wfn.org | [ELD] Episcopal Life Daily

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>January 7, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Church offers prayers for those affected by
redundancy
* WORLD REPORT - KENYA: Church leaders fear press gag is sign of  coalition
cracks
* PEOPLE - Teacher, historian and ecumenist Frank Eiji Sugeno dies at 84
* CALENDAR - Upcoming special events and services
* SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - First Sunday After the Epiphany/Baptism of Our  Lord
- Year B
* DAYBOOK - January 8, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

ENGLAND: Church offers prayers for those affected by redundancy

[Church of England] The Church of England has published two new prayers  to
comfort people made redundant, and those remaining in the workplace
following a round of redundancies at the beginning of a year in which  the
Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has predicted that at  least
600,000 people could lose their jobs.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_104122_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

KENYA: Church leaders fear press gag is sign of coalition cracks

>By Fredrick Nzwili

[Ecumenical News International, Nairobi] Some church leaders in Kenya  fear
cracks within the ruling coalition could worsen if the parties fail to  mend
their differences, and they say that laws seen as seeking to stifle free
speech and muzzle the press reflect the tensions.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_104117_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>PEOPLE

Teacher, historian and ecumenist Frank Eiji Sugeno dies at 84

[ETSS] The Rev. Frank Eiji Sugeno, professor emeritus of church history  at
Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, died on December 27. He was  84.

A Seminary of the Southwest news release described Sugeno as "a teacher,
historian, missiologist and advocate of ecumenism." He served as  secretary
of the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church and convener of the
Seminary Consultation on Mission and the Conference of Anglican Church
Historians.

Sugeno joined the faculty of Seminary of the Southwest in 1964. He moved  to
Alexandria from Austin in 1999 with his wife, Ruth, after retiring from
full-time teaching five years earlier.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_104118_ENG_HTM.htm

More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>CALENDAR

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/calendar.htm

>_____________________

>SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS

First Sunday After the Epiphany/Baptism of Our Lord - Year B

Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11

>By the Rev. Debbie Royals

Today we celebrate a rite of passage: the baptism of Jesus in the Jordon
River, the river that held so much significance for generations of  ancestors
before him. Jesus was baptized by his cousin, John. It was a baptism of
repentance, an act of humility and the receiving of a name -- the death  to
the old and the creation of a new identity. The readings today help us
connect and focus on baptisms, including our own baptisms.

The foundation for the gospel is laid in the creation story from  Genesis, in
which God creates the earth from a void where water, wind, and fire come
together. Each of these elements have the power to both create and  destroy,
as we know; but God uses them for good through his Holy Spirit, and it  is
this Spirit that brings to completion the rite of baptism that bind us  to
God.

The Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has put
together a publication called Changes: Prayers and Services Honoring  Rites
of Passage. It provides us with a thorough description of the elements  of
rites by people from many cultures and religious traditions that  recognize
and effect change. Although the structure of the rites may differ, there  are
key elements or themes common to them, such as: naming the transition  and
its affect on the person and whole community; declaring what went before  to
include loss and grief, growth and letting go, gratitude, and the need  for
healing, courage and imagination; and proclamations of hope and  willingness
to discern a new call to create a rite.

Full reflection:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work_104105_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On January 8, 2009, the church calendar remembers Harriett Bedell,  deaconess
and missionary.

* 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 January 8, 1854, Thomas Fielding Scott was
consecrated the first missionary bishop of the Oregon and Washington
Territories: http://www.diocese-oregon.org/history. On January 8, 1977,
Beverly Messenger-Harris was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Diocese  of
Central New York. Messenger-Harris was the first female rector of an
Episcopal parish.