Vocatio Advent Bible Study- Week 2

Week 2- December 9, 2018

Theme-Messenger 

Vocatio Chapter: 3, Disciples of Peace

Scripture- Malachi 3:1-4

The work of Jesus’s ministry is foretold several times throughout the Old Testament. The book of Isaiah talks about how Jesus has been anointed by God to “bring good news to the poor... recover the sight of the blind, to let the captives go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:16-21). The ministry that Jesus goes on to develop with the disciples would parallel what Isaiah foretold, creating a community for the least and the lost. 

In Sunday’s reading of Malachi, we are reminded that a messenger is being sent to “prepare the way.” The creation of this community was part of Jesus’ vocation. In this way, Christ acted as a messenger on God’s behalf. We as a Church are called to do the same. If vocation is about being invited to be peacemakers, then how do we embody that in our own lives? 

Activity:Think about your communities- your church, your family, your gym, your school etc. During the time of Advent, how can you live out the Church’s vocation of being a messenger? How can you bring God’s message of love to the least and the lost in your communities?

Discussion Questions: 1)Think of a time when you have received God’s message of love from a member of your community. What did that feel like? 2) How did continue to share that message of love?

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Dios y communitarian de amor

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That's what makes us the Gospel and Keith Richards

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Messenger- Vocatio Advent Bible Study Week 2

Week 2- December 9, 2018

Theme-Messenger 

Vocatio Chapter: 3, The Prince of Peace

Scripture- Malachi 3:1-4

The work of Jesus’s ministry is foretold several times throughout the Old Testament. The book of Isaiah talks about how Jesus has been anointed by God to “bring good news to the poor... recover the sight of the blind, to let the captives go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:16-21). The ministry that Jesus goes on to develop with the disciples would parallel what Isaiah foretold, creating a community for the least and the lost. 

In Sunday’s reading of Malachi, we are reminded that a messenger is being sent to “prepare the way.” The creation of this community was part of Jesus’ vocation. In this way, Christ acted as a messenger on God’s behalf. We as a Church are called to do the same. If vocation is about being invited to be peacemakers, then how do we embody that in our own lives? 

Activity:Think about your communities- your church, your family, your gym, your school etc. During the time of Advent, how can you live out the Church’s vocation of being a messenger? How can you bring God’s message of love to the least and the lost in your communities?

Discussion Questions: 1)Think of a time when you have received God’s message of love from a member of your community. What did that feel like? 2) How did continue to share that message of love?

Vocatio Advent Bible Study- Week 1

Week 1-December 2, 2018

Theme- “Keep Awake”

Vocatio Chapter: Chapter 1, A Shalom Making God

Scripture-Luke 21:25-36 

In the gospel reading for the first week of Advent, Jesus tells us to be alert as the time of redemption is drawing near. Have we fallen asleep? Have we begun to “hit snooze” on our relationship with Jesus? With the Church as a whole? Why is this reminder needed?

Advent is a time to prepare ourselves for the birth of Jesus. As we ready our homes with Christmas decorations and finalize our travel plans, we must also remember to keep awake during this season of Advent as we await the coming of Christ.

Keeping awake means being ready to go where God calls. Being receptive to God’s command to go can feel uncertain. The prophets of the Hebrew scriptures show us what a faithful response looks like. Isaiah responded “I will go! Send me!” (Isaiah 6:6-8) And this invitation “overwhelmed misgivings about worthiness, personal plans for the future, or bodily safety.” (p. 31) What does it look like to “keep awake” all the time while also living as people with uncertainty?

Activity:During this first week of Advent, write down what makes you feel uncertain and then create a reminder (on your phone, in your planner, your email calendar) to pray about it. We often worry about the uncertain and about what we cannot change, but how often do we pray about such things?

Discussion Question: 1) When you feel uncertain, how do you move through that difficult time? Are there certain activities you do or certain people you turn to in your life?

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T-Shirts and Religious Particularity

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A Note of Thanks

A Note of Thanks from Bishop Doyle

Dear Members of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas,

I write today to give special thanks to Bishop Jeff Fisher, Halley Ortiz, Anthony Chappel and Scott Madison for leading our work at General Convention. I am grateful to the many hours that each of them gave to this project. I am grateful to their spouses, friends and family who also helped. I am grateful to Susan Fisher, JoAnne Doyle and Rob Montgomery who helped to organize and support the Bishops’ Spouses and Partners events. And, I am of course thankful to your diocesan staff who did not flinch at the challenge, but gave extra during a time when we were responding to the Hurricane, regular church business/ministry and all the rest to ensure we put our best foot forward.

I am thankful for you. You volunteered, served, helped and showed the rest of the Episcopal Church why I love you so much. You were amazing hosts! More than 1,000 of you joined our deputies and bishops and gave your time and gifts to this project. The churches in the Austin area and their leadership did extra work to support our efforts.

So, as each of us is resting, recovering and relaxing, I stop today to give thanks for the Diocese of Texas. I give thanks for you. Truly, each of you, are part of a great missionary diocese – a great and delightful family of faith. I am so proud to be your bishop. I am so grateful to be your bishop. We are glad that we get to call you our family and Texas our home. So, I pray:

Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have

done for us. We thank you for the splendor of the whole

creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life,

and for the mystery of love. Especially for your Episcopal

Church and the Diocese of Texas.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for

the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best

efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy

and delight us.

We thank you also for those disappointments and failures

that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the

truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast

obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying,

through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life

again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know him and

make him known; and through him, at all times and in all

places, may give thanks to you in all things. Amen.

Thank you,

Andy

The Rt. Rev. C. Andrew Doyle, D.D.

Episcopal Bishop Diocesan of Texas

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