wfn.org | [ELD] Al Ahli Arab Hospital brings hope to Palestinians amid Gaza crisis

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>January 14, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Al Ahli Arab Hospital brings hope to Palestinians amid  Gaza
crisis
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - VIRGINIA: Focused outward, Falls Church parish  re-groups
* WORLD REPORT - BRITAIN: Churches say 'atheist buses' promote
discussion about God
* WORLD REPORT - UGANDA: Church leaders want action on ritual killings
of children
* PEOPLE - Compass Rose Society announces new appointments to board of
directors
* OPINION - Honoring forbears' trust: Those departing are obligated to
keep their promises
* CALENDAR - Upcoming special events and services
* SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - Second Sunday After the Epiphany - Year B
* DAYBOOK - January 15, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Al Ahli Arab Hospital brings hope to Palestinians amid Gaza crisis

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service] As the embattled residents of Gaza struggle
for survival 18 days into a bloody Israeli military operation, the Al
Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City continues to bring some semblance of
hope to the local Palestinian community through its commitment to
providing critical healthcare services to anyone in need.

One of 37 institutions run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, the
hospital has struggled to meet the increased demands on its
already-overburdened staff, who have tended to the wounded despite
being surrounded by conflict, the challenges of diminishing medical
supplies, and their own fatigue.

A January 14 update from the diocese's healthcare department reported
that much-needed supplies, including medicines and blankets, had
finally been received by the hospital as several trucks arrived in
convoys coordinated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA).

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104243_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

VIRGINIA: Focused outward, Falls Church parish re-groups

Lay ministry highlights continuing community's growth

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Just more than two years after the Episcopal
Diocese of Virginia parish of the Falls Church split in a theological
dispute, the remaining Episcopalians, many of whom long to return to
their parish home, are learning that a church is more than a building.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_104247_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

BRITAIN: Churches say 'atheist buses' promote discussion about God

>By Martin Revis

[Ecumenical News International, London] Major Christian denominations
in Britain have said a month-long poster campaign on buses throughout
the country promoting atheism will encourage debate and interest about
God.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_104248_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

UGANDA: Church leaders want action on ritual killings of children

>By Fredrick Nzwili

[Ecumenical News International, Nairobi] Church leaders in Uganda are
condemning the killing of children for sacrifice, while demanding
government action on the rituals, which many people say are
increasing.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_104251_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>PEOPLE

Compass Rose Society announces new appointments to board of directors

[Compass Rose Society] The Compass Rose Society of the Anglican
Communion, which provides annual financial support to the Archbishop
of Canterbury and the Anglican Consultative Council, announced January
13 the election of six new members to its board of directors.

The new members, who had been elected at the society's annual meeting
in November 2008, are: Bishop George Councell of New Jersey; the Rev.
Jan Naylor Cope, Washington, D.C.; the Rev. Rick Lord, Vienna,
Virginia; the Rev. Sarah Buxton-Smith, Buffalo, New York; B. Norris
Battin, Newport Beach, California; and Antonia Wong Tuen-ye, Hong
Kong.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_104246_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>OPINION

>Honoring forbears' trust

Those departing are obligated to keep their promises

>By Joan R. Gundersen

[Episcopal Life] My grandfather built in his basement the altar of the
Episcopal parish church where I was baptized as an infant. He also
represented the congregation at the auction where it bought the
one-room school that became the church building. My grandmother made
the cloths that covered the altar. A decade later, my parents helped
found a parish in a neighboring suburb and served on the committees
that planned and built the church building where I was married in
1969.

The parishes my family helped build are now in the hands of other
Chicago-area Episcopalians. While pursuing my academic career, I have
been a communicant in eight additional parishes, each in a different
diocese. I thus benefited from the building efforts of other
Episcopalians. Some of my church homes were built within living memory
and others generations before, including one church erected more than
250 years ago.

As a vestry member in three of these parishes, I strove to honor the
trust bequeathed to us by the past, respect the needs of the present
and take seriously my obligation to pass on the gifts received to
future generations. To me, a parish is not an island, but part of a
larger corporate whole -- the Episcopal Church. We all are
beneficiaries of this larger community of believers, extending across
time and space. It gives each of us a stake in every parish and its
property.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_104240_ENG_HTM.htm

More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_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

>Second Sunday After the Epiphany - Year B

1 Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20); Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20;
John 1:43-51

>By the Very Rev. Anthony F.M. Clavier

Today's gospel reading is a delicious story. We encounter enthusiasm,
prejudice, and extraordinary insight all in one short story. It is
sometimes good for us to remember that we get above ourselves when we
regard the people of our Lord's day as being so inferior to ourselves
as not to be taken too seriously. Obviously we know a good deal more
than they did about all sorts of things. Yet we share not only a
common humanity but those very same traits that enliven and sometimes
sully our day-to-day lives. Philip and Nathanael are not unlike you
and me, prone to bursts of enthusiasm and almost unconscious
prejudice.

Philip's encounter with Jesus was obviously dramatic and life
changing. Jesus was direct. He met Philip and told him to join Jesus'
small band of followers. There may have been more to the encounter
that added to the extraordinary excitement that sent Philip off to
find Nathanael, but however long or short the encounter, Philip was
hooked. So off he ran to find his friend.

Nathanael thinks Philip is crazy. To a pure Jew, the inhabitants of
Nazareth were not only country folk with a country accent, they were a
racially mixed community. The same sort of prejudice that we
encounter, and perhaps exhibit in unguarded moments, caused Nathanael
to blurt out, "Can any good come out of Nazareth?"

Full reflection:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work_104116_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On January 15, 2009...

* 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 15, 1535, Henry VIII declares himself
head of the Church of England.

>_____________________

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