Bishop White's Christmastide Reflections for 2011

Hear the carol at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm3fZDZxiko

Jesus Christ the Apple Tree was first published in 1784 in Divine Hymns, Or Spiritual Songs compiled by Joshua Smith, a lay Baptist minister from New Hampshire. The tune composed by Elizabeth Poston has become a much beloved setting of the carol, which draws on the scriptural images of the apple tree in The Song of Solomon and Revelation's tree of life. Yet even without those images in mind, those who live in areas where the apple tree is common can readily see in it attributes of our Redeemer: laden with fruit given to all, the glory of God revealed in spring's blossoms, refreshment from heat found in its shade or where one can rest at the end of a long day.   

Presiding Bishop's 2011 Christmas Message published   

Christmas 2011

Come worship with us this Christmastide 

St. Francis hires internationally known organist   

Special to EpiscoBlast

Organist Bruce Neswick

St. Francis in the Fields has recruited a leading American organist, Bruce Neswick, to be itsnew assistant organist. Conductor, choirmaster, composer, teacher, service accompanist and improviser, Neswick was recently appointed to the organ faculty of Indiana University, Bloomington. This new position placed him in such proximity to St. Francis that organist-choirmaster James Rightmyer seized the opportunity to select Neswick for the position of assistant.  

 

Neswick is no stranger to St. Francis, as he has over the last 15 years directed several choir workshops, played and conducted festival evensongs, and written commissioned choral works.

 

Read more

The Rev. Richard Galloway stands behind the altar for his first Eucharist at Trinity Church in Fulton. Photo by Elizabeth Jones

Fulton Episcopalians celebrate new priest, regular Eucharists  

By Elizabeth Jones, Trinity Church  

It has been a long time since Eucharist was celebrated regularly in Fulton, Kentucky. Since May of 2010 to be exact.  

After losing then vicar, The Rev. Ellen Ekevag, to a job transfer for her spouse, the congregants of Trinity Fulton have been at the mercy of the Four Rivers Deanery and the kindness of area priests in order to keep the doors open to worship for a challenging 18 months. But the faithful members can all say that is behind them now with the recent ordination of The Rev. Richard Kent Galloway.   And what a celebration it was!

With upwards of 90 in attendance on a glorious fall day, Galloway celebrated his first Eucharist after his Oct. 29 ordination to the priesthood by Bishop Terry White at his new church home in western Kentucky.      Read more

Check it Out: St. Paul's featured in local news story 

Unique holiday ministry helps keep river workers afloat  

By Judy Jenkins
Republished with permission of Evansville Courier & Press  

If there's one carol that's unlikely to be played aboard the hard- working towboats on the

St. Paul's Martha Polk helps pack boxes for the Christmas on the River ministry in Henderson. Photo by Mike Lawrence, Evansville Courier & Press

nation's inner waterways this season, it's "I'll Be Home for Christmas."

That's because thousands of captains and pilots and their crews won't be home with their families around the decorated trees, the scent of hot chocolate in the air.

When their children open gifts on Christmas morning, these parents will be many miles away, moving tons of cargo on the rivers - or in other scenarios - on the open seas.

Their responsibilities don't stop because of special days on the calendar. The barge loads of grain or coal or other necessities must be delivered. Every year, about 624 million tons of cargo are moved on the thousands of miles of commercially navigable river channels, including 240 lock sites.

That's why some dozen members of the local St. Paul's Episcopal Church were laboring last Monday in the church Parish Hall, filling 50 sizable "Christmas on the River" boxes with packaged candies, peanuts, beef jerky, popcorn, lotion, lip balm, decks of cards, puzzle books, and numerous other items including scores of hand- knitted "seamen's scarves" created by the church's non-denominational Prayer Shaw Ministry throughout the year.     Read more 

Applications sought 

Youth: Your presence wanted at General Convention 

The General Convention Official Youth Presence (GCOYP) application is now available. The GCOYP is an integral part of General Convention to be held in Indianapolis this summer, as youth are allowed and encouraged to voice their concerns and appreciations of the Episcopal Church, particularly as they relate to the resolutions on the floor.

GCOYP is funded by the Episcopal Church at no expense to the youth or their families, and they are trained extensively in the ways of convention. The experience will be thrilling, exhausting, eye-opening, inspiring and unforgettable. Two youth from each Province are accepted. Interested? Follow the link for the application or contact Beth Bojarski (270) 202-0920 for more     information.

Intake Officer named for ecclesiastical disciplinary board   

Bishop Terry White has appointed W. Bronson Howell, a member of Advent Church in Louisville, as the Diocese of Kentucky's Intake Officer for the diocese's Disciplinary Board for the balance of 2011 and 2012.

Anyone who has reason to believe that any member of the clergy of this diocese has committed an offense, as described in Title IV of the Canons of the Episcopal Church, should submit such information, in any manner and in any form, directly to the intake officer.

Read more 

Sign up for National Preach-In on Global Warming

Kentucky Interfaith Power & Light   

It's time to sign up to participate in the 2012 National Preach-In on Global Warming!  

Scheduled for the weekend of February 10-12, the Preach-In offers an opportunity to spread the word about creation care in conjunction (and solidarity) with hundreds of other congregations across the nation.  For more information (and to sign up) here.      

By The Episcopal Church Office of Public Affairs   

Forms for the Episcopal Church Parochial Report for 2011 are now available here and here. 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.

In December, the Office of General Convention will issue a filing packet to all congregations and dioceses with filing commencing on January 4, 2012. For more information contact Kirk Hadaway, director of research, khadaway@episcopalchurch.org .

New Episcopal Church Faith in Action ads available 

Deadline January 15

By the Episcopal Church's Office of Public Affairs

The application process for the 2011 United Thank Offering grants is now open with forms available here:  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/110043_117733_ENG_HTM.htm.

Known worldwide as UTO, the United Thank Offering grants are awarded for projects that address human needs and help alleviate poverty, both domestically and internationally within Anglican provinces, dioceses, and companion dioceses.
 
Applications are due January 15, 2012. Grants will be approved in July 2012 at Triennium at General Convention. Funds for approved grants will be available starting August 2012 for a one-year grant period.    Read more 

Retreat into compassion this January  

Godly Play Foundation

Godly Play training offered in January 

 The wider church 

Bishop, priests arrested after entering Trinity Church property 

Retired Bishop George Packard scales fence at Trinity Church Wall StreetENS/Reuters Photo

By Sharon Sheridan | December 18, 2011

[Episcopal News Service] Retired Episcopal Bishop George Packard and at least two other Episcopal priests were arrested Dec. 17 after they entered a fenced property - owned by Trinity Episcopal Church, Wall Street - in Duarte Square in Lower Manhattan as part of Occupy Wall Street's "D17 Take Back the Commons" event to celebrate three months since the movement's launch.

 Read more 

Episcopal Migration Ministries program 

Young adult applicants from Kentucky sought
for immersion program in refugee resettlement 

 
Every year thousands of people flee their homelands to escape the threat of violence and persecution.  Their time in exile can be long - sometimes years or decades.  Sometimes, they have no hope of returning to their home country. Episcopal Migration Ministries is one of only nine agencies that work with the U.S. Department of State to resettle refugees in communities across the United States.  As one of the largest ministries of the Episcopal Church, EMM is a statement to the world about Episcopalians' commitment to welcome the stranger, shelter those in danger, and learn to be neighbors all over again.

Whether you're interested in community engagement, international justice, or the politics of immigration, you are invited to join other young adults from across the Episcopal Church for a six-day immersion experience to learn about refugee resettlement in our country, to see first hand how the Episcopal Church engages this worldwide issue of justice, to explore the faith basis for our work for justice, and to reflect on your own vocation as it interacts with this work.  

Read more

March deadline 

Apply for ECF's Fellowship Partners Program 2012  

The Episcopal Church Foundation has announced that the 2012 application process for its Fellowship Partners Program is now open. Emerging leaders, teachers, and scholars are encouraged to apply. The application deadline is March 15, 2012.

For nearly 50 years ECF has identified and helped to raise up dynamic and transformational lay and ordained church leaders who are engaged in academic study and transformational ministries that address important areas of need in the Episcopal Church. "ECF is incredibly proud of the talented, innovative, and creative Fellows who, over the years, have and are serving as bishops, seminary deans and faculty members, scholars, writers, teachers, preachers, rectors, priests, community organizers, farmers, and lay leaders at all levels of the Church," said Donald V. Romanik, president of ECF. "They are making a significant difference in the lives of their local communities in classrooms, congregations, and other faith communities all across the country and the wider world."   Read more