Trinity Easton receives $25,000 UTO grant ... Trinity Church in Easton was awarded a grant by the United Thank Offering of the Episcopal Church for kitchen equipment to support the parish’s weekly Ark Soup Kitchen and other ministries housed there. The award was announced last week in a letter to Bishop Paul. Read more here.
A lesson from the Gulf Coast: We are all connected ... [A Huffington Post column by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.] The original peoples of the North American continent understand that we are all connected, and that harm to one part of the sacred circle of life harms the whole. Scientists, both the ecological and physical sorts, know the same reality, expressed in different terms. The Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) also charge human beings with care for the whole of creation, because it is God's good gift to humanity. Another way of saying this is that we are all connected and there is no escape; our common future depends on how we care for the rest of the natural world, not just the square feet of soil we may call "our own." We breathe the same air, our food comes from the same ground and seas, and the water we have to share cycles through the same airshed, watershed, and terra firma. The still-unfolding disaster in the Gulf of Mexico is good evidence of the interconnectedness of the whole. Read it all here. [H/T to Neva Rae Fox's Daily Scan]
Denominations choosing different strategies in Arizona ... Every major Christian denomination in the State of Arizona has expressed deep concern regarding the new law enacted which makes it a state crime to be in the state without proper documentation. But while everyone agrees that the law is troubling because of fears of how it will be enforced, there are significant differences between denominations about how to proceed next. Read more here. [H/T to Nick Knisely, writing at Episcopal Cafe]
Spirituality Every Day ... Many resources at explorefaith.org.
A few Reasoned Responses to the New Atheism ... Find them here.
June Diocesan Life ... Download it here.
Summer Diocesan Events ... Something for everyone. Share Save Spend on June 12 in Whitehall, Communication Workshop, June 26 in Bethlehem, The Gospel according to Dr. Seuss (Bishop's Day for Kids) July 10 in Scranton, and Middle School Mission Trip, August 5-8 in Bethlehem. More info here and on page 8 of the June Diocesan Life.
Bishop's Day for Kids ... The Gospel according to Dr Seuss, July 10 in Scranton. More info here.
A new name for your next child ... Trying to set DioBeth as our Facebook username, Kat Lehman said: "Believe it or not, someone named their child Diobeth and took that username." So our Facebook username is DioceseOfBehlehem. Find our Facebook page here.
Pray for our young men and women who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, and for their families … Adam L. Perkins, 27; John M. McHugh, 46; Paul R. Bartz, 43; Thomas P. Belkofer, 44; Richard J. Tieman, 28; Joshua A. Tomlinson, 24; Patrick Xavier Jr., 24; Shane S. Barnard, 38; Billy G. Anderson, 20; Philip P. Clark, 19; Jason D. Fingar, 24; Stanley J. Sokolowski, III, 26; Amilcar H. Gonzalez, 26; ... for the fallen heroes also of our coalition partners, and for the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan who have died, unnamed and unknown to us, and for those who mourn ... and for an end to this endless war.
Prayers of the People ... for Trinity Sunday. To receive a weekly email of Prayers of the People, subscribe at the "Get Connected" box on the right column of the DioBeth website. If you do not already do so, consider adding the above "Pray for" item to your Prayers of the People. It is sent weekly to parish administrators, usually on Tuesday.
Managing the Body of Christ ... Leading a congregation is one of those things that's hard to prepare to do. Seminary only briefly touches on the sort of work that fills the day of most parish priests. Most clergy get thrown into the deep end of their first parish and struggle to stay afloat. The Alban Institute has an article that lists specific areas that can make a difference between success and failure when working on managing the life of a congregation. Read more here.
Home Heating Equipment Rebate Funds Still Available ... Pennsylvania's Home Heating Equipment Rebate Program still has an estimated 89% of its funds waiting to be claimed. Almost half of a home's energy consumption goes toward heating and water heating - more than any other appliance or fixture. Beginning in April 2010, Pennsylvania began offering an incentive for homeowners to upgrade heating equipment for energy cost savings. Rebates ranging from $100 to $500 are being offered on qualifying non-electric Energy Star water heaters, furnaces and boilers. Funded by the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Pennsylvania Home Heating Equipment Rebate Program offers rebates to Pennsylvania residents in existing single-family homes to encourage energy efficient product purchases and save energy throughout the state. Details on qualifying products and obtaining rebates are available here. [H/T to Sandy Strauss of the Pennsylvania Council of Churches]
What are bishops reading? ... Because the House of Bishops has its own regular meeting, and its own College for Bishops, it's not surprising to learn that many bishops read the same books over a given year. And it's always interesting to find out what's on the reading list, because the ideas tend to surface. A few bishops mentioned to people this spring that the book of the season is a series of reflections written following the most recent Lambeth Conference. The book is called Christ and Culture: Communion after Lambeth and is part of the Canterbury Studies in Anglicanism series. Read more here. [H/T to Nick Knisely, writing at Episcopal Cafe]In
Episcopal Life Weekly bulletin insert for June 6 ... Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies of General Convention, describes the Episcopal Church's "circle of ministries." Inserts available in English and Spanish here.
Digital immigrants, i.e., those of us born in the era of rotary telephones and manual typewriters, catching up with digital natives, i.e., those who have always had desktop and palm-sized computers. Being a luddite isn't really an option anymore. Nick Knisely, writing at Episcopal Cafe, points us to a quick-start quide for anyone who's looking to enter the new promised land.
Shades of grey in a world of apparent absolutes ... [By Thomas P. Doyle, National Catholic Reporter] Though the case of the Phoenix religious sister who was directly involved in the decision making process to terminate an 11 week pregnancy in order to save the mother's life has been reported in Catholic and secular media as a clear cut case of excommunication, the case isn't that simple. Read more here.
A reforming tradition struggles with change ... At the end of last summer the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted to amend its ordination policies to include gay and lesbian clergy who are in committed, monogamous, lifelong, publicly accountable relationships. The assembly also voted to recommend a process whereby those pastors who had either left the ELCA or been forced out for violating the now-defunct ordination policies could be reinstated to the active clergy roster. For progressives in the ELCA, the wider Christian church and society at large, the vote was a thrilling victory after decades of struggle and setback. For conservatives, the vote signaled a decisive break with scripture and tradition and called the orthodoxy and orthopraxy of the this denomination into question. Almost one year later, we can take a step back to consider what happened in Minneapolis and to map some of the trajectories of this historic vote. Read more here.
Nonviolence, like lightning from east to west ... [A column by John Dead SJ] “One person who can express nonviolence in life exercises a force superior to all the forces of brutality,” Mahatma Gandhi wrote. “My optimism rests on my belief in the infinite possibilities of the individual to develop nonviolence. The more you develop it in your own being, the more infectious it becomes till it overwhelms your surroundings and by and by might oversweep the world.” Read more here.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-merritt/will-atheism-replace-reli_b_587152.html
Please send this notice to friends you think may be interested ... newSpin is an electronic newsletter that includes news, information and commentary related to the Diocese of Bethlehem, the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Communion and the world of religion ... with some spin, of course, from the editor. It is edited by retired communication minister Bill Lewellis and ordinarily published twice weekly, on Mondays and Thursdays. To have it emailed to you, you may subscribe at the "Get Connected" box on the right column of www.diobeth.org. Select newSpin under the groups. The Diocese of Bethlehem also has a newSpin blog (www.diobeth.typepad.com) where you may find samples of the newSpin newsletter.
Diocesan Events ... May 22 to Nov. 12. For corrections or additions: Kat Lehman.
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