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The
East Range Epistle
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by Steve MacAusland, Episcopal Ecological Network As Christians we are called to love our God and to love our neighbors (this is a commandment and not a “suggestion”). I am writing this to you to discuss energy. What is the connection? After love it is energy that “makes the world go ‘round”. Everything we do uses energy, and the energy industry has helped to make this country great. Unfortunately, our energy dependence has produced some very serious side effects. Do we love our neighbors when our use of electricity seriously impacts the health of the poor who have no choice but to live in the shadow of coal burning power plants? Do we love our neighbors when our consumption of foreign oil contributes significantly to conflict around the world? And do we love our neighbors when our emission of greenhouse gasses changes the very climate on this fragile earth, our island home? The community of faith has always led in the great move-ments for justice. We led in the abolition of slavery. We led in the movement for women’s rights. We led in the struggle for civil rights, and we continue to lead in the effort to remove the curse of racism from this land. Now it is time for us to respect the dignity of every human being and all life on earth. Let us begin by addressing our consumption of energy. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has urged the developed nations to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gasses by 8.5% in order to stabilize the climate at its current state. The leadership of this country, however, has refused to commit itself to any reduction at all. Religious leaders of every faith have reacted by passing resolutions, writing letters to the President, and lobbying Congress for sustainable energy policies, but we need to do more. It is time to practice what we preach and to show forth not only with our lips, but in our lives what we ask our political leadership to do for us. It is time for the community of faith to practice energy conservation, invest in energy efficiency, and thus save more than enough money to afford cleaner sources of energy. Together, we can save energy, save money, save the planet, protect the peace, protect human health, and create jobs too. As we gain strength in the marketplace, we will have a voice as to where the jobs go and who gets them. This is not just a ministry for the environment, but a ministry of love and justice for all our neighbors across town, around the world, and our intergenerational neighbors, our children, for years to come, and we of the community of faith have an historic opportunity to lead the way. Amen.
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Steve MacAusland’s article is used in lieu of an article to be written by St. Mary’s, which was not received. Steve is a co-founder of Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light and the Province 1 Representative of the Episcopal Ecological Network (http://EENOnline.org). He originally wrote this article to support a Pastoral Letter by the Bishops of Province 1 of the Episcopal Church, USA. |
The following note from Canon Missioner Stephen Schaitberger was sent on the Feast of St. Joseph (March 19, 2003):
Our prayer today is aimed east toward the Mideast and the conflict that
will ensue. Some have asked what a chaplain might be thinking about
during this time. So as one who has had the privilege to listen to
soldiers for more than 23 years here¹s some of my reflections.
+ The Rev Canon Stephen
Schaitberger is Canon Missioner
for Northern Minnesota, which includes the East Range Episcopal Congregations.
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Update #5
There are a number of steps in the Search Process, and this is to update all of you as to our current status.
After a contact has been made (step # 1), whether a priest contacts us or we approach them and ask them if they are interested, we send out (step # 2) additional information (a packet) developed from your responses to our questionnaire, and including a description of our church membership, our geographical area, demographics of our communities, job availabilities (remember - many priests have spouses who will also be looking for work) and those qualifications we need in our new priest.
If, after receiving the packet, they are still interested in continuing the discernment process with us, we send out (step # 3) a list of essay questions to the candidate, and they respond in writing. If we are interested after their response, we continue on to step # 4 - an in-person interview with the candidate. Now, this step can only be accomplished once the candidate has undergone a background check (which is completed by our Diocese). At the in-person interview, we will ask each candidate the same questions - although their responses might prompt us to ask additional ones.
At our meeting on Thursday, March 20th we will be developing which questions to ask in the in-person interview, and reviewing the responses indicating interest by the priests we contacted from the names supplied by the Diocese, and reviewing the responses from the candidate who has already completed the essay questions.
As of this writing, we have one candidate, a lady priest from within MN, who has completed the essay questions and the background check by the Diocese. Once we review her responses, the next step with her would be the in-person interview of step # 4. We also have a lady priest from the Bronx and a male priest from Cambridge, MA, who are requesting that we send them additional information (step # 2).
We will continue to provide updates during the weekly church services.
If you have questions, please talk
with your Search Committee members.
| The following are members of the Search Committee:
St. John’s:
St. Mary’s:
St. Paul’s:
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East Range
Churches' News |
Holy Week Service Schedule
The following services are scheduled at the East Range Episcopal Churches from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday
Palm Sunday (April 13):
| Holy Week Meditation:
Loving God, your son Jesus took up his cross in obedience to your will and desire for justice and died for us by trusting in you. Help us to follow him on his way of the cross, on the way of non-violence and peace so that what you saw and loved in him, you may see and love in us. Amen (Written by the
Rev Dr Sandra A. Wilson, Rector,
Episcopal Church of Gethsemane, Minneapolis, MN) |
Highway Clean-up
The Spring Clean-up of the section of Hwy 1 has been scheduled for Saturday, April 26. Show up at the Pike River Bridge at 10 AM and bring gloves. Vests will be provided. Rain Date is Saturday, May 3. Questions to your Transition Team member.
Region II Meeting
The Region II Meeting was held Feb 22 at St. Paul’s
Episcopal Church, Duluth. Only St. John’s and St. Mary’s were without
representation.
The topics of discussion included:
General Convention 2003 Needs Volunteers
The next General convention will be held in Minneapolis
from July 30 to Aug 8. The Diocese needs volunteers to assist delegates
and visitors during the convention. Volunteer shifts are four hours
long and there are tasks to fit your abilities. Details are available
online.
Paper registration forms are available from your
Senior Warden or through the contacts on the webpage.
May Epistle
Deadline for input to the May 2003 issue of The East Range Epistle is Wednesday, April 16, to Carol Morello (218-744-1615, or fax: 218-744-1635). Processing is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, April 23.
Epistle Contribution Schedule
The schedule for the lead article for the next three issues of is:
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St. John's
News
(Submitted by Nancy Harvey) |
Vestry Meeting
There was nothing significant to report from the Vestry
Meeting of March 10, 2003.
There will be no Vestry Meeting in April
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St. Mary's News |
New Service Schedule
Starting Saturday, April 26, the Rev George Porthan will be celebrating Holy Eucharist every Saturday at 4:30 PM at St. Mary’s in Tower.
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St. Paul's News |
Easter Lilies
People from St. Paul's can purchase lilies for $10 and may leave them at the church or bring them home. If plants are offered as a memorial or in thanksgiving, tell Gail Coon (218-744-5138 or 218-744-5099) and she will put a list together to be read at the Easter service.
In April, St. Paul’s Churchwomen will continue meeting each Wednesday at the Guild Hall at 12:30 PM. Come join us for something to interest everyone, and not always work (we meet for lunch every third Wednesday). For information, contact Dorothy (218-741-1613). Everyone is invited.
St. Paul’s Directory
The updated directory for St. Paul’s should be ready for distribution
by the first Sunday in April. Please help us save postage by making an
effort to pick your copy up during April. Copies not picked up May
4 will be mailed out.
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Again this month we have space available on a page at the end of this issue of The Epistle, so I will fill the space with some thoughts. Between the deadline for this issue and the final printing, I attended a meeting of the Environmental Stewardship Commission of our diocese. For me these meetings are always a spiritual charge to the depleted battery of my daily spiritual life. A small group of dedicated individuals comes together to pray about and work for the preservation of “this fragile earth, our island home.” It is not a group of “overaged hippies” or “tree huggers” or even “pantheists” (as they have been unjustly accused), but a small dedicated group of individuals who have found a call from Jesus Christ to care for the earth. This quarterly meeting was at the Episcopal Church of Gethsemane in downtown Minneapolis. Friday evening, we took time to worship with the parishioners in a service of Stations of the Cross. The service was unlike any Stations of the Cross that I have experienced in my life. The Rev. Dr. Sandra A. Wilson has taken each of the 14 Stations and framed them in terms of issues of justice (e.g., the Ninth Station is entitled “Jesus falls a third time – The world breaks the spirit of those who resist”). Instead of reading about a far-off event in a time long ago, we are reminded vividly that, like Jesus’ birth and death, also his suffering were once and for all time, but also a continuing event that we experience daily. We all heard the words “Even the earth itself carries the scars and wounds of war, greed and sin. The ground is radioactive, the water polluted, the air fouled, the ozone destroyed. All creation cries out for rescue, for salvation, for freedom, for ... reconciliation and peace.” It was hard to listen to the words without reflecting on the things I’ve seen and experienced in the past: a century of polluting ground, willful contamination of water supply, destroying something irreplaceable on earth in the name of “improving society” or “making life easier”, etc. Given the backdrop of the events happening in the world, we found most things these Stations of the Cross spoke about not only touched on the environmental concerns of the group, but often totally overlapped these concerns: the war in Iraq,the production of chemical weapons, drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the low water levels on the Great Lakes, inhumane treatment of minorities; we all felt we heard the collective sound reverberating in the moan of Christ on the Cross. His creation, his very being, was being poisoned, polluted, and destroyed. It did not matter if it was for good reasons or bad reasons. After the service we sat together in a sad silence, recognizing that we are as often the polluters as well as the polluted; the hurt as well as the hurting. For my bedtime reading, I took the text of a sermon given about three years ago at the Cathedral of St. Mark, entitled “The Christian’s Responsibility for the Relevant Environment” The sermon was based on Matthew 25:14-30 and Psalm 96. The sermon raises many environmental issues, however, from the passage in Matthew the homilist states that there is an important lesson for all of us to take home: “it is not enough just to preserve what is given to us as stewards. We have an obligation to increase it.” In terms of actions an individual (or a congregation) can take, he suggests that if “every one planted one tree every year and tended it ... within a few years our communities would eclipse the Garden of Eden.” Now that is an image I can identify with – increasing the number of trees on this planet earth as a way to help turn back or even just slow the damage our predecessors and we have done. Every tree I plant and water and tend is a step on the road to a better environment, to amending our communal lives. The homilist stated that for those who cannot plant a tree, we “still have the power of speech or can hold a pen to paper” to take action to improve our environment. This action can be to speak out as Christians (see Steve MacAusland’s article or visit the webpage with the Pastoral Letter), to write a check to plant a tree, or to write our legislators. Easter is the season of rebirth, it is a time when trees blossom with leaves and all creation comes alive again. It is our annual reminder that Christ’s resurrection is the eternal promise he left us. If we plant or purchase a tree, or speak out about our environment we make a statement as Christians that we want to continue to experience this resurrection every year as that tree blossoms and grows. Peace ~ ~ Chuck
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