Episcopal Life Online Newslink May 9, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - Middle East Peace addressed by ecumenical coalition in Washington * TOP STORY - Mother's Day focus of May 13 bulletin insert * WORLD REPORT - CANADA: Nothing to fear in talking to other faiths, says rabbi * SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year C [BCP]
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Middle East Peace addressed by ecumenical coalition in Washington
By Lucy Chumbley
[Episcopal News Service] Twenty Episcopalians from around the country joined an ecumenical coalition in Washington, D.C., May 6-8 to press for sustained diplomatic engagement by the Bush Administration to bring a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict and a negotiated resolution on the status of Jerusalem.
Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a coalition of 22 Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Catholic church bodies and organizations, held the conference for 150 attendees who participated in some 65 meetings with Members of Congress and key staff.
Before meeting with the law makers, the delegates worshiped together and attended "inside the beltway" briefings on related issues given by lobbyists, representatives of think tanks, academics and government officials.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_85784_ENG_HTM.htm
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Mother's Day focus of May 13 bulletin insert
Episcopal Life This Week bulletin inserts look at the beginnings of Mother's Day, as the event to honor all mothers will be observed nationwide on Sunday, May 13.
Bulletin inserts are available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_8852_ENG_HTM.htm
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CANADA: Nothing to fear in talking to other faiths, says rabbi http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_85785_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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SPRITUAL REFLECTION
Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year C [BCP] Acts 14:8-18 or Joel 2:21-27; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:22-22:5 or Acts 14:8-18; John 14:23-29 By Angela V. Askew, May 13, 2007
[Episcopal Life] We are poised today on the threshold of the Ascension, with Pentecost rising on the horizon. The reading from John's Gospel today reflects that. It is part of the long love-letter that scholars call Jesus' "Farewell Discourse" in which Jesus promises his friends that although the time has come for him to depart, he will send them the Holy Spirit to be their advocate and guide. In the structure of the Gospel this long love-letter is like a prelude to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, so it pushes us back before Easter; but in the structure of the church year it is the prelude to Ascension and Pentecost, so it pushes us forward to a place we haven't yet been. In either case, whether we are looking backwards or forwards, what matters is that Jesus is about to go away. Everything that his friends and disciples know of him and do in his Name will shortly be done in the absence of their beloved Rabbi, and in the quite different presence of God the Holy Spirit.
The readings play out this dialogue between presence and absence for us. The passage we have from John of Patmos, towards the end of Revelation, points us forward. It shows the end-time vision of what the completion and fulfillment of God's design for the human community will look like. He sees "a new heaven and a new earth," [Rev. 21:1] and then gives us a quick tour of the holy city, the new Jerusalem [Rev.21:10 - 22:5 ff.] Because of the victory of Christ the Paschal Lamb, the whole creation is renewed and transformed by the glory of God. Conspicuously absent from his short but detailed picture of the New Jerusalem in chapters 21 and 22 is the great Temple. "I saw no temple in this city," he says. God the Father and Christ the Lamb are the Temple in this end-time vision. Equally conspicuous is the absence of sunlight and moonlight, because God is himself the light of the inhabitants. And there is also the notable detail that the gates of the city-which, historically, served to defend inhabitants from enemies and evil-doers-now stand forever open. In the victory of Christ on the cross over the powers of evil, sin, and death, the new Jerusalem has no enemies to defend against.
Full reflection: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_85648_ENG_HTM.htm
More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm
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