wfn.org | [ELD] Prayer surrounds Obama-Biden inauguration / Churches for Middle East Peace issues challenge fo

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>January 20, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Prayer surrounds Obama-Biden inauguration
* TOP STORY - Churches for Middle East Peace issues challenge for new
president
* TOP STORY - World Council of Churches U.S. leaders offer to 'roll up
our sleeves' to help Obama
* TOP STORY - Primates Meeting information featured in January 25
bulletin inserts
* TOP STORY - HBO will include omitted invocation in re-broadcasts of
'We Are One' concert
* TOP STORY - Presiding Bishop's statement on Inauguration Day
* TOP STORY - Gene Robinson asks God's blessing on Barack Obama, nation
* DIOCESAN DIGEST - Bishop Irish of Utah announces that she will retire
in 2010 
* WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: For Obama's inauguration, Committee for
Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns issues statement
* WORLD REPORT - Kenyans pray, sing and feast at Obama inauguration
* WORLD REPORT - MIDDLE EAST: Diocese issues update following Gaza
ceasefire
* DAYBOOK - January 21, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

>Prayer surrounds Obama-Biden inauguration

First couples begin day at 'the church of the presidents'

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] On the morning of taking their oaths of office
as president and vice-president of the United States, Barack Obama and
Joe Biden, along with their wives, worshipped at St. John's Episcopal
Church on Lafayette Square across from the White House.

The prayers at St. John's were just the beginning of a historic day
filled with prayers for the new administration and the country.

In New York City, Trinity Church Wall Street greeted the inauguration
with a nearly three-and-half hour full peal of its bells. 

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104338_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Churches for Middle East Peace issues challenge for new president

Jerusalem diocese issues update following Gaza ceasefire

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg and Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service] Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) said
January 19 that the recently announced temporary cease-fire agreement
between Israel and Hamas is a "much-needed end to the unbearable
violence of recent weeks."

The coalition, which includes 22 Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant
national church bodies including the Episcopal Church, called on
President Barack Obama to fulfill his recent statements to engage in
Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts "from day one" of his administration. 

"The Gaza crisis demonstrates the need for strong U.S. leadership in the
Israeli-Palestinian arena," CMEP said. "We will do everything possible
to encourage and support peacemaking efforts."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104337_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

World Council of Churches U.S. leaders offer to 'roll up our sleeves' to
help Obama

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service]  The U.S. Conference of the World Council of
Churches (http://www.wcc-usa.org), of which the Episcopal Church is a
member, has sent a letter to President Barack Obama promising help in
facing what it calls the "enormous and formidable" challenges that face
him and the world.

"Ours is not to point fingers at your new administration and say 'Fix
it.' Rather, ours is to roll up our sleeves and partner with you to help
bring about the changes that are so desperately needed for the United
States and the world to more closely reflect God's vision for humankind
and all of creation," wrote the Rev. Dr Bernice Powell Jackson, the
conference's moderator. "Ours is to call us all into account when we do
not follow that vision."

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Bishop Christopher
Epting, the Episcopal Church's program officer for Ecumenical and
Interreligious Relations, signed the letter along with the other members
and associate members of the U.S. Conference board and the heads of the
member churches.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104336_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Primates Meeting information featured in January 25 bulletin inserts

[Episcopal News Service] The January 25 Episcopal Life Weekly bulletin
inserts describe plans for the upcoming meeting of the Anglican primates
-- leading archbishops, presiding bishops and moderators -- who will
gather in Alexandria, Egypt, February 1-5 at the invitation of the
Archbishop of Canterbury. 

Bulletin inserts are available at

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/95270_ENG_HTM.htm.

>- - - - -

HBO will include omitted invocation in re-broadcasts of 'We Are One'
concert

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Future Home Box Office rebroadcasts of the
star-studded "We Are One" concert that kicked off four days of inaugural
events in and around Washington, D.C. will include Episcopal Diocese of
New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson's invocation. 

HBO, a premium cable channel, had been criticized for not including
Robinson's prayer during the live broadcast from the Lincoln Memorial on
January 18 or in subsequent repeats. HBO's online on-demand version also
did not include the invocation. The text of Robinson's nearly
four-minute prayer is available here and Christianity Today's politics
blogger Sarah Pulliam filmed the prayer and posted it here.

The New York Times reported on January 19 that the 2009 Presidential
Inauguration Committee took responsibility for the omission. The
committee issued a statement, the Times reported, saying it had always
intended Robinson's prayer to be part of the broadcast. The committee
organized the event and set the schedule. HBO had exclusive broadcast
rights. Robinson began his prayer at about 2:25 EST, according to the
Times, just before the HBO broadcast went live at 2:30.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104323_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Presiding Bishop's statement on Inauguration Day

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
offered the following statement January 20 on the inauguration of Barack
Obama as President of the United States:

As Episcopalians, we pray for the President of the United States each
time we gather for worship. In the years ahead, we will continue to pray
for President Barack Obama, for his wise and inspired leadership and
that he may know himself as a beloved child of God. May he both guide
this nation and be a partner in leading the world to a greater justice
for all.

We give abundant thanks for his historic election, and pray that his
ministry may encourage others in the prophetic search for a just and
peaceful world.

Statement available online at

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104317_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Gene Robinson asks God's blessing on Barack Obama, nation

New Hampshire bishop prays with thousands at Lincoln Memorial

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service] Standing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
January 18, Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson
asked the tens of thousands of people attending the "We Are One" concert
to pray with him for God to guide "your child Barack."

He also asked God to bless the country with tears, anger, discomfort,
patience, humility, compassion and generosity and "freedom from mere
tolerance."

Robinson gave the invocation before the star-studded event that kicked
off four days of inaugural events in and around Washington, D.C.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104310_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DIOCESAN DIGEST

Bishop Irish of Utah announces that she will retire in 2010

[Diocese of Utah] The Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish of the Diocese of
Utah has announced that she plans to retire in 2010, in what will be her
14th year as bishop diocesan, according to an announcement on the
diocese's website. 

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_104342_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>WORLD REPORT

ENGLAND: For Obama's inauguration, Committee for Minority Ethnic
Anglican Concerns issues statement

[Episcopal News Service] At a meeting last week, the Church of England's
Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns discussed the impact of
the election of the new American president. In the light of that
discussion, the Rev. Rose Hudson Wilkin, chair of the committee, on
January 20 issued a statement.

Statement: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_104327_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

Kenyans pray, sing and feast at Obama inauguration

>By Fredrick Nzwili

[Ecumenical News International, Nairobi] On the day Barack Obama was
being sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America,
African and Americans resident in Kenya marked the event through public
celebrations and prayer.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_104328_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

MIDDLE EAST: Diocese issues update following Gaza ceasefire

[Episcopal News Service] The Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem issued an
update January 20, two days after a temporary cease-fire agreement
between Israel and Hamas ended a 22-day military operation in Gaza that
left more than 1,200 dead and thousands injured.

Full text: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_104326_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On January 21, 2009, the church calendar remembers Agnes, Martyr at Rome
(304).

* 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 21, 1549, in the first of four Acts of
Uniformity, the British Parliament required all Anglican public services
to exclusively use of The Book of Common Prayer. On January 21, 1902,
Alexander Hamilton Vinton was elected the first bishop of the Episcopal
Diocese of Western Massachusetts.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope" from Simon & Schuster,
Inc., written by Nikki Grimes, illustrated by Brian Collier, 48 pages,
hardcover, c. 2008, $16.95

[Simon & Schuster, Inc.] Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has
lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Chicago,
from the jungles of Indonesia to the plains of Kenya, he has held on to
Hope. Even as a boy, Barack knew he wasn't quite like anybody else, but
through his journeys he found the ability to listen to Hope and become
what he was meant to be: a bridge to bring people together.

This is the moving story of an exceptional man, as told by Nikki Grimes
and illustrated by Bryan Collier, both winners of the Coretta Scott King
Award. Barack Obama has motivated Americans to believe with him, to
believe that every one of us has the power to change ourselves and
change our world.

[The description above is provided by the publisher of this title, and
does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Episcopal Books and
Resources (EBaR) or that of The Episcopal Church.]

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

>_____________________

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