Bishop John Bryson Chane writes to his diocese:

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

As you may remember, our diocese is proposing that the Episcopal Church include civil rights leader and former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall on its liturgical calendar. By resolution of the 2006 Diocesan Convention, we recommended that May 17, the anniversary of Marshall’s victory in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation case be observed as his feast day.

The 2006 General Convention referred the resolution to the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, which, we hope, will bring it forward at the 2009 General Convention, next summer in Anaheim.

One important criterion that the Commission considers is whether there is widespread local observance of a candidate’s proposed feast day. So to strengthen our presentation at the 2009 General Convention and, more importantly, to hold up before our people the Christian witness of Justice Marshall, please plan to observe Saturday May 17 or Sunday May 18 as Thurgood Marshall Day in your parish.

You can learn more about Justice Marshall at edow.org.

In Christ’s Peace Power and Love,
Bishop John Bryson Chane

The Washington Window has written numerous stories on the effort to include Marshall's name in the book of Lesser Feasts and Fasts. (1, 2, 3, 4.) The mainstream media has also paid some note.

Liturgical resources for the feast of Thurgood Marshall, May 17

Propers suggested by the Diocese of Washington. Music suggested by students at Seabury-Western Seminary and St. Augustine’s Church, Washington, D. C.

Collect
Eternal and Ever-Gracious God, you blessed your servant Thurgood with special gifts of grace and courage to understand and speak the truth as it has been revealed to us by Jesus Christ. Grant that by his example we may also know you and seek to realize that we are all your children, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, whom you sent to teach us to love one another; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Suggested scripture readings
Amos 5:10-15, 21-24
Psalm 34:15-22
I Corinthians 13:1-13
Matthew 23:1-11

Suggested Music
Song of Praise
Christ Has Arisen from Lift Every Voice and Sing (LEVAS) 41

Sequence
Zimbabwe Alleluia

Offertory Hymn
How Great Thou Art LEVAS 60

Memorial Acclamation Sung to the tune of We Shall Overcome:

Jesus Christ has died.
Jesus Christ is risen.
Jesus Christ will come again.
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
Jesus Christ will come again.

Communion Hymn
Just As I Am LEVAS 137

Processional Hymn (and Marshall’s personal favorite)
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory LEVAS 226

By Greg Jones

I am an Episcopalian. Not by accident of birth, or cultural happenstance. No, I am an Episcopalian because The Episcopal Church welcomed me, embraced me, and initiated me into the mysterious Body of Christ Jesus, the Lord and Savior of the Whole World, of which our church is a vital part.

I do not come from a 'cradle Episcopalian' family. My paternal grandmother was most decidedly uninterested in organized religion. My paternal grandfather was a Baptist. My maternal grandparents were extremely traditional old world Roman Catholics. My father was not raised in any Christian church, my mother left Roman Catholicism as soon as she could, and most of my cousins were almost entirely unchurched in their growing up.

I spent a great deal of time with a family in our neighborhood that had tons of kids and they became like another family for me – the mother of which led the choir in a Methodist church. I joined that choir – and thus began my first experience of church life. "All Thing Bright and Beautiful" was my favorite hymn from those days. I was five years old, to be exact, when I sang in a Methodist children's choir.

My parents separated before I entered the first grade, and for the rest of my childhood, adolescence and early adulthood, I would shuttle between households. However, and thankfully, at the very time of my parents' divorce, a neighbor invited us to attend worship at his church. It was St. Columba's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., and from the moment we walked in the front door on Albemarle Street, I knew I had a home. Not only a spiritual home – but a home made of bricks and mortar, wood and glass, with a fixed location and a glorious capacity to bring people in. Every time I drove by my parish I would look at it and smile – and know that it was my place too.

St. Columba's was undergoing revival in those days, seeing tremendous growth in worship attendance, music ministry, outreach, mission, education, and spiritual formation – much like St. Michael's is today. I joined the choir there – my mother took classes and was received into the Episcopal Church – and for the rest of my childhood we spent most of our quality time associated with parish life in one form or another.

My first band played there – we played rock and roll at a talent show – and some poor kid in my band even did a break-dancing routine. (It was 1982.) I knew every single square foot of that entire facility. When they had a capital campaign and added significantly to the worship space and bought a world-class organ – it was something I was very excited about, even as a young kid. I took great pride in the beautification and expansion of the nave – and in the glorious sound which came from the organ. The beautiful architecture and the music formed me deeply.

Choir, Sunday School, retreats, youth trips, soup kitchen work, friendships, pancake suppers, weddings, funerals, sneaking around with a pack of kids – it was all what made that parish my home and my way into the Kingdom.

Quite simply, other than my own parents and grandparents, and a few other people – no other place, no other community, no other shaping force has done more to make me who I am than the Episcopal Church – as found on Albemarle Street in Washington, D.C.

If it weren't for the Episcopal Church, as expressed in that congregation with its very specific place in space and time, and its faithfulness to the Gospel, I wouldn't even know who I was. Thank God for the evangelism of the people of St. Columba's who knew that it takes more than talk to spread the Good News. It takes more than getting doctrine right. It takes more than knowing what the Scripture says. It takes more than all of that. It takes the creation of a spiritual home which is alive in the Spirit, and which is truly focused on being the place where disciples of Jesus worship God, meet and grow together, and are formed into the full stature of Christ.

For this I continue to be grateful for and at home in the Episcopal Church.

The Rev. Samuel Gregory Jones ("Greg") was educated at the University of North Carolina and the General Theological Seminary, where he is on the Board. Greg is rector of St. Michael's Raleigh, and author of Beyond Da Vinci (Seabury Books, 2004). He blogs at fatherjones.com.

By Martin L. Smith

I was walking along P Street in Washington, D. C., the other day pondering a phrase our Presiding Bishop used in a recent webcast, when she spoke of the need for the church to move on from the controversies surrounding sexuality to “refocus on matters of life and death like starvation, education, medical care.” I know she was using “life and death” to mean “of the highest priority.” But for gay people it’s hard to hear straight folks using language that, even inadvertently, seems to imply that the struggles we must undergo are not matters of life and death. In fact they are—sometimes in the most literal way. Ironically, I found myself halting outside the paint store on the corner of 15th Street NW. It was here that my partner and I experienced the second of two attempted gay-bashing assaults.

It happens so quickly, as any victim of a street crime will tell you. Thugs suddenly came pouring out of a huge SUV. They screamed for our blood using anti-gay curses that left their motive in no doubt. As we ran for our lives, with the pounding of their boots on the sidewalk drumming in our ears, we never thought we could outrun them. But we eventually shook them off when we reached an area perhaps too brightly lit for them. This nightmare repeated a similar incident several months earlier that began outside the fire station on 13th Street, as we were walking home after supper. We also managed to escape that time, ending up in an alley retching from the effort, just glad to be alive.

Perhaps you’re thinking murder is an exaggeration. Well, no. A priest friend of mine was the victim of a gay-bashing in Logan Circle so violent that he would almost certainly have died had not a horrified passerby made a 911 call that brought a police car quickly to the scene. I also think of a seminarian friend, who was so brutally smashed up by a homophobic assailant wielding a tire iron that five operations on his head and brain were required. He was too disabled to be ordained and died two years later in an accident caused by the side effects of his medications.

Life and death. I hope we will find other language that can unite us around a cause that our Presiding Bishop is perfectly right to emphasize—global claims of mission and justice. However, I hope we’ll never imply that the claims of gay and lesbian folk to equality, respect and security lie outside the realm of life and death matters. We must be careful what we say.

What will we say when we are trying to comfort two parents, friends, whose teenage son, an acolyte, has committed suicide, leaving a note about his despair in the face of bullying and his lack of faith in the possibility of happiness? They know that issues of sexual orientation are matters of life and death, not merely an irritating distraction from nobler causes. What do we say when a priest friend who has moved into a neighboring parish finds herself being trailed for by a stalker, whom she discovers to be an agent of an anti-gay organization notorious for its tactics of defamation? Not an issue of life and death?

As I paused outside the paint store, I realized I had never told the story of the two attempted assaults from which I had narrowly escaped to more than a few friends. I didn’t want to worry my family, and these are grotesque stories for a middle-aged clergyman to recount. Yet the real reason is that most gay folk are trained to take their vulnerability for granted. We suck it in. But maybe we must change that. Straight people enjoy innumerable unearned privileges denied to gays, just as white folk have unearned privileges denied to people of color. We shouldn’t add another one to the list, the privilege of being spared the pain of hearing about our wearying and incessant experiences of being attacked, condescended to, marginalized, insulted and patronized.

No one looks forward more eagerly than gay folk to the day when issues like the eligibility of partnered gay and lesbian priests for the office of bishop will sink to a lower place in our order of priorities. But in the painful meantime, while the progress of equality in the ministry is temporarily halted, the task of making sure that the life and death stories of gay and lesbian people are heard grows in urgency. And gay and lesbian Christians will have to become more outspoken, not less, even in the face of pressure from those who seem to be signaling that it is high time we fell silent again.

Martin L. Smith is a well-known spiritual writer and priest. He is the senior associate rector at St. Columba’s in Washington, D.C.

By Kit Carlson

For many years, I was a serious Anglophile. I loved being an Episcopalian, because we talked like Thomas Cranmer every single week (at least until the 1979 revision of the Prayer Book). I was obsessed with the Masterpiece Theater series on Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, and the connection between my local church and the its convulsive beginnings in the 15th Century was really powerful for me.

As I got older, I drifted in and out of churches. As a young 20-ish woman, there was nothing that spoke to me in most Sunday services. But on All Saints Sunday 1986, my husband and I wandered into Our Saviour Episcopal Church, just next to the Beltway in suburban Maryland. We had relocated to Silver Spring, I was pregnant with our first child, and I wanted to find a church we could settle down in as a family.

Our Saviour had a pipe organ. And a choir, one that needed a soprano. It worked for me. We joined.

Shortly after, something wonderful began to happen at Our Saviour. It had been founded in the late '50s as a "white flight" church, spun off from another Our Saviour in the Brookland area of Washington when things began to "change" in the neighborhood. But as the 1980s turned into the 1990s, Our Saviour-Hillandale also began to change. Folks started showing up, immigrants from Africa and China and India and the Caribbean.

It was another connection to British history, its history of empire and of conquest. For if once the sun never set on the British Empire, then it also never set on Britain's national church. There were Anglicans all over the world and as they moved to the United States, many of them made their home at Our Saviour.

Harwood Bowman, the founding rector, had planned for Our Saviour to be built next to the Capitol Beltway, then only a dream, because he wanted folks to come to Our Saviour from "all over." Folks were definitely coming to the church from "all over," from places Harwood had never imagined they might come, bringing their culture and customs with them. It became a Pentecostal church ... not the kind that rolls around in the ecstasy of the Spirit, but a church that looks like the feast of Pentecost, when each person heard the good news proclaimed to them in their own language.

Through these changes, Our Saviour flexed, painfully at times, but accommodated the shifts. When I worshipped there last month, for the first time in years (and for the last time for me as a resident of Maryland ...), it was very different and yet the same.

The congregation was more than three-quarters black. But not because the whites fled ... the old-timers were still filling the same pews. The parish had just grown and changed along with them.

The Mother's Union, another exported British tradition, had turned out to make a presentation. In their matching blue dresses and white hats, they claimed their pride of place as a force of feminine leadership. The sermon -- preached by the new young assistant, who is also the parish's pastor to its Latino congregation -- was free-form, delivered from the aisle, and powerful. The music was traditional (with ALL the verses of St. Patrick's Breastplate) and pietistic, with three hymns from LEVAS at communion, sung with great volume and joy. Some people waved their hands in the air. Others silently bowed their heads in prayer. It was my church. It was a homecoming.

Our Saviour is not a perfect parish. It has had its dissensions, its debates, its struggles over what is going on in the wider Communion and what is going on among its own members. But it is a community that has held together through those dissensions and struggles. It is Anglican in all the best definitions of that word ... international, comprehensive, thoughtful, traditional, yet open to the leading of the Spirit.

I am proud to have called it my church home. It has made me the Anglican I am today.

The Rev. Kit Carlson, is the rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in East Lansing, Mich. She was associate and interim rector at the Church of the Ascension in Gaithersburg, Md., for seven years.

Dispatches from The Church for the 21st Century Conference at Washington National Cathedral, May 10-12, 2007

By Deryl Davis

Is it possible to envision a new direction for the church in the 21st century? Perhaps even a reformation? Author, editor, and Episcopal laywoman Phyllis Tickle (The Divine Hours, The Shaping of a Life) answered both questions with a resounding yes in her opening plenary address at this conference yesterday. Tickle challenged the 150 or so lay and ordained participants to envision this meeting as a new council of the church universal, seeking to divine the way forward in a world where many traditional assumptions about the nature, role, and relevance of the church are being re-examined. “We talk about post-modern, post-Reformation, post-Protestant,” Tickle said, “but what we are really saying is that the institutionalized presentation of Christianity, and of Protestantism specifically, is no longer sufficiently viable to sustain the whole of the living church now or in the next five centuries ahead.”

In fact, Tickle suggested that we are now transitioning from one age of Christian history to another, each age roughly equivalent to a 500-year period. She deconstructed Christian history for conference participants in terms of these half-millennial cycles: Go back 500 years (1517 is a convenient date) and you get the Reformation; another 500 years and you encounter the Great Schism (1054), when Christianity split into Eastern and Western branches; 500 years further on, and you arrive at the great church councils, such as Chalcedon (451), when many of our creeds were hammered out; 500 more years, and you come to the birth of Christ. The paradigm has been noted with other world religions, as well, in books such as Karen Armstrong’s The Great Transformation. These illustrations serve Tickle’s argument that the church, and perhaps Western society in general, is at a unique turning point; it’s time, Tickle said, to meet as the early church did and wrestle with the great questions of who we are as a people of faith, why we are here, and what we are called to do.

The title of Tickle’s address is significant: “The Great Emergence: Reformation in our Time.” Like the other plenary speakers yesterday and today (Cathedral Dean Samuel T. Lloyd, III, theologian and Bible scholar Marcus Borg, and religion scholar Diana Butler Bass among them), Tickle sees the mainline denominations at a catalytic moment, when new voices and practices are emerging, even as ancient traditions are being recovered and re-valued. In tracing the paradigm shifts of Christian history, Tickle sees each transformation leading to something larger and more encompassing than what came before.

“Our current reformation fits the pattern of those that came before,” Tickle asserted, and in each transformation “there is always one central question: Where now is the authority? In what, and where, does authority now exist? This determines what the truth is for us.” Tickle argued that, for many of today’s Christians, scriptural authority is no longer enough (Luther’s famous sola scriptura). However, she said it was too soon to determine where authority will rest for the church of the next half-millennium. “Our times call out for no more arrogant individualism,” asserting one point of view above all others, Tickle declared. “But whatever we name as the source of authority must render up a religiously satisfying definition of humanity and of religion.” Tickle noted that, in addition to questions about religious authority, contemporary Westerners (whether religious or not) struggle with notions of what it means to be human, now that science has challenged Cartesian assumptions of the relationship between consciousness, identity, and existence. Tickle said it was important to consider the ways that technology impacts our relationships, human and otherwise, and that the internet is already providing new ways of thinking about faith practice.

Tickle noted that Western culture has been irrevocably shaped by the ideas of the Enlightenment, science, and reason, but that Christianity is now a global (and not simply a Western) phenomenon. While Western Christianity has tended to dominate other forms of the faith over the past millennia, that may not be the case in the future. “There could be a second Christianity emerging that may not be able to be absorbed by our North American . . . Western version,” Tickle said. “In past times, forms of reformation in the West drummed out non-Western forms [of Christianity]. This time it may be the West forced to wait out its time.”

Tickle concluded her address by noting that, for the first time in Christian history, a new configuration or understanding of what it means to be Christian can be disseminated through the means of mass communication – allowing almost instant transmission and sharing of ideas as well as differences. “Unlike our forebears, we can discern together in an intentional, unified way,” Tickle said. “We must decide how together we want to be. That’s what we’re here to see.”

Deryl Davis is producer of the Sunday Forum at Washington National Cathedral and an associate faculty member in religion and drama at Wesley Theological Seminary. This is the first of several reports on The Church for the 21st Century Conference at the Cathedral.

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Bishop John Bryson Chane is participating in the Washington Post's On Faith forum regarding the shootings yesterday at Virginia Tech. Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon, who led our diocese before Bishop Chane, has made a contribution as well.

"If we are truly living in the new life of the resurrected Jesus then we are an Easter people 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Death has no claim on us, and our lives are fully empowered to heal those whose lives are marginalized by violence, oppression and degradation. It is now time for all of us who believe that Easter can make a difference in the life of the world to walk a new journey of reconciliation, being seekers of peace and players on the world stage empowered by a God who commands us to make a difference by actively working and not just talking about the wholeness of all His people."

Click the "continue reading" tab to read it all.

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From Washington Jewish Week:

How influential

Three local rabbis have made it onto a list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. (We're kvelling, but shouldn't there be more from the nation's capital?).

This list, which appears this week in Newsweek, was put together by Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton, Newscorp's Gary Ginsberg and JTN Productions' Jay Sanderson, with a system that gives points for such questions as: Are the rabbis known nationally/internationally? (20 points); do they have a media presence? (10 points); do they have political/social influence? (20 points); and have they made an impact on Judaism in their career? (10 points).

The three admit their judgments are subjective.

Making the list from Greater Washington are, at No. 10, Bruce Lustig, Washington Hebrew Congregation; No. 16, David Saperstein, director of the Reform movement's Religious Action Center; and No. 41, Sid Schwarz, founder and president of Panim: The Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values.

Lustig says he's flattered to be not just on the list, but ranked so highly. He credits the opportunities he's had working with both Washington Hebrew and the Abrahamic Dialogue he created with Episcopal Bishop John Chane and American University Islamic studies chair Akbar Ahmed for leading to his rank.

And, he says, he doesn't know the three people who created the list, but he found the scoring very interesting.

Eight churches in our diocese are collaborating on an ad campaign. The churches, most of them in southern Montgomery County, have purchased about 20 ads that will run in the weekly Gazette newspapers during the coming year. The advertisement was designed by the Church Ad Project, and it directs people to EpiscopalMontgomery.org. Have a look.

A Pastoral Letter to the People and Clergy of the Diocese of Washington

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,

I write to you as we begin to close the Spring Session of the House of Bishops, meeting in Navasota, Texas, March 16-21. I am pleased that the House of Bishops was finally able to craft resolutions that seem to best describe how we see the state of the Episcopal Church at this time in its life. The resolutions that were passed did not please everyone, yet there was clearly a shift in the way we have worked together.

This meeting of the House was prayer-centered, with almost two hours each day spent in prayer and in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Bible study at our small table groups took place each morning and was a wonderful way to re-connect with one another and to prepare for the work that was before us.

Discussions and debate on the floor as we crafted the resolutions (available here) were respectful, thoughtful. There was none of the mean-spiritedness or “hostage taking” that has occurred on occasion at previous House meetings. We were deliberate in our actions and we spent over three hours in debate to craft what you now have before you.

The first resolution, “Mind of the House of Bishops Resolution Addressed to the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church” passed in the House by a simple voice vote after several hours of debate. The second resolution, “To the Archbishop of Canterbury and the members of the Primates' Steering Committee” passed unanimously. The third resolution, which puts forth “A Statement from the House of Bishops-March 20, 2007” passed by a standing vote after some modifications in language.

These resolutions make clear that in spite of our differences on human sexuality and other issues, a solid majority of the House viewed the recommendations contained in the Primates' communiqué from Tanzania as offensive to our Church and disrespectful of the way that we discern and respond to God’s will. Our democratic polity is not universally admired within the Communion, but I was encouraged to see so many bishops resist the Primates’ call for our House to act unilaterally. We are a hierarchical church to be sure, but in our governance, the voice of bishops is balanced by the voices of the clergy and laity.

It was the hope of the bishops that the statement we have released will be a helpful teaching tool for the Church as we continue to discuss how best to respond to the Primates’ ultimatum by their September 30th deadline. As always I ask your prayers for the Episcopal Church, our Presiding Bishop Katharine, and all of our brothers and sisters throughout the Anglican Communion as we seek ways to walk together during these times of great challenge and change.

In Christ’s Peace, Power and Love,
The Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane

SInce I am in the midst of sharing stories from this month's edition of Washington Window (see one item down) I must pass on this tale of the girls from a South African township who went to tea at the White House. It begins:

Sheila Radebe sat on the edge of the bed in Northwest Washington, D.C., staring at the photograph of herself standing with President George W. Bush in the Oval Office. That morning she and six fellow South Africans had been invited to the White House, where they had tea with First Lady Laura Bush and met with the President. Radebe, a teacher at a township preprimary school near Johannesburg, had a hard time believing it had really happened.

"People back home asked me to make sure and get a picture of the White House," she said. "I never dreamed I would actually be inside the White House, talking with the President, having tea with Mrs. Bush. Now they'll have to believe me.

"This was a God-given gift to be a delegate for Kwasa."

For St. John's, Lafayette Square, the God-given gift was the week-long presence of Radebe and her fellow travelers at the end of January. Since 2004, St. John's has enjoyed an ongoing partnership with the Diocese of Highveld, South Africa, with an emphasis on the Kwasa Centre, where Radebe teaches. The partnership is multi-layered. In addition to providing financial support for Kwasa, groups of St. John's parishioners have traveled twice to South Africa, and two groups of South Africans have visited Washington, D.C. St. John's Sunday school classes have raised money to buy soccer goals for Kwasa, and this year collected soccer clothes and shoes to send back with the South African visitors.

Read it all. And then a little more.

Lucy Chumbley, the editor of Washington Window, has written a wonderful story about the Grate Patrol, a ministry to the homeless carried out by parishioners of St. Paul's Church on K Street, in the Foggy Bottom section of Washington D. C. Have a look. I'd be happy to have you share links to stories about good ministries in your necks of the woods as well.

An excerpt:

Tina Mallett's map of the Mall is not like the ones used by tourists. And Mallett is not your typical cartographer, with an eye for unchanging topography.

This gentle woman, who wears a knitted orange headband and an equally warm smile, maintains an ever-evolving guide for the Grate Patrol team.

There are no monuments on her map, no museums or attractions. Just markings that indicate the spots where the destitute are usually to be found.

Mallett gathers her updates on the streets - "mainly from one person saying, 'There's someone else over there.'"

Marks are erased if someone isn't in a particular spot for a month or so, and new ones chart the ebb and flow of those struggling to survive in the parks, alleys and wide avenues of the nation's capital city.

Light to non-existent blogging this weekend due to birthdays of sons, brother, father and self falling within 23 days of one another, thus providing pretext for annual gathering in coalbelt hometown.

The item below ought to provide fodder for conversation. Keep an eye on Political Spaghetti for news from Nigeria, and ENS for coverage of Executive Council.

Two of our diocesan clergy, the Revs Elizabeth Carl and Carol Cole Flanagan have responded, individually, to the Primates' communique. You can read both responses by clicking on the "continue reading" tab.

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We received the release below today from Church Publishing. It is news of a new book that collects the Rev. Martin Smith's columns for our diocesan newspaper Washington Window. You can read some of those columns here.

NEW YORK (February, 2007) -Taking his imagery from the ancient art of navigation, noted speaker and columnist Martin Smith's new title from Seabury Books, an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated, Compass and Stars, presents a collection of spiritual essays about feelings of loss, confusion, and failure. In his first book since leaving the religious life, he explores the truth in his own experiences while inviting his readers to come along for the voyage.

"These short reflections arose at a time when radical changes in my life brought the images of compass and stars to the forefront of my imagination," says Smith. "In 2001, after 28 years on the monastic path, I took my leave of it for good, and found myself for the first time facing the challenge of finding my own way. No one was shaping my life for me: now to find my bearings, in a new life and a new city, with possibilities yet unknown. Within hours of starting my job search, I was asked to join the staff of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a writer."

Smith's reflections act as a guide to readers as they strive to calculate their own spiritual bearings despite the endless sea changes and challenges of life. By deftly using humor mixed with pastoral sensitivity, his essays are like a fresh salt breeze chasing the staleness out of spiritual practices. Whether he is writing about the spirituality of social justice, vocational discernment, or channel-surfing, his thought-provoking pieces will inspire and delight.

Martin Smith, a noted speaker, retreat leader, spiritual director, and columnist, is senior associate rector at St. Columba's Episcopal Church, Washington, DC, and former superior of the Society of St. John the Evangelist. He is the author of several other books on spirituality, including the classic Season for the Spirit, written for the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Order here.

Sister Maureen Fielder of Interfaith Voices radio, which airs on many PBS stations, has interviewed Bishop John Bryson Chane about his trip to Iran. Listen here.

We are popping our buttons twice over this morning: First, because The New York Times today carries a wonderful story about Street Church, a ministry to the homeless conducted by the Rev. Anne-Marie Jeffrey of Church of the Epiphany, which is downtown at Metro Center, and second, because the story was first told by our own Lucy Chumbley in the July/August issue of Washington Window. Have a look.

There's more info about Street Church here. And you can learn about Epiphany's Sunday morning breakfast ministry by clicking on Part 2 of this film.

A small slice of the Times' story:

“When you become homeless, you become very aware of how people treat you,” said the Rev. Anne-Marie Jeffery, who runs Street Church. “It’s hard to walk into a church, and it’s even harder when you are homeless because you’re worried about how you will be received, or if you smell bad. Some people never go inside at all, because they worry that they can lose all their stuff,” as in shopping carts that must be left outside, “or be sent to a mental hospital or to jail.”

Street Church began last February. Though Epiphany keeps its doors open during the day for everyone, and offers breakfast and an indoor service for the homeless on Sundays, the rector, the Rev. Randolph Charles, had wanted to expand into some type of outdoor worship, Ms. Jeffery said. So Mr. Charles met with the Rev. Deborah Little Wyman, another Episcopal priest, who started an outdoor worship mainly for the homeless in Boston 11 years ago and who wanted to find a church in Washington to begin a similar service.

Perhaps you are familiar with the Rev. Stuart Kenworthy, rector of Christ Church, Georgetown, who spent several months last year as a military chaplain in Baghdad from previous entries.

Last weekend, at our diocesan convention, Bishop John Bryson Chane presented him with the Bishop's Award, an honor we bestow not quite annually upon someone in our diocese who has done extraordinary work. Previous winners are Verna Dozier, Iris Harris and the Rev. Loren Mead.

Stuart's acceptance speech is beneath the continue reading tab, and I urge you to read it.

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I seldom think that the resolutions are the most interesting part of a diocesan convention; nonetheless, they are worth reporting. We passed one on gender equity, one on studying the impact of slavery, one on immigration, one supporting the Millennium Development Goals, and one on the upcoming meeting of the Primates in February. The first four are lurking beneath the continue reading tab. The fifth one will appear in an item I will post in a few minutes.

The highlight of the convention were a presentation this morning by Diana Butler Bass on her research on church growth and vitality--( She doesn't speak from a text, so I am afraid you will have to wait for the special convention issue of the Washington Window to learn about her presentation.); and the speech given last night by the Rev. Stuart Kenworthy, rector of Christ Church, Georgetown in accepting the Bishop's Award. Stuart returned in August from serving as a military chaplain in Iraq. We hope to have that one online for you by the middle of next week.

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We have just concluded our diocesan convention. Bishop John Bryson Chane's address, which deals almost entirely with the life of our diocese, can be found here.

You will notice that about three-quarters of the way through the speech, he mentions a development that will cut into the time I can devote to this blog. But reinforcements are on the way. More on this in the days ahead.

Mark Harris has the story.

The Washington Post has asked members of its "On Faith" panel the following question:

As the presidential campaign begins to take shape, do you think it is appropriate and or important for the candidates to express their personal religious views and to use religious rhetoric? Why?

Bishop John Bryson Chane's response is currently featured in a link from the Post's homepage.

I am glad the Post has initiated the"On Faith" feature, but even in comparison to other online religion sites, the comments tend to stray off topic almost immediately as people ride their favorite hobby horses.

Steve Waring of The Living Church has just posted a story on Bishop John Bryson Chane's recent trip to Iran. The article is here. The bishop's column on his trip, which ran in the January issue of Washington Window, is here.

The article begins:

Washington Bishop John B. Chane participated in three days of talks with senior Iranian religious and political officials in the capital of Tehran as guests of Muhammad Khatami, the country’s former president, in early December. Later he spoke about the visit in person with President George W. Bush.

Bishop Chane was accompanied on the Dec. 5-7 visit by the Rt. Rev. Pierre W. Whalon, Bishop in Charge of the Convocation of American Churches in Europe; the Rev. Canon John Peterson, canon for global justice and reconciliation at Washington National Cathedral; and Evan Anderson, deputy director, International Reconciliation and Peacekeeping, Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation at the Cathedral College.

Bishop Chane spoke with President Bush prior to the start of the Jan. 2 memorial service for former President Gerald Ford. He said President Bush was very pleased the visit had been so productive.

The Washington Post spends some time with the "positive rap" artists who will be performing a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr., at Washington National Cathedral today.

From the blog of Bruce Feiler, author of Walking the Bible, Abraham, Where God was Born and other books:

As someone who has been to Iran twice in the last decade, including a long trip chronicled in Where God Was Born, I believe that a lot of the hype of surrounding Iran in the media these days bears an all-to-comfortable connection to the alarm that was hyped about Iraq a number of years ago, with the aid of a vicious dictator with a track record of gassing his own people. The voice of pause are too few, and too rare. But they seem to correspond to nearly anyone who's visited the country.

John Chane is the Bishop of Washington and a friend I made through the interfaith work I began in 2002 with the publication of Abraham. Long before that book was featured on the cover of TIME and became what it became, he offered his clout to an Abraham Salon I was trying to organize in WDC. Since then we've done a number of events together and I find him to be a gracious and passionate advocate of moderation and humanity in religion.

Read it all.

Following the Money, our two-part series on donors and activists on the Anglican right is mentioned twice today in local papers. Alan Cooperman of The Washington Post cites it in his story on a skirmish over funding sources between the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA and the Institute on Religion and Democracy. And Nicholas F. Benton of the Falls Church paper refers to it in passing in a column on President Bush's new plans for Iraq.

One comment on the Post's story: I have no problem with the NCCC and the IRD raising money from whomever they wish to advance their agendas in the political arena. The primary difference between the two organizations is that the NCCC does not take money from outside sources to destabilize denominations who disagree with its policies. The IRD does. Indeed, that is its primary reason for existing--to destroy the mainline Protestant churches with whom its donors are in political disagreement. It admitted as much in a 2000 fundraising letter for its Reforming America 's Churches Project" telling donors it wanted to "restructure the permanent governing structure" of "theologically flawed" Protestant denominations.

For permanent governing structures read democratically elected leadership, and you get a sense of what is going on here. Certain conservative foundations are attempting to limit freedom of religion under the guise of purifying it. The IRD portrays itself as a champion of religious liberty, but religious liberty in this country has few greater foes.

A celebration of youth non-violence will be held at Washington National Cathedral on Monday January 15, 2-4 p. m. to commemorate the life and ministry of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sister Helen Prejean, author of the bestseller Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States will speak and sign her book.

Recording artist Bomani Armah will lead an innovative presentation using hip-hop music and other elements of popular culture as a tool for positive change. Chris Bacon, subject of the award-winning documentary,
Blue Line: Destination Christylez will appear with Armah.

The event will also feature the Urban Nation H.I.P.-H.O.P. Choir of Washington. Focusing on the acronym H.I.P.-H.O.P. (Hope, Integrity, Power—Helping Our People), the choir’s mission is to channel the creative and artistic energies of a targeted group of youth into a dynamic, structured ensemble that will foster excellence
in all facets of their lives.

The event is free. For more information visit www.nationalcathedral.org/mlk

Our diocesan convention meets on the last weekend of this month at Washington National Cathedral. You can learn more about convention business in this booklet. I can save some visitors to the blog a little time by disclosing that there are no resolutions dealing with human sexuality. Not a single one. Believe me, I am as surprised as you are.

Bishop John Bryson Chane's column on his recent trip to Iran has been picked up by "God's Politics," Jim Wallis' new blog at Beliefnet.

The Washington Post will be webcasting President Gerald R. Ford's funeral on Tuesday from Washington National Cathedral. Guest commentators include Alexander Baumgarten, international policy analyst with the Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations, and John Johnson, domestic policy analyst in the same office.

They will be online beginning at about 9:15 on Tuesday when President Ford’s body is scheduled to be taken from the Capitol to the Cathedral. The funeral begins at 10:30 a. m.

Alex is a parishioner at St. Paul's, K Street and John is a parishioner at St. Thomas', Dupont Circle.

Statement of the Rt. Rev. John Bryson Chane, Bishop of Washington, on the death of President Gerald R. Ford

Early this morning I was awakened with the news that President Gerald R. Ford had died in California after several years of deteriorating health.

The former President, a faithful Episcopalian, was a man known for his great integrity and his firm belief in God. He never sought the Presidency, yet when it was thrust upon him he led wisely, guiding our nation well during a time of high inflation, fuel shortages, and the complex foreign policy challenges presented by the Cold War. A kind man who worked hard at building bridges and shaping consensus, he will be remembered for his dignity, his humility and his devotion to healing a divided nation.

On behalf of the Diocese of Washington I extend our prayers to his wife, Betty and his family during this time of sadness, and I ask God’s blessing upon our former President as he enters the land of light and joy where there is no more sorrow or pain, but only life everlasting.

The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane
Bishop of Washington
December 27, 2006

Glad tidings from various sources:

The Archbishop of Canterbury's Christmas sermon.

Bishop John Bryson Chane's Christmas sermon.

Dean Samuel T. Lloyd III's Christmas sermon.

All the windows are now open on our online Advent calendar, and we've saved the best for last. Window 25 opens on a magnificent creche made entirely of driftwood pulled from the Gulf of Mexico.

As the accompanying text says:

"This lovely driftwood nativity was created by Mildred Hanson of Gasque, Alabama. Mildred came across an unusual, small knotted and dented piece of driftwood while walking on a beach and thought it resembled Mother Mary, with her hands lifted in prayer, looking down at Jesus in the manger. Over many years she collected other interesting little pieces of driftwood in the hopes that she could build the manger scene with Mary and her family. The shape of the driftwood dictated the posture of each figure. Mildred interfered little with the forms. Diluted acrylic paint, brushed on in thin coats, reveals the unifying flow of the driftwood grain from figure to figure. Imperfections in the wood are not “corrected” but allowed to stand proud."

My other favorites were windows 5, 7 and 23.

There has been news today, as readers of The New York Times know, but we will discuss it at another time.

Merry Christmas.

Bishop John Bryson Chane will appear on Good Morning America on Christmas morning, as he has for the last three or four years. The show airs on ABC stations between 7 and 9 a. m.

After the show, our local ABC station will carry the 9 a. m. Eucharist live from Washington National Cathedral. That broadcast is also available in some other television markets. Check with local stations. In addition, the Cathedral is webcasting many of its services today and tomorrow.

In his interview with GMA anchor Robin Roberts (It looks live, but was actually taped last week.), the bishop mentions his recent trip to Iran. You can learn more about the trip by reading the column he wrote for the January issue of our diocesan newspaper, Washington Window. Just click on the "continue reading" tab.

Read more »

Please visit our Web site and listen to the Princeton Singers' renditions of In the Bleak Midwinter and Once in Royal David's City.

I don't know whether these two songs are distinctively Anglican, but I think of them that way, probably because neither figured in my Christmas memories until I joined the Episcopal Church nine years ago. Both are now favorites, perhaps because I remember how much I enjoyed trying to master the tenor part of In the Bleak Midwinter in the dark, chilly choir at my old parish, Church of the Ascenion in Silver Spring. The service at Ascension once began with a child singing the first verse of Once in Royal David's City a cappella. Both of my sons had the opportunity to sing that verse, and I can recall those moments with proud-parent clarity.

If you are looking for someplace to worship this weekend, please visit the Find a Church page of our Web site, or of the Episcopal Church Web site.

Merry Christmas. We hope to have a few carols, sung by the fabulous Princeton Singers, available on our web site by this evening.

If you are looking for someplace to worship this Christmas, please visit the site, and use our Find a Church function.

And don't forget to open the last few windows in our online Advent calendar.

(The blog will be in moderation mode during much of the holidays, so don't be alarmed if comments don't appear immediately.)

Our diocese's ministry at the University Maryland is featured on the cover of this week's issue of The Living Church. (See the photo on their homepage.) The opening of the Episcopal Living Learning Center on the College Park campus was also covered in The Diamondback.

Three cheers for the Rev. Peter Antoci, the students at the U of M, parishioners at St. Andrew's College Park, and eveyone else who made the center possible.

The Rev. Rich Kukowski, longtime pastor of Transfiguration Church in Colesville, Md., retired recently. The Gazette newspapers took note:

Father Richard Kukowski’s home sits across New Hampshire Avenue from The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, which he led for 27 years. But save for a funeral, wedding or other milestone event for a friend, he has not returned since he retired earlier this year.

‘‘I’m surprised I don’t miss it more,” Kukowski said of the Colesville church. ‘‘I thought I would, but to me that’s a real strong sign that this was the right decision at the right time.”

On Sunday, members of the congregation held their traditional ‘‘greening” of the church for the holidays, and Christmas services will continue as usual under the leadership of the Rev. Carla Thompson, the interim rector. ‘‘We’re going to adhere to the traditions and understandings Transfiguration has until a new rector comes along. Then change comes if it’s wanted,” she said. ‘‘Now is not the time to make small changes or significant changes.”

Melissa Chadwick writes in the Gazette newspapers of Montgomery County:

The first shovel of dirt was turned Saturday to mark the beginning of a 10-year construction project to build the first new Episcopal church in the Washington diocese in 40 years.

On an unseasonably warm December day, congregants of St. Nicholas Episcopal Church gathered at the church’s 13-acre campus at 14419 Darnestown Road, near the corner of Route 118.

‘‘It’s the quality of the life we live together and the quality of the services we do in God’s name that matters, it’s not the building,” said the Rev. Ken Howard, the congregation’s longtime rector.

St. Nicholas Church, which has grown from 12 families to more than 300 members in a decade, hopes to complete the worship and ministry center by Christmas 2007.

Read it all.

I wanted to say a special word about the giving opportunity in today's window on our online Advent calendar.

Last month, a fire destroyed 400 shanty homes in the Dukathole settlement outside of Johannesburg in the Diocese of the Highveld. The blaze left more than 1,000 children homeless. We are trying to raise money to help some of those children and their families get back on their feet.

Children in our dioceses are filling mite boxes to aid in the effort. If you can help out, we'd appreciate it.

From The Living Church:

An online calendar designed by the Diocese of Washington in part to help parents teach their children about Advent becomes active Dec. 1. In addition to the calendar there are other Advent-related activities available at the site for children.

Read it all.

I wanted to thank everyone who has visited our Web site since last December 1. For the first time in any 12-month period, we've had over 1 million visitors and over 2.5 million "page views." I haven't done the research yet, but I believe that's an increase of more than 300 percent over any previous 12-month period.

If you are new to the site and unfamiliar with some of our resources, please look in on the Spirituality section, especially the audio visual meditations. Have a look at the diocesan movie, and the diocesan newspaper, and our online Advent calendar. If you are trying to get up to speed on the Anglican controversy, have a look at Following the Money.

We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning, or any time, really. So if you live in Washington, or suburban Maryland, and are looking for a church home, please visit our Find a Church page and, um, find a church. (If you don't live near D.C., you can find a church here.)

Thanks again for visiting, and if you would like to support our work with a contribution, please give to the Bishop's Appeal.

...including our online Advent calendar in your daily devotions this December.

Newsweek and The Washington Post this week launched a new Web-based conversation on religion called On Faith. A number of prominent panelists have agreed to respond weekly (more or less) to a question posed by hosts Jon Meachem and Sally Quinn.

This week's question: If some religious people believe they have a monopoly on truth, then are conversation and common ground possible? If so, what would be the difficulties and benefits of such a conversation?

I like this new feature already because so many Episcopalians, local and otherwise are included on the panel.

Panelists include: Bishop John Bryson Chane, Bishop Jane Holmes Dixon, the Rev. Luis Leon of St. John's, Lafayette Square, the Very Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd, III, dean of Washington National Cathedral and the Rev. William Tully, rector of St. Bartholomew's in New York, who is still remembered fondly by his former parishioners at St. Columba's in DC.

Mohammed Khatami is also on the panel. Someone had better alert Bishops John Lipscomb, Edward Little and Geralyn Wolf. After raising such a ruckus about Khatami's invitation to speak at Washington National Cathedral back in September, they were silent when Khatami met with the Archbishop of Canterbury two weeks ago, and I'd hate for them to miss another opportunity to express their concerns. People might begin to think that they were grandstanding back in September, and that would be deeply unfortunate.

Christianity for the Rest of Us, by Diana Butler Bass, has been named one of the Best Religion Books of 2006 by Publishers Weekly. Diana, a member of the Church of the Epiphany, will be the homilist and keynote speaker at our diocesan convention in late January.

You can learn more about her work here, here and here, and learn more about the Epiphany's outreach ministries in this article by Lucy Chumbley, and in part two of Hugh Drescher's film on our diocese.

An article on Epiphany's environmental ministry, "Rooftop gardens" resides here.

If you need a moment today to catch your breath, slow your pulse, or set your mind on higher things, please visit our home page and take two minutes to watch and listen to a new meditation inspired by the vesper prayer Phos Hilaron.

O gracious light, features the photos of Walter Calahan, the music of The Princeton Singers, the stained glass of Washington National Cathedral, and the "pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven."

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane received the Peacemaker Award last night from our diocesan Commission on Peace. His remarks are here.

An excerpt:

"Our hearts are too small, our generosity is too limited – because we know that a stable and lasting peace can only be founded on justice and equality of dignity and equality of opportunity, and those who have more than enough are too often unwilling to do what it takes to meet the needs of those who have less than sufficient.

This is the great tragedy of Afghanistan , and the unfolding heartbreak we now see in Iraq .

Politicians were prepared to make a military commitment, and to win a war – misguided though they may have been.

But, far worse, they have not been prepared to make the necessary commitment to stay the course and follow through by building the peace.

Indeed, it is unclear whether they even understood, as they deployed their forces, that without a firm and concrete undertaking to pursue the process of rebuilding, they would fatally undermine their own objectives.

Strong words, you may say. But there is no part of this world that is not God's world, there is no area of human endeavour that is beyond his concern. Christians cannot rest unless we pursue God's best in every area of creation – and that includes the pursuit of his peace which passes all understanding."

Previous winners of the award include Lee Hamilton, Helen Caldicott, the Arab/Evangelical Episcopal School in Ramallah, CARE, George Mitchell, Desmond Tutu and Marian Wright Edelman.

This year, for the third year, our diocesan Web site will host an Advent calendar. Previous editions are here, and here. The calendar has been among our most popular features, both in numbers of visits, and number of links from other sites, and I'd really appreciate it if those of you who are preparing lists of Advent resources would consider including our Web address, www.edow.org. The calendar will eventually have its own address, but it will always be visible from the homepage.

If you aren't familiar with the calendar, a few quick words are in order. We create it in cooperation with Washington National Cathedral which, each year, hosts an exhibition of crèches (Nativity scenes) from around the world.

Clicking on the number for the appointed day takes the user to a picture of a figure from one of the crèches. That page contains further links to a daily meditation (much like those in our spirituality section) and a daily online giving opportunity, many of which are gleaned from Episcopal Relief and Development's Gifts for Life catalog.

The calendar will go live on December 1, and I will post updates about its arrival as the day approaches.

We also have some online Advent activities for children if you are in the market.

In the upcoming issue of Washington Window , the Rev. Dr. George Clifford, III spells out an agenda for Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's tenure as presiding bishop. The issue won't be arriving in mailboxes until this weekend at the earliest, but you can read the Rev. Clifford's piece by clicking on "continue reading."

Read more »