tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40895033306221906072023-11-16T13:47:28.048-05:00Saints Alive!The blog of All Saints Episcopal Church-East Lansing. A place for us to extend our living community into cyberspace. Comments on postings and online discussion are encouraged.All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.comBlogger232125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-14310886467326840542011-03-14T17:41:00.001-04:002011-03-14T17:42:51.176-04:00Episcopal Relief and Development in JapanEpiscopal Relief and Development has announced plans to help the Anglican church in Japan. Check out the report at ERD.All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-73862737735295785352011-03-14T17:31:00.002-04:002011-03-14T17:38:25.396-04:0040 Bags in 40 DaysThis idea has floated around the blogosphere for a while ... as a Lenten discipline, try to remove a bag of clutter from your home every day for 40 days. People who are clutter-prone might need to try a large black garbage bag. For others, small grocery bags might do it.Maybe you could take a week and call it "recycle" week. Have every bag that week be stuff that needs to go to the Recycling All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-39102199313443660442011-03-11T11:54:00.009-05:002011-03-11T12:07:22.358-05:00What IS it about Lent?A parishioner recently asked these questions: "Educate one of your sheep. I have no Catholic background and have no understanding of the significance of Ash Wednesday. Why do we celebrate Ash Wednesday? What do the ashes mean? (dust to dust, ashes to ashes) or something else? What does Lent signify? Is it something specific in the Bible? Or is the 40-day period merely building on the 40 days All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-61328841532933374132010-04-10T23:08:00.001-04:002010-04-10T23:10:26.669-04:00Sermon for tomorrowAll Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-76345928749224905392010-03-24T18:04:00.002-04:002010-03-24T18:16:15.983-04:00Wednesday in HaitiFun in the sun, the hot, hot sun continues. The clinic, with Monica at her chair, continues to see patients. Audrey did exams on more than 500 children today at St. Pierre School. The flouride team treated more than 700 students. This is one sign of the earthquake's effects ... the people coming in from Port-au-Prince to move in with relatives in the country bring their children and swell the All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-35877419080896003132010-03-23T13:17:00.003-04:002010-03-23T13:23:06.030-04:00Tuesday in HaitiCan you say hot? Can you say tired? Everyone is working hard in the heat. The clinic is seeing a steady stream of patients. No evidence of earthquake related injuries, just the usual round of chronic conditions relating to malnutrition and lack of health care. The children are beautiful ... they always are.Doug is out on the mobile team in Noyeux today. They have to take four by fours, ford All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-22530009375977121962010-03-21T12:33:00.002-04:002010-03-21T12:42:08.052-04:00Sunday in HaitiAll of us have arrived safely. We spent yesterday unloading the clinic. All Saints was there in every pack of Rolaids and every bottle of Children's Tylenol that we unpacked, sorted and stowed away. This is a smaller team this year ... half the size of last year's trip, and we are focusing on getting through our regular mission work without the dominating presence of Roger Matthews. It is All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-72628184110776595802010-03-19T11:14:00.003-04:002010-03-19T11:20:34.514-04:00On Our Way to HaitiWe are in the airport in Miami, waiting to board the flight to Port-au-Prince. Doug Powe and Eric Hegg should already be there, having traveled separately yesterday, slept in Ft. Lauderdale and gotten on their Haiti flights early this morning. They will have to wait as the rest of us straggle in on our various flights throughout the day. By 4 p.m. or so we should be on the road to Mirebalais, All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-9360650890483161202009-10-05T11:47:00.003-04:002009-10-05T11:56:30.007-04:00So what really happens in the Eucharist?The short answer is ... we don't know.However, I understand that there was a lot of discussion following Carrie Euler's presentation on Eucharistic controversies during the Reformation. People want to know... well, what do we think now?It would be easy to take the dodge offered by (or attributed to) Elizabeth I: Christ was the Word that spake it,He took the bread and brake it,And what that Word All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-58269749297702291472009-09-15T12:00:00.003-04:002009-09-15T12:29:41.445-04:00Hope for Overwhelmed MomsI am excited about the new MOPS group that will provide support and fellowship for mothers of children up through 6th grade. This group is open to the entire community, not only All Saints folks, and the first meeting is featuring a wonderful speaker.Karen Hossink, an Okemos author, has written a book about her struggles with parenting and her growing awareness that the challenge of All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-46200824308505220932009-08-22T21:57:00.002-04:002009-08-22T21:59:05.429-04:00A Meditation on StillnessThis video, by Eric Law, an Episcopal priest who has written extensively on inclusion and acceptance, reminds us ... on the brink of a busy academic year ... to be ...still ...All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-67405175434977426232009-08-08T17:33:00.002-04:002009-08-08T17:36:06.359-04:00Who Are We When our Walls Fall Down?That is the poignant question asked by an Episcopal priest, Tom Ehrich, in an essay in the Indianapolis Star. In this essay, he defends the moves the Episcopal Church has made to broaden its inclusion, but he critiques our beloved church as an institution that has "rewarded institutional tinkering and stopped dreaming. We depend on style and not substance. We worry about inherited property and All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-4352862362955965112009-07-17T10:19:00.002-04:002009-07-17T10:21:19.398-04:00Tweet!OK, against my better judgment, I am going to start posting Twitter updates. If you are a Twitter person, and want to receive updates, there is a button on the blog you can click to "follow" me. Mostly I will be posting tweets related to upcoming events or news about All Saints, and not (as on Facebook) whether I went to Crunchy's or Harrison Roadhouse for a burger.So if you want Twitter All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-36659998872561551122009-07-14T16:25:00.003-04:002009-07-16T10:18:45.942-04:00A Hopeful, and Quintessentially Anglican, ApproachResolution D025, as passed at General Convention yesterday, offers the Episcopal Church an astonishing way forward in the great messiness that has marked the debate about full inclusion of GLBT people.Quite simply, it tells the truth. It tells the truth about who we are as the American branch of the Anglican Communion. We are a church that has listened to the lives and stories of our gay and All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-87728202731075014872009-07-13T08:18:00.001-04:002009-07-13T08:21:03.073-04:00How to Start Your Monday1) Sit still in a place that you like. It should not be a place where you see any work or tasks that you need to accomplish.2) Sit there for five minutes. Be aware of your surroundings, the temperature, the sounds you hear, the things you see. Be completely present to the moment and to the place. If your mind starts running ahead to what you need to do today, just set that aside and return to All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-35301555413162064862009-07-11T14:04:00.004-04:002009-07-11T14:14:44.468-04:00From Hatred to HopeI went to downtown East Lansing this morning to check out the Sidewalk Sale, and ended up in Kirabo, the fair trade store. At the checkout counter, there was a basket of these tiny crosses. They are made from spent bullet casings left over from the brutal civil war that raged in Liberia in the 1990s. The artisans who make them created them to witness to the triumph of hope and healing over theAll Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-30430642317548492692009-07-10T09:28:00.003-04:002009-07-10T10:07:40.351-04:00Back to Blogging -- General Convention ThoughtsHello, there has been a hiatus in my blogging efforts. Periodically in my career as a writer I have simply run out of things to say (this can be a problem when preaching almost every week!). I try to respect those periods as times of silence and restoration, and allow God to work with me when my busy brain and keyboard fingers are still for a while.Nonetheless, "Saints Alive!" is back for now.All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-35427206829676664092009-05-13T08:19:00.003-04:002009-05-13T08:23:59.869-04:00What Your Kids Can Teach YouThis article in Slate ponders the mystery of what kids get out of worship. It is fascinating to watch children explore their spirituality and experience God in ways that might challenge us as adults. They ask questions we find hard to answer. They celebrate aspects of religious life in ways that make us uncomfortable ... all you have to do is hear them discussing the size and nature of the All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-33190615203770220572009-05-07T13:25:00.006-04:002009-05-07T13:35:02.187-04:00Archbishop Desmond Tutu Visits CMSU at All SaintsArchbishop Desmond Tutu visited with our Canterbury MSU students today in the Undercroft, sharing thoughts and wisdom with these young adults as they prepare for their lives and vocations in the wider world.Local clergy were invited to attend with their wardens,and Bishop Wendell Gibbs and his wife Karlah joined us for a tea lovingly prepared by women from All Saints and St. Paul's.Bp. Tutu had All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-25211954611850644142009-04-28T22:23:00.003-04:002009-04-28T22:28:23.311-04:00Taking Action for ChildrenJustice and advocacy for children has long been an important aspect of our calling to Christian witness and service here at All Saints. Our annual observance of the Children’s Sabbath, frequent collections to furnish apartments for children leaving foster care, layette and teddy bear collections, and our work with the families at Haven House, the project at the orphanage in Haiti, all show our All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-74501781612048475462009-04-27T07:56:00.009-04:002009-04-27T08:10:04.437-04:00Rebuilding InghamMore than two dozen All Saints folks spent their Saturday helping to restore the home of a woman in South Lansing, through Rebuilding Ingham. Rebuilding Ingham, formerly known as Christmas in April, sends out teams on a Saturday in April to repair the homes of elderly and ill people who are not able to repair their own homes, and who cannot afford to pay for others to do it.Our team assisted a All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-40375582039183616172009-04-23T09:38:00.003-04:002009-04-23T09:46:28.424-04:00Haiti Update and Coffee FundraiserSunday during coffee hour, members of the mission trip to Haiti will report on our work there, what we did and what we learned. We'll have an a/v presentation, and a chance for you to hear from the group about what was meaningful to us.Also, Cafe Rebo, a Haitian coffee, will be available for sale -- both whole beans and ground. A 10-ounce bag of either costs $8. The proceeds will serve as a All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-24164954859463175812009-04-22T08:15:00.001-04:002009-04-22T08:19:29.731-04:00Another PoemFrom Anne Porter's Fire, and Torrential RainFire, most beautiful of flowers,Whose only perfume is brightness,You have no season, and you bloomOn the highest of high altarsAnd under the vagrant's pot.Through centuries on centuriesLike Christ you are everywhere,To kindle the half cigarettesWhich the homeless find in the gutters,And the tall paschal candle.All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-4736337663508477232009-04-21T08:09:00.000-04:002009-04-21T08:10:35.147-04:00Seven Stanzas at Easter By John UpdikeMake no mistake: if He rose at all it was as His body; if the cells' dissolution did not reverse, the molecules reknit, the amino acids rekindle, the Church will fall. It was not as the flowers, each soft Spring recurrent; it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the eleven apostles; it was as His Flesh: ours. The same hinged thumbs and All Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4089503330622190607.post-76006890921259298652009-04-20T10:42:00.001-04:002009-04-20T10:43:32.941-04:00More About Faith ... And the BibleAs usual, Father Matthew Moretz tells it better than I can ...How to grapple with the Bible, particularly the question of Biblical inerrancy.+ KitAll Saints Episcopal Churchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17020697581260736557noreply@blogger.com2