Films and
Videos
Imagine the Apostles as Filmmakers
By R. Jane Williams
Diocesan Life, June 2001
If Pentecost were to occur today instead of 2000
years ago, the apostles might be found around a table in Starbucks.
Rather than speaking in tongues as a way of spreading the gospel
to all cultures, they would suddenly become filmmakers creating
images and stories of their experiences of the Risen Christ.
So what makes us think Pentecost is not happening
today? Filmmakers, both independent and studio-affiliated, are being
used today to challenge our faith, to examine our values, to consider
our decisions in light of what we say we believe in church.
Kirk Kicklighter in his article, Making the Most
of Hollywood, writes, "For devout film lovers, the reasons people
congregate to darkened theaters are not all that different from
the reasons congregations gather to hear a moving sermon."
Delle Chatman, screenwriter and Catholic laywoman,
wrote recently in a Catholic magazine that "...for me going to see
a movie feels a lot like going to church. In my everyday world it
is often a scene, a moment or image from a film that walks with
me, haunting or helping me through another day's struggle."
Some of us may chafe at such comparisons of church
and theater, gospel and filmmaking. After all, films often seem
violent and raw, so contrary to the values of the gospel. How can
they be considered vehicles of the sacred?
Consider the less-than-perfect heroes God used
in our Biblical history: Moses was a murderer and stuttered so badly
as to be unintelligible. Jacob was a liar and a cheat. Noah was
a drunk. Peter was impulsive and a braggart who denied Jesus three
times. David was an adulterer and murdered his wife's first husband.
Despite such "fatal flaws," each of them were used
by God to move God's kingdom closer to humanity. Perfection or even
goodness is not required to be used by God. Anything and anyone
can be used to connect us with God.
As people of faith, we need not agree with or accept
everything we see in a film. Films can allow us to see the tongues
of fire - the presence of God - in otherwise ordinary-seeming life
situations.
If we are relatively new to this way of looking
at popular films, we may need some help at first in shifting our
perception from film as entertainment to film as springboard to
spiritual questions and issues.
There are many internet sites that can be helpful
in learning to look at film in new ways. Be discerning as you check
these out. You may find some too secular and others too fundamentalist.
Try the following sites, follow the links you find
in each, and bookmark your favorites for future reference.
http://www.spiritualrx.com/
includes a database of movies and books reviewed from a spiritual
perspective.
http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/
includes storylines, images from films, and readers' reviews)
www.christianitytoday.com/ctmag/features/culture/film.html
i ncludes reviews of current films.
http://www.thefilmforum.com/
includes input from Campus Life and frequent evangelism emphasis
on using films.
http://www.textweek.com/
includes listings and brief reader reviews of movies relating to
specific scriptural themes or passages. (Click on "movie concordance.")
www.chiafilm.com/resources.html
is a well-done site that highlights grace, beauty, and mystery in
movies.
Have fun with these sites. As you're surfing, think
of films that have offered you "a moment or an image," as Delle
Chatman said, "that walk[ed] with [you], haunting or helping [you]
through another day's struggle."
Like Pentecost flames, such flickering images stay
with us, offering us gospel grace to make it through the day and
showing us the face of Christ in the faces of others.
[A licensed psychologist in private practice, The
Rev. R. Jane Williams, M.Div., Ph.D., is priest associate at Christ
Church, Reading.]
*****************
EDITOR'S SIDEBARS
THEFILMFORUM.COM Christian conversation about
the movies http://www.thefilmforum.com/
It is unfortunate that Christians have adopted
the philosophy that a movie must either be approved of or disapproved
of. There is little room for discussion of one particular character,
one theme, or one scene within a film that, as a whole, might be
deemed offensive...
The Film Forum aspires to create a dialogue about
our spiritual lives, a place where we can learn from one another...
focusing not on reaching a conclusion about a film but on listening
to the experiences of others in God's kingdom...
What we hope readers will take with them is the
conviction that God speaks to us through his Spirit in the ordinary
circumstances of life; whether it's movie-watching, rock-climbing,
antique-collecting, or whatever we happen to be passionate about.
The mission of The Film Forum, then, is to encourage readers to
stay open to the Spirit in all of life.
The goal of The Film Forum is to encourage readers
to listen to the Spirit of God in whatever they do.
SPIRITUALRX.COM Spirituality & Health: The
Soul/Body Connection http://www.spiritualrx.com/
The Spiritual Rx on this web site consists of remedies,
wisdom, and practices using the resources of contemporary culture...
prescriptions organized under a set of markers of the spiritual
life common in most of the world's religions... identifying the
best ways to explore these practices through reading, daily exercises,
contemplation of art and music, household projects, and other activities.
Could you use a mentor as you try to improve the
attention you give to your relationships? Does your compassionate
heart require more exercise? Would you like to expand the repertoire
of your devotional practices? Would you welcome some advice on what
you can do for peace and justice? Are you interested in exploring
what hospitality means in this pluralistic age? Does your imagination
need a workout? How are your listening skills? Today's books, movies,
videos, and spoken-word audios may be just the prescriptions your
spiritual life needs.
CHIAROSCURO Spirituality in the cinema www.chiafilm.com/
"Hide the ideas, but so that people find them.
The most important will be the most hidden. (Filmmaker Robert Bresson)
Chiaroscuro = The interplay of light and shade
in an image.
This site hopes to move beyond the culture wars
and encourage a conversation between the cinema and Christian spirituality.
Movie spirituality wasn't invented yesterday...
Oftentimes, the conversation regarding movies and spirituality remains
locked within the latest film releases at the multiplexes and video
chains that dominate North American culture. One of the goals of
Chiaroscuro web site is to cast a larger net to broaden the dialogue
and include international directors, independent filmmakers, and
classic films from the past that deserve (re)consideration by mainstream
audiences.
HOLLYWOOD JESUS Pop Culture from a Spiritual Point
of View http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/
In Western culture, filmmakers are the story tellers
that connect the viewer with the realities of the mysteries of life
that appeal to our inner quest for truth and purpose. The images
in the movies that spark this inner quest stay with us a lifetime.
"All of life's riddles are answered in the movies."
(Steve Martin in Grand Canyon)
TEXTWEEK http://www.textweek.com/
Sometimes films help us understand interesting
perspectives on biblical themes. They can give us new insight to
contemporary interpretations of those themes, and open up new avenues
for understanding, preaching, and living the text within our culture.
Have you ever tried to remember what scene it was from what movie
that illustrated a particular biblical or spiritual theme? Have
you ever wanted a list of cultural perspectives on spiritual themes?
Textweek is a "concordance" of a kind -- an attempt to gather together
scenes in movies that serve as "comparative texts" in relationship
to biblical/spiritual themes and passages.
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News
Diocesan Clergy Prayerfully Walk the Labyrinth Path
Some 50 diocesan clergy spent a day at St. Stephen's
Pro-Cathedral, Wilkes-Barre, in May to learn about the labyrinth
as a prayer tool and to make the prayerful walk to the center and
back.
The Rev. Elizabeth Haynes, interim at Trinity,
Easton, and The Rev. R. Jane Williams, a licensed psychologist in
private practice and priest associate at Christ Church, Reading
served as facilitators.
"The labyrinth has been recently rediscovered as
a prayer tool," said Haynes. "It is not New Age, nor is it a maze
that can trick you. A maze has dead ends, and you can get lost in
a maze. A maze is playful, but a labyrinth is prayerful and always
leads to the center."
The web site of The
Labyrinth Society describes it as "a single path tool for personal,
psychological and spiritual transformation" and a "right brain activity
enhancer."
The Chartres-type labyrinth is modeled after one
dating from the year 1200 and made out of mosaic in the floor of
the sanctuary at Chartres Cathedral in France.
Walkers, who are asked to remove their shoes, enter
the labyrinth and follow the serpentine path to the center rosette
where some meditate, pray or write their thoughts in a journal.
They then follow the winding path back out. The journey usually
takes between 30 and 45 minutes.
"The more you walk your inner path, the more you
touch your deepest self, the more you will find that God has been
there before you, writing in every layer the name only you can read."
(From a handout at the clergy day.)
Haynes will lead a labyrinth retreat at Kirkridge
(610-588-1793), August 17-19. Cost is $215.
Williams, soon after the clergy day, left for Chartres
Cathedral where she will be working for two weeks with the Veriditas
Group from Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, as a labyrinth walk facilitator.
She will lead a workshop on "The Labyrinth and
Forgiveness" at the Center for Spirituality and Healing at Christ
Church, Reading, on June 23 (9:30 am to 2:30 pm). Donation is $10.
Bring a bag lunch. For more information, call 610-374-8269 or email
steeple@talon.net.
Follow the links at the Christ
Church web site for some good labyrinth information.
At the Grace
Cathedral web site you will be able to make an interactive,
virtual walk through a labyrinth.
The following Celtic prayer was used to begin the
prayerful walk:
Christ of the seven directions is with me. Christ
above me to uplift me Christ beneath me to support me Christ before
me to guide me Christ behind me to protect me Christ on my left
to meet me Christ on my right to greet me Christ within me to strengthen
me.
I give myself as I face east And to the rising
of the sun. I give myself as I face south And the fullness of this
day. I give myself as I face west And the evening of my life. I
give myself as I face north And the darkness before me. I look up
to the God above me, I look down to the everlasting arms. I have
hope, for God is within me. This day and forever more. This day
and forever more.
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News
At St. George's, Hellertown
Adults Learn from Youth at Adult Forum
St. George's teenager represented Pennsylvania in Washington
By Karen Urbanowicz
Diocesan Life, June 2001
Looking around the room, I wondered how many of
the 22 others in attendance were as unaware as I was that Saipan
is a Commonwealth of the USA. We were gathered for Adult Forum at
St. George's Parish in Hellertown. A sense of pride and joy could
be felt as we all listened intently to our forum leader for the
day.
Annie Hasz, a 13-year-old member of our church,
had everyone's attention. She and her parents had just returned
from a one-week visit to our nation's capital.
Annie had gone to Washington as the Pennsylvania
state representative in the RespecTeen National Youth Forum.
Annie got involved after her social studies teacher
at Palisades Middle School in upper Bucks County assigned an essay/letter
writing project for the Speak for Yourself competition.
Speak for Yourself is a contest that RespecTeen,
a program sponsored by Lutheran Brotherhood, has in place to encourage
students to learn about and participate in the political process.
"Teens are asked to write to their congressional
representative about any national issue that is of concern to them,"
Annie said.
She wanted to write about something meaningful,
but at first could not decide what that might be. While looking
at a book about political satire, she became aware of sweatshop
labor in the Commonwealth of Saipan.
In 1976, when Saipan became a United States Commonwealth,
Anne learned through research, it was given a 10-year break from
U.S. immigration and labor and wage laws to attract business. This
allowed brand-name apparel companies to lure workers from poor nations
with promises of good, American jobs.
"The workers receive $3.05 an hour for a 12 to
16-hour workday, with no overtime pay," Annie said.
She did further research to learn that an estimated
75% of all clothing purchased in the U.S. is sewn in sweatshops.
Annie soon found herself writing about her concern and her research
in her entry letter for the contest.
"I really thought I was just doing a class assignment
and never expected anything to become of the letter," Annie explained.
Her interest in the subject of sweatshops drove
her to choose it as a topic for a month-long study and presentation
for a major Eighth-grade project at her school.
Her desire to bring light to the issue led her
to write letters to clothing makers: Gap, Nautica, and Nike.
"I received letters back from Gap and Nike," Annie
said. "They denied any wrongdoing. Gap even told me that this is
a matter for lawyers and the courts and I shouldn't worry about
it."
Then, she received a large package in the mail
informing her that she had won the contest for the letter she had
written to her congressman, Jim Greenwood.
She shared the news with friends. Her dad, Ken
Hasz, St. George's senior warden, shared the news with parish members
at a meeting.
A congratulatory paragraph about Annie's award
was included in the church's newsletter.
The excitement about this young church member grew
as other parish members saw her on Channel 69's local television
news and read about her in the Doylestown Intelligencer.
Everyone wished Annie and her parents a safe and
fun trip as they went to Washington DC for a week at the end of
April.
Upon returning home, Annie was invited to the parish
Adult Forum to share memories of her experience with us.
She told us how the week-long event was oriented
to the teens who were there; even to the point that the parents
of the representatives attended a workshop in which they were told
the teens were to answer questions and speak for themselves.
The voices, and concerns of the contest winners
were what was to be heard. The 51 winners (50 states and the District
of Columbia) were chosen from over 11,000 entries.
Annie held up a book with copies of all of the
winning entries and bios of each state representative. Annie's mom,
Cindy Hasz, conveyed how heartening it was to see so many young
people who are so committed to improving the world.
While in Washington, Annie was on a hectic schedule.
She moved from one meeting to the next via several modes of transportation,
including a subway that runs in a tunnel under the capital.
A highlight of her trip was a surprise meeting
in the Rose Garden between the RespecTeen representatives and President
George W. Bush.
Along with meeting many political "celebrities,"
she had private meetings with Congressman Greenwood and two aides
to Senator Rick Santorum and Senator Arlen Specter during which
she was able to address them about the issue of sweatshops in Saipan.
Congressman Greenwood said he would write a letter
to the Department of Labor about the matter. Annie is looking forward
to receiving a copy of the letter as well as the response from the
Department of Labor.
She was asked during the Adult Forum if her views
on the political process changed after going to Washington. "I learned
that one person can make a difference and one voice can be heard,"
she said.
Where to now for the young crusader? Annie is busy
writing letters to clothing manufacturers and securing signatures
on petitions to improve the working conditions in Saipan.
She is compiling a list of clothing manufacturers
who benefit from the sweatshops in Saipan. St. George's plans to
post the list on the bulletin board and put it in the church newsletter.
Annie's mission did not end with winning the contest.
It may have just begun.
[Parish administrator and member at St. George's,
Hellertown, Karen Urbanowicz spends her spare time working with
young people as a Girl Scout leader, youth class/group teacher/leader,
and in various undertakings at her children's schools. When not
working with youth, her favorite pastimes are writing and baking.
]
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News
Health Advocacy
committee ready to help parishes
By Dawn Detgen
Diocesan Life, June 2001
Bishop Paul holds a vision that every congregation
will have access to a health advocacy team. This team will provide
a holistic health ministry for all parishioners as well as other
people in our neighborhoods.
It might include individuals with experience in
fields such as nursing and medicine, pastoral care, insurance, law,
social work, volunteerism, and other areas relevant to health care.
The diocesan Health Advocacy Committee is working
to assist parishes in the development of such teams, parish nursing
programs, and related health care and wellness initiatives.
Some parishes in the Diocese have already been
developing their health ministries via the services of a parish
nurse. The nurse's work is supported and expanded by other members
of the congregation.
Earlier Diocesan Life articles have discussed
parish nursing. (See I Am Not
a Nurse, March 2001 and Might
You Be a Parish Nurse? December 2000.)
The various models and functions of parish nursing
were also presented at a workshop at Diocesan Training Day on March
17. Eighteen participants heard presentations by Linda Lobach Gallagher,
Pat Marx, Diana Marshall, and Laura Chegwidden.
Professional, personal, and parish experiences
with health care ministries were shared by attendees as well. Participants
had the opportunity to fill out forms indicating interest in having
a speaker visit their congregation to talk about parish nursing.
The energy and excitement of the workshop could
still be felt when the committee met on April 4. Committee facilitator
Diana Marshall presented the compiled list of requests for speakers,
and member Kathy Burda undertook to develop some materials for speakers
to use when visiting parishes.
Watch for news about how you can book a presentation
on parish nursing for your vestry meeting or adult education hour!
In addition to a bureau of speakers on parish nursing,
the committee has the following projects in the works:
--An electronic meeting for those interested in
health advocacy.
--Identification of additional training programs
and other resources for parish nurses
--Grant applications for funding to help congregations
pay for parish nurse training
--A compilation of health-related resources for
counties within the Diocese
--Feature articles and updates for Diocesan Life
on how-to's for developing your parish health ministry; training
and funding opportunities; and the experiences of parishes that
already have parish nurses.
You can also learn more about parish nursing on-line
at our new Health Advocacy
web page! Here you will also find links to the Diocesan
Life articles mentioned above, as well as information on conferences
and programs related to parish nursing and health ministries. You
can also find out how to join an on-line discussion group on parish
nursing available through http://www.ecunet.org/.
Check out these resources and watch for more information
about parish nursing and health ministries in the diocese and beyond.
Health care and wellness issues touch all of us
as private individuals and as servants of God whose will for all
people is health and salvation.
[A parishioner at Christ Church, Reading, Dawn
Detgen is a member of the diocesan Health Advocacy Committee.]
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News
Six Communication
Awards given to Diocese of Bethlehem People
Six Polly Bond awards were given at the Episcopal Communicators
national
conference to Diocese of Bethlehem people for communication media
work
during the year 2000:
1. An award of excellence (first place) for the editorial by Bill
Lewellis, "Not appropriate that a
nine-year-old girl should die," Diocesan Life,
October 2000. Judges' comments: "Clarity, heartfelt emotion coupled
with
strong theological background anchor this outstanding editorial
in
excellence. Emotional, without being too fluffy - strong, yet gentle."
2. An award of excellence (first place) in the "headline" category
for "Pilgrims miss sights
to have vision," over a column by Bishop Paul Marshall
in the March 2000 edition of Diocesan Life.
3. An award of merit (second place) for the promotional video produced
by
Bill Lewellis for Share the Bread 2000. "The program communicates
the good experience that was had by many at the previous event,"
judges said, "and attempts to project that on to the future event.
Through multiple images, testimonials and music, the viewer has
enough information to make a decision."
4. An award of merit (second place) for our diocesan website, web
minister Barbara Caum. "The website design is excellent," judges
said. "The menu structure is simple and consistently applied throughout
the site. The layout of the home page incorporates the fresh content
of a newsletter with an overall layout that is easy to
navigate and that maintains a professional look and feel. The search
engine is the best of all sites evaluated. The content of the site
is very relevant and interesting for both members of the diocese
and those new to the church." First place was awarded to the Diocese
of Chicago, www.epischicago.org .
5. An honorable mention (third place) for the children's board book,
Bless
This Day, published by Morehouse and written by the Rev. Canon Anne
Kitch of the Cathedral.
6. An honorable mention (third place) in the "feature article" category
for "Bethlehem Seeks a Vision in Africa" by Bill Lewellis in the June
2000
edition of Diocesan Life.
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News
Bethlehem
Goes to Washington
By Connie Fegley
Diocesan Life, May 2001
Congress seems to be on board. We kept hearing
that the State Department is where we have to make the difference.
We met with the young man who is responsible for the Sudan desk.
We realized we were not dealing here with the same passionately
committed types. The rubber hit the road on the issue of genocide.
"There is no genocide in Sudan," he said.
What does the Church Militant look like?
In part, it looks like a 15-passenger van chugging down the highway
towards Washington, D.C. On the afternoon of April 2, Bishop Paul
Marshall, the Rev. Dane Bragg, the Rev. Canon Ginny Rex Day, the
Rev. Canon Kenneth Umbehocker, the Rev. Nick Knisely, Connie and
Randall Fegley, Barbara and Tom Lloyd, and Sue Jacobson left from
Diocesan House in Bethlehem with high hopes of making a strong witness
about the plight of the Sudanese people.
Since 1983 the government of Khartoum has been
dominated by Islamic fundamentalists determined to either Islamize
the Christian and animist southern Sudanese or drive them from their
land by death or forced removal. The best estimates are that two
million Sudanese have been killed through starvation and bombings,
and more than four million have been disbursed into refugee camps
inside Sudan, in surrounding countries and in countries throughout
the world.
As hard as this may be to believe, forced abductions
and slavery of Southerners into the North are well documented and
continue to this day.
The fact that oil has been discovered in large
sections of the south has only fueled the resolve of the Khartoum
government to eliminate the Southerners. The bombings, abductions
and killings have accelerated. At the same time, the grassroots
movement in the US to advocate for the southern Sudanese has also
accelerated. We needed and wanted to be part of that.
We spent Monday night at the College of Preachers
at the National Cathedral, a perfect place to be for our advocacy
group. We had a working dinner with guests Faith McDonnell, our
angel from the Institute on Religion and Democracy, Fran Boyle,
a missionary from Truro Church in Fairfax, Virginia, the Rev. Herb
McMullan, also of Truro Church, and Andrew Akuak, a southern Sudanese
in the Washington area who is a leader in their community.
Faith set up meetings with key congressional leaders
and the State Department. We would not have been able to do this
on our own.
Father McMullan, a member of the Standing Committee
of Peace and Justice for the national church, and Fran were at the
recent Sudanese House of Bishops meeting in Uganda. They provided
us with as much information as we could absorb after having been
thoroughly briefed on March 24 by Randall Fegley.
They were truly inspirational and helpful with
how to channel our advocacy.
Early on Tuesday, April 3, we ventured out into
a splendidly beautiful spring day and into the corridors of power
of Washington, D.C., to make the case for the truly powerless.
We met with the staff of Senator Rick
Santorum, with Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia and his staff,
with Senator Arlen Specter and staff, and with Senator Sam Brownback
of Kansas and his legislative aide, Sharon Payt.
All of these are as truly committed to helping
the Sudanese as anyone you could meet. They were all delighted we
were there, and they encouraged and helped us with advice on how
to proceed with our advocacy.
Both Frank Wolf and Sharon Payt have traveled to
the Sudan. (We met Senator Specter in the glorious room off the
Senate chamber after having sped through the tunnels under the Capitol
going from the House side to the Senate side. It wasn't easy to
be cool and avoid banging into walls, gawking at all the senators
walking here and there!)
We were joined for lunch at a nearby hotel by Roger
Winter, the director of the U.S. Committee for Refugees, Tom Hart
of the Office of Government Relations of ECUSA, and Jimmy Mulla,
another southern Sudanese leader.
Once again, we heard wonderfully passionate people
articulate so well how grateful they were for our presence and what
needs to be done.
The State Department - we kept hearing this - the
State Department is the place where we have to make the difference.
So that's where we went at the end of the afternoon.
After incredibly lengthy security checks that made
us wonder whether we were about to board an airplane rather than
enter an office building, we were escorted into an airless, warm
conference room with the man who is responsible for the Sudan Desk.
It wasn't long before we realized we were
not dealing here with the same passionately committed types as we
had been. The rubber hit the road, so to speak, on the issue of
genocide.
"There is no genocide in Sudan," this young man
told us. It felt like being hit with an electric bolt. We managed
to keep our tempers under control, but it wasn't easy.
If the government declares a country guilty of
practicing genocide, a series of actions that must be taken by law;
there's great reluctance to do this.
The fellow wasn't disputing what's happening there
- not really - but he seemed completely unclear as to even what
to recommend that might be done. It was most sobering, to say the
least, but also a clear message as to what needs to be done in the
way of advocacy.
One of the best suggestions we heard on "The Hill"
was to urge the President to appoint a Special Envoy to Sudan, someone
with high visibility who can mobilize the American people to raise
more of their voices in protest.
The oil companies operating in the Sudan need to
be delisted from the NY Stock Exchange.
The bombing needs to stop - NOW. The slave trade
needs to be stopped - NOW. Self-determination, if not partitioning,
for that beleagured country needs to be encouraged.
We kept hearing people ask, in one way or another:
Where is the Church? Where are the voices for the voiceless? Why
are other religious groups so willing to speak out when their own
people are persecuted and yet Christians are seem willing to remain
silent when it happens to their own? I don't have an answer to those
questions. I do know that many consider the Sudan the South Africa
of this decade.
Your World Mission Committee and others who were
on this trip will be putting heads together to outline ways for
our diocesan community to be a more effective witness.
We beseech you to get involved. When we contact
your church to meet with you, please see us and open your hearts
and minds to what we offer.
Early on in our grand adventure, Bishop Paul referred
to the great hymn, Once to Every Man and Nation. It immediately
played in my head. It continues to do so.
This is truly our time. There seems to be a call
to this diocese. A window of opportunity is opening in Washington.
We must mobilize and be at that window. We must!
[A parishioner at Christ Church, Reading, Connie
Fegley is chair of the diocesan World
Mission committee.]
The Sudanese government in Khartoum
bombs southern villages and blocks food relief flights to areas
where it wants the population to starve. Now oil has been found
in the south, and the government is destroying villages in oil
areas to clear the way for prospectors.
"There is perhaps no greater tragedy on the face of the earth
today" than Sudan, Secretary of State Colin Powell said in Congressional
testimony on March 7. It was an admirably strong statement after
years of American reticence, giving hope of leadership toward
ending the slavery and the slaughter.
This country cannot do everything, but there are relatively easy
steps to take against the evil in Sudan. We should make it clear
to Khartoum that we will do all we can to keep it from using oil
revenues to intensify its genocidal war. No U.S. oil companies
are involved, but we should pressure the companies that are -
Canadian, Swedish, Chinese, Malaysian. We should help break the
food blockade of the south. And as a country, we should forthrightly
condemn the horror of slavery.
New York Times Op-Ed column by Anthony Lewis (March 24) http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/24/opinion/24LEWI.html
Search the NYTimes site also for "Long Road from Sudan to America"
in the April 1 Magazine
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News
Volunteers find "Faith, Joy and Hope"
in Honduras
By The Rev. Canon Lexa Shallcross
Diocesan Life, May 2001
[There are 9 excellent
pictures here]
When Hurricane Mitch slammed into Honduras for
seven days in late October 1998, it left more than 9,000 people
dead. Eighty percent of the country's crops were destroyed and 78
percent of the buildings were damaged severely. Two and one-half
years later, rebuilding continues. Early this March, 13 volunteers
(11 from St. Margaret's, Emmaus) traveled to San Pedro Sula, Honduras
to work at the Episcopal Church project, Fe, Alegria y Esperanza,
where a new village is being constructed cement block by cement
block. The volunteers were Mike Allen, Tony Voros, Brookie Bunn
(team leader), Bill and Shirley Roberts, Mack and Sally West, Ross
West, Lexa Shallcross, Ruth West and Bob Wells, Kelly Smith (Cathedral
Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem) and Harold Locke (Trinity Church,
Easton).
Harold Lock arrived able to speak Spanish that
he learned watching soap operas back in the Lehigh Valley. Everyone
else picked up new construction words on the job: work, dig, carry...
Asking the question, "Que puedo hacer?" ("How can
I help?) always brought an immediate answer: pushing a wheelbarrow,
stacking cement blocks or digging trenches.
The group's initiation was at the "block factory",
the shed where cement half blocks are made by hand.
We scraped dried cement off the pallets and then
oiled and stacked them for reuse. We mixed the mortar and shoveled
it into the vibrating machine. Then the full pallets were moved
aside for three days of drying.
The houses, the medical clinic, the community center
and the church now under construction have been formed from these
blocks.
We were next detailed to the Church. After some
of us bailed out water that had collected at the front door, we
deepened the trench before work was halted.
Someone thought we were waiting for the cement
mixer. Wrong! We mixed the "cemento" on the ground as rebar forms
were put in place. Then our "bosses" took us by the shoulders to
line us up to form two lines - one to pass in a half-full bucket
of wet cement and the other to bring the empty bucket back out.
Many hands made light work. Actually, everything in Honduras is
done by hand. There was not one power saw or air gun on the site;
just the basics - shovels, picks, wire cutters, one hammer, wheelbarrows,
scrapers and one wrench.
The children of the village, who liked to have
their pictures taken, were curious about my binoculars.
They weren't so interested in the colorful birds
as I was. Instead, they delighted in spotting their friends at the
other edge of the village.
We scoped out the sign down near the dredging project
for the community sewage system. It had the Episcopal Church shield
on it and cited Proverbs 24:3 - "By wisdom a house is built, and
by understanding it is established."
The Episcopal Church Project in Honduras is being
established wisely, through prayer and cooperation, across cultural
and economic barriers. It is a model project where more than houses
are being built.
After 10 years, a family will own its home. The
mortgage money is being pooled to fund the building of a school
for everyone - children of all ages, adults, and nearby residents.
The 140 families already in residence have asked for the school.
They do not want to send their older children into the city for
schooling and hope that the adults as well can become literate and
upgrade their job skills. The first three grades are already meeting
in the project.
While we were there, a truckload of new desks arrived.
The young boys proudly carried them into the community center. All
the students wear uniforms: white shirts or blouses and blue wash
pants or pleated skirts with white socks and shoes. The pride they
felt was made evident by the care they took walking home on the
muddy main street on the two days it rained. White socks stayed
white!
Parents pay tuition. A teacher's annual salary
is $3,000 in a country where the average income is $90 a month.
Since Hurricane Mitch, the government and passion.
At the Volunteer House-our dormitory style, comfortable lodging
for the week, our closing prayers included a reading of Matthew
25: 31-39. This scripture is truly the Living Word of God; it is
full of people we've met- Louis, Carlos, Mario, Eleana, Lydia, Father
Blanco, Donna Rosa and many more.
As our last day on the construction site ended,
there was one last chore-putting the tools and wheelbarrows in the
construction shed at the bottom of the hill. Two men in our group
quickly found themselves surrounded by small children asking for
a ride down the road. Bill Roberts wrote in our group journal: "It
is a task I have done often for my own grandchildren. So, in many
ways, this small event linked the two worlds. No matter whether
we live in Pennsylvania ...or Honduras, God loves us all. I know
that God is smiling on the people of Honduras just as He smiles
on us."
Those interested in learning more about Building
Houses in Honduras can link to the Episcopal Relief and Development
Fund from our diocesan web site www.diobeth.org; contact Laura and
Carl Chegwidden, ER-D Diocesan Coordinators, at (610) 398-1473 or
telephone St. Margaret's Church (601) 967-1450) to request speakers
and a showing of their video which is now in production.
[The Rev. Canon Lexa Shallcross is rector of St.
Margaret's, Emmaus.]
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The "Northern"
Episcopal-Lutheran Celebration of Full Communion
[A message from Mark Laubach]
Dear friends in the "North Country" of the Diocese
(or wherever!) -
The "northern" celebration of the "Call to Common
Mission" between the ELCA and ECUSA in Northeastern PA is set for
4 PM on Sunday, May 20th here at St. Stephen's Pro-Cathedral in
Wilkes-Barre. (The "southern" celebration is on Sunday, May 6th
at Trinity Lutheran in Reading.)
I will be in charge of the music for this wonderful
liturgy, and I invite all choir singers from the parishes of the
Diocese, particularly those in the "north", to join us in preparing
and singing the anthem chosen for this occasion, and in leading
the hymns and service music.
The anthem selected is "One Church, One Faith,
One Lord" by S. Drummond Wolff, published by Concordia (#98-3142).
Copies may be ordered directly from Concordia by calling them (toll
free) at 1(800)325-3040. This is a relatively simple yet well written
and effective setting of the hymn tune, Thornbury, which appears
at #444 in The Hymnal 1982. The text emphasizes Christian unity
and is entirely appropriate for this occasion.
Hymns and service music for the liturgy are from
The Hymnal 1982 and Wonder, Love and Praise. These are as follows....
#518, "Christ is made the sure foundation" (Westminster
Abbey)
#417, "This is the feast of victory for our God" (Festival Canticle)
Psalm 133, responsorial setting from The Plainsong Psalter
#527, "Singing songs of expectation" (Ton-y-Botel)
#390, "Praise to the Lord" (Lobe den Herren)
S-120, Sursum corda
S-130, Sanctus and Benedictus (Schubert)
#877, "The disciples knew the Lord Jesus (Mark Sedio)
#617, "Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round" (Song 1)
#525, "The Church's one foundation" (Aurelia)
#778, "We all are one in mission) (Nyland)
#473, "Lift high the cross" (Crucifer)
Choir directors who have singers participating
in this liturgy should contact me by NO LATER THAN MONDAY, MAY 14th
with a list of participating singers. Please give each singer's
name, voice part, and height, and the name and phone number and/or
e-mail address of the Choir Director. This will help us in preparing
proper seating for the choir.
REHEARSAL prior to the liturgy will begin in St.
Stephen's nave PROMPTLY at 2:45 PM, May 20th.
PLEASE FEEL FREE to pass this information along
to the Choir Director at your neighboring ELCA LUTHERAN CHURCH!
As one who was born and bred in the Lutheran Church,
I am especially looking forward to this joyous celebration, and
hope that as many of our singers as possible can participate with
us! Do be in touch.....
Blessings,
Mark Laubach, Minister of Music St. Stephen's Pro-Cathedral
35 South Franklin Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701 Phone: (570)825-6653
FAX: (570)825-0430
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