Episcopal Life Daily February 6, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - Covenant Design Group issues communiqué and second draft * DIOCESAN DIGEST - SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: Cathedral construction plans expand * DIOCESAN DIGEST - SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: 'Believe in a Miracle' to welcome 700 women for day of renewal * WORLD REPORT - KENYA: Church leaders lament their lack of unity in political crisis * WORLD REPORT - SRI LANKA: Bishops repeat call for 'peace zone' after terror attack * MISSION - Eco-Palm Project makes environmental, social justice part of Palm Sunday celebrations * TEACHING - Epiphany West conference at CDSP furthers interfaith dialogue * TEACHING - Seabury-Western panel discussion to explore 'Who May Be Invited to the Table?' * TEACHING - Sewanee's School of Theology to celebrate Absalom Jones Feast Day February 13 * SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS - First Sunday in Lent - Year A [RCL] * DAYBOOK - February 7, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - Faith in Their Own Color
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TOP STORIES
Covenant Design Group issues communiqué and second draft
[Episcopal News Service] The Covenant Design Group, which held its second meeting January 28-February 2 under the chairmanship of Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, has developed the second draft for an Anglican covenant.
The St. Andrew's Draft, named for the location of the Anglican Communion Office where the meeting was held, is available at http://www.aco.org/commission/covenant/index.cfm.
The current draft will now be offered for reflection in the Communion at large, and in particular by the Lambeth Conference of bishops, which will meet July 16-August 3 in Canterbury, England.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_94607_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: Cathedral construction plans expand http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_94614_ENG_HTM.htm
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA: 'Believe in a Miracle' to welcome 700 women for day of renewal http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_94617_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
KENYA: Church leaders lament their lack of unity in political crisis http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_94640_ENG_HTM.htm
SRI LANKA: Bishops repeat call for 'peace zone' after terror attack http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_94620_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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MISSION
Eco-Palm Project makes environmental, social justice part of Palm Sunday celebrations
[Episcopal News Service] Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem, accented by the jubilant waving of palm fronds, is re-enacted each Palm Sunday in Christian congregations worldwide as the observance of Holy Week begins.
More than 300 million palm fronds are harvested each year for U.S. consumption alone, most of them for Palm Sunday. Unfortunately, for the communities where these palms are harvested, palm fronds do not always represent the same jubilation.
The Episcopal Church is joining Lutheran World Relief, Catholic Relief Services' (CRS) Fair Trade Program and the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Enough for Everyone Program to promote the use of sustainably harvested eco-palms for Palm Sunday 2008. By purchasing eco-palms for Palm Sunday celebrations, Episcopal congregations can play an important role in protecting forests, local jobs, and sustainable livelihoods in the harvesting communities.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_94612_ENG_HTM.htm
More Mission: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_ENG_HTM.htm
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TEACHING
Epiphany West conference at CDSP furthers interfaith dialogue
[CDSP] From the religious traditions of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, interfaith dialogue flourished at the Epiphany West Interfaith Conference 2008: "Sacred Text as Window -- Seeing one's self through the eyes of another." Conference classes and presentations were held January 28?February 1 on the campus of Church Divinity School of the Pacific (http://cdsp.edu) (CDSP), in Berkeley, California.
"Our presenters this year took inter-religious dialogue to a new level of engagement, enabling us to meet one another through our sacred texts, and allowing our own identities to be challenged and stretched," said David Gortner, director of CDSP's Center for Anglican Learning and Leadership.
"Seeing one's self is the most transformative element in reading texts of other traditions. This requires intellectual humility and the acknowledgement of the possibility of divine inspiration outside our own religion," said Peter Phan, Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought in the Theology Department of Georgetown University, Washington D.C. "We must also guard against looking through the window and seeing only similarities. The glass of our windows so far has been essentially Christian-tinted." One of four featured presenters, Phan challenged the audience with the topic, "Can We Read Religious Texts Inter-religiously?"
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_94637_ENG_HTM.htm
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Seabury-Western panel discussion to explore 'Who May Be Invited to the Table?'
[Seabury-Western] Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, will host a February 13 panel discussion asking the question "Who May Be Invited to the Table?"
During the 7:30-9 p.m. discussion in the Seabury Lounge, panelists will address the growing trend of Episcopal congregations inviting anyone present at the Eucharist -- whether or not baptized -- to receive communion, despite a canon stipulating that only those who are baptized shall be eligible to receive the sacrament. Panelists will explore this question from various perspectives -- biblical, historical, theological, liturgical, and pastoral.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_94619_ENG_HTM.htm
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Sewanee's School of Theology to celebrate Absalom Jones Feast Day February 13
[Sewanee] In celebration of Black History Month, Sewanee's School of Theology will welcome the Rt. Rev. Arthur B. Williams Jr., assisting bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio, as guest preacher for a February 13 Eucharist service celebrating the life and ministry of the Rev. Absalom Jones, the first African-American priest ordained in the Episcopal Church.
The service will commence at 11 a.m. in the School's Chapel of the Apostles. During Black History Month, the Episcopal Church has designated February 13 as the feast day of Jones, a former slave who dedicated his life to serving the oppressed.
Before his retirement in 2002, Williams served as Ohio's bishop suffragan since 1986. He is the Episcopal Visitor to the Order of St. Benedict, a member of the House of Bishops Committee on Religious Communities and a faculty member of CREDO. Following his retirement, he was interim director of Ethnic Congregational Development for the Episcopal Church.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_94623_ENG_HTM.htm
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SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS
First Sunday in Lent - Year A [RCL]
Psalm 32; Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
By Susanna Metz
[Sermons That Work] "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," or "Save us from the time of trial, and deliver us from evil."
Whichever version of the Lord's Prayer you say, the request is the same: we ask God to be our strength and guide when we're faced with temptation and sin. In our Collect we just prayed: "Almighty God, come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save." The realities of temptation and sin are very apparent in each of our readings today.
In Genesis we have one of the most well-known, often quoted, and unfortunately usually misunderstood Old Testament stories. We've heard this since our Sunday school days. A serpent who is more crafty than any other wild animal, the passage says, tricks Eve into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ? and to add insult to injury, Eve gets Adam to take a bite of the apple too. And, oh my gosh, the result is that instead of dying, as God proclaimed would happen, all that happened was that Adam and Eve realized they were naked. Of course, we also know that they eventually got kicked out of Paradise. If only they had obeyed God, we would all still be living there and life would be perfect. It's all Eve's fault.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82478_94547_ENG_HTM.htm
More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On February 7, 2008,
* 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 February 7, 1478, Thomas More, chiefly remembered for his principled refusal to accept King Henry VIII's claim to be the supreme head of the Church of England, is born in London.
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CATALYST
"Faith in Their Own Color" from Columbia University Press, by Craig D. Townsend, 256 pages, hardcover, c. 2007, $47
[Source: Columbia University Press] On a September afternoon in 1853, three African American men from St. Philip's Church walked into the Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of New York and took their seats among five hundred wealthy and powerful white church leaders. Ultimately, and with great reluctance, the Convention had acceded to the men's request: official recognition for St. Philip's, the first African American Episcopal church in New York City. In Faith in Their Own Color, Craig D. Townsend tells the remarkable story of St. Philip's and its struggle to create an autonomous and independent church. His work unearths a forgotten chapter in the history of New York City and African Americans and sheds new light on the ways religious faith can both reinforce and overcome racial boundaries.
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