[ENS] NEW YORK: Bishop calls for 'civil, respectful discussion' concerning lower Manhattan mosque /
From <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>Date Wed, 25 Aug 2010 16:43:32 -0400
>Episcopal News Service >August 25, 2010 Episcopal News Service is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens. >Today's Episcopal News Service includes: * DIOCESAN DIGEST - ALABAMA: Bishop search process gets underway * DIOCESAN DIGEST - NEW YORK: Bishop calls for 'civil, respectful discussion' concerning lower Manhattan mosque * DIOCESAN DIGEST - SAN JOAQUIN: Diocese sues for return of Bakersfield church property * WORLD REPORT - UGANDA: President tells African bishops: 'There should be no room for intolerance' * CALENDAR - Upcoming special events and services * SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS - August 29, 2010 - Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 17 - Year C * DAYBOOK - August 26: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * EPISCOPAL BOOKS & RESOURCES PICK - "Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite" >_____________________ >DIOCESAN DIGEST >ALABAMA: Bishop search process gets underway >By ENS staff [Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of Alabama has begun its search for a new diocesan bishop with Oct. 8 set as the deadline for nominations and applications, according to a press release. Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_124216_ENG_HTM.htm >- - - - - NEW YORK: Bishop calls for 'civil, respectful discussion' concerning lower Manhattan mosque >By ENS staff [Episcopal News Service] The dispute over the planned Islamic community center and mosque in lower Manhattan should be seen as "an opportunity for a civil, rational, loving, respectful discussion," Diocese of New York Bishop Mark S. Sisk has said drawing on similar comments from Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_124205_ENG_HTM.htm >- - - - - SAN JOAQUIN: Diocese sues for return of Bakersfield church property >By ENS staff [Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin on Aug. 24 filed a lawsuit against the former members of St. Paul's Church in Bakersfield, to seek return of the church property. Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_124207_ENG_HTM.htm More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm >_____________________ >WORLD REPORT UGANDA: President tells African bishops: 'There should be no room for intolerance' >By ENS staff [Episcopal News Service] Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni said Aug. 25 that tolerance is a biblical imperative and that Christians should not "have one minute of time wasted" by those promoting prejudice, according to an article from the Anglican Communion News Service. Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_124217_ENG_HTM.htm More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_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 August 29, 2010 - Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 17 - Year C >By the Rev. Dr. Frank Hegedus (RCL) Jeremiah 2:4-13 and Psalm 81:1, 10-16 or Sirach 10:12-18 (Track 2: Proverbs 25:6-7 and Psalm 112); Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14 [Sermons That Work] Get a group of Episcopal clergy talking, and sooner or later the conversation will turn to their experiences officiating at weddings. Someone in the group will no doubt relate a moving story of an estranged family reconciled and reunited at the wedding of a son or daughter. Before long, another cleric will begin reminiscing about a great-grandmother's tears of joy as she watched the next generation of her family grow to adulthood and wed. But then - inevitably - someone else in the group will bring up with a sigh of resignation the difficult bride with unrealistic expectations and demands or the tipsy best man who barely made it through the service. Truth is, no wedding ceremony ever seems to go exactly according to plan. Weddings just seem somehow to bring out the best - and sometimes the worst - in people. Clergy know that. Indeed, we all know it. And apparently, so does Jesus if our gospel account today is any indication. It is probably not for nothing that he sets his parable lesson today at a wedding feast where everyone is already anxious - trying their hardest to look and act their best - and vying for the best seats and places. Full reflection: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work_124050_ENG_HTM.htm More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm >_____________________ >DAYBOOK >On August 26, 2010... * 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 August 26, 1498, Pope Alexander VI commissioned Italian artist Michelangelo to carve the Pieta. >_____________________ >EPISCOPAL BOOKS & RESOURCES PICK "Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite" by L. Michael White, hardcover, 528 pages, May 2010, $28.99. [Haper Collins] In Scripting Jesus, famed scholar of early Christianity L. Michael White challenges us to read the gospels as they were originally intended-as performed stories of faith rather than factual histories. White demonstrates that each of the four gospel writers had a specific audience in mind and a specific theological agenda to push, and consequently wrote and rewrote their lives of Jesus accordingly -- in effect, scripting Jesus to get a particular point across and to achieve the desired audience reaction. The gospel stories have shaped the beliefs of almost two and a half billion Christians. But the gospel writers were not reporters-rather, they were dramatists, and the stories they told publicly about Jesus were edited and reedited for the greatest effect. Understanding how these first-century Christians wanted to present Jesus offers us a way to make sense of the sometimes conflicting stories in the gospels. One gospel's version of events will be at odds with another. For instance, in Jesus's birth narrative, there is no mention of a stable in Matthew or Luke, but then there are no wise men in Luke and no shepherds in Matthew. Jesus has brothers in some gospel accounts, and sisters in others, and their naming is inconsistent. Depending on which gospel you are reading, the disciples shift from bumbling morons to heroes of faith. Miracles alter or disappear altogether, and whole scenes get moved around. Such changes from one gospel to the next reveal the shaping and reshaping of the basic story in the living world of the first followers of Jesus. With his usual engaging style, White helps us read the gospels with fresh eyes, giving us a clearer idea of what the gospel stories meant to people in ancient times, and offering insight for how we can understand Jesus's story today. To order, please visit Episcopal Books and Resources online at http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, call 800-903-5544, or visit your local Episcopal bookstore.