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[ELD] Province VIII seeks lay representative for vacated Executive Council seat / Religion and viole


From "Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>
Date Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:26:16 -0500

Episcopal Life Daily January 24, 2008

Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.

Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Province VIII seeks lay representative for vacated Executive Council seat * TOP STORY - Religion and violence focus of Trinity Institute's theological conference * TOP STORY - ERD responds to emergencies in Indonesia and the Gaza Strip * DIOCESAN DIGEST - PITTSBURGH: St. Francis' parish leader departs church, leaves property * DIOCESAN DIGEST - TENNESSEE: Leaders of two parishes resign; remaining Episcopalians continue services * WORLD REPORT - SRI LANKA: Peace, aid groups deplore being portrayed as rebel agents * TEACHING - Margaret Guenther to offer 6th Annual Lecture in Christian Spirituality at General Seminary * SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS - Third Sunday After the Epiphany - Year A [RCL] * DAYBOOK - January 25, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - Belonging

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TOP STORIES

Province VIII seeks lay representative for vacated Executive Council seat

By Pat McCaughan

[Episcopal News Service] The Province VIII executive committee is seeking nominations for a lay representative to the national Executive Council to fulfill a vacated position.

The Rev. Jack Eastwood, Province. VIII president, said that a decision was made to vacate the seat held by Ted Yumoto of the Fresno, California-based Diocese of San Joaquin after Yumoto told them he "had voted to amend canons and the constitution of the diocese" to realign with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.

Eastwood said he was appreciative of Yumoto's "stable and consistent" leadership to Province VIII and the church over the years. But, the provincial leadership "agreed that we need to have a representative who is professing to be a member of the Episcopal Church and not some other loyalty," Eastwood said January 24.

"I'm really very sorry this is happening," said Eastwood, the retired rector of St. Paul's, Oakland. "But, we felt we needed to take this action for the province and the responsibility to represent it on Executive Council, we felt we needed to move forward on this."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_94249_ENG_HTM.htm

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Religion and violence focus of Trinity Institute's theological conference

Interfaith dialogue explores conflict from three Abrahamic viewpoints

By Daphne Mack and Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Four speakers, along with participants at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City and around the world, have spent two and a half days considering the relationship between religion and violence.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori opened Trinity Institute's 38th National Theological Conference, titled "Religion & Violence: Untangling the Roots of Conflict, An Interfaith Dialogue," as the preacher on January 21 at an interfaith Evensong. Links to her sermon and the entire service are available at http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/calendar/index.php?event_id=41552.

The program was designed to consider how the three Abrahamic traditions -- Christianity, Islam and Judaism -- become entangled with violence and discern "the resources within the traditions for living together in peace, without losing our unique identities," according to the institute's website. Participants spent time after each address in small theological reflection groups. Those who were not at Trinity viewed the presentations via video downlinks at 64 sites around the United States and the world.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_94248_ENG_HTM.htm

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ERD responds to emergencies in Indonesia and the Gaza Strip

[ERD] Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is providing emergency assistance to communities in Indonesia affected by landslides and floods that have killed at least 120 people and left tens of thousands homeless. Heavy rains that began in mid-December inundated the main island of Java causing mudslides and rivers to overflow in Central and East Java.

At least 60,000 people are in temporary shelters in the region. Flood waters have left thousands of others marooned in their destroyed villages, surrounded by 20 to 30 foot high walls of packed mud, unable to seek shelter. Thousands of acres of paddy fields are completely submerged. Most areas are still without electricity and there is a limited supply of clean water. While flooding is common during the rainy season, many people are blaming deforestation for what officials are calling "the worst flooding in a generation."

ERD's partner in Indonesia, Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, has been responding to the most severely affected areas since December 26. ACT is providing bedding, clothing, water and baby kits. A mobile clinic was also organized to attend to the wounded and others needing medical care.

In the Gaza Strip, ERD is providing emergency assistance to Ahli Arab Hospital, which has been severely impacted after the closing of Gaza's borders on January 17 created fuel shortages throughout the territory, resulting in the closing of Gaza's main power plant. The blockade was eased this week to allow for emergency fuel shipments.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_94229_ENG_HTM.htm

More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife

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DIOCESAN DIGEST

PITTSBURGH: St. Francis' parish leader departs church, leaves property http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_94247_ENG_HTM.htm

TENNESSEE: Leaders of two parishes resign; remaining Episcopalians continue services http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_94231_ENG_HTM.htm

More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm

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WORLD REPORT

SRI LANKA: Peace, aid groups deplore being portrayed as rebel agents http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_94232_ENG_HTM.htm

More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm

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TEACHING

Margaret Guenther to offer 6th Annual Lecture in Christian Spirituality at General Seminary

[Episcopal News Service] The Rev. Dr. Margaret Guenther, former director of the Center for Christian Spirituality at General Theological Seminary (GTS) in New York City, will deliver the Center's 6th Annual Lecture in Christian Spirituality, titled, "The Cure of Souls: The Place of Spiritual Direction in Theological Education."

This lecture will be presented on Tuesday, February 19 at 8 p.m. in Seabury Auditorium at the Seminary, 175 Ninth Avenue, New York City. Reservations are required by email at ccs@gts.edu or by phone at 212-243-5150 x269 or toll-free 888-487-5649 x269. The cost is $30.

"In the past few decades, the ancient ministry of spiritual guidance has enjoyed a renaissance. While it is traditionally seen as a prayerful relationship between seeker and guide, the scope of this mindful holy speaking and listening extends to and is contextualized fundamentally by Christian community," said a GTS release announcing the lecture. "What, then, is the role of the seminary in the formation and nurture of our holy listeners? How does theological education benefit the ministry of spiritual direction? How does spiritual direction benefit the educational and formational mission of seminaries? These are questions which the 2008 Annual Lecture will seek to address."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_94228_ENG_HTM.htm

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SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS

Third Sunday After the Epiphany - Year A [RCL] Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1, 5-13; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23

By Charles Hoffacker

[Sermons That Work] The Bible is full of beginnings; not only the universal one, when God speaks into existence the components of a magnificent cosmos, but other beginnings as well. Thus the human race begins with Adam and Eve, and begins again after the flood with Noah and his family. In old age, Abraham answers the invitation of God to go away from home and begin anew.

The Bible presents us with beginnings over and over again, until at the end a holy city comes down from heaven to earth, and its name is not Jerusalem, but New Jerusalem, for it is a place to begin, the start of what will be forever new. Some of the beginnings in the Bible are known as call stories. A call story recounts how somebody was invited by God to begin something new and unexpected. God calls this person to begin, and not only to begin, but - and here's the hard part -- to persist, to persist so that another beginning can take place.

One day Andrew and Simon, James and John get up when the sky is still dark, walk down to the sea, and hurl nets into the water, anticipating a catch of fish. It is a day like so many other days. Nothing special. These men have engaged in this same routine hundreds of times before. This is what they do, for they are fishermen. Amid familiar water and nets and fresh fish, rough wood of boats, rhythmic motion of waves, in the midst of this familiarity, for these four men, a beginning takes place.

Full reflection: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_94205_ENG_HTM.htm

More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm

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DAYBOOK

On January 25, 2008, the Church calendar remembers the Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle.

* 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 25, 1841, John Henry Newman published Tract 90 (in a series begun in 1833), an argument for a catholic interpretation of the Thirty-Nine Articles.

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CATALYST

"Belonging" from Church Publishing, Inc., by Lucinda Mosher, 186 pages, paperback, c. 2005, $15

[Source: Church Publishing, Inc.] Faith in the Neighborhood explores what it means to live and worship among the many faiths unique to America's neighborhoods. Each book in the series iluminates the questions Christians have about other faiths -- Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Baha'i, Zoroastrianism, Afro-Caribbean religions, Native-American religions, Confucianism, and Shinto.

Different faiths have different ideals of community, and different kinds of rules. In Belonging Lucinda Mosher explores the vocabulary of America many religions, the theologies and rituals that create a sense of belonging, and how these religions handle life's stages--welcoming babies, rites of passage for adolescents, initiation, and conversion.

Interwoven with interivews and personal stories, Belonging is intended for interfaith education of all kinds. A quick guide to each religion, a glossary, and recommended reading are included.

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


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