Last fall, I was privileged to attend an online private screening of The Philadelphia Eleven, a new documentary about the first women-ordained priests in the Episcopal Church. Those eleven women were ordained on July 29, 1974, at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia, two years before the Episcopal Church officially permitted the ordination of …
By Dr. Angel Wang In the book of Genesis, Adam and Eve were given charge over Creation as “dominion” or “stewardship”. Could a third, rarely recognized interpretation be “partnership”? Harvard philosopher Christine Korsgaard, in her book Fellow Creatures: Our Obligations to the Other Animals, makes the case that humans are not inherently more important than animals and …
Most of you are aware that I formed a friendship with a Kenyan bishop, John Oringa, at the Lambeth Conference last summer. In our conversations, he indicated that his clergy in this missionary diocese are often not paid due to lack of funds, and having put out the call to the Diocese of Arizona, many …
Are you aware that as Arizonans we have the opportunity to make known our position on the various bills that are being considered by our State legislature by simply going online using the Request to Speak (RTS) system? Legislators have indicated that they read and remember RTS comments and registering your Bill Position can help …
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” All over our diocese today, we are saying and hearing those words. Remember. You are dust. You shall return to dust. There is also a lot of dust blowing in the strong winds. Dust getting everywhere–blowing into homes, and cars, and ears, and eyes. …
I was honored to be invited by Representative Oscar de los Santos to give the invocation at the beginning of today’s legislative session of the Arizona House of Representatives. Please join me in praying for our legislators and their staff. Here are the words I prayed: God, grant your grace to this session of the …
By The Rev. Canon Pam Hyde “Is creation care really something that we need to pay attention to in church?” As I talk to people in our churches in the diocese, I’ve heard this question a couple of times. But more often I’ve heard people indirectly question the importance of caring for God’s creation in …
As I write this week’s Epistle, Tyre Nichols is being laid to rest in Memphis. I don’t know that I have more relevant words to share on his death than those of Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Bishop Phoebe Roaf of West Tennessee. Presiding Bishop Curry’s statement is here, and Bishop Roaf’s is here. I …
By Bill Robinson When Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, it’s estimated that there were over 4000 varieties of maize, or corn, growing in North America. Many of these varieties looked different from the corn we know today. They were being grown across an immense spectrum of geography and climate. The diversity and …
January 17th is the Feast Day of St. Antony of Egypt, one of the fourth-century Desert Fathers and Mothers whose wisdom was collected and has been passed down to our own day in various translations. I first encountered them in Thomas Merton’s translation, The Wisdom of the Desert, and I turn back to it periodically, …
Written by George Hartz The City of Scottsdale has had a sister city relationship since December 2013 with Uasin Gishu County in western Kenya. My wife Donna and I have had the privilege and joy of visiting Kenya eight times in support of this relationship. During those visits, we have also gotten to know, and …
It has already been a fascinating experience serving on the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music for the Episcopal Church. One key piece of what I am working on is the continued development of the www.episcopalcommonprayer.org website, per a resolution at the last General Convention. The site currently has a great list of liturgical resources, …