Episcopal Life Daily January 16, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - ERD extends deadline for ordering 2008 Lenten devotionals * TOP STORY - Pittsburgh's Duncan, Progressive Episcopalians react to Review Committee's certification * WORLD REPORT - NIGERIA: Anglican, Methodist leaders make pleas for anti-graft war * WORLD REPORT - SRI LANKA: Bishop deplores spiraling violence, recent political assassinations * SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS - Second Sunday After the Epiphany - Year A [RCL] * DAYBOOK - Thursday, January 17, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - Lent with Evelyn Underhill
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TOP STORIES
ERD extends deadline for ordering 2008 Lenten devotionals
[Episcopal Relief and Development] Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) has extended to January 22 the deadline for ordering the 2008 Lenten Devotional. Orders received on or by January 22 will be delivered before Ash Wednesday, February 6. Any orders placed after January 22 will be advised to use express shipping methods which will incur additional costs.
The 2008 Lenten Devotional is titled "Seeking to Serve: A Lenten Exploration of the Millennium Development Goals" and features illustrations and meditations on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) contributed by the Rev. Jay Sidebotham, rector of Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, Illinois. The devotional offers ways for parishioners to help achieve these life-saving goals.
To order Lenten Devotionals, call Episcopal Books and Resources at 1-800-903-5544 or visit ERD's website at http://www.er-d.org/lent.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_94001_ENG_HTM.htm
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Pittsburgh's Duncan, Progressive Episcopalians react to Review Committee's certification
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] After receiving word January 15 that the Episcopal Church's Title IV Review Committee had certified he has abandoned the communion of the church, Diocese of Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan denied the allegation.
Duncan offered a brief response to the news late on January15, saying, "Few bishops have been more loyal to the doctrine, discipline and worship of The Episcopal Church. I have not abandoned the Communion of this Church. I will continue to serve and minister as the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh."
Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh (PEP), whose members are committed to remaining in the Episcopal Church, said January 16 that it "sees reason for hope" in the Review Committee's certification.
"PEP believes that the canonical procedures set in motion by this decision will clarify issues of polity that have become confused in this diocese," the release said.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_93995_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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WORLD REPORT
NIGERIA: Anglican, Methodist leaders make pleas for anti-graft war http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_93970_ENG_HTM.htm
SRI LANKA: Bishop deplores spiraling violence, recent political assassinations http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_93991_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS
Second Sunday After the Epiphany - Year A [RCL] Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-12; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
By Katerina K. Whitley
[Sermons That Work] In both Testament lessons and in the gospel of this second Sunday in Epiphany we sense a strong line running through them, like a rope that pulls us up to the realization that God calls us. We surface to the light of Epiphany and pray that this light will assist us in understanding the meaning of our call.
In the Old Testament lesson, we sink ourselves into the stunning poetry and metaphors of Second Isaiah and the Second Servant Song. This part of Isaiah belongs to that critical time when the Babylonian exile was ending. The prophet is filled with hope for the redeemed Israel of God, the servant of the Holy One. He compares the nation that was unfaithful before the exile to the new nation that has learned its lesson and is redeemed by the grace of God and the faithfulness of God.
What is vividly manifest to us and to those who first heard these words is the conviction of the prophet that the ones who are called by God are known by him from the beginning of time. This is what the words "who has formed me in the womb to be his servant" mean. God, who knows no past or future, who lives in the eternal now, knows us before we are even formed and calls us to be his people. But even that is not enough, God reveals to the prophet. God calls his people to be more than servants - to be a light to the nations.
Full reflection: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_93977_ENG_HTM.htm
More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On Thursday, January 17, 2008, the Church calendar remembers Antony, Abbot in Egypt (251-356)
* Today in Scripture: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm * Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm * Today in History: On January 17, 1838, the first diocesan convention of the Episcopal Church in Florida was held in Tallahassee.
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CATALYST
"Lent with Evelyn Underhill" from Church Publishing, Inc., by G. P. Mellick Belshaw, 105 pages, paperback, c. 1990, 2004, $11
[Source: Church Publishing, Inc.] Half a century has passed since Evelyn Underhill's death, yet her devotional writings have endured as a beacon to those who seek a deeper understanding of the "interior life" in the mystical Christian tradition. The editor's personal discovery of Underhill's works when he was a young student at General Theological Seminary moved him to pursue an extensive knowledge of her writings. From these he has skillfully culled readings appropriate for every day of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Eve and broadly following liturgical themes. Now back in print, these selections were chosen with the purpose of deepening Lenten observance by allowing the reader to follow the thought of Underhill, from the "spiritual stocktaking" theme for Ash Wednesday to Easter Saturday's joyous anticipation of God's ultimate Gift.
To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, or call 800-903-5544 -- or visit your local Episcopal bookseller, http://www.episcopalbooksellers.org
More Catalyst: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/83842_ENG_HTM.htm