Last Thursday, May 1, which happened to coincide with the National Day of Prayer, Canon Greg Jacobs, Nina Nicholson (our Director of Communications) and I walked down to Penn Station in Newark to offer “Blessings to Go.” Greg held the sign, Nina took the pictures and I offered blessings with oil. For an hour, we stood inside the concourse as hordes of people made the necessary transportation connections to start their day.
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Blog Archive
Posts from retired blogs, including Bishop Mark Beckwith's blog "Signs of God's Grace," Canon Greg Jacobs' blog "Out of the Ordinary," and blogs by General Convention deputies in 2012 and 2015.
Posted by Mark Beckwith on April 24, 2014
The joy of the Resurrection emerged from a sealed tomb. The gift of peace and hope which comes with Easter emerged out of violence. Easter does not end violence (oh, how we wish it could), but Easter does provide the possibility for the transformation of violence into peace.
Posted by Mark Beckwith on April 9, 2014
Last week I engaged in a Mutual Ministry Review (MMR). Actually, it began a month ago when the Rev. Gay Jennings, President of the House of Deputies for the Episcopal Church, and a long-time consultant with dioceses across the church, came and spent two days having conversations with leaders from around the Diocese of Newark. She talked with 55 people – 23 clergy, 18 laypeople and 14 members of the Episcopal House staff. Some conversations were in groups – the Standing Committee, Trustees, steering committee of Diocesan Council; but most were one-on-ones.
Posted by Mark Beckwith on March 27, 2014
"How do we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?" That is a question, if not a lament, that comes out of Psalm 137. Reflections on that question were provided daily by my colleagues at our recently concluded House of Bishops meeting in Texas.
Posted by Mark Beckwith on March 11, 2014
Ash Wednesday was a long day for many in the church. For me, it began in Liberia, where I had spent a week with leaders of the Episcopal Church in that country; and ended in New Jersey – where I spent a few hours outside, and then inside, the Newark train station administering ashes.
Posted by Mark Beckwith on February 27, 2014
Yesterday I arrived in Monrovia, Liberia. I am here as chair of the Liberian Covenant Committee of the Episcopal Church. There are five covenant relationships in the Episcopal Church – Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, Central America and Liberia. Liberia is the oldest, dating back to shortly after the country was founded by free American slaves in 1822.
Posted by Mark Beckwith on February 23, 2014
God so loved the world: and God invites us to invest in the world as disciples.
Posted by Mark Beckwith on February 15, 2014
“We need more members!” is a common litany I hear when I visit congregations. “No,” I typically respond, “we need more disciples.” It turns out that my response echoes that of Dwight Zscheile in his book, People of the Way: “the vitality of our identity as the church depends on the vitality of our discipleship.” (Page 89.)
Posted by Mark Beckwith on February 11, 2014
One of the things many of us in the Episcopal Church have counted on is that we are the established church. We are one of the mainline Protestant denominations. More Presidents of the United States have been Episcopalians than any other denomination.
Posted by Mark Beckwith on February 8, 2014
Years ago a very wise priest said to me that God is easy to experience but difficult to understand. ‘Signs of God’s grace,” which is an exercise many of us are engaged in – and which is the title for this blog, is one way for people to identify experiences – or encounters, with the holy.