Presiding Bishop’s opening sermon from Executive Council
[Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs] Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori delivered the following sermon on Feb. 5 during the opening Eucharist at the Episcopal Church Executive Council meeting currently gathered at the Conference Center at the Maritime Institute in Linthicum Heights, MD (Diocese of Maryland). Martyrs of Japan Executive Council, Maritime Center, Linthicum Heights, MD […]
Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music seeks feedback on Holy Women, Holy Men
The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) has issued the following request for responses concerning Holy Women, Holy Men. At the last General Convention, the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music was directed to continue revising Holy Women, Holy Men with particular attention to the 2006 guidelines, renewed attention to the form, poetry, and […]
Episcopal Church Office of Communication: 2013 by the numbers
For the Episcopal Church Office of Communication, 2013 was a remarkable year. “The year 2013 showed continued dramatic growth in audiences for all of our digital publications, our website and our social media outlets,” noted Anne Rudig, Director of Communication. Our internal and external media relations efforts yielded some significant placements and much expanded activity.” […]
Bible Study: Epiphany 1 (A) – 2014
Isaiah 42:1-9 “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.” Arguably, Juliet’s words about Romeo in the famous balcony scene from Shakespeare’s play are among the most frequently quoted in Western culture. She speaks aloud, unaware that he is below in the garden, listening. […]
Bible Study: Advent 4 (A) – 2013
Isaiah 7:10-17 Our focus during the first three weeks of Advent has been the coming of Jesus and preparing ourselves for that occasion through reflection and repentance. Today, as we anticipate the birth of Christ, we must take this one step further: anticipating the coming of God, we must prepare a place within ourselves to […]
TREC issues letter to The Episcopal Church
Task Force on Study of Marriage issues report of work
The Episcopal Church Task Force on the Study of Marriage has issued the following report: The Episcopal Church’s Task Force on the Study of Marriage has begun to dig into the depth and breadth of its work, enabled by Resolution A050 at the 2012 General Convention. The Rev. Brian C. Taylor, chair, reports, “We’re making […]
Bible Study: Proper 20 (C) – 2013
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 This passage comes from the section of Jeremiah that contains a series of poetic oracles of God’s judgment in the form of conquest and destruction by Babylon, the foe from the north. It is a dialogue between the prophet Jeremiah, God and the people of Israel. It is not always clear who is […]
Repeatedly Lost, Repeatedly Found, Proper 19 (C) – 2013
Jesus puts before his audience two stories of lost and found. In each case, the one who loses goes to extraordinary efforts to find what is lost. Having recovered it, the finder calls upon the surrounding community to join in rejoicing that the lost has been found. Jesus applies both stories to what happens when […]
A People without Boundaries, Proper 5 (C) – 2013
A widow is walking a dusty road. The sun is in the sky, making shadows on the mud-brick walls and simple dusty streets of Nain. The town sits on the edge of a wide and beautiful valley, but the widow doesn’t notice, because today her life has ended. She has lost her last connection to […]
Pentecost – Westover Episcopal Church
I met a remarkable woman in Atlanta this week. We were gathered at an ecumenical conference on peace-making on the Korean peninsula, where a state of war continues, because a final peace agreement has never been signed. As we stood around before the day’s events began, I asked where she was from and she began […]
Service and Sacrifice: Lenten Meditation, 3/28/2013
John 13:1-17, 31b-35 By: Grace Flint “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35) Since Lent is a time of self-examination […]
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop’s Easter Message 2013
[1] From the Exsultet, Book of Common Prayer pp 286-7 [2] http://http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/us/a-ritual-of-lent-attracts-nonbelievers.html
Passing Peace: Lenten Meditation, 3/18/2013
Psalm 122 By: Grace Flint I grew up in a non-denominational church where anything liturgical was considered insincere. Instead of exchanging the peace, we were instructed to introduce ourselves to our neighbor and share some inane personal fact, like a favorite color or sports team. It was more like being on a corporate team-building retreat […]
Episcopal House of Bishops offers A Word to the Church
Open to Healing: Lenten Meditation, 3/9/2013
Wisdom 7:24-28 By: Callie Swanlund During my senior year in high school, I was in a terrible skiing accident in which I collided with a tree, and broke two bones in my leg. The accident left me bed-ridden for several weeks, as my leg healed from surgery. To add insult to injury, my high school […]
Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music offers commentary on Holy Week liturgies
The Episcopal Church Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) is offering a commentary on some of the lectionary texts for Holy Week (March 24-31). This commentary will focus on texts that are linked to the sometimes unintended anti-Judaism which these texts have nourished in Christian liturgy. The Commission’s work is in response to a […]
EPPN Alert:: Lent: – Border Violence
Before he became one of the thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children who left their homes last year to make the solitary journey across some of the world's most dangerous borders in search of safety, Mario was a high school student in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. San Pedro Sula is one of the most violent cities […]
Faith Transfigured: Lenten Meditation, 2/24/2013
Luke 9:28-36 By: Hillary Raining Faith is a complicated gift. It is the kind of intangible that gets battered around in Christian circles in many different ways. Some people think that faith is a matter of will – that you must strive with all your might to cultivate and build up your faith. Other feel […]
Who Do You Say That You Are?: Lenten Meditation, 2/20/2013
Isaiah 55:6-11 By: Lucas John Mix “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near;let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts;let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.For my thoughts are not […]