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| December 9, 2014 | Volume 5, Number 15 |
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This Sunday's Lections
Third Sunday of Advent
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Register Now for March Retreat
Cursillo 119 is scheduled for March 19-22, 2015. Cursillo has been described as a short course in Christian life and this retreat will begin on Thursday afternoon and will conclude on Sunday afternoon. The weekend will feature a rich schedule of fellowship, study, self- reflection, worship, singing, fun, and the great experience of Honey Creek.
Applications are now available on the Diocesan website. Sponsors and Interested applicants should see their Parish priest for more information. Applications should be submitted no later than January 12, 2015.
This will be the second Cursillo following the renewal of the weekend format. The Cursillo experience is intended to lay the ground work for a revival of connected faith communities with frequent reunions helping to guide participants in living out every day in Christian community, accountability, and action.
Below is a short video introduction to Cursillo:
 | | How Cursillo strengthens your faith |
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Diocesan Office Update
On Sunday, Bishop Benhase will make a visitation to All Saints', Thomasville.
This Sunday, Canon Logue will preside and preach at the Episcopal Church in Okatie in Okatie, South Carolina.
On Saturday, Program Manager Rudy Reyes will attend the Vocare Steering Committee in Macon. On Monday, Reyes will meet with the Columba House Augusta Advisory Board.
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St. Patrick's, Pooler
Bishop's Visitation
Bishop Benhase, The Rev. Joshua Varner, and The Rev. Dcn. Patti Davis, with confirmands.
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Youth Programs
Teens Participate in Province IV Event
 Caroline Johnson of St. Luke's Hawkinsville and Caroline Brewer of St. Paul's Jesup accompanied Elizabeth Burns, our Missioner for Youth to a meeting in the Diocese of Louisiana last week. The Province IV Youth Leadership Network Meeting brings diocesan youth leadership and two teen representatives of each of the twenty dioceses in nine Southeastern states to share best practices and enjoy fellowship. The three traveled to Louisiana together with the representatives from the Diocese of Florida.
 The two Carolines also addressed the group about Youth Programs in the Diocese of Georgia (as pictured above) and shared a favorite Honey Creek camp game--human Tic-Tac-Toe. Caroline Johnson assisted in leading music for the event and has been invited to also lead music for a youth event in the Diocese of North Carolina.
Burns brought back from the meeting an evolving plan to add a fourth and fifth grade retreat which will serve as a younger version of New Beginnings and Happening. She is also working on Youth Commission plans based on input from her peers across the Province.
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Mission Trip Registration Deadline is Monday
 This years Diocesan High School Youth Mission Trip will be to the Dominican Republic! The trip will take place between June 21-June 30, 2015. Estimated cost is $1600. Financial Aid is available. We do not want anyone to be unable to make the trip due to financial concerns. Please contact Joshua Varner about financial aid.
Here is the basic information:
Who: All Diocese of Georgia youth who are currently in 9th-12th grade.
When: June 21-30, 2015
What: A mission trip the DR, in which the team works primarily with children helping to lead a Vacation Bible School.
The deadline to sign-up and first deposit is due December 15.
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 The parish hall is shown to the right of the church in the photo above.
St. Margaret of Scotland, Moultrie
New Parish Hall Building Dedicated
As the Sunday Eucharist ended at St. Margaret of Scotland, the congregation processed into its new parish hall for a dedication. The building was so newly completed that none of the parishioners had even had a peek until Sunday. The new building adds a parish hall and commercial kitchen, offices, a youth room, and additional bathrooms, all of which will make more events possible for the congregation. Canon Frank Logue preached for the Eucharist and prayed for the building's dedication to the glory of God.
 
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Christ Church, Valdosta
Lunch Bunch and Stitchers of Love
 The Christ Church Valdosta Lunch Bunch feeds 120 or more hungry children every first and third Saturday of the month. Workers from the church as well as other members of the community who volunteer gather at 11 a.m. at Christ Church to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. They pack them in plastic bags, then brown paper bags with logo stickers together with chips, fruit, juice and other healthy goodies purchased from the Second Harvest Food Bank.
 On Saturday, December 6, the Christ Church Stitchers of Love accompanied the Lunch Bunch regulars to deliver early Christmas present scarves hand-knit or crocheted by members of the group and knitter friends who heard about the project. Every child and adult who came to the delivery spots at Ora Lee West and Hudson Dockett housing projects received a scarf along with their lunch.
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All Saints, Tybee Island
Marching in the Tybee Christmas Parade
Many communities around the Diocese of Georgia have Christmas Parades and these are a great way to keep your church in front of your community, quite literally. Members of All Saints are pictured here participating in Tybee Island's Parade held last week.
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"The commandment we have from him is this:
those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also."
~I John 4:21
Loose Canon
Fostering Inward Spiritual Growth
 If we only go about being the church for the sake of more people and more money, then God should not bless that effort, and I don't believe that God will bless it. I write that as bluntly as possible so that you understand how strongly I feel that churches do not and should not simply grow in terms of more people sitting in pews on a Sunday or giving more money in offerings.
What God actually calls us to is to faithfully follow Jesus. While we know that faithfulness bears fruit, the fruit of our faithfulness varies. Sure, this may mean growth of the kind that can be charted with statistics. Yet, any spiritual growth always starts with the work of the Holy Spirit in human hearts and this slips through the cracks when we get solely data driven.
The Inward Journey
In her now out of print book Journey Inward, Journey Outward (Harper and Row, 1968), Elizabeth O'Conner shared the way The Church of Our Savior in Washington, DC went about being church. She noted that churches had become so concerned about numbers that concern for each individual soul with whom the church came in contact was being lost. She made the case that the renewal of of the church "cannot come to the church unless its people are on an inward journey" while holding "with equal emphasis that renewal cannot come to the church unless its people are on an outward journey."
The Outward Journey
To simplify her text, on the journey inward, one comes to see onesself, God and others. This self-knowledge seen through relationship with God and lived into in community with others builds up a person into a disciple of Jesus Christ. In this engagement one's God-given gifts are called forward. The disciple then continues on an outward journey in which one is truly present to others.
Both/And
 There is not an either/or with discipleship and mission or ministry. Without gaining a deeper connection to God as revealed in Jesus Christ, we cannot know ourselves and so can not really see others and be present to them. The inward journey is required. Yet, if we only take the journey inward, we can become like the Dead Sea (pictured above), which is continually nourished, but has no outlet and so is rich in minerals and devoid of life.
This simple concept of churches helping nourish and sustain people on their journeys inward and outward adds to the missional emphasis I often place in this Loose Canon column and most notable in my opening address to our recent convention. A missional outlook is essential for the church as God did not come among us as Jesus to teach, heal, deliver, and then suffer, die and physically rise never to die again in order to start and institution. God came in Jesus to bring us into relationship, a life giving and life changing relationship. And this relationship needs both the journey inward and the journey outward to grow and flourish. Balancing Inward and Outward Journeys With the "program year" for your congregation well underway, how do you see that balance in your church's schedule of events? Is the inward journey of discipleship being supported with appropriate offerings to nourish the life of faith and to thereby challenge parishioners in helpful ways? Is the journey of service to God through ministry to others just as evident? How is your congregation doing at this balance of the journey inward, journey outward? Should you add more ways to engage in mission or discipleship? To grow disciples, you need to foster both journeys.
-The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary
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A Video Introduction to Summer Camp at Honey Creek
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Summer Camp
Plan Now for Summer Camp at Honey Creek
"If there's any place to be, it's a place where you can constantly feel God's love. Honey Creek is that place, and will always have a place in my heart."
-Sam, High School Camper
Camp sessions
June 14-20 High School Completed Grades 9-12
June 21-27 St. Joseph & Mary I Completed Grades 3-5
July 5-11 St. Peter I Completed Grades 6-8
July 12-18 St. Joseph & Mary II Completed Grade 3-5
July 19-25 St. Peter II Completed Grades 6-8
Tuition for regular session is $430 per camper.
Register before March 1st and tuition is only $405.
For more information visit HoneyCreek.org.
Click here to register.
New Camp for Children in grades K-2!
June 21-23 Parent & Child I Completed Grades K-2 + Adult
July 12- 14 Parent & Child II Completed Grades K-2 + Adult
The Parent & Child sessions run during the Camp St. Joseph & Mary sessions (Sunday through Tuesday). They serve as an introduction to camp culture for both the parent and the child (k-2nd grade). Parent and child are invited to participate fully in all camp activities as much (or as little) as they are comfortable. Tuition for each session Parent & Child session is $320 for one parent and one child ($85 for each additional child).
Tuition covers room and board in a private lodge room, special activities, art supplies, camp photo and camp t-shirt.
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St. Nicholas Visits St. Thomas Isle of Hope, Savannah.
Advent Around the Diocese in Photos
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
St. Peter's, Savannah, singing in The Village on Skidaway Island for the 23rd year.
The outdoor Children's Service at Trinity, Statesboro.
Lighting the Christmas Tree at Good Shepherd, Augusta, and the Advent Wreath at St. Paul's, Augusta.
Special music for Advent II at Christ Church, Frederica, and King of Peace, Kingsland.
A photo of Good Shepherd, Augusta's 2014 Christmas Pageant.
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"For we have brought nothing into this world,
and it is certain we can carry nothing out."
-I Timothy 6:7-8
Please remember your church in your will.
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Blogs by Clergy and Parishioners of the Diocese
In a recent From the Field, we shared that the Rev. David Somerville has started creating a weekly reflection on the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday. These are to assist clergy and lay persons in preparing for Sunday. This week's reflection is online here: Heralds of the Rose-Colored East; Upcoming Gospel for Advent III
In that same article we asked about other blogs and learned of three more:
We also learned that Savannah Spivey, a young adult active in this Diocese who is now a PhD student in Human Development and Family Science at the University of Georgia began a blog on her work with refugees, which has evolved into reflections on issues of faith, humanity, and meaning. Savannah's writings are found at http://investigationsofrefugeestrengthandstrife.wordpress.com
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Southeast Convocation
Working to Bring Disease Free Water to El Carreton
 Groups from the Southeast Convocation of the Diocese have taken short-term missions trips to El Carreton in our Companion Diocese of the Dominican Republic for four years. In that time, the groups have assisted in building a high school in the town. Now, they want to tackle the persistent problem of water borne diseases in the village and region of El Carreton. The neighborhood near the school is pictured above.
Up river garbage and other waste, including human, is dumped into the water. The water is full of disease by the time it gets to the village. The children and families of El Carreton dip into the canal for bathing, washing, cooking and drinking. Even though they know the water is filled with disease, and they know it will make them sick, they need water to live.
 Our Southeast Convocation congregations are partnering with the Dominican Development Group (DDG), which is a nonprofit here in the United States which supports the work in our Companion Diocese, to put a water filtration system into our Village. The new system will be sustainable through monitoring and maintenance by the Dominican Development Group. Southeast Convocation Dean, the Very Rev. Ted Clarkson is pictured preaching in El Carreton.
The plan involves digging a well, installing a special solar powered pump and connecting the water purification system in order to supply disease free water. They already have commitments of $7,000 toward a need of $ 20,000
Please make your gift checks to: St. Paul's Jesup
memo to: Dominican Drinkable Water
And send to: St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 745 South Palm Street, Jesup, Ga 31546
You will receive an acknowledgement for income tax purposes. You can also make this a Christmas gift as the Gift of Water for a stocking stuffer. For further information, contact Deacon Marty Meuschke [email protected]
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A Glimpse to the Future
A view from the doors at the back of the nave to the new sanctuary for St. Patrick's, Albany. The congregation anticipates its first Sunday in their new church this Sunday for Lessons and Carols in a single service at 10:45 a.m.
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so we can feature them in upcoming issues of From the Field.
Sincerely,
Diocesan Staff
The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia
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