Mother Nature will take charge of the children at Camp Amazing Grace this summer June 27- July 2 at the Bishop Claggett Center. Craft projects and activities will show the campers how nature can work for them and vice versa.
 
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, with the help of St. Margaret's, Annapolis, plans to lead them on a canoeing environmental adventure on the Monocacy River.
 
The camp for children of prisoners and parolees works to break the cycle of children following their parents into prison, once a 70 percent possibility. Now in its fifth year, leaders have found that returning campers have made it onto honor rolls, into gifted and talented classes, and have earned scholarships to private schools. Graduates older than 12 are earning scholarships to regular Claggett camps.
 
Daily themes will also include communication, listening, team building, decision-making and leadership. Planned activities include swimming, fishing, the ropes course, a nature scavenger hunt, hiking, music, sports, astronomy, juggling, dancing and worship.
 
Camp leaders will call on Michael Jackson for the camp theme, "I can make a change" using the song, "Man in the Mirror," with lyrics saying, "I'm starting with the man in the mirror, I'm asking him to change his ways ..."
 
Camp Amazing Grace is sponsored by the Prison Ministry Task Force and is led by the executive team of Rick Conover, St. John's Church, Ellicott City, and Linda Rines, St. James' Parish, Lothian. Will Pass and Holly Pass are camp director and program director respectively.
 
It all happens because of contributions to the Bishops' Appeal and donors like CSX, Inc., Kissinger Financial Services, Church of the Redeemer and the Church Club as well as St. Margaret's, Annapolis.

 

Nearly seven years ago Hurricane Isabel slammed into Maryland leaving behind in its wake flooding, property damage, long-term power outages and injuries. This past winter we experienced record-breaking snowfalls, resulting in many people being homebound without power until snowplows could reach their streets.
 
In July 2001 a CSX freight train derailed 11 cars in the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore. Eight different agencies responded to this accident, including the Baltimore City Fire Department, Maryland Department of the Environment Hazardous Materials specialists and Baltimore Department of Public Works. Countless emergency responders and others worked around the clock. The water main break and resulting hazardous materials fire, which burned for five days, closed downtown Baltimore for days and the immediate area was affected for weeks.
 
Beyond our own diocese there are disasters both natural and man-made - tornadoes, flooding, coal mine explosions , oil spills, earthquakes, school shootings and more. Each of us responds as best we can or is left to ask: What could I have done to help?
 
To answer that question, and to prepare for future disasters, the diocese is forming a disaster preparedness and response leadership team and a volunteer network in association with Episcopal Relief and Development. I have been asked by Bishop Sutton to coordinate these efforts.
 
The first step is developing the leadership team, Disaster Emergency Response Team of Maryland (DERT/MD). There are people throughout the diocese who are already doing this work. I want to learn from those on the front lines how best to coordinate our efforts and invite them to work with me as leaders in our disaster response.
 
Creating a volunteer network of responders, relief workers and long-term recovery teams is the second step. It is with the help of DERT/MD that this network will be developed and then linked to similar lists in other dioceses. This effort is being coordinated by Katie Mears, program manager for domestic disaster preparedness and response for ER-D.

More than 300 people attended the second annual Interfaith Earth Day service at St. Philip's Church, Annapolis, April 22. The Rev. Angela F. Shepherd, rector, was the moderator and host of the service. From left to right are: Kim Coble, member of St. Margaret's Church, Annapolis, and director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Maryland Chapter and the diocesan Environmental Committee chair; Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton;  Martha Johnson of First Presbyterian Church, Annapolis, and federal General Services Administrator. Sutton gave a moving personal talk on environmental involvement.

 

Photo: Don Schroeder

 

Members of FOCUS (Families of Clergy United in Support) enjoyed a wonderful weekend retreat at the Bishop Claggett Center this March. The FOCUS retreat, entitled Hearing God's Voice in the Whirlwind of Clergy Family Life,was an opportunity for fellowship, growth and personal reflection as the time was both structured and unstructured.
 
Participants included Becky Fisher, Linda Hollis, Gwen Spicer, Sharon Rabb, Anne Daly, Fran Lodder, Bonye Norton, Judy Cloughen, Mallory Kubicek, Patti Carter, Tish Brown and Katie Bell.
 
The weekend began Friday evening with an informal supper at the North Cottage. After a time of sharing, everyone felt like old friends, even those who had never attended any FOCUS functions. Meditations prepared by Debra Barton were used in the evening.
 
On Saturday morning we had a general meeting and overview of the national FOCUS organization followed by guided reflection and a presentation.
 
After lunch we discussed To Pause at the Threshold, a wonderful book written by Anglican clergy spouse Esther de Wall, followed by some options for free time, including walking the labyrinth, a Claggett Scavenger Hunt, hiking, just visiting or having a personal reflection.
 
After dinner on Saturday, many chose to stay the night. The retreat concluded with worship on Sunday morning in the Chapel of St. Thomas Becket, also known as the silo chapel.
 
The FOCUS retreat will continue as an annual event. It will be March 18-20 at the Bishop Claggett Center in 2011. All clergy spouses and partners are welcome at all FOCUS events. An informal luncheon was held at Diocesan Convention. FOCUS will also have a program at the Clergy Conference at Rocky Gap, Oct. 17-19. 
 
For more information about FOCUS, visit www.episcopalmaryland.org/focus. Contact co-conveners Judy Cloughen, judithcloughen@mac.com, or Gwen Spicer, allenandgwen@comcast.net, to learn more or take an active role in FOCUS. 
 
Photo: Katie Bell and Patti Carter during meditation at the March FOCUS retreat. Photo by: Judy Cloughen

 

The woman who led the Maryland delegation to General Convention 2009, sitting in the House of Deputies with the stuffed red crab hanging over her shoulder, gave the convention report to the diocese at its convention April 30 before heading to Los Angeles for her consecration as a bishop.
 
She opened with a hilarious story about being recognized and -- not. Then she zeroed in on the mission of Maryland's delegation to the church's top legislative body - a job she handled over the years with bounding energy, cheer and whip precision, daring any to lag behind. 
 
"Our mission," she said, "is to reconcile the world to God through Christ, and we do that by carrying out the ministry Jesus modeled for us in the world Jesus died to save," she said. "We need to remind ourselves of these basic core values, the roots of our identity and the life-giving grace of God's Holy Spirit, strengthening and compelling us to bring about a more loving and just world, which is to say, the Reign of God."
 
The delegation of bishops, clergy and lay members did indeed vote to bring about a more loving and just world with some important resolutions, including those that would:

The tributes at the Diocesan Convention to departing Bishop-elect Mary D. Glasspool began Friday afternoon with words of praise for the former rector and canon to the bishops.
 
She is, they said, "Fully present, fully engaged." "She treats us as important as the bishops." "She is always in motion." "She has the courage to take on the hard issues." And from Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton: "She has never shrunk from doing the hard thing," as when  she told the congregation at St. Margaret's that it had to give away a $2.5 million bequest. 
 
A video created by the Rev. William F. "Chip" Lee dredged up hilarious and touching photos, memories, stories and songs. Then, like the old TV show, "This Is Your Life," in walked Bishop Barbara C. Harris, a friend from the early 1980s in Philadelphia and the first woman ordained an Episcopal bishop in 1989.
 
Harris said she never would have believed that "both of us would one day sit in the House of Bishops.  God indeed has a sense of humor." She said she was proud of Glasspool and added, "Baby, keep doing what you're doing.  But don't take yourself too seriously, you're not that great. But if you are taking yourself too seriously, put on the mitre and look in the mirror.  It ain't pretty."
 
Harris said nothing would prepare the bishop-elect for this job but "the Holy Spirit will be leading you."  Some days, she said, "You will want to sing, 'By George I've got it,' then there will be those other days when you will feel like you're trying to put pantyhose on an octopus."
 
"Just stand up," she concluded. "The power behind you is greater than the task ahead of you."
 
Glasspool's partner of 19 years, Becki Sander, who holds degrees in theology and social work, told the convention, "We have been very happy here."
 
Retired Bishop Robert W. Ihloff announced her gifts, which included a bishop's vestments and pectoral cross, photos of the old and new Bishop Claggett Center and a watercolor montage.
 
The bishop-elect's final words to the Diocese of Maryland: "You are deeply embedded in my heart and soul. I will take you with me."

Some Anglican dioceses look to Maryland for support in confronting divisive social justice issues, said the Convention keynoter, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Butler, retired bishop of Southwark in South London.
 
"Dioceses like my former diocese need you to stand alongside them in a church becoming, if anything, more conservative," said the Anglican bishop, who is also a member of the House of Lords. "There are mega battles ahead and we'll lose some of them in the short term, I stand here to ask you to hang in there ... The Anglican Communion may not appreciate us overmuch at the present time, but whether it realizes it or not, it needs the dedication, discipleship and insights of the American Episcopal Church."
 
The silver-haired cleric said his visit to the ECSM (Episcopal Community Services of Maryland) Ark - the only preschool in Baltimore for homeless children - reminds us that "the church doesn't live for itself alone but for others." It is no "otherworldly island," he said. We are called "to engage with every aspect of daily living and all of the ethical issues of the day, to speak our truth to power and powerlessness, to make our contribution to the common good in a world of many faiths."
 
He summarized the "fundamental rocks" in the history of Anglicanism, including the "disgrace of the sin of slavery," and said the "constant strand" has been "the demand for social justice" such as prison reform, schools for all children and universal health service. The most dramatic examples in recent years, he said, were the "civil rights movement here and Bishop Desmond Tutu and others in demolishing the apartheid system in South Africa."
 
Bishop Butler said in the history of Christianity, power has shifted from Britain's "cultural imperialism" to other continents and countries. "Africa is finding its voice." Add in the Middle East, he said, and the changes have been "immense." With 24-hour news, "We are all affected by one another's words and actions."
 
He said he is not surprised to see that the issue of same sex relationships is being used to claim that "Christianity is corrupt and is a foreign, Western presence." Yet in his diocese, Bishop Butler said, "Matters of divorce and same-sex relations are just nonissues. Almost every household has a family member which previous generations would have found problematic. And many still do. Most want to open our doors equally without discrimination to race, gender and sexuality and see this as a Gospel justice matter, as you do," he added.
 
But there will be trouble ahead, he predicted. "You must be prepared for a strong global reaction following the consecration of Canon Glasspool. With such an able potential bishop as Mary Glasspool, you have already made up your minds that to delay further would be unjust, whatever the consequences."
 
"The spirit of your convention," said Bishop Butler, is of a "generous, serious people engaged in a generous, serious task: 'The Mission of God.' Go forward into the future for God and with God."
 
Val Hymes is a member of St. James', Lothian, and a MCN contributing editor.

The Second Annual All God's PEEPS Bible story diorama contest held this spring awarded prizes to seven entrants at Diocesan Convention. People from across the diocese were invited to enter dioramas depicting a Bible story, Psalm or parable featuring PEEPS Brand Candies. This is a popular way to teach Christian Formation - ten of the 19 entries were from religious classes.
 
Contest entrants were encouraged to bring their creations to Diocesan Convention and photos of all the entries were projected onto the screens in the ballroom while this year's seven winners were announced. Reactions ranged from oohs and aahs to outright laughter as PEEPS were seen parting the Red Sea, loading animal crackers onto Noah's Ark and turning water into wine, with supporting characters of gummy snakes, gumball apples, Swedish fish and pretzel rod loaves.
 
During the award ceremony, the Rev. Amy Richter, rector of St. Anne's Parish, Annapolis, and co-creator of the contest explained, "Entrants were asked to submit photos of their dioramas for judging. The judges received the photo, category and Bible story or verse - no names were included in the judges' packets."
 
Bishops Sutton and Rabb chose the top two overall winners for the Bishops' Choice Awards  As a prize partner with Just Born, Inc., the makers of PEEPS, the diocese awarded to the first place winners, Katelyn Lindsay (15) and Claire Scarborough (15), a sparkling, hand-blown glass PEEPS Chick with Swarovski crystal eyes, PEEPS and other Just Born candy brands, valued at more than $150. The second place Bishops' Choice award winner, Bethany Blamphin (14), received a PEEPS tote bag, baseball cap, PEEPS and other Just Born candy brands, valued at more than $100.
 
The Category Awards judges were then-Rev. Canon Mary Glasspool, Dr. John Orens, professor of European History, and the Rev. Timothy Schenck, humorist. Those five winners received Diocesan Prize Packs featuring goodies from the Diocesan youth missioner, the Rev. Wes Wubbenhorst, Just Born candies and the Baltimore Orioles.
 
Stock up on your PEEPS for next spring's contest when the theme will be depicting the Proclamation Priority.

 

View winners and all 2010 entries at: www.episcopalmaryland.org/christian_formation/peeps.php.

 

St. Paul's School for Girls concluded its 50th Anniversary year on Friday, April 16 with an afternoon liturgy at Old St. Paul's Church in downtown Baltimore. SPSG is an Episcopal college-preparatory school for students in grades 5-12, located in the Green Spring Valley of Baltimore County.
 
At noon on April 16, the entire school of 500 students and teachers journeyed to Old St. Paul's Church, at Charles and Saratoga Streets, to celebrate the 200-year-old connection between the school and the church. The 1 p.m. service featured student singers and dancers. Bishop John L. Rabb preached.
 
"St. Paul's School for Girls has a rich and deep tradition of reframing the questions. Your rich history speaks to the reality of seeking not just to teach, but to provide a place where each young woman can fully discover the person God has called her to be.  Sadly so much of American education is about "teaching to tests."  Creativity, questioning and being challenged often take a back seat to rote testing. But your call is to be as St. Paul says about overturning the conventional thinking and offering a new reality," said Bishop Rabb in his sermon.
 
About SPSFG
While officially on the hillside at Falls Road and Seminary for 50 years, the school traces its roots to 1799 when the Benevolent Society of the City and County of Baltimore, a committee made up of parishioners from St. Paul's Episcopal Church (Old St. Paul's) established a place for poor girls to learn domestic skills as well as reading and writing, a visionary move in the early 1800s. From its earliest beginnings, SPSG embraced a mission that held tight to its Episcopal heritage and traditions.
 
The school changed names and locations over the next two centuries and closed for a few years in the early 1950s. In 1958, members of the Benevolent Society, which was still in operation, decided to once again found a girls' school. St. Paul's School for Girls opened on September 16, 1959.
 
The Brooklandville school has grown from 89 girls and a handful of faculty in 1959 to more than 440 girls and more than 100 teachers and staff members in 2010. SPSG has become a premier girls' school in Baltimore, offering challenging academics, leadership opportunities, championship athletics, dynamic arts, global initiatives, and an Episcopal heritage of service to others. In all areas, faculty members strive to teach girls the way girls learn best. The Gator is the school mascot and exemplifying the joyful spirit that makes SPSG a very special place for girls to learn and to grow.
    
http://www.spsfg.org/about_spsg/history/index.aspx

Photo: Joe Rubino