Episcopal Life Daily April 14, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - Faithful Democracy offers resources for participation in political process * TOP STORY - Faith-based action on climate change urged at Seattle HOPE conference * TOP STORY - Conference for Diocesan Executives meets in San Antonio * WORLD REPORT - KENYA: Church leaders urge unity government to stay together * FEATURE - What's on the menu? Closing the loop in the school lunchroom and garden * DAYBOOK - April 15, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - Monk Habits for Everyday People
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TOP STORIES
Faithful Democracy offers resources for participation in political process
Episcopal Church continues commitment begun as founding member
[Office of Government Relations] As political parties and campaigns strategically court the so-called "faith voters" and the Internal Revenue Service increasingly investigates churches both locally and nationally for political activity, some people may wonder what is the appropriate role for people of faith in this year's United States elections.
FaithfulDemocracy (http://faithfuldemocracy.org), a web-based project, hopes to help people discern the answer this question.
Faithful Democracy is launching a non-partisan, online clearinghouse of resources, both practical and theological, from national, faith-based organizations to educate and engage people of faith about the role they can and should play in the democratic process. The coalition's goal is to increase the number of informed faith-based voters participating in elections.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96448_ENG_HTM.htm
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Faith-based action on climate change urged at Seattle HOPE conference
By Jan Nunley
[Episcopal News Service] To get to St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Bellevue from downtown Seattle, you take one of Washington State's three new Green Highways designated to integrate transportation functionality and ecological sustainability.
It's an apt metaphor for the first-ever "Healing Our Planet Earth (HOPE): Singing a New Song of Hope" national conference, which brought nearly 300 Episcopalians and members of other denominations and faith traditions together on April 12 for a full day of worship, speakers, and workshops on global climate change and what churches can do to raise awareness and change behaviors.
Because of a labor dispute in progress the conference moved to St. Margaret's from its original location at the Hilton Seattle Airport and Conference Center. The meeting was co-sponsored by the Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Earth Ministry, a Seattle-based nonprofit that works to mobilize and educate faith communities on environmental issues.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96425_ENG_HTM.htm
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Conference for Diocesan Executives meets in San Antonio
[CODE] The Conference for Diocesan Executives (CODE) welcomed 77 participants representing 38 Episcopal Church dioceses and 1 Canadian diocese for its annual meeting April 8-11 in San Antonio, Texas. The conference opened with Eucharist at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in downtown San Antonio with Diocese of West Texas Bishop Gary Richard Lillibridge celebrating and preaching.
Plenary speakers included the Rev. Canon Chuck Robertson, canon to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, speaking about crisis management and challenges in the Episcopal Church; the Rev. Cynthia Barnes and the Rev. Marilyn Sanders, speaking to the work of the Nathan Network; Sally Johnson, vice president of risk management and education for the Church Pension Group, speaking about Safeguarding God's Children and People; and Kathleen Norris, poet and author.
The conference included 17 workshops on a variety of topics such as physical wellness, personnel, legal, transitions, and administrative matters -- all applicable to the life and work of diocesan executives/administrators. The Episcopal Church Foundation, the Episcopal Church Medical Trust and the Church Pension Group hosted daily breakfast meetings and updated the group on their activities. The Rev. Deacon Barbara Mraz served as chaplain.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_96428_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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WORLD REPORT
KENYA: Church leaders urge unity government to stay together http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_96449_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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FEATURES
What's on the menu?
Closing the loop in the school lunchroom and garden
By Phina Borgeson
[Episcopal Life] The link between the health of our planet and of ourselves comes into focus when we consider our food system. School lunches, school gardens and even school composting play an important part in that system for children at Episcopal schools.
When parent Rob Gaon approached the Rev. Jesse Vaughan, headmaster at St. Michael's Episcopal Day School in Carmichael, California, in the fall of 2005 with his dream of a school garden, he wasn't sure what the response would be. Gaon had started gardening when he moved to the Sacramento area a few years earlier and had fallen in love with the practice.
In the spring of 2006, Vaughan walked Gaon out to the space where he thought the garden should be, and the dream began to be realized.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81834_96446_ENG_HTM.htm
More Features: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78936_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On April 15, 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 April 15, 1888, Matthew Arnold, English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools, died suddenly of heart failure.
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CATALYST
"Monk Habits for Everyday People" from Baker Publishing Group, by Dennis Okholm, 144 pages, paperback, c. 2007, $12.99
[Source: Baker Publishing Group] When Dennis Okholm began exploring the roots of contemporary Benedictine monasticism, he quickly found that St. Benedict has as much to offer Protestants as he does Roman Catholics. In Monk Habits for Everyday People, Okholm -- a professor who was raised as a Pentecostal and a Baptist -- uses his profound experience with Benedictine spirituality to show how it can enrich the lives and prayer practices of Protestants.
Okholm unpacks the Rule of St. Benedict -- a practical guide for living the Christian faith and cultivating Christian virtue -- by reflecting on aspects of spirituality such as listening, poverty, obedience, humility, hospitality, stability, and balance. His insights are invaluable to contemporary Christians, who, Okholm observes, have become consumers of religion rather than cultivators of a spiritual life. Readers will emerge not only with the desire to use the habits of monks to enhance their discipleship but also with the tools to start them on the journey.
Candid and engaging, Monk Habits for Everyday People is a valuable guide for Protestants seeking an accessible introduction to this classical resource for spiritual growth.
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