ADVENT CONSPIRACY

 

 

[Advent Conspiracy] Enter the Story 2011

 

 

 Join the Advent Conspiracy and make a difference

 in the life of a woman or child  

 

•  Give a micro-credit loan to a woman through ERD (Episcopal Relief and Development)Your gift helps women through small loans & essential tools & training to start small businesses, become independent and earn enough money to support their families. Gifts for Life
• Start a diaper drive for women and children who are living in shelters or transitional housing.
• Check with your local VA to see if there is anything you can do to help women veterans who are homeless (these numbers are on the rise).
• Check with your local Angel Tree Program which helps children whose parents are incarcerated receive a Christmas present.Angel Tree
• Knit a prayer shawl for someone who is undergoing  medical procedures;  as a comfort after a loss or in times of stress; during an illness and recovery.

Cast on stitches in multiples of three - 54, 57, or 60. For example, if you use size 11 needles and cast on 54 stitches, 3 skeins of 'slightly bulky' yarn is enough. Some yarns vary in elasticity which will affect your outcome, as will your knitting tension. If the yarn you have chosen has a multicolored stripe, be careful when tying on a new skein. Make sure the color sequence is correct. Also, tie on the new skein in the body of the shawl, instead of an edge, as the ends tend to show. * First Row: k3, p3, to end * Second Row: Always start the next row with the opposite stitch of what you see. For instance, if the first stitch on the needle is a knit, then start with a purl. KNIT THE PURLS AND PURL THE KNITS!!! It should NOT look like ribbing. Note: If you cast on 57 stitches you will always start with K3

 Start and end with a prayer for the person for whom you are knitting the shawl.

 

 

 

 WORDS MATTER

Words Matter

A website devoted to learning more about the 'why.'

   

Words Matter Teaser Trailer

 

 Expecting the Word (click to download pdf)

When a parent is expecting a child, there are many decisions to be made. What will the child be named? Will it be a family name, a traditional name, a new and different name? Where will the child sleep? If a room is being prepared for the child, what color will it be painted? How will the child be raised? What are those deepest parts of the parents' own values and beliefs they will want to pass on?

Expecting the Word, an Advent Devotional organized by Words Matter, a project of the National Council of Churches Justice for Women Working Group, will offer a diversity of stories and meditations for contemplation during Advent. Questions about the choices we make and how we make them-- What makes a story "holy?" What is our responsibility to articulate for ourselves the words and images for God that speak to our own souls? How did we learn the words for our own stories? What words and images expand our community of believers?-form the basis of theses meditations. Let us allow them to whirl and eddy within our swelling minds and bodies as we find ourselves expecting the Word.

 Episcopal 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence

begins November 25;
AWE, EWC, ECW and EPF this year's partners

Feminist Dialogue on Militarism and Military Intervention for the 16 Days Campaign

Anglican Women's Empowerment (AWE), the Episcopal Women's Caucus (EWC), Episcopal Church Women (ECW) and Episcopal Peace Fellowship (EPF) have teamed up to promote this year's Episcopal 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, November 25-December 10.

The 16-day period begins on International Day Against Violence Against Women and ends with International Human Rights Day, to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. This time frame also highlights other significant dates including November 29, International Women Human Rights Defenders Day; December 1, World AIDS Day; and December 6, the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.

The Episcopal 16 Days campaign targets faith communities in the Episcopal Church and challenges them to participate in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, an international campaign sponsored by the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL) at Rutgers University. Since its founding in 1991, more than 3,700 organizations in approximately 164 countries have participated in CWGL's 16 Days campaign. The Episcopal Church began participating in 2010.

This year's 16 Days international theme is "From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let's Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women!"CWGL launched a multi-year campaign in 2010 centered on the intersections of militarism and violence against women to explore some of the deeper social structures that promote and perpetuate violence against women and girls.

A hallmark of the campaign, however, is to encourage participants to choose an issue that is meaningful or relevant to them in their own church or community. A variety of planning tools are available at 16 DAYS

16 DAYS is about:  

• strengthening local work around violence against women;
• raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international levels;
• establishing a clear link between local and international work to end violence against women;
• providing a forum in which organizers can develop and share new and effective strategies;
• demonstrating the solidarity of women around the world organizing against violence against women;
• creating tools to pressure governments to implement promises made to eliminate violence against women.

A good resource for viewing and discussion is: The DVD series "Women, War & Peace."  Available for purchase from PBS @  $39.99  DVD Series

The series includes:

• I Came to Testify the moving story of how a group of 16 women who had been imprisoned and raped by Serb-led forces in the Bosnian town of Foca broke history's great silence - and stepped forward to take the witness stand in an international court of law. Their remarkable courage resulted in a triumphant verdict that led to new international laws about sexual violence in war.
• Peace Unveiled follows three women in Afghanistan who are risking their lives to make sure that women have a seat at the negotiating table for peace talks with the Taliban.
• The War We Are Living travels to Cauca, a mountainous region in Colombia's pacific southwest, where two extraordinary Afro-Colombian women are fighting to hold onto their gold-rich lands. They are standing up for a generation of Colombians who have been terrorized and forcibly displaced as a deliberate strategy of war.
• War Redefined, the capstone of Women, War & Peace, challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men's domain through incisive interviews with leading thinkers, Secretaries of State, and seasoned survivors of war and peace-making. Interviewees include Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee; Bosnian war crimes investigator Fadila Memisevic; and globalization expert Moises Naim. 

 Filmed in conflict zones in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Colombia, and Liberia, the series examines two questions: What if you looked at war as though women mattered? What if you looked at peace as though women mattered?

2012 Program Application:

Young Women's Leadership Experience at the United Nations

Commission on the Status of Women

The Young Women's Leadership Experience at the United Nations (UN) Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is sponsored by Church Women United, Inc. (CWU) and the National Council of Churches, USA (NCC).

Application for leadership experience is open to young women between the ages of 18 and 30, who are active in member communions or units of Church Women United, Inc.(CWU) and/or the National Council of Churches, USA (NCC), and are interested in global women's issues and the ecumenical movement's involvement.

Applicants will be responsible for travel cost to and from NYC, five meals (approx. $75), and $100 registration fee. We will cover costs of housing, additional food, events and administration. We encourage you to seek financial support from your church, CWU Unit and/or regional denominational bodies.

To download and application email The Rev. Ann Tiemeyer atiemeyer@ncccusa.org

Applications now accepted

For Episcopal Church Young Adult Service Corps

The Episcopal Church offers untold opportunities for young adults to provide service and share their expertise worldwide through the Young Adult Service Corps.

Commonly known as YASC, applications are now being accepted for the Young Adult Service Corps from young adults between the ages of 21-30.

"YASC provides the opportunity to serve God in locations throughout the Anglican Communion," noted the Rev. David Copley, Mission Personnel Officer.  "YASC brings young adults into the life of the worldwide Anglican Communion and into the daily work of a local community."

Current YASC members are living in Japan, El Salvador, Mexico, Southern Africa, Hong Kong, and Tanzania. Possible placements for 2012 include Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Papua New Guinea.

Applicants must have a high degree of maturity and possess a faith commitment and "the willingness to be a humble guest, and the ability to be an authentic companion," Copley added. 

Applications and other information is located here: www.episcopalchurch.org/yasc  Application deadline for 2012 placements is January 9, 2012.

For more information contact Lisa Denaro at ldenaro@episcopalchurch.org or 212-716-6114

Denise Bentley: My educational journey has led me to Bryn Mawr College, Fisk University, the University of Dijon and Vanderbilt University and from chemistry to French to law. My spiritual journey led me from the Baptist Church to the Presbyterian Church to the Episcopal Church, where I have been for over 30 years. My path as a Believer is one that causes me to afflict the comfortable as much as it causes me to comfort the afflicted. The Episcopal Women's Caucus offers something that is very important to me: the opportunity to walk my talk. Embrace me as we walked our talk, together.

Pamela Kandt: Pamela is an active member of her parish and the Diocese of Wyoming and seeks to offer the EWC perspective on the unique needs of our "Frontier" churches. She recently completed a term on the Diocese of Wyoming Standing Committee, is a lay alternate to GC2012 and a nominee to the Executive Council. Pamela presently serves her community as a hospital and police chaplain, as well as a first-responder with local law enforcement for Victim's Services. Her professional background is in Journalism, Public Relations, Marketing and Non-Profit Management.

L. Zoe Cole: Zoe is a deputy to General Convention from CO. An assisting municipal judge in Lone Tree, CO, Zoe combines her legal acumen and knowledge of Scripture and is an articulate and eloquent representative of "the law and the prophets." She brings her skills and talents to the board with a special passion for collaborative efforts with other women's organizations.

CLERGY

Carmen Guerrero: Carmen is well known for her work as the Jubilee officer of the National Church and her work in Multicultural and Urban Ministry Development in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Her significant contributions in addressing racism, justice and faith and issues related to poverty at all levels are well known and well documented.

 

Terry Pilarski: Terry is currently the rector at Christ Church Dearborn, Michigan.  She has served on the Women for Justice Working Group Expansive Language Committee. Terry  co-authored the ecumenical conversation guide that resulted, and wrote the Episcopal version of the guide. She has created and led training events and diocesan workshops on the WordsMatter project and guide.

Lisa Hunt: Lisa is currently the rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Houston where she has served for five years. Lisa comes from Nashville, TN, where she was the rector of St. Anne's Church for 17 years.  She was also an elected member of the Metropolitan Nashville Public School Board.  Lisa is an activist in her community, helping to organize neighborhood revitalization efforts, after-school programs, full inclusion of GLBT folks and in AIDS ministry.

Babs M. Meairs: Ordained in 1993, Babs has served as chaplain for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and retired as chief of the Chaplain Service at the VA San Diego Healthcare System.  Babs has also served as field coordinator for the Suffragan Bishop for Federal Ministries and Chaplaincies.  She has served on the boards of the Retiring Fund for Women in the Diaconate, Southwestern Network for Women's Ministries and the National Association of VA Chaplains. 

 EWC - IN RETROSPECT

I well remember EWC's founding. The ordination of women presbyters was a steady gleam in the eye of some and a recurring nightmare for others. I remember apprehension in some quarters about the word "caucus"-- wasn't that a political term? Mightn't it sound adversarial? There were still scraps of flower-child magical thinking lying about in those days: a misty conviction that the political process was too rude a vessel to hold the things of the spirit, that confrontation was a bad thing and sisterhood should exclude it. The pressure on us to be reassuringly amiable at all times was tacit but intense; sometimes my face hurt just from smiling.