wfn.org | [ELD] Episcopal Life Daily

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal Life Daily
>June 25, 2008

Episcopal Life Online is available at  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* DIOCESAN DIGEST - CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA: Convention reaffirms
full-inclusion resolution
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - MARYLAND: Diocese set to ordain and consecrate
Eugene Sutton as 14th bishop
* MISSION - Episcopal Relief and Development announces winner of
Emergency Preparedness Plan Competition
* PEOPLE - Communication director to conclude tenure
* WEEKS AHEAD - Upcoming special events and services
* SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - Seventh Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 8 - Year  A
[RCL]
* DAYBOOK - June 26, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Prayers for a Privileged People

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA: Convention reaffirms full-inclusion resolution
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_98244_ENG_HTM.htm

MARYLAND: Diocese set to ordain and consecrate Eugene Sutton as 14th  bishop
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_98246_ENG_HTM.htm

More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>MISSION

Episcopal Relief and Development announces winner of Emergency
Preparedness Plan Competition

[ERD] Lutheran Episcopal Services in Mississippi is the winner of
Episcopal Relief and Development's first ever Emergency Preparedness
Plan Competition. LES will receive a $25,000 grant to implement the
winning plan.

A second prize of $10,000 was awarded to the Episcopal Diocese of East
Tennessee. The Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania won the third
prize award of $5,000. Both the Episcopal Diocese of West Texas and
the Episcopal Diocese of Southwestern Virginia were given Honorable
Mentions.

"We are so pleased to congratulate all the winners.  In the United
States, our dioceses often face a range of disasters from wildfires
and hurricanes, to tornadoes, ice storms and floods," said Abagail
Nelson, Senior Vice President for Programs at Episcopal Relief and
Development.  "The diocesan planning, scenario staging, and
interactive networking with government and voluntary agencies
described in these submissions were excellent.  We hope that these
plans and exercises will help the churches fulfill their critical role
of care to the community if dioceses are impacted."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_98250_ENG_HTM.htm

More Mission: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>PEOPLE

>Communication director to conclude tenure

[Episcopal News Service] Canon Robert Williams, who in July will mark
four years as senior director in the Episcopal Church Center's
Communication Office, has chosen to step down from this position
effective August 15, Chief Operating Officer Linda E. Watt announced
June 25.

"It has been a great privilege to collaborate with Bob and his
colleagues in efforts to focus church communications in new directions
reflecting the fast pace of change in modes of public discourse," Watt
said. "He has been a tremendous asset to the whole church, especially
as an innovative and sensitive leader at a time of significant
transition."

Plans call for naming an interim director and the subsequent selection
of a successor through a search process that consults widely with
communication stakeholders across the church, Watt said.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_98248_ENG_HTM.htm

More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>WEEKS AHEAD

A round-up of upcoming special events, services, concerts and diocesan
conventions taking place throughout the Episcopal Church is available
at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_1669_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS

Seventh Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 8 - Year A [RCL]

Genesis 22:1-14; Psalm 13; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42

>By Ben E. Helmer

[Sermons That Work] Today we read a story that can chill one's soul,
especially a parent's. However, if we focus only on the topic of
parent and child, and the emotional and precious quality of that
relationship, we lose the profound heart of what the story of Abraham
and Isaac is really about.

The Book of Genesis contains the Abraham cycle, a group of stories
between chapters 12-22 about Abraham's call, journey, and relationship
with God. The entire cycle is worth reading at one sitting. It takes
us into a life that seems hopeless, is filled with promise, results in
a journey that is full of dangers and Abraham's folly - at one point
he betrays Sarah rather than admit to Pharaoh that she is his wife -
and concludes with this monumental account of a genuine test, one in
which even God does not know the outcome.

The entire cycle of Abraham stories is about a covenant. Early on, God
chose Abraham. The question is, will Abraham choose God? And that is
the elemental question facing each of us. God chose us, long ago. Yet,
like the psalmist in today's psalm, we often ask, "How long, O Lord?
Will you forget me forever?"

Full reflection: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82478_98175_ENG_HTM.htm

More Spiritual Reflections:  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On June 26, 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 June 26, 1989, James E. Solheim began as news
director in the Department of Communication at the Episcopal Church
Center.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Prayers for a Privileged People" from Abingdon Press, by Walter
Brueggemann, 183 pages, paperback, c. 2008, $16

[Abingdon Press] In Prayers for a Privileged People, this
much-published author sculpts -- as carefully as if with chisel --
prayers on behalf of those who are people of privilege and entitlement
-- the haves -- at an urgent moment in our society. The privileged
face, on the one hand, the seduction of denial or, on the other, the
temptation of despair. These prayers of wisdom and prophetic power
remind us that when things go wrong, when we are afraid, and when we
feel prodded by those who lack voice, there is a conversation we can
have -- a conversation situated amid the promises and commands of God.

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