June 2015
Issue 54
Triennial Torch Prayer

 

Holy Triune God, Source of all light ~ radiate deep within us the longing to be Your light in this world.  Send forth this torch, a sacrament of hope and praise, into the welcoming hands of Your Daughters, that all who give and receive its light might be transformed.  Love's Flame, be with us, shining bright and wild into unknown reaches, inviting us in the way we should go.  Bless the work of our hands ~ the preparation for these Triennial Days that Your splendor ~ sovereign and constant ~ may be unleashed for all the world to see.

 

From our National Chaplain

 

What You Can Do Before and After Triennial

Part of our Latino tradition is to enjoy eating together, and we do this usually after our Sunday services.  I would usually be called to give the blessing and I would delegate someone else to do it, because for the Latinos, it is the duty of the priest to do the blessing.  Yet, prayer is the privilege of everyone, not only of ordained ministers, and I have personally felt the power of prayer being the National Chaplain for Daughters of the King.  Let me share my personal experience as I sit in the Executive Board meetings and listen to important matters being discussed:  I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit inspiring me to make suggestions on different options in making decisions. At times I get the same feelings while preaching. It is then that I realize that there are many others praying for us as we meet.

As we prepare for our Triennial meeting in Utah, I ask those prayers for all those attending:

Pam, our president and all members of the National Council; the staff members; the Chaplains; the guest speakers:  The Rev. Canon Andrew White, The Rev. Becca Stevens, and Roger Grenier; International representatives traveling and seeking visas to enter the US; national delegates; workshop leaders; volunteers; hotel employees at Zermatt and Homestead; and committee chairs and members.

Pray that we all have safe travel and for the presence of the Holy Spirit, that as we accomplish our task, we do it for His sake. There is always the temptation of doing and wanting things our own way. Prayers can help us to be humble as Jesus was in giving his all to do the will of his Father. Those at Triennial are called to be delegates because their sisters saw them as persons willing to serve their King. Such service is not a burden, but a joy, and we all look forward to enjoying our time together in His name and for His sake.

When all the joy is over, we will all look forward to a well-deserved rest, but we will still be filled with the Holy Spirit so we will want to share our experience with others. We must try not to stress on the "what I did" or what "they did to me" etc. complaints, but to emphasize the joy and fellowship we all had together. No meeting or gathering can ever be perfect if it is planned and executed by human beings. There will always be flaws and disappointment. So let us return home and feel glad of the great opportunity God gave us to serve Him in making plans for the future of this great Order of Daughters of the King�.
 
If you are not attending you could be of great support by sending texts, letters, and cards to the delegates to encourage them and to assure them that you are praying for them. You can also do so by welcoming them back home. This Triennial is not only for the delegates and guests attending but for all Daughters in the world. New services, new laws, finances and others matters that have to do with you and the Order will be discussed and voted on.  So keep us in your prayers as we make those important decisions and help us to make them effective for the Order.  

Bishop Sylvestre Romero
In This Issue
From our National Chaplain
They're Back
Welcome to Triennial 2015
Call to Prayer
A Prayer Project
Triennial Blog
Spirited Walking
New Services of The Order
A Study in Brazil
A Story of Partnership
Master's Fund Reminder
I Love This Cross

Cross+Links Editor

Assistant Editor
Quick Links


Province Presidents
 
Province I
Donna Abramov

Province II
Janet Papa

Province III
Laura Richard

Province IV
Lindy Kirk

Province V
Pam Sebura

Province VI
Lyn Zolman

Province VII
Brenda Amos

Province VIII
Sara MacDonald 
 
National Office


or
 
 770-517-8552  
They're Back 


Our rhodium-plated crosses are back!  We apologize for their recent absence, but it took time to find a reputable vendor to replace our previous vendor, one who could make quality rhodium-plated crosses.  Now available in the large Junior and large senior sizes, the new rhodium-plated crosses are beautiful and affordable.  We are now very glad to offer the Order this new option.  We appreciate your patience with us.

Jen Mariano
First Vice President
Welcome to Triennial 2015 

   

Hallelujah!!  This is the month to be at Zermatt and Homestead Resorts in Midway, Utah. What a beautiful spot to celebrate our 46th Triennial. The National Council has been very busy, working hard to prepare for this awesome experience. The 46th Triennial will have a familiar feel in this fabulous new setting.  

For those who will be attending, we hope that you will experience God's Holy Spirit among us. Enjoy the sisters that you haven't seen for three years, the awesome worship services, singing along with the Glory Bound Singers, eating, laughing, learning and praising God. And we can't forget the Province dinners, the Gala Banquet, Junior Daughters, the Chuck wagon BBQ, the business of elections and bylaws, International Night, an outdoor Eucharist and a healing time of joy and love.

We particularly look forward to hearing our guests: The Rev. Canon Andrew White (known as the Vicar of Baghdad), The Rev. Becca Stevens, Roger Grenier, and our Glory Bound Singers. Junior Daughters will be learning about the environment and how they can help it and the senior Daughters will also participate in a service project in aid of a Blanket Ministry. I hope you enjoy the new experience of being in a different venue and enjoy all that the resorts and grounds have to offer. For a sneak preview of the Triennial Schedule, click here.

For those readers who are not attending Triennial, remember to participate in the Prayer Vigil (found on our website and in the most recent edition of The Royal Cross), follow the Community Blog via the link on our Homepage and follow us on Twitter.  

Keep "Shining the Light of Christ."

Missy Denney
Triennial Chair  

 

Call to Prayer

Don't forget to pray!  Our Triennial Prayer Vigil begins June 11. The full Prayer Vigil with daily intercessions can be found in the Spring issue of The Royal Cross and on the website.


Have you ever wondered about the significance of the graphic of the singing bowl that accompanies our "Call to Prayer" articles?  The answer lies in National Council meetings.  Prayers are frequently interspersed between business agenda items.  A singing bowl like the one in the graphic is struck to call Council to prayer, to quiet the mind, to hear the Spirit, to remind us it is God's work we are called to do. 

A Prayer Project with the Society of Saint John the Evangelist 

 

At the request of the General Convention Liturgy Team, the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (an Episcopal monastic community in Cambridge, Massachusetts) is offering a social media prayer initiative. "#prayersof" invites everyone from around the globe to add prayers in words and images to "The Prayers of the People" at The Episcopal Church's 78th General Convention.

  

Adding prayers is so incredibly simple. By using the hashtag #prayersof on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, anyone posting a public prayer in words or images will have that prayer included in the prayer website at General Convention - prayersofthepeople.org.

#prayersof is based on the seven classic forms of prayers identified in the Book of Common Prayer: thanksgiving, praise, intercession, adoration, oblation, penitence and petition. Themes of life and celebration have been added as there are nine days of General Convention Eucharists.  More details and a schedule of the themes can be found at the above website.

Triennial Blog Begins

 

Our first Community Blog introduces you to the Daughters of the King Triennial Meeting seen through the eyes of Oregon Daughter Lori Geres, who has been a Daughter since 2011. This is Lori's first Triennial gathering, so you'll be able to experience it all with her fresh perspective on everything that happens at a Triennial Retreat and Meeting.

 

Click on "Community Blog" on the toolbar in the middle of the Home Page.

 

Spirited Walking 

    

Theme: Healthy Relationships

Healthy relationships are very important to our well being; they provide us with a good support system.  The journey of life can be lonely and rugged at times. Therefore, having good support will help along the way by providing encouragement, dedication, and compassion.  In healthy relationships we have people we can depend on, who will hold us up when we are about to fall. Healthy relationships provide us with those basic human needs of emotional support, love, security, and protection. These healthy relationships involve family, friends, and neighbors. God our Creator knows His creation and knows the requirements to maintain His creation.  As a result, our Lord commands us to maintain healthy relationships, "A new commandment I give you that you love one another." (John 13:34). We are also reminded how much our lives depend on each other.  In Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, we are warned that "Two are better than one for they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him who is alone when he falls, he has not another to lift him up." Our Lord also commands, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:39)

Suggested thoughts:
"
...so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all..." Romans 12:18       
           "Love one another with brotherly affection..." Roman 12:11

Click here to read the rest of this month's meditation on healthy choices.

New Services of The Order

 

The various Services of our Order are a very important part of our ministry and mark important moments in our life as a Daughter of the King.  Since it has been quite some time since they have been reviewed as a whole, we felt the time was right to form a committee and give them a spiritual makeover.  Additionally, something that came out of our Chapter Manual Committee discussions was the need to develop a standardized "Service for a Departed Daughter," as well as a Memorial Service to be used at retreats and assemblies.

To that end, Doris Bradley, Lindy Kirk, Grace Sears, and myself formed a new Services Committee.  Our charge was to reevaluate and restructure, as necessary, each of our Services (Junior and senior), as well as develop a new "Service for a Departed Daughter."  Each Service has been reviewed and approved by the Chaplains of our Order as well as the National Council.  This committee is pleased to present the new and improved Services of the Order for use by its members.  

A compilation of all of the new Services can be found in "A Daughter's Book of Services" available on our website (doknational.org) and for purchase from the National Office and online store. The new Services are also available individually on The Services of the Order webpage under Resources.  The new Services will also be seen in the new 2015 National Handbook and Bylaws of the Order available later this year.

Our prayer is that these new Services will bring a deeper meaning and greater significance to the events they mark and will help all Daughters, Junior and senior, feel more connected to the reason why they are participating in that Service. Most importantly, we pray that the presence of the Holy Spirit fills all who participate, all who witness, and all who are called to a closer walk with Jesus through The Order of the Daughters of the King�.

Jen Mariano 
Literature Chair
 

A Study in Brazil 



On May 27, 2015, Helena Gastal, National President of the Order of the Daughters of the King™ in Brazil, and her mother Maria Helena Gastal, liaison between the Brazilian Dioceses, spent the day at the Cathedral of the Redeemer, Pelotas, with Daughters of this city (who have formed one big chapter), from Cangu�u (three chapters) and Pedro Os�rio (one chapter). Diocesan Bishop Renato Raatz and five chaplains were also present.  Pelotas is near Porto Alegre, where the Order's National Office is located, three hours by car.

During this visit we studied about the words that are on the cross Daughters wear, "For His Sake" and the verses from Romans 8:35-39:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written,"For thy sake we are being killed all the day long;we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Helena Gastal also shared her report about Brazilian Chapters which she will present at Triennial in Utah.

It was an excellent meeting with prayers and enthusiastic songs. The Daughters of the Diocese of Pelotas are really "Shining the Light of Christ."

Maria Helena Gastal, Diocesan Liaison 
The Order of the Daughters of the King ™, Brazil 

 

A Story of Partnership 


New Junior Daughters of the King, Episcopal Church of the Epiphany
 wearing the prayer-partner senior Crosses until their order is filled. 

There were 11 girls being admitted into a new chapter of the Junior Daughters of the King at the Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, Richardson, Texas, but only six crosses were available. The date of service was already set. What to do? Anna Seden, of the National Office, suggested that five senior Daughters lend their crosses to the girls just during the service to make up the missing number. However, we decided all the girls would have borrowed crosses so there would be no inequity. We had planned to do a senior/Junior Daughters partner next year anyway, but we had been unsure as to how we would launch the partnership. When I mentioned the idea of borrowed crosses to Barbara, we agreed this was time to launch the partnership and asked for help. With email and by phone, she recruited happy volunteers. One Daughter, who battles leukemia, never removes her cross. She happily lent it to a 9-year-old girl. Such immediate, transcendent joy everywhere made May 31, 2015, one of the best days of our lives.

Victoria Stevens
Junior Directress, Episcopal Church of the Epiphany

A Reminder from the Master's Fund Chair

    

 

Did you remember to contribute to the Master's Fund last month? It's not too late to do so and make a difference in the life of a woman seeking an education that will allow them to better serve Christ's people.  Mail a check or make a contribution on line today!

 

I Love This Cross 

Our "I Love This Cross" Gallery continues to display crosses gathered from around the world, crosses made of all sorts of diverse material and reflecting the diverse spiritual gifts of the Daughters who submitted the photos of the crosses.  These crosses reflect the faith journey of the maker in a specific point in time; his (or her) journey then resonates in us - first as photographer, then as viewer.  I hope all you viewing this gallery will experience the same uplifting inspiration the maker and photographer of these crosses first experienced.  

Remember, the Gallery remains open for new submissions which will be displayed on a recurrent basis throughout 2015.  
Susan O"Brien
Editor, Cross+Links







Cross, Serra Retreat Center, Malibu, California, February 2015.                                        







This cross of a different material is also on the grounds of Serra Retreat Center, Malibu, California, February 2015




This cross is made from Petoskey stones, the state stone of Michigan.  Found along Michigan's lakeshores, beachcombers pass over many nice rocks to find the elusive Petoskey stone, which is an ancient fossil.  This cross hangs in the parish hall at Grace Episcopal Church, Ludington, MI.  The photographer writes, "This cross is a simple statement of faith and appreciation for the miracle of God's creation."  





This cross hangs inside the sanctuary of All Saints Episcopal Church, Parma, Ohio.  The stone cross is lit so shadows are cast on the back wall to either side of it, so there are in fact three crosses seen.  






This cross hangs in the sanctuary of St. James Cathedral, Chicago, Illinois.  Notice the juxtaposition of the hanging cross with the cross in the stained glass window behind it. 





































 

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