Summary

Episcopal Church News – Historically Black Raleigh church emphasizes African American and African culture at its essence – One of the great moments in 11-year-old Arri Davila’s life was hearing prayers of thanksgiving for the beauty of dreadlocks…

The Destine Log – ENGAGING THE DIVINE: Doing church during Lent – Like all leaders of the Jesus Movement we have struggled to engage the Divine…

The Villages Daily Sun – Villagers take varied paths to pastorhood – When Beth Hall arrived in Florida’s friendliest hometown in 2013 as a retired United Methodist Church minister, she presumed she and her husband would be enjoying a full-time life of leisure. But something was missing. “Friends told us about St. George Episcopal Church,”

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Historically Black Raleigh church emphasizes African American and African culture at its essence

Episcopal Church News – Raleigh, NC

One of the great moments in 11-year-old Arri Davila’s life was hearing prayers of thanksgiving for the beauty of dreadlocks – hair like hers – at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.

“They were talking about blessing people with locks, and me and my sister were really happy. It was very comforting because when we are at my mom’s church, we are the only two brown-skinned people there,” Davila told Episcopal News Service recently.

St. Ambrose, a historically Black congregation founded in 1868 on the city’s southeast side, intentionally incorporates Afrocentric icons and art, lively jazz-inspired music and inclusive prayers. The church also gives permanent recognition – even on needlepoint kneelers – to Raleigh native Anna Julia Cooper, the Rev. Pauli Murray, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and other Black Americans who are commemorated in The Episcopal Church’s calendar of saints, as a way to “disrupt,” or separate, Christianity from a legacy of white supremacy, said the Rev. Jemonde Taylor, rector. […]

ENGAGING THE DIVINE: Doing church during Lent

The Destin Log – Destin, FL

I share the position of rector with my husband at St. Andrew’s By-the-Sea, the Episcopal Church in Destin, which is part of the Worldwide Anglican Communion. Our presiding bishop calls us the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement.

Like all leaders of the Jesus Movement we have struggled to engage the Divine this last year. We have learned new ways to “do” church even when we can only see one another’s eyes.

Recently we have been blessed to do in-person worship with social distancing wearing facemasks. We now can have organ and piano music and sometimes vocal music from soloists and our handbell choir. How we miss congregational singing, when we sing we pray twice. But we are not bereft of ways to engage God. […]

Villagers take varied paths to pastorhood

The Villages Daily Sun – Villages, FL

When Beth Hall arrived in Florida’s friendliest hometown in 2013 as a retired United Methodist Church minister, she presumed she and her husband would be enjoying a full-time life of leisure. But something was missing. “Friends told us about St. George Episcopal Church,” the Village of Glenbrook resident said. “Once we stepped into the sanctuary, I immediately felt a connection with the church. It felt like coming home.” Hall quickly got involved in church activities, participating as a lay eucharistic minister, as well as serving as a leader for Alpha, a course designed to explore the validity and relevance of the Christian faith to newcomers to Christianity. But coming home to the church meant attending Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, completing the yearlong classes necessary to complete the Anglican Studies requirement for the priesthood. Gordon-Conwell is one of 276 schools in the U.S. and Canada that are accredited or under consideration for accreditation by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), which recognizes graduate schools that cater to students wishing to practice ministry or teach theology. The schools differ by denomination, but all share in the goal of training and educating new pastors, ministers, priests and rabbis.

There are other theological schools and colleges not under the ATS umbrella that provide similar education. College Factual, a data-driven website aimed at helping people make good college choices, reported that Florida is the ninth most popular state for students majoring in religious studies. […]