In the News

[The Record] First the Englewood Public Library hosted a speaker who said the Bible really tells the history of blacks. That was followed by a concert by a Tenafly clarinet and saxophone soloist.

And in between, just blocks away on Engle Street, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church held its own concert, featuring Follow the Drinking Gourd, a trio who named themselves after a song used to steer slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

[FiOS1 News] All Saints' Episcopal Parish in Hoboken took Ash Wednesday to the Hoboken Path Station, where commuters received ashes during the morning rush hour in what the clergy called “Ashes to Go.” FiOS1 News’ Natalie Paterson has the story.

I wish you a blessed Lent.

Lent is the ancient season of preparation. Preparation for Baptism at the Easter Vigil and it's a season of solidarity with those who are being formed to be disciples of Jesus and missionaries in God's mission.

Bishop Mark Beckwith, Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz, and Imam W. Deen Shareef appeared on Ebru Today, a news and culture program on the cable channel Ebru TV, to talk about the Newark Interfaith Coalition for Hope and Peace and their interfaith trip to Israel/Paslestine.
 

The push for stiffer gun control measures has taken a front seat on the American consciousness after the deadly school shooting in Newtown, Conn. last month. President Barack Obama unveiled a $500 million gun violence package today aimed at reducing violence nationwide. That was good news to members of the Newark Interfaith Coalition for Hope and Peace, whose mission is to curb violence in New Jersey’s largest city.

Bishop Mark Beckwith said Obama’s proposal isn’t as much as he would want, but it’s a step in the right direction. He said aside from the Newtown shooting, there have been other acts of unspeakable violence with guns. The impetus for the interfaith coalition was the 2007 schoolyard shooting in Newark that left three teens dead and one wounded at the hands of gang members.

[Madison Patch] Jack Harter, a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Madison who loved animals and for whom the community rallied to raise money so he could have a service dog, died last week in his sleep.

The 6-year-old borough resident, who played a shepherd in the church's Christmas pageant this year, had an incurable disease that left him with little mobility and no way to consistently communicate.

[Episcopal News Service] What does a new beginning look like?

For many the New Year is for planning positive changes and forging new paths for wellness: heart-healthy diets, cardio regimens or new gym memberships. But what about the other “heart” health? How often do you need to be reminded to nourish and exercise the spirit?

[The Star-Ledger] There are those battered by Hurricane Sandy, others saddened by the tragedy in Connecticut, questioning life and, perhaps, faith.

But the weary are called to rejoice, as the Rev. Canon Sandye A. Wilson puts it. Christians are called to celebrate — to find peace — in a seemingly broken world. Her followers see it around them.

More than 40 years ago, someone who worked at Macy’s donated a Santa Claus suit to the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in West Orange.

Bob Gray tried it on, and it fit.

Gray, now 80, has been playing Santa every year since then, and he says he has no intention of stopping.

"It’s the joy of doing something like this," Gray said last Sunday, shortly after handing out presents to children at Holy Trinity, where Gray has been an active member for more than 60 years. "It’s the answers kids give you, the looks kids give you."

On MSNBC's Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough, Bishop Mark Beckwith, Rabbi Matthew Gewirtz and Imam Deen Shareef discuss the lessons that should be taken away from the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Time: 8:44.