Episcopal Life Daily April 30, 2008
Episcopal Life Online is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.
Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:
* TOP STORY - Presiding Bishop writes to House of Bishops on process, canons * TOP STORY - May 11 bulletin insert highlights Episcopal Church's ecumenical and interfaith work * DIOCESAN DIGEST - CENTRAL FLORIDA: Diocese anticipates 'amicable separation' with Vero Beach parish * WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Canterbury denies New Hampshire bishop permission to preach or preside * WORLD REPORT - ENGLAND: Church still homophobic, says outgoing leader of gay Christians * WORLD REPORT - KENYA: Anglican, Catholic leaders want more than talk on displaced * WEEKS AHEAD - Upcoming special events and services * SPIRITUAL REFLECTION - Seventh Sunday of Easter - Year A [RCL] * DAYBOOK - May 1, 2008: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History * CATALYST - Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible
_____________________
TOP STORIES
Presiding Bishop writes to House of Bishops on process, canons
[Episcopal News Service] In an April 30 letter to the House of Bishops, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori reviews and comments on process related to deposition, inhibition, renunciation and resignation of bishops. The full text of the Presiding Bishop's letter, posted by email at 10:30 a.m. on April 30, is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_96792_ENG_HTM.htm
- - - - -
May 11 bulletin insert highlights Episcopal Church's ecumenical and interfaith work
[Episcopal Life Weekly] The insert for Pentecost, May 11, highlights the ecumenical and interfaith work of the Episcopal Church.
Bulletin inserts are available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/95270_ENG_HTM.htm
More Top Stories: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife
_____________________
DIOCESAN DIGEST
CENTRAL FLORIDA: Diocese anticipates 'amicable separation' with Vero Beach parish http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_96778_ENG_HTM.htm
More Diocesan news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
WORLD REPORT
ENGLAND: Canterbury denies New Hampshire bishop permission to preach or preside http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_96801_ENG_HTM.htm
ENGLAND: Church still homophobic, says outgoing leader of gay Christians http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_96796_ENG_HTM.htm
KENYA: Anglican, Catholic leaders want more than talk on displaced http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_96798_ENG_HTM.htm
More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
WEEKS AHEAD
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/78650_1669_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS
Seventh Sunday of Easter - Year A [RCL]
Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11
By Judith Schenck
[Sermons That Work] Thursday was the Feast of the Ascension. Alas, because so few of us attend weekday feasts, most parishes celebrate the Ascension on this Sunday following the feast. Because we celebrate the major feasts of the church with hindsight and developed reflection, we miss the intense emotions that those events caused for the ones who initially experienced the events. Immediate experiences are often full of raw emotion that time mitigates. We soften the reality of the initial experience.
All of us have experienced death in one form or another. Some of us have even experienced the traumatic and violent death of someone we love. And in most instances, death itself is upheaval. Imagine the death of a beloved child or spouse or close sibling. Go through being with that loved one at the time of agony, being helpless and powerless to stop the pain and death. Imagine holding the loved one at the time of death, closing the eyes, a kiss good-bye. Image the drama and the trauma of the funeral process, the funeral home, the viewing, the church service, the burial.
Go home, and the next day awake to find your dead son or spouse or sibling standing there in the room beside your bed, not in some mystical imagining, but in real tangible, physical, touchable, talking flesh and blood. Imagine the shock, the confusion, the doubting of your own sanity.
Full reflection: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82478_96740_ENG_HTM.htm
More Spiritual Reflections: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm
_____________________
DAYBOOK
On May 1, 2008, the Church calendar remembers Ascension Day and Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles.
* 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 May 1, 1976, Edmond Lee Browning was elected Bishop of Hawaii at a special convention of the diocese. Browning later became the 24th Presiding Bishop.
_____________________
CATALYST
"Christians at the Border: Immigration, the Church, and the Bible" from Baker Publishing Group, by M. Daniel Carroll R., foreword by Samuel Rodriguez, afterword by Ronald J. Sider, 174 pages, paperback, c. 2008, $16.99
[Source: Baker Publishing Group] Immigration is one of the hot-button political, social, and economic issues facing the United States today, with tremendous bearing on the future of the country. It is also a matter of great ethical import and so requires thoughtful engagement on the part of both individual Christians and churches. Yet it is an emotionally heated and complex topic, one often informed more by ideological and economic commitments than by biblical values.
Christians at the Border seeks to remedy that situation by drawing on the ethical resources of both the Old and New Testaments to provide a biblical perspective on the immigration debate. The author is of mixed Hispanic and Anglo parentage and cultural experience, so he is uniquely qualified to address the issue. He does so in a balanced, accessible, and informative manner. Besides plumbing Scripture for insights, he outlines a history of Hispanic immigration to the United States and addresses a largely overlooked issue -- the impact that the large influx of Hispanic immigrants is having and will continue to have on the American church. Beyond its wide appeal, this book will prove a helpful supplemental text in courses in ethics, contemporary culture and Christian faith, and missiology.
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