, Bill de Blasio, center, in Chinatown.

From the New York Times:

Many New Yorkers will gravitate toward Chinatown for the Lunar New Year, when a parade and festival starting at 1 p.m. on Feb. 2 will ring in the Year of the Horse.

On the weekends before and after, the New York Chinese Cultural Center, for the 27th consecutive year, will take the party to cultural institutions across the city, with a program focusing on traditional dance and offering craft workshops for all ages.  (Jan. 25, at 2 p.m., Bronx Museum, 2040 Grand Concourse, at East 165th Street, 718 681-6000, bronxmuseum.org; Jan. 26, at 1 p.m., Queens Museum of Art, New York City Building, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, 718 592-9700, queensmuseum.org; Feb. 8, at 1 p.m., Metropolitan Museum of Art, 212 535-7710, metmuseum.org; Feb. 9, at 2 p.m., Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 1000 Richmohd Terrace, 718 448-2500, snug-harbor.org.)

Bloomingdale's Stores Celebrate Chinese New Year - The Year of the Horse

Retailer rings in the Year of the Horse with unique merchandise, special events, and in-store animation.

NEW YORK, Jan 02, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- To celebrate Chinese New Year, select Bloomingdale's stores will be ringing in the Year of the Horse with unique pop-up shops, merchandise, special events, and cultural presentations from Jan. 10 - Feb. 15, 2014.

"As a company rooted in family and tradition, we look forward to once again celebrating both the Chinese New Year and entire Chinese culture that is deeply rooted in history," says Tony Spring, Bloomingdale's president and COO, and newly appointed chairman and CEO effective Feb. 1, 2014. "We welcome Chinese shoppers and tourists, along with all of our loyal shoppers, to join the festivities as we celebrate the Year of the Horse."

At Bloomingdale's locations nationwide, there are 193 Chinese-speaking associates (both Mandarin-speaking and Cantonese-speaking), available to make your shopping experience like no other in the world.

To join the Chinese New Year festivities at your local Bloomingdale's visit bloomingdales.com/events for a full line up of events. Be sure to follow @bloomingdales on social media where you can join the conversation with #bloomiesyearofthehorse.

Shoppers at Bloomingdale's 59th Street, North Michigan Avenue, San Francisco Centre, and South Coast Plaza are invited to get into the spirit of the holiday and test their luck with the Chinese red envelope tradition from Jan. 30 - Feb. 2, 2014. Select envelopes will be filled with prizes such as a bMoney card in a denomination of $8, $88, or $888 (a traditional lucky number in the culture); a complimentary small Forty Carrots yogurt; a limited-edition Year of the Horse tote bag; special offers at the Clarins, Estee Lauder, and La Prairie counters; savings at select Bloomingdale's dining destinations; complimentary mini cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery (59th Street location only); special savings at Maximilian Fur Salon (59th Street, North Michigan Avenue, South Coast Plaza only).

Bloomingdale's will also be debuting limited-edition pop up shops curated by the retailer's fashion office that are filled with unique pieces for your wardrobe and home celebrating Chinese culture at the following locations: 59th Street, Medinah Home, North Michigan Avenue, Soho, South Coast Plaza, and San Francisco Centre. The shops will be filled with such pieces as a limited-edition reusable "Little Horse Bag" inspired by Bloomingdale's iconic Brown Bag, an exclusive Longchamp Year of the Horse bag, an exclusive Carmen Marc Valvo Couture red chinchilla jacket, as well as other must-haves from Alex & Ani, Anna B., Art Addiction, Asian Loft, Baccarat, Chaser, Clarisonic, Cynthia Steffe, Diane von Furstenberg, Dogeared, Fox, Franz, Furla, Godiva, Happy Socks, John Robshaw, Jonathan Adler, Lalique, MCM, Michael Aram, Michael Wainwright, Natori, Nike, Olivia Riegel, Prouna, Ray-Ban, Riedel, Salvatore Ferragamo, Topo Ranch, Versace, Voluspa, and Wildfox.

Also look for additional merchandise celebrating Chinese culture in the Burberry, Chloe, Dior, Estee Lauder, fine jewelry, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, and Salvatore Ferragamo departments. Other visual statements celebrating the Year of the Horse will also be present throughout the store.

During not only the Chinese New Year celebration, but all year long, exclusive Tourism Programs for international and domestic visitors to Bloomingdale's locations in New York, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco are available. In these cities, out-of-town visitors can receive a special Bloomingdale's visitor savings pass and gift with purchase. Additional visitor services include a multi-lingual Visitors Center staff and directories (including but not limited to - German, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, simplified Chinese, Spanish), along with concierge services, hotel package delivery, personal shopper appointments, and more. A Bloomingdale's welcome guidebook in simplified Chinese is also available at locations in New York, Chicago, Costa Mesa, and San Francisco.

==============
About Bloomingdale's

Bloomingdale's is America's only nationwide, full-line, upscale department store and a division of Macy's, Inc. It was founded in 1872 and currently operates 37 Bloomingdale's stores and 13 Bloomingdale's, The Outlet Stores in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, New Hampshire, California, and Texas. In addition, Bloomingdale's has an international presence with a location in Dubai. Be sure to follow Bloomingdale's on social media, become a Loyallist, and for more information, or to shop any time, visit www.bloomingdales.com .

After deadly typhoon, Episcopal ministry rescues Filipino seafarers

From the Episcopal Journal
January 2014 edition, Vol. IV, No. 1
By Jerry Hames

Chaplain James Kollin, center, with seafarers

Loggan, a Filipino seafarer on a Bahamas-registered cargo ship, had been at sea for four weeks, desperately anxious to get news about his family. After finally speaking with them and watching videos on his phone, posted by friends, that showed that they had survived, he asked for a few moments of quiet and then prayers for his family.

That scene played out in major ports across the world in November and December as anxious seafarers sought to learn about conditions at home after Typhoon Haiyan roared through the Philippines with sustaining winds of 190 miles per hour, making it stronger than all but three tropical cyclones in recorded history.

More than 5,000 deaths were caused by the devastating storm that affected an estimated 160,000 Filipino seafarers and their families. Maritime welfare agencies, many associated with Anglican and Episcopal churches, immediately sprang into action.

The U.K.–based Mission to Seafarers (formerly Mission to Seamen), which operates in many British Commonwealth countries, and the Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI), founded in 1847 by the Episcopal Church and supporting chaplaincies in the major ports of New York, New Jersey, and Oakland, Calif., responded instantly.

“The destructive typhoon that laid waste to the Philippines impacted millions of lives,” said the Rev. David Rider, president and executive director of the Seamen’s Church Institute (SCI) from his New York office. He said each seafarer from the Philippines received a free phone card from chaplains or ship visitors. “Both our coastal centers provided free Wi-Fi, which seafarers used to send messages or make calls via webcams where possible.”

The task of one SCI intern at the Newark, N.J. port — Ryan Bruns, 22 — is to pick up seafarers who have visas and are allowed to leave their ship and drive them to and from a local shopping mall. One day he noticed a Filipino seafarer had returned empty handed.

“When I asked him why, he told me that he was saving money because his house was devastated by the typhoon, and he didn’t have money to buy anything,” Bruns, a college graduate from Cleveland, recalled.

On another occasion, Bruns and fellow intern Michelle McWilliams learned from a chief cook on a cargo vessel that his house in the Philippines had been destroyed. “The cook explained that he had put in a request to leave ship before his contract was finished, which the ship’s agent had approved,” Bruns said. “Anxious to get home to his family, he wanted to make sure they were really okay and to begin rebuilding their life together.”

One of the most inspiring stories, according to an account from Oliver Brewer, SCI’s director of information, came from Port Newark chaplain James Kollin who met a seafarer named Edito. The typhoon destroyed Edito’s house, the product of ten years of saving, and forced his wife and two-year-old son to flee. Five days after the storm hit, Edito finally reached his wife by phone.

“When I went to the ship, Edito told me about his property being devastated by the typhoon,” Kollin recounted to Episcopal Journal. “He came from ground zero of the typhoon. His family was safe, they moved to a relative’s house in a safer area, but his house and property was destroyed,” he said.

Kollin, 50, who was ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of the North Central Philippines, came to the United States 13 years ago and began as an intern with SCI in 1997-98. Because he is proficient in Tagalog, one of the two major languages in the Philippines (the other is English), he is a valuable resource for the Port Newark maritime ministry.

Ordinary Seaman Edito, who has the lowest among ranks, expressed to SCI his appreciation for his job as a seafarer—work that enables him to sustain his family, to help his neighbors and to someday build another house, the chaplain said.

According to maritime records, Filipinos serving in the global shipping fleet (close to 364,000 seafarers) make up 28 percent of the crews of all ocean-going vessels.

In California, Adrienne Yee, who herself served for eight years as an officer on an ocean-going vessel, is now director of SCI’s International Maritime Center in Oakland. Like the SCI centers on the East Coast, the Oakland facility is an agent for a money-transfer system that enables seafarers to send money home.

“They have been coming in from the very beginning when the typhoon hit,” Yee said in December. “Some were unable to connect because of communications being down. On one occasion guys huddled around one seafarer who had not heard from [his family] … and on Facebook he saw a posting of them.

“That brought on a lot of cheers and smiles … we see the anticipation, we see the anxiety.”

The inability to connect with loved ones at home often leads to a call for a chaplain. “We are very sensitive to their issues,” Yee said. “We talk to them, ask questions, ask whether they want counselling or pastoral care. I have spoken with many over the past several days,” she said in an interview on Dec. 5, “and things are just beginning to settle down.”

The West Coast maritime ministry has three full-time chaplains supplemented by lay Eucharistic ministers. The team also includes an intern from the Episcopal Young Adult Service Corps, Charles Ledbetter from Southern California.

“We are ecumenical,” said Yee. “We have many different denominations under one roof, including a Roman Catholic priest, a Korean Presbyterian and a retired Lutheran pastor. But for all of us, we have one goal—and that is to service the seafarers.”

Adrienne Yee, director of the SCI's International Marine Center in Oakland, Calif., at the Port of Oakland with seafarers from the container ship William Shakespeare.

____________________________________________

Jerry Hames is a senior correspondent for Episcopal Journal.
Top photo courtesy of James Kollin/SCI Newark.
Bottom photo courtesy of Adrienne Yee/SCI Oakland.


.