East Tennessee Friends, I want to commend to you the statement below from Bishops United Against Gun Violence. I am a member of this network of Episcopal bishops committed to ending the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S. Our core gospel work as Episcopalians in East Tennessee is the ministry of reconciliation. A reconciled land is one where the vision we hear from Zechariah is made real, “where old men and old women shall again sit in the streets
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July 29 is the 45th Anniversary of the first ordinations of women in The Episcopal Church, the “Philadelphia 11.” In April 2015, East Tennessee Episcopal Church Women sponsored a Symposium and Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Women’s Ordination with two of the Philadelphia 11, and the author of a book about the 11. Below is a reprise of the article written by Pam Strickland about the celebration. They were compared to witches and called names by male priests that
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By Bro. Andrew Aelred “In all times and places, the Eternal One calls forth souls to help creation realize its destiny. God so calls us, believers from many Christian denominations, to come together into the Ecumenical Order of Charity. Through living out the principles embodied in our rule of life, The Founding Document, and through the profession of our five unique vows, we dedicated ourselves to becoming active conscious participants in the unfolding of the Reign of God on Earth, co-workers with Our
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By Brother Larry Walter Reich In 2009 I began my journey to answer God’s call. At my age, the priesthood and diaconate were not in my future. At that time we had two brothers at St. Paul’s in Chattanooga that were in the Brotherhood of St. Gregory (BSG). This is a large order of Friars in The Episcopal Church. I began to ask questions of them and I had a dream that this was what God has called me to
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I recently hiked up Mt. LeConte with a group of hikers, mostly made up of Good Samaritan Knoxville members. There were nearly 60 of us and we chose different trails to make our way up to the Lodge, where we spent the night. My group chose the Boulevard Trail. Somehow, our trail required you to walk uphill BOTH ways. I’m really serious. Both going and coming, there were stretches of uphill, even in the descent. My quads are only now
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“Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?” “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” —Book of Common Prayer, p. 305. “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” —Deuteronomy 10:17 (NRSV) Dear East Tennessee Friends, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I write to you as we prepare
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St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church, Knoxville, Tenn. John 6:37-40 Go west. Make space. Lose nothing. Even before he was ordained as a deacon, Jim Parry did a rather rare thing. And he did it three times. He went west and helped start a new Episcopal parish church. Now when I say west, I do not mean West Memphis or western Kansas or South Dakota. I mean Northshore Drive and Cedar Bluff Road and Farragut–Ascension and Good Samaritan and St. Elizabeth’s. Jim
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Dear friends in East Tennessee, When I retired from serving as your bishop, so many of you were so kind and gracious to give me a monetary gift. I initially told some folks I thought Kammy and I would take a trip to the island of Iona in Scotland – a holy place that’s long been on my list. I still hope to go there someday, but I decided something more active sounded better. The Camino to Santiago de Compostela
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Bishop Brian is pleased to announce that Mary Embler will be joining our diocesan staff as Diocesan Administrator when Kirby Purjet retires in August. But you’ll be seeing Mary at the Diocesan House before then as she and Kirby will be working together as August approaches. Mary is a Knoxville native and has been a member of Good Samaritan in Knoxville for 36 years. She is a graduate of Tennessee Wesleyan University with a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in
Read More “…Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these the kingdom of heaven belongs.” ~Matthew 19:14 (NRSV) This past Saturday evening, Susan and I attended a Vespers service at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Knoxville. We were there to celebrate the reopening of the main church, which was badly damaged in an April 2015 fire. The Vespers and rededication was led by Metropolitan Alexios, the Greek Orthodox bishop who oversees
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