Weekend: Celebrate Anglican Communion Sunday
Episcopal News Service. May 25, 2005 [052505-2-A]
This Sunday, May 29, is Anglican Communion Sunday, a day to raise awareness of and celebrate the Anglican Communion.
The Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a member, is composed of 38 worldwide member churches, or provinces, all of which are in communion with the See of Canterbury. Each province exercises jurisdictional independence but shares a common heritage concerning Anglican identity and commitment to scripture, tradition, and reason as sources of authority.
Unity and cooperation in the Anglican Communion are encouraged by the Lambeth Conference which meets every 10 years. The work and vision of the Lambeth Conferences are continued between meetings by the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), the Communion's main legislative and only representative body which includes bishops, clergy and laity from Anglican and Episcopal churches throughout the world.
The 12th meeting of the ACC, held in Hong Kong in September 2002, passed a resolution urging provinces to observe Anglican Communion Sunday, and asked that a special offering be taken for the work of the ACC on that day.
The Anglican Cycle of Prayer requests that prayers be said this Sunday for the Anglican Communion, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), the Secretary General, and the staff of the Anglican Communion Office, which is based in London, England.
The celebration falls on the Sunday closest to the feast of St. Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury (AD 597-604).
Further information about the Anglican Communion can be found online at www.anglicancommunion.org.
Coming up Sunday, May 29, 2005...
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- State Day prayers this Sunday will honor Oklahoma on Sunday, May 29, at Washington National Cathedral, Massachusetts and Wisconsin Avenues Northwest (Mount St. Alban), Washington, D.C., 20016; 202.537.6200; www.cathedral.org. Next Sunday, June 5: State Day prayers will remember New Mexico.
ANGLICAN COMMUNION -- Following the Anglican Cycle of Prayer, this Sunday is Anglican Communion Sunday. Pray for the Anglican Communion, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), the Secretary General and the Anglican Communion Office staff. The Anglican Cycle of Prayer can be accessed online at: www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/main.cfm.
Coming up Monday, May 30, 2005 (Memorial Day)...
NEW YORK -- The New York Philharmonic Orchestra, led by assistant conductor Xian Zhang, will perform its 14th annual free Memorial Day concert at 8 p.m. on Monday, May 30, at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York. The program includes Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.
Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The doors will open at 7 p.m. Additional seating will be available, weather permitting, on the Pulpit Green adjacent to the Cathedral. Further information, call the Cathedral's Visitors' Center at 212.316.7540.
Please note: The estimated concert duration is 1 hour and 15 minutes. This concert will be performed without intermission.
Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10025. Tel: 212.316.7540. www.stjohndivine.org.
Looking ahead:
Coming up Friday, June 3, 2005...
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- An evening of Broadway music will be performed by St. Paul's Choir, featured soloists, and guest musicians, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, June 3, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Salt Lake City, Utah. The concert is open to the public and free of charge. A reception will follow the performance.
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 261 South 900 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84102 (801) 322-5869. www.stpauls-slc.org.
SEWANEE, Tennessee -- Education for Ministry (EFM) will hold its 30th Anniversary Celebration at the University of the South's School of Theology in Sewanee, Tennessee, June 3-5.
EFM students, graduates, mentors, coordinators, and trainers will gather to celebrate a program of theological education and reflection that has touched the lives of more than 60,000 people around the world.
The conference will include lectures, presentations, workshops, and idea swapping, with plenty of time for networking and fellowship.
Registration and a detailed description of the event are posted on the EFM website at www.sewanee.edu/EFM/EFMhome.html. The conference qualifies as Alternate Mentor Training for eligible participants. The cost, which includes tuition, housing, and meals, is $229 for single accommodations and $248 for double accommodations. Call 800.722.1974 or e-mail efm@sewanee.edu to register.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The second annual Washington Early Music Festival, "Spain and the New World," is set for June 3-26. The festival, which offers performances in downtown churches, among them the Episcopal parishes of St. Mark's and St. James', Capitol Hill, and Epiphany, D.C., will explore the early music of Spain and its former colonies, dance and visual arts.
The performances will showcase lesser-known music of an earlier era, some of which has languished unheard for years in archives at the Library of Congress and the Peabody Library.
This year's offerings include a concert by composer Tomas Luis de Victoria, a Spanish Renaissance composer who created ethereal sacred music; a concert featuring Renaissance polyphony for "high voices" only -- alto, countertenor and soprano; music unique to the remote reaches of Iberia; traditional music of the Sephardic Jews in their language of Ladino or Judeo-Espanol; and music from the Latin American Spanish colonies with its intermingling of native and Spanish influences.
The festival will feature many local early music performers, including both well established and new ensembles. Festival-goers can join a dance workshop or participate in an all day exploration of the music of Phillippe Rogier, culminating in a performance of their own.
St. Mark's, Capitol Hill, is once again hosting an arts show.
The Washington Early Music Festival was founded in 2003. Further information: www.earlymusicdc.org.
Coming up Saturday, June 4, 2005...
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Episcopal Church and its Office of Government Relations have joined in partnership with Bread for the World, Call to Renewal and other faith organizations to hold the One Table, Many Voices Conference -- a mobilization to end poverty and hunger -- in Washington, D.C., June 4-7.
"This important event is a call to action to fight hunger both at home and abroad," said Maureen Shea, director of government relations. "Activists, lay and clergy leaders, heads of communion will gather to learn, worship, and lobby together to feed the hungry. We hope many Episcopalians will join us."
The Office of Government Relations will host pre-conference workshops on Saturday, June 4, from 1-5 p.m. Episcopalians planning to be present at the conference are invited to attend workshops on current legislation, the work of the Episcopal Church, and grassroots organizing.
The four-day conference will educate and train attendees on domestic and global issues involving hunger and poverty. Participants will be able to meet anti-hunger and poverty advocates from around the country and world in plenary sessions and workshops.
Featured speakers will include the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World; the Rev. Jim Wallis, convener and president for Call to Renewal; Bhante Dhammasiri, president of Washington Buddhist Vihara; Grandmother Connie Mirabal, Elder of the Hopi Nation; and Ray Suarez, senior correspondent, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.
There will also be inspiring worship services, a reception at the French Embassy (recognizing the 24 Millennium Challenge Account eligible countries), and an Interfaith Convocation at Washington National Cathedral on Monday, June 6 at 7 p.m. with Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold introducing guest speaker Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town. The conference will culminate on National Hunger Awareness Day with a rally at the MCI Center to kick-off the Hunger Lobby Day on Capitol Hill.
To register please visit the One Table, Many Voices website www.onetableconference.org