Episcopal Life Online Daybook -- Today is Monday, October 22, 2007.
* 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 this day in 1990, the diocesan synod of the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town, South Africa, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the ordination of women to the priesthood.
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MISSION
Contemplative Parish Project reconnects congregations with Christian meditation
By Pat McCaughan
[Episcopal News Service, Los Angeles] The Rev. Peter Rood has a message for congregations: sit comfortably, eyes closed lightly, be still, breathe deeply and repeat continuously and silently: Maranatha, Maranatha.
"It means the Lord is coming in Aramaic, the language of Christ, and it's not the only mantra folks can use, but it is liberating, it's been liberating for me," says Rood, rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Nativity in Westchester, near Los Angeles.
He is co-director of the World Community for Christian Meditation's California Center (http://www.wccm-ca.org), housed at Holy Nativity. The center's Contemplative Parish Project -- funded by a three-year $90,000 Trinity Wall Street grant -- is reaching out to reconnect congregations with an unclaimed spiritual discipline: Christian meditation.
People often associate meditation with other religions, but it is rooted in the Gospel and in early monastic prayer and contemplation, Rood says.
"Our goal in life is to be in God, and meditation is an important beneficial practice to experience what being in God is like. Most folks are so overscheduled and overly busy and meditation brings an important balance to one's prayer life," Rood said.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_91130_ENG_HTM.htm
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United Thank Offering 2008 application process underway
[Episcopal News Service] The United Thank Offering (UTO) Committee is currently accepting grant applications for 2008 from dioceses of the Episcopal Church who elect to submit one of their two invited grants on behalf of and implemented within their official companion diocese.
The dioceses of the Episcopal Church will be responsible for the implementation and accounting of the grants, and all UTO grant criteria apply. In addition, these companion diocese applications require a letter from the bishop of the overseas companion diocese in support of the project. At this time these applications are limited to Companion Diocese Relationships (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79704_81769_ENG_HTM.htm) formally recognized by Executive Council.
Letters of invitation and grant applications to all dioceses of the Episcopal Church and Provinces of the Anglican Communion were mailed on October 1. The grant application deadline is January 31, 2008. The application form is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/uto but cannot be submitted electronically. All grant applications must go through the diocesan selection process, and be signed by the diocesan bishop. Grants from other Anglican Provinces require provincial endorsement.
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Catalyst: "The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L'Engle" from Random House, Inc., by Madeleine L'Engle, 353 pages, hardcover, c. 2005, $17.99
[Source: Random House, Inc.] Madeleine L'Engle's writing has always translated the invisible and intricate qualities of love into the patterns and rhythms of visible life. Now, with compelling language and open-hearted vulnerability, The Ordering of Love brings together the exhaustive collection of L'Engle's poetry for the first time.
This volume collects nearly 200 of L'Engle's original poems, including eighteen that have never before been published. Reflecting on themes of love, loss, faith, and beauty, The Ordering of Love gives vivid and compelling insight into the language of the heart.
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