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?The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard
seed which a man took and sowed in
his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when
it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and
becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come
and make nests in its branches.?
--
Matthew
13:31
Jesus knew about What One Can Do - usher in the
power of the kingdom.
Judy Grace knows it, too. She was a deputy from
Tennessee
at General
Convention this summer when she
and a fellow deputy (the Rev. Dennis Lloyd) saw the
short film "Invisible
Children" at the
EGR booth.
The movie tells of children in Northern Uganda
between the ages of 8 and 14, who are abducted into
the LRA,
the Lord?s Resistance Army. Many of these
children walk up to 10 miles daily, from their
villages into the towns, to sleep in safety in
shelters so that they will not be taken in the night.
Then they heard Bishop
Macleord Ochola (retired) of
Kitgum diocese in Uganda, whose wife
and daughter were both killed by the LRA in N.
Uganda ask for
support.
A seed was planted.
Later, at one of the final Eucharists of the
Convention,
Grace and Lloyd entered the hall to some haunting
music, which they later discovered was being sung by
Elisabeth
von Trapp, granddaughter of George and
Maria von Trapp, of ?Sound of Music? fame.
The seed began to grow.
When they returned to Nashville, Grace ordered the
Invisible
Children DVD and began to share it with
friends. She also went on line to order Elisabeth
von Trapp?s CD?s and decided to contact her
regarding the possibility of a benefit concert for
the Invisible Children.
The mustard seed has now resulted in a diocesan-
wide
project of distributing a DVD to each of the 51
churches of the diocese, organizing a collection of
items requested by ChildReach
Africa, of which
Bishop
Ochola is chairman, and developing ideas to
involve all ages of the parish.
Each parish will receive, in
addition to the DVD, a collection list (click
here for the list and more info about the
situation) and brochures. And on March 18,
Elizabeth von Trapp will be in Nashville for the
benefit concert.
Judy offers these other suggestions for "What One
Can Do"
*Pray.
*Share information and raise awareness of
the
plight
of the Commuter Children and the Child
Mothers.
*View the ?Invisible Children? DVD
*Raise awareness by making a popsicle
stick cross
How to make a Popsicle Cross--
Take the figure of the number of children
who have been kidnapped by the LRA since 1987
(66,000) and do the math for whatever time segment
you wish.
(Or make sets of smaller crosses?7 crosses, each to
represent a day, then placed together to represent a
week.)
Be sure to get different colored craft sticks.
*Children can make a bank and collect or
earn ?Pennies from Heaven.? When the can is full,
convert to cash
or a check for Invisible Children. .
For more information email Judy.
| New MDG resources for your congregation |
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*"Mission and Ministry through the Millennium
Development Goals" is a new MDG curriculum from
the Diocese of North Carolina's School for Ministry.
Written by the Rev. Leon Spencer, former director of
the Washington Office on Africa, this five-session
study looks at the MDGs from a missiological
perspective. Download
it free, along with tips
for facilitators.
*Beijing Circles resources for MDG #3 (womens
empowerment) - The Office of Women's
Ministries has produced two resources for engaging
the Beijing
Platform for Action:
-A
resource guide with meditations, prayers, stories,
facts and study materials on each of the 12 aspects
of the Platform.
-Beijing
Circles East Timor to Yonkers, an 11
minute DVD, presenting the basic aspects of starting
your own Beijing Circle
and raising understanding of
the issues of poverty, education, health care,
violence and armed conflict as they affect
women.
*Eight Ways to Change the World: Local Authorities
and the Millennium Development Goals
a new resource from the Millennium
Campaign
outlines how local authorities in both rich and poor
countries can help ensure the achievement of the
MDGs, highlighting eight practical ways local
governments can raise awareness and advocacy for the
Goals, such as adopting a town resolution,
?twinning? cities, and sponsoring local events in
support of the MDGs. Great resource for a
congregation that wants to be a community leader for
the MDGs.
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| Sites to bookmark |
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*Global AIDS pandemic on the Diane Rehm Show
- Click
here to listen to an archived broadcast of this
week's update on strategies for treating AIDS and
the ongoing effort to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus.
*We Are
What We Do - an inspiring movement to get
pepole to use their everyday actions to change the
world.
*The Nata
Villlage Blog - a wonderful effort that
started with one person visiting a village in
Botswana and deciding to use the power of the
internet to make a difference on the ground for one
small group of people.
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| Quote of the Week |
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"Some people are happy with pie in the sky when
you die. But I don't
think that's our purpose. Our purpose is to bring
heaven to earth, in
the micro as well as the macro. In every detail of
our lives, we
should be trying to bring heaven to earth. Have the
peace that passes
understanding at the heart of yourself!
"But
do not
be at peace with
the world. Because the world is not a happy place
for most people that
are living on it. The world is more malleable than
you think, and we
can wrestle it from fools.
"
-Bono, at the Willow Creek
Leadership Summit
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What One Congregation Can Do |
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Every year, St. Stephen's
Episcopal Church in Lynn,
MA, has a Caribbean Festival that invites
the entire community to celebrate Caribbean culture
through music, dance, and great island food. But
this year, it has a special focus - the MDGs
"We rejoice that the Episcopal Church has endorsed
the Millennium Development Goals as its top funding
priority for the next triennium," says the
Rev. Matt Stewart, associate rector at St.
Stephens. "We
believe that the elimination of poverty should not
be seen as the work of a limited few but rather as
the vocation of the whole
Church.
"Our common task should be to incarnate that Reign
of God in which every stomach is full, every disease
cured, and every tear is wiped from our eyes."
In addition to ethnic food, a steel drum band and a
guest preacher (Mass. State Rep. and General
Convention deputy Byron Rushing), the Sept. 10
festival will be used as a kickoff for the Lynn ONE. The Episcopal
Church is a ONE Campaign
partner and launched its own ONE
Episcopalian
Campaign this summer.
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