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New Beginnings #52: May the Lord be With You!
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Garrett Shoemake, the Collegiate Church of St. Paul the Apostle, the Lead Teen for the weekend.
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New Beginnings, a retreat for youth in Grades 7-9, took place this past weekend at Honey Creek. 65 adults, middle school participants, and high school staff gathered to pray, play, listen, and talk about God's unconditional love in their lives, even when that love is difficult to see. Youth who were on staff gave talks on different aspects of their lives, including Identity ("Who am I?"), Family, Bullying ("Sticks and Stones"), Friends, Prayer, and many others. One particularly powerful piece of the weekend is the Saturday night worship service, in which participants offer those things they want to turn away from, that is, their sins, to God by placing pieces of paper in the fire. They then had the opportunity to go to one of several stations for prayers for healing.
One participant summed up the weekend this way: "I just had literally the best weekend I think I will ever have. And I spent it with the best family @realhoneycreek. New Beginnings #52 was amazing." Garrett Shoemake, who served as the Lead Teen for this weekend, commented afterward that "It was an impactful weekend! I am so happy to have been a part of it. Thank you to everyone who made it happen!" Sarah Bianco, from St Thomas', Isle of Hope, will be the Lead Teen for New Beginnings #53, to be held in the fall.
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Maggie received a cross from the Rev. Canon Joshua Varner, Canon for Children and Youth. |
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Maggie Bloodworth
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The weekend was bittersweet, as it was the final weekend at which Maggie Bloodworth will serve as Diocesan Coordinator for New
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The box the cross was packed in was decorated by participants with words that they felt reflected Maggie.
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Beginnings. After the Closing Eucharist on Sunday afternoon, the staff and participants celebrated Maggie's incredible ministry with the gift of a mosaic cross, many handwritten notes, and, of course, cake!
Upcoming Youth Events include our Work Weekend at Honey Creek, Toil 'N Sweat, for youth in Grades 6-12, which will take place April 13-15, and Hometown Missions, which will place in Augusta, June 1-3.
Register here for Toil 'N Sweat
Register here for Hometown Missions
Sarah Bianco, St. Thomas', Isle of Hope, upcoming Lead Teen for New Beginnings #53!
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This Sunday's Lections
Fifth Sunday
in Lent
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Jeremiah 31:31-34
Hebrew 5:5-10
John 12:20-33
Psalm 51:1-13
or
Psalm 119:9-16
Go
here for the full text.
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Dominic
an Republic Bishop
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Bishop Quezada greeting missioners from the United States during the Convention of the Diocese of the Dominican Republic in February.
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One interesting fact about our Companion Diocese of the Dominican Republic is that although it is located in a foreign country, it is a diocese within The Episcopal Church just like the Diocese of Georgia.
Last week Bishop Scott Benhase attended a meeting of the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops in Texas along with Bishop Moisés Quezada of the Dominican Republic. Bishop Quezada graduated from the Episcopal seminary in Santo Domingo in 1981 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1983. He served in several Dominican Episcopal churches before his ordination and consecration as Bishop Coadjutor in February 2016. Upon the retirement of Bishop Julio Holguín in November 2017, Bishop Quezada was seated as Bishop Diocesan and now is in charge of a diocese with 72 congregations, 25 schools and day care centers, and 5 conference centers.
Between 45 and 50 mission teams from the United States come to work in the Diocese of the Dominican Republic each year. Teams from St. Peter's (Skidaway Island) and St. Anne's (Tifton) have already worked there this year, and two more teams from Christ Church (Valdosta) and the Georgia Diocesan Youth Team are scheduled in June. Bishop
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Julia Ariail, Dominican Republic Missioner from Christ Church Valdosta with Bishop Quezada's wife, Mary Jeannette Pringle de Quezada, who will be helping to teach sewing at Christ Church's mission trip in June.
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Quezada's wife, Jeannette, has recently joined the Christ Church team to help teach sewing classes to local villagers using sewing machines donated by Christ Church several years ago. Mary Jeannette Pringle de Quezada is a professional clothing designer and seamstress and is eager to take an active part in one of the Dominican diocese's most vibrant programs, the hosting of mission teams and their work with local congregations. For more information on the Diocese of Georgia's companion relationship with the Diocese of the Dominican Republic, click here. If you would like to practice your Spanish, check out the website of the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic by clicking here.
-Julias Ariail
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Bishop Benhase blessed St. Philip's new playground at a dedication ceremony held during his annual visitation to the Hinesville parish.
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Register for ECW/DoK Retreat
Go Share the Spirit
, the Episcopal Church Women/Daughters of the King of the Diocese of Georgia 2018 retreat which will be held at St. Patrick's Church, Albany April 27-28. The keynote speaker will be the Rev. Kelly Steele of the Church of the Epiphany, Savannah.
Members who register and pay in full by March 31 will be entered into a drawing for a prize with a $200 retail value. The last day to register is Friday, April 20th.
For information on accomodations, go here.
To register and pay online by going
here.
To download the registration form and pay by mail, go
here.
To download the event schedule, go
here.
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Around the Diocese
Youth from
St. Augustine's, St. Paul's, Our Savior, and Holy Comforter in the
Augusta Convocation gathered Sunday, March 11th for the monthly youth gathering Cornerstone to pull out a time capsule put together by youth from Augusta parishes in 1998! They found memorabilia from parishes from all over the convocation-- from personal letters about God to memorable cultural items. After the youth had a chance to look at the old time capsule, a new time capsule was created using similar objects and notes that reflected 2018 including warm-fuzzies from Happening #100, a Honey Creek Revival Poster, and of course, something about One Direction.
Abby Brooks, (second from right) a recent confirmand from Holy Comforter Martinez, is one of the student leaders of March for Our Lives CSRA, a "sibling march" being held in solidarity with the march in Washington and across the country on Saturday, March 24. Holy Comforter has served as one of the area churches providing meeting space for the students.
 The group who attended a Contemplative Prayer Retreat led by Lynne Kemp and the Revs. Guillermo Arboleda, Kelly Steele and Hunt Priest at Honey Creek.
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Add Some Madness to Your Social Media
For many of us in the Diocesan House, the Madness began with Lent, following the progress of the great Saint of Georgia, Deaconess Anna Alexander, one of 32 saints in brackets devised for Lent Madness. We cheered when she won the first round and breathed a sigh of relief when the Deaconess prevailed in yesterday's match-up, receiving 65% of the votes to Edith Cavell's 35%.
You might wonder why we are putting so much energy into getting out the vote for the Deaconess. It's for the purest PR reason: we want people to know about her. We want to share her story: one of a strong woman who set her mind to do something and accomplished it despite overwhelming odds. Whether she had row or walk to the children that she educated she persevered, sustained by her love of the Lord. She'll be voted for "official" sainthood at the Episcopal General Convention in July and we want to make sure that all Episcopalians know her and that her sainthood is confirmed.
The next match-up for Deaconess Alexander in Lent Madness will be Friday, March 23rd. Do you feel inspired to join Team Deaconess? Not just to vote but to share some energy and creativity on social media, much as the students from the Episcopal Day School did in videos shared last week. Record a poem, or a cheer, perhaps gather your congregation to shout "Go Deaconess!" and share it on social media. Let us know about it too:
newsandevents@gaepiscopal.org. Use the hashtags #Team Deaconess and #LentMadness and we will share it too!
To learn more about Lent Madness in general, go to
LentMadness.org
and sign up for the daily email, or visit the website or Facebook page, daily in Lent.
Anna Iredale
Director of Communications
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Saluda Cottage Opens Soon!
The Diocese of Georgia's cottage in Saluda opens for the season soon and we encourage those who enjoy the seasonal cottage to make their reservations! We have instituted new procedures to rent the classic 1920's cottage.
To submit a request to rent the cottage fill out the form found
here and return it by email or through the U.S. Postal Service.
A calendar has been developed which lists dates that the cottage is available. It can be found here.
The rates for the cottage are now $250 per week for clergy in the Diocese of Georgia and $350 per week for all others.
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Prayers for Weekly Liturgies
Our one-year prayer cycle combines prayers for every congregation in the Diocese of Georgia with prayers for our ecumenical partners and for our Companion Diocese of The Dominican Republic. The 52 weekly prayers are available in one document
found here.
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Cochran, Trinity and for our ecumenical partners, especially St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Cairo. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the Church of the Holy Name (El Santo Nombre) in Catalina.
March 18-24
In our diocesan cycle of prayer, we pray for our congregation in Cordele, Christ Church and for our ecumenical partners in Cordele, especially St. Theresa Catholic Church. In our companion diocese of the Dominican Republic, we pray for the congregations in Consuelo, the Grand Commission (La Gran Comisión) and St. Gabriel (San Gabriel).
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Diocesan Office Update and News
Diocesan staff will be working from home this Friday as St. Patrick's Day celebrations commence in the neighborhood of Diocesan House. Contact the Canon for Administration, Katie Willoughby if necessary, kwilloughby@gaepiscopal.org
Bishop Scott Anson Benhase' full schedule is available
here.
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue is in Cleveland, Ohio, March 13-17 as co-convener of the planning team for Evangelism Matters, a conference bringing together 400 attendees from 83 dioceses. 23 sessions will be live-streamed and then archived at
www.evangelismmatters.org. On Sunday, he will be back at St. George's Savannah where he is serving this Lent, Holy Week, and Easter.
The Rev. Canon Joshua Varner will preach at St. Francis of the Islands Church, Savannah.
The Rev. David Lemburg, Priest in Charge of St. Patrick's Pooler will officiate at the noon Thursday service in St. George's Chapel at Diocesan House.
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Share your news in From the Field
Send your news, events and photos to
so we can feature them in upcoming issues of From the Field. Deadline for submissions each week is Monday at 4:30 PM.
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March 23-24
Grace, Waycross
Chrism Masses
Holy Monday, March 26
11 AM
Christ Church Valdosta
Light lunch to follow
Register
Holy Tuesday, March 27
Trinity Statesboro
Light lunch to follow.
The event is at no charge, but we need you to RSVP using the following links so that we will have the right number of lunches, including the correct count on those who need a vegetarian option.
Toil 'N Sweat Work Weekend for youth in grades 6-12
April 13-15
Honey Creek Retreat Center
Hometown Missions
June 1-3
Augusta, Georgia
For more information go
here.
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Last Look at New Beginnings #52
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The Diocese of Georgia also has a
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where you can watch past videos and subscribe to get updates when new videos are posted.
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