Episcopal Life Daily February 15, 2008
[Editor's note: Episcopal Life Daily will observe the Presidents' Day holiday on February 18. Regular service will resume on Tuesday, February 19. Episcopal Life Weekly bulletin inserts for February 24 will be posted at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_8852_ENG_HTM.htm on February 19.]
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - Five primates announce Lambeth Conference boycott * TOP STORY - Illinois parish offers support, resources following university shootings * WORLD REPORT - CANADA: Vancouver church votes to align with Southern Cone * TEACHING - New Saturday learning opportunities at General Seminary announced * OPINION - Weighing preaching value: Snazzy sermons shouldn't be primary factor in hiring a rector * ARTS - iPod meditations accompany pilgrims along Stations of the Cross * DAYBOOK - February 18, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - The Other Mozart
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TOP STORIES
Five primates announce Lambeth Conference boycott
Presiding Bishop says 'gathering will be diminished by their absence'
By Matthew Davies
[Episcopal News Service] Five Anglican Primates, four from Africa and one from south America, have publicized their intentions to boycott the 2008 Lambeth Conference in a letter responding to a group of English bishops who had urged them to attend the once-a-decade gathering.
Archbishops Peter Akinola of Nigeria, Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, Henry Orombi of Uganda, and Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone -- who make up five of the 38 Anglican Primates -- told the 21 English bishops that they would not attend Lambeth in protest to the invitations extended by the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Episcopal Church's bishops. Akinola, Kolini and Orombi had all previously announced that they intended to boycott the conference.
Neva Rae Fox, the Episcopal Church's public affairs officer, noted that Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is saddened by the primates' decision not to attend Lambeth.
"The gathering will be diminished by their absence, and I imagine that they themselves will miss a gift they might have otherwise received," the Presiding Bishop said. "None of us is called to 'feel at home' except in the full and immediate presence of God. It is our searching, especially with those we find most 'other,' that is likely to lead us into the fuller experience of the body of Christ. Fear of the other is an invitation to seek the face of God, not a threat to be avoided."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_94975_ENG_HTM.htm
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Illinois parish offers support, resources following university shootings
By Joe Bjordal
[Episcopal News Service] St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Dekalb, Illinois, is located only three blocks from the Campus of Northern Illinois University, the site of a shooting rampage on February 14 that has left six people dead and many others wounded. The congregation and its rector, the Rev. Mark Geisler, are now involved in offering a variety of resources to help a shocked and grieving university community cope with the tragedy.
Geisler was driving back to DeKalb February 14 when he heard news that a gunman had opened fire in Cole Hall on the university campus. He immediately called his wife, Varsie, who works at the University. Finding her to be safe he then began to contact his colleagues in the United Campus Ministry, a joint effort of the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ, of which he is president of the Board of Directors.
Geisler soon found himself in Neptune Hall, a dormitory adjacent to the site of the shootings, offering counseling and support to students, along with other clergy and professional counselors.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_94967_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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WORLD REPORT
CANADA: Vancouver church votes to align with Southern Cone http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_94959_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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TEACHING
New Saturday learning opportunities at General Seminary announced
[Episcopal News Service] General Theologocal Seminary (GTS) in the heart of Manhattan will be offering three continuing education courses in March and April. These one-day classes are available for CEUs. They are:
"The Spiritualities of Vestries & Congregational Leaders" with the Rev. Dr. David Keller, Saturday, March 1.
"Spiritual Scrapbooking" with Sharon Sheridan, Saturday, March 29.
"The Islamic Jesus and His Blessed Mother" with Dr. Lucinda Mosher, Saturday, April 26.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_94965_ENG_HTM.htm
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OPINION
Weighing preaching value
Snazzy sermons shouldn't be primary factor in hiring a rector
By Edwin Cox
[Episcopal Life] Episcopal Life gave hearty approval last year to Paul Tait's idea of having priests try their hand at becoming video preachers. His suggestion was to be an aide in the search process. That process is expensive, and I don't know of a single vestry that sets aside a fund for their next search, so all the cost hits at once.
However, while we need to be concerned about money in the search process, I hope we will not forget about that so very necessary human element.
Less than 15 years ago, parish search committees were looking for a priest to be their rector -- the person who seemed best to lead and care for the parish (the people, the property and the town). Preaching was an important part of the mix, but it certainly was not the first priority in many, or even most, parish searches.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_94977_ENG_HTM.htm
More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm
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ARTS
iPod meditations accompany pilgrims along Stations of the Cross
By Jerry Hames
[Episcopal News Service] North Carolina sculptor Alex Hallmark and an Episcopal church in Maryland have combined their talents to create an outdoor spiritual pathway in the rolling hills of Monkton, north of Baltimore, in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
Debra Donnelly-Barton, director of the Center for Spiritual Development at St. James Episcopal Church, together with Hallmark, will inaugurate his creation of the Stations of the Cross with her iPod meditations at the church on March 8 at 9 a.m.
It was Julia Fleming's article on Hallmark in last September's issue of Episcopal Life and republished on the publication's website that sparked an idea by the Rev. Charlie Barton, rector of the diocese's fifth largest parish, and led him to contact the sculptor.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_94969_ENG_HTM.htm
More Arts: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On February 18, 2008, the Church calendar remembers Martin Luther (1483-1546).
* 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 18, 1781, Henry Martyn, missionary and Bible translator in India, was born in Truro, Cornwall, England.
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CATALYST
"The Other Mozart" from Harry N. Abrams, Inc., by Hugh Brewster, illustrated by Eric Velasquez, 48 pages, hardcover, c. 2007, $18.95
[Source: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.] Joseph Bologne was one of the most famous men in eighteenth-century France. The son of a slave and a French nobleman in Guadaloupe, the ambitious Joseph moved to Paris, where he was christened the Chevalier de Saint-George. During his extraordinary life, he conquered every limitation by becoming a champion swordsman, violin virtuoso, composer, and military commander in the French Revolution. From the plantations of the West Indies to the palace at Versailles, The Other Mozart details the true story of a remarkable man. Illustrated by original paintings and archival materials, the Chevalier de Saint-George's inspiring and affirming story lives on.
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