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>Episcopal Life Daily
>December 16, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* DIOCESAN DIGEST - WYOMING: Bishop candidate withdraws
* WORLD REPORT - CANADA: Devastating church fire met with strong
community response
* MISSION - Interfaith Power and Light announces Carbon Covenant  Initiative
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: St. Nicholas Celebration at Trinity Wall Street,  NYC
* OPINION - COMMENTARY: Remembering who we are
* CALENDAR - Upcoming special events and services
* SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - December 20, 2009 - Fourth Sunday of Advent -  Year C
* DAYBOOK - December 17: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - I Loved Jesus in the Night: Teresa of Calcutta -- A Secret  Revealed

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

>WYOMING: Bishop candidate withdraws

[Episcopal News Service] The Very Rev. Robert Neske, dean of St.
Mark's Episcopal Pro-Cathedral in Hastings, Nebraska, has withdrawn
from the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming's bishop search process.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_117857_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

CANADA: Devastating church fire met with strong community response

>By Leigh Anne Williams

[Anglican Journal] Members of All Saints' Anglican Church in downtown
Whitby, Ontario, gathered outside on Dec. 14 to mourn the loss of
their 140-year-old church that burned in a fire before dawn.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_117859_ENG_HTM.htm

More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>MISSION

Interfaith Power and Light announces Carbon Covenant Initiative

>By Phina Borgeson

[Episcopal News Service] Last weekend, while the world's attention was
focused on tense talks between developed and developing nations in
Copenhagen, and church bells rang out the necessity of binding climate
change agreements, Interfaith Power and Light announced an opportunity
for religious congregations in the United States to support
faith-based solutions in the Global South.

The new Carbon Covenant program highlights four projects addressing
deforestation. Located in Cameroon, Cambodia, Tanzania and Ghana, all
are led by local people of faith on the front lines of climate change
concerns.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_117855_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>MULTIMEDIA

Video: St. Nicholas Celebration at Trinity Wall Street, NYC

[Episcopal News Service] The young singers of the Trinity Youth Chorus
celebrate the life of St. Nicholas in an array of holiday music.

Video: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/advent2009

>_____________________

>OPINION

>COMMENTARY: Remembering who we are

>By Tom Ehrich

[Episcopal News Service] When I heard that the Episcopal Diocese of
Los Angeles had elected a lesbian as suffragan bishop, my reaction
was, "Here we go again."

I knew the anti-gay lobby would kick into overdrive with dire warnings
about violating "biblical principles" and offending the Anglican
Communion. I knew partisans on the other side would celebrate her
election as an epic victory.

The warnings are nonsense, of course, and not at all supported by the
entirety of biblical ethics. Nor do casual observers understand that
the Anglican Communion is a tired and artificial construct of the
post-colonial era, not a form of divinity. The celebrations over an
ordination decision, meanwhile, sound tinny in an era of recession and
expanding warfare.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_117858_ENG_HTM.htm

More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>CALENDAR

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/calendar.htm

>_____________________

>SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS

December 20, 2009 - Fourth Sunday of Advent - Year C

(RCL) Micah 5:2-5a; Canticle 3 or Canticle 15 or Psalm 80:1-7; Hebrews
10:5-10; Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

>By the Rev. Charles Hoffacker

[Sermons That Work] In the beautiful month of May, in the springtime
of the year, the church keeps a feast known as the Visitation of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. The gospel reading on that occasion is the one we
just heard, the story of pregnant Mary's visit to her elderly relative
Elizabeth, who is herself pregnant with John the Baptist.

Full reflection:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work_117476_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On December 17, 2009...

* 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 December 17, 1538, Pope Paul III excommunicated
Henry VIII of England. On December 17, 1917, the tune "St. Dunstan's"
was written by C. Winfred Douglas while returning by train from New
York to his home at Saint Dunstan's cottage in Peekskill, New York.
Douglas became an Episcopal priest in 1899. He edited the New Hymnal
in 1918, and helped develop the 1940 Hymnal as well.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"I Loved Jesus in the Night: Teresa of Calcutta -- A Secret Revealed"
from Paraclete Press, by Paul Murray, 125 pages, hardcover, c. 2008,
$18.95

[Paraclete Press] Mother Teresa hit the bestsellers lists last year,
as well as the covers of Time and Newsweek. Her personal letters were
published for the first time, and they showed how for nearly five
decades she struggled mightily with belief in God.

The world was shocked. In a culture dominated by Richard Dawkins and
Christopher Hitchens lambasting the beliefs of religion as nonsense
and even dangerous -- the letters of Mother Teresa seemed to be
further evidence of why God and faith must go away forever.

I Loved Jesus in the Night is the compelling story of one priest's
memories of the icon of compassion. Sharing anecdote and firsthand
experiences with her, Paul Murray helps to explain why she had
feelings of being a "saint of darkness." This remarkable and beautiful
book is an attempt to understand the dark night experiences that she
endured in the light of the Gospel and of the mystical teachings of
St. John of the Cross. And something else as well...revelations of
Mother Teresa's sense of humor!

To order, please visit Episcopal Books and Resources online at
http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, call 800-903-5544, or visit your
local Episcopal bookstore.