Episcopal Life Online Newslink September 5, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - Service, collaboration central in reorganization set for Church Center * TOP STORY ? Old Catholics consider their catholic, ecumenical vocation * TOP STORY - ERD calls for prayers, support for Hurricane Felix victims * DIOCESAN DIGEST - COLOMBIA: Diocese to observe Week of Prayer for Peace * WORLD REPORT - MELANESIA: Churches urged to address abuse against women, neglect of disabled people * SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 18) - Year C [RCL]
_____________________
TOP STORIES
Service, collaboration central in reorganization set for Church Center Presiding Bishop, colleagues outline recommendations; plan includes satellite offices
By Bob Williams
[Episcopal News Service]
Raising levels of service to dioceses, congregations, and individuals -- "equipping people to use their gifts" -- is at the heart of recommendations to reorganize work based at the Episcopal Church Center, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said in a September 5 presentation to staff.
The goal "is to use the gifts and skills of the staff for the good of the whole Church," she noted, inviting participants in the staff-wide assembly to contemplate in new ways what it means to take on the "role of servant leaders" for the Episcopal Church, formed of 110 dioceses configured in some 16 nations and territories.
"This is about being the body of Christ," Jefferts Schori added, underscoring that healthy bodies are capable of demonstrating flexibility, adaptability, and "building new connections." Every member of Christ's body is valued and essential, she said.
[Editor's note: An abridged version of this story will be posted to Episcopal Life Online on September 6.]
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_89721_ENG_HTM.htm
- - - - -
Old Catholics consider their catholic, ecumenical vocation
[Episcopal News Service] The International Old Catholic Theologians' Conference has issued a communiqué urging Old Catholics to explore what it means to be truly catholic and ecumenical in a time of globalization.
"The ecumenical vocation of the Union of Utrecht and its member churches is firstly to apply and deepen, in the context of the local Church at the level of parish communities, that which has been theologically clarified and achieved together with the Anglican and Orthodox Churches," the theologians said.
The Union of Utrecht is a federation of Old Catholic Churches in full communion with the Anglican Communion.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_89718_ENG_HTM.htm
- - - - -
ERD calls for prayers, support for Hurricane Felix victims
[ERD] Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) has called for prayers and support for the people affected by Hurricane Felix, a category five hurricane that made landfall in Nicaragua September 4.
Felix quickly lost strength to a tropical storm as it blew across Nicaragua and Honduras drenching the region with rain.
The hurricane has killed at least four people and destroyed thousands of homes. Heavy rains have triggered fears of flooding and mudslides, particularly in areas where shantytowns are in close proximity to hillsides.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_89713_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
_____________________
DIOCESAN DIGEST
COLOMBIA: Diocese to observe Week of Prayer for Peace http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_89719_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
WORLD REPORT
MELANESIA: Churches urged to address abuse against women, neglect of disabled people http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_89712_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 18) - Year C [RCL] Jeremiah 18:1-11; Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 or 1; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:25-33
By Paul DeLain Allick
[Sermons That Work] It seems that Christians are obsessed with counting sheep. How often do you hear Christians of all stripes asking each other about the size of each other's congregations? Often we hear folks asking, "How many do you have on a Sunday morning?" We marvel at so-called mega-churches. We feel good when we see a large crowd in church on Christmas or Easter and wish that it was like that every Sunday. A large crowd at a worship service is considered a success.
In our gospel teaching today, we hear that "large crowds were traveling with Jesus." If Jesus were a good church programmer, he would have dispatched some of the apostles to get everyone's name, phone number, and home address. He would have made sure everyone felt welcome. Perhaps he would have fretted over his sermons, making sure that each one was a practical, uplifting message that the crowd would come back for again and again. If they were singing psalms, he would have made sure the tunes were easy and appealing to the largest group possible.
Jesus wasn't a good church programmer. This is because Jesus wasn't calling crowds; he was calling disciples. Jesus wasn't concerned with being popular; he was concerned with helping people transform their lives. Jesus knew that no matter the size of the crowd, it was all temporal anyway. It didn't matter in the larger scheme. Jesus was leading people toward eternity, not temporal things like material success.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_89723_ENG_HTM.htm
More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82478_ENG_HTM.htm