Emanuel – God with us

With the children who are anticipating their first Christmas
And the families who will share their joy
And the families who will be apart
And those which are torn apart.
With those who are with friends
And those who are alone
And those who are alone, even with friends
With the parents who are too busy to see the wonder
And the parents who care for children
And the parents who fail to care for children
And the parents who care for parents.
With those whose joys are memories, and whose futures are uncertain
And those who love them and watch them decline
And with those who grieve over their losses
And – especially – with those who do not know that God is with them…
Blessed Advent

Wish I could be there…

I had a note from the Rev. Michael Moran at the cathedral in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last week, along with highlights of their Advent schedule. The choir of King’s College, Cambridge, will sing at the cathedral on Sunday, December 15. Anyone up for a quick “companionship trip?”

Some people have all the fun…

If the Shoe Fits...

Episcopalians and Southern Baptists usually find themselves at some distance from one another on the theological/political compass. Pronouncements from clergy in one group carry little weight, if any, among the other.

Which is not to say that they ought not learn from one another… Read on.

In the midst of the “YouTube Debate” among the Republican presidential candidates Wednesday night, one questioner asked the question that won the evening’s Do-You-Still-Beat-Your-Wife? award: “Do you believe every word of the Bible?”

Several candidates slipped and slid on this one, muttering affirmative answers while interspersing adjectives like ‘interpretive’ and ‘allegorical.’

It fell to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who is also an ordained Baptist minister, to land the “money punch.” Said he, “I believe in the Bible, and I recognize that in today’s world, parts of it are allegory. But until we get the major parts right: ‘Love your neighbor,’ ‘Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these, you have done it to me.’ right, there’s not much point in worrying about the rest of the details.”

He might also have added, “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” but two out of three isn’t bad. We wish that all the Episcopalians/Anglicans who continue to insist that they know God’s will and the other guys are hopeless heathens had been listening.

Probably not…

Are You Listening??

This past Tuesday evening, PBS Newshour aired a long, one-on-one interview with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. At one point in the discussion, the interviewer asked, “How did this current round of negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinians get started?” Mr. Olmert replied, “We began by sitting down and talking – just the two of us, alone – over a period of two weeks. We usually met in my study. We got to know one another.”

Is it possible that a bunch of Anglicans with large egos might actually learn something from this Jew and this Muslim?

We can only pray…

Louie "Does the Numbers"

The never-dull Louie Crew has done an interesting analysis of the largest parishes in the Episcopal Church, along with those with the best attendance. His results, summarized in a note to selected leaders recently, are interesting:

“In the decade 1997-2007 the number of congregations with 1,000+ members increased by 15%. During the same decade, the total number of communicants in the Episcopal Church increased from 1,529,302 to 1,864,312, or 21.9%.

The 7,635 congregations of TEC average 244 confirmed communicants each.

22.7% of all Episcopalians are members of churches with 1,000 or more communicants, yet those 258 congregations represent only 3.4% of all Episcopal churches.

80 (31%) of the 258 congregations reporting 1,000+ communicants failed to show up in the list of the congregations with the best attendance. 40.4% of the congregations with the best attendance reported fewer than 1,000 communicants.”

What is particularly interesting locally is that three parishes in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania did make it onto the list of those with the best attendance. They are St. John's, Carlisle; St. James, Lancaster; and St. Andrew’s, State College. Further proof that, as one of my better clergy friends says, 99% of good ministry is just showing up.

You can read the entire report here.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

‘Tis the season, apparently, for news and information received a little too late for the December Tidings, and too important to hold until our next edition. Therefore, please take heed of the following:

Bishop Baxter will be the preacher for the annual Absalom Jones service, February 16, 2008, at historic St. Agnes Episcopal Church, Miami, Fl. You can read the details here.

The Winter Youth Retreat takes place from February 1-3, 2008 at the Christian Retreat Center. Registrations are due by January 16, 2008. You can find more information here.

Operation Understanding has completed a new round of grant awards, and applications are now being accepted for the spring round of grants. You can find details about recent awards, as well as instructions for the current round, here.

The Spiritual Life Commission retreat for diocesan clergy and leaders takes place on Saturday, December 15, at St. Cyril Center in Danville. The retreat will be led by our former presiding bishop, the Most Rev. Frank Griswold.

Compelling Visions

Parish vision statements are popular; everyone has to have one. I recently found one such statement that struck me as particularly good:

Passion for God; Compassion for People

A tip of the editor’s hat to the folks at St. Luke’s, Altoona, whose passions apparently also include brevity. Well said.