From the Field
Weekly News & Events of the Diocese of Georgia
In This Issue
Clergy Conference
1Book1Diocese
Diocesan Staff Events
Diocesan Financials Online
EYCS Scholarship Deadline
Holy Week and Easter Photos
Fashion Fundraiser
The Loose Canon
Quick Links
to From the Field
 


 

Clergy Conference Starts Sunday

Zahl Grace
The conference will work with Preaching Grace in a culture contrary to the Gospel. Paul Zahl will be the presenter.
  
Sunday begins with supper at 6 p.m. followed by time with the Bishop.
  
The program on Preaching Grace will begin Monday morning at 10 a.m. and continue through Tuesday evening.
  
Wednesday, we will offer the  8-hour anti-racism training required of all clergy by the canons from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Those who have received the required training do not have to remain for this session.
 
Registration
To register, simply contact Honey Creek to book your room.

Bond Sale Update

The amount of bonds purchased more than doubled in the past week from $80,000 to the current total of $170,000. More information on the 10-year, $5,000 bonds being sold to qualified investors' in Georgia is online here:

1Book
1Diocese

1Book1Diocese
Our diocesan Lenten Study concluded Easter Sunday.  
  
Whether you have the book or not, you can benefit from stopping by the website and reflecting on the readings there which remain online at:
  
website 
The Rev. Justin Yawn baptizes Nick at Trinity Statesboro's Easter Vigil. Justin is our chaplain to Georgia Southern University. Nick and Josan are two students at our Episcopal Campus Ministry there who were baptized at Easter. A third young man from Trinity was baptized by The Rev. Joan Killian.
 

Alleluia! Christ Is Risen.

"O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory;through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen."
 
Above, Deacons Walter Hobgood and Nancy Sartin are shown ringing the bell on Easter at Christ Church, Valdosta. More photos of Holy Week and Easter around the Diocese are found below.

Diocesan Staff Events   

This evening at 6 p.m., Bishop Benhase will be at our Episcopal Campus Ministry at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro where he will confirm the two students baptized at the Easter Vigil as a part of his visitation.

 

On Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., Bishop Benhase will baptize three at St. Patrick's, Pooler, on his annual visitation to that mission.

 

St. Andrew's ChurchThis Friday at noon, Bishop Benhase will meet with the clergy of the Southeast Convocation for lunch at St. Andrew's, Darien (pictured at right).

 

Canon Logue will officiate at a graveside burial office this Saturday at Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah.

 

This Sunday, Bishop Benhase will make his annual visitations to St. Cyprian's, Darien, at 10 a.m., St. Andrew's, Darien at 11:30 a.m. and St. Andrew's, Douglas at 4 p.m.

 

Sunday evening begins the Spring Clergy Conference. The Bishop and Canons Hall and Logue will take part in the meeting, which continues through Wednesday.

Current Diocesan Financials Online
In keeping with a commitment to transparency, Canon Mary Willoughby posts financial data at the website as new financials are available. The latest data is always maintained at http://gaepiscopal.org/?page_id=1129 with the date noted for the last update. The page has financial data through March 31 now at that page including a profit and loss statement, the status of congregationa's pledges and more.

This page is found within the "Reference Library" portion of the diocesan website which gathers all of the documents we maintain online in one area.
EYCS

Important Notice: Scholarship Deadline May 31st

It is time once again to begin the busy process of reviewing college scholarship applications from Episcopal students across the Diocese.  The deadline of May 31st is when those who wish to apply for financial assistance need to submit their applications to the board for consideration.  The board invites you to visit their web site eycs.org to obtain the necessary forms.
 
Any questions regarding the scholarship applications should be sent to [email protected] or contact your parish priest.  Completed applications should be mailed to EYCS The Diocese of Georgia 611 East Bay Street Savannah, Ga. 31401.  These applications must be received by EYCS no later than May 31st.



The altar of St. John's Moultrie set for Tenebrae on Wenesday in Holy Week.
Holy Week and Easter in Photos
A photo album offering a glimpse at the liturgical life of the Diocese of Georgia this Holy Week is online here. Below is a small selection from that larger collection of photos.
Footwashing in the Maundy Thursday liturgy at St. Patrick's, Pooler.
Footwashing at St. Anne's, Tifton.
The altar is stripped and an altar of repose is to the right at Grace Church, Waycross, following the Maundy Thursday liturgy.

The altar of repose at St. Margaret of Scotland Church, Moultrie, includes an icon mosaic by The Rev. Nancy Mills (at left above).
 
At left the cross is veiled at St. Alban's Augusta on Good Friday. At right. the Rev. Dcn. Geri Nelson and the Rev. Richard Nelson pray the solemn collects at the altar of St. Thomas Isle of Hope in Savannah on Good Friday.
The ciborium lies empty on the altar of Christ Church Valdosta on Holy Saturday.
As the sun set, The Rev. Joan Killian kindled new fire for the Easter Vigil at Trinity, Statesboro on Saturday evening.

Early Easter Sunday, The Rev. Peter Ingemann, at center, shares the light from the Paschal candle with the altar party at Christ Church, Valdosta.

Adults assist children in flowering the cross at St. Patrick's, Pooler.

The Rev. Michael White leads the liturgy of baptism at Christ Church Episcopal in Savannah.
The verger leads the procession out into the world at the end of the principal Easter liturgy at Augusta's St. Paul's Church.
St Annes Tifton
The procession out into the world at St. Anne's in Tifton.
At St. Peter's on Skidaway Island in Savannah, The Rev. Sam Buice gets kids ready for their Easter egg hunt.
Above are satisfied Easter egg hunters at St. Anne's Tifton (left) and St. James' Quitman.
Junk to Funk

Youth Fundraiser for Honey Creek in Savannah

The youth groups of the Savannah Convocation will be hosting a "Junk to Funk" fashion show to raise money for Honey Creek.  Children from around the convocation will be participating in this entertaining and creative fashion show by designing and exhibiting their own unique ensembles made entirely from recycled and discarded materials.  All proceeds will be donated to Honey Creek to help fund necessary upkeep and improvements to the camp.
 
The fashion show will be Friday, May 6th from 7-9 at St. Michaels and All Angels.  Tickets for the event are $10 for adults (children are free!)  If you would like more information about this event or would like to purchase tickets, please contact Cristy Jordan (912-659-0287, [email protected]) or Sally Freeman (912-660-0177, [email protected])
The Loose Canon
Look Forward to a 7-Week Advent 

You have just experienced a Holy Lent leading to a meaningful Holy Week and a gloriously joyous Easter. With a nice long nap behind you, why not think again about taking on a seven-week Advent this year?

 

Historically, the season of Advent was the seven Sundays leading up to Christmas, with the days in between. Currently, and in an unbroken tradition that is centuries old, those in Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate seven Sundays of Advent. The readings in the RCL do not have to be changed to observe this longer season of preparation for both the first coming in Bethlehem or Christ's second coming at the end of time. In fact, the readings in these last three Sundays of the church year are designed for a longer Advent. One goal of this move is to reclaim the time for preaching and teaching about the second coming as was traditionally part of the season and remains so in truncated form now.

 

Together with six other congregations in the US and Canada, King of Peace Kingsland too part in an experiment while I was there to expand Advent to its historic length. We used Rite II Prayer B Penitential Eucharist. The prayers of the people are changed weekly, adapted from those in Liturgy Training Publication's Intercessions for the People. We used a seasonal blessing for Advent from the Book of Occasional Services. We also used liturgist Bill Petersen's seven Advent collects written for this project (which I can send to interested persons).

 

In previous years, we had an Advent wreath on the way into worship and replaced that with a seven candle stand to show the same season is lengthened. Music was a huge challenge, but we made it work. This needs improving over time. Some hymns from the Lutheran Book of Worship helped us expand available music. We sang O Come, O Come Emmanuel in the spot of a hymn of praising with verses 1 and 2 in week one, verses 1 and 3 in week two and so on. The preaching reflected seasonal themes found in the texts each week. 

 

Making Advent a Little Lent Once More
For Episcopalians, Lent involves some changes to both corporate worship and one's daily life, where Advent involves solely changes in corporate worship. This would need to change in order to transform a congregation's experience of Advent.

In earlier years, King of Peace offered materials I created on Celebrating Advent in the Home (see www.kingofpeace.org/advent/ ). My wife, Vitcoria, and I revised the booklet last year to take in a seven-week Advent. It is online here: Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord. Victoria and I also feel that an Adventen discipline is in order, hopefully different from Lent. This would take thought and preparation, but could be important. I think suggesting that families take on an Advent discipline specifically designed to counter the rampant concumerism of the season is the direction to go.

 

Why not make Advent even more counter-cultural at a time of year when the message of the culture (Buy More Stuff to Be Happy) most needs to be overturned? I raised this idea last fall, and offer this reminder to consider how a longer Advent might be a helpful antidote to the season. This is particularly true when Advent starts before the post-Thanksgiving rush. Is this the year for your congregation to return to the historic pattern of a seven week Advent?

 

The Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon for Congregational Ministries

 

 

The Loose Canon is a regular column in From the Field whose content is gathered together with other items of interest to those concerned with congregational development at loosecanon.georgiaepiscopal.org

Send your news and events to [email protected],
so we can feature them in upcoming issues
of From the Field.

Sincerely,
 
Diocesan Staff
The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia