Youth at the Diocesan 30 Hour Famine Fast to Feed the World.

“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40.

40 youth from 9 parishes in the diocese gathered with their Youth Leaders at St. Martin’s Providence on January 30th 2010, for the second annual Diocesan 30 hour famine. The 30 Hour famine is a national fast program sponsored by World Vision to raise money and awareness among youth, of world hunger.

To participate, our youth had to find sponsors, stop eating by midnight on Friday, and then gather at noon on Saturday for fun activities, a Eucharist and a sleep over. Check out the online photo album of the event here.

It was an informative, lively and touching day for all involved. Between juice breaks and games intended to teach the youths what life is like for the underprivileged in various parts of the world, our youth leaders had a chance to share ideas and thoughts and the youth had a chance to meet Episcopalians from other parishes, make friends and hear about each other’s lives and faith.

Together, these 40 youths and 9 parishes raised a total of $3,937.00! Since $1 feeds 1 child for 1 day in many countries, this amount of money will make a big difference in many lives. Our youth collectively decided to send half of their hard-earned money to World Vision marked to benefit Haiti for Earthquake Relief and the other half to be used for needs in the South Sudan where our companion diocese, the Diocese of Ezo is situated. Many youths also took the opportunity during a bit of reflective downtime, to write letters, greetings, and prayers to our friends in the Diocese of Ezo.

Would you like your parish to be involved in next year’s famine and other Diocesan Youth Events? Email maryann@episcopalri.orgor contact the youth leaders of the parishes listed below for more information. These events can be a fantastic opportunity for some of our parishes with smaller youth groups, or just a few kids to find some fellowship!

Parishes Involved:

• St. Paul’s, Pawtucket
• St. Stephen’s, Providence
• St. James, Woonsocket
• Grace Church, Providence
• St. Martin’s, Providence
• St. John’s, Barrington
• St. Augustine’s, Kingstown
• St. Peter’s by the Sea, Narragansett
• St. Matthew’s, Barrington

The Latest eRISEN

You can view the latest issue of eRISEN, our biweekly email events calendar, at the link below:

eRISEN March 10th 2010 issue

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Taizé: Pilgrimage and Prayer All Around Rhode Island

The Taizé Community is an ecumenical monastic order in France made up of over 100 brothers from various countries and Christian backgrounds. The community has been around since the 1940’s, but these days it has become one of the most important sites of pilgrimage in modern Christianity, welcoming over 100,000 young pilgrims from around the world each year.

Rhode Island is no exception to this. Bishop Wolf has a long history with Taizé, and for quite some time now the Diocese of Rhode Island has sponsored a Taizé pilgrimage for 18-30 year olds at the end of each May. (Taizé caters their programs to this age group, but there is always room for a few “adults” to come along on the trip).

But what is all this Taizé fuss about? Well, to best serve the throngs of linguistically diverse pilgrims who find their way to the community, the brothers have developed a fantastic form of multilingual prayer and chant. Their website explains their simple chants as follows:

“Using just a few words they express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind. As the words are sung over many times, this reality gradually penetrates the whole being. Meditative singing thus becomes a way of listening to God. It allows everyone to take part in a time of prayer together and to remain together in attentive waiting on God… To open the gates of trust in God, nothing can replace the beauty of human voices united in song.”

At the monastery, these sung prayers accompany a program of bible study, fellowship, and communal work. It is the repetition of the words within the songs and the repetition of the songs within the thrice-daily prayer services that keep the prayers repeating in the silence of your heart throughout the day’s activities. As you can probably imagine, the simple, kind, and contemplative Taizé prayer experience has been so wildly meaningful to so many pilgrims, that many have brought Taizé prayer home to be a part of their lives and parishes.

In Rhode Island we now have four parishes that hold prayer services at least loosely inspired by Taizé. The Diocese sponsors one at the Cathedral of St. John, at 4pm on the second Sunday of each month. Christ Church in Westerly and St Paul’s in Pawtucket both also offer regular evening services, and St. Ann’s on Block Island was recently featured in the Block Island Times for their service in the Taizé style. Check out the article, titled In Taize, Less is More. Keep an eye on your eRISEN newsletter to find out when and where the next Taizé service is happening. Don’t receive it? You can sign up here.

If you would like to learn more about bringing Taizé to your parish or would like to come along on this year’s pilgrimage, please email ty@episcopalri.org  or visit the RI Taizé Facebook page.

Lay Leadership Development Day

Register by Monday March 22nd at midnight using the form at the bottom of this post.

This year in addition to Convocation, the Diocese of Rhode Island is offering a Leadership Development Day on March 27th, for all lay leaders in our parishes. The program is free and will include presentations and workshops tailored to specifically support the ministries of Wardens, Vestries, Treasurers, and all other Lay Leadership. Are you a Lay Leader? ...register now to come fill your Lay leadership toolkit. Are you Clergy?... please let your Lay Leaders know about this opportunity!

Schedule
8:00-9:00 Check in
9:00 Opening Plenaries
10:00 Workshop Breakout Sessions
        -Warden Time with Bishop Wolf
        -The Treasurer’s Workshop (all afternoon, may go later than 1pm)
        -Christian Leadership in Times of Change, for Vestry Members and all other Lay Leaders
11:00 Plenary: Panel discussion “Times of Change, Stories from the Real World”
12:00 Lunch
12:45 Closings


For more information contact Ty Creason

The Latest eRISEN

You can view the latest issue of eRISEN, our biweekly email events calendar, at the link below:

eRISEN February 25th 2010 issue

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Convocation Resources on our Website

This year's Convocation took place on Saturday February 27th, 2010, and well over 200 people gathered to hear Reggie McNeal speak about the Missional future of the Church!  He offered some exciting ideas on how to look at our Church from a different angle, how to better partner with God in His mission. It was a day full of energy and excitement about possibility and the future.

Did you miss Convocation this year? Do you want some resources to bring the excitement home to your parish?

Check out the follow-up links we've posted on the convocation page of our website to find out what the day was all about, and use these resources to help bring some of the excitement home to your parish! You can also watch the video below in which Reggie does a quick 9 minute summary of the most important points from his talk at Convocation.

Episcopal Charities is Now Taking Online Donations

The Episcopal Charities Fund of Rhode Island has moved into the 21st Century this week, to help you help others as quickly as possible when the need arises! Online donations are now live at www.episcopalri.org/charities.

Whether you want to help Rhode Islanders who struggle daily to make ends meet, or to contribute towards saving lives and healing in the wake of a disaster such as the recent earthquake in Haiti, you can now put your dollars to work for a higher cause in an instant.

Visit www.episcopalri.org/charities for more information about Episcopal Charities, and keep an eye out for the donate button which appears on the lefthand side of each page. Or, if you are feeling generous at the moment you can simply click the button here and now. Thanks and God bless.

eRISEN, The Latest Issue

You can view the latest issue of eRISEN, our biweekly email events calendar, at the link below:
eRISEN February 8th 2010 issue
 
Want to sign up to the eRISEN mailing list? Want to submit your event? Just visit our website

REGISTER NOW for Diocesan Convocation 2010; A Day with Reggie McNeal

Saturday, Feb. 27th, 9AM-3PM

The Marriott Hotel, One Orms Street, Providence, RI

All are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Use the form at the bottom of this page to Register Online by February 19th! Buffet lunch is included in the registration fee.

Reggie McNeal is an acclaimed author and lecturer who challenges Christian leaders to re-think the way we live into our missions and congregational development.

At this year's Diocesan Convocation, Reggie will be spending the entire day with us discussing his latest two books. The Present Future: Six tough Questions for the Church raises questions about why we do church the way we do and whether or not it works. Missonial Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church follows up on the questions raised in "The Present Future", and details the three shifts that church leaders must make to engage the missional movement. It offers suggestions for a different scorecard to reflect missional ministry. Follow the above links to read googlebooks' extensive excerpts, for a taste of what Reggie will be speaking about. Googlebooks will also give you links to buy Reggie's books from your favorite online retail store.

Reggie received his M.Div. and Ph.D. degrees both from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has over a decade of experience as a Church leadership development coach, has himself served in congregational leadership for more than twenty years, and has lectured or taught as adjunct faculty for multiple seminaries, including Fuller Theological Seminary.

Come prepared for a revolutiounary outlook on our future as a church. This is a day not to be missed! Register online using the widget below, or by clicking here.

Benefit Concert: Music and Prayers for Haiti

Come hear powerful music performed by the Choirs of Grace Church, Providence, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Pawtucket and St Paul's Episcopal Church in Wickford. The evening will also feature the prayers and comments of Sister Marie-Claire, a Hatian member of the Sisters of St. Margaret. The Sisters lost their convent building in the earthquake, but are alive and pressing on with their ministry in this especially difficult time.

All are invited to Attend, and all donations are welcome.

Proceeds will benefit the earthquake relief initiatives of Episcopal Relief & Development and The Society of St. Margaret In Haiti.

Checks should be made payable to "The Episcopal Charities Fund of Rhode Island", Noting “Haiti relief” on the memo line.

Visit www.facebook.com/episcopalri  to RSVP for the event and see more details