wfn.org | [ELD] Lent is time of training for life, Presiding Bishop says / Video: Anglicans meet in Costa Rica

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

>Episcopal Life Daily
>February 26, 2009

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

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* TOP STORY - Lent is time of training for life, Presiding Bishop says
* EDUCATION - Episcopal Divinity School's General Convention course  offered
as webcast
* MISSION - A call to moral courage
* MULTIMEDIA - Video: Anglicans meet in Costa Rica for conference on  mutual
responsibility and mission
* DAYBOOK - February 27, 2009: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - Open the Door to Liberty! A Biography of Toussaint  L'Ouverture

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

Lent is time of training for life, Presiding Bishop says

Ash Wednesday sermon audio, Spanish text available

>By Mary Frances Schjonberg

[Episcopal News Service -- San José, Costa Rica] Reflecting on the  message
to "remember that you are dust and to dust you will return," Episcopal
Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said during an Ash
Wednesday service here that "we are dust given life by the spirit of  God."

Jefferts Schori presided and preached during an Ash Wednesday service
February 25 at Hogar Escuela Episcopal, a day-care center in the Barrio  Cuba
section of San José, Costa Rica. During the service, the Presiding  Bishop
imposed ashes on some of the children who spend the day at the center,  as
well as school staff and participants in the Conference of the Anglican
Churches in the Americas on Mutual Responsibility and Mission. The  latter
group visited the center at the beginning of a day-long tour of the  city.

"We are dust hoping to be worthy of the image of God," the Presiding  Bishop
said during her sermon, adding that humans are "made of the same dust  that
comes ultimately from the stars."

Full story and audio link:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_105428_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>EDUCATION

Episcopal Divinity School's General Convention course offered as webcast

[EDS] The workings of the Episcopal Church's triennial General  Convention
can be mystifying to first time attendees and church members interested  in
the governance of their church. Modeled after the United State's  bicameral
form of government, Episcopal Church governance is built around the  House of
Bishops and the House of Deputies, who come together every three years  to
consider resolutions presented to the General Convention by Church
committees, commissions, agencies and boards; bishops; dioceses and
provinces; and deputies designed to determine the priorities, the  mission,
the ministry, and sets the direction for the church.

To help church members learn about the governance of the Episcopal  Church,
each triennium Episcopal Divinity School offers an introductory course  on
General Convention. "The General Convention of the Episcopal Church:
Conflict, Covenant, and Community" introduces students to the history of
this institution, the formal and informal processes and politics which
inform its operation, and the key personalities who provide leadership.  Next
offered June 1-5, from 3 to 5 p.m. daily, this course will be webcast in
order to reach a wider range of graduate and continuing education  students.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78650_105449_ENG_HTM.htm

More Education: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80263_93222_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>MISSION

>A call to moral courage

Faith leaders urge U.S. government to reform immigration

>By ENS staff

[Episcopal News Service] The Latino missioner for the Episcopal Diocese  of
Washington was among U.S. faith leaders who on February 26 called on
President Barack Obama and Congress to show moral courage and enact
immigration reform. Their call came days after participants at 160  prayer
vigils across the nation urged the U.S. administration to bring humanity  and
compassion back into the public immigration dialogue.

The faith leaders discussed the vigils and announced plans for a  "neighbor
to neighbor" initiative to organize hundreds of visits to members of
Congress from April 6-17. Participants included the Rev. Simon Bautista
Betances, Latino missioner of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

"Prayer vigils can be a place to start or to continue, depending on  where we
are on the road," Betances said, "but in either case they offer us a
wonderful opportunity to reaffirm our faith and renew our commitment to  the
voiceless and vulnerable members of our communities: the undocumented
immigrants."

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_105476_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>MULTIMEDIA

Video: Anglicans meet in Costa Rica for conference on mutual  responsibility
and mission

[Episcopal News Service] Participants at the Conference of the Anglican
Churches in the Americas on Mutual Responsibility and Mission, held  February
22-26 in San José, Costa Rica, speak about their experiences of the  five-day
gathering.

Video: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81231_ENG_HTM.htm

More Multimedia: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80056_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On February 27, 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 27, 1773, Christ Episcopal Church in
Alexandria, Virginia, was completed after six years of construction. On
February 27, 280, Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to be
converted to the Christian faith, was born.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"Open the Door to Liberty! A Biography of Toussaint L'Ouverture" from
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co., written by Anne Rockwell,
illustrated by R. Gregory Christie, 64 pages, hardcover, c. 2009, $18

[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co.] The island now known as Haiti  was
once a French colony called St. Domingue, where white plantation owners
forced hundreds of thousands of African slaves to farm sugar cane.  Toussaint
L'Ouverture was one of those slaves ... but not for long. The day would  come
when L'Ouverture would lead his island's slaves into a revolution for
freedom, and his efforts would influence the course of world history.

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

Please note: all Black History Month titles are on sale at 25% off. Sale
ends on February 28.

More Catalyst: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/83842_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

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