QUOTE OF the Day
UPCOMING: An EXCITING Fall, Bishop Visit, 124th CONVENTIon
Oct. 27: Haughty and Humble
This Sunday is Pentecost 20, Proper 25, Year C.
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The gospel reading this Sunday is from Luke 18 and is about the prideful priest and the contrite tax collector (publican). The parable contains the famous passage: “...for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” The parable demonstrates the need to pray humbly. It immediately follows the Parable of the Unjust Judge, which is also about prayer.
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The lector this Sunday is Amy and the altar guild is Peggy. See the vestment colors, the altar colors, the Bible readings and the liturgical calendar by clicking HERE and selecting the date. Note that a date’s color is the vestment and altar color for the day.
The Fab Fall Lineup
Fall Bash: Sometime after the Diocesan Convention, Shirley Roberts will host a “fall bash.” She has cancelled the Halloween Party. Stay tuned.
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Nov. 3, 2019: All Saints’ Day and Consecration Sunday.
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Nov. 10, 2019: Bible Study with lunch.
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Nov. 17, 2019: Visit to our parish by two Diocesan Executive Council members.
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Nov. 24, 2019: Vestry meeting.
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Dec. 8, 2019: Bishop visit.
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Dec. 15, 2019: Annual meeting.
Nov. 1 & 2, 2019: Convention
The 124th Diocesan Convention is set for Nov. 1 and 2, 2019, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 2410 Lexington Road, Winchester. The convention begins at 1 p.m. on Nov. 1, with business sessions from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., and is followed by a catered dinner with guest speaker Scott Gunn of Forward Movement. On Nov. 2 the schedule runs from 8:30 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m., with lunch provided. It is predicted, and hoped by most, that Mark Van Koevering, our bishop provisional, will be voted in as our permanent diocesan bishop. The total cost for convention is $50 per person, which includes the meals.
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At this convention our delegates for the Episcopal Church’s General Convention in 2021 in Baltimore will be chosen. If you wish to be considered (and voted on) as a GC delegate, you must apply by Sept. 30.
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The shift from spring conventions to fall conventions is driven in part by the need to approve diocesan budgets before the upcoming year begins.
IN THE NEWS: The PRESENT MEETS the Past
Deacon Whose Ancestors Were Enslaved by Her Church’s Founding Rector Helps Parish Face Its Past
Though a number of Episcopal churches have worked to acknowledge and repent for their congregations’ historic involvement with white supremacy or slavery, it’s rarely as personal as it is for the Rev. Natalie Conway and Steve Howard of Memorial Episcopal Church in Baltimore.
Conway, a deacon serving the parish, discovered last year through a family member’s genealogical research that her ancestors were slaves owned by the family of the man who founded the church in 1860, The Baltimore Sun reports. Read the full story by clicking HERE.
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PHOTO: The Rev. Natalie Conway, deacon at Memorial Episcopal Church in Baltimore, and Steve Howard, a parishioner, pour holy water into the ground near the slave quarters at the Hampton estate in Towson, Maryland, where Howard’s ancestors held Conway’s ancestors as slaves, on Aug. 18, 2019. Credit: Memorial Episcopal Church
After Theft of Historic Bell, South Dakota Congregation Grateful for Replacement from Closed Church
The theft of a century-old church bell has been a disheartening blow to the congregation at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church just north of Norris, South Dakota. The bell, a beloved fixture of the local community, was discovered missing in early January 2018, and it has never been found or returned. Another South Dakota congregation, about 100 miles to the east, has been struggling with a different kind of loss: the closure of its church. The Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Gregory, South Dakota, shut its doors for good on Christmas Day 2018, and church leaders began offering furnishings from Incarnation to other churches in the region, including its bell. Read the full story by clicking HERE.
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PHOTO: Utility workers help lower the bell from the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Gregory, South Dakota, so it can be transferred to Norris, South Dakota, and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, whose bell was stolen in January 2018. Credit: Rosebud Episcopal Mission
Service Celebrating New Saint Seals the Bond Between Her Congregation and Church that Took Her Name
A California congregation named for one of The Episcopal Church’s newest saints, St. Anna Alexander, celebrated its namesake at a Sunday worship service that included a visit from two members of the church that Alexander helped establish in Pennick, Georgia. Dwala Nobles, 59, and Zora Nobles, 65, cousins and longtime members of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Pennick, brought with them century-old relics from Alexander’s work at Good Shepherd Church and its school, including Alexander’s Book of Common Prayer. On Oct. 6, Saint Anna’s Episcopal Church in Antioch, California, welcomed them as the congregation celebrated Alexander’s legacy as the only black Episcopal deaconess. Read the full story HERE.
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PHOTO: Zora Nobles, left, and her cousin, Dwala Nobles, present relics of St. Anna Alexander at a service Oct. 6, 2019, at Saint Anna’s Episcopal Church in Antioch, California. Credit: Kazuhiro “Kaz” Tsuruta
In the News: The present meets the Future
Justice Neil Gorsuch’s ‘Hero’ Uncle Was a Progressive Episcopal Priest on a Winding Spiritual Path
Facing the 20 U.S. senators who stood between him and a seat on the nation’s highest court, the nominee introduced himself by reading a statement that identified five men as his personal heroes. Four of those men were sitting or former Supreme Court justices. The fifth was an Episcopal priest — the Rev. John Gorsuch, the nominee’s late uncle. “We recently lost my Uncle Jack, a hero of mine,” Judge Neil Gorsuch said in the 16-minute opening statement of his confirmation hearing on March 20, 2017. Read the full story HERE.
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PHOTO: The Rev. Jack Gorsuch, shown at left in a photo from a 2017 memorial service bulletin, was called “a hero of mine” by his nephew, Neil Gorsuch, at his Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Credit: Reuters
St. Martin’s, Houston, Mental Health Ministry Now Serves 800 People a Week for Free
It’s a scene familiar to many clergy: Someone walks into the church office wanting to speak to a priest, clearly in distress. Within a few minutes of conversation, it becomes clear that the person is suffering from a mental illness. For many priests who want to help a person seeking healing but simply aren’t equipped to deal with mental illness, this experience can be agonizing – and can end with the mentally ill person feeling more dejected than before. But at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, the scene has been rewritten. Read the full story by clicking HERE.
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PHOTO: Director of Clinical Services Madeline Stiers discusses one-on-one dynamics during a training event at the Hope and Healing Center and Institute on the campus of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas. Credit: HHCI
Episcopal Peace Fellowship Attends: A Report from the Field on the Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare
The lethal use of remote-controlled pilotless aircraft was the topic of a lively three-day conference of the Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare held at the Erdman Center of the Princeton Theological Seminary in late September. Nearly 80 attendees from over 15 faith traditions, including Roman Catholicism, several Protestant denominations, prominently the United Church of Christ, Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam (and five Episcopalians), and 24 states plus D.C. discussed the ways in which armed drones are being used in military contexts, attacking both military and civilian targets and creating lasting damage to both the victims and the remote pilot. Read the full story by clicking HERE.
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PHOTO: The Episcopal Peace Fellowship participated in the Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare in Princeton, New Jersey, September 27-29. Shown are the Episcopalians at the conference: Top row from left: Bob Lotz, EPF delegate and Secretary to the EPF National Executive Council; Tim Miller; and Allie Graham, EPF delegate. Seated are Mary Neznek and Pauline Muchina.
What does “Episcopal” mean?
The Episcopal Church is “Protestant, yet Catholic.” Episcopal means “of bishops.” The Episcopal Church traces its bishops (its ministers and clergy) and its origins back to the Apostles (the early followers of Jesus) via holy orders, which are a direct line of succession back to the time of Jesus.
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