[ENS] ENGLAND: Queen Elizabeth II inaugurates new General Synod, underscores need to communicate the

[<mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal News Service
>November 23, 2010

Episcopal News Service is available at 
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/ens.

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/episcopal_news

>Today's Episcopal News Service includes:

* TOP STORY - ENGLAND: Queen Elizabeth II inaugurates new General
Synod, underscores need to communicate the gospel
* WORLD REPORT - Police raid Sudan churches' offices during 
referendum build-up
* MISSION - Continuing Indaba bishops find 'excitement and hope' for
communion's future
* MISSION - 'Bible in the Life of the Church' project participants
report on work thus far
* OPINION - Gratitude and thanksgivings, By Sister Carol Bernice
* VIDEO - Bluestone Farm residents take pride in sustainable living
* DAYBOOK - November 24: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History

>_____________________

>TOP STORIES

ENGLAND: Queen Elizabeth II inaugurates new General Synod, underscores
need to communicate the gospel

Willesden bishop inhibited for comments about royal wedding

>By Matthew Davies

[Episcopal News Service, London] Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of
Edinburgh visited Church House, Westminster, on Nov. 23 to inaugurate
a new General Synod that will govern the Church of England for the
next five years.

"The new synod will have many issues to resolve to ensure that the
Church of England remains equipped for the effective pursuit of its
mission and ministry," Queen Elizabeth said in her address to the
synod. "Some will, no doubt, involve difficult, even painful, choices.
But Christian history suggests that times of growth and spiritual
vigor have coincided with periods of challenge and testing. What
matters is holding firmly to the need to communicate the gospel with
joy and conviction in our society."

About 160 synod members, or one third, are new to the gathering.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79425_125866_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

Police raid Sudan churches' offices during referendum build-up

>By Fredrick Nzwili

[Ecumenical News International] The head of the Sudan Council of
Churches has been calling for close scrutiny of out-of-country
referendum registration processes in Kenya, Uganda and Egypt, while
also reporting that police recently stormed the council offices
breaking down doors, and conducted a search.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_125876_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>MISSION

Continuing Indaba bishops find 'excitement and hope' for communion's 
future

>By ENS staff

[Episcopal News Service] The Anglican bishops of Ho in Ghana, Mbeere
in Kenya and Saldanha Bay in South Africa have committed themselves
"to one another in the Indaba process by intensifying relationships
across the communion, energizing local and global mission and enabling
genuine conversation across differences," according to an Anglican
Communion News Service release.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_125874_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

'Bible in the Life of the Church' project participants report on work 
thus far

>By ENS staff

[Episcopal News Service] Reports about work in the first year of the
Anglican Communion's "The Bible in the Life of the Church" project
showed both the variety of ways Anglican engage with the Bible and
also "made clear the common experience of Anglicans that the Bible is
a source of 'transformative power,'" according to a press release.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81799_125873_ENG_HTM.htm

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

>_____________________

>VIDEO

Bluestone Farm residents take pride in sustainable living

[Episcopal News Service] Sisters and resident companions living at the
Community of the Holy Spirit's Bluestone Farm in Brewster, New York,
grow 80 percent of their own food and come together for daily meals
and to offer thanks.

>Video: http://bit.ly/efePEk

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

>_____________________

>OPINION

>Gratitude and thanksgivings

>By Sister Carol Bernice

[Episcopal News Service] At home on Bluestone Farm, before sitting
down to eat, we make a circle around the kitchen table, holding hands
and offering our thanksgivings. We call it our "gratitude prayer."

Over the years I have slipped into a kind of mantra with this daily
ritual. "I am grateful for this circle and for our life together on
the farm." Sometimes the circle is just the eight of us -- four
sisters and four resident companions -- small and intimate; and
sometimes a regular gang with guests, retreatants, interns and
volunteers. Small or large, I am always grateful for the circle and
our life together -- on the farm.

This place in Brewster, New York, was not always a farm, and I, not
always a farmer! We took our lawns and turned them into gardens, and
the Community of the Holy Spirit took me, a librarian in my last
workplace incarnation, and turned me into a farming nun. The
transformations, on both fronts, have been remarkable.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_125870_ENG_HTM.htm

More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

>On November 24, 2010...

* 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 November 24, 1860, George Croly, Anglican
Divine and hymnist, died.