Episcopal Life Online Newslink October 17, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - South Korea to host worldwide Anglican peace conference * WORLD REPORT - MELANESIA: Church to take over McMahon School in Tulagi * SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 24) - Year C [RCL]
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TOP STORIES
Working toward reconciliation
South Korea to host worldwide Anglican peace conference
By Matthew Davies
[Episcopal News Service] Peace initiatives and reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula will be the foci of a worldwide Anglican peace conference November 14-20 when more than 150 Anglican leaders, ecumenical guests and other participants will travel to South Korea for TOPIK (Towards Peace in Korea).
The conference will begin with a three-day peace trip to Geumgangsan in North Korea, where delegates will meet employees of the Hyundai Asan Company and hear about its programs of development and economic support for projects in North Korea, including flood-relief aid. The visit to North Korea will be followed by a four-day forum in Paju, near Seoul, South Korea. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will preach at the November 16 opening Eucharist, which is expected to draw more than 400 worshippers.
The forum will introduce and summarize Korean experiences of war and forgiveness, conflict and reconciliation, and explore ways to contribute to establishing a permanent peace in Northeast Asia.
"This gathering promises to produce some lasting changes in the relationships with North Korea," Jefferts Schori said. "It seems especially timely given recent progress in talks with the North Korean government."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_91061_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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WORLD REPORT
MELANESIA: Church to take over McMahon School in Tulagi http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_91047_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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SPIRITUAL REFLECTION
Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 24) - Year C [RCL] Jeremiah 31:27-34 or Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 119:97-104 or 121; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8 By Angela V. Askew
[Sermons That Work] "I will not let you go unless you bless me." - Genesis 32:26
We often hear Jacob's name in church. He is third in that list of three patriarchs whose names identify the God we are worshipping: "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," and sometimes we add "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." I like this specificity; it reminds me that no matter how often I mutter, "Oh, God!" in everyday life, addressing nobody in particular, this is the God of our life, faith, and worship. And of the three patriarchs, Jacob is the one whose story reminds me why our ancestors remembered him so often and so vividly that they named themselves in him and for him: Israel, "one who strives with God."
The Genesis stories about these root ancestors portray them as God's friends, and like all good friends Abraham and Jacob, particularly, speak boldly and argue with God, not letting God get away with anything. When God and Abraham are looking at the wickedness of the inhabitants of Sodom, Abraham nudges his friend and says, "You are surely not going to destroy the righteous with the wicked, are you?" Persistently, insistently, hopefully, the patriarch will not let God go until God has agreed to change his mind about destroying the city. And here is Jacob, wounded, panting, exhausted after a long night's wrestling with the mysterious one he is sure is God; persistently, insistently, hopefully he hangs on and cries out, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
It seems our ancestors were so impressed by the daring confrontations these patriarchs had with this God, that when they came to polish up the all-important foundational memories and traditions of Moses the Lawgiver, they drew Moses' character in the same fashion. Not a deferential character, this Moses; he repeatedly, insistently, persistently, hopefully confronted God with the burdens of leading the people of God through the wilderness. Just like Abraham and God surveying the city of Sodom, Moses and God surveyed the sons and daughters of Jacob worshipping a golden calf and Moses insistently, persistently, hopefully refused to let God wipe them off the face of the earth.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_91045_ENG_HTM.htm
More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm