November 1, 2017
Volume 8, Number 10
Register for Convention Workshops
Register now to take part in workshops on Thursday, November 9. One does not have to attend the convention to take part in these free workshops  at Christ the King, Valdosta, 101 E Central Ave, Valdosta, GA 31601 

2-3 PM  
  • Everything a Vestry Member Needs to Know - Canon Frank Logue, Register
    here.
  • Breaking Through with CDI - CDI Leaders, Register here.
  • Church Communications 101 - Diocesan Communications Director Anna Iredale, Register here
3-4 PM 
  • Everything a Vestry Member Needs to Know - Canon Frank Logue, Register here.
  • Breaking Through with CDI - CDI Leaders, Register here.
  • Church Communications 101 - Diocesan Communications Director Anna Iredale, Register here.

2-4 PM

Get Outside with the Creation Care Commission - Meet at Christ the King, Register here. The area the Creation Care Commission will explore is pictured at right.

In This Issue
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This Sunday's Lections
Twenty first Sunday after Pentecost
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
or
Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
Psalm 1
  and
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew  22:34-46

Go  here 
for the full text.


REGISTRATION RATE GOES UP TOMORROW
The r egular registration rate of $65 continues through today, Wednesday, November 1. The late registration cost of $75 starts tomorrow and continues until November 9, the start of Convention. Register by this Friday, November 3, to receive a printed name badge at the convention. Online registration closes on November 7.

Nominations/Nominees!
The 196th Convention of the Diocese of Georgia is charged with electing persons to serve on the Board of the Corporation, Diocesan Council (at large), Disciplinary Board, Sewanee Trustee, and Standing Committee. 
Nominations for all offices remain open, by the canons of the Diocese, until the floor of convention, 

For more information about the positions that are open and the forms necessary to nominate, go
Bring your mobile device
Convention delegates, alternates, and clergy will receive the Convention Book via email in advance of the meeting. It will also be posted within the week at convention.georgiaepiscopal.org and updated until Wednesday, November 8. Loading the PDF file on your iPad or other mobile device will ensure that you will have the most recent information at convention.
Youth at Diocesan Convention - Register Now
Diocesan Convention is next week! Encourage your youth to come be part of this
They may not be roasting marshmallows at this year's Convention, but they'll have fun!
gathering of Episcopalians from across the Diocese. Youth will participate in Convention by serving as pages, ballot distributors, tech support, worship leaders and more! Perhaps most importantly, youth will participate in small group discussions along with the rest of the Convention delegates, allowing their voices to be part of the conversation. 

On Friday afternoon, the youth will attend the Convention Eucharist and then spend the night at Christ Church, Valdosta before returning to Convention Saturday morning to lead worship and continue serving through the end of Convention. 

 The two options for participating in the Youth Presence at Convention are:  
  1. Youth arrive at 8:00 a.m. on Friday morning and work through the day, before attending the Eucharist, and the lock-in at Christ Church. 
  2. Youth arrive at 4:30 p.m. in time for the Eucharist and participate in the lock-in as well. 
More information can be found here: Full details about Youth at Convention, including sign-up links. The direct sign up link is:

 Bishop Visitations

Bishop Benhase preaching during his annual visitation to St. Paul's Albany.

Gathered after Sunday's service at St. John and St. Mark, Albany: front from left: Hazel Hines (Confirmation), Iniobong Inyang (Confirmation), Kate Moret (Reception), Emmanuel Bassey (Confirmation), and Bobby Hawkins (Confirmation). back row, from leftt:  the Rev. Johnny Tuttle, priest in charg, the Rev. Dcn Ri Lamb, and, of course, Bishop Scott Benhase.

Honey Creek will host Thanksgiving lunch November 23rd at noon in Reese Dining Hall. Mealtime is nearly a sacrament at Honey Creek, so let us serve your family and friends this year. We'll do the cooking and cleaning, you do the quality time together. Go to honeycreek.org/thanksgiving to book your reservation! #HCthanksgiving #takemebacktothecreek  
Contemplative Prayer Retreat December 8-9
This prayer retreat will introduce participants to contemplative spirituality through the practices of silent centering prayer, chanting and singing, praying with icons, Anglican prayer beads, Lectio Divina and the Daily Office. We will practice each of those spiritual disciplines as a group, discuss our experience, and encourage each other in our spiritual journey. 

Each discipline will be bookended by the ancient liturgies of our tradition. Participants will discover practices that will enrich their life with God in the season of Advent and beyond.  

The rates for the conference including three meals are: Lodge 1 Single $144, Lodge 1 Double $99.50, Lodge 2 Single $133, Lodge 2 Double $94, Campers and Commuters $64. Click here to register online with Honey Creek. 
The Loose Canon
Thoughtfully Keeping the Sacraments Weird
Parishioners more fully feel the seasons of the church calendar as church decorations change with the move from Advent to Pentecost. I have been reflecting on this in light of Rachel Held Evans encouraging Episcopalians to "Keep the sacraments weird" when the two of us provided keynote addresses last year at the Church Leadership Conference at Kanuga. Last night I worshipped with the students at our Episcopal Campus Ministry at Georgia Southern and saw a wonderful example of this in the liturgy crafted by the Rev. Charles Todd using a Service of Light with the liturgy for the Eve of the Feast of All Saints as the Liturgy of the Word. Truly liturgy done well that was completely faithful to our Prayer Book and the Book of Occasional Services.

One way to do this is thinking through the changes of the church year anew. Advent and Lent both offer opportunities to make changes week by week in the season. The shift can begin even before Advent as these last weeks of the church year offer an opportunity to move from flowers grown in a greenhouse to incorporating local foliage like a stem of fall leaves. Though challenging in south Georgia where pine predominates the landscape, I have still been able to find some branches to cut that help make the move from the vibrant flowers of summer toward the harvest season which marks the move into the waiting and expectancy of Advent. 

An unfolding journey
Both Advent and Lent can benefit from making changes week by week that reflect the journey of the season. So a Christmas tree bare other than "angel tree" tags will remain green through the fourth week of Advent and then get decorated for Christmas. Some churches use Chrismons, symbols of Christ created by Frances Kipps Spencer to be used in this season of preparation as they tell the story of Christ.   

The move to both Christmas and Easter need to mark bold changes from a more austere space to an exuberantly decorated church befitting the joy of those Feasts. (Palm Sunday and Pentecost at King of Peace are pictured here)
At King of Peace, we would change the cross in the back of the nave from a Christus Rex to a plain rough hewn wood cross in Lent. At Pentecost, a long bright red cloth bolt of cloth draped over the cross behind the altar would mark the day with a splash of color which matched the parishioners wearing red. 

A helpful reference
An important reference for me on this as a parish priest was H. Boone Porter's book Keeping the Church Year. Published in 1977, the book sought to help make the changes in the then new prayer book visible. His thoughts remain helpful. Though out of print, the book is readily available in used copies online.  

Document the changes
One more tip: whatever you do to mark the season, write up a brief description and put it in a binder. Keeping up with what your church does through the seasons need not set the template for the next year, as you adapt and change. But it helps to recall exactly what you did do when you come back to planning a year later.  (St. Peter's Savannah with Hydrangeas mixed with the Easter Lilies are a throughful and fragrant choice).

The goal is to make the journey through salvation history visible as we use all of our senses in worship. No matter your current pattern, getting a group together to think through how the seasons might be more fully marked within the space in which you worship is well worth your time.

Frank
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue
Canon to the Ordinary
Around the Diocese

An ecumenical group of clergy and the acolytes posed for a photo following the Celebration of New Ministry for the Rev. Melanie Lemburg, Rector of St. Thomas Isle of Hope, Savannah. An album of photos of the event is online here.

Students read in parts the "Witch of Endor" reading from the Liturgy for the Eve of the Feast of All Saints at our Episcopal Campus Ministry at Georgia Southern University. 

St. Andrew's, St. Cyprian's Darien's after school meeting on October 31, called C3 (Community Cares Cafe), marked Halloween popcorn hands, "finger" sandwiches, apple mouths, and mummy dogs. The kids "ate it up"!

Hurricane Irma clean up continues on Tybee Island. All Saints Church held a picnic for those still recovering with the cooks (shown here) working in front of a mountain of hurricane debris. 

A photo from the Christ Church Frederica All Hallows' Eve Family Fun Festival on St. Simons Island.
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  found here. 

October 22-28
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Thomson, Holy Cross, and for our ecumenical partners in Thomson, especially Zion Lutheran Church in Guyton and Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Lakeland. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Santo Domingo, especially La Catedral de la Epifanía (the Cathedral of the Epiphany).

October 29-November 4
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Tifton, St. Anne's. We also pray for our ecumenical partners in Tifton, especially Our Divine Saviour Catholic Church and for Holy Family Catholic Church in Willacoochee. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Santo Domingo, especially Holy Family Church (Sagrada Familia).
Diocesan Office Update and News  

Bishop Benhase will preside at the celebration of new ministry for the Rev. Tommy Townsend and Holy Nativity St. Simons Island tonight at 6 PM. He will meet with the Commission on Ministry and the Standing Committee this Friday and Saturday at St. Alban's Augusta. On Sunday, November 5 he will make his annual visitation to St. Augustine's Augusta at 10:30 AM and to Atonement Augusta at 4 PM. The Bishop's full schedule is available  here.

The Rev. Canon Frank Logue will preside and preach at Christ Church, Cordele, this Sunday.

The Rev. William "Buck" Lea, will officiate at the noon service in the Chapel of St. George at Diocesan House this week.
Share your news in From the Field
Send your news, events and photos to   so we can feature them in upcoming issues of From the Field. Deadline for submissions each week is Monday at 4:30 PM.  
Bulldog Bishop?
We are not sure about the ecclesiastical credentials of this bulldog bishop posing with Jackson at St. Anne's Tifton last night, but he is a handsome pup.
Events

Commission on Ministry and Standing Committee Meeting
3:30 PM Friday, November 3 until noon Saturday, November 4
St. Augustine, Augusta

Diocesan Convention
November 9-11
Christ the King Church, Valdosta

Youth Presence at Diocesan Convention
November 10-11
To register for lock-in only go here.
To register for Convention go  here.

A Contemplative Prayer Retreat 
December 8-9
Honey Creek
To register, go here

New Beginnings #51
December 8-10
Honey Creek
For information and to register, go  here. 

Revival: Boundless Love Fearless Faith
January 20
For more information, go here:  www.EpiscopalRevivalinGeorgia2018.org

Stewardship Training with Bishop Benhase
January 27, 9:30 AM to noon
St. George's Savannah
Register 
Stewardship Training with Bishop Benhase
February 3, 9:30 AM to noon
St. James' Quitman
Register here.

Stewardship Training with Bishop Benhase
February 17, 9:30 AM to noon
St. Mark's, Brunswick 
Register  here .
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