Volume 14, January 29, 2020
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We Three Kings of Orient Are
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Bishop’s Institute work has taken me to Camp Weed and Cerveny Conference Center four times this month of January beginning with the annual Seminarians’ Retreat and ending with the annual Diocesan Convention this last Saturday. I was so pleased for some thirty-six Licensed Lay Ministers who were commissioned at the Convention by the Bishop. They prepared for the License in courses taught under the aegis of the Bishop’s Institute.
But not all work. On the first Sunday after the Epiphany, the twelfth of January, I was privileged to hear Dr. Charles Howard, the gifted art history teacher at the Episcopal School of Jacksonville, tell us how the Magi have been represented by various artists. Of the half dozen paintings that he chose, the one I liked most is by Fernando Gallegos (c. 1440-1507) that shows in the foreground the Magi in their kingly robes presenting their gifts to the Christ child yet in the background, halfway up a long and winding road, stripped and bathing in a mountain stream, cleansing themselves after a long journey and in preparation for their upcoming visitation.
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The Magi were not always depicted as kings but that tradition is now deeply embedded in our imagination. And it is a powerful symbol for us to contemplate—that even the highest and the most powerful are subject to a higher king. In the authorized (1662) English Book of Common Prayer, one of the collects for the Queen in the service of Holy Communion has the very fine phrase:
‘…and so rule the heart of thy chosen servant ELIZABETH . . . that she
(knowing whose minister she is)
may above all things seek thy honor and glory .
In our Intercessions at the Eucharist we pray for all of our leaders from the President to our local mayor
‘that there may be justice and peace on the earth’.
Evelyn Waugh (famous for
Brideshead Revisited)
in his novel
Helena
tells us how Emperor Constantine’s mother St Helen (c. 250- c. 330) prayed to the Magi for the great rulers, praying especially for the conversion of her own son who had yet to be baptized and profess the Christian faith. She identifies with the Magi, calling them ‘my cousins’ and prays to them for the strong as well as for the weak and vulnerable.
Click here for an excerpt from this scene in Waugh’s novel.
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Helena of Constantine’s Prayer to the Magi
(from the novel
Helena
by Evelyn Waugh)
Dear cousins, pray for me and for my poor overloaded son [the Emperor Constantine]. May he, too, before the end find kneeling-space in the straw. Pray for the great, lest they perish utterly.
For His sake who did not reject your curious gifts, pray always for the learned, the oblique, the delicate. Let them not be quite forgotten at the Throne of God when the simple come into their kingdom.
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Annual Seminarians Retreat
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Each year the Diocese of Florida hosts a retreat in early January for our seminarians enrolled in an M.Div. program in one of the Church’s seminaries. This year our five seminarians gathered at Camp Weed January 6-8, 2020 with Bishop Howard and with members of the Diocesan Board of Examining Chaplains.
Photo: (front row: right to left) Gray Hodsdon, Sewanee; Sarah Minton, Duke Divinity School; Sara Rich, Duke Divinity School; William Stokes, Sewanee and Joshua Samuels, Wycliffe College, Toronto.
(back row: right to left): Fr Steph Britt; Bishop Dorsey Henderson (Chaplain); William Stafford (sometime Dean of the School of Theology, Sewanee); Bishop Howard; Fr Donavan Cain (Chair, Board of Examining Chaplains); Fr Les Singleton and Fr Douglas Dupree.
Absent from photo: Examining Chaplains Fr Remington Slone and Mother Nancee Martin.
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The Bible In 90 Days And The Book Of Leviticus
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O
ur Bishop, John Howard, has launched a program this January, to bring people together united in the pledge to read the entire Bible, cover to cover, in 90 days. I decided to give it a go. In order to encourage us, he meets with us every Wednesday at noon at the Cathedral, just to see how we are progressing. It’s kind of like Weight Watchers---where you go to a meeting once a week to get weighed – or in this case to share whether you are on target or behind in your reading.
At our second weekly meeting, a week into the exercise, the Bishop had a special challenge in encouraging us – as that day we were right in the middle of Leviticus--- the book that is a well known road block that stops many people from reading the Bible cover to cover. Leviticus is all about various rituals of atonement and purification for different sins and different categories of sinners. There is a lot of sacrificing of animals involved in each different ritual of atonement or purification.
The lady sitting on my right—from one of our churches on the Southside of Jacksonville—is a vegetarian—and she said she couldn’t help but pity all the young lambs and goats being sacrificed.
The lady on my left was from one of the churches on the Westside of Jacksonville. She was equally disturbed by the detailing of ritual animal sacrifice. At one point she exclaimed:
“All this ritual blood- letting—throwing blood at the door of the tent and splashing it against the altar--- thank goodness, for Jesus Christ, who in his life and death, has put an end to all this sacrifice.”
Her exclamation touched a deep note in my own mind and heart: “
Thank goodness, for Jesus Christ!”
At the same time, re-reading Leviticus made me curious to try and recollect—and to discover anew—what makes this book special in the Hebrew Bible—and how it might be special to Christians today. This led me to start reading again an excellent commentary on Leviticus by the wonderful Jewish Biblical scholar and rabbi, Jonathan Sacks.
In his book
Covenant and Conversation Leviticus: The Book of Holiness
(2015), Lord Sacks tells us something about Leviticus that I certainly would have missed without his instruction:
Leviticus is the central book of the Pentateuch, the Torah. This makes it the most important of the five. Biblical literature often works on the principle of mirror-image symmetry (chiasmus), structured in the form of ABCBA. In any work so patterned, the climax is not at the beginning or the end but in the middle. At the centre of the five Mosaic books, Leviticus is the axis on which they turn.
If that be true, all the more reason to look more deeply into this book, so strange and alien to our contemporary culture.
Lord Sacks goes on to tell us:
Leviticus is a – perhaps even the – key text of Judaism. It is here that we read for the first time the command to “Love your neighbour as yourself.” It is the source of the even greater moral principle, “You shall love [the stranger] as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt.” It is Leviticus that forbids us to take vengeance or bear a grudge, taking a stand against the psychopathology of hatred and violence. It contains one of the most remarkable of all religious ideas, that we are summoned to be holy because God is holy. Not only are we created in God’s image. We are called on to act in God’s ways.
There is so much more Sacks has to share with us about this sacred text. I would encourage you to order a copy and start reading--- or if you are engaged in reading the Bible ‘In 90 Days’ --finish that challenge and then read Sacks!
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Below is a short list of books related to Jerusalem or the Holy Land. I am assisting Canon Aaron Smith in leading a Diocesan wide pilgrimage to the Holy Land February 2-10, 2020. This is the list of pre-pilgrimage books I shared with those registered for the pilgrimage. But I believe they might be of interest to Christians whether traveling by plane or making the journey at home in one’s favorite chair. All titles available from Amazon.
Standard popular travel guide books:
- DK Eyewitness Jerusalem, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories (travel guide)
- Fodor’s Essential Israel
- Lonely Planet Israel & the Palestinian Territories (Guide Book)
- Frommer’s Essential Israel
- Rick Steves’ The Holy Land: Israel and Palestinians Today (Prime Video)
Older guide books but interesting reading by the master of travel writers:
History, theology:
Contemporary studies/ current events:
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Licensed Lay Ministers for The Diocese of Florida
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On the occasion of the 177
th
annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida held at Camp Weed and Cerveny Conference Center on Saturday, January 25, 2020, Bishop Howard licensed 36 new Licensed Lay Worship Leaders and Catechists. These new lay ministers studied for twelve months under the guidance of the Bishop’s Institute and with tutors drawn from the clergy of the Diocese.
Click
here
for the list to see if there is someone you know from your church!
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Finding the Wilderness in God's Mercy
A Retreat led by Bishop Howard
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The Bishop’s Institute for Ministry and Leadership invites you to attend:
Finding the Wideness in God’s Mercy:
Twenty-four hours of silence and conversation
A Retreat for laity and clergy and their friends
led by Bishop John Howard
Friday April 17 – Saturday April 18, 2020
Camp Weed and Cerveny Conference Center
Come escape the busyness of life for twenty-four hours in the beautiful surroundings of 500 acres of countryside at Camp Weed for a short retreat led by Bishop John Howard. The retreat will be a well balanced combination of conversation and quiet time.The retreat starts with lunch at 12 noon Friday and closes with lunch at 12 noon on Saturday. The Bishop will share his reflections on prayer and lead us in prayer and in discussion.
The retreat is open to everyone young or old, lay or clergy. The camp will provide good food and comfortable accommodations.
Rates: (includes accommodation, meals, conference fee):
Single: $150 / Double: $112.50.
Registration link coming soon
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Becoming The Beloved Community
In Honor Of Absalom Jones:
Our Second Conversation
Saturday February 29, 2020
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
(Lunch provided)
St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, Jacksonville
Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Catherine Meeks,
Executive Director of the Absalom Jones Center
For Racial Healing, Atlanta
In honor of Absalom Jones (the first African American ordained Priest in the Episcopal Church) The Father Sidney B. Parker Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians (UBE) in concert with the Bishop’s Institute will host a second day of conversation on racial understanding and healing in church and community. This event follows a very fine conversation inaugurated for Absalom Jones Day in 2019 hosted by St Philip’s Church, Jacksonville. We are grateful to the Dean, the Very Rev. Kate Moorehead for hosting us at the Cathedral this year.
Come join in a day of prayer, learning, reflection and discussion led by Dr. Meeks. Everyone is welcome lay and clergy. To register, call or email Sue Engemann at 904-356-1328 or
sengemann@diocesefl.org
. For further information, please contact Ed Wright, Vice President of the UBE and St. Philip’s Senior Warden:
ewright58@bellsouth.net
or 904-908-6917.
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Save the Date: Spring Clergy Retreat
February 27-28, 2020
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The annual Spring Clergy Retreat starts with lunch at 12 noon in Varn Hall at Camp Weed on Thursday, February 27 and closes with lunch on Friday, February 28.
Bishop Howard has invited as keynote speaker for the retreat the Rev. David Zahl. Fr. Zahl is the director of Mockingbird Ministries and editor-in-chief of the Mockingbird blog. He and his wife Cate reside in Charlottesville, VA, with their three sons, where David also serves on the staff of Christ Episcopal Church (
christchurchcville.org)
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Fr. Zahl is the author of
Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technology, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What to Do about It
(paperback, 2019). Copies of his book will be available for purchase during the Retreat.
On Friday February 28, the morning will conclude with Bishop Howard as celebrant for the Eucharist in Mandi’s Chapel. The clergy will be invited to renew their vows and also to bring their own church’s sacramental oil stocks for the Bishop to bless.
There will be the usual good food that Chef Ed and his team provide and plenty of time for informal fellowship.
Charges: $170 single occupancy/$132.50 double occupancy/Commuter: Thursday only $50.
To Register:
Call Gina Hoover at Camp Weed on (386) 364-5250 or email her at
regina@campweed.org
The registration link on the Camp Weed website should be up and running very soon.
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