wfn.org | [ELD] Lambeth Conference commences in Canterbury amid high expectations / Multimedia: Bishops share

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal Life Daily
>July 16, 2008

Episcopal Life Online is available at  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.

Episcopal Life Online coverage of the Lambeth Conference is available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/lambethconference.

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Lambeth Conference commences in Canterbury amid high
expectations
* TOP STORY - General Convention '09 volunteer coordinators and  supervisors
meet in Anaheim
* TOP STORY - Churches for Middle East Peace ask Secretary Rice's help  for
students in Gaza
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: Bishops share hopes for the Lambeth Conference
* MULTIMEDIA - Image Gallery: Bishops, spouses arrive in Canterbury for
Lambeth Conference
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: Interview with New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson
* WEEKS AHEAD - Upcoming special events and services
* SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11) - Year  A
[RCL]
* DAYBOOK - July 17, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Rebuilding Communion: Who Pays the Price? From the Lambeth
Conference 1998 to the Lambeth Conference 2008 and Beyond

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Lambeth Conference commences in Canterbury amid high expectations

Bishops arrive, including from three 'boycotting' dioceses

>By Episcopal News Service staff

[Episcopal News Service, Canterbury] Bishops converging on the  University of
Kent campus said they had mission and relationship on their minds as the
every-decade Lambeth Conference, themed "Equipping Bishops for Mission,"  got
underway July 16.

"My diocese is very mission-minded and the Anglican Communion is a  network
of people who do mission together. This is a chance to plug into that
network," said Bishop Dan Edwards of Nevada.

Edwards is among about 650 bishops, plus their spouses and guests from  the
38 autonomous provinces of the Anglican Communion, converging in  Canterbury,
a pastoral English countryside town of 43,000 located 55 miles east of
London, and the setting for Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_99036_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Churches for Middle East Peace ask Secretary Rice's help for students in
Gaza

[Episcopal News Service] Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) has  joined
six other American organizations in sending a letter on July 15 to U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking that she urge Israel to  permit
hundreds of students in Gaza who have been admitted to foreign  universities
to exit the embattled area. The students are confined to Gaza because of
Israel's closure policy. CMEP is a coalition of 22 Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant  institutions,
one of which is the Episcopal Church.

Other co-signers of the letter -- all of them supporters of a two-state
solution between Israel and Palestine -- are Americans for Peace Now,
American Task Force on Palestine, the Foundation for Middle East Peace,  the
Arab American Institute, the Israel Policy Forum, and Brit Tzedek  v'Shalom.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_99008_ENG_HTM.htm

More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife

>- - - - -

General Convention '09 volunteer coordinators and supervisors meet in
Anaheim

>By Janet Kawamoto

[Episcopal News Service] Volunteer coordinators and supervisors got  their
first look July 12 at the convention facility in Anaheim, California,  that
will be the center of attention for the Episcopal Church a year from now
when General Convention 2009 convenes in the Diocese of Los Angeles.

The meeting with General Convention staff from the Episcopal Church  Center
took place at the Anaheim Marriott hotel, one of several within a short  walk
of the Anaheim Convention Center, where the main meetings of the General
Convention and the concurrent Episcopal Church Women's Triennial will be
held.

Coordinators, some of whom have worked at as many as six prior meetings  of
General Convention, came from throughout the Episcopal Church, as far  away
as Quito, Ecuador, and as near as other Orange County communities
surrounding the city of Anaheim, once a major citrus-growing center, now
world-famous as the home of the Disneyland Resort, the Los Angeles  Angels of
Anaheim baseball team, and the Anaheim Ducks hockey franchise.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_99025_ENG_HTM.htm

More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>MULTIMEDIA

Video: Bishops share hopes for the Lambeth Conference

[Episcopal News Service] Bishops of the Anglican Communion arrived in
Canterbury July 16 for the decennial Lambeth Conference, meeting through
August 3 at the University of Kent in southeast England.

The Rev. Ian Douglas, member of the Lambeth Conference Design Group,  opens
Episcopal Life Media's video coverage as bishops share their hopes for  the
gathering.

Video: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80056_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Image Gallery: Bishops, spouses arrive in Canterbury for Lambeth  Conference

[Episcopal News Service] An image gallery of bishops and their spouses
arriving in Canterbury for the 2008 Lambeth Conference is available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/89878_99014_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Video: Interview with New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson

[Episcopal News Service] New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson talks with
Episcopal Life Media editor Solange De Santis days before the opening of  the
Lambeth Conference, about his relationship with God, the church's
relationship with gay clergy such as himself and putting such issues  into
perspective in a hurting world. Robinson is one of the small number of
bishops the Archbishop of Canterbury has not invited to the Lambeth
Conference.

Video: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81231_ENG_HTM.htm

More Multimedia: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80056_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>WEEKS AHEAD

A round-up of upcoming special events, services, concerts and diocesan
conventions taking place throughout the Episcopal Church is available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_1669_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11) - Year A [RCL]

Genesis 28:10-19a; Psalm 139: 1-11, 22-23; or Wisdom of Solomon 12:13,  16-19
or Isaiah 44:6-8; Psalm 86:11-17; Romans 8:12-25; Matthew 13:24-30,  36-43

>By Harry Denman

[Sermons That Work] At the same time, anyone familiar with a  twenty-first
century farming community will recognize that the parable presents an
awfully peculiar and unproductive method of agriculture. Modern  practices
include a much more efficient operation - a neater, more productive one,
with nothing but rich soil devoid of rocks and sprayed with weed  retardant.
Paths do not cross fields; tractors even plow within a few feet of farm
houses and barns. Sophisticated implements plant seeds precisely and  nothing
is left to chance.

Jesus undoubtedly would be unimpressed, because he was not really  interested
in telling us about growing crops. He simply took a familiar activity of  his
time and used it to illustrate an important factor in human life. From  this
perspective, the lessons are as important today as they were 2,000 years
ago. Though our agricultural techniques are much different from those of
former centuries, our lives are not so different from those who lived in
Biblical times.

We might pause to observe that in trying to apply the parable to our  lives,
the odds are against us: three kinds of bad soil and only one that is  truly
productive. Yet the Christian life is never free of challenge and our
presence in church today reminds us that it is worth the effort. Today's
challenge comes from Jesus' wonderful extended metaphor that can help us
discipline our lives and provide helpful self-evaluation. If we have the
courage to examine ourselves in light of the four kinds of soils, we can
become more like what God hopes for us.

More Spiritual Reflections:  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On July 17, 2008, the Church calendar remembers William White, bishop of
Pennsylvania (1747-1836).

* 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 Prayer for Lambeth: Bless and inspire Archbishop of  Canterbury
Rowan Williams as he leads the opening retreat, that he may illuminate,  and
the bishops present may more fully understand, the meaning of an  episcopal
calling in service to God's mission.

* Today in History: On this day in July 17, 1996, David Hogan, a  composer
whose Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis Mt. St. Alban were commissioned for  the
consecration of Washington National Cathedral, was killed in the  explosion
of TWA flight 800 to Paris.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Rebuilding Communion: Who Pays the Price? From the Lambeth Conference  1998
to the Lambeth Conference 2008 and Beyond" from Monad Press, edited by  Peter
Francis, 114 pages, paperback, c. 2008, $14.99

[Monad Press] The aim of this book is threefold:

* to provide a brief Who's Who and What's What on the recent history of
sexual orientation and Anglicanism;
* to give voice to gay and lesbian people from around the Anglican  world;
* to reflect on the present crisis and offer new possibilities for  learning
from areas such as human rights legislation, the African concept of  ubuntu
and conflict resolution in Bosnia.

All of the contributors to this book are committed Anglicans. Most of  them
were attracted to the Anglican Church because of its inclusive nature  and
its careful sifting of scripture, tradition and reason.

Many people think that Anglicans should be discussing more important  issues
than sexuality, for example, issues of conflict and justice. The  Church's
right to speak about injustice is negated by the lack of justice it  shows to
a significant proportion of its adherents who are gay and lesbian. It is  a
justice issue because sexual orientation is biological in nature; it is  not
a choice. Gay and lesbian people have exactly the same rights and
responsibilities concerning the expression of their sexuality as
heterosexual people. The fullness of life that Christ came to bring  includes
our sexuality.

>List of Contributors:

Edwin Arrison, South African Anglican priest and social entrepreneur
Peter Francis, Warden of St Deinol's Library in North Wales
Savitri Hensman, voluntary health and social care worker, writer on
Christianity and social justice
Michael Hopkins, Episcopal priest in Rochester, New York, former  President
of Integrity USA
Michael Ingham, Bishop of the Diocese of New Westminster in the Anglican
Church of Canada
Richard Kirker, Chief Executive of the Lesbian and Gay Christian  Movement,
ordained deacon in the Church of England
Davis Mac-Iyalla, leader of Changing Attitudes Nigeria
Donn Mitchell, lay leader in the Diocese of New York, editor of The  Anglican
Examiner Martyn Percy, Principal of Ripon College, Cuddesdon
Muriel Porter, member of the Standing Committee and Doctrine Commission  of
the Australian General Synod
Donald Reeves, former Rector of St James' Piccadilly, London, founder  and
director of Soul of Europe, which is committed to working for  reconciliation
in the Balkans
Mario Ribas, priest from the Anglican Church of Brazil, senior reacher  at
the African Gender Institute, University of Cape Town
Simon Sarmiento, blogger at Thinking Anglicans
Andrew Village, Senior Lecturer in Practical and Empirical Theology at  York
St John University.

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