epiScope

The Boar's Head in hand bear I

Bethesda-by-the-Sea holds Boar's Head pageant and Yule Log Festival
By DAVID ROGERS
Palm Beach (FL) Daily News
January 07, 2008

Being a bookworm has its advantages.

According to legend, a young man living in the Middle Ages in Norman England was attacked by a boar in the forest. With no knife at hand, the desperate youth rammed a book on the works of Aristotle down the beast's throat.

It worked. The thick-tusked creature choked to death.

First at Pagan festivals, the boar's head was displayed to show the triumph of reason over brute strength. The festival was later adapted by the Christian church. Centuries later, churches are still celebrating the Boar's Head Festival.

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No reservations

You can't swing a smoking thurible without hitting a heartwarming Christmas story on the Web this morning, and that's as it should be. Just a brief sampling...and let's open with one of the best ledes we've seen in a long, long time...

With help of angels
Recovering from fire, church experiences Christmas' true meaning
By Sandi Dolbee
San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE
December 25, 2007

This is no time for a baby.

Folks here need grown-up help. The kind that comes with heavy machinery, not swaddling cloths. Someone who can navigate insurance forms and building permits, not just lie there in a manger.

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Yule services look anew at eternal values
By David C. Lipscomb
Washington Times
December 26, 2007

The Reverend Canon Howard Anderson (left) and the Reverend Robert J. Boulter conducted a Christmas celebration yesterday at the historic cathedral in Northwest.

The sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky over the Washington National Cathedral yesterday morning before Festival Holy Eucharist services.

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On the Job Or on the Town, Traditions Rule
Washington Post
December 26, 2007; Page B01

…Being a two-priest family, Patricia and Richard Downing have one predictable Christmas activity: writing and giving sermons.

She gives hers at Good Shepherd Episcopal in Silver Spring; he does his at the Parish of St. Monica and St. James on Capitol Hill.

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Troubled veterans find heavenly haven at Shepherd's Heart
By Mike Wereschagin
Pittsburgh (PA) TRIBUNE-REVIEW
December 26, 2007

The softly-lit, green-hued hallway is quiet and warm, and the 10 men inside their rooms are safe for the moment.

Only memory can get to them here.

The Rev. Michael Wurschmidt walks slowly past the closed doors, a sentry in cleric's clothing.

"I never saw combat, but I know what it can do to someone," said Wurschmidt, pastor of Shepherd's Heart Fellowship in Uptown, an episcopal parish and home for homeless veterans.

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Spirit of holiday wafts through air at Jacob's Dinner
By MICHAEL BUCK
Easton (PA) Express-Times
December 26, 2007

… The meal, called Jacob's Dinner, was sponsored by Trinity Episcopal Church. David Bonner, who was organizing the dinner, said the name of the dinner comes from the Book of Genesis when angels came to Jacob.

"It's for anybody and you don't need a reservation, because Christ didn't have a reservation," Bonner said.

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140 get dinner free at Christmas event
Churches help in Middletown
By Heather Yakin
Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record
December 26, 2007

MIDDLETOWN — Half an hour before the noon Christmas meal was served yesterday, about 50 people waited outside the Webb Horton Memorial Presbyterian Church.

Inside, volunteers organized by Grace Episcopal Church worked on the final touches. Paper plates, cups and plastic utensils, all in gold, lined the tables. Plates of roast beef, mashed potatoes and green beans were set on each table.

The doors opened. The Robert Caskey Holiday Dinner, named for the man who started St. Margaret's Soup Kitchen at Grace Episcopal, began.

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Christmas cheer and volunteers
By Lindy Bavolek
Southeast Missourian
December 26, 2007

Christ Episcopal Church fed turkey, ham and chicken to in-patient women at the Family Counseling Center. Women typically stay at the center for one to three months while undergoing treatment for drug or alcohol addiction.

For the last five years, the Rev. Bob Towner has helped organize a dinner for the women and their families going through the 12-step process.

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Spirit of giving reigns at NOEL Christmas dinner
Volunteer response overwhelms church organizers
By Earl Holland
Salisbury (MD) Daily Times
12/26/2007

OCEAN CITY -- Dozens of people lined the outside of St. Paul's-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church as they waited to enter the facility for a free Christmas dinner on behalf of the Noel Community.

The dining hall of the church was not only filled with people who were looking for a hot holiday meal; there were also familiar faces, camaraderie and people who feel it is important to give of themselves.

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Feeding Their Annual Flock
St. David's dishes out a Christmas dinner for 900
By Kevin Dale
The Day (CT)
12/26/2007

Ledyard — For some Christmas Feast volunteers at St. David's Episcopal Church, the day began at 4 a.m., when 65 turkeys were loaded into a massive stove at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton.

“It was crazy,” said parishioner Bill Lillie, who coordinated Tuesday's event with his wife, Linda.

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RIFA feeds the needy
Besides meals, volunteers hand out gifts to the homeless
By STANLEY DUNLAP
Jackson (TN) Sun
December 26, 2007

… Lupe Mitchell and Evelyn Kipp were among the volunteers from St. Luke's Episcopal Church who helped serve the Christmas lunch. Within the first 15 minutes, more than 50 people were eating.

"It's wonderful to be able to help somebody else and give them joy, hope and love most of all," Mitchell said.

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Lord's Table to close
By Jake Palmateer
Oneonta (NY) Daily Star
December 26, 2007

ONEONTA _ The Lord's Table is closing indefinitely at the end of the week.

Citing the resignation of the Opportunities For Otsego coordinator who managed the community feeding program, St. James' Episcopal Church officials announced the closure Christmas Eve.

It’s all here …and if you're in this community, do read the next story...

Spirit of giving keeps shelter's doors open
By JOHN IWASAKI
Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligencer
December 24, 2007

Executive Director Kimberly Jackson told her small staff that the doors would close Dec. 31 without a significant boost in donations. She said that she understood if anyone looked for other jobs. No one left.

After a story and photo about the nonprofit shelter's situation appeared Nov. 15 in the Seattle P-I, the home received about $30,000 in private donations, including a $10,000 check from a local foundation. The funds will keep the 11-bed shelter open through February.

It’s all here …and folks, all this is what the Episcopal Church means when we talk about taking those Millennium Development Goals seriously: feeding those who are hungry, providing shelter to those who have none, giving hope and a future to those who can't see the way ahead...in the name of that baby born in Bethlehem.

Merry Christmas.

The Mother Of God

 

The threefold terror of love; a fallen flare
Through the hollow of an ear;
Wings beating about the room;
The terror of all terrors that I bore
The Heavens in my womb.

Had I not found content among the shows
Every common woman knows,
Chimney corner, garden walk,
Or rocky cistern where we tread the clothes
And gather all the talk?

What is this flesh I purchased with my pains,
This fallen star my milk sustains,
This love that makes my heart's blood stop
Or strikes a Sudden chill into my bones
And bids my hair stand up?

-- William Butler Yeats

Theotokos of the Sign, courtesy of the website of Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, Manchester, New Hampshire, Rt. Reverend Archpriest Alexandr Androsov, Rector.

A blessed and peace-filled Christmastide to all epiScope readers!

Poppa T's Christmas

Hip-Hop Christmas brings 'Language of the streets' to pews
By STEVEN LEMONGELLO
Atlantic City (NJ) Press
December 22, 2007

"We got some believers in here!" Atlantic City rapper Rags shouted. "Throw it up for the birth of baby Jesus!"

So began the fourth annual Hip- Hop Christmas on Friday night at the Church of the Ascension in Atlantic City. The historic Anglican church at the corner of Pacific and Kentucky avenues was the scene of an innovative type of worship, part of the Hip-Hop Mass program started by the Rev. Timothy Holder - otherwise known as 'Poppa T' - that blends a traditional Anglican-Episcopal Mass with rap and hip- hop.

Thus the Church of the Ascension became "Ascension on da Strip."

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Telling the old, old story

Three wise men leading us astray
Jill Rowbotham
The Australian
December 21, 2007

COULD the devil be in the detail of the Christmas story?

That's what the leader of the world's Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has implied in a BBC interview.

The story of the three wise men following the star to Bethlehem is a legend - stars don't behave like that, he said - it is unlikely Jesus was born in December and you can take or leave the virgin birth. He says he believes in it but that's not a pre-condition for being a Christian. "Matthew's gospel says they are astrologers, wise men, priests from somewhere outside the Roman Empire, that's all we're really told," he said. "It works quite well as legend."

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Archbishop's interview with Simon Mayo
Daily Telegraph
20/12/2007

Edited transcript of the Archbishop of Canterbury's interview with Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 5 Live

SM It comes round every year that we're not being Christian enough or people don't know where Bethlehem is, people have never heard of Mary and so on, so this is a sort of an almost a tradition of Christmas, isn't it really. But I wonder, if people have got a traditional religious Christmas card in front of them, I just want to go through it, Archbishop, to find out how much of it you think is true and crucial to the believing in Christmas. So start with … the baby Jesus in a manger; historically and factually true?

ABC I should think so; the Gospel tells us he was born outside the main house, probably because it was overcrowded because it was pilgrimage time or census time; whatever; yes; he's born in poor circumstances, slightly out of the ordinary.

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A message of peace

Christmas sermons hold messages of hope, peace
By Jennifer Goga
Pittsburgh (PA) Post-Gazette
December 20, 2007

The Rev. Phillip Wainwright begins early each December to put together his Christmas sermon to deliver to congregants at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Brentwood. He said he gets his outline ready "before things go wild" later in the month. Still, he often adds some final touches on his message in these busy days leading up to Christmas Day.

Father Wainwright is one of a number of pastors of South churches who this week are polishing their sermons. Though the topics vary, all revolve around the hope of "Peace on Earth , good will toward men" for their congregations and, of course, the world.

For many, Christmas services are an opportunity to connect with people who don't come to church on a regular basis.

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Greening Christmas

For some, it means less spending, more giving
By SACHI FUJIMORI
North Jersey (NJ) HERALD NEWS
December 20, 2007
…
This eco-conscious movement has not hit some corners of the county. The Rev. David Wolf of Paterson's St. Paul's Episcopal Church said promoting a buy-nothing, save-the-earth campaign at Christmas is a nice idea, but some of his families, who struggle to put food on the table and can't afford gifts, look forward to the holiday all year. "It's a luxury to boycott it," he said. Every year on Jan. 6, his congregation holds a celebration for the feast of the Epiphany, where every child in the parish receives a present, donated by wealthier congregations in the suburbs.

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More Churches Going Green
By Cassandra Carmichael
AlterNet/Foreign Policy in Focus
December 17, 2007.
…
The Little Church That Did

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania started its journey to become more environmentally friendly when it had to renovate a historic church building after acquiring a nearby property in their urban setting. Instead of using traditional construction methods, St. Stephen's, with its blossoming core of environmentally minded congregants, chose to follow theological principles of construction. It decided to build in ways that protect God's creation and are less polluting, that provide healthy worship and sacred spaces for congregants, and that, most importantly, don't harm vulnerable communities.

By utilizing energy efficient lighting and cooling, designing for multiple use, and using less toxic materials such as environmentally friendly flooring, St. Stephen's was able to decrease their carbon pollution and become the first LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) church. Today, the church stands as a testament to the congregation's commitment to protecting God's creation by using less energy, cutting their carbon emissions, and relying on less toxic building materials.

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Impose a carbon tax, churches urge minister
Saving planet a sacred duty, Anglican and United officials say
Doug Ward
Vancouver (BC) Sun
December 20, 2007

A number of B.C. churches are urging Finance Minister Carole Taylor to include a carbon tax in the next budget, saying such a measure would help save God's creation -- the planet Earth.

"Climate change is a moral issue because the way we care for creation ties into how we respond to God's creativeness," Rev. Kenneth Gray, chair of the environment committee of the Anglican Diocese of B.C., said Wednesday.

"We support a transitional and progressive tax strategy, which forces heavy polluters and heavy consumers of fossil fuels to change their way of operating."

Anglican David Dranchuk also wrote to Taylor in support of a carbon tax, on behalf of the Diocese of New Westminster.

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