2 Churches to Celebrate Accord

Marking the start of a historic “full communion” accord between their two denominations, Southern California bishops of the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will lead joint services Sunday in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

The services come a week before the presiding bishops of the two mainline Protestant denominations--which have a total of 7.5 million members--mark the agreement during ceremonies at the National Cathedral in Washington.

The cathedral is the seat of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and of that church’s presiding bishop.

The agreement, known as “Called to Common Mission,” allows Evangelical Lutherans and Episcopalians to receive Communion in each other’s parishes, allows a congregation to call either an Episcopal priest or a Lutheran minister as its pastor, and opens the door to joint urban and rural ministries, such as hospital, college and prison chaplaincies.

The agreement is not a merger. Both denominations will maintain their separate identities and organizations.

Locally, a service will be held Sunday at 10 a.m. at St. Edmund’s Episcopal Church, 1175 San Gabriel Blvd., San Marino. That will be followed by a procession to nearby Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church at 6868 N. San Gabriel Blvd., San Gabriel, where the Holy Eucharist will be celebrated.

Leading the San Marino service will be Bishop Paul Egertson of the Glendale-based Southern California West Synod of the Lutheran church, with the Rt. Rev. Frederick H. Borsch, bishop of the six-county Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, who will preach, and the Rt. Rev. Chester L. Talton, bishop suffragan (assistant) of the Episcopal Diocese.

Further information may be obtained by phoning St. Edmund’s Church at (626) 793-9167.

In Orange County, Bishop Murray Finck of the Lutheran church’s Yorba Linda-based Pacifica Synod and the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, bishop coadjutor of the Los Angeles Episcopal diocese, will conduct a service at 10:30 a.m. at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church, inside the Leisure World Retirement Community, which is just off Seal Beach Boulevard near the 605 Freeway.

Members of Seal Beach’s St. Theodore of Canterbury Episcopal Church will share in the service, which will be followed by a reception.

Further information is available at St. Theodore’s Church, (562) 430-8619.

EVENTS

Rivka and Ben-Zion Dorfman will lecture on what remains of synagogue art and architecture in Italy, Austria, the Czech and Slovak republics, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia and Greece in “Synagogues Without Jews” on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. $8, $6 members. (310) 440-4500.

Author Wilkie Au will talk about the middle years when people yearn to abandon the trivial, create a better self and begin delving into life’s ultimate questions next Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Road, Encino. Information: (818) 784-4515. A centering prayer support group will meet on Tuesdays, Jan. 2, 16, 30 and on Thursdays, Jan. 11 and 25, all from 7 to 9 p.m. at the center.

The La Crescenta Church of Religious Science will begin an informal midweek meditation service Wednesday from 7 to 8 p.m. at 4845 Dunsmore Ave., La Crescenta. (818) 249-1045. Free.

A lecture on Buddhist insight and meditation will be given by B. Alan Wallace, author of “Choosing Reality: A Buddhist View of Physics and the Mind” and “The Bridge of Quiescence: Experiencing Tibetan Buddhist Mediation” on Jan. 7 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Angeles. $15. (323) 663-2167.

“What’s Happening in Israel,” the view of the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, sponsored by the Ezra Center for Mature Adults, will be presented Tuesday at 9:45 a.m. at Temple Ner Tamid, 10629 Lakewood Blvd., Downey. Kosher lunch $5 for members, $6 for guests. (562) 861-9276.

The New Year will be ushered in with a 6 p.m. worship service followed by a party and then Holy Communion at midnight at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 9440 Balboa Blvd., Northridge. Free.

A meditative healing service will be held Friday at 7 p.m. at Leo Baeck Temple, 1300 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Family, friends and caregivers are welcome. Free.

OF NOTE

Culver-Palms United Methodist Church, 4464 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, has been named one of America’s outstanding Protestant churches in a nationwide survey by the University of North Carolina’s Parish/Congregation Study.

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