Vital Posts / Advocacy

Browse


Related

  • World Malaria Day: April 25
    Fighting malaria and ending hunger are my priorities for charitable giving and volunteer work. Memories of waking up inside my mosquito netting \at Girl Scout camp and finding the net full of mosquitoes that had entered through a tear are as fresh …
  • Earth: “And God saw that it was good.”
    Sunday is Earth Day. And, despite my best intentions, I haven’t prepared anything to acknowledge the day. Every year, Earth Day sneaks up on me. Like spring in New England, I know it is coming: I get little tastes and hints of it during the d…
  • Public Liturgy
    I spent Holy Week in the Diocese of Chicago trailing my good friend Dent Davidson, Missioner for Arts and Liturgy. Most of the week we participated with the people of All Saints, Chicago, in the unfolding mysteries of the walk to the cross and the …
  • Immigration: Who Should be Concerned About It?
    Editor's Note: This is the English translation of Leticia's 3.16.12 blog post. The United States cannot be indifferent to the effects of immigration; migratory movements have influenced this country since its founding. These groups of people h…
  • La Inmigración Nos Compete a Todos
    Estados Unidos no puede escapar a los efectos de la inmigración. Los movimientos migratorios han influenciado a este país desde la época de la independencia y estos grupos humanos han llegado de todas partes, creando una estructura social muy pecu…
  • Slavery in Zanzibar
    The second stop of my Africa trip was Zanzibar. This island had always existed as an exotic dream to me and my visit in no way dispelled its mystery. While there I became fascinated with the long-standing slave trade that made up such a central par…
  • I Have Seen the Future: It is Kampala
    In my first 10 days in Uganda I have been taken to the capital city, Kampala, three times. All roads lead to the capital, it’s just that all those roads are in terrible condition. The freakish traffic can create jams of three hours or more. The mut…
  • Editor's Letter: November 2011
    “Can you hear the heartbeat? Mission, mission, mission.” Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, used this metaphor at her opening sermon at the Church’s 76th General Convention. More recently, this phrase ser…
  • Three Cups of Coffee
    This past July, Tim Schenk, Episcopal priest and blogger at Clergy Family Confidential, tweeted “Forget the tea. I should write a best-selling book called ‘Three Cups of Coffee.’ Subtitle: A Day in the Life of Fr. Tim." As might be expected,…
  • Marking 9/11
    With the 10th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon falling on a Sunday next month, most churches are developing some way to respond. At St. Andrew’s, Seattle, we will hold a service of Light and Remembrance on the eve…
  • Taking it to the Streets
    Members of another urban congregation are picketing the second service of St. John’s in Columbus, Ohio. The service is Street Church, where for the past five years, the Rev. Lee Anne Reat presides over a full Eucharist on a street corner in…
  • Getting Started
    Our vestry voted last night to accept Bishop Rickel’s offer to take over operations at the former St. George’s Episcopal Church in the Lake City neighborhood of Seattle. Here we go. The mission is daunting. We start from zero in a neighborho…
  • Going Global: Where to Begin?
    Every once in a while, I come across a book that knocks the wind out of me. Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl Wudunn’s Half the Sky is one such book. On the one hand, Half the Sky is a devastating account of global sex trafficking and forced prosti…
  • T.R.U.E. Stories (True Relief of Urgent Emergencies)
    Have you ever found yourself urgently needing cash assistance? Did you turn to your Episcopal Church? Last week, I found myself wondering about the major forms of outreach ministries taking place in Episcopal congregations. After reviewing the fol…
  • Strengthening Neighborhoods
    Three months ago, I was awoken by the distant sound of a woman screaming for help. Shocked and partially asleep, I opened the window: where were those screams coming from? Fourteen floors above a busy Brooklyn neighborhood, it was impossible t…
  • Trash or ???
    Outside, the street sweeper is making another pass. After the snowiest winter in years, the streets are full of sand – and trash. Earlier this week I had a conversation about trash with Tracey Lind and Richard Horton from Cleveland’s Trinit…
  • Cherry Blossoms and the Body of God: Connecting Earth Day with Holy Week
    Pink petals fading to ivory, softer than air, filtering sunlight. Tears streak my cheeks as I meander luxuriously under the DC cherry blossoms. I am reminded of how I feel on a crisp fall day, vine maple leaves orange and yellow, blueberry leaves b…
  • Caring for Creation 2
    As we approach Earth Day – which falls on Good Friday this year - the fragility of our earth and the global impact of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan have been very much on my mind. Living equidistant from two aging nuclear reactors,…
  • Blessing (and welcoming) the bikes
    What would you do if a bunch of bicyclists rolled their wheels up to the front of your sanctuary? Would you bless them? For the past 13 years, St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York City has welcomed bicyclists for an annual Bless…
  • Is Faith Bad for Our Health?
    Okay ABC News, you got my attention. A recent news story, based on a recent study from Northwestern University postulates that “those who regularly attend church are 50% fatter than those who don’t.” (ABC News).  Is this story offer an…
  • Earth Hour 2011: Turn Out the Lights
    My husband says I’m a ‘pain.’ I’m a ‘pain’ because I close doors and turn out the lights. Even if he’s stepping outside for ‘just a minute,’ I’ll close the door if it is colder than 60 degrees ou…
  • Transition Towns...and Churches?
    The Holy Spirit is a renewable resource. It’s been fueling Christian communities for over 2000 years, since the first great unleashing at Pentecost. Fossil fuels are not.         Although they’ve been fueling our modern society for about …
  • You are Dirt
    The familiar words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” returned to us today, the only time in the liturgical year when we hear this startling and compelling pronouncement. It’s Ash Wednesday, when we’re reminded of ou…
  • Caring for Creation
    Subtle changes happen to the earth as the spring equinox approaches. The sun is higher in the sky and days are noticeably longer. Hints of new growth appear on trees and shrubs. The drab colors of winter give way to the bright colors of new life. …
  • Divvying Up the Loot
    Having recently finished reading Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, and currently reading A Tale of Two Cities, I’m thinking a lot about the divide between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots;’ a divide that has existed for centuries…
  • Mountains Beyond Mountains
    My weekend plans were simple: pack the remaining Christmas items away and visit my mother. Bake something to bring to my mother and to share with our next door neighbor who clears our sidewalk with his snow blower. That all changed when my husb…
  • Baby Boomers: Put down the microphone
    When the Twin Towers tumbled down, I held my newborn daughter tightly and prayed that we would work to end the violence, to find a way to connect despite different faiths and cultures. I suspect Christina-Taylor Green’s mother felt the same…
  • What’s On Your Plate?
    Eight months ago I sent a response to a question posed by the White House on LinkedIn: “What are your ideas to end childhood obesity within a generation?” This query was part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s work with the Childhood Obesity Task…
  • Seeing with New Eyes
    We’re two days out from the celebration of St. Lucy, but her story resonates strongly in this season of Advent. A patron saint of the blind, Lucy was martyred around 304. Legend has it that guards, unable to move or burn her, poked out her …
  • When Waiting Isn’t Joyful…
    Last week I was reminded of the not-so-joyful side of waiting. The reminder came after speaking with a young woman who was stressed out and upset. A few weeks ago, Susan (not her real name) injured her shoulder. She works six days a week, almos…
  • Winter Shelter
    I regularly commute by bike to work. The hour-long ride gives me a chance to see details of the city I’d otherwise miss: the older women practicing Tai Chi in a park; the amber sunrises seen as I pedal along the curves of the East River. Of course …
  • What Can One Person Do?
    A lot. Ask Eric Hillegas, former associate minister at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Upham’s Corner. Today’s new Fieldwork posting begins the story of how Eric is bringing his vision of free tutoring programs to an inner city neighborhood.…
  • Getting Hunger on the Agenda
    I recently heard a provocative interview with the Rev. David Beckman, Lutheran minister, President of Bread for the World and this year’s recipient of the World Food Prize, a prize frequently described as the equivalent of a Nobel in the field of…
  • Church and Sate
    The separation of church and state is a key cornerstone of the U.S. government. At the same time, everyone at my noonday meeting on Tuesday had cast their vote in a local church. This juxtaposition struck me today as we move from one of the most…
  • Conventional Wisdom
    We had our elections for General Convention deputies at our diocesan convention this weekend; I was chosen to go to Indianapolis in 2012. The head of our deputation is Katrina Hamilton, the first layperson elected. This will be her third convention…
  • Voting as a Christian Responsibility
    Have you voted today? I love Election Day. Anywhere. For me, it epitomizes the essence of democracy: citizens taking time from their busy lives to vote, to make a choice that at the end of the day, determines the future direction of their comm…
  • Know thy Neighbor
    It’s easy to assume you know a place until an unexpected encounter, story or statistic startles you awake. In the end, it probably the most familiar places that hold the greatest surprises.
 For this reason, I lov…
  • Receiving the Full Menu
    Every day if I need or want to leave my house, I do. Other than deciding which mode of transportation best suits my plans, I go. No one gives me permission, or denies me access, to drive my car or board a train, bus, subway, or plane. I take th…