DioBeth newSpin

todaySpin - March 27, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

Diocesan Training for Ministry is tomorrow, March 28,
St. Stephen's Wilkes-Barre.

Registration for Christophany Goes Green, April 24-26, closes March 31.

todayScoop
All is ready for the April 1 launch of the TV ads and website link for the Episcopal Church in Northeast Pennsylvania on WNEP-TV.  Here's a sneak preview of the website that will support the ad campaign.

todayStory
(1 Person to person evangelisim works best, according to a new survey. Would you believe, however, that even the Southern Baptists say their major obstacle to evangelism is motivating their own members to do so? But it may be the only effective way to reach people, according to a survey of 15,173 people by LifeWay Research, a Christian research firm.

(2) Four percent therapists believe it is possible to change someone's sexual orientation, according to a new study reported on by the BBC.

todaySpin - March 25, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todayScoop
(1) The judge in the property trial of Grace and St. Stephen's in Colorado has ruled that the Colorado Springs church building belongs to the Diocese of Colorado and not a breakaway parish. An Anglican congregation led by Donald Armstrong took over the church property in March 2007. Read the Episcopal Cafe report and the Episcopal News Service story. If you're curious about how much coverage this story is getting nationaly, go to Google News and type the following words in the search box: Colorado grace episcopal.

(2) Diocesan Scholarships for the 2009-2010 Academic Year: (A) Leonard Hall Scholarships: College scholarships for diocesan youth active in youth ministries.  Deadline for application is May 15. Contact person is Archdeacon Howard Stringfellow, Diocesan House, 610-691-5655, ext. 222 or 1-800-358-5655. Email to: Ely Valentin or the Archdeacon. (B) Gressle Scholarships: College scholarships for sons of clergy canonically resident in the diocese. Deadline for application is May 15. Contact person  is Archdeacon Howard Stringfellow, Diocesan House, 610-691-5655, ext. 222 or 1-800-358-5655. Email to: Ely Valentin or the Archdeacon. (C) Shannon Fund Scholarships: For daughters of clergy resident in Pennsylvania. Priority is given to clergy families in the Diocese of Bethlehem. Applications are available from Edna Rauco at Trinity Church, Pottsville (570-622-8720 and trinitypottsville@verizon.net). Deadline for submission of application is April 30.

(3) President Obama has named Emily C. Hewitt, an Episcopal priest, as chief judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. She was amng the "Philadelphia 11, the first women ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in 1974, two years before the Episcopal Church formally allowed the ordination of women. She taught at Andover Newton Theological School before embarking on a legal career. Hewitt is married to Eleanor Dean Acheson, formerly director of public policy and government affairs for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. According to a Religion News Service story, the court is "responsible for cases involving monetary claims against the U.S. government. Hewitt has served on the federal court since 1998, when she was confirmed by the Senate. Her appointment as chief judge does not require Senate approval."

todaySignup
• Ian Douglas to lecture in Bethlehem, tomorrow, March 26. Registrations for dinner will no longer be accepted, but you may still register for either or both of the lectures, or even walk in a pay at the door.
• Diocesan Training for Ministry, this Saturday, March 28, Wilkes-Barre.
• Organ recital at St. Stephen's Wilkes-Barre, Sunday, March 29.
• Mission in the 21st Century/Beating the Boundaries, April 25.
• Christophany Goes Green, April 24-26. (Registration closes March 31.)
• ECW Annual Meeting, May 13, Kirby House.

Signup online for diocesan events. At www.diobeth.org, click on "signup" in the righthand column.

todaySpin - March 23, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todaySignup
• Ian Douglas to lecture in Bethlehem, this Thursday, March 26. Registrations for dinner will no longer be accepted, but you may still register for either or both of the lectures, or even walk in a pay at the door.
• Diocesan Training for Ministry, this Saturday, March 28, Wilkes-Barre.
• Organ recital at St. Stephen's Wilkes-Barre, Sunday, March 29.
• Mission in the 21st Century/Beating the Boundaries, April 25.
• Christophany Goes Green, April 24-26. (Registration closes March 31.)
• ECW Annual Meeting, May 13, Kirby House.

Signup online for diocesan events. At www.diobeth.org, click on "signup" in the righthand column.

todayScoop
(1) Pullman lauds Williams, but asks if his strategy is working

(2) Faith and waste in public life

todaySpin - March 20, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todaySignup
• Diocesan Training for Ministry, March 28
• Christophany Goes Green, April 24-26. (Registration closes March 31)

todayScoop
(1) [From Bishop Anthony Poggo in Kajo Keji, Friday, March 20] A Medical Mission team of 24 people from Covenant Presbyterian Church in Nebraska has been ministering in Kajo-Keji County for the last five days. This is the third time that this team is in Kajo-Keji. The team was invited by the KaETP with support from the Diocese of Kajo-Keji and Kajo-Keji County authorities. By yesterday, the medical mission had seen close to 3,000 patients. The team has not only been seeing patients but also has ministered through evangelism, water purification training, women seminars and trauma care workshops. Pray for the last day of this team today and pray for a safe trip as they return to the US this weekend.

(2) Women are from Bethany, Men are from Tyre. The The Washington Post reports some interesting data from the Clergy Voices Survey about the gender gap in political ideology among protestant clergy. See the Episcopal Cafe report by Ann Fontaine.

(3) Vermont clergy divided over same-sex marriage bill. Bishop Ely testifies in support.

(4) Episcopal bishops say 'preoccupied' church missed crisis.

todaySpin - March 19, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todaySignup
Diocesan Training for Ministry, March 28

todayScoop
(1) Trinity Wall Street grants that may affect Kajo Keji. More info here.

(2) Good things are happening in the Episcopal Church in Northeast PA.

(3) In a favorable ruling for the Diocese of San Diego and the Episcopal Church, the California State Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal of an earlier court ruling that St. John's Church in Fallbrook could not disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of San Diego and continue to control church property.

(4) The bishops of the Episcopal Church spent some time last week with Bill Bishop, author of The Big Sort: Why the clustering of like-minded Americans is tearing us apart. More here.

todaySpin - March 18, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todaySignup
Diocesan Training for Ministry, March 28

todayScoop
(1) Good things are happening in the Episcopal Church in Northeast PA.

(2) Got a question? Need some info? InfoLine can help you and your audiences find out answers and make connections to churchwide ministries, events and activities, online or by phone.

todaySpin - March 17, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todaySignup
Diocesan Training for Ministry, March 28

todayScoop
(1) Christians are and always have been communicators. Jesus sent us out into the world to teach and baptize. We have been sent into a world that is moving fast. How fast?

(2) Not until the 19th century did popes begin to claim the exclusive right to appoint bishops throughout the Catholic world. Although the pope has exercised this prerogative ever since then, it is hardly traditional. In our own time, writes Richard McBrie, a certain type of Catholic pines for "the good old days" before the Second Vatican Council when, it is mistakenly thought, the Lord's "organizational plan" for his church was faithfully honored and implemented. But we realize now, in the light of history, that what people had become accustomed to in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s was not at all a part of the unchanging tradition of the Catholic church.[Read Richard McBrien's essay.]

todaySecret
Graham Cliff is prest-in-charge at St. James/St. George Jermyn ... since December 1.

todaySpin - March 16, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todaySignup
Ian Douglas to lecture in Bethlehem, March 26. Deadline to register is today.

todayShow
(1) Amazing Grace, performed by Il Divo at the Coliseum in Rome.

(2)  Meditative music traditionally associated with Lent, sung by the Trinity WallStreet Choir.

(3) The Episcopal Moment, Brian McLaren's keynote presentation on faith-sharing and evangelism to the annual convention of the Diocese of Washington, Janaury 31, 2009. Helping our Church find a way forward in its effort to improve its evangelism.

todaySpin - March 14, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todayScoop
(1) Haven't been at todaySpin for a few days because I had a health setback on Tuesday, but I'm back. Thanks. -Bill

(2) The comment that follows was posted on the Episcopal Communicators list by Daniel Webster, canon for congregational development in the Diocese of New York, recently media relations director for the National Council of Churches and, before that, director of communication for the Diocese of Utah. In the course of recommending Word Made Fresh, a book on communication ministry by Meredith Gould, Dan wrote: "I used it as a resource last September in an address I gave to the Mid Hudson Regional Council of our diocese. Several folks asked me about the book. It really makes the point that communications in the church is a ministry. If I had the money I'd send a copy to every diocesan bishop in the church, except for Paul Marshall cuz he gets it. (And so do a few others but even they could learn a few things)." Before attending the Seminary of the Southwest, Dan spent 25 years in broadcast journalism. He worked with NBC News for 12 years in various capacities. He worked at local television stations in six states as news director, anchor, reporter, producer and photographer, and spent three years with The Associated Press, Washington D.C.

(3) The Parable of the Good Nigerian, as written by Mad Priest (hat tip to Jim Naughton of Episcopal Cafe)

todaySummary
In the major newspapers

todaySpin - March 10, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todayScoop
(1) Russell 'Rooster' Valentini, homeless coordinator for the Allentown School District, replied to this item on the newSpin blog, saying: I am the Homeless Educational Liaison in the Allentown S.D. and for a portion of Region 8 in PA. I have documented roughly 600 students who experience homelessness  yearly for the last several years. (This number also includes about 65 from surrounding school districts, Bethlehem S.D. documents over 250 students not included in my count). Shelters,hotels, doubled up, and less common places is where they are. All area school districts have homeless because fires, domestic abuse, job loss, etc. are everywhere. The families are very invested into remaining invisible so we seldom see them or can tell. Also older, unaccompanied youth are an issue to deal with.

(2) An almost unnoticed, but historically dramatic, social change has occurred in Ireland over the past few years: more and more Irish Catholics are joining the Church of Ireland.

todaySummary
In the major newspapers

todaySpin - March 9, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todayScoop
(1) In her new book, A People's History of Christianity, Diana Butler Bass takes a people's perspective of Christianity that Howard Zinn took in his path breaking book, A People's History of the United States. Rather than an institutional history, and how the institution spread, it's a history of the people who are Christian and how they live. More here.

(2) In Brazil, the Roman Catholic Church has excommunicated the mother of a nine-year-old girl and the doctors who intervened to save her life by having her twins aborted. She had been raped repeatedly by her stepfather, who has not been excommunicated. The Holy See has defended the excommunication, as it has the lifting of the excommunication of an English bishop who believes there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz. In Iran, as many as eight women face death by stoning for 'adultery' after they were raped, according to an Amnesty report to be published tomorrow. And in the US, a priest who believes in prayer and meditation has been elected Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Michigan. Guess which story is getting Anglicans most worked up. [Read more here ... thanks to Ann Fontaine.]

(3) RC Bishop of Scranton a man of complexity and controversy. [Read the Times Leader story.]

(4) Princeton philosopher Peter Singer's new book on affluence and ethics, The Life You Can Save, deals with the ethical obligations of the affluent to help the very poor

todaySummary
In the major newspapers

todaySpin - March 8, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todayScoop
(1) Public Religion Research has issued "the largest survey of mainline clergy in seven years, and the broadest ever in scope." Find here items with particular reference to Episcopalians.

(2) Bishop Bishop Michael Bird of the Diocese of Niagara (Anglican Church of Canada) met in late January with Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. In their private interview, they discussed the plans of the diocese to introduce same sex blessings. More here.

(3) Bishop Peter Lee will serve as interim dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

(4) As bishops and standing committees prepare to consent or not to Northern Michigan's elections of Kevin Thew Forrester, conservative publications and commentators have begun to build a case against consent. What The Record editor of the neighboring Diocese of Michigan wrote might help to put this in context.

(5) The Living Church magazine chose Grace Allentown as the cover of its March 22 Parish Administration Issue.

todaySummary
In the major newspapers

todaySpin - March 7, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todaySignup
(1) Ian Douglas to lecture in Bethlehem, March 26. Deadline to register is March 16.
(2) Diocesan Training for Ministry, March 28, Wilkes-Barre.
(3) Christophany Goes Green, April 24-26.

todaySummary
In the major newspapers

todaySpin - March 6, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todaySignup
(1) Does your church need a website. Canon Andy Gerns will work with the first two churches that apply to set up websites for them during Diocesan Training for Ministry.

(2) Ian Douglas to lecture in Bethlehem, March 26. Deadline to register is March 16. Find info here.

(3) What is Christian unity? What would it look like if we had it?  On Wednesday, May 13, The Rev. Maria Tjeltveit will explore these questions in her presentation, One in Christ? at the annual meeting of our diocesan Episcopal Church Women at Kirby House. More info and how to register. Deadline to register is May 1.

todaySpin - March 5, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todayScoop
(1) World Court issues arrest warrant for Sudan president. Read more at the Christian Science Monitor and BBC News ... and Desmond Tutu's Monday NYTimes OpEd.

(2) What's in the major newspapers today? Summary here.

(3) Spring forward, one hour ahead, this weekend.

todaySpin - March 4, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todaySignup
Ian Douglas to lecture in Bethlehem, March 26. Deadline to register is March 16. Find info here.

todayScoop
(1) Spring forward, one hour ahead, this weekend.

(2) What's in the major newspapers? Summary here.

todayStory
(1) In a NYTimes OpEd, Desmond Tutu seeks justice in Sudan.

(2) The Diocese of Pennsylvania has asked a civil court to remove the Rev. David Moyer as rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, and to declare the diocese as owner of the parish's property. Read more here.

(3) Ann Fontaine writes at Episcopal Cafe that the announcement of the election of the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester as bishop of Northern Michigan, pending consents from a majority of Standing Committees and Bishops of the Episcopal Church, has created a stir in the blogosphere. The two questions about the election are about the process and about his participation in Zen meditation practices.

todaySorrow
Pray for our young men and women who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

todayShare
(1) The Episcopal Church Office of Communication invites videos for uploading on the new website IamEpiscopalian.org.  Since its launch on Ash Wednesday, IamEpiscopalian.org, a website where people share their stories, has experienced nearly 50,000 hits.

(2) Have you started your Unbinding the Gospel study in your parish? To help you in your study and in your work together, there's a new on-line community offering support, guidance, ideas and connection. Read more here.

(2) Tuesday evenings at St Andrew's, 1900 Pennsylvania Avenue, Allentown, March 3,9.16,23,30 April 7 –– 6:30-7 Soup and Salad Supper; 7-8 Program (They like Jesus, but not the church; culture's objection to Christianity) Admission: Free. More info here.

todayShow
(1) Online with the Diocese of Bethlehem:
Diocesan Life: here.
The DioBeth website: here.
The newSpin blog: here.
Faith Formation News: here.
The ShareTheBread blog: here.
Life is Tasty, the youth ministry website: here.
AWE, the children's ministry website: here.
The Spin Cycle (daily, weekly and blog): (A) For sprinters: todaySpin is uploaded almost daily to the newSpin blog. It's what you are now reading. (B) For joggers: newSpin, the e-newsletter, is published online weekly and sent to nearly 1,000 email addresses. (3) For slow and steady pacers: newSpin, the blog may be read here to catch up with the sprinters and joggers.

todaySpirit
(1) The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, reflects on Lent as a time to: "Sweep and clean the room of our own minds and hearts so that the new life really may have room to come in and take over and transform us at Easter." The YouTube video may be accessed at EpiscopalCafe.

(2) Silence is way of opening ourselves to experience God, to hear the whisperings of the Spirit by seeking silence is a tried and true way to transform the heart. Read more here.

todaySoundbite
Within Christendom, we Anglicans represent a tradition in which liturgy implies  people's public activity, including both cultic or ritual life of communal worship and daily life and work as ministry. For Anglicans, therefore, the answer to the question "What is it to be an Anglican Christian?" is "Come, worship and minuster with us," that is join us in liturgy. Our styles of worship in diferent congregations may be quite diverse, but our substance and content are consistent. Other denomnations might initially invite inquirers to study Scripture or explore doctrinal teachings, but we would save these activities for later as aspects of our reflection on our experience of worship and ministry. [From "A People Called Episcopalians" by John H. Westerhoff]

newSpin newsletter, issue 090302
todaySpiel: The Opinionator, a guide to the wide world of newspaper, magazine and Web opinion.
todayScope: (1) epiScope links to stories from the mainstream media that reference the Episcopal Church or Episcopalians. (2) EpiscopalCafe ... (3) Episcopal Life Online ...

todaySpin - March 3, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todayScoop
(1) Spring forward, one hour ahead, this weekend.

(2) Find the March issue of In-Formation in Bethlehem here. It's Canon Anne Kitch's faith formation newsletter.

(3) See the new online entry of the Diocese of Bethlehem, the blog of our Evangelism Commission. ShareTheBread's purpose: "to share and live God's love by telling, showing and pointing to what we have seen and heard, highlight the work of our diocese in evangelism, and share ideas, resources, articles, news stories and discussion starters so that you may become a more proficient and eager sharer of the bread of life."

(4) What's in the major newspapers? Summary here.

todayStory
Trip Trepagnier and Daniel Gunn have returned from a Diocese of Bethlehem mission trip to Kajo Keji. Read more and see two photos here. More to come.

todayShare
Watch Brian McLaren's keynote address on evangelism and faith sharing at the recent Convention of the Diocese of Washington.

todayShow
(1) Online with the Diocese of Bethlehem:
Diocesan Life: here.
The DioBeth website: here.
The newSpin blog: here.
Faith Formation News: here.
The ShareTheBread blog: here.
Life is Tasty, the youth ministry website: here.
AWE, the children's ministry website: here.
The Spin Cycle (daily, weekly and blog): (A) For sprinters: todaySpin is uploaded almost daily to the newSpin blog. It's what you are now reading. (B) For joggers: newSpin, the e-newsletter, is published online weekly and sent to nearly 1,000 email addresses. (3) For slow and steady pacers: newSpin, the blog may be read here to catch up with the sprinters and joggers.

(2) The video-sharing site, YouTube, is being used by a wildly diverse collection of pastors, rabbis, imams, gurus, and pious laypeople to celebrate and explain their creeds. These aren't glitzy televangelists. In keeping with the YouTube ethos, many simply fire up camcorder and go. But low cost and infinite range, plus the mini-video's ascent as one of the culture's preferred ways of imbibing information, means vastly increased exposure for clerics who would otherwise have tiny flocks. "For years, people in my business talked about how the Internet was going to revolutionize religion the way the printing press helped create Protestantism, but it didn't happen," says Steve Waldman, founder of the multi-faith website Beliefnet. But with the rise of YouTube, he thinks the unassuming, grass-roots religion clips like the ones that follow [Time Magazine] "could be the beginning of that kind of transformation."

(3) Deacon Larry Holman points us to this short piece in Newsweek (The Good, the Bad, the Bible) with the subhead, "The story of Dinah isn't a story they taught me at Temple Sinai's Hebrew school in 1980."

todaySpirit
"At first glance, Christian doctrine and economic exigencies seem unrelated, but in recent days I have come across two different ways of bringing them together." [From Stanley Fish, writing on the NYT Blog "Think Again." His piece is called "Faith and Deficits." Hat tip to Andy Gerns]

todaySignup
(1) Diocesan Training Day is Saturday, March 28, at St. Stephen's Wilkes-Barre. Register online here.where you will also find more info, brief descriptions of the workshops and a map. Find detailed descriptions of workshops here. One of the workshops will be on ChurchPost. The Diocese of Bethlehem is the first Episcopal diocese to equip all of its parishes with ChurchPost. You may use this web-based communication tool to create email groups and to create attractive online newsletters. Trinity Easton uses ChurchPost to create weekly online newsletters. View one here. Anne Kitch uses ChurchPost to create Faith Formation News. Bill Lewellis uses ChurchPost to create the newSpin newsletter. To learn more about ChurchPost, look here ... or email Kat Lehman.

(2) The Commission on Ministry invites talented, committed, hard-working people to volunteer for consideration as members of Regional Discernment Fellowships (RDF). [Read more here.] The COM needs two lay persons to round out a new RDF, hoping to get this group started in the next week or two. Training will be provided. Please contact Monica Lewellis at mlewellis@gracemontessori.org.

(3) Ian Douglas to lecture in Bethlehem, March 26. Deadline to register is March 16. Find info here.

(4) Evangelism/Stewardship Workshop, Beating the Boundaries, at the Cathedral, Bethlehem, April 25. More info here.

todaySoundbite
Our historic emphasis has been on the practical, as contrasted with the speculative, side of religion. We understand Christianity as a way of life, a matter of practice, rather than theory, in which religion and morality, theology and ethics are one ... We are bound together by our liturgy rather than doctrinal emphasis or social organization. Orthodoxy for us is right worship and not right belief. Our life of prayer shapes our beliefs and behaviors. [From "A People Called Episcopalians" by John H. Westerhoff]

newSpin newsletter, issue 090302
todaySpiel: The Opinionator, a guide to the wide world of newspaper, magazine and Web opinion.
todayScope: (1) epiScope links to stories from the mainstream media that reference the Episcopal Church or Episcopalians. (2) EpiscopalCafe ... (3) Episcopal Life Online ...

todaySpin - March 2, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todaySupplication
Please continue to pray for Bishop Paul who sent this email on Saturday: "I had another ambulance ride yesterday and spent the day in ER. I will be in the hospital probably until the middle of next week as the doctors attempt to deal with some complications. I crave your continued prayers."

todayShare
(1) Share the Bread,the new online entry of the Diocese of Bethlehem, is the blog of our Evangelism Commission. Its purpose: "to share and live God's love by telling, showing and pointing to what we have seen and heard, highlight the work of the diocese in evangelism, and share ideas, resources, articles, news stories and discussion starters so that you may become a more proficient and eager sharer of the bread of life."

(2) Find the March issue of In-Formation in Bethlehem here. It's Canon Anne Kitch's faith formation newsletter.

todayScoop
What's in the major newspapers? Summary here.

todayStory
Retired Allentown Diocese Bishop Thomas J. Welsh was buried on Saturday. Here are stories from Sunday's Express-Times and Morning Call.

todaySong
(1) Compline, a hour-long program of music, sacred texts, chanting, and meditation In Jamaica Plains, near Boston. More info about Nightsong here and here.

(2) Organ recital with Mark Laubach at St. Stephen's Wilkes-Barre, March 29.

todaySurvey
A new survey focuses on the use of technology by different generations, and the implications for churches. Read more here.

todayShow
Want to find spirituality in recent DVD releases and current films, make watching a film a spiritual experience? Frederic and Mary Ann of Spirituality&Practice can help.

todaySignup
(1) Diocesan Training Day is Saturday, March 28, at St. Stephen's Wilkes-Barre. Register online here.where you will also find more info, brief descriptions of the workshops and a map. Find detailed descriptions of workshops here. One of the workshops will be on ChurchPost. The Diocese of Bethlehem is the first Episcopal diocese to equip all of its parishes with ChurchPost. You may use this web-based communication tool to create email groups and to create attractive online newsletters. Trinity Easton uses ChurchPost to create weekly online newsletters. View one here. Anne Kitch uses ChurchPost to create Faith Formation News. Bill Lewellis uses ChurchPost to create the newSpin newsletter. To learn more about ChurchPost, look here ... or email Kat Lehman.

(2) The Commission on Ministry invites talented, committed, hard-working people to volunteer for consideration as members of Regional Discernment Fellowships (RDF). [Read more here.] The COM needs two lay persons to round out a new RDF, hoping to get this group started in the next week or two. Training will be provided. Please contact Monica Lewellis at mlewellis@gracemontessori.org.

(3) Ian Douglas to lecture in Bethlehem, March 26. Deadline to register is March 16. Find info here.

(4) Evangelism/Stewardship Workshop at the Cathedral, Bethlehem, April 25. More info here.

todaySpirit
(1) You may check in online on the Lenten program of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge MA.

(2)  40  -- A Lenten reflection on YouTube.

todaySoundbite
We live in an age when one risks being locked up as psychotic for claiming that God communicates; yet, in one way or another, that is what happens - at least when we learn to listen. Deep within us the Spirit breathes. We are invited to enter those depths. God heals us, gives us more than we can ask or imagine, and enables us to become agents of change in an unjust, painful and starving world. Such transformation can be frightening –– and life giving. [From "Why Do Churches Exist?" January 2002, in Bishop Paul Marshall's book "Messages in the Mall: Looking at Life in 600 Words or Less"]

todaySting
(1) The Peter Steinfels religion column, New York Times on Saturday, features a sociologist that studied the religious attitudes of Sweden and Denmark--the least religious nations on the planet. Read more here.

newSpin: Find the most recent issue here.
Diocesan Life: Find the March issue of Diocesan Life here.
todaySpiel: The Opinionator, a guide to the wide world of newspaper, magazine and Web opinion.
todayScope: (1) epiScope links to stories from the mainstream media that reference the Episcopal Church or Episcopalians. (2) EpiscopalCafe ... (3) Episcopal Life Online ...

todaySpin - Feb. 28

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todayScoop
What's in the major newspapers? Summary here.

todayStory
Kevin Thew Forrester, bishop-elect of Northern Michigan, would retain his duties as the ministry developer of the Upper Peninsula diocese. If the dual roles put too much stress on Forrester, he has a good way to relieve it. He has been instructed in Zen Buddhist meditation and incorporates what he's learned into his duties. "It's not a matter of holding two faiths. There's one faith and it's Christianity," Forrester said. "The gift is that that faith is deepened by my meditative practice and I'm eternally grateful to Zen Buddhism for teaching me that practice and receiving me as an Episcopal priest." [Read more here.]

todaySting
500 homeless students in the Allentown School District? Read more here.

todayStandingOvation
NetsforLife® distributes millionth net toward eliminating malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. A collaborative partnership of ExxonMobil Foundation, Standard Chartered Bank, Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, Starr International Foundation, White Flowers Foundation and Episcopal Relief & Development, the NetsforLife® program implements integrated malaria prevention through a network of local faith-based organizations and NGOs in 17 countries and is managed and monitored by Episcopal Relief & Development in 15 countries and by Christian Aid in two. Sleeping under an insecticide-treated net dramatically reduces malaria transmission, but because so few people have access to nets the disease remains a scourge of sub-Saharan Africa, the epicenter of 86% of the world’s 247 million annual cases. Nearly a million people die each year from malaria, 91% in Africa.  More than 75% of those who become sick and die are children under the age of five. This disease causes needless death and suffering, and cripples development on the continent.

todaySpirit
(1) You may check in online on the Lenten program of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge MA.

(2)  40  -- A Lenten reflection on YouTube.

todaySignup
(1) Diocesan Training Day is Saturday, March 28, at St. Stephen's Wilkes-Barre. Register online here.where you will also find more info, brief descriptions of the workshops and a map. Find detailed descriptions of workshops here. One of the workshops will be on ChurchPost. The Diocese of Bethlehem is the first Episcopal diocese to equip all of its parishes with ChurchPost. You may use this web-based communication tool to create email groups and to create attractive online newsletters. Trinity Easton uses ChurchPost to create weekly online newsletters. View one here. Anne Kitch uses ChurchPost to create Faith Formation News. Bill Lewellis uses ChurchPost to create the newSpin newsletter. To learn more about ChurchPost, look here ... or email Kat Lehman.

(2) The Commission on Ministry invites talented, committed, hard-working people to volunteer for consideration as members of Regional Discernment Fellowships (RDF). [Read more here.] The COM needs two lay persons to round out a new RDF, hoping to get this group started in the next week or two. Training will be provided. Please contact Monica Lewellis at mlewellis@gracemontessori.org.

(3) Ian Douglas to lecture in Bethlehem, March 26. Deadline to register is March 16. Find info here.

(4) Evangelism/Stewardship Workshop at the Cathedral, Bethlehem, April 25. More info here.

todaySoundbite
Our spiritual biographies can be written by looking in our checkbooks. [From "Christ Calls Us to Radical Living" by Bishop Paul Marshall, Diocesan Life, November 1996.]

todayShopping
(1) The Obama's search for a new church home for their family has opened up a conversation in some quarters about the American phenomenon of "church shopping". Every pastor and priest says they deplore it, but most of them do what they feel they need to do in response to it. It's been a part of the American religious experience for generations. [Read more here.]

(2) A two keyboard Gulbransen Model E Electronic organ, 1960s vintage, has been offered to anyone who might provide a home for it. Absolutely free. Read more here.

newSpin: Find the most recent issue here.
Diocesan Life: Find the March issue of Diocesan Life here.
todaySpiel: The Opinionator, a guide to the wide world of newspaper, magazine and Web opinion.
todayScope: (1) epiScope links to stories from the mainstream media that reference the Episcopal Church or Episcopalians. (2) EpiscopalCafe ... (3) Episcopal Life Online ...

todaySpin - Feb. 27, 2009

todaySpin includes local, national, and worldwide news and information for Episcopalians in the Diocese of Bethlehem, with some spin that may be of interest. Please send suggestions for content or style to Bill Lewellis. Find a user-friendly guide to the Spin Cycle ... including todaySpin, the newSpin e-newsletter and the newSpin blog.

todayScoop
(1) In less than 24 hours following its debut on Ash Wednesday, iamEpiscopalian.org -- a website that lifts up the diversity of Episcopalians and lets people share their stories -- experienced nearly 10,000 hits. You are invited to submit a video, under 90 seconds, to iamEpiscopalian.org, detailing your own faith story, and what excites you about being an Episcopalian.This homepage of the Episcopal Church's website is part of a renewed communication effort to tell our story. Now, let's do some viral marketing. Tell your friends. Ask them to tell their friends.

(2) What's in the major newspapers? Summary here.

todayStory
(1) Bishop Barbara C. Harris, who recently celebrated the 20th anniversay of her consecration as the first female bishop in the Anglican Communion rates a passing mention and a nifty photo in a television review from the NYTimes. More at Episcopal Cafe.

todaySpirit
(1) Reframing as spiritual change, by Diana Butler Bass on the Alban Roundtable bog.

(2)  40  -- A Lenten reflection on YouTube.

todaySignup
(1) Diocesan Training Day is Saturday, March 28, at St. Stephen's Wilkes-Barre. Register online here.where you will also find more info, brief descriptions of the workshops and a map. Find detailed descriptions of workshops here. One of the workshops will be on ChurchPost. The Diocese of Bethlehem is the first Episcopal diocese to equip all of its parishes with ChurchPost. You may use this web-based communication tool to create email groups and to create attractive online newsletters. Trinity Easton uses ChurchPost to create weekly online newsletters. View one here. Anne Kitch uses ChurchPost to create Faith Formation News. Bill Lewellis uses ChurchPost to create the newSpin newsletter. To learn more about ChurchPost, look here ... or email Kat Lehman.

(2) The Commission on Ministry invites talented, committed, hard-working people to volunteer for consideration as members of Regional Discernment Fellowships (RDF). [Read more here.] The COM needs two lay persons to round out a new RDF, hoping to get this group started in the next week or two. Training will be provided. Please contact Monica Lewellis at mlewellis@gracemontessori.org.

(3) Ian Douglas to lecture in Bethlehem, March 26. Deadline to register is March 16. Find info here.

(4) Evangelism/Stewardship Workshop at the Cathedral, Bethlehem, April 25. More info here.

todaySong
Evensong at Mediator Allentown, March 8. More info here.

todayShare
(1) Reaching Out in a Networked World. Lynne Baab's book on how the recent explosion in ways to communicate—e-mail, websites, blogs, podcasts, social networking websites, projection screens in worship, digital cameras, and many more—has created challenges for congregations. More info here and here.

(2) Control your anger, help your heart, Study finds better concentration, lowered stress after TM sessions. and Work stress changes your body. [Thanks to Diana Marshall for these pointers.]

todayShow
Reviews that approach movies as provocative tools for theological reflection. Best picture of mercy, of the way things are, using scripture, of hope, of attempts at repentance, of uneasy salvation, of original sin. Also, see spiritual lessons from the Oscar nominees.

todaySpeaking
Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett is public radio's weekly program about "religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas." Find more info on programs, transcripts, podcasts here.

todaySoundbite
In an age that gets most of its information electronically, are we settling for small service listings in the local paper, hoping occasionally to get an item printed among those fillers on the religion page which I'm not sure everyone reads? [From "Do We Want to be Healed" by Bishop Paul Marshall, Diocesan Life, February 1998]

newSpin: Find the most recent issue here.
Diocesan Life: Find the March issue of Diocesan Life here.
todaySpiel: The Opinionator, a guide to the wide world of newspaper, magazine and Web opinion.
todayScope: (1) epiScope links to stories from the mainstream media that reference the Episcopal Church or Episcopalians. (2) EpiscopalCafe ... (3) Episcopal Life Online ...