April 20, 2016
Volume 6, Number 34
In This Issue
Diocesan Office Update
Bishop's Visitation
Upcoming Survey
Hometown Missions
Episcopal Relief and Development
Earth Day Resources.
Convention Hotels
Summer Camp
Clergy Spouse Retreat
Columba House Savannah
Prayers
Art and Liturgy
Send us your news
Web Links
 
 





This Sunday's Lections
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6

John 13:31-35
 
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Honey Creek staff Dade Brantley and Thomas Greneker receive the GIPPY "Light Award" from GIPL's Director, Rev. Kate McGregor Mosley.

Honey Creek Receives Award 
Excellence in Creation Care Education 
The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia Retreat Center at Honey Creek was recently awarded the GIPPY "Light" award for excellence in Creation care education. They were among four communities of faith across Georgia recognized last Sunday evening at Georgia Interfaith Power & Light's 10th annual GIPPY awards for advancing faith-based sustainability in our state.
Honey Creek was nominated specifically for its food waste reduction and composting program, "Reduce Bad Gas," which was launched last summer in partnership with the Creation Care Commission. The CCC is lead by Deacon Leeann Culbreath. The program educates Honey Creek campers and guests on the connection between food waste, methane (a potent greenhouse "bad gas"), climate change, and faith. A three-bin compost station was installed by CCC volunteers last June to collect food waste from the dining hall, creating a nutrient-rich fertilizer. Deacon Scott Mithen is pictured above, weighing food waste after a meal at a recent Honey Creek retreat.

After groups received basic orientation to the "Reduce Bad Gas Challenge," post-meal food waste dropped around 75% in one meal and often decreased to negligible amounts of waste. Campers and guests noted that they paid closer attention to what they put on their plates, and they took pride in having a clean plate. Food service staff adjusted cooking quantities, reducing food prep cost and time. Liquid waste helped water a butterfly garden, and most food and paper waste was added to the compost pile. 

More sustainability initiatives are planned for this year. If you have any questions or like to get involved, please reach out to Deacon Leeann Culbreath.

Georgia Interfaith Power & Light is Georgia's only statewide, faith-based conservation organization. It is one of 40 affiliates of Interfaith Power & Light, a national interfaith ministry devoted to deepening the connection between ecology and faith. IPL's goal is to help people of faith recognize and fulfill their responsibility for the stewardship of creation. The IPL campaign is mobilizing a national religious response to global warming while promoting renewable energy, energy efficiency, and conservation. For more information on GIPL's resources, visit www.gipl.org.
Diocesan Office Update    

Bishop Benhase is on retreat this week.

On Sunday, Bishop Benhase makes his visitation to Our Savior, Martinez.

Canon Logue is enjoying a brief vacation, visiting his daughter who lives in Mesa, Arizona.
St. Paul's, Augusta 
Bishop's Visitation 

Bishop Benhase with confirmands from St. Paul's, Augusta and St. Augustine's, Augusta. 
Campaign for Congregational Development
Upcoming  Survey 
The Diocese of Georgia is conducting a Discernment Study to determine the current priorities and needs of the members of our Diocese regarding the Campaign for Congregational Development. The Bishop and staff are working with Andi Tilmann, our Campaign consultant with the Episcopal Church Foundation. Over the course of the past month, she has been conducting personal interviews with members of the Diocese to gain new perspectives on where our current Campaign achievements stand.
 
Within the next week, all From the Field subscribers will receive an e-mail from the Episcopal Church Foundation requesting your participation in an electronic survey. Several of you may have already received  a request to participate, given your specific roles serving the Diocese. We thank you for your support. Your participation is invaluable to our Campaign success. Data gathered from your survey results will guide us in determining which initiatives have the most support at this time, and how much the Campaign for Congregational Development could raise to achieve them over the next 5 years. The survey will be open until May 2nd for response.
 
Gifts of all sizes are welcome and will enable the Diocese to strengthen our congregations, serve our communities and grow in the Body of Christ. To find out more about the Campaign, call Rebekah Stewart at (912) 236-4279 or visit campaign.georgiaepiscopal.org.
Youth Programs 
Hometown Missions This Weekend
Youth from across the Diocese are encouraged to gather in Albany or Darien for a weekend of service from April 22-24. Participants at Hometown Missions undertake small-scale mission projects within their local community. Hometown Missions is a diocesan youth event for 5th - 12th graders.  

St. Paul's Church will host the Albany team which will partner with Flint River Habitat for Humanity on a project. St. Andrew's & St. Cyprian's Churches will host the Darien team which will work in a historic cemetery.

If you have any questions, please contact our Interim Mission for Youth, Rebekah Stewart. There is still time to register. 


Episcopal Relief and Development
Responding to Needs Ecuador and Japan 
The Disaster Response Fund of Episcopal relief and Development provides urgent assistance to communities affected by major disasters including the earthquakes in Japan and Ecuador. Donations to Fund supply critical necessities such as food, water, medicine and shelter. 

The Rt. Rev. Alfredo Morante Espaņa, Bishop of Ecuador Litoral, writes in a message to the church, "The coastal area of our country suffered considerable damage to its infrastructure, loss of life, and a large number of people are injured and missing. We are getting reports that 48 church members' homes are completely or partially destroyed and three churches have considerable damage in their physical structure. Fortunately, there was no loss of life among our members."

About ERD
Episcopal Relief & Development is an international relief and development agency and a compassionate response to human suffering on behalf of The Episcopal Church. Originally called the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, the organization was established in 1940 by The Episcopal Church. Its initial mission was to assist refugees fleeing Europe during World War II. Soon after the war, the agency's efforts expanded to include additional humanitarian assistance, focusing mostly on disaster relief. In 2000, the PB Fund was renamed Episcopal Relief & Development to emphasize its disaster relief work and its increased programmatic focus on integrated community development. As of 2015, Episcopal Relief & Development is working in approximately 40 countries and touches the lives of close to 3 million people each year. 

Earth Day Resources  
Earth Day has been celebrated on April 22 since 1970. For the Church, this observance provides an occasion to remember our call to be stewards of God's Creation. The Episcopal Church has offers resources for the observance of Earth Day in our worship and in our education. These  resources include
 
For more on each of these areas, follow the individual links above or view the National Church's resource page directly.
Convention 2016
Updated Convention Hotels Information 
The hotels for the 195th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, (on November 10-12, in Augusta ) are The Partridge Inn on Walton Way and the downtown Holiday Inn Express. 
The Partridge Inn
2110 Walton Way, Augusta, Georgia
Special Convention Rate of $119 

Due to some technological issues, the Partridge Inn, Augusta, is currently unable to provide online room-booking service. To book your room for the 2016 Convention, please call the front desk at 706-737-8888 and tell the attendant that you are with the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia. We will release a public statement once the online systems have been restored.

 
Holiday Inn Express
444 Broad Street, Augusta, Georgia 30901
Click here to register with the Special Convention Rate of $94


Information on Convention 2016 will stay current at the convention website:


Register for Summer Camp  
At Camp Honey Creek, we believe that both faith and the natural world go together, hand in hand. Sort of like peas and carrots, only way better. Respect for creation and developing life-long relationships are key in a young person's life. We have multiple camp session to choose from, because we know how busy you are saving the world and stuff. Find a session (or two...live large) that you like, and register... http://honeycreek.org/camps/ . 

Spots fill up fast, and by fast we mean pretty quick...or more like a brisk walking pace. If you have any camp questions, contact our Summer Camp Director, Thomas Greneker (thomas@honeycreek.org). And the next time you have peas and carrots, you'll think of Camp Honey Creek, which is pretty cool.

- Thomas Greneker, Summer Camp Director 
Still Time to Register for Clergy Spouse Retreat 

Dear Friends:

This May 13-15 2016, join your brothers and sisters for our annual Clergy Spouse Retreat, held at the Diocese of Georgia's Retreat Center, our beloved Honey Creek. Each of us lives into being a clergy spouse in our own way. But as part of a clergy spouse community, we can share acceptance, support, and companionship (including a lot of laughs) while we explore the gifts and frustrations that come with being part of a clergy family. Spread out across a big Diocese as we are, this Retreat gives us precious time together.

While each Clergy Spouse Retreat offers something a little different, our structure remains the same. The weekend offers whatever mix of activities you choose to restore you. On Friday night, we gather to socialize, to greet friends and to begin to weave newcomers into the fabric of the community.  We end the evening with Compline. Saturday offers a range of activities--reflection led by our Chaplain Helen White, hikes, a service project to benefit Honey Creek, sleep--this year even a 90-minute boat ride!  Saturday night brings games, maybe a little dancing, ending with Evening Prayer.  Sunday morning we share Eucharist together in the Honey Creek Chapel, enriched by the musical gifts of our community. Then we reflect on our time together before making our way home after lunch.

To see this year's Clergy Spouse Retreat schedule, click here. Many clergy spouses are involved in planning (everyone is welcome to help!) but Jay Lacy (St. Anne's, Tifton), Leslie Parker (St. George's, Savannah), Geri Nelson (St. Thomas, Savannah), Allison Clarkson (St. Andrew's and St. Cyprian's, Brunswick) and Cissy Bowden (Good Shepard, Augusta), along with our Chaplain, Helen White (Christ Church, Savannah), spend many hours preparing for each Retreat. They would each love to talk to you about it. Please contact me as well with questions about the Retreat or about anything else!

Peace be with you,

Kelly Jones Benhase


If you have any dietary needs or restrictions, please contact Carolyn Middleton at Honey Creek by email at carolyn@honeycreek.org to make any specific requests.


Columba House Savannah
Internship Priority Deadline Next Wednesday  

Priority Application Deadline: April 27, 2016

Applications for Residential Internships at Columba House Savannah in 2016-2017 are still open! 

Columba House's Mission is to cultivate young adults to become disciples and leaders in the Episcopal Church and "to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ" (The Book of Common Prayer, p. 855).

Our mission of holy unity and discipleship is carried out through worship, study, and work in the Columba House Savannah and surrounding neighborhood. In order to become the next generation of lay and ordained church leaders, Interns share a common, balanced schedule with daily worship, meals, work and free time; weekly discipleship and leadership training and neighborhood events; and semi-annual retreats. These elements of the program ensure that Interns have the tools they need to live as mature, evangelistic Christians grounded in the catholic faith expressed by the Episcopal Church.

This year's Columba House Savannah Residential Internship begins August 22, 2016 and ends April 30, 2017. 

Learn more about the Columba House Program at our brand new website: www.columbahouse.org!


For more information, please contact the following: The Rev. Dcn. Kelly Steele, CHS Missioner, ksteele@columbahouse.org and The Rev. Dcn. Guillermo Arboleda, CHS Missioner, garboleda@columbahouse.org
Reserve the Saluda Clergy Cottage 
 
The two-storied cottage, nestled in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina has three bedrooms, one and half baths. The downstairs bedroom has one queen bed. Upstairs, one bedroom has two double beds and the other has one double bed and one single bed. A photo album of the house is online here: Clergy Cottage Photo Album

Saluda is a lovely historic town close to Kanuga, Asheville, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Use it as your pied-ā-terre for sightseeing or for simply relaxing in a rocking chair on the wrap-around porch...or both!

$150 per week - Available May through October. Check the Saluda Clergy Cottage website calendar for availability. Contact vschuster@gaepiscopal.org to book.
Prayers for Weekly Liturgies
Our one-year prayer cycle combines prayers for every congregation in the Diocese of Georgia with prayers for our ecumenical partners and for our Companion Diocese of The Dominican Republic. The 52 weekly prayers are available in one document: http://gaepiscopal.org/docs/oneyearprayercycle.pdf 

Prayers for April 17-23
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Dublin, Christ Church, and for our ecumenical partners in Dublin, especially Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the Church of Divine Providence (Divina Providencia) in Guerra.

Prayers for April 24-30
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Fitzgerald, St. Matthew's, and for our ecumenical partners in Fitzgerald, especially St. William's Catholic Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for St. Mark's (San Marcos) in Haina.
Art and Liturgy 

A sequential art rendering of  St. Thomas, Isle of Hope's 10am service by the talented Mary Soeldner. 
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Sincerely,                                       
            
Diocesan Staff                             
The Episcopal Diocese of Georgia