Christ Church Reading receives Lilly grant for rector's sabbatical ... Christ Church Reading has received a grant of $37,981.00 to enable their rector, the Rev. John R. Francis, to participate in the 2009 National Clergy Renewal Program funded by the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment, Inc. It is one of 149 congregations across the country supporting their ministers in the program that allows pastors to step back from their busy lives and renew their spirits for the benefit of their ongoing ministries. Read more here.
Christ Church Reading receives New Hope grant for new food ministry ... [From Christ Church Reading] Heather Boggs, our talented Director for S.P.A.R.K. (Support for Parents and Activities and Resources for Kids) successfully applied for a one-time food ministry grant of $25,000 from our Diocesan New Hope Campaig “The goal of this program is two fold. First, we will help educate families about basic nutrition. We will educate families on the food pyramid, portion sizes for adults and children, avoiding over processed, sugar laden foods, adding whole grains and meal planning. Next we will sit down with each family to look at their food budget. We will take into account how much they receive in WIC and food stamps and we will see where they are shopping for their food. Each family will provide us with receipts for the food they have been purchasing. We will go over them to see where they could improve on nutrition, quantity and cost. From there we will provide either supplemental food or transportation vouchers so they can avoid the limited variety and high costs of the neighborhood corner store and can get to an economically priced grocery or super store.” We were also blessed with an anonymous donation of a large upright freezer brought to the church by Kim and Joe Bonner.
Dreams realized in two dioceses on two sides of the world ... Story and nine photos by Charlie Barebo.
Desks and chairs for Kajo Keji kids ... Story and three photos by Charlie Barebo.
12 Days of Christmas for Kajo Keji ... Our World Mission Committee is again sponsoring the 12 Days of Christmas for Kajo Keji. Here's a bulletin insert. Your support was so critical last year. Instead of giving Aunt Mildred a sweater she doesn't want, why not give a gift in her honor to those really in need? Items range in price from $5 to $250. Deadline is December 15. Call Jo Trepagnier, 610-434-0155, if you have any questions. Similar info appears on the back cover of the November issue of Diocesan Life.
Kajo Keji fundraiser at Mediator Sunday School ... Read more here.
Advent resources ... Kat Lehman's comprehensive compilation of Advent resources is on the DioBeth website. The Advent calendar tradition began in the early 1800s in Germany as Lutherans began physically counting down the days until Christmas. Some people lit a candle each day, which may also have been the start of the tradition of Advent wreaths. A German printer, is said to have created the first paper Advent calendars in 1908. Here's for a description of several 2009 Episcopal Advent calendars available online.
Advent Service of Lessons & Carols ... Mediator Allentown, Sunday December 6, at 5:00pm.
Expectant in Bethlehem ... Find Canon Anne Kitch's Advent Meditation from Thursday here. If you would like to subscribe to these daily meditations go to the "Get Connected" box on the right side of our Diocesan Website. Enter your name and email address, click on "my groups," then choose Expectant in Bethlehem. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Full of Grace ... An Advent Exhibition ...
I am Episcopalian because ... Check it out here.
Not a contradiction ... The door has been open for many years ... Six years ago, Gene Robinson became the first openly gay Episcopal bishop. Internal battles continue. This summer, General Convention resolved that the screening process for new bishops is open to gays and lesbians. Two years ago, Episcopal leaders had said they'd hold off on gay bishops. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told Atlanta WABE's Denis O'Hayer that's not a contradiction. [Listen to the Nationl Public Radio interview with the PB here.]To benefit Allentown and Grace Montessori School ... A project –– traditional and fine art photos taken within Allentown by aspiring local artists –– sponsored by Dan’s Camera, Allentown Brew Works, The Morning Call, and Nikon Cameras will benefit Allentown and Grace Montessori School. Read more here. You might find a special Chrstmas gift. Grace Montessori School will receive 30 to 50 percent of the purchase price on all the products Dan's Camera City has produced and is providing at cost.
Yuletide Revels
... [From Mother Laura Howell] This is a reminder that our annual
Yuletide Revels will be held tomorrow (December 5) at 5:00 at Trinity Bethlehem.
Co-sponsored by the Moravian College Undergraduate Conference on
Medieval and Early Modern Studies, this year the Revels feature
Hesperus, an early music group from Washington, D.C. The concert
concludes with the traditional Boar's Head Procession (no boars were
harmed!), leading revelers into a lavish reception of traditional
Yuletide foods and much tomfoolery: flaming Christmas Puddings,
wassail, nog, cakes, cookies, cheeses. Suggested donation: $12.00.
Tickets at the door. Email Mother Laura if you'd like more info.
Christmas Cookies at St. Andrew's ... [From Liza Holzinger] Too busy to bake for the holidays? Purchase some fresh, homemade, delicious treats for entertaining and gifts. Cookies, kiffles, and nut tossies go on sale at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 1900 Pennsylvania Ave. (just south of Catasauqua Rd. on the border of Bethlehem and Allentown) on Sunday, December 20 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Visit www.standrewsbethlehem.org or phone 610 865-3603 for more information. All proceeds benefit the church’s mission and ministry of sheltering the homeless and feeding the hungry.
CDC warning details and phishing alert email example... Visit the National Swine Flu Situation Page.
Fight the flu with facts ... See the comprehensive flu.gov website.
RC Bishop in the spotlight: Return of the Culture Wars? ... Read the National Catholic Reporter story here.
Are you good without God? ...
[From the Baltimore Sun] Four electronic billboards in Baltimore ask
this question. Baltimore becomes the latest target of a national
campaign, funded by
an anonymous businessman from Philadelphia, intended to join atheists,
agnostics, humanists, freethinkers and other nonbelievers - a diverse
lot, not universally inclined toward organization - into something
resembling a community, and one that ultimately could wield the sort of
social, cultural and political power now enjoyed by the larger
religious denominations. ... Area religious leaders do not sound
threatened. "Of course we know that someone can be good without
believing in God,"
said the Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, the Episcopal bishop of
Maryland. "We don't believe in God in order to be good. We believe in
God in order to connect with the holy within us, which helps us to love
everyone in the world, even those who don't believe in God, even those
who don't see the point of religion, even those who would harm us. As
is it says in our Scriptures, 'God is love.' " [More here]
Diocesan Life.December ... download it here. Diocesan Life will not publish a January issue.
Seen and not heard in church ... [By Laura Vanderkam, WSJournal] One Sunday in February 2008, I faced a dilemma. After being cooped up all
week with a sick 9-month-old baby, I was desperate to get out of my
apartment. I wanted to go to church. But I didn't want to expose other
children in the church nursery to my son's germs. So I decided to bring
him into the pew with me and my husband—only to learn that my church
had chosen that Lenten Sunday for a very solemn service, full of soft
chants and contemplative silences. You can guess where this is going.
My baby made joyful noises at inopportune moments. An usher asked us if
we would take him out. My husband brought him home. I spent the rest of
the service in tears. [More here]
Are church leaders getting it, at last? ... [By Bishop Paul Marshall] Just when we religious leaders thought we were done with large-scale sex scandals, a bomb was dropped in Dublin, but I came away from that story somewhat heartened. Church leaders may be getting it at long last. Irish Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of the RC Archdiocese of Dublin responded with humility and candor to the official report of decades of abuse of children by priests. He made no excuses for the activities of rogue clergy or the worse sins of his predecessors in covering them up. He cooperated with investigators and turned over church records. When the report was complete, he offered a humble apology to victims and their families, and acknowledged that the harm they have suffered cannot be erased. It is a shame that American media did not give his courageous statement much coverage, There was something to learn in the tragic tale. There was no defensiveness or evasiveness in the Archbishop’s remarks, a model of humility and contrition. He went the considerable extra mile in revealing the extent to which the police had colluded in protecting the church rather than its victims. [Read all of Bishop Paul's December column for secular newspapers here.]Pray for our young men and
Jobs in South Bethlehem? ... Check out the forum at the Cathedral on Monday, Dec. 7, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.
The Diocese of Bethlehem ...
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Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ... January 18-25. Find resources here.
Become a baker in the House of Bread ... If you are interested in more news, issues, ideas, opinion and conversation related to our diocesan community, the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, you might consider becoming a baker in the House of Bread's new Bakery. Go to the "Get Connected" box on the right side of our diocesan website. Fill in your name and email address, and click on "My Groups." In the next window that comes up, check Bakery. Bakery, of course, is a play on Bethlehem meaning "House of Bread" in Hebrew. Subscribed to Bakery, you will receive several notes daily (perhaps two, perhaps ten when the oven is hot) and you will be able to enter the conversation by posting your own notes to the group, i.e., to the other bakers. News is fresh in the Bakery long before you see it in print in Diocesan Life. If you choose to do so, thank you for becoming a baker.
Find earlier issues of the newSpin newsletter here.
Bill Lewellis, Communication Minister/Editor (1986), Canon Theologian (1998)
Diocese of Bethlehem, 333 Wyandotte Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015
Website, Blog, Email (c)610-216-2726, (w)610-691-5655x229, (h)610-820-7673
Be attentive. Be intelligent. Be reasonable. Be responsible.
Be in Love. And, if necessary, change. [Bernard Lonergan]
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