Episcopal Life Daily February 27, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - More San Joaquin congregations opt to remain within Episcopal Church; March 29 special convention anticipated * TOP STORY - Taiwan diocese to host Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries consultation June 6-10 * TOP STORY - Church Center concludes Black History Month series with call to engage one another * DIOCESAN DIGEST - EAST CAROLINA: Convention marks diocese's history in the New World * WORLD REPORT - AUSTRALIA: Mothers' Union to hold first of six international meetings * WORLD REPORT - CANADA: Two churches ask to offer same-gender blessings * WORLD REPORT - UGANDA: Church leaders welcome cease-fire announcement * PEOPLE - Dean of Cleveland cathedral Tracey Lind gives invocation at Democrats' debate * SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS - Fourth Sunday in Lent - Year A [RCL] * DAYBOOK - February 28, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - New News Out of Africa: Uncovering Africa's Renaissance
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TOP STORIES
More San Joaquin congregations opt to remain within Episcopal Church; March 29 special convention anticipated
By Pat McCaughan
A growing number of Episcopalians in the Diocese of San Joaquin are opting to remain within the Episcopal Church (TEC), as the Fresno-based diocese prepares for an anticipated March 29 special convention that would elect a provisional bishop.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, in a letter to be distributed via a new diocesan newspaper, notes the proposed convention date and reassures the people of the diocese that work is ongoing "to ensure that you and your fellow Episcopalians may continue to bless the communities around you well into the future."
"I anticipate convening a Special Diocesan Convention on 29 March, at which you will elect new diocesan leaders, and begin to make provision for episcopal leadership for the next year or so," Jefferts Schori writes. "That gathering will be an opportunity to answer questions you may have, as well as to hear about plans for the renewal of mission and ministry in the Diocese of San Joaquin."
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_95311_ENG_HTM.htm
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Taiwan diocese to host Episcopal Asiamerica Ministries consultation June 6-10
Event to focus on mission, globalization; Presiding Bishop to preach
By Pat McCaughan
[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of Taiwan (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/taiwan.htm) will host the 35th annual Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry (http://www.episcopalchurch.org/asian.htm) (EAM) consultation June 6-10 at the Grand Hotel and Cheng Ching Lake Youth Activity Center in Kaoshiung.
The annual gathering of Asian American clergy and lay leaders, "Go in Peace to Love and Serve the Lord: Mission and Evangelism in the Era of Globalization," will feature Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Rev. Canon Soh Chye Ann as guest speakers, said the Rev. Fred Vergara, program officer for Asian American Ministries of the Episcopal Church.
The priority of mission and the focus on evangelism are imperative in the Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry "as we grapple with complex issues of global poverty, social justice, racism, multiculturalism, global warming, and competing and how they affect local parishes and missions," Vergara said.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_95282_ENG_HTM.htm
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Church Center concludes Black History Month series with call to engage one another
By Daphne Mack
[Episcopal News Service] The celebration of Black History Month drew to a close at the Episcopal Church Center in New York City on February 26 with the Rev. Canon Benjamin Musoke-Lubega, program officer for Anglican Partnerships at Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City, delivering a lecture titled "Let Justice Roll down like Waters."
Referencing Amos 5:24 he said, "As Christians, we cannot live in silos."
"We need to engage one another," said Musoke-Lubega. "It is then that we begin to see the pain and experiences of others."
In collaboration with the Office of the Presiding Bishop, the Office of Black Ministries invited black clergy and laity to the Church Center every Tuesday during the month of February to officiate at the daily Eucharist service in the Chapel of Christ the Lord and lead an evening lecture series in observance of Black History Month. Celebrants included: the Rev. Allister Rawlins, rector, St. George's Episcopal Church in Hempstead, New York; the Rev. Jayne Oasin, social justice officer, Office of Peace and Justice Ministries; and the Rev. Darryl James, rector, Grace Episcopal Church, Jamaica, New York.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_95296_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
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DIOCESAN DIGEST
EAST CAROLINA: Convention marks diocese's history in the New World http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_95278_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
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WORLD REPORT
AUSTRALIA: Mothers' Union to hold first of six international meetings http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_95283_ENG_HTM.htm
UGANDA: Church leaders welcome cease-fire announcement http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_95286_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
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PEOPLE
Dean of Cleveland cathedral Tracey Lind gives invocation at Democrats' debate
[Episcopal News Service] The Very Rev. Tracey Lind, dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Cleveland, gave the invocation at the February 26 debate between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
"We pray especially this night for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama," Lind said in the invocation. "We give thanks for their willingness to stand before us and offer themselves to serve as our nation's president. We pray that as they debate, they will exhibit the courage of their convictions, hunger for the truth, a vision of compassion, justice for all people, and civility toward one another."
Lind was invited to give the invocation by Michael Schwartz, president of Cleveland State University, where the debate was held.
Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_95284_ENG_HTM.htm
More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm
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SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS
Fourth Sunday in Lent - Year A [RCL]
1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41
By Judith Schenck
[Sermons That Work] Eddie was the extrovert in the community for the disabled in the assisted living unit. He always plunked himself down right in the middle of where the action was - in a chair by the mailboxes, at the entrance to the dining room, or right in front of the TV in the sitting room.
He knew everyone by name. "Good morning Miss Liddy. Your knees must be hurting you today." "Hello there, Harry. Lydia was looking for you, and, my, but she was mad." "Hello, Maxine, you got a letter today. Maybe it's from that son of yours." "Watch out, Charlie, someone spilled water there, and the floor might be slick."
Eddie was blind. He was born that way. But he didn't miss a trick. He saw more with his blindness than most of us see with our two good eyes. He saw with his ears, and his gut, and his heart. Sometimes "blind" is not really blind and "seeing" is not really sight.
Full reflection: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82478_95231_ENG_HTM.htm
More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm
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DAYBOOK
On February 28, 2008...
* 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 February 28, 1066, Westminster Abbey, one of the most famous churches in England, opened its doors for the first time.
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CATALYST
"New News Out of Africa: Uncovering Africa's Renaissance" from Oxford University Press, by Charlayne Hunter-Gault, 173 pages, hardcover, c. 2006, $23
[Source: Oxford University Press] For 20 years an acclaimed correspondent on PBS's The News Hour with Jim Lehrer and the winner of two Emmys and two Peabody Awards (the latter two for her coverage of Africa), Charlayne Hunter-Gault was, until recently, the Johannesburg Bureau Chief for CNN. In New News Out of Africa, this eminent reporter offers a fresh and surprisingly optimistic assessment of modern Africa, revealing that there is more to the continent than the bad news of disease, disaster, and despair. Blending personal memoir with sterling reportage and astute analysis, Hunter Gault presents an Africa we rarely see. She looks first at South Africa, contrasting the country she first encountered as a young reporter -- when she personally witnessed the brutality of apartheid -- with the black-led, multiracial society of today, a nation undergoing one of the most radical social and economic experiments in modern times. She acknowledges the great imbalance in income in modern South Africa (where upwards of 30 to 40 percent of blacks are unemployed) and describes the ravaging effect of AIDS on the nation, but she also underscores the nation's commitment to affirmative action, describes how South African universities have opened their doors to black students, and debunks many of the myths about the violence of South African society. Likewise, Hunter-Gault looks at the continent-wide efforts to promote "an African Renaissance," illuminating the political and economic conditions in Rwanda, Mozambique, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Angola, and Sierra Leone. Finally, the book describes the challenges of reporting on the much-maligned continent and the efforts of African journalists to tell their own story.
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
More Catalyst: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/83842_ENG_HTM.htm