Week
of 2 December 2007
Advent Resources [Note our additional and new Advent links in addition to those shown below.]
Advent
Calendar:
A good one.
Advent
Calendar for Kids:
From a homeschooling site comes a rich resource for children.
History of the Advent Calendar:
To some, advent calendars may seem like either an excuse to eat chocolate
or just another thing that companies can sell to us in the run-up to Christmas.
However, the humble advent calendar has a long history and was in fact invented
by the same people who brought us Christmas cookies and the practice of decorating
Christmas trees.
Love
Blooms Bright:
An Advent blog from the Scottish Episcopal Church. [2007-2008] 'This
blog 'begins' on 2 December 2007. There will be daily posts throughout Advent
including poems, quotations, reflections and photographs. Contributors include
Episcopal clergy and lay people from around Scotland.'
St
Nicholas: Discovering the truth about Santa Claus: Even if you've seen
it again, it's worth visiting again.
Praising the Names of Jesus: The Antiphons of Advent.
The Daily Service can be heard on R4 LW at 09:45 every weekday during Advent on BBC radio.
The 'O' Antiphons. You can open the Antiphons in your browser or download a PDF file.
Australia
Parishes
New South Wales: Fairy Meadow, Fairy
Meadow Anglican Church (Sydney)
New South Wales: Kogarah, Christ Church St George (Sydney)
Blogs
An Anglican Compendium of Thoughts and Prayers. An interesting and thoughtful blog by Father Bill Haymaker in England who has been serving children in need for over 20 years. See Project New Life under Odds and Ends.
Book
Reviews
Rebuilding Jerusalem: The Church’s Hold on Hearts and Minds, by
Stephen Platten, is
reviewed by Matthew Grimley. [Ed: This sounds like a great book.] 'It is old-fashioned because it is the sort of book Anglican bishops used to write in the 1920s and 1930s, but seldom have the time (and, some might add, the intellectual firepower) to write today... Second, it is old-fashioned in its ambitious chronological and inter-disciplinary scope. Third, and most importantly, it is old-fashioned because it is a lament for the fragmentation of culture
and the marginalisation of Christianity... A book this wide in scope (and short in length) cannot cover everything. The author is to be congratulated for setting some lively hares racing. Those of us who are academic specialists — whether, historians, sociologists, or theologians — will need to chase them further. But it is unlikely that we will write as gracefully or enjoyably as Stephen Platten does.'
A Secular
Age, Charles Taylor, is
reviewed by Mark Vernon.
'The dominant feature of the Western secular age is radical pluralism... For someone who would delight in an 800-page mix of crystal-clear history, philosophy, sociology, and theology, which rewards with sparkling ideas, insights, and reflections on every page, it would be a perfect present. Philosophers would say that this is a phenomenology of a secular age. That is to say, you can feel the condition it describes on the page.'
Why Christianity
Happened: A Sociohistorical Account of Christian Origins (26-50 CE), by
James G. Crossley, is reviewed by John Court.
'Socioeconomic conditions and urbanisation in Galilee in the 20s account for the emergence of the Jesus movement, the interpretation of the Law with a bias to the poor, and an aggressive attitude towards the rich... Readers of Church Times may not find congenial Crossley’s advocacy of a shift from exegesis to macrosociology in the historical approach to Christian origins.'
Church
History
Bede's
World: Where History Was Made. The Museum of Early Medieval Northumbria
at Jarrow has an informative website and looks well worth a visit in person.
England
Parishes
Elton, St Stephen (Manchester)
Rochdale, St Aidan (Manchester)
Resources
Caring for God's Acre: 'Promoting the conservation of churchyards,
cemeteries and burial grounds across the Hereford diocese'. Includes a
fine conference report entitled Cherishing
Churchyards.
Episcopal
Ongoing
The Diocese of Rochester (USA) has announced the names of nominees
for election as its eighth bishop. An election is scheduled for 2 February
2008. More information is available on the bishop-search website.
Ireland
Resources
Church Lads'
and Church Girls' Brigade, Ulster Regiment.
'a uniformed Anglican Church organisation for boys and girls aged between
4 years and 21 years old. We have companies operating through out Northern
Ireland and Donegal'.
Japan
Resources
Jorakuen Home. Toyama,
Kyoto Prefecture. Affiliated with the Diocese of Kyoto.
Letters
Have
a read. Write a letter of your own to
us for possible publication.
Music
Resources
Together
in Song (Australian Hymn Book II): This is the website of the
only ecumenical hymn book in Australia, embracing Anglicans, Catholics,
Uniting Church, Lutherans and Churches of Christ. It is the electronic
version of the successor to the Australian Hymn Book (which was
the best-selling book in Australian publishing history!). Together
in Song is a wonderful resource for parishes, schools and other
church agencies, providing as it does copytight protection (within
Australia) and fully downloadable pages for data projections and
service sheets.
News
Centre
Various writers reflect on church secession. Canada's primate strikes back at breakaway groups. Some Welsh worry over inadequate protection
from women. Ex Zimbabwe bishop caught in forgery. US Episcopal Church issues 'State of the Church' report. Canada responds to draft Covenant.
Lesbian and Gay Clergy Consultation spat in UK. Church of Ireland offers its own draft of Covenant. Inclusive Church wraps up 'Drenched
in Grace'. All this, and more, in the News Centre.
Not
in the Communion
Resources
Cathedral Priory of
St Stephen the Protomartyr: 'a Vowed Religious Order under
the protection and obedience of the Orthodox Anglican Church'.
Odds and Ends: Social Justice
Project New Life. 'Project New Life is an independent, non-profit, non-conditionally religious, non-political body. Our sole mission is to promote Moldovan and Romanian children’s rights in a democratic society, increase global awareness of children and families in crisis, and to assist communities, and organisations responsible for the welfare, safety, personal
development and safe harbouring of others, enhance their safety, sense of self-worth, and well-being within Eastern Europe.'
Scotland
Resources
Church Buildings Maintenance
in Scotland. 'The website has been developed with one specific
audience in mind, the fabric and property committees of local congregations
of all denominations. They are in the front line of the battle to maintain
their church buildings in good and welcoming condition.'
'developed under the auspices of a Steering Group
of representative members of the Church of Scotland, Scottish Episcopal
Church, Roman Catholic Bishops Conference of Scotland and Historic
Scotland which have provided equal funding for the project'.
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...to
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USA
Parishes
New York: New Hamburg, St Nicholas on Hudson (New York)
New York: Pine Plains, Church
of the Regeneration (New York)
New York: Staatsburg, St Margaret (New York)
Schools
and Education
St Michael's Episcopal
Education Center. Mandeville, Louisiana.
Coeducational preschool.
St
Vincent's Cathedral School. Bedford, Texas. Coeducational, preschool
through grade eight; founded in 1963.
Trinity
School of Texas. Longview, Texas. 'a college preparatory program,
from age 2 through grade twelve'; founded in 1957.
Vacancies
Centre
List a parish or diocesan opening for one month at AO — at no charge.
What a bargain! The more you use our free service, the more useful it
will become for all.
Australia: Gosford:
Children's Minister (Newcastle)
Canada: Parish
of Quebec, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity: Rector (Quebec)
For more
information on this and other listings, see our Vacancies Centre. Also scan
vacancy pages on diocesan web sites throughout the communion.
Wales
Parishes
Llanbadarn Fawr, St Padarn (St Davids)
Steynton, Parish Church (St Davids)
Worth
Noting
Funnier
Than Thou: 'There are a lot of atheists who think that if only
we laugh at religion enough it will go away. But what may just as
well happen is that it will learn to laugh at itself, and, when it
does, it will be impossible to eradicate.' Andrew Brown writes in Comment
is free on
kitschmas.
Love
Blooms Bright:
'The contributors [for this Advent-themed weblog] will be drawn mostly
from among the clergy and laity of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
But hopefully there will be others too.'
More
than Christmas:
'Advent is that time in the Christian calendar that marks the start
of the Christian year by anticipating the end of history.' Martyn Percy
writes in the Guardian (London). |
