Lowering the Toll of Violence

This is an important report on a study:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/06/12/gun-killings-fell-by-40-percent-after-connecticut-passed-this-law/

In the early ’90s, gang shootings gripped Connecticut. Bystanders, including a 7-year-old girl, were getting gunned down in drive-bys. “The state is becoming a shooting gallery, and the public wants action,” an editorial in the Hartford Courant said at the time.

So in the summer of 1994, lawmakers hustled through a gun control bill in a special session. They hoped to curb shootings by requiring people to get a purchasing license before buying a handgun. The state would issue these permits to people who passed a background check and a gun safety training course.

At the time, private citizens could freely buy and sell guns secondhand, even to those with criminal records. Connecticut’s law sought to regulate that market. Even private handgun sales would have to be reported to the state, and buyers would need to have a permit. [...]

In a study released Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health, they estimate that the law reduced gun homicides by 40 percent between 1996 and 2005. That’s 296 lives saved in 10 years.

And that is how it should be.  It is so sad that we can trace guns that kill back to places with lax laws and the inability to keep those guns out of criminals hands.

But this is just a start.  We need to be looking at violence in all of its manifestations...

Discussing Violence in Church by Sharon Pearson has some very valuable resources for our conversations, advocacy and action.

http://rowsofsharon.com/2015/06/15/discussing-violence-in-church/

Episcopal Flag/Seal

On Oct. 16, 1940, the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies adopted an official flag for the Episcopal Church. This was the 251st anniversary of the day the General Convention ratified the Constitution and Canons and adopted the BCP. It was designed by William M. Baldwin (d. 1942), a member of the Cathedral of the Incarnation, Long Island, New York.

The symbolism of the flag has been explained as follows: The white field represents the purity of the Christian religion. The red cross represents the sacrifice of Jesus and the blood of the martyrs. The red cross on a white field is the cross of Saint George, the patron saint of England, indicating our descent from the Church of England. The blue in the upper left-hand corner is the light blue of the sky, often used by artists for the clothing of the Blessed Virgin. It is called Madonna blue and represents the human nature of our Lord, which he received from his mother. The nine white crosslets on the blue field represent the nine original dioceses of the Episcopal Church in America in 1789: Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, and South Carolina. They are arranged in the form of a St. Andrew's Cross to commemorate the fact that Samuel Seabury, the first American bishop, was consecrated in Aberdeen, Scotland, on Nov. 14, 1784. The colors red, white, and blue represent the United States and stand for the American branch of the Anglican Communion.

The same design is incorporated in the Episcopal Church seal, which was also adopted by the 1940 General Convention. The seal and flag serve as emblems of the Episcopal Church

(from An Episcopal Dictionary of the Church.)

Sunday (Church) School in 2015

I was able to participate in a workshop at the Episcopal Church in CT Spring Training & Gathering.  Sharon Pearson gave a wonderful presentation that looked at the history of sunday (church) school and asked some real good questions about it in 2015.

She posted them on her blog:

• Part 1: How Did We Get Here? 
• Part 2: Today’s Context 
• Part 3: A New Ecosystem 
• Part 4: Nurturing Networks
• Part 5: Where do we go from here? 

USA Today asked Has the sun set on Sunday school?

In part it says:

Yet it's worth noting that the reason MacNeil's kids don't attend Sunday school is lack of time. Instead of a day of rest, Sunday has become just another day for over-scheduled kids to be chauffeured from sports practice to music lessons or SAT tutoring. It doesn't help that parents themselves, so overwhelmed by life, are skipping church. 

Read the whole article here.

From Sharon's blog: "To help you get connected to others, I recommend the following curated websites that highlight best practices and share innovative ideas that are within our reach."

• Building Faith – articles from practitioners regarding Christian formation
• Forma – a network of creative Christian formation folks (lay/ordained, paid/volunteer, children/youth/young adult/adults) who dream big, have passion, and care helping others grow in faith
• Vibrant Faith Ministries – research and ideas for all generations
• Hope4ChristianEducation – a curated site of articles from a broad spectrum of denominations
• Key Resources – book and curriculum reviews, digital ministry ideas
• Worshipping with Children – resources and ideas for the inclusion of children in worship
• StoryPath – using children’s literature to share God’s Story, including pairings with the Sunday lectionary

Big Class: A Simple Path to a Deeper Spiritual Life

You don’t have to worry about being inspired. Just do the work of daily spiritual growth and the inspiration will come.

We are so excited for our next Big Class, which runs 3/22 – 4/5 with Becca Stevens, founder of Magdalene and Thistle Farms. In “A Simple Path to a Deeper Spiritual Life,” Becca will help us explore what the spiritual life really means: how to believe, to hope, to experience resurrection, to be inspired. In four lessons, she shares what she has learned in her years of ministry and service, and how this wisdom can enrich our own journeys. She reminds us about the importance of just showing up, of believing, of surrendering, of giving ourselves space. And that love heals and changes and brings about resurrection and justice.

This short, free course will be open to all from March 22 – April 5; registration opens this Sunday, March 15. We invite you to join us and to share this course with friends and neighbors. Our prayer is that, as we enter the season of Easter, this course may renew and inspire our journeys to resurrection.

https://www.churchnext.tv/school/catalog/course/the-big-class-a-simple-path-to-a-deeper-spiritual-life-with-becca-stevens/

Lent Begins!

The Season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.  To aid your journey, follow the links below:


40 Ideas for Lent 2015
http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/40-ideas-for-lent-2015

Litany of Penitence 
http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/2015/02/litany-of-penitence.html

A Sonnet for Ash Wednesday
https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/a-sonnet-for-ash-wednesday-3/

Creating a Lenten Prayer Space at Home
http://www.buildfaith.org/2015/02/09/creating-lenten-prayer-space-home/

It’s time to… Stop, Pray, Work, Play & Love with SSJEhttp://ssje.org/ssje/time/

Lenten Challenge (Pray Worship Serve)
http://www.prayworshipserve.com/lenten-challenge/

Lent 2015

I invite you in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word...

Lent begins with our Ash Wednesday Services - 12 Noon & 7:30 PM - All are invited!

Our Discipleship Project - Lenten Challenge:

During Lent, I invite you to begin our discipleship project with the 20+1+5 Lenten Challenge. 20+1+5 is the challenge to pray 20 minutes a day, worship an hour a week and dedicate five hours through the course of Lent to serving your local poor.  Here are some tips and thoughts:

* Pray means to pray, at least in part, with scripture. Read one psalm (or more) a day, remembering that the psalter was Jesus' prayer book. You can start with Psalm 1 ('Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked...') and move forward. Don't be anxious about whether you're 'doing it right' or not. An ancient teaching of the church is that the Lord's Prayer includes all we need to say to God.

* One of the great saints of the Episcopal Church was Br. Paul Wessinger SSJE, who died last year. He told this story about worship: In his early days as a monk he was anxious because he noticed that his attention would wander a lot during worship. A wise elder told him to try to remember one word or phrase- that's all- from each service. It was sweet advice that helped him for the rest of his sixty plus years as a monk.

* From Robert Lupton's Toxic Charity: 'Listen closely to those you seek to help, especially to what is not being said- unspoken feelings may contain essential clues to effective service.'

(borrowed from the Restoration Project)

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Resources for keeping a Holy Lent:

From Ash Wednesday through Easter Sunday, Living Well through Lent provides daily readings and suggestions for reflection and action, inviting you to engage fully in your Lenten journey—with heart, soul, strength, and mind. Throughout the year, the Living Compass Faith & Wellness Ministry outfits individuals, families, congregations, and organizations with tools and training for the journey toward wholeness and wellness, helping to make Christ our compass in every area of our lives.

Join the Journey through Lent invites spiritual reflection through gentle humor and is a wonderful companion for the Lenten season. The 17" x 22" poster size is just right for hanging on the wall or keeping on a table for daily coloring.

Forward Day by Day (back of Church) and lenten pamphlets (side door) can also aid your lenten journey.

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Stop, Pray, Work, Play & Love: A Daily Word, Video, Question - #Lent2015

A Lent 2015 video series and accompanying workbook from the Brothers of SSJE designed to help people with their sense of time, achieve balance and embrace Sabbath wisdom.
The series asks people to think about how they relate to Time in their life over five weeks. The series begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18th 2015 and runs through to Palm Sunday. Each day there is a video, a provocative question and a call to reflect either in the workbook or via social media. Subscribe: www.SSJE.org/time

We will be using the SSJE Lenten Resource for our Wednesday Night Lenten Soup & Study with the Lutherans. (See the attached or the first week.)

Our first Lenten Soup & Study is Wednesday, Feb 25 @ 6:30 PM - at St. Peter's Church.  Workbooks available ($5 each) for those interested (or free online pdf).

20+1+5 - Lenten Challenge

Our Discipleship Project

There is a hunger in the lives of many people, both in and out of church communities, to be in deeper relationship with God.  This is precisely what is promised by Jesus and Christianity.  Jesus is the way to come to know God personally, intimately and reliably, like a loving parent…like a father or mother.

20+1+5 = three ancient practices, commended to all by Holy Scripture and perfected by countless years of human experience:

• 20 – Pray twenty minutes a day.
• 1 – Worship one hour a week.
• 5 – Serve fiver hours a month.

If you want to know God better and be a more faithful disciple, please join us and others around the country in this work. We are The Restoration Project: a movement dedicated to nurturing disciples of Jesus. This is an invitation to spiritual depth.

This Lenten Challenge is meant to introduce the three practices that are the core of a disciple’s rhythm of life.