wfn.org | [ELD] Episcopal Life Daily

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>November 18, 2008

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Churches gear up for Year of the Child 2009
* OPINION - Everyday art: Forging a direct channel to God's creative  energy
* ARTS - Kids' books: The Christmas story retold and prayers for  youngsters
* DAYBOOK - November 19, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - O Come Emmanuel: A Musical Tour of Daily Readings for
Advent and Christmas

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

ENGLAND: Churches gear up for Year of the Child 2009
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_102611_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>OPINION

>Everyday art

Forging a direct channel to God's creative energy

>By Ellen Holmes Baer

[Episcopal Life] My older son is a writer. He started writing stories
in elementary school and never stopped. As a teenager, he wrote
stories that were dark and strange, and later he wrote two dark and
strange novels that were published by a major publishing house. Now he
has published his third novel, which, like its predecessors, would
never be selected for Oprah's Book Club even if Oprah still had a book
club. Nevertheless, his imagination and creativity have impressed
numerous readers and critics as well as his parents.

My younger son is a park ranger. He says he's not creative because he
doesn't write novels or play the guitar. But he rescues people, solves
problems and adapts to change better than anyone else I know. This,
too, is creativity.

Often we tend to limit our definition of creativity to arts and
crafts. But in a book called Creativity: Where the Divine and the
Human Meet, theologian Matthew Fox points out that everyone shares in
the creative power of the universe. He notes: "Indigenous people are
close to their intrinsic creativity -- everyone participates in
community dance, clothes making, drumming, food preparation, creating
sacred space. No one is labeled an artist because everyone makes art."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_102613_ENG_HTM.htm

More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>ARTS

>Kids' books

The Christmas story retold and prayers for youngsters

>By Sharon Sheridan and Jerry Hames

[Episcopal Life Holiday Gift Guide] Songwriter Adele Colvin said it
was while reading her Bible that she was inspired to look at the
Christmas narrative in a new way -- from the point of view of the
humble animals who knew the blessing of serving Christ.

She called her close friend and illustrator Peyton Hamilton Carmichael
and from their collaboration has come The Donkeys' Tales (Pelican
Publishing, 30 pp., $15.95).

It's a delightful picture book in which the story of Jesus' life is
passed down from grandmother donkey, who carried Mary to Bethlehem and
witnessed Jesus' birth, to grandson donkey, who is destined to carry
Christ on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_102629_ENG_HTM.htm

More Arts: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_ENG_HTM.htm

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>DAYBOOK

On November 19, 2008, the church calendar remembers Elizabeth,
princess of Hungary, 1231.

* 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 November 19, 1900, Samuel J. Stone, Anglican
priest and hymnist, died in Charterhouse, Somerset, England.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"O Come Emmanuel: A Musical Tour of Daily Readings for Advent and
Christmas" from Paraclete Press, by Gordon Giles, 165 pages,
paperback, c. 2007, $15.95

[Paraclete Press] Make Christmas special this year by exploring the
legends, message, and theology behind some of your favorite carols and
hymns. This book of daily devotions will take you from December 1 to
January 6, from the first days of Advent, through Christmas, ending at
Epiphany. Each day, Gordon Giles invites you to draw closer to God
through spiritual and historical explorations of beloved, familiar
music.

As you read and reflect, you will be asked to consider the meaning of
some of the famous Christmas carols that we sometimes sing without a
passing thought. You will be introduced to obscure saints as well as
living poets and musicians of faith, and you will hear the timeless
truths of love and forgiveness, pain and loss, darkness and light.

"If, like me, you have always been confused by the imagery of 'The
Twelve Days of Christmas,' you will find this book both compelling and
illuminating. Gordon Giles has selected a kaleidoscopic mixture of
musical settings of scripture, hymns and carols, from Gibbons to
Taizé, Plainchant to Kendrick, via Bach, Berlioz, Vaughan Williams,
Menotti and many others. He writes with engaging insight and
perception, providing us with material for reflection, prayer and
meditation." -- John Scott, Organist and Director of Music, St. Thomas
Church Fifth Avenue, New York City

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