Episcopal Life Online Newslink December 21, 2007
[Editor's note: Episcopal Life Online will observe its annual holiday hiatus for the Christmas season and full service will resume on Thursday, January 3. Occasional releases may be issued as breaking news occurs. Wishing you a blessed and joyful Christmastide.]
Today's ELO Newslink includes:
* TOP STORY - Central, Southern California newspapers will carry Episcopal Church advertisement * TOP STORY - When 'Joy to the World' is hard to capture, Blue Christmas services help * DIOCESAN DIGEST - LOUISIANA: Bishop offers theological foundation for public housing effort * WORLD REPORT - WORLDWIDE: Christmas messages from around the Anglican Communion * FEATURE - Walking together: Companion relationships strengthen ties, transform lives * OPINION - 'Tis the season to be jolly, not paranoid * ARTS - Fantasy and fatalism: Golden Compass' quest, Blood's power struggle hold attention throughout
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TOP STORIES
Central, Southern California newspapers will carry Episcopal Church advertisement
'California dioceses, congregations share historic, continuing mission'
All editions of the Fresno Bee and the Los Angeles Times on December 22 are scheduled to carry a display advertisement detailing the "historic, continuing mission" of the Episcopal Church in the state's six dioceses.
Placed by the Office of Public Affairs at the Episcopal Church Center in New York, the half-page advertisement features websites and photographs reflecting ministries in the dioceses of California (based in San Francisco), El Camino Real (based in Monterey), Los Angeles, Northern California (based in Sacramento), San Diego and San Joaquin (based in Fresno). Due to recent legislative actions in the Diocese of San Joaquin, web addresses point to the organization "Remain Episcopal," (http://www.remainepiscopal.org) and Holy Family Church, Fresno (http://www.holyfamilychurchfresno.org).
The ad focuses on the Episcopal Church's history in the state of California, noting that "It was along California's coast that common prayer in the Anglican tradition was first observed in the Americas -- in 1579 when Sir Francis Drake's explorer ship made landfall near Point Reyes just north of San Francisco."
The ad continues that the state's parishioners are "united in community outreach serving thousands of recipients of much-needed food, shelter, medical care, and other social services annually."
A PDF of the ad is available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/12-22_Calif_Ad.pdf.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_93040_ENG_HTM.htm
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When 'Joy to the World' is hard to capture, Blue Christmas services help
By Mary Frances Schjonberg
[Episcopal News Service] During these shortest days and longest nights of the year, many Episcopal Church congregations are offering services meant to bring comfort to those who struggle to find the joy of the Advent and Christmas seasons.
Often called Blue Christmas or Longest Night services, many take place the evening of December 21, the night of the winter solstice, and are designed for people who are coping with loss. Those people hear the Christmas song that describes "the most wonderful time of the year with the kids jingle belling and everyone telling you 'Be of good cheer'" but instead feel they are living the lyrics of the 1957 hit "Blue Christmas" when Elvis Presley sings "I'll have a blue Christmas without you, I'll be so blue just thinking about you."
The Rev. Deacon Richard Spencer of Trinity Church in Ossining, New York, said the world tells people "if you buy this present, you'll be happy and it will be all ho-ho-ho and joy to the world. Well, what if there's no joy in my world?"
Spencer said his experience in offering Blue Christmas services shows that the effort is about "bringing the light of Christ into the darkness of their lives."
The rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Chatham, New Jersey, would agree. "It's probably one of the most pastoral things I do at Christmas," said the Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_93033_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
LOUISIANA: Bishop offers theological foundation for public housing effort http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_93031_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
WORLDWIDE: Christmas messages from around the Anglican Communion http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/digest/index.cfm/2007/12/21/Christm as- messages-from-around-the-Communion
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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FEATURES
Walking together: Companion relationships strengthen ties, transform lives
By Pat McCaughan and Matthew Davies
[Episcopal News Service] One of the joys of Christmas is giving and receiving gifts. For decades, Anglicans in dioceses and parishes worldwide have shared -- as more than just a seasonal standard -- their gifts of friendship, knowledge and mutual support. They say the rewards of companion relationships are countless.
For Sandy Smock of San Gabriel, California, it began with a trip to the Holy Land as a Lenten discipline.
Dr. Ricardo Reznichek of Hermosa Beach, California, responded to a bishop's call and visited Selena in western Belize, a border farming community experiencing an influx of Guatemalan and Salvadoran immigration.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_93027_ENG_HTM.htm
More Features: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78936_ENG_HTM.htm
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OPINION
'Tis the season to be jolly, not paranoid
By Cathleen Falsani
[Religion News Service] 'Tis the season to be jolly, not paranoid, kids.
Whether it's retailers allegedly "taking the Christ out of Christmas" by using (the ancient Christian) "X-Mas" or the clerk at The Gap who says "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," there always seems to be some menacing sky-is-falling force gathering against the Baby Jesus on the eve of his birthday.
This year, the greatest threat to Christmas seems to be a movie. A children's movie, no less, the most nefarious of all holiday-related hazards.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_93021_ENG_HTM.htm
More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm
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ARTS
Fantasy and fatalism
Golden Compass' quest, Blood's power struggle hold attention throughout
By Martha Baker
[Episcopal News Service]
THE GOLDEN COMPASS Directed by Chris Weitz Starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Dakota Blue Richards. NewLine Cinema One hour, 53 minutes. Rated PG-13
THERE WILL BE BLOOD Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O'Connor. Ghoulardi Film Company Two hours, 38 minutes. Rated R
Even before The Golden Compass opened, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, via pulpit and Internet, demanded that Roman Catholics boycott the film.
While heat radiated against Compass, however, There Will Be Blood slipped in, unpoxed by its stance against organized religion, and evangelism in particular. Indeed, a viewer would have to know that The Golden Compass is based on a book by an avowed atheist to divine any anti-religion in the film, whereas the central theme of Blood pits God against Mammon in a no-win struggle for America's principles.
Both films command attention from the moment they begin, and each -- through excellent screenplays, acting, music and production values -- holds viewers' attention seductively to the end. For Blood, the end comes after 2 ½ hours, even though scriptwriter and director Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia) loosely based his film on barely half of Oil! by Upton Sinclair.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_93029_ENG_HTM.htm
More Arts: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_ENG_HTM.htm