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Advent greetings!
 As befits the season, in this
month's E-News we bring you stories of hope and good
cheer, as well as stories reminding us that many in the
diocese and beyond need a little extra help finding
their own hope and good cheer.
Merry Christmas and
Happy New Year!
Feliz Navidad y
Prospéro
Nuevo Año!
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"Where will you meet Jesus this
Christmas?"
In her 2007 Christmas message, the
Episcopal Church's presiding bishop, Katharine Jefferts
Schori, calls to mind the challenge of letting "our
seasonal 'seeing' transform the way we meet our
neighbors through the rest of the year, and through all
the coming years."
Read Bishop Jefferts Schori's message
here, in English
and Spanish. |
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Help the Gulf Coast with "Gift
from the Heart" gift card program
If
you're listening to WCRB (99.5) over the next 10 days,
don't be surprised if you hear the mellifluous voice of
Bishop Bud Cederholm. He is featured in a radio spot
promoting the diocese's "Gift from the Heart"
merchandise gift card program.
Listen to the
ad>>
The holiday program is designed to
help some of the more than 200,000 people still waiting
to return home, two years after Hurricane Katrina.
Shoppers can purchase merchandise gift cards in
denominations of $25, $50 or $100 at retailers Wal-Mart,
Sears, Lowe's, Home Depot, Bed Bath & Beyond and
Linens 'n' Things. The cards will be collected by the
diocese's Task Force for Gulf
Coast Partnerships and forwarded to people in need
in the Gulf region, with the help of the dioceses of
Mississippi and Louisiana.
Send purchased cards
with a holiday card containing a note of support
to:
Task Force for Gulf Coast
Partnerships
Episcopal Diocese of
Massachusetts
138 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02111
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Episcopal student carolers bring
holiday cheer to Harvard Yard
Christmas carolers gather in front of the statue of
John Harvard in Harvard Yard.
Photo: Tim
Kinnel About 30 Christmas carolers from Harvard, Boston
University, MIT, the Longy School and Framingham State
College braved the cold to treat Harvard students to the
sounds of the season on Sunday evening, Dec. 9. The
event was sponsored by the Harvard Episcopal
Chaplaincy.
See more
photos>> |
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Alewife Deanery creates
"Jubilant Gifts" cards
In an effort to simplify Christmas
giving and support the diocesan Jubilee Ministry's
AIDS-relief work in Africa, the Episcopal churches in
the Alewife Deanery are piloting a "Jubilant Gifts" card
sales program. Deanery churches are
offering the holiday cards for $5 and up in donations to
the Jubilee Ministry. Get yours by
contacting one of the Episcopal
churches in Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Burlington,
Cambridge, Lexington, Somerville, Waltham or
Watertown. You can also contact
Alewife's co-convener David Miller at d.david.miller@gmail.com. |
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"Holy
gingerbread!"
A fine example of gingerbread construction from the
All Saints', Chelmsford gingerbread village
Photo:
Steve Grillo Thanks to some ambitious builders and
lots of gingerbread, All Saints'
Church in Chelmsford recently raised $3,400 for the
Greater Lowell Habitat for Humanity. The occasion
was the church's second annual Gingerbread Village
Display, held Dec. 1 and 2. Visitors paid $5 to
see the display of sweet structures, some professionally
built, some with the humble beauty of a graham cracker
cottage, all edible and all for a good cause.
"We took what was traditionally a fundraising
event to support our own annual fund and transformed it
into an outreach event to help raise money for a
community organization," explains parishioner Laura
Marshall. "Our parish has found that turning our
fundraising to help others has not hurt our budget and
that we as a parish are more connected to each
other."
Plus, she says, it's
fun. |
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Grace Church and her partners
make 978-682-6004 the number for help in
Lawrence
Lawrence help line volunteers Yndira Feliz, Migdalia
Méndez and Grace Corporán
Photo: Maria Plati
Nearly 45 church and community
volunteers, who call themselves the Tesoro (Treasure)
Youth and Parents Network, have been trained to answer
the help line.
Grace Corporán, Yndira Feliz and
Migdalia Méndez are all Grace Church members who carve
out at least four volunteer hours a month between jobs
and family responsibilities to help out because they
love their community and their church.
Read
more>>
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Untangling the roots of
conflict While people of faith raise
prayers for peace, stories of religiously fueled
violence fill the news. Is it the sole province of
extremists, or do the roots of conflict touch all
persons of faith?
The Episcopal Ministry at MIT,
through its Technology and Culture Forum, will be the
Boston-area host site for "Religion and
Violence: Untangling the Roots of Conflict," this
year's Trinity Institute National Theological
Conference, Jan. 21-23.
Prominent Christian,
Jewish and Muslim theologians will explore how all three
traditions become entangled with violence and will
illuminate the resources within their traditions for
living with others in peace. James Carroll, James
Cone, Tariq Ramadan, Susannah Heschel and Katharine
Jefferts Schori will each address the theme from
conference headquarters at Trinity Church, Wall Street,
in New York City.
Small-group discussion
at the local downlink site will allow for reflection,
learning and relationship building with others,
according to the Rev. Amy McCreath, Episcopal campus
minister at MIT.
"We need to consider our own role as
peacemakers and healers in the name of God and to look
for ways to stand beside and work with the faithful in
other religions," McCreath says.
The event is
free; registration is
required.
Get a head start and read Archbishop of
Canterbury Rowan Williams' thoughts on religious
conviction and social conflict, delivered in a Dec. 6
lecture at the Building Bridges Conference in
Singapore.
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Province I Convocation focuses
on faith and public policy
Hattie Wilkinson of the diocesan Youth Leadership
Academy speaks to Province I convocation
participants
Photo: Maria Plati Public policy advocates and advocates-in-training
from the seven Episcopal dioceses in New England (Province I)
gathered in Westborough Nov. 16-17 for the province's
annual convocation, this year on the topic "Faith and
Public Policy: Reclaiming Our Voice for Justice, Mercy
and Kindness."
Close to 150 participants, from children to seasoned
advocates, received training and a call to action by
elected officials and church leaders, including
Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) and Bishop M.
Thomas Shaw, SSJE of Massachusetts.
Read
more>>
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Coming up
Dec. 15: Celtic
Vespers at St. James's Church, Amesbury, 5 p.m.
Dec. 16: Service
commemorating the sinking of the USS S-4 submarine,
Church of St. Mary of the Harbor, Provincetown, 10
a.m.
Dec. 16: Las Posadas, Boston
Common, 3 p.m.
Dec. 18:
Celebration of Charles Wesley's 300th Birthday, Old
North Church, Boston, 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 19: Annual
Messiah
Sing-Along, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 12:15
p.m.
Dec. 23:
Candlelight Carols at St. Paul's Church in Malden, 4
p.m.
Dec. 24:
Christmas Eve at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul,
Boston, 7:30 p.m. Music for Christmas; 8 p.m. Holy
Eucharist, Bishop Bud Cederholm, celebrant and
preacher
Dec. 25:
Christmas Day at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul,
Boston, 10 a.m. Holy Eucharist with common cathedral,
Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE, celebrant, and the Rev.
Stephanie Spellers, preacher
Jan. 8, 15, 22 &
29: Theology on Tap "Portraits of Jesus" series,
sponsored by the Church of the Advent, Boston, at the
Cheers Bar, 84 Beacon Street, Boston, 7 p.m.
Jan. 12:
Priesthood ordinations, Trinity Church, Boston, 10:30
a.m.
Jan. 29: Join
Bishop Bud Cederholm and environmental advocates from
diverse faith communities at Interfaith Pledge to
Climate Action: A Day of Prayer and Advocacy, State
House, Boston, 10
a.m.
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