wfn.org | [ELD] Church of England inches closer to approving women bishops

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>February 11, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Church of England inches closer to approving women bishops
* WORLD REPORT - EUROPE: Once-atheist Albania urged to return seized
religious property
* WORLD REPORT - SUDAN: ERD assists victims of brutal LRA attacks
* MISSION FOCUS - Kanuga continues commitment to sustainability
* FEATURE - Synod's structures contrast with General Convention's
* CALENDAR - Upcoming special events and services
* SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - February 15, 2009 - Sixth Sunday After the
Epiphany - Year B
* DAYBOOK - February 12, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Mandela! Struggle and Triumph

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Church of England inches closer to approving women bishops

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service -- London] The long and arduous road towards
accepting women bishops in the Church of England became an inch
shorter February 11 as the General Synod passed a motion to send a
draft measure on the matter to a revision committee that will spend
the next 12 months reworking the legislation.

The draft measure has two principal objectives: "to give the General
Synod power to make provision by canon allowing women to be
consecrated as bishops; and to set out the legal framework for the
arrangements to be made for parishes which, on grounds of theological
conviction, feel unable to receive the ministry of women."

The synod was not asked to amend the draft legislation, only to decide
on whether it should be "considered for revision in committee." With a
majority affirming that decision, synod members now have until March
16 to submit proposed amendments for review by the revision committee.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104977_ENG_HTM.htm

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

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>WORLD REPORT

EUROPE: Once-atheist Albania urged to return seized religious property

[Ecumenical News International, Geneva] Europe's largest grouping of
Anglican, Orthodox and Protestant churches has called on Albania to
return all sacred property seized from religious communities during 46
years of communist rule that followed the Second World War.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_104974_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

SUDAN: ERD assists victims of brutal LRA attacks

[ERD] Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) is partnering with the
Episcopal Church of the Sudan and its development arm, the Sudanese
Development and Relief Agency (SUDRA), to provide emergency assistance
to five of the dioceses most impacted by the ongoing humanitarian
crisis caused by the brutality of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a
rebel organization which has destroyed villages and caused massive
displacement in southern Sudan.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_104991_ENG_HTM.htm

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

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>MISSION FOCUS

>Kanuga continues commitment to sustainability

>By Phina Borgeson

[Episcopal News Service] Kanuga Conferences Inc., an Episcopal Church
camp and conference facility for 90 years, is installing energy-saving
solar panels to heat water at its 1,400-acre campus in the mountains
near Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Stan Bennett, president of Kanuga, noted that the installation of 131
solar panels on the roofs of 11 buildings represents "another step for
Kanuga and a very visible sign of its commitment to help preserve the
environment."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_105004_ENG_HTM.htm

More Mission Focus: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_ENG_HTM.htm

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>FEATURES

Synod's structures contrast with General Convention's

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service -- London] The Church of England's main
legislative body, General Synod, differs from the Episcopal Church's
General Convention in several ways.

Continuing its historic association with the state, the Church of
England maintains an established relationship with the parliamentary
structures of the British government and the Queen, who remains its
titular head. It continues a tradition of synodical government which
has its origins in the medieval period. Measures passed by synod also
need parliamentary approval. An overview of the Church of England's
legislative processes is available here
(http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/gensynod).

Described as "the national assembly of the Church of England," the
General Synod was inaugurated in 1970 under the Synodical Government
Measure 1969, replacing an earlier body known as the Church Assembly.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81834_104983_ENG_HTM.htm

More Features: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78936_ENG_HTM.htm

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>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

February 15, 2009 - Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany - Year B

2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Mark 1:40-45

>By the Rev. Timothy E. Crellin

[Sermons That Work] "O how I love Jesus, O how I love Jesus, O how I
love Jesus ... Because he first loved me."

These words from Hymn 95 in our Life Every Voice and Sing hymnal come
to mind as we think about the amazing miracles of Christ. Today's
story, about the healing of a leper, reminds us of why we love Jesus,
why we're so moved by who he was and what he did -- why his story is
the focus around which we have built our religious and spiritual
lives. Jesus must have been an incredible person -- courageous,
compassionate, committed. And we love him because he loved us first.

To understand what this story really says about not only how great
Jesus is, but about how much he loves us, we have to talk about
leprosy and about the cultural norms of those times. The term
"leprosy" in the Bible was used to name a number of different skin
diseases. And according to the religious law of the Jewish people, a
person with any one of these so-called leprous diseases was considered
unclean, untouchable, unwanted.

Full reflection:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work_104661_ENG_HTM.htm

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

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>DAYBOOK

>On February 12, 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 February 12, 1733, Anglican presence in Georgia
was established with Christ Church in Savannah, Georgia.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Mandela! Struggle and Triumph" from Harry N. Abrams, Inc., by David
Turnley, 168 pages, hardcover, c. 2008, $35

[Harry N. Abrams, Inc.] Nelson Mandela, an icon of the international
struggle for freedom and equality, whose importance rivals that of
Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi, turns ninety in July 2008.
Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison for his opposition to the
apartheid regime of his native South Africa. Released in 1990, he
pursued a policy of reconciliation, steering his nation into the ranks
of the world's multi-racial democracies. He was elected president of
South Africa in 1994.

Photographer David Turnley covered Mandela and South Africa for the
world's press, beginning in the 1980s. He witnessed the turbulence of
the last violent years of apartheid, was there when Mandela was
released from prison, campaigned with him during the presidential
election, and sought out the significant people and places of his
life. In Mandela: Struggle and Triumph, he tells in words and
photographs the dramatic and emotional story of the most powerful
movement for civil rights since the American civil rights movement,
through the eyes of its legendary leader.

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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