Resolutions seeking to bring attention to the climate crisis and to confront racial injustice—one calling for repentance and groundwork toward reparations, and another focused on addressing neglect of historically Black churches in the diocese—were among the actions taken by the 235th annual Diocesan Convention, meeting online this year on Nov. 7.

While the gathering’s theme, “Embracing Brave Change,” was drawn from the multiyear diocesan mission strategy first undertaken in 2016, it was noted more than once in the course of the convention proceedings that it was brave change that has embraced the diocesan community this year, given the challenging circumstances of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In an annual address interwoven with the “To everything there is a season” verses from Ecclesiastes, Bishop Alan M. Gates lifted up several priority “purposes under heaven” for the days ahead, including reimagining church life in light of pandemic-necessitated adaptations and learnings; racial reckoning through newly structured work to be led by a revitalized diocesan Racial Justice Commission; and the need for more collaborative models for ministry at all levels. He announced that a new task force representing both Episcopal dioceses in Massachusetts is beginning such work, and he called for the creation of a similar Collaborative Ministries Working Group within the Diocese of Massachusetts, to report back to the convention next year

The convention also approved the $9-million diocesan budget proposed for 2021, elected members to numerous leadership and governance positions and groups, and took in a variety of self-made video presentations that gave a kaleidoscope view of diocesan mission and ministry, including mission strategy, creation care, youth and young adults, immigrant and multicultural communities, and networking and formation.

Find video links, the bishop's annual address, resolutions in final form, election results and materials at www.diomass.org/diocesan-convention-2020.

Banner artwork: Longest Night © Jan Richardson. janrichardson.com

Advent, the season of waiting and preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ nativity, begins on Sunday, Nov. 29. Here are just a couple of examples of the devotional activities, events and resources available online.

“With ev’ry passing day, as sunlight disappears, the dusk descends, and prayers ascend for strength to calm our fears”: The hand-drawn Advent calendar that so many look forward to each year from creators Tom Mousin and Merry Watters is available for 2020 here.

“In the midst of what does seem to be such an uncertain time, we invite you to use this calendar as one way to embrace the hope that God will create in our hearts and minds this Advent,” they say.

Each day on their calendar offers a Scripture reading and a suggested devotion. You can also subscribe to receive a daily e-mail on the calendar’s devotions.

“Space for Jesus” Online Advent Quiet Day: The dioceses of Massachusetts and Western Massachusetts are co-sponsoring an online Advent Quiet Day on Saturday,

Dec. 12, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., led by the Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Missioner for Creation Care in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts and Southern New England Conference, United Church of Christ.

During this Advent Quiet Day, participants will be invited to step away from daily tasks and concerns in order to listen with full attention to the Spirit’s movement within. The time will include presentations and guided meditations, with options for solitary reflection (indoors or out) or small group conversation.

This online retreat is open to all, free of charge. Register online here.

National Cathedral hosts COVID-19 forum with Fauci, other top health officials: [Religion News Service] Beneath the neo-Gothic arches of Washington National Cathedral, Dr. Anthony Fauci mulled over the question everyone is asking: Should families gather for Thanksgiving during the coronavirus pandemic?

“I think every family unit needs to do a risk assessment,” said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at a Nov. 12 forum.

Dr. Fauci speaks with a group of people at the Ignatius Forum at the Washington National Cathedral on Nov. 12. Photo: Danielle E. Thomas/Washington National Cathedral via Episcopal News Service

He said families should consider factors such as the age, underlying conditions, travel, testing and quarantining of people who wish to dine together on the holiday.

The advice, from the man Donald Trump has threatened with firing and Joe Biden said he would hire if elected, came as the country has reached record numbers of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Fauci said he’s focused on public health and science — including the current promise of a vaccine — not politics. Read more, via Episcopal News Service, here.

Anglican leaders call for “equitable” global access to COVID-19 vaccines: Potential COVID-19 vaccines should be made available to the world’s poorest people, the primates of the Anglican Communion said in a communiqué published Nov. 12 after an online meeting to discuss the global health emergency.

During the meeting, they were briefed by two representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) and discussed regional reports from each other on the impact of the pandemic.

Cumulative confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people, as of Nov. 12. Graphic: Our World in Data via ACNS

“Epidemics are about communities. Communities stop epidemics. For this reason, we are eager to work with faith leaders to build solidarity and uphold social justice – enabling you to speak to communities in a credible and understandable way,” Dr. Mike Ryan, the WHO’s executive director for health emergencies, preparedness and response, told the Anglican leaders. Read more via the Anglican Communion News Service here.

Thirty years ago, controversy over King holiday sowed seeds of Episcopal racial justice work today: Bishop Gayle E. Harris and House of Deputies Vice President Byron Rushing offer their recollections in an Episcopal News Service look-back to the Episcopal Church’s 70th General Convention in 1991, when church leaders initially faced a backlash for meeting in Phoenix – bringing thousands of Episcopalians and their travel dollars to Arizona right after voters there rejected establishment of a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The controversy compelled the church that year, through the triennial gathering of its governing body, to commit to examining its own racism over the next nine years. Read the full story here.

ProGente Connections receives UTO grant to sustain ministry: In October, ProGente Connections, an ecumenical coalition of Brazilian immigrant and American churches, based at St. Andrew’s Church in Framingham, received an Episcopal Church United Thank Offering grant of $25,000 to help sustain its programs.

The United Thank Offering (UTO) awards grants to support innovative mission and ministry throughout the Episcopal Church and provinces of the Anglican Communion.

ProGente Connections recently launched an online program for people with teaching credentials from Brazil to secure Massachusetts teaching credentials, and the UTO grant will help fund the salary of ProGente Connections' program director, Raquel Riberti-Bill.

Raquel Riberti-Bill is pictured (third from left) at the American Organization of Teachers of Portuguese conference in 2018. That field trip was the starting point for ProGente's new job access program, providing online coaching for Brazilian-credentialed teachers to get credentialed in Massachusetts. Courtesy photo

New “Discerning My Path” program launches in January: “Discerning My Path” is a new lay discernment opportunity launching in January 2021 for anyone yearning for a deeper relationship with God and wondering about what they have to offer the world and how to listen deeply enough to hear God’s desire.

The Diocese of Massachusetts joins other New England dioceses in Province I in partnering with Bexley-Seabury Seminary to offer this six-month lay discernment program. In addition to monthly online meetings in small groups, participants will engage with spiritual reading, videos and articles on discernment, spiritual practices and the ministry of the baptized. Cost is $200; financial assistance is available upon request.

An online informational meeting for those who would like to learn more takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 7-8 p.m.

For more information, contact Martha Gardner, Missioner for Networking and Formation, at mgardner@diomass.org.

Priesthood ordination services scheduled: The diocesan community’s prayers are invited for these upcoming ordinations to the priesthood:

Please contact each hosting congregation or community directly about service details, as gathering and online arrangements will be different for each.

Episcopal News Service: On Election Day, church becomes a sanctuary of democracy: On a morning when tensions were high and nerves frayed across the United States – with fears of voter intimidation, voter suppression and even violence – Grace Church in Newton was an oasis of quiet calm for the voters who trickled in.

The stately stone church overlooking a park in this Boston suburb serves as one of the town’s polling places. Around 10:30, a few hours after the polls opened, there were no lines, no opposing crowds of sign-waving supporters. In fact, it was extraordinarily quiet, with a slow stream of voters going in and out, but that didn’t indicate voter apathy. In Massachusetts, 2.3 million people had already voted by Election Day – about 70 percent of the total turnout in 2016.

That includes the Rev. Regina Walton, Grace’s rector. She voted early in nearby Arlington, where she lives. But she and Rowan Larson, Grace’s youth minister and parish administrator, were at the church overseeing operations. The church has been a polling place since 2016, when the town chose Grace to replace a polling place at a fire station, largely because it is easily accessible for handicapped people, Walton said. Read more here.

Boston Globe: A choir learns to sing as one once more: In the cold rain, as night fell on a church parking lot strewn with leaves, a choir and the community that finds faith in it came together again on a late Sunday afternoon.

The choir of St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Church in Lincoln performed its first live Evensong service together in months — and their first-ever service with each singing in his or her own car, holding a microphone, peering out the windshield at a distant conductor and listening intently to the radio.

“Singers really need to sing together,” said Jay Lane, choirmaster at the church, before the service. “We’ve missed it and this is one way to do it.”

Wireless microphones were live-mixed at a sounding board and then broadcast on an open FM radio frequency, to which choir members and congregants tuned their car radios. An organ part that Lane recorded the day before — to free his hands for conducting — was also mixed in.

Atop a hill in the lot, the conductor stood beneath a canopy lit by fluorescent lights, gazing down upon about 40 cars filled with song, about half with choir members. Outside, the hum of about 20 singers rose from their cars above the din of rain. Read more here.

Nov 18: Extended Advent Wednesday Evening Devotions, Online from Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 5:00pm 

Nov 18: Neighbor to Neighbor Launch and Learning Event: Why Welcoming the Unwelcome is Gospel Living, 6:00pm 

Nov 18: "Discerning My Path" Informational Meeting, 7:00pm 

Nov 19: Youth Ministry Online Gathering, 3:30pm 

Nov 22: Bishop Gates visits St. Michael's Church in Marblehead

Nov 24: Clergy Professional Development Day Part I Make-up Session, 5:15pm 

Nov 25: Extended Advent Wednesday Evening Devotions, Online from Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 5:00pm 

Nov 25: Thanksgiving Eve Service of "Spiritual Re-Hydration," Online from Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 7:00pm 

Nov 29: Bishop Gates visits St. John's Church in Sandwich

Dec 1: Practical Aspects of Congregational Leadership Seminar: Year-End Closing, 9:00am

Dec 2: Advent Wednesday Evening Devotions, Online from Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 5:00pm 

Dec 3: Office of Transition Ministry Profile and Interviewing Workshop for Diocesan Clergy, 10:00am 

Dec 3: Children's Formation Online Gathering, 3:30pm 

Dec 3: Diocesan Council Meeting, 6:00pm 

Dec 5: Practical Aspects of Congregational Leadership Seminar: Year-End Closing, 9:00am

Dec 6: Bishop Gates visits Trinity Church in Boston

Dec 6: Advent Lessons and Carols, Online from the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, in partnership with Grace Church, Vineyard Haven, 10:00am 

Dec 9: Advent Wednesday Evening Devotions, Online from Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 5:00pm 

Dec 10: Children's Formation Online Gathering, 3:30pm 

Dec 12: "Space for Jesus" Online Advent Quiet Day, 10:00am 

Dec 12: Ordination to the Priesthood: Luke Ditewig, SSJE, Society of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge, 11:00am 

Dec 12: Ordination to the Priesthood: Lawrence Civale, St. Paul's Church, Chester, Penn., 11:00am 

Dec 13: Bishop Gates visits the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston

Dec 13: Bishop Harris visits St. Mary's Church in Rockport

Dec 13: Youth Ministry December Virtual Hangout, 2:00pm 

Dec 16: Advent Wednesday Evening Devotions, Online from Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 5:00pm 

Dec 17: Youth Ministry Online Gathering, 3:30pm 

Dec 17: Ordination to the Priesthood: Lauren Lukason, St. Paul's Church, Brookline, 6:00pm

Dec 19: Ordination to the Priesthood: Tammy Hobbs-Miracky, All Saints Parish, Brookline, 10:00am 

Dec 20: Bishop Harris visits All Saints Parish in Brookline

Dec 20: Bishop Gates visits All Saints' Church in Whitman

Dec 23: Advent Wednesday Evening Devotions, Online from the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston 5:00pm 

Dec 24: Christmas Eve Service, Online from the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 6:45pm 

Dec 27: Christmas Poems and Carols Service, Online from the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, in partnership with Grace Church, Vineyard Haven, 10:00am

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