ECW Women Articles-Poems-Announcements Archives - Page 8 of 24

Episcopal Church Women in the News 07-29-23

Alameda is Working to End Homelessness

Dignity Village can make a powerful difference in people’s lives by helping individuals transition from unstable living situations… Alameda, CA

8 Most Beautiful and Awe-Inspiring Churches and Cathedrals in Arizona

Early explorers and settlers in Arizona brought their traditions, beliefs, and architectural influences.

Harrisburg’s Hettie Love, first Black graduate from Ivy League MBA program, dies at 100

Love was honored as a pioneer for her achievements by Wharton faculty and alumni.

First woman to become an Episcopal priest in Florida dies in Jacksonville

The former nun, Rev. Mother Davette Turk, left the Catholic church for love and to start a family.

Local food pantry seeking community help with influx of summer traffic, donations needed

Pastor Jill Williams says they can’t do it alone and now they’re seeking donations from the community. – Ocean City, MD

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Leading with Heart: Circular Leadership for the Resurrection of Ministry

In these times of change, adaptive leadership provides the tools we need to find our voices and calling. Using the circular leadership model, we build reciprocal relationships that honor diversity of culture, race, age, gender, personality, and ministry.

Our interactive workshop(s) with break-out rooms discuss the qualities, critical thinking, and behaviors of Circular Leadership that replace domination and greed. This is about reconciliation with creation and each other, listening to what is and is not shared.

By entering the circle of shared leadership, responsibility, and accountability, resurrection, rebirth, and trust are built into our ministries through God’s love and personal relationship.

August 14-18 Chicago, IL – Parliament of World Religions

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View Past Women in Action News Blasts

Episcopal Church Women2023-07-27T14:58:27+00:00July 29th, 2023|

Episcopal Church Women in the News 07-22-23

Rev. Hasselbrook of St. James Church in Montclair reflects on the Rev. Bakal of Grace Church in Nutley

Bakal is the first settled female priest at Grace Church. – Nutley, NJ

Washington National Cathedral’s online coffee hour nurtures small, close-knit community of remote worshipers

The Zoom coffee hour every Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Eastern that, participants say, has brought a real sense of community and made a difference in their lives.

Volunteer Interest Form for GC81 Now Open

It takes the dedicated work of many volunteers from across the church to bring a successful General Convention together.

‘She’s Tickling Our Souls’ Episcopalians Proclaim of Holy Spirit at Jesus Festival

“Are we ready to use our healing to help with anxieties around the climate crisis?”

The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, the Right Reverend Elizabeth Gardner, plans to visit Mesquite on Aug. 20.

She will provide a Holy Eucharist and Communion service at 3 p.m. for a fledgling group of Episcopalian and Lutheran-ELCA faithful

Task force to provide resources and training to help Episcopalians respond to mental health challenges

Plans to train people across the church who will in turn become instructors in dioceses and parishes hit a budgetary snag last year.

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Leading with Heart: Circular Leadership for the Resurrection of Ministry

In these times of change, adaptive leadership provides the tools we need to find our voices and calling. Using the circular leadership model, we build reciprocal relationships that honor diversity of culture, race, age, gender, personality, and ministry.

Our interactive workshop(s) with break-out rooms discuss the qualities, critical thinking, and behaviors of Circular Leadership that replace domination and greed. This is about reconciliation with creation and each other, listening to what is and is not shared.

By entering the circle of shared leadership, responsibility, and accountability, resurrection, rebirth, and trust are built into our ministries through God’s love and personal relationship.

August 14-18 Chicago, IL – Parliament of World Religions

“It’s All About Love”

A Spirit-powered festival for the Jesus Movement, and it’s happening in Baltimore, MD, on July 9-12. All Daughters are welcome to this churchwide festival of revival worship and prayer, workshops and speakers, food and fellowship. We especially long to gather and partner with YOU, Daughters of the King, the faithful women who’ve prayed so long for the renewal and revival of our church.

Speakers include – Lisa Bortner – National Episcopal Church Women Board – Province VII Representative

Episcopal Church Women Province III Annual Meeting

Keynote Speaker: Rt. Rev. Susan E. Goff

Bishop Suffragan, Retired

Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

Roslyn Conference & Retreat Center – Richmond, VA – July 21 – 22, 2023

Contact: rosslyn.edwards@yahoo.com for more information and registration

Province VI Episcopal Church Women Zoom Retreat – July 22, 2023

1:00pm-3:30pm Mountain Daylight Time or 2:00pm-4:30pm Central Daylight Time

Contact: 719-239-4092 samarfay@gmail.com

Speakers:

Rev. Scott Afton – Responding to Addiction with Serenity, Courage and Wisdom

Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman—Strengthen our Spiritual DNA – The Courage of our Biblical Foremothers

The women of the Hmong culture will also be sharing how to make eggrolls. The recipe will be sent with the Zoom link if you want to follow along.

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View Past Women in Action News Blasts

Episcopal Church Women2023-07-21T16:10:07+00:00July 21st, 2023|

Plaza de Paz Respite Center Service Project

Join the National Episcopal Church Women Service Project Efforts for the Plaza de Paz Respite Center

At the National ECW Board Meeting held in February 2023, the board voted to host a service project supporting the Diocese of West Texas’ Immigration & Refugee Ministry, Plaza de Paz Respite Center. The service project runs until the end of the calendar year: December 31, 2023.

The service project supports the Diocese of West Texas’ Immigration & Refugee Ministry, Plaza de Paz Respite Center. Located in San Antonio, Texas, Plaza de Paz provides day-time welcoming services for families and individuals seeking asylum. Services provided include meals, assistance with travel arrangements, personal hygiene care, emergency housing, and transportation within Bexar County to the airport or bus station. We are asking all Diocesan and local ECWs to contribute to this ministry by supporting the Center’s Amazon wish list. Please consider making a purchase from this wish list that will be shipped directly to Plaza de Paz. Just make sure when you make your purchase that you change the shipping address to the center’s address which will appear on the screen. It’s just that easy! Visit the National ECW webpage for the direct links to the wish list.

Shipping Address: Select D’s gift registry in your shipping destination and Amazon will delivery your purchase to the Plaza de Paz Despite Center.

Plaza de Paz Respite Center is also looking for volunteering at the Plaza de Paz San Antonio Respite Center and/or you can register your ministry group or congregation to donate meal kits.

Each day, individuals and families seeking asylum flee their home countries to escape violence, religious persecution, and war. In 2019, the Diocese of West Texas formed Immigration Ministries to help with humanitarian needs for those seeking asylum.

Plaza d Paz Respite 1

On July 27, 2021, the Plaza de Paz Respite Center opened as a collaborative effort between the Diocese of West Texas and the Southwestern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Located in San Antonio, Texas, Plaza de Paz provides day-time welcoming services for families and individuals seeking asylum. Services provided include meals, assistance with travel arrangements, personal hygiene care, emergency housing, and transportation within Bexar County to the airport or bus station. The Center receives referrals from both Department of Human Services and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

When a family or individual seeking asylum is released from U.S. Customs and Border Protection or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody as part of the immigration process, they travel to join sponsors or family members throughout the United States. If a family or individual does not have family or sponsorship contacts in the U.S. however, they do not have access to housing or basic necessities, leaving them incredibly vulnerable upon their release

Episcopal Church Women2023-04-07T19:39:42+00:00April 7th, 2023|

Prayer for this time in the world

Prayer for this time in the world
When we wake and discover our lives
Are suddenly in a never-before time,
A never-again-the-same time,
Grant us courage, O God, in knowing
That all times are yours,
That you are ever before and after,
That with you there is no “never.”

Remind us that although mountains may become plains,
Seas may turn to desert, and our “ordinary” days may disappear,
You are unchanging in your love for us,
Ceaseless in your mercy,
Endless in your compassion.

Do not let us forget that you weep with us.
Empower us to be brave enough to shed tears.
Strong enough to seek grace.
Generous enough to serve both neighbor and enemy.
Though we sit apart and alone, transform us
Into souls bigger than self and larger than singular.

If that more fearsome never-before time,
That most dreaded never-again-the-same time
Comes to us and those we hold most dear,
Help us still to shine with hope, O God,

That our sickness may be another’s teacher,
Our deaths a pathway to life.

And when at last we enter fully into you,
May we say together with joy:
It has never been this way before.
It will never be the same again.
It is now, always and forever,
Only Love.

by Anne M. Windholz, MDiv, PhD

Episcopal Church Women2023-03-10T15:29:46+00:00March 10th, 2023|

Prayer for Caregivers

Gift us, Lord, with the humility
of those who care beyond knowing
and being known; who give their time ungrudgingly
with simple and wordless presence;
who listen like the patient dawn
holding its breath,
anticipating birdsong even
from a dark and starless sky.

Teach us, Lord, the humility
of healing that seeks no cure
but peace, that knows no power
but hope. Grant our service
the self-forgetfulness that sees
only the other; grant our hearts
that wisdom which discerns
the riches in poverty, the strength
in weakness, the life in death.

Hold us, Lord, in the mercy
that is as ready to share tears
as to dry them; as willing to carry
the cross as to roll away the stone.

Guide us in our walk
across waves of suffering too rough to bear,
that we, like you, may have the courage
to extend our hand to our sinking neighbor,
and so together reach the still harbor of grace.

Anne M. Windholz, MDiv, PhD

Episcopal Church Women2023-03-09T20:47:51+00:00March 9th, 2023|

Prayer For a Friend in Need

Heavenly Father, a Friend most dear
has asked for prayer.
For she and her family have had
an awful lot to bear.

So many of us hold her dear
but simply are unable to hold her near.
So we pray Father that you bestow
comfort and hope that only You can give
to those near the end of the rope.

Friends may offer words of support and cheer
but these sometimes just aren’t enough
for those living with fright.
Fear of loneliness, of hopelessness,
of things that go bump in the night.
Fear even of – well – fear.

Help them see the healing that comes with time,
as hours turn to days, and days to weeks,
weeks into months and then again…

Just as You have provided Your Plan of how
the darkness of the ember-ary’s is slowly
replaced by rebirth which eternally springs forth;
followed by the warm, somber days of reflection
before falling into hallowed memories of feasts
prepared with love and eaten in thanks; and then,
that Season of light, hope and love as we,
each in our way, celebrate that most memorable
remarkable day of all, the birth of Your Son.

Father, you have given us the light
to see there is strength in might.
That the power we possess in praying
for one another, bonds us together,
each to the other.

Parliamentarian for the National Board

Episcopal Church Women2023-03-09T20:46:11+00:00March 9th, 2023|

I tried to capture you

Moon-Patti-Posan You alluded me. I smelled fresh moonlight, felt your light bless me and I wonder…

Perhaps these moments are just to be between us, deep within, held close in the tapestry of my inner being, gazing at the moon.

I am offered a window to the unseen God.

My heart opens and gratitude flows, knowing the Divine is not absent, but a living light.

Shining in all beings

Patti Joy Posan – Sewanee, TN

Episcopal Church Women2023-03-09T20:48:28+00:00March 9th, 2023|

Final Disposition of Sacred Linens Hangings and Vestments

Jan Smith by Jan Bolls Smith

Altar linens, hangings, or vestments beyond repairing or recycling are often stored in an out-of-the-way place and soon forgotten. Perhaps they were a memorial gift to honor a church member or used only for special services over a period of many years. Sadly, all have a life of service but must eventually be retired properly due to damage or years of wear on the fabric.

During the June 2022 annual Province IV Altar Guild Conference at the Kanuga Conference Center in Hendersonville, North Carolina, the meeting included the deconsecrating of linens and of other paraments that had been blessed. Those attending brought their linens and other items that needed to be disposed of reverently.

The Reverend Martha “Marty” Hedgpeth, an assistant rector of Christ Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, served as our chaplain from 2001-2003 for the Province IV Altar Guild; she wrote the prayer for the deconsecration service, which took place during one of our morning worship services. After the service and the removal of any recyclable embellishments and fabrics, the linens were burned.

For the burning of the linens, a large, new, contaminant-free and heat-resistant can was used to make what seemed to be a Holy fire. Small holes were made on the side of the large can to allow air flow into the vessel. The linens were carefully removed from the basket and gently placed into the can, and a wooden match was used to ignite the fire. Eventually all that was left were the ashes, reminding us that “From dust we came and to dust we will return.” After the ashes had cooled, the ashes were scattered on Lake Kanuga. The following years, the ashes were buried on the conference center grounds.

Martha “Marty” Hedgepeth was a member of the clergy in North Carolina for 36 years and served as an associate rector at Christ Church for 22 years. Marty retired from Christ Church in November 2018.

Jan Smith served as president, Mississippi Diocesan Altar Guild, 2001-2004 and as president, Province IV Altar Guild, 2003-2006

Prayer for the Deconsecration of Linens, Hangings, and Vestments

Almighty God, we thank you for the beauty of your creation and our responsibility to care for it. We thank you for your faithful people who have given these linens, vestments, and paraments to be used for your honor and glory. As they were consecrated in your name, they adorned your sanctuaries, reflected your beauty, and served your people. So now, Lord, in your name, we deconsecrate them and this day return them to the earth from which they came – earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. We pray in the name of the firstborn of all creation, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Reverend Martha “Marty” Hedgpeth

Province IV Altar Guild, 2001-2003

Episcopal Church Women2023-03-09T20:43:45+00:00March 9th, 2023|

A Prayer of Hope and Guidance

Almighty and most merciful Father, we thank you for all the blessings of this life. We thank You especially for the Episcopal Church Women. We ask you to guide us as we work to find more ways to serve our global village and the local communities. By Your grace, equip us to feed the hungry, provide clothing for those in need, and accept the differences within us.

Offer shelter to the disenfranchised and help facilitate access to basic health care for those without advocator. Give us the strength to preserve as we invite others to join in our common life for justice and peace. Help us to address the racial and class divisions in our world that we may all be treated equal as one created by You in Your image.

Guide us as we become more faithful in our spiritual journey; find godly ways to restore the absent and open our heart to the stranger. Bless us that we might move into new ways of being and doing for the sake of those who have the desire for spiritual food and thirst for the living waters. All this we ask through Jesus Christ our LORD, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen

by Laura Manigault

Episcopal Church Women2023-03-09T20:43:15+00:00March 9th, 2023|

View Past Women in Action News Blasts

Episcopal Church Women2022-11-04T13:26:44+00:00November 5th, 2022|

Alameda is Working to End Homelessness

8 Most Beautiful and Awe-Inspiring Churches and Cathedrals in Arizona

Harrisburg’s Hettie Love, first Black graduate from Ivy League MBA program, dies at 100

First woman to become an Episcopal priest in Florida dies in Jacksonville

Local food pantry seeking community help with influx of summer traffic, donations needed

Leading with Heart: Circular Leadership for the Resurrection of Ministry

Rev. Hasselbrook of St. James Church in Montclair reflects on the Rev. Bakal of Grace Church in Nutley

Washington National Cathedral’s online coffee hour nurtures small, close-knit community of remote worshipers

Volunteer Interest Form for GC81 Now Open

‘She’s Tickling Our Souls’ Episcopalians Proclaim of Holy Spirit at Jesus Festival

The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, the Right Reverend Elizabeth Gardner, plans to visit Mesquite on Aug. 20.

Task force to provide resources and training to help Episcopalians respond to mental health challenges

Leading with Heart: Circular Leadership for the Resurrection of Ministry

“It’s All About Love”

Episcopal Church Women Province III Annual Meeting

Province VI Episcopal Church Women Zoom Retreat – July 22, 2023

Missouri church holds memorial service for funeral home’s unclaimed cremated remains

St. David’s Episcopal Church welcomes Rev. Cristi Chapman

Building a more just church in a post-pandemic world

‘For God and Country’: Lt. Col. Martha Kester serves as country’s first female state chaplain

Diocese of New Jersey announces slate of 5 bishop candidates

Leader of Northern Michigan wilderness church works to protect old-growth forest from proposed rocket launch site