wfn.org | [ELD] MISSOURI: Mission team will spend Christmas in Sudan / TENNESSEE: Myanmar refugees bring Adven

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>December 19, 2008

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

[Editor's note: Episcopal Life Online will observe its annual holiday  hiatus
for the Christmas season and full service will resume on Monday, January  5.
Occasional releases may be issued as breaking news occurs. Bulletin  inserts
will resume on Sunday, January 4, 2009. Bulletin inserts for Sunday,
December 21 -- featuring Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's
Christmas Message -- are available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/95270_ENG_HTM.htm. Wishing you a blessed  and
joyful Christmastide.]

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* DIOCESAN DIGEST - MISSOURI: Mission team will spend Christmas in Sudan
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - TENNESSEE: Myanmar refugees bring Advent story alive  for
rural church
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - VIRGINIA: Court ruling clears way for
property-litigation appeal
* WORLD REPORT - HONG KONG: Religious leaders say they should inspire  hope
during financial crisis
* WORLD REPORT - SRI LANKA: Churches frustrated by government rejection  of
truce
* OPINION - Living under Occupation
* ARTS - Artists search for light in the darkness
* SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - Christmas Day - Year B
* DAYBOOK - December 22, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Hope Matters: The Untold Story of How Faith Works in  America

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

MISSOURI: Mission team will spend Christmas in Sudan

>By Beth Felice

[Episcopal News Service] In the latest development of the companion
relationship between the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri and the Diocese  of
Lui -- part of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan -- a team of eight
missioners will spend the Christmas and New Years holidays in Sudan.  Eight
Missouri Episcopalians, including the wife of Bishop Wayne Smith,  arrived in
Lui on December 18. They will return to the United States on January 8.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_103911_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

TENNESSEE: Myanmar refugees bring Advent story alive for rural church

>By Lisa B. Hamilton

[Episcopal News Service] A rural church in Smyrna, Tennessee has grown  both
spiritually and numerically since welcoming 70 Myanmar refugees into its
fold.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_103917_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

VIRGINIA: Court ruling clears way for property-litigation appeal

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and the  Episcopal
Church both said December 19 that they will appeal to the Supreme Court  of
Virginia to reverse some of a Fairfax County Court judge's rulings in a
series of church property lawsuits.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_103915_ENG_HTM.htm

More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

HONG KONG: Religious leaders say they should inspire hope during  financial
crisis

>By Francis Wong

[Ecumenical News International, Hong Kong] Religions have a role to  inspire
people with hope and to help them to overcome the present global  financial
crisis, leaders of different faiths in Hong Kong have emphasized at an
inter-religious event.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_103908_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

SRI LANKA: Churches frustrated by government rejection of truce

>By Anto Akkara

[Ecumenical News International, Bangalore, India] Church leaders in Sri
Lanka say they are disappointed by the government rejecting their call  for a
Christmas truce in the country's continuing civil war.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_103909_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>OPINION

>Living under Occupation

>By Maureen Shea

[Episcopal News Service] Maureen Shea, director of government relations  for
the Episcopal Church and chair of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP),
traveled with a CMEP delegation to the Holy Land from December 1-12. The
group visited Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah, and ended the
trip in Amman, Jordan. They were not allowed to visit Gaza or the part  of
Hebron where there has been recent violence.

This was Shea's fourth trip to the Holy Land since joining the staff of  the
Episcopal Church more than five years ago. On each trip, she has met  with
religious leaders, church and NGOs, government representatives of both
Palestinians and Israelis, as well as the United States, and individuals  who
struggle daily with the many hardships and challenges of living under
Occupation.

Shea's report about the trip is available at

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_103910_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>ARTS

>Artists search for light in the darkness

>By Jerry Hames

[Episcopal Life] The Advent Collect, echoing Paul's words in Romans  13:12,
admonishes us to "cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the  armor
of light," says Margaret Adams Parker, a Washington, D.C., artist, who
introduces the latest exhibition on the website of the Episcopal Church  and
Visual Arts.

"What we understand from these repeated references to light, is a  mysterious
link between light and the holy. And while many other religious  traditions
draw this same connection, what distinguishes us as Christians is our  belief
that the Light became incarnate and lived among us. So we understand  Light
as a manifestation of the mystery and power of God the Creator and as  the
Light of the World, the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ."

Adams Parker, curator of the exhibition titled "Light of the World,"  says
she finds it fitting that, during the seasons that celebrate the
Incarnation, texts about light occur so frequently. As a result of the
association's call to Episcopal artists, more than 30 works were  selected
for this show, including photographs, oil paintings, acrylics,  watercolors,
mixed media, icons, textile and fabric art, and sculpture, both in  bronze
and wood.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81827_103913_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS

>Christmas Day - Year B

Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1:1-12; John 1:1-14

>By Katerina K. Whitley

[Sermons That Work] One of the readings suggested for Christmas Day is  from
the first chapter of Hebrews. It starts out with this introduction:

"In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the  prophets;
but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed  the
heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects  the
glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the  universe
by his word of power. When he had made purification for sins, he sat  down at
the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to
angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs."

How appropriate it is that we leap from the birth narratives of  Christmas
Eve to the full, exalted maturity of the Hebrews passage overnight! It  is a
pity that so few of us attend services on Christmas Day, thus missing  out on
sermons that delve into the mysteries and wonders of the Letter to the
Hebrews. This magnificent theological treatise is not studied frequently
enough in the lectionary, maybe because it is so profound that it is not
easy to preach on its riches.

Full reflection:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work_103823_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On December 22, 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 December 22, 1216, Pope Honorius III officially
approved the Ordo Praedicatorum or Order of Preachers (the Dominicans).

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Hope Matters: The Untold Story of How Faith Works in America" from  Bartleby
Press, by John A. Calhoun, 238 pages, hardcover, c. 2007, $23.50

[Bartleby Press] Calhoun was once an eager divinity school student,  hungry
to make a difference. Through the years he rose to national prominence  in
the field of public policy, spending twenty-plus years as the founding
president of the National Crime Prevention Council. However, something
wasn't right. Caught up in a parade of committee meetings, speaking
engagements, and policy and program initiatives, he had lost touch with  the
bedrock of his vocation. It took an encounter with an unusually
clear-sighted volunteer to reconnect his daily work to his faith in God.

Reinvigorated, Calhoun embarked on a two-year cross-country quest to  find
out how faith motivates some of America's hardest-working public  servants.
They pursue a range of innovative and ambitious plans to help their
communities, and their accomplishments are impressive. But just try  telling
them so.

They have been chosen, they'll explain, to fulfill a larger purpose.  Their
paths have been rocky, their burdens heavy, and the work hasn't always  been
fun. Yet they feel blessed, emboldened by their trust in a higher power  to
live lives of acceptance and unbounded love.

Some recent books have laid divisiveness and hostility at faith's door.  Hope
Matters brings to light the togetherness and reconciliation that faith  truly
engenders when good people heed its call to action.

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