Prison Ministry 2015 Conference 

The Diocese of Florida is hosting the Prison Ministry 2015 Conference, taking place March 4-6 on Amelia Island. If you have an interest and/or a background in prison ministry this conference is a must-attend event. 

Our keynote speaker will be Byron R. Johnson, author of "More God, Less Crime." We have a number of speakers and experts slated to speak who have real-world experience in making changes happen. 

The Prison Ministry 2015 Conference will take place at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Fernandina Beach. Registration is now open. For further details, hotel accommodations and the registration link, please visit

 www.diocesefl.org/news-events/events/prison-ministry-conference.aspx

This is a practical conference for those involved in Prison and Post-Release Ministries or thinking about beginning a prison ministry in your diocese. Attendees will not only worship together, but also hear national speakers who have real world experience making change happen while gaining useful tools to make a positive spiritual difference in the lives of the imprisoned and their families.

The Episcopal Church Foundation (ECF) has named over 200 scholars and ministry leaders as ECF Fellows. Are you an emerging scholar or ministry leader interested in becoming a Fellow? Do you know someone who could benefit from ECF's support as a Fellow?  The application for the 2015 Fellowship is now open.  

Episcopal Church Parochial Report forms now available

Forms for the Episcopal Church Parochial Report 2014 are now available

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/parochial-report

Congregations should have received packets by postal mail last week - Friday, December 12. Each individual packet will contain the parochial report form, a card with the UEID and PIN that pertains to that church, as well as the cover letter and instruction sheet.  Workbooks for help in filling out the report are available online, and will not be included in the packet.

Online filing will begin January 2, 2015

All congregations in the Episcopal Church are canonically required to complete and submit the Parochial Report annually.  Data derived from the Parochial Report is used by the Episcopal Church Research Office, dioceses, congregations and the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church to track attendance, trends, membership and other critical information for the purpose of planning mission strategy.

Also available on the web are general instructions for completing the Parochial Report forms as well as line-by-line details listed in the workbooks. All forms are available in English, Spanish and French.

Confluence Episcopal Service Corps program now accepting applications

Did you know that the Diocese of Southern Ohio is home to one of the twenty-five Episcopal Service Corps (ESC) programs in the United States? The mission of Episcopal Service Corps is to develop and support a national network of intentional communities in the Episcopal Church. Our communities are marked by young adults:

-Serving others in solidarity, promoting justice in community

-Deepening spiritual awareness and vocational discernment

-Living simply in intentional Christian community

The Confluence ESC program is excited to announce that applications for the 2015-16 year are now being accepted at http://episcopalservicecorps.org/. The deadline is Jan. 2, 2015.

Confluence service corps members are hosted by St. John's Franklinton, living together in intentional community in the Hospitality House. Members are placed with dynamic non-profit worksites across Columbus, including; Community Refugee & Immigration Services, Coalition for Homelessness & Housing in Ohio and the Ohio Association of Foodbanks. During the course of the Confluence year, members worship and serve with the St. John's community, and share their experiences together in community through meals, prayer and ministry to the neighborhood with the Franklinton Gardens, Franklinton Cycleworks and other neighborhood partners. 

The '15-'16 program year is open to college graduates ages 21-29. While Confluence is an Episcopal program with a focus on spiritual formation, anyone of any faith is welcome to apply.  

TEACH US TO PRAY:  Learning To Pray and/or Lead Morning Prayer

(Including Training for Licensed Worship Leaders)

January 24 and 31, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Procter Center

Would you like to learn how to pray the Daily Office?  Would you like to know what is intended by the discipline of daily prayer and a bit of background as to how it has become an important part of the Episcopal Church's practice of prayer?

We require this training and knowledge of our licensed Worship Leaders.  However, we are opening up this opportunity for formation to those who have no desire to lead public worship but who do have a desire to learn more about praying the Daily Offices of the church on their own or in small groups. 

This training is mandatory for lay persons seeking a license as a "person who regularly leads public worship under the direction of the member of the Clergy or other leader exercising oversight of the congregation or other community of faith" (TEC Canon III.4.4).  Other requirements of licensed Worship Leaders are noted below.  In this diocese, the licensed person exercises this ministry primarily as the Officiant of Sunday Morning Prayer in the absence of a priest. 

New Licenses: Persons seeking a new Worship Leader license must attend both days of training. 

License Renewal:  Persons currently licensed may seek renewal of their Lay Worship Leader licenses by attending only the second session, but are strongly encouraged to come the first session as well, especially if they have not officiated at Sunday Morning Prayer within the last six months.

Registration for the Training:  All who attend any session should complete the registration form found here and pay for lunch for the day(s) they expect to be present.  Participants may pay online or by check.  If paying by check, please register online, print out the registration confirmation and send it along with a check made payable to 'The Diocese of Southern Ohio' with 'WL training' on the memo line.  Mail it to the Diocese of Southern Ohio, Attn: Geri McDaniel, 412 Sycamore Street, Cincinnati OH 45202. 

Leaders of the Training: The training will be led by the Rev. Marjorie Menaul, Ms. Debby Stokes, and Dr. Robert Benson.  Questions may be directed to Marjorie at mmenaul@aol.com.

Training Schedule:  Worship Leader training consists of two days of training held at the Procter Center on Saturday, January 24 and Saturday, January 31.  Each session will begin promptly at 10 a.m. (please arrive early to get coffee and settle in), and will end about 3:30 p.m. 

Cost:  $10.00 for each session, to cover the lunch and any printed materials.

Worship Leader Licensing Requirements:

(1) Worship Leader training (one or two sessions, as described above)

(2) Anti-racism training  http://formation.diosohio.org/anti-racism-handouts.html/

(3) Safe Church training http://www.diosohio.org/How%20we%20work/safe-church-training.html

(4) After all other requirements have been successfully completed, a request for licensing from the clergy person in charge of the participant's congregation. In the case of congregations without permanent clergy, the senior warden of the parish should submit the application.   

FORMA MEMBERSHIP AND/OR CONFERENCE (Scholarships available)

Greetings fellow formation pilgrims,

Are you a FORMA member or did you fill out a FORMA membership request at the convention? If not, and you wish to be a member, the form is attached. Please feel free to pass it on, and send out completed forms to me electronically (or fax or mail it to Canon Lynn Carter-Edmands at the diocesan offices per the instructions on the form) no later than Dec. 23. 

Are you planning on attending the FORMA Conference January 28 - 30, 2015 in Houston, TX? (http://episcoforma.org/forma-annual-conference/) I am planning to go and this week will be seeing Lynn to finish making some of my own arrangements. Details for the conference are also on the attached form.

The form does ask if you are with a church where the church will also contribute toward the trip. Beyond that, costs for airfare/hotel can be reimbursed through the diocesan Office of Formation, but the funds are only available in 2014.

What do we plan, as an outcome from the conference? Anyone who goes to the conference is asked to also be part of follow up conversations on how we can grow support for formation efforts in the diocese, using FORMA as a foundation because of the free resources and listserv that are available to members. We can figure out - during the conference and after - what the top priorities might be, as well as how we can communicate them to the rest of the diocese.  We are hoping through this FORMA conference opportunity to engage in very open-ended, collaborative objectives.

Deadline for application and response for those seeking diocesan scholarship is DECEMBER 23.   

Questions?  Contact Deb Parker at YouthEd.StAlbans@insight.rr.com for more information.  

Procter Center announces Farm Manager job opening

Procter Center is seeking an aspiring farmer who is committed to sustainable agriculture and public outreach to manage our two acre produce garden and our conservation areas.  

As an on-going operation, the farmer will have access to the land, resources, staff, and support they need to operate a successful small vegetable and fruit farm enterprise.

See full job description

Submittal Requirements

Interested candidates should submit a resume, availability details, and salary requirements by December 31 to:

The Rev. Craig Foster

Interim Director

Procter Camp and Conference Center

proctergm@diosohio.org

614.940.6274

The altar hanging at an English Advent service was made of midnight blue, with these words across its top:  "We thank you that darkness reminds us of light."  Facing all who gathered there to give thanks were images of night creatures - a large moth, an owl, a badger, and a bat - cryptic and somewhat mysterious creatures that can only be encountered in the darkness.

As light ebbs from the days and the skies of fall, many in the Northern Hemisphere associate dark with the spooks and skeletons of secular Hallowe'en celebrations.  That English church has reclaimed the connection between creator, creation, and the potential holiness of all that is.  It is a fitting reorientation toward the coming of One who has altered those relationships toward new possibilities for healing and redemption.

Advent leads us into darkness and decreasing light.  Our bodies slow imperceptibly with shorter days and longer nights, and the merriness and frantic activity around us are often merely signs of eager hunger for light and healing and wholeness. 

The Incarnation, the coming of God among us in human flesh, happened in such a quiet and out of the way place that few noticed at first.  Yet the impact on human existence has been like a bolt of lightning that continues to grow and generate new life and fire in all who share that hunger.

Jesus is among us like a flitting moth - will we notice his presence in the street-sleeper?  He pierces the dark like a silent, streaking owl seeking food for hungry and defenseless nestlings.  He will overturn this world's unjust foundations like badgers undermining a crooked wall.  Like the bat's sonar, his call comes to each one uniquely - have we heard his urgent "come and follow"? 

God is among us, and within us, and around us, encountering, nudging, loving, transforming the world and its creatures toward the glorious dream the shepherds announced so many years ago, toward the beloved community of prophetic dreams, and the nightwatch that proclaims "all is well, fear not, the Lord is here." 

May Christ be born anew in you this Christmastide.  May his light burn in you, and may you labor to spread it in the darkness.  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and it is the harbinger of peace for all creation.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church