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A Light No Darkness Can Overcome
A Message from Acting President DeLisio
The Chicago iHeartRadio FM station switched to playing Christmas songs 24 hours a day on Tuesday, November 6, at 4:35 pm. The president of
iHeartMedia Chicago offered this reason:
"With all the turmoil in the world today, we felt Chicago needed a little more Christmas right now. The extension of the Christmas music season will allow Chicagoans to get into the Holiday spirit even more this year."
In my parish, All Saints Episcopal Church in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago, we are experiencing a different kind of seasonal extension. Along with a growing number of Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist churches in the U.S. and elsewhere, we are celebrating an expanded seven-week Advent that this year began on November 12.
 The Very Rev. Dr. William H. Petersen, president emeritus of one of our predecessor seminaries, Bexley Hall Seminary, developed this practice of observing an expanded Advent with fellow liturgical scholars at the North American Academy of Liturgy in a seminar called The Advent Project. In his new book, What Are We Waiting For? Re-Imagining Advent for Time to Come (New York: Church Publishing, 2017), Dr. Petersen explains the rationale for this project in chapters that elaborate on the Q&A that he offers in the introduction:
Q: What are we waiting for? 
A: The full manifestation of the Reign of God/kingdom of Christ.
Q: Why do we need to re-imagine Advent?
A: The truncated season is eclipsed by the global Christmas culture and the church's observance is liable to subversion by it.
Q: What would be the shape and feel of [an expanded] Advent?
A: Advent would start earlier and its observance would be a continuing exercise in the Gospel's counter-cultural redemptive message. *
Advent, from the Latin root adventus, means "coming." On these liminal Sundays that mark the transition from the end of the liturgical year and start of the new, as darkness in the northern hemisphere literally descends earlier and earlier until the arrival of Winter Solstice and Christmas day, the appointed lessons in the Revised Common Lectionary carry a message of God's promise that the reign of God is coming.
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Time to DMin?
Apply now to begin studies in June 2018
- THEOLOGY put into practice
- LEADERSHIP skills to build strong communities
- TOOLS THAT WORK in dynamic ministry settings
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REGISTER NOW -- January & Spring Courses
For credit, CEUs, or enrichment
Refresh your skills...gain perspective...expand your knowledge.
TAKE YOUR PICK of learning opportunities for our January and Spring terms. All of our courses combine classroom sessions with online learning so you can pursue your studies alongside your ongoing ministry/professional and family responsibilities.
Classroom sessions will meet on campus in Chicago's Hyde Park/Woodlawn or in London, UK, and will be led by faculty who are top category experts who have practical experience in a range of dynamic ministry settings.
Week of January 8
- M-F: "Organizational Systems" with Emelyn Ott
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 M-F: "Making Mission Possible in Tough Times" led by Suzann Holding
January 13-19
- Sat-Friday: "Learning from London" travel course with Jason Fout
Week of January 15
- M-F: "Diversity and Context" with Eric Law
Week of January 22
- M-F: "The Art of Preaching" with John Dally
3 campus weekends over 3 months linked by online learning
- "Anglican Theology & Ethics" with Jason Fout
- "Liturgy & Music: Theology and Practice" with Victor Conrado and Milner Seifert
- "Faith & Life Together" with Ellen Wondra
- "Anglican Spirituality & Ethos" with Bradley Pickens
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Sitting for GOEs in January?
Participate in our preparation lectures
Every January, candidates for the priesthood in the Episcopal Church take General Ordination Exams (GOEs), which are required for ordination. If you are gearing up for this rigorous week-long ritual or know someone who is, check into our December GOE prep sessions offered by Bexley Seabury's Professor Jason Fout.
The upcoming prep sessions are tentatively set for Tuesday, Dec. 12 and Tuesday, Dec. 19, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Central time. The sessions can be attended in person, watched "live" from your favorite internet connection, or watched at a later time. If interested, please send an email to Ron Fox in the president's office at Bexley Seabury.
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8th Annual Bexley Seabury Leadership Institute -- APPLY NOW
For lay and ordained leaders, June 18-20, 2018 in Chicago
 Congregations...church organizations...judicatories -- all need strong leaders to make a difference. Our annual Bexley Seabury
Leadership Institute helps lay and ordained teams at all levels become more confident and more effective.
Participants interact and collaborate with one another and with faculty from Bexley Seabury and the Kellogg School Center for Nonprofit Management at Northwestern University's downtown campus, located a brief walk from St. James Commons, home to St. James Cathedral and the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago.
Topics that 2018 Institute participants will explore are:
- Leading & Following
- Difficult Conversations: Finding Compassion & Healing Through Conflict Management
- Leadership in 5G: Multiple Generations in the Workplace and Church
- Building Your Brand
- Effective External Communications
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Bexley Seabury is Now Part of Amazon Smile
Help us make a difference while you shop
For anything you buy at Amazon Smile, Amazon will donate 0.5% to Bexley Seabury.
Amazon Smile offers Amazon's exact same prices, selection and shopping experience with a "mission bonus" for Bexley Seabury paid by Amazon.
All you need to do is go to smile.amazon.com and select Bexley Seabury as your desired charity, or go directly to our unique store page:
Bexley Seabury at Amazon Smile
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On and Off Campus
Alums
Katherine Doyle (Anglican Studies, Seabury-Western '12) became the 7th Rector of St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 17. Shown at the altar, to Doyle's right is Bishop Terry White (SWTS '85) Congratulations!
Andrew Kunihito Shirota (Seabury-Western '09) and the people of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, Ky., will celebrate Shirota's new ministry as the 20th rector of St. Paul's on the Feast of St. Andrew, Thursday Nov. 30. Congratulations!
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Bexley Seabury offers
