THE REV. WILL McQUEEN

We welcome this month our newest staff member, The Rev. William Northington McQueen, III.  Will and his family (wife Robyn, son William, daughter Sarah Kathryn, and mother-in-law Grace) have taken up residence at 111 Nottingham Drive.  He begins his duties with us as Deacon-in-Training on July 1.  He will be ordained to the priesthood at All Saints on the evening of December 12, 2007 at which time his title becomes Priest Associate.

His duties will include, but are not limited to:  a regular share in officiating at Sunday and weekday liturgies, including preaching on a regular basis; baptisms, marriages, and funerals; acolyte training and supervision; a share in pastoral and hospital visiting including home communions; a share in ministry to youth, college students, young singles and marrieds, as well as to established parishioners - but with emphasis on youth and young adults.  He will attend Vestry meetings and ECW meetings and may be elected to serve on certain committees of the Vestry - Christian Education, Parish Life, or any other ad-hoc committees initiated by the Vestry, not to mention any diocesan committees and activities as may be assigned by Bishop Louttit.

We know lots of folks are on vacation, however we want to have a welcoming lunch for Will and his family following the service on Sunday July 1, so please put that on your calendars.  In the meantime, we print a brief biography of Will:

• Born in Enterprise, AL - 7/22/1971
• Lived in Montgomery, AL most of his life
• Went to Georgia Tech and majored in Industrial Engineering
• Member of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity
• Graduated in March 1994 and began work with Alabama Power in Birmingham, AL in April 1994
• Married to Robyn Leigh Ford on September 17, 1994
• Worked for Alabama Power until December of 1996 and transferred to Georgia Power in January of 1997
• Worked with Jr. High EYC for the semester before leaving Birmingham at the Cathedral Church of the Advent
• Held multiple positions with Georgia Power working in Brunswick and on St. Simons Island
• Was very active at St. Mark's Church in Brunswick
o EYC advisor
o Member of Liturgy Committee
o Coordinated and facilitated training for Lay Readers and Chalice Bearers
• Earned his MBA from Georgia Southern University in December 2002
• Son William, IV was born on September 16, 2003; daughter Sarah Kathryn born March, 2007
• Began seminary at The School of Theology at The University of the South in August 2004; Graduated from seminary on May 11, 2007
• Ordained to the Diaconate by Bishop Louttit on June 8, 2007

I can say from experience that for a newly ordained deacon coming to minister in a (relatively) strange town with his first parish - with a family no less, can be rather daunting to say the least.  Please go out of your way to make them feel at home -- a task which I promise will be far more joy than effort.  FAB

A CULTURAL CONVERSATION
By NAOMI SCHAEFER RILEY

The following is an abbreviated version of a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.  Walden Media hold an important but neglected idea about what sort of entertainment ought to be offered to children, as well as what children are capable of enjoying and benefiting from.  FAB

Boston

The offices of Walden Media have the feel of a dot.com startup in the '90s:  But Walden, a movie production company whose offices are based here, 3,000 miles from Hollywood, is trying to create something more than a passing fad.

The company, which is owned by billionaire media mogul Philip Anschutz, creates faithful movie adaptations of classic children's tales. Its biggest hit so far has been "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" (2005), but Walden has also made a touching "Bridge to Terabithia" (2007), out June 19 on DVD; a charming "Charlotte's Web" (2006); and a rollicking "Around the World in 80 Days" (2004).

"How do you pick the stories?" I ask Micheal Flaherty, Walden's president and co-founder.   "We look for books where kids can really experience something life-changing, and transformational, and can rise above their circumstances," he tells me. But that makes Walden's movies sound like schmaltzy after-school specials, which they most certainly are not.

Mr. Flaherty says the ideas for which books to adapt come from teachers and librarians around the country -- he sends his staff to several conferences of each group every year. But Walden is careful to avoid stories that are "of the moment, of concern to someone of that day." That is a popular genre, though. Last summer, for example, the Children's Book Council, a trade association of children's publishers, recommended "All's Fair in Love, War and High School," the story of a cheerleader's campaign for student-body president.

When I describe such books to Mr. Flaherty, he smiles knowingly. "C.S. Lewis described a kid named Eustace Clarence Scrubs. When he first gets to Narnia he is completely overmatched . . . because he has read all the wrong books. He had read about grain elevators and fat kids doing exercises, but he didn't read books about heroism and courage, the timeless transcendental things. And that's what we look for literature-wise."

In a speech in February 2005, Mr. Anschutz told his audience: "My friends think I'm a candidate for a lobotomy, and my competitors think I'm naïve or stupid or both. But you know what? I don't care. If we can make some movies that have a positive effect on people's lives and on our culture, that's enough for me."

Mr. Flaherty notes that much of the family fare offered by Hollywood presents children's situations as "hopeless." He cites G.K. Chesterton on the subject of fairy tales: "We don't write about dragons just to write about dragons. We write about dragons to show that they can be defeated."

Which is not to say that the worlds depicted in Walden's stories are always comforting for children. Narnia has some pretty frightening battles and "The Dark Is Rising," based on the 1970s series by British writer Susan Cooper (out this fall from Walden) does not shy away from the notion that there is real evil in the world. I ask Mr. Flaherty whether parents should be concerned about the level of violence in such films. Again, he paraphrases C.S. Lewis:

"People usually have two kinds of objections to kids witnessing this kind of violence: one is to protect kids from those pathological fears that keep them up late at night. And for that I have complete respect. The other one is borne of a naive assumption that we should insulate our kids from knowing they are born into a world of good and evil. And that one I reject. . . . The best thing we can do for kids is to teach them that though they may encounter cruel enemies, they will also encounter brave knights. If we don't teach kids that, we're making their future only darker not brighter."

OFFICE CLOSING
The office will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday (July 3 - 4) in observance of Independence Day.              David Grooms, Senior Warden

TIME OFF
At this writing, Fr. Buechner plans to be away the final three Sundays of July.  On the third and fifth Sundays, Fathers Craig O’Brien and Curtis Mears (St. John's, Savannah) will be our guest celebrants and preachers respectively.         David Grooms, Senior Warden

ECW BOOK CLUB
There will be no book club meeting in July; the schedule for the rest of the year is listed below.  When the meeting resumes in August, lunch will be served – and the ECW wants everyone to feel comfortable about coming – even if you haven’t read the book or don’t want to read the book.  Please contact the chair person for that month with any questions and to allow us to get a count for lunch.

 The ECW Book Club schedule follows:
   July   No book club meeting
   August 15 Handling Sin   (Fr. Buechner)
   September 12  The Faith Club  (Nancy McCollum)
   October 10 Eat, Pray and Love (Debbie Beeson)
   November 14 Love in the Time of Cholera (Henri Walter)
   December   No book club meeting

 Other books on the agenda include Les Miserables (an abbreviated version!) and Anna Karenina.  Please join us.

Lee Mitchell and Lee Chubb

WHO BELONGS TO WHOM?
By David W. Virtue

Over the years, a number of folks have asked me about the various break-away church affiliations within the Anglican Communion.  The following is an attempt to answer that question, but it opens another dilemma.  That is, if a parish wanted to leave the Episcopal Church, how does it decide which group to join?  FAB

Since its inception seven years ago, the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) under Rwandan Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini has currently 116 congregations with another 39 in various stages of formation. "The majority of our congregations are church plants, well under a third affiliated as congregations from TEC," says Cynthia Brust, AMiA Communications Director. Only Anglican Mission congregations are under the oversight of Rwanda. They have four bishops led by the Rt. Rev. Charles "Chuck" Murphy and are based in Pawleys Island, South Carolina.

Uganda, under the jurisdiction of The Most Rev. Henry Orombi claims 35 parishes.   (This is the jurisdiction of Trinity Anglican Church here in Thomasville.)
Bolivia, under the jurisdiction of the Rt. Rev. Frank Lyons claims 35 parishes. Writes Lyons: "Bolivia has 35 churches. There are new startups (church plants) some of which go better than others which may account for discrepancies in an overall total."

Nigeria under The Most Rev. Peter Akinola and its North American affiliate, - the Convocation of Anglicans in North America - (CANA), which has its own bishop, the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, claims 37 registered churches in 15 states plus the District of Columbia.

Kenya, under the jurisdiction of The Most Rev. Benjamin Nzimbi claims some 20 parishes. They will consecrate Canon Bill Atwood to represent their interests in North America.

The Province of the Southern Cone under the Most Rev. Gregory Venables, which includes Argentina and the Diocese of Recife claims 14 parishes, organized with Argentina 5, Recife 5, and Southern Cone including Peru 4, making for a grand total of 28.

The main "Continuing Anglican," (Continuum) have a combined 775 parishes that have left The Episcopal Church since 1977 primarily over the Prayerbook.  (This figure is not absolute). The Reformed Episcopal Church left earlier along with Charismatic Episcopal Church which left later. Some have additional affiliates in other countries.

Here are their numbers:
* American Anglican Church. (11)
* Anglican Catholic Church. (90)
* Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. (42)
* Anglican Church in America. (86)
* Anglican Church in the USA (Va). (20)
* Anglican Churches of America. (2)
* Anglican Episcopal Church. (5)
* Anglican Independent Communion Worldwide. (2)
* Anglican Orthodox Church. (7)
* Anglican Province of America. (76)
* Anglican Province of Christ the King. (58)
* Christian Episcopal Church. (4)
* Diocese of the Holy Cross. (16)
* Episcopal Missionary Church. (33)
* Holy Catholic Church (Anglican Rite). (35)
* Orthodox Anglican Church. (11)
* Reformed Episcopal Church. (120)
* Southern Episcopal Church. (3)
* United Anglican Church. (11)
* United Episcopal Church of North America. (30)
* Anglican Use parishes (Roman Rite) in the US (8) with three  probably to be added.
* Charismatic Episcopal Church (approx. 85) They recently  underwent a serious split with about 35 leaving the CEC.

In addition to the above figures those parishes sympathetic to Forward in Faith (NA) within the Episcopal Church number about 75.  (These congregations remain in the Episcopal Church.)

Not included is the Anglican Communion Network which currently has ten dioceses, six convocations and the international conference stretching from coast to coast, border to border. As of January 2007, ACN dioceses and parishes count 200,000 laity and 2,200 clergy in more than 900 congregations, with the number of affiliated parishes growing weekly.  (These also continue to remain in the Episcopal Church.)

The Episcopal Church lays claim to some 7,500 parishes spread across 100 dioceses.

Given the ever-growing population of American Anglicans under overseas jurisdictions, two issues emerge:

First, since Anglican congregations in some of our major cities are under different Episcopal jurisdictions, how will they work together? If these congregations find a way to serve together for the sake of serving their regions, then mission and evangelism could flourish. However, if they do not find ways to collegially work together to serve their regions, then these congregations will never get beyond being chaplaincies to those who choose to affiliate with them.

Secondly, there has been a lot of public comment about how these overseas jurisdictions are temporary and a coalition is being formed that reflects steps in the development of a proto-province. If a new, national Anglican province is actually formed, then who, if necessary, will be willing to lay down his claim to episcopacy for the sake of the visible and structural unity of this new province? How flexible will these new bishops (and the archbishops they serve) be for the sake of reaching the United States with the Gospel? Or, to put it negatively, how stuck will this new province be in old TEC models that are committed to maintaining personal and structural power, no matter what the cost?

These issues are not for the future. They are in front of us now. Already, seeds have been sown that have germinated into mistrust between episcopacies and jurisdictions that act more in competition than in fellowship. There is already mistrust towards those who do or do not have "the true faith of the Apostles."
Mr. Virtue is a conservative observer/reporter of the Anglican Communion.  His blog is www.virtueonline.org.

USHERS FOR JULY
July 1      
Richard Parvey 
Raleigh Rollins

July 8
Charles Sanders
Mike Shea

July 15      
Tom Simmons  
Marc Todd

July 22
Charlier Whitney
Geoffrey Young

July 29
Robert Balfour
John Brinson

TRANSITIONS:

Happy Birthday in the month of July to:

Lois E. Mason    7-1-88
Mary Catherine Lanigan  7-7-85
Emma Hutton Daniel   7-7-05
Walter Williams   7-8-86
Madeline Claire Bruhn   7-22-98
Brice Smith    7-28-88
Henry Simmons Ladson   7-30-02

Happy Birthday in the month of August to:

Chadwick Kelly   8-1-93
Parker Hayden McCollum  8-7-04
Catherine Campbell   8-17-86
Jacob A. Bruhn    8-21-96
Haven Shea    8-26-88
Lily Bradford Jackson   8-30-02

IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.
OBIT MDCCCXXXIII
   
Strong Son of God, immortal Love,
    Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
    By faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove;
Thine are these orbs of light and shade;
    Thou madest Life in man and brute;
    Thou madest Death; and lo, thy foot
Is on the skull which thou hast made.
Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:
    Thou madest man, he knows not why,
    He thinks he was not made to die;
And thou hast made him: thou art just.
Thou seemest human and divine,
    The highest, holiest manhood, thou:
    Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are ours, to make them thine.
Our little systems have their day;
    They have their day and cease to be:
    They are but broken lights of thee,
And thou, O Lord, art more than they.
We have but faith: we cannot know;
    For knowledge is of things we see;
    And yet we trust it comes from thee,
A beam in darkness: let it grow.
Let knowledge grow from more to more,
    But more of reverence in us dwell;
    That mind and soul, according well,
May make one music as before,
But vaster. We are fools and slight;
    We mock thee when we do not fear:
    But help thy foolish ones to bear;
Help thy vain worlds to bear thy light.
Forgive what seem’d my sin in me;
    What seem’d my worth since I began;
    For merit lives from man to man,
And not from man, O Lord, to thee.
Forgive my grief for one removed,
    Thy creature, whom I found so fair.
    I trust he lives in thee, and there
I find him worthier to be loved.
Forgive these wild and wandering cries,
    Confusions of a wasted youth;
    Forgive them where they fail in truth,
And in thy wisdom make me wise.

1849
 Alfred, Lord Tennyson