NewsLink, Serving the Episcopal Church
Daybook -- Today is Tuesday, January 23, 2007, in Epiphany. The Church calendar remembers Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts (1835-1893).
* Today in Scripture: Daily Office meditation: http://www.forwardmovement.org/todaysreading.cfm * Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm * Today in History: On this day in 1870, the Parish of the Good Samaritan in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, was formally organized. http://www.motherflash.com/goodsamaritan/samhist.html
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Diocesan Digest
ALASKA: Rector conveys parish's forgiveness to man who destroyed church building http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_81401_ENG_HTM.htm
CONNECTICUT: Ex-choir director pleads guilty to possessing child porn http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_81402_ENG_HTM.htm
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Teaching: Celebration of Black alumni at Virginia Theological Seminary
[ENS] Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS) will begin Black History Month with a celebration of the Holy Eucharist on February 2 at 7:15 p.m. in the seminary chapel that will honor the ministry of Black alumni/ae of both VTS and the Bishop Payne Divinity School.
"Through VTS's Racial and Ethnic Diversity Initiative, we celebrate the contributions of all black graduates of the Seminary and of the Bishop Payne Divinity School," said the Rev. Joseph Murrenz Constant, assistant for admissions and community life at VTS.
Bishop Payne Divinity School, named for the Rt. Rev. John Payne, an 1836 graduate of VTS and the first Missionary Bishop to Liberia, was founded in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1878 to prepare Black people for ministry in the Episcopal Church. When the school closed in 1949, VTS inherited its records and its heritage. Today, the Bishop Payne Library keeps the school's memory and heritage alive.
The celebrant will be the Rev. Dr. Lloyd A. Lewis, a 1972 graduate of VTS, and the Molly Laird Downs professor of New Testament at the seminary. The Rev. Allen F. Robinson, rector of St. James' Episcopal Church at Lafayette Square, Baltimore, Maryland, will preach.
"While, unofficially, this initiative has occurred for many years by the very presence and hard work of black students of Bishop Payne Divinity School and Virginia Seminary," said Constant, "it is important to officially celebrate the work and ministry of our black alumni/ae and give God thanks for their contributions in making us a stronger and more vibrant community today."
Music for the celebration will be provided by area choirs. A reception will follow the service.
For more information call Constant at 703-370-6600 / 800-941-0083 or email jconstant@vts.edu.
VTS, one of 11 accredited Episcopal seminaries in the United States, enrolls students from every domestic province of the Episcopal Church, as well as countries in Africa, South and Central America, Asia, and Europe.
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Catalyst: "In the Company of Christ: A Pilgrimage Through Holy Week" from Church Publishing, Inc., by Benedicta Ward, 84 pages, paperback, c. 2005, $12
[Source: Church Publishing, Inc.] -- With In the Company Christ, Sister Benedicta Ward, Carmelite nun and church historian, guides us through the history of Christian procession. Through the practice of pilgrimage we live the resurrection, and join a wide Christian community. Pilgrimage is a way into the eternal Jerusalem, a way into the Gospel. Over centuries of practice, the rituals and traditions of pilgrimage have evolved.
Using the Holy Days of Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter as her signposts, Sr. Ward takes us through time. Among our stops is ancient Palestine, where we explore the writings of the 4th Spanish nun, Egeria. Leaving Jerusalem, we cross time and arrive in the rituals of medieval English monasticism. Finally, we end where we began, with a journey into the Trinity.
By taking part in this historical procession, we find a clear line of continuity between ancient and medieval times, and our own modernity. In the Company of Christ is a journey for an individual or for a parish, to be taken during Lent or any time of the church year.
Benedicta Ward is a well-known English author and "reader" (at Oxford) on the early Church. Her writings have bridged the genres of academic and spiritual resources. She is the author of The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks, and numerous books on Bede, including The Venerable Bede (Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series), and The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers.
To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at http://www.episcopalbookstore.org or call 800-903-5544.
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