"The very heart of God made flesh":
A Christmas message from Bishop Alan M. Gates
|
|
From Bishop Gates's message:
"At Christmas we greet the very heart of God made flesh. Born 2,000 years ago. Born again every time the vulnerability of human love fills the rocky trough of human cruelty. It is in the very nature of love to be vulnerable. Precisely because God loves us was Jesus born, vulnerable to the needs of every helpless infant. He grew, dependent upon the care of loving parents. He preached and taught, vulnerable to the resentment of the religious establishment. And he died, vulnerable to the cruelty of the Roman occupation. He died every bit as vulnerable as the victims of warfare in Syria and Yemen; as vulnerable as the victims of terror in New Zealand and Sri Lanka, of massacres in Pittsburgh, El Paso and Jersey City. He died as vulnerable as me and you.
|
|
|
"But listen well: In that infant birth–and in the life, death and resurrection that followed–God in Jesus proclaims that the joy and peace of the incarnation will not surrender to the terror of Herod’s day, nor ours; that vulnerable love is stronger than hateful death; that trust is stronger than suspicion; that faith is stronger than fear; that innocence is stronger than cynicism; that life and love are God’s will for us, and are our ultimate destiny."
|
|
Emmanuel Church and Central Reform Temple celebrate 15 years of shared spiritual home in Boston
|
|
The Rev. Pam Werntz (left) and Rabbi Howard Berman (right) light a unity candle during Central Reform Temple's Shabbat service on Friday, Nov. 15, to celebrate their congregations' covenant relationship.
Courtesy photo via Facebook
|
|
As the Advent season anticipates Christmas,
Emmanuel Church in Boston is preparing to fill its pews with people celebrating the birth of Christ.
Central Reform Temple--a Jewish congregation that calls Emmanuel Church home--is preparing to fill those same pews with people celebrating Chanukah, the Festival of Lights. During these services, members of the Emmanuel Church congregation will serve as ushers for the Central Reform Temple, and members of the temple’s congregation will serve as ushers for Emmanuel.
|
|
This interfaith family began when the previous rector of Emmanuel Church, the Rev. Bill Blaine-Wallace, met Rabbi Howard Berman while working together as part of the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry in Massachusetts. In 2004, Berman had just co-founded a progressive Jewish congregation, and it was in need of worship space. Blaine-Wallace offered use of Emmanuel Church to the congregation, Boston Jewish Spirit, which would later become Central Reform Temple.
Since then, the two congregations have gone beyond sharing facilities to sharing their faith journeys together through collaborative programming, which they facilitate through the Emmanuel Center, the programmatic partnership of Central Reform Temple and Emmanuel Church.
|
|
During the ceremony of affirmation at Emmanuel's Sunday morning Eucharist on Nov. 17, the Jewish Ark containing the Torah Scrolls was left open.
Courtesy photo via Facebook
|
|
Over the weekend of Nov. 15-17, the two congregations held ceremonies of affirmation during the Friday evening Shabbat service and the Sunday morning Eucharist, to raise up and celebrate their new covenant agreement.
As part of the ceremony, leaders from both congregations read the covenant statement aloud and lit a unity candle together: Berman held a flame from one of the temple’s Shabbat candles and Werntz held a flame from Emmanuel’s Paschal candle, and they used their individual candles to light a single pillar candle, together.
“As these candles have combined to create greater light from two different sources, may our coming together in this sacred place, give light to all who come into this house in search of faith and love, justice and peace,” the congregations prayed during the ceremony. “May our life together here inspire us, and all who behold us, to work to kindle the light of compassion and hope in the midst of the darkness of our world.”
|
|
Diocese of Massachusetts pilgrims visit Holy Land
|
|
Twenty-two pilgrims from the Diocese of Massachusetts spent 12 days traveling in Israel and Palestine this November. The full group is pictured here at St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem, along with their tour guides.
Courtesy photo.
|
|
A group of 22 pilgrims from the Diocese of Massachusetts embarked on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land Nov. 3-15, led by Bishop Gayle E. Harris and the Rev. Debbie Phillips, the rector of
Grace Church in Salem. This was the eighth trip to the Holy Land that Harris has taken since 2009, and the third for Phillips.
In addition to visiting holy sites such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and renewing baptismal vows at the Jordan River, the group had the chance to meet and learn from those in the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem that Phillips calls "living stones" of the Christian faith.
"[Christians in the Holy Land] are the living stones, rather than the building stones of Christian faith--it’s not a museum piece, it’s a living vibrant faith," Phillips said in an interview.
|
|
"To see how much hope and faith and commitment that Palestinian Christians have is pretty awe inspiring, and helps us confirm our faith in what is good in the world. We so much take for granted our ability to worship when we want to, where we want to, and that’s just not the case for Christians in the Holy Land," Phillips said.
Read more here.
The dates for the 2020 pilgrimage are Oct. 5-16. For more information or to register, contact David Ames, Office of the Bishop Suffragan (617-482-4826, ext. 445 or
dames@diomass.org
).
|
|
In these #MeToo times, Gayle Pershouse's ordination offers sacrament of forgiveness and healing to the church
|
|
Having just been ordained a transitional deacon, the Rev. Gayle Pershouse Vaughan (second from right) is presented to the congregation at the Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester on Nov. 10. Also pictured, from left: The Rev. Miriam Gelfer; Bishop Alan M. Gates; The Rev. Cynthia Pape; and The Rev. Pete Jeffrey.
Photo: Tracy J. Sukraw
|
|
After a 30-year postulancy that may well be among the longest on record, and with a vocational commitment "long in the making and long in the testing," as a seminary advisor once described it, the Rev. Gayle Pershouse Vaughan was at last ordained a transitional deacon on Nov. 10 of this year at the
Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester, her home parish for the past 15 years.
For the service, Pershouse chose for the Gospel reading the passage from John 20 in which Mary encounters the risen Jesus.
"That speaks to me profoundly," she said during an interview a couple of weeks before the service.
"That's how far back dismissal of women goes. Mary's testimony to the apostles was dismissed. They didn't believe her," she said. "Mary encountered Jesus, she recognized him, he recognized her. She came to spread the good news, and they dismissed her because she was a woman."
When it comes to dismissal, Pershouse knows of what she speaks, having first heard the call to ordained ministry 50 years ago, at a time when, as far as the church was concerned, there was no such thing as women priests.
Nonetheless, she followed that call through the twists and turns of her life's path over decades--years of joys and sorrows and challenges as she built a career as a teacher and academic librarian; married; went to seminary; divorced; raised her children; remarried, happily.
"So it was halting. It didn't happen fast," she said. "But I never had any question from the time I first experienced that call. There was never any question in my mind of what God wanted."
After 20 years of clarity about her own call to the priesthood, Pershouse was finally, in 1986, endorsed for postulancy--the first step toward ordination--by her sponsoring parish,
Christ Church in Cambridge. The diocesan Commission on Ministry approved her application two years later, only to have it rejected by the bishop at the time, the late David E. Johnson, with no explanation given.
The reason, according to Pershouse Vaughan: She had refused Johnson's sexual advances.
She did not tell anyone this at the time.
"I felt such profound shame over what had happened," she said.
Another 30 years on and Pershouse would at last find herself standing in front of the altar, wearing a simple white alb, about to be ordained.
But first, forgiveness.
|
|
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it"
:
A Christmas message from Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry: "I don’t think it’s an accident that long ago, followers of Jesus began to commemorate his coming into the world when the world seemed to be at its darkest.
"It’s probably not an accident that we observe Christmas soon after Dec. 21, the winter solstice. The winter solstice being in the Northern Hemisphere the darkest time of the year.
"Undoubtedly, these ancient Christians who began to celebrate the coming of God into the world, they knew very well that this Jesus, his teachings, his message, his spirit, his example, his life points us to the way of life itself, a way of life, where we take care of each other. A way of life, where we care for God’s world. A way of life, where we are in a loving relationship with our God, and with each other as children of the one God, who has created us all."
Find video and text of the full message
here
.
|
|
The Rev. Donald Nickerson celebrates the Eucharist in Burlington, Vt., in June 1998 during his last Executive Council meeting as executive officer and secretary of General Convention.
Photo: Episcopal News Service
|
|
RIP: The Rev. Donald Nickerson, who served as executive officer of General Convention from 1986 to 1998, has died. He was 80.
Nickerson, a lifelong New Englander, died Dec. 9 after a 33-year struggle with Parkinson’s disease. In retirement, he and his wife, Susan Martin, continued to attend services at St. Paul’s Church in Brunswick, Maine, where Nickerson had served as rector for 12 years in the 1970s and 1980s.
“He was a pastor’s pastor and mentored hundreds of people to be leaders of the Gospel, both within and beyond the church,” Maine Bishop Thomas J. Brown said Dec. 11 in a diocesan news release announcing Nickerson’s death. “It is not too much to say we’ve lost a giant.”
Nickerson grew up on the North Shore of Massachusetts and beginning in 1964 served as curate at Trinity Church in Newton Centre; he later was rector of Christ Church in North Conway, N.H., before moving to Maine in 1974.
|
|
Join an online mission strategy book group: Diocesan ministry networks will be facilitating online book discussions in January, February and March, each inspired by diocesan mission strategy themes of reimagining congregations, building relationships and engaging the world.
All are welcome to join one or more of the three Wednesday evening discussions via the online video conferencing platform, Zoom. Find the full schedule and Zoom links
here.
"Since our
mission strategy is fundamentally a document to guide us as congregations and as members of Christ’s body, we wanted to provide an opportunity for all of us to engage the strategy more deeply. Through our upcoming book groups, we can read a book together focusing on one particular aspect of our mission, and then learn from others with conversation about that particular goal," the Rev. Phil LaBelle said in an e-mail. He is the rector of
St. Mark's Church in Southborough and co-chairs the Mission Strategy Committee with Claudette Hunt of
St. Andrew's Church in Ayer.
First up for discussion, on Wednesday, Jan. 29, from 7 to 8 p.m., is
Transforming Evangelism
by David Gortner. The book is part of Church Publishing Inc.'s "Transformation: The Episcopal Church of the 21st Century" series, and it approaches the topic of evangelism in the Episcopal Church by examining how Episcopalians can reclaim evangelism as an enriching spiritual practice.
Read more here.
|
|
Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry to speak at Boston MLK Day Breakfast:
The annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast in Boston will mark its 50th anniversary in 2020 with a celebratory program highlighted by this year's keynote speaker, Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael B. Curry.
The breakfast takes place on Monday, Jan. 20, 7:30 a.m., at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
This annual event was founded by
St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church and
Union United Methodist Church. Net proceeds support those churches' community programs and services. The event attracts an audience of about 1,500 people, including business, civic, community and religious leaders, as well as educational and community organizations from across Massachusetts. All are welcome. Find more information and purchase tickets at
www.bostonmlkbreakfast.org.
|
|
Registration is open for annual Ministry Discernment Conference: The annual Ministry Discernment Conference offered by the bishops and the Commission on Ministry takes place on Saturday, Feb. 1, 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., at the
Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston. (The snow date is Feb. 8. Please check
www.diomass.org for announcement.)
The conference provides an in-depth look at the 2020 Ministry Discernment Handbook, and gives potential inquirers an opportunity to learn about the ordination process in the Diocese of Massachusetts and to explore whether their call is to ordained or committed lay ministry.
Those considering applying for admission to the ordination process in 2020 are required to attend the conference, along with their sponsoring priest and at least one member of their parish discernment committee. Inquirers are also encouraged to bring their spouses or partners to the conference. Online registration is open
here and is required by Jan. 20.
For more information, contact the Rev. Canon Edie Dolnikowski, Canon for Ordained Vocations (617-482-4826, ext. 514 or
edie@diomass.org).
|
|
Volunteers needed for Citizenship Clinic:
ProGente Connections, a mission hub organization in the Diocese of Massachusetts, is partnering with
Jewish Family Services of MetroWest to offer a Citizenship Clinic on Saturday, Jan. 25, from 9 a.m.-2 p.m. at 475 Franklin Street, Suite 101 in Framingham, in order to help newcomers to the U.S.A. fill out their citizenship applications
Volunteers are needed to help in this effort. Volunteer training will be offered on Tuesday, Jan. 14 (7-8 p.m.) or Saturday, Jan. 18 (10-11 a.m.) or by appointment. For more information or to volunteer, contact the Rev. Lori Mills-Curran (
lmillscurran@diomass.org or 508-873-1881).
|
|
Aja Jackson
Photo: Bridget K. Wood
|
|
New diocesan staff member welcomed: Aja Jackson has joined the diocesan staff in the position of accountant in the Treasurer's Office. She has extensive accounting experience, including with nonprofit, medical and real estate organizations, and has overseen the administration and compliance components of grant processing. She is a graduate of Northeastern University and lives in the Boston area.
Jackson will assume the responsibilities of Trish Superville, who is retiring at the end of the year.
|
|
‘Tis the season for gift card scams: Online scams that involve e-mail or text message requests for gift cards or personal information continue to target churches and clergy, especially during the holiday gift-giving season, and they require everyone's continued awareness and vigilance.
Scammers' tactics vary, but a common one is to send e-mails or text messages that appear to be from a known organization or church leader. They typically ask for urgent help or a favor, and request that the recipient buy and electronically send gift cards.
Church leaders should inform their congregations about these "phishing" scams and reinforce the message that clergy and church leaders will never ask for emergency aid or donations in this way. Recipients should be skeptical of unexpected e-mail or text message requests to send or spend money. If a request seems to be authentic, they should call the requester to confirm, making sure to use a known phone number--not a phone number provided in a suspect message.
Find more information about gift card scams, including how to report them,
here.
|
|
This third annual Quilting Retreat aims to be a fun weekend filled with new friends and creativity. Quilters of all abilities are welcome. The retreat is intended to give participants the free time needed to begin, work on or finish a project without any formal instruction. This is an unstructured three-day/two-night retreat for adult quilters of all abilities.
|
|
Courtesy photos via Facebook and parish newsletters
|
|
Patriot Ledger:
Gratitude comes full circle at Father Bill’s Thanksgiving meal: Each Thanksgiving
Father Bill’s & Mainspring shelter in Quincy makes sure the plates of those in need are filled with turkey, gravy, green beans, carrots, potatoes and pie at its annual community Thanksgiving dinner at
Christ Church on Elm Street. But more than just feeding those who wouldn’t otherwise have a place to go, the event is a time for dozens of volunteers to show gratitude for their own lives through service to others.
“Some people want to give back because they feel they’ve been blessed in life, and others find it helpful as they work through their own recovery,” Mary Ann Mendes, Father Bill’s volunteer coordinator, said. “It’s great to see people of different backgrounds, religious orientations, political beliefs all coming together to do the same thing. We shouldn’t lose sight of that.”
Read more here.
|
|
Dec 18
: Messiah Sing, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 5:15pm
Dec 18
: Contemplative Eucharist, Bethany House of Prayer, Arlington, 7:00pm
Dec 19
: Resource Take-Away and Open House, Diocesan Offices, Boston, 10:00am-1:00pm
Dec 19
: Advent Compline, Society of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge, 8:00pm
Dec 21
: Ordination to the Priesthood: Mary Beth Mills-Curran, St. John's Church, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11:00am
Dec 21
: Advent Las Posadas, St. Luke's-San Lucas Church, Chelsea, 6:00pm
Dec 22
: Bishop Harris visits Christ Church (Old North) in Boston
Dec 22
: Advent Lessons and Carols, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 10:00am
Dec 24
: Christmas Eve at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, Bishop Alan M. Gates preaching, 6:30pm
Dec 29
: Christmas Lessons and Carols, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 10:00am
Jan 5
: Bishop Harris visits St. John's Church in Arlington
Jan 5
: Bishop Gates visits Emmanuel Church in Boston
Jan 6
: Ordination to the Priesthood: Isaac Martinez, St. Paul's Church, Brookline, 6:30pm
Jan 11
: Ordination to the Priesthood: Mia Kano, St. Andrew's Church, Wellesley, 10:30am
Jan 12
: Bishop Harris visits Church of Our Saviour in Brookline
Jan 12
: Bishop Gates visits St. Stephen's Church in Boston
Jan 15
: Contemplative Eucharist, Bethany House of Prayer, Arlington, 7:00pm
Jan 17-18
: Diocesan Council Overnight Meeting, Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center, Greenfield, NH
Jan 19
: Bishop Gates visits Grace Church in Lawrence
Jan 20
: MLK Day Breakfast featuring Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Boston, 7:30am
Jan 20
: MLK Day of Action, St. Stephen's Church, Boston, 9:30am
Jan 25
: Episcopal City Mission Faith-Rooted Justice Workshop, St. Andrew's Church, Marblehead, 9:00am
Jan 25
: Citizenship Clinic, Jewish Family Services, Framingham, 9:00am
Jan 26
: Bishop Harris visits All Saints in Chelmsford
Jan 26
: Bishop Gates visits St. James's Church in Cambridge
Jan 29
: Ordination to the Priesthood: Eric Fialho, St. Paul's Church, Riverside, Conn., 7:00pm
Jan 29
: Mission Strategy Online Book Group: "Transforming Evangelism," 7:00pm
|
|
Stay connected with our diocesan community:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
