Episcopal Life Online Newslink November 28, 2007
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - World AIDS Day focus of December 2 bulletin insert * DIOCESAN DIGEST - HONDURAS: New campus ministries have unique way of putting Gospel into action * DIOCESAN DIGEST - MISSOURI: Convention calls for death-penalty moratorium * WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Archbishop of Canterbury delivers video message for World AIDS Day * PEOPLE - Christopher McConnachie, Episcopal Missionary in South Africa, dies at 70 * SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - First Sunday of Advent - Year A [RCL]
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TOP STORIES
World AIDS Day focus of December 2 bulletin insert
[Episcopal Life This Week] In observance of World AIDS Day (December 1), Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori writes the congregations of the Episcopal Church in the December 2 bulletin insert.
Bulletin inserts are available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_8852_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
HONDURAS: New campus ministries have unique way of putting Gospel into action http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_92167_ENG_HTM.htm
MISSOURI: Convention calls for death-penalty moratorium http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_92151_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
ENGLAND: Archbishop of Canterbury delivers video message for World AIDS Day http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_92149_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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PEOPLE
Christopher McConnachie, Episcopal Missionary in South Africa, dies at 70 http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_92175_ENG_HTM.htm
More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm
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SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS
First Sunday of Advent - Year A [RCL]
Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44
By Ben E. Helmer
[Sermons That Work] "Lo, He comes with clouds, descending," are the words of a favorite Advent hymn. "Clouds descending" may have a majestic tone or sound like a terrible storm about to strike. Today, the first day of the Christian year, begins with a contrast: the Light of the Nations to which all shall come, the majestic mountain of the Lord, the city of peace, where there shall be no more war; and then in the gospel we hear the warnings of what the day will be like, the Day of the Lord: a day of judgment, sudden and decisive, and without warning.
Meanwhile, we scrabble on with life lived in the midst of death. Cities are threatened with crime, and our dwellings become more and more fortresses against possible attack. Military build-up is in the wind, needed, we are told, to protect us from terrorists. Violent video games fly off the shelves as Christmas gifts. Rural areas are dumping grounds for prisoners and cheap immigrant labor, and in the words of the poet, W. B. Yeats, "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold."
In our spiritual lives, we are tossed from certainty to doubt, from victory to despair. One day it's God's world, and the next we wonder, Is anyone in charge?
Full reflection: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_92060_ENG_HTM.htm
More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm