Posts from — July 2009

An insightful retreat for parents (single, couples, grandparents) will be offered this fall at Camp Beckwith the weekend of October 9 – 11.

“The Art of Contemplative Parenting” retreat offers encouragement, guidance, insight, and practical wisdom all who desire to become more aware of and responsive to their children’s spiritual needs and gifts!  Grounded in a rhythm of prayer, teaching, and Sabbath rest, participants will learn about and experience the importance of parenting from their spiritual heart.

Planned sessions include:

* Awareness of Divine Presence in the Moment; grounding ourselves in God

*  Learning from our children; experiencing God through the eyes of our children

*  Parenting with awareness of God’s Loving Presence and sensitivity to child development

*  Sharing prayer space with children; help for bringing children up in the faith

*  When our children depart from our vision…

Facilitators for this retreat are Dawn Peck, MD and The Rev. Marshall Craver, Associate Rector of St. Paul’s, Mobile.  Dr. Peck is a Developmental Pediatrician and mother of four.  Her passion within Pediatrics has been to help parents enjoy their children, no matter what their medical/developmental problems may be, throughout all the stages of life.  Dr. Peck has found her relationship with God, nurtured by intentional prayer and Sabbath rest to be the source of her life and love, especially her life as a parent.  She is a member of the Methodist Church and a  graduate of the Shalem Institute for Leading Contemplative Retreats.

The Rev. Marshall Craver has been a student of prayer throughout his 24 years of ordained ministry and is a graduate of Shalem Institute’s program for Leading Medition Groups and Retreats.

Cost:      Single room & meals:   $206         Double room & meals:  $151

Check in: 4-6 pm October 9

Retreat begins Friday, Oct. 9 at 6 pm dinner;  Ends Sunday, Oct. 11 at 12 pm Lunch

Brochures with registration forms are in our Diocesan Office, at Camp Beckwith and on the diocesan website: http://www.diocgc.org/downloadable-event-flyers/

Sign up early.  Space is limited!

Submitted by Pam Moore, St. Paul’s, Mobile & The Rev. Marshall Craver, St. Paul’s, Mobile

Come enjoy an evening of fun! “A Splash of Spirit” Silent Auction will be October 3, 2009 at 6 to 8:30 p.m., at St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, 7810 Navarre Parkway, Navarre, Fla.  Besides the silent auction, there will be door prizes and refreshments. Tickets are $10 and will be available at the door, or you can call the church at (850) 939-2261.  The proceeds will go to the parish’s Building Our Future fund.

“You can enjoy an evening of wine, food and fun,” said co-chair Heather Ruppel, “and have a chance to bid on a variety of exciting items. It will be a great event.”

The parish is now soliciting items for the silent auction. Anyone who donates an item or service for auction between now and September 27 will receive two free tickets to the event.

“We will have lots of wonderful items to bid on,” said co-chair Kelly Powell. “Artwork, gift basket, a sunset sail and a weekend on the beach are just a few of the items. We also hope this event will bring people together for an evening of fun and community.”

Don’t forget that October is a great month to visit Navarre Beach! The weather is spectacular, there are great local events and room rates at area hotels and condominiums are discounted up to 40 percent. Visit www.floridabeachestorivers.com to learn more.

Submitted by Elizabeth (Libbi) Powell Crowe

Since its inception in January ’08, a dozen parishioners of Holy Cross, Pensacola,  have lovingly crafted 15 shawls and lap blankets.  Prayer shawls are given for a variety of circumstances.  They may be worn while undergoing medical procedures, illness, and recovery; as a comfort after a loss or bereavement; and in times of stress.

Prayer Shawls

Shawls and lap blankets are crocheted, knitted, or woven.  There is a basic list of colors with associated attributes.  A specific color may be selected for a recipient with a certain disease or situation.  For example the color red signifies love and energy, and represents heart disease.  In addition a 3-stitch pattern is sometimes selected as symbolizing the Trinity.  Regardless of color, pattern and texture, the intention of the shawl maker is to begin with prayers and blessings for the recipient. The intentions are continued throughout the creation of the shawl. Upon completion, a final blessing is made by our rector, Father Jeff Jencks. Afterwards a nicely wrapped shawl with a written prayer is presented to the recipient.

Prayer shawls have been made for centuries and embraced by most Christian denominations and other faiths as Judaism and Hindi.  They are symbolic of an inclusive, unconditionally loving God. They wrap, enfold, comfort, cover, give solace, hug, and beautify. Those who have received these shawls are uplifted and affirmed, as if given wings to fly above their troubles.

Our Prayer Shawl Ministry was started by Sherry Atha, who moved to Pensacola in May ’07. During a hospital stay while living in Augusta, Ga., Sherry was given a prayer shawl from her parish, Holy Comforter. Wearing the shawl was an extremely meaningful experience as she felt surrounded by God’s love. She has worn the shawl several times in the last two years as she struggles with various health issues. Sherry says, “Knowing that someone has prayed for you is really important to the healing process while undergoing scary times.”

You don’t have to be an expert with knitting needles or crochet hook to be active in the ministry. All you have to do is be willing to learn how and willing to exercise a prayerful discipline.  Half our ministry members taught the other half to knit and crochet.  Furthermore, this is not a ministry exclusive to women. Men can join too—we have two brave souls who learned to knit!

Submitted by Betty Enfinger
Coastline Communicator
Holy Cross, Pensacola

Download the brochure/registration form

The Commission on Diocesan Missions announces the annual Small Church Conference. The conference will be held on Saturday, November 14, 2009, at St. Mary’s By-the Sea, Coden, AL. The Rev. George Rigall, St. Paul’s Chapel, Magnolia Springs, AL. will give a presentation on his experiences in a small congregation. His session will concentrate on the care and work of small congregations, as well as some of the differences between small congregations and large congregations. Mr. Jim Bolter, St. Andrew’s, Mobile, AL, will give a presentation titled “Stewardship in the Small Church in Today’s Economy”.  Mr. Bolter is a recent member of the Commission on Planned Giving/Stewardship. Also joining us will be Vanesa Riutta, the new Coordinator for Youth Ministries for the Diocese who will share information about plans for the youth activities around the Diocese.

The whole conference will give participants a chance to share information, concerns, celebrations, and the joy of sharing the Good News of God’s Love.

The Commission on Diocesan Missions works all year on plans for the Small Church Conference and the First Timers Orientation Meeting at the Diocesan Convention. The Commission hopes that the information presented is helpful in continuing the work of small congregations in the Diocese. The Commission meets several times a year and often invites members of small congregations to attend the meetings to share their concerns and celebrations. It is from these informal visits that some of the ideas for the Small Church Conference and the First Timers meeting are identified.  The Commission has also decided to try to give more congregations a voice and will be sending out a short questionnaire to help determine future topics of interest and areas where the Commission might offer help to the find solutions to some of the unique concerns of small congregations.

The conference will begin with registration at 9:00 a.m. followed by Morning Prayer and then the presentations. Lunch will be served and the conference will conclude with the popular Round Table sharing time. Please make plans to attend the conference and to help celebrate the completion of the Diocese’s newest church building.  St. Mary’s recently completed rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the old church. Registrations forms will be mailed soon and there will be online registration. Please register early to help the Commission and St. Mary’s complete plans for the conference.

Directions to St. Mary’s, Coden

If you need to call the church on the day of the conference, please call (251) 753-9188.

Submitted by Lynn Ferren, Chair

Diocesan Missions

“Above all else, this Convention claimed God’s mission

as the heartbeat of The Episcopal Church”

[July 22, 2009] Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued a letter to the church about General Convention 2009. General Convention 2009 was held July 8 to July 17 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California (Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles).

The following is the Presiding Bishop’s letter.

_______________________________________________________________________

My brothers and sisters in Christ:

The 76^th General Convention is now history, though it will likely take some time before we are all reasonably clear about what the results are.

We gathered in Anaheim, as guests of the Diocese of Los Angeles, for eleven full days of worship, learning, and policy-making.  The worship was stunning visually, musically, and liturgically, with provocative preaching and lively singing.

Our learning included training in Public Narrative, as well as news about the emergent church, in the LA Night presentation.

We welcomed a number of visitors from other parts of the Anglican Communion, including 15 of the primates (archbishops or presiding bishops), other bishops, clergy, and laity.

You can see and hear all this and more at the Media Hub: http://gchub.episcopalchurch.org/

The budget adopted represents a significant curtailment of church-wide ministry efforts, in recognition of the economic realities of many dioceses and church endowments, which will result in the loss of a number of Church Center staff who have given long and laudable service.  Yet we will continue to serve God’s mission, throughout The Episcopal Church and beyond.  This budget expects that more mission work will continue or begin to take place at diocesan or congregational levels.  Religious pilgrims, from the Israelites in the desert to Episcopalians in Alaska or Haiti, have always learned that times of leanness are opportunities for strengthened faith and creativity.

As a Church, we have deepened our commitments to mission and ministry with “the least of these” (Matthew 25).  We included a budgetary commitment of 0.7% to the Millennium Development Goals, through the NetsforLife® program partnership of Episcopal Relief & Development.  That is in addition to approximately 15% of the budget already committed to international development work.

We have committed to a domestic poverty initiative, meant to explore coherent and constructive responses to some of the worst poverty statistics in the Americas:  Native American reservations and indigenous communities.

Justice is the goal, as we revised our canons (church rules) having to do with clergy discipline, both as an act of solidarity with those who may suffer at the hands of clergy and an act of pastoral concern for clergy charged with misconduct.

The General Convention adopted a health plan to serve all clergy and lay employees, which is expected to be a cost-savings across the whole of the United States portion of the Church.  Work continues to ensure adequate health coverage in the non-U.S. parts of this Church.  The Convention also mandated pension coverage for lay employees.

Liturgical additions were also included in the Convention’s work, from more saints on the calendar to prayers around reproductive loss.

What captured the headlines across the secular media, however, had to do with two resolutions, the consequences of which were often misinterpreted or exaggerated.  One, identified as D025, is titled “Anglican Communion:  Commitment and Witness to Anglican Communion.”  It

• reaffirms our commitment to and desire to pursue mission with the Anglican Communion;
• reiterates our commitment to Listening Process urged by Lambeth Conferences of 1978, 1988, and 1998;
• notes that our own participation in the listening process led General Convention in 2000 to “recognize that the baptized membership of The Episcopal Church includes same-sex couples living in lifelong committed relationships ‘characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God’”;
• recognizes that ministry, both lay and ordained is being exercised by such persons in response to God’s call;
• notes that the call to ordained ministry is God’s call, is a mystery, and that the Church participates in that mystery through the process of discernment;
• acknowledges that the members of The Episcopal Church, and of the Anglican Communion, are not of one mind, and that faithful Christians disagree about some of these matters.

The other resolution that received a lot of press is C056, titled “Liturgies for Blessings.”  The text adopted was a substitute for the original, yet the title remains unchanged.  It

• acknowledges changing circumstances in the U.S. and elsewhere, in that civil jurisdictions in some places permit marriage, civil unions, and/or domestic partnerships involving same-sex couples, that call for a pastoral response from this Church;
• asks the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, and the House of Bishops, to collect and develop theological and liturgical resources for such pastoral response, and report to the next General Convention;
• asks those bodies to invite comment and participation from other parts of this Church and the Anglican Communion;
• notes that bishops may provide generous pastoral responses to the needs of members of this Church;
• asks the Convention to honor the theological diversity of this Church in regard to matters of human sexuality.

The full text of both resolutions is available here: http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation/

I urge you to read them for yourself.  Some have insisted that these resolutions repudiate our relationships with other members of the Anglican Communion.  My sense is that we have been very clear that we value our relationships within and around the Communion, and seek to deepen them.  My sense as well is that we cannot do that without being honest about who and where we are.  We are obviously not of one mind, and likely will not be until Jesus returns in all his glory.  We are called by God to continue to wrestle with the circumstances in which we live and move and have our being, and to do it as carefully and faithfully as we are able, in companionship with those who disagree vehemently and agree wholeheartedly.  It is only in that wrestling that we, like Jacob, will begin to discern the leading of the Spirit and the blessing of relationship with God.

Above all else, this Convention claimed God’s mission as the heartbeat of The Episcopal Church.  I encourage every member of this Church to enter into conversation in your own congregation or diocese about God’s mission, and where you and your faith community are being invited to enter more deeply into caring for your neighbors, the “least of these” whom Jesus befriends.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

Presiding Bishop and Primate

The Episcopal Church

Christ Church Cathedral in Mobile will be host to a gathering of all members in the Diocese for “Convention Conversations” on Saturday, July 25th, at 11:00 am.  The diocesan deputation  will give an general overview of General Convention and will respond to questions.

Later in the summer, Bishop Duncan will join the deputation in scheduled visits to churches around the Diocese as deputations have done in the past.

Parish administrators, clergy, anyone who “gets the word out” to parishioners, please download and print the flier/announcement and post it on the bulletin board and include the information in your parish communications over the next few days.  Thank you!

Download the flier here