Episcopal Life Daily April 9, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - Iraq Action Days to advocate for victims of forcible displacement * TOP STORY - April 20 bulletin inserts focus on eco-justice, offer resources for Earth Day * TOP STORY - Archbishop of Canterbury condemns recent violence against lesbian and gay Christians * WORLD REPORT - BRAZIL: Bishops protest Southern Cone archbishop's unauthorized visit, violation of Windsor Report * WORLD REPORT - RWANDA: Christians use water project to reconcile with Muslims * WORLD REPORT - SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zimbabwe's Mugabe can save himself by stepping down, says Tutu * PEOPLE - Eugene Sutton sees historic Maryland election as mandate for reconciliation, advocacy * SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year A [RCL] * DAYBOOK - April 10, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - From Literal to Literary: The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Metaphors, Second Edition
_____________________
TOP STORIES
Iraq Action Days to advocate for victims of forcible displacement
By staff
[Episcopal News Service] Continuing its support for Iraqi refugees, the Episcopal Church will join 20 human rights organizations April 14-16 in sponsoring three days of advocacy on behalf of the more than four million victims of forcible displacement caused by the ongoing war in Iraq.
The advocacy initiative Iraq Action Days (http://www.IraqActionDays.org) will be launched on April 14 with a forum at George Washington University under the auspices of the Institute for Middle East Studies. On the following two days, visits to Congressional offices will be arranged to urge representatives to take action on behalf of Iraqi refugees.
"It is a sense of urgency about the plight of these victims of the protracted Iraqi conflict that has prompted this outpouring of advocacy to press Congress to respond to this staggering humanitarian crisis," said Maureen Shea, director of government relations for the Episcopal Church. "The sponsors are seriously concerned about the failure of the U.S. government to resettle on an urgent basis a significant number of vulnerable Iraqi refugees. There is also a growing awareness that the limited response by the U.S. and coalition partners to the humanitarian burden being assumed by neighboring countries hosting thousands of Iraqi refugees places the entire region in jeopardy and increases the suffering of the refugees."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96372_ENG_HTM.htm
- - - - -
April 20 bulletin inserts focus on eco-justice, offer resources for Earth Day
[Episcopal News Service] Bulletin inserts for April 20 focus on the connection between global warming and global poverty and offer resources for Earth Day (April 22), including information about the National Council of Churches eco-justice program.
Bulletin inserts are available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/95270_ENG_HTM.htm.
- - - - -
Archbishop of Canterbury condemns recent violence against lesbian and gay Christians
[Episcopal News Service] Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has described the recent violence and threats towards "Christians involved in the debate on human sexuality" as "disgraceful."
Responding to a press release from Changing Attitude England announcing that gay leaders of the organization's Nigeria branch were seriously assaulted, Williams said: "The Anglican Communion has repeatedly, through the Lambeth Conference and the statements from its Primates' meetings, unequivocally condemned violence and the threat of violence against gay and lesbian people. I hope that this latest round of unchristian bullying will likewise be universally condemned."
The Rev. Colin Coward, director of Changing Attitude England, who has also received death threats, said in an April 8 press statement: "The Anglican Communion has been in turmoil for 10 years since the 1998 Lambeth Conference passed a very negative resolution about homosexuality. The conflict in the church has intensified since then, with many bishops and other leaders making highly judgmental and often abusive comments and pronouncements about LGBT Anglicans.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96365_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
_____________________
WORLD REPORT
BRAZIL: Bishops protest Southern Cone archbishop's unauthorized visit, violation of Windsor Report http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_96366_ENG_HTM.htm
RWANDA: Christians use water project to reconcile with Muslims http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_96369_ENG_HTM.htm
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zimbabwe's Mugabe can save himself by stepping down, says Tutu http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_96371_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
PEOPLE
Eugene Sutton sees historic Maryland election as mandate for reconciliation, advocacy
By Val Hymes
[Episcopal News Service] When the Rev. Eugene T. Sutton, canon pastor of the Washington National Cathedral, was elected diocesan bishop of Maryland March 29, it was on the first ballot -- only the second time that has happened in the diocese's 227-year history.
The first was for the Rt. Rev. Thomas John Claggett, the first bishop consecrated on American soil -- and an owner of slaves while rector of a Maryland church. The first American census two years earlier showed that the overwhelming majority of clergy and lay delegates to the convention of the Diocese of Maryland owned slaves.
Bishop-elect Sutton, 54, a native of Washington, D.C., is the first African American to be elected bishop of Maryland. The election was held in St. James' Parish, Baltimore, which in 1824 became the first African-American parish established south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_96329_ENG_HTM.htm
More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS
Fourth Sunday of Easter - Year A [RCL]
Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10
By Kirk Alan Kubicek
[Sermons That Work] This Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. In all three lectionary years - A, B, and C - we read the Good Shepherd monologue from the tenth chapter of John. It is a complicated passage, in that Jesus identifies himself as being the Good Shepherd, the Gatekeeper, and even the Gate to the sheep-fold.
And it would be the assertion of this gospel that Jesus was the logos or "God's word" made flesh to dwell among us; and so it could be argued, and indeed should be, that Jesus knew as much about being one of the sheep of God's pasture as anyone among us.
Understanding this passage is made even more difficult by chopping the tenth chapter of John into three pieces, to be read on three different years.
Full reflection: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82478_96303_ENG_HTM.htm
More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
DAYBOOK
On April 9...
* 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 April 9, 1905, Joseph Fletcher was born in Newark, New Jersey. Fletcher was an Episcopal priest who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics.
_____________________
CATALYST
"From Literal to Literary: The Essential Reference Book for Biblical Metaphors, Second Edition" from The Pilgrim Press, by James Rowe Adams, 387 pages, paperback, c. 2008, $25
[Source: The Pilgrim Press] The newly updated second edition of this professional reference tool examines over 165 biblical metaphors -- 15 of which are new -- and includes an index to Hebrew and Greek words, an index of Bible citations, and a pronunciation guide for translitereated Hebrew and Greek words. This resource will be useful for sermon preparation and Christian education, especially adult Bible study groups.
"An exceptionally fine book that midwives the movement from the narrowness fo biblical literalism to the expansiveness of biblical literacy--a very relevant resource for recovering the rich resonances of the biblical and Christian language." -- Marcus J. Borg
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