Episcopal Life Daily April 15, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - Anglican covenant conference draws international group, elicits varied viewpoints * TOP STORY - Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation launches Give It 4 Good campaign * TOP STORY - Episcopal Relief and Development Network Meeting: Rallying the Home Team * TOP STORY - National Council of Churches celebrates 100 years of ecumenical cooperation * DIOCESAN DIGEST - ARIZONA: Bishop, faith leaders urge end to crime sweeps targeting illegal immigrants * PEOPLE - Bill Slocumb to take to the road this summer to visit Episcopal camps * TEACHING - American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan to meet in Chicago * OPINION - Virginia Tech anniversary: Reflections on April 16, 2007 -- one year on * DAYBOOK - April 16, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - Acts for Everyone, Part One
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TOP STORIES
Anglican covenant conference draws international group, elicits varied viewpoints
New York's Desmond Tutu Center hosts April conference
By Jerry Hames and Daphne Mack
Participants at the recent "An Anglican Covenant: Divisive or Reconciling?" conference, held at the Desmond Tutu Center in New York City, gathered to discuss whether or not the Anglican Communion should adopt an official covenant.
Sponsored by the General Theological Seminary (GTS) and the seminaries of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada, the April 10-12 conference welcomed more than 100 participants and provided them an opportunity to ponder questions such as: Would an Anglican covenant clarify Anglican identity and strengthen mutual interdependence? Would it be a tool of exclusion and dominance? Is a covenant a biblical way forward, or would it impose a uniformity that is foreign to Anglicanism? Would a covenant assist or impede reconciliation among Anglicans?
The Rev. Dr. Titus L. Presler, professor of mission and world Christianity and sub-dean at GTS, said the gathering's purpose was not to advocate for a particular stance toward a covenant, but to encourage an open and informed discussion in which all views are welcome.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96471_ENG_HTM.htm
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Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation launches Give It 4 Good campaign
Initiative encourages 'choosing compassion over consumption'
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation (EGR) is suggesting that Americans who will receive economic stimulus checks from the U.S. government beginning in May should give all or part of the money to organizations working to alleviate global poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
The checks are being given in the hope that people will spend the money to bolster a stagnant U.S. economy.
"With a $9 trillion national debt, and a record and growing trade deficit undergirding a society that consumes goods far beyond its need, the call to consume more isn't just indefensible economically, but environmentally and morally," EGR said in a news release.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96465_ENG_HTM.htm
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Episcopal Relief and Development Network Meeting: Rallying the Home Team
[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal Relief and Development's Network of diocesan and seminarian coordinators met in Minneapolis for its annual conference at the Crowne Plaza North Star Hotel in downtown Minneapolis from April 10-13.
The 3,000-member Network is a dedicated group of volunteers who advocate, support, and promote Episcopal Relief and Development throughout Episcopal parishes, dioceses and seminaries around the country.
An address by ERD President Robert W. Radtke opened a full-day of seminars attended by seventy-eight diocesan coordinators from 74 dioceses and 12 seminarians from eight seminaries participated in the meeting which took place.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96488_ENG_HTM.htm
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National Council of Churches celebrates 100 years of ecumenical cooperation
[Episcopal News Service] National Council of Churches General Secretary Michael Kinnamon is calling on member communions to celebrate the organization's centennial anniversary in 2008 by commemorating ecumenical milestones of the last 100 years and key events in its collective history.
In an April 14 letter to NCC colleagues, Kinnamon says that a century after the Federal Council of Churches was formed in December 1908 "the event is worth celebrating" because of the ecumenical accomplishments of the past 100 years.
Kinnamon acknowledges that the majority of NCC delegates historically have "favored immigration reform, labor reform, the abolition of child labor, improved conditions for the poor, and temperance. As a result, they were regularly accused of being socialists -- a worn-out canard that critics have not improved on in 100 years."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96464_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
ARIZONA: Bishop, faith leaders urge end to crime sweeps targeting illegal immigrants http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_96476_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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PEOPLE
Bill Slocumb to take to the road this summer to visit Episcopal camps
[Episcopal News Service] This summer, Bill Slocumb will hop in his KIA 2003 Rio Cinco and start a trek that will take him to some 25 Episcopal Church camps and conference centers in Provinces I, II, IV and V.
Slocumb, 26, is director of member services for Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers (ECCC), an organization that offers advocacy, support and resources for camp facilities in dioceses across the Episcopal Church. His 10,000-mile journey this summer, which will begin May 25 and end in mid-August, is part of ECCC's "Face to Face" campaign to get better acquainted with the 90 or so diocesan facilities and programs and encourage their directors to participate in the group's annual meeting, which will take place January 10-15, 2009 in Mississippi.
As ECCC's only paid employee, Slocumb describes his job as "accounting, bookkeeping, communications, webmaster and just about everything else" that the organization needs to support its work. ECCC is based at Camp Stevens in Julian, California, where its executive director, Canon Peter Bergstrom, is director. Camp Stevens serves the dioceses of Los Angeles and San Diego.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_96480_ENG_HTM.htm
More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm
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TEACHING
American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan to meet in Chicago
[Episcopal News Service] The fourth annual conference of the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (AFRECS) is set for May 30-June 1 at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, Illinois.
This year's keynote speakers include Archbishop-elect Daniel Deng Bul of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and Bishop Paul Marshall of the Pennsylvania-based Diocese of Bethlehem, which has a companionship with the Diocese of Kajo Keji in Sudan.
While gathered for plenary sessions, panels, and special interest sessions, participants will address the conference theme "Growing Relationships...Building Partnerships." They will also learn of humanitarian efforts underway in Sudan sponsored by the Sudanese in the U.S., learn from NGOs, diocese and churches the 'nuts and bolts' of building partnerships, and have ample opportunity for networking, and spiritual reflection.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_96474_ENG_HTM.htm
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OPINION
Virginia Tech anniversary
Reflections on April 16, 2007 -- one year on
By Scott Russell
[Episcopal Life] There is no manual. I checked. There is no manual that could have told me how to deal with a day like April 16, 2007, or the days and weeks and months that have followed. After five years of ministry with the students, faculty, staff and administration of Virginia Tech, I knew this campus and this town quite well. But on that cold, blustery April morning, none of us knew exactly how to respond.
When tragedies happen without warning, we often are left feeling unprepared and powerless. April 16 was more akin to an earthquake than a hurricane. We had no advance warning, no forecasters to tell us what to expect. Even worse, what we in Blacksburg experienced was at its very core an un-natural disaster. As the news of 10, then 20 and finally 33 dead came out, I didn't know how to pray, except for grace, lots of grace.
Blacksburg is a small town in rural Appalachia, a small town that happens to be home to a major university. People from all over the world come to Blacksburg to learn, to research and to prepare for the rest of their lives. We truly can say, "Things like this don't happen here."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81840_96482_ENG_HTM.htm
More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On April 16, 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 16, 1993, the first primate of the Anglican Church in Korea was inaugurated.
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CATALYST
"Acts for Everyone, Part One" from Westminster John Knox Press, by N. T. Wright, 212 pages, paperback, c. 2008, $16.95
[Source: Westminster John Knox Press] Renowned scholar N.T. Wright brings us the latest volumes in his acclaimed For Everyone series of New Testament commentaries: Acts, part 1 (Chapters 1-12.) This brief guides offers a short passage of text, in Wright's own accessible translation, followed by a highly readable and thought-provoking discussion. Background information about the text, explanations about its meaning, and thoughts as to how it is relevant to our lives today are woven together seamlessly in Wright's gracious and inviting style. A glossary is provided at the back of the book to provide further explanation of less common words and phrases. This book is useful for Christian education classes for both youth and adults, as a preaching aid, in confirmation classes, and as a daily devotional.
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