Paris is Burning, Jennie Livingston (1990, 78 minutes), Wednesday, December 13, 7:00 PM, Church of the Messiah (614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701), Upper Room.

This now-classic documentary introduces the culture and activities of the New York City drag balls and their colorful, intensely competitive participants. This world is a prism reflecting the issues of racism, poverty, and AIDs, which was epidemic at the time.

"One emerges from this film not only with a new vocabulary and a fresh way of viewing the straight world but with a bracing object lesson in understanding what society 'role models' are all about" (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader).

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78TAbjx43rk
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ParisIsBurningMovie/

New World Order, Luke Meyer, Andrew Neel (2009, 90 minutes), Wednesday, November 22, 7:00 PM, Church of the Messiah (614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701), Upper Room.

Excerpts from the documentary New World Order will be paired with recent videos taking us into the world of conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones with his Infowars franchise. The 9/11 Truth movement is a focus. Be prepared for a journey through the looking glass to a view of current events we may have never experienced.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5kqXHflKnw

Official Site: http://seethink.com/new-world-order/

Lev Grossman Article: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1531304,00.html

Lunch at the Courtard: Messiah's Homeless Ministry, November 26, 11:45 AM

Lunch at the Courtyard, Sunday, November 26, 11:45 AM, Episcopal Church of the Messiah (click for map).

Immediately following the 10:15 service the Messiah community and all interested persons will go out to the homeless shelter at the Courtyard to serve lunch. If you plan to come and/or bring food, please contact Lou Chapin at louisjchapin@gmail.com.

Entrees, salads, fresh fruits, dinner rolls, and desserts are usually needed for this large lunch service, as are volunteers to serve the food. It is best to coordinate food donations with the organizers to make sure we have enough of everything. Cash donations are also welcome and will be used wisely in shopping for food on the Saturday preceding.

Training: Visiting Immigrants in Detention, Sat., Nov. 4, 10-12, St. Paul's, Tustin

 In Collaboration with CLUE

                                                          

The Episcopal Church of the Messiah and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church are partnering to offer a series of Community Trainings in Orange County to raise awareness of issues around immigration and offer ways in which we can assist our neighbors

who are being detained.

How to Visit Immigrants in Detention

In this training, Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC) will offer a thorough overview of the system of immigrant detention on a national scale and offer participants clear tools for visiting detained persons locally. We will also be joined by Sister Greta Ronningen of the Community of Divine Love Monastery who will introduce the basics of CHAPLAINCY as a resource to enrich detainee visitation.

This is an important time for people of faith and conscience to develop a deeper understanding about the crisis facing immigrants in our communities and to put this understanding into action. 

WHEN:  Saturday, November 4th, 2017

TIME:  10:00am - 12:00pm

WHERE:  St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1221 Wass St., Tustin

RSVP: Laura Siriani  laura@stpauls.org

ENDORSERS: Presbytery of the Pacific(PCUSA), Bend the Arc, Task Force on Sanctuary for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, Matthew25th/Mateo 25, COPALA (Coalition of Latino Pastors), California Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church, Jesus4Revolutionaries, USWW-SEIU UNITED SERVICE WORKERS WEST, Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

Wednesday Night Movie: Blood in the Face, October 25, 7:00 PM

Blood in the Face, Anne Bohlen, Kevin Rafferty, James Ridgeway (1991, 78 minutes), Wednesday, October 25, 7:00 PM, Church of the Messiah (614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701), Upper Room.

Based on the book by James Ridgeway, the documentary provides an in-depth view of white supremacy groups in the United States. Some of the interviews are conducted by Michael Moore. More recent short videos on the subject will also be shown.

Messiah Parishioner John Liu belongs to the faculty of Social Sciences and Asian-American Studies at UCI, specializing in Race, Ethnic, and Minority relations. He will lead us in a post-film discussion.

"In a series of amazing interviews, members of the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, and the Posse Commitatus reveal the frighteningly over-rationalized logic behind their beliefs. 'The Russians and Chinese are amassing tanks at the Mexican border' and 'The men behind the Holocaust were Jews' are two of the more preposterous claims recorded by the film. While it's an investigation of the people behind the political power of politicians like David Duke, the film is also a study of how people are overtaken by hate and fear. The result is an essential and powerful documentary" (Rotten Tomatoes).

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy3bJXep384

Lunch at the Courtard: Messiah's Homeless Ministry, October 22, 11:45 AM

Lunch at the Courtyard, Sunday, October 22, 11:45 AM, Episcopal Church of the Messiah (click for map).

Immediately following the 10:15 service the Messiah community and all interested persons will go out to the homeless shelter at the Courtyard to serve lunch. If you plan to come and/or bring food, please contact Lou Chapin at louisjchapin@gmail.com.

Entrees, salads, fresh fruits, dinner rolls, and desserts are usually needed for this large lunch service, as are volunteers to serve the food. It is best to coordinate food donations with the organizers to make sure we have enough of everything. Cash donations are also welcome and will be used wisely in shopping for food on the Saturday preceding.

Lunch at the Courtard: Messiah's Homeless Ministry, September 24, 11:45 AM

Lunch at the Courtyard, Sunday, September 24, 11:45 AM, Episcopal Church of the Messiah (click for map).

Immediately following the 10:15 service the Messiah community and all interested persons will go out to the homeless shelter at the Courtyard to serve lunch. If you plan to come and/or bring food, please contact Lou Chapin at louisjchapin@gmail.com.

Entrees, salads, fresh fruits, dinner rolls, and desserts are usually needed for this large lunch service, as are volunteers to serve the food. It is best to coordinate food donations with the organizers to make sure we have enough of everything. Cash donations are also welcome and will be used wisely in shopping for food on the Saturday preceding. 

Wednesday Night Movie: I Am Not Your Negro, September 27, 7:00 PM

I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck (2016, 93 minutes), Wednesday, September 27, 7:00 PM, Church of the Messiah (614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701), Upper Room.

The highly-acclaimed documentary is based on James Baldwin's unfinished book Remember this House. It tells the story of racism in America in Baldwin's words with reflections on the lives of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. It was nominated for Best Documentary in the 2016 Academy Awards and won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

"It both is and is not a documentary about Baldwin, the brilliant, exasperating and endlessly erudite black writer who belongs on any short list of the most important American intellectuals of the 20th century. It's a lot of other things, too, including a visual-poetic essay tracing the startling threads of analogy between America in the mid-1960s and America today [...]" (Andrew O'Hehir, Salon).

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNUYdgIyaPM
Official Site: http://www.iamnotyournegrofilm.com/
New York Times Review: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/movies/review-i-am-not-your-negro-review-james-baldwin.html?_r=0

Wednesday Night Movie: Sonita, August 16, 7:00 PM

Sonita, Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami (2016, 90 minutes), Wednesday, August 16, 7:00 PM, Church of the Messiah (614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701), Upper Room.

Sonita Alizadeh is a young Afghan refugee, rap artist, and activist against forced marriage. She became famous over her resistance to being sold as a child bride by her parents. Her remarkable story won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Sundance Festival.

"A crushing and intense docufiction that believes in the heroic kindness of its protagonist's challenging attitude and in irony as salvation" (Jorge Ayala Blanco, El Universal).

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B47MbpPuz7A
Official Site: http://www.wmm.com/sonita/

Lunch at the Courtyard, Sunday, July 23, 11:45 AM, Episcopal Church of the Messiah (click for map).

Immediately following the 10:15 service the Messiah community and all interested persons will go out to the homeless shelter at the Courtyard to serve lunch. If you plan to come and/or bring food, please contact Lou Chapin at louisjchapin@gmail.com.

Entrees, salads, fresh fruits, dinner rolls, and desserts are usually needed for this large lunch service, as are volunteers to serve the food. It is best to coordinate food donations with the organizers to make sure we have enough of everything. Cash donations are also welcome and will be used wisely in shopping for food on the Saturday preceding. 

Wednesday Night Movie: A Whisper to a Roar, July 26, 7:00 PM

A Whisper to a Roar, Ben Moses (2012, 96 minutes), Wednesday, July 26, 7:00 PM, Church of the Messiah (614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701), Upper Room.

Inspired by the research of Stanford scholar Larry Diamond, Ben Moses's film examines the modern democracy movements in Egypt, Malaysia, the Ukraine, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. It includes extensive interviews with heads of state as well as activist leaders.

"This deft digest from the director Ben Moses is by turns shocking and inspiring as we witness both the brutal abuse of power and life-endangering dissent. [...] The footage plucked from archives--crowds, interview face-offs, heads of states grandstanding--can be electric" (Nicolas Rapold, New York Times).

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3C_FiroMas
Official Site: https://awhispertoaroar.com/
Huffington Post Review: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deborah-stambler/a-whisper-to-a-roar-movie_b_1975549.html

O.C. Pride Festival and Parade, June 24, 9:00 AM

Saturday, June 24 is the annual Orange County Pride Festival and Parade, and the Episcopal Church is showing up! The festival and parade take place in downtown Santa Ana. For location details, see the Pride website: www.prideoc.com. The day will begin with Eucharist at 9:00 am in the Hands Together Parking Lot, with Bishop Diane Bruce presiding and Kay Sylvester preaching, in the parking lot of Hands Together, catty-corner from Church of the Messiah, Santa Ana (614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA). All are welcome; drag your friends along to hear the good news of God's inclusive, expansive, abundant love. There will be t-shirts for sale for parade marchers. The Eucharist will be timed to give folks about 45 minutes to an hour to get to the parade step-off point. The Episcopal contingent will represent Orange County Episcopal congregations, wearing the black "I am love" t-shirts. Bishop Bruce will be in the parade, as well. More to follow about the parade details. After the parade, the Pride Festival will open at noon. Last year, the Episcopal Church booth ran out of our rainbow cross necklaces in five minutes. This year, we have multiple congregations assembling necklaces, and we hope to run out a little more slowly! Signups for the booth staffing will be coming soon. The booth interactions can be truly life-giving, and we'll be sure you have literature and a script to help you get started. Both laity and clergy are welcome to help in staffing the booth. Save the date! Plan to spend Saturday, June 24, representing the inclusive love of God in the LGBTQ community of Orange County.

Wednesday Night Movie: Ixcanul, June 28, 7:00 PM

Ixcanul, Jayro Bustamante (2015, 100 minutes, Wednesday, June 28, 7:00 PM, Church of the Messiah (614 N. Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701), Upper Room.

Using a non-professional cast and short largely in the indigenous Guatemalan language of the region, Ixcanul tells the story of a young woman working on a coffee plantation whose arranged marriage conflicts with her dreams and ambitions for life. Celebrated in numerous film festivals, the film deals with themes of sexual and economic oppression as well as the illicit trade in children.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJfvKnLPqFM

Lunch at the Courtard: Messiah's Homeless Ministry, June 25, 11:45 AM

Lunch at the Courtyard, Sunday, June 25, 11:45 AM, Episcopal Church of the Messiah (click for map).

Immediately following the 10:15 service the Messiah community and all interested persons will go out to the homeless shelter at the Courtyard to serve lunch. If you plan to come and/or bring food, please contact Lou Chapin at louisjchapin@gmail.com.

Entrees, salads, fresh fruits, dinner rolls, and desserts are usually needed for this large lunch service, as are volunteers to serve the food. It is best to coordinate food donations with the organizers to make sure we have enough of everything. Cash donations are also welcome and will be used wisely in shopping for food on the Saturday preceding. 

ACTION ALERT: This weekend, Join our Protective Love for Muslims, LGBTQ People, and Immigrants: Solidarity with the Vulnerable.

Please join CLUE as we stand in deep solidarity with vulnerable communities during a critical weekend!
1. SATURDAY at 10AM: Be a face of love and #SacredResistance at an anti-Muslim protest in San Bernardino
Especially if you have experience in nonviolent counter-protest, we need you to join us in spreading a message of love this Saturday. Here are some ideas for nonviolent counter-protest from a different effort. Please also practice protest safety.  
2. SUNDAY starting at 7AM: Join The LA Pride #ResistMarch
CLUE Proudly marches with the LGBTQ community—us, our brothers, our sisters—at this year’s Pride event in LA. This is our first time, and we know that there is the urgency of now to protect all the progress created in Los Angeles and beyond. Please join us on the steps of Hollywood United Methodist Church (6817 Franklin Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90068) at about 7:45am to march under the CLUE banner, alongside ELCA (Lutheran), Episcopalian, and Methodist leaders.  Feel free to join them for a prayer service there beginning at 7am.
3. MONDAY at 6PM: Help the Small City of Cudahy Stand for Sanctuary in the Face of Hate!
Support residents of Cudahy during their city council meetings over the city's sanctuary policies for immigrants. The next city council meeting is at June 12th at 6:30 PM at Clara Park Turner Hall (4835 Clara Park Street, Cudahy, CA 90201) and the groups have asked for our support during and after the meeting. We are planning to bring people, media, Know Your Rights fliers, and legal observers - and we would like more allies to attend this event with us.

We the People: Standing in Solidarity, Saturday, 9AM-1130AM, San Bernardino

https://www.facebook.com/events/1730089227288466/?active_tab=about

Corner of S. Waterman Ave. and Hospitality Ln., San Bernardino, CA 92408       

Saturday at 9 AM - 11:30 AM

We invite you to this event to show that the Inland Empire includes Muslims as peaceful members of our community and supports their rights to live, practice, and pursue happiness without infringement or fear of harm. This is protected by the First Amendment.

This is a non-confrontational, peaceful event, so please bring only positive messages of love and community. This event will take place on the sidewalks of the Waterman/Hospitality intersection. More details to follow.

NOTE: At the same time as our event, a group of people with a history of expressing anti-Muslim views is planning to assemble close to the Inland Regional Center (IRC) at the intersection of S. Waterman Ave. and E. Orange Show Rd. Our event will be confined near Hospitality Ln. (approx. 0.5 miles from IRC) and we ask all participants to not approach this direction in order to prevent the possibility of a violent incident.

Rally to End Homelessness, June 13, Santa Ana County Hall of Administration

#ResistMarch, Sunday, June 11, 7 AM Hollywood and Sycamore, LA

This Sunday, June 11, join us for #ResistMarch On Sunday, June 11th the Diocese of Los Angeles joins those throughout the nation standing up, speaking out and marching for equality.   7am: Join us as we gather before the #ResistMarch for a service of prayer, music, and community. ALL ARE WELCOME to join with members of the Episcopal, Lutheran and Methodist Churches outside of Hollywood United Methodist Church as we pray, sing, unite our hearts and strengthen our resolve to see equality for all LGBTQ people. See more about the event on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/828760713965655/ 8am: Gather at the northwest corner of Hollywood and Sycamore as we come together to put our faith into action by marching in solidarity to resist forces that would deny the dignity of any human being. Event details here: http://www.resistmarch.org

Lunch at the Courtyard: Messiah's Homeless Ministry, Sunday, May 28, 11:45 AM

Lunch at the Courtyard:

Messiah's Homeless Ministry, Sunday, May 28, 11:45 AM

Lunch at the Courtyard, Sunday, May 28, 11:45 AM, Episcopal Church of the Messiah.

Immediately following the 10:15 service the Messiah community and all interested persons will go out to homeless shelter at the Courtyard to serve lunch. If you plan to come and/or bring food, please contact Lou Chapin at louisjchapin@gmail.com.

Entrees, salads, fresh fruits, dinner rolls, and desserts are usually needed for this large lunch service, as are volunteers to serve the food. It is best to coordinate food donations with the organizers to make sure we have enough of everything. Cash donations are also welcome and will be used wisely in shopping for food on the Saturday preceding.

Accidental Courtesy

Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America

Peace and Justice Film Screening -- Wednesday, May 24 at 7:00PM in the Upper Room at Church of the Messiah, Santa Ana.

This film was a New York Times Critics pick and has won recognition from many independent film festivals. This documentary follows African-American musician Daryl Davis, who has played backup for Chuck Berry. Davis is an example for anyone interested in promoting peace and understanding -- he goes out of his way to cultivate cordial relationships with well-known racists. The film documents his efforts to get to know leaders from the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups. In forming these relationships, he attempts to further mutual understanding and steer them away from their racist attitudes.  

"Accidental Courtesy: Daryl Davis, Race & America" is directed by Matt Ornstein. You can see a preview of the film by clicking HERE.

Harvest of Empire

The film, Harvest of Empire: The Untold Story of Latinos in America, Peter Getzels, Eduardo Lopez (2012, 90 Minutes) will be screened as part of our Peace and Justice film series on Wednesday, March 22 at 7:00PM.

The documentary traces the effect of repeated interventions by the United States in Latin American countries on patterns of migration north.

Click HERE to see a preview.

On March 4 at Church of the Messiah

Santa Ana Sites #16

Click here for tickets

Perla Batalla – Perla’s House of Cohen

Grammy nominated singer-songwriter and longtime back up vocalist for Leonard Cohen, Perla Batalla will perform on Saturday, March 4 at 8 p.m. at Church of the Messiah (614 N Bush Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701). Presented by Santa Ana Sites and produced in association with the Boca de Oro: Art & Literature Fringe Festival, Batalla brings her powerful voice to the oldest operating church in Orange County. A veritable holy grail of sound, the concert will feature Batalla performing selections from Cohen’s great songbook as she pays homage to the late icon.

Batalla is among the few performing artists whose emotional power is equal to her magnificent voice. Her extraordinary vocals and culture-merging compositions have garnered worldwide critical acclaim, leading to seven solo albums and performances in some of the world’s most prestigious venues. Known for her tone, depth of emotion, and sublime expressiveness, her transcendent voice is a natural conduit for Cohen’s exquisite work, and the songstress will perform in English and Spanish accompanied by a pianist.

About Perla Batalla
Perla was born in Los Angeles, California, to a family immersed in music. Her Mexican father was singer and radio personality, and her Argentine mother ran a bustling record store called Discoteca Batalla. At the family record shop, literally at her Mother’s knee, Perla was exposed to an education of non-stop music that cut across genre and language. While her far-ranging influences are reflected in the eclectic choices of songs she writes, arranges and performs today, it is that voice that brings each song to a new light. She is the recipient of the United Nation’s Earth Charter Award for “extraordinary devotion to social and economic justice” and the Premio Fronterizo Award for “healing work in the world”.

Peace and Justice Film Series

View Preview Here

Peace & Justice Film Series: 13th. - From Slave to Criminal with One Amendment

Wednesday, February 22 at 7pm

Upper Room

This acclaimed documentary on the history of black incarceration in the United States has won numerous festival and critical awards and been nominated for many others, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary of 2016. Selma DuVernay (Selma) makes the argument that the 13th Amendment, in abolishing slavery, created at the same time a loophole to replace slavery with the mass incarceration of Black Americans, a system that has continued evolving into the present.

The film was produced in secrecy and its existence made public only when its many accolades started rolling in.

"13th made me ashamed because it made me realize I'd stopped gasping. In its sweeping treatment of the history of American racism, the film brought me closer than I've ever been to understanding how it could be that so many people could have ever grown used to the moral catastrophes that were slavery and Jim Crow. How did they not wake up every morning, nauseated and panicked about what was happening? The same way people like me wake up in 2016 and take it as a given that there are 2.3 million people living in cages, a third of them black" (Leon Neyfakh, Slate).

Contact Biff Baker for more information at biff@aleks.com 

Find out more here.

Highlights from An Amazing Experience with AMOS Health and Hope in Cumaica Norte, Nicaragua

June 23-July 3, 2016

• Amazing Rain - lots of Mud … but doable with the good boots
• Hiking long distances via muddy hillsides to 64 homes to survey water filter usage and make repairs
• Only 50% of the homes had or had ever had a filter and of those, only 50% were still functioning
• Needs for lots of education and determining why filter usage is low in this community
• We painted numbers onto the houses to make it easier for Catalino (health promoter( to do the census and track the families in the community
• Saw 50 children in our Health Stations Day - measured for height and weight and checked via a small blood test for anemia - 21 of the children still have low growth/weight levels and are anemic. 
• All given vitamins with iron and education of the need for nutrition and diet higher in iron
• VOICES program provided an opportunity for the teenage girls in the community to learn more about themselves and how they can gain confidence and self-esteem... led so well by Angela and Rosario Caseres
• Lots of fun activities for the children including photos and decorating of picture frames, music - learning and singing De colores, making of a handprint banner, beads/bracelets etc. etc.
• So, a wonderful strong team, did great work, and are so glad we went and are in partnership with AMOS.

For More information about the work of Amos Health and Hope visit:

http://www.amoshealth.org/