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From ENS-
Milwaukee Bishop Steven Andrew Miller announced his plans to retire in November 2020 in an Aug. 14 letter to the diocese.
Dear Friends in Christ,
Some years ago when Cindy and I were replacing the roof on our home
in Racine, one of our neighbors came by and asked if there was a problem
with the roof or was it “just time.” We responded it was “just time.”
This phrase has now become part of our family vocabulary. That
conversation came to me as I prepared to write this letter to you.
After over thirty-five years of ordained ministry and almost sixteen
years as your bishop, it has become clear to me that it is time for me
to retire and pass the crozier on to the 12th bishop of
Milwaukee. Last night, the Standing Committee, Chancellor and I met with
the Rt. Rev. Todd Ousley of the Office of Pastoral Development to
inform them of my intention to retire in November of 2020 and to begin
the process of electing the next bishop of this Diocese.
More here-
https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2019/08/14/milwaukee-bishop-announces-plans-to-retire-in-2020/
From Wisconsin-
The congregation of St. Andrew’s celebrated its last service Sunday
in the building at 6609 26th Ave., which has been its home for the last
six decades.
But the building isn’t the church. The church is its
people who will be “going home another way,” said Bishop Steven Miller
of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, quoting James Taylor’s ballad
about the Magi.
Miller presided over the service and closing
ceremony on Sunday, also the day of Epiphany, when the Magi, or three
wise men, came bearing gifts as they visited the baby Jesus.
“We
are those who have made a decision to follow Jesus as savior and Lord in
the fellowship of this church, and I want to submit to you that at this
time and this place in 2019 that is a culture, counter-cultural
proclamation,” Miller told the 60 people who attended the final service
Sunday afternoon, about a third of whom are members of St. Andrew’s.
“Because following Jesus is very different than the ways of power and
the ways of the world.”
More here-
http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/local/finding-home-by-another-way-st-andrew-s-congregants-say/article_53175c13-8c1a-5663-a3ce-07212a620f95.html
From Madison-
The congregants at Grace Episcopal Church on the Capitol Square work tirelessly in service to the homeless. And Sunday, in a first-time event, parishioners made a practical as well as symbolic gesture by tying scarves to nearby trees offering additional warmth to anyone who might need it.
Each winter scarf had a tag attached that read, “I’m not lost. Please feel free to take me with you if you are cold.”
The tags had wishes for a Happy New Year and included one of organizer Pat Werk’s favorite blessings:
Life is short and precious and we do not have too much time to gladden the hearts of those who travel the way with us; so be swift to love, and make haste to forgive and be kind; and may the blessing of the One who made us, who loves us, and who travels with us, be upon you, and those you love dearly, this day and always.Amen.
More here-
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/with-grace-church-members-offer-warmth/article_3006ceb1-4f70-5d06-8b48-9b0ef7a4e106.html
From Milawaukee-
Homeless men in Milwaukee, until recently, needed to navigate a complicated network of homeless shelters with different schedules and requirements to get a bed each night.
“If you have not been through it, you’re going to catch hell because you really don’t know where to go for help,” said Benny Barnes, a 64-year-old homeless man, as he mingled with friends outside of The Gathering, a daily meal program held at St. James Episcopal Church, 833 W. Wisconsin Ave.
“You had to know when to get there for the night. If you weren’t on time, you were just out of luck.”
The process of getting a place to stay and much-needed services was streamlined recently when IMPACT 211, the area’s crisis hotline, expanded to include single homeless men and the shelters that serve them, such as Hope House, Guest House and the Salvation Army Emergency Lodge.
More here-
http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2015/05/08/more-help-for-homeless-men/
From Milwaukee-
Two years after the Episcopal Church voted to allow the blessings of same-sex unions, Milwaukee's bishop has opened the door for blessings to take place in his diocese.
But the new rite, created by Milwaukee Bishop Steven A. Miller, will be available only to those couples already married by civil authorities, and only in churches where the vestry, or parish council, signs off on its use.
The decision, outlined by Miller in a letter to clergy dated Aug. 29, appears to be a compromise between the personal convictions of the bishop, who has criticized the rite approved by the national church as deficient, and most of the clergy in the diocese, who had been pushing for him to allow its use locally.
More here-
http://www.jsonline.com/news/religion/milwaukee-episcopal-bishop-opens-door-to-blessing-same-sex-union-b99343177z1-273778251.html
From Milwaukee-
Two years after the Episcopal Church opened the door to same-sex blessings, a local advisory board is urging Bishop Steven A. Miller to allow their use in the Diocese of Milwaukee, saying a majority of area parishes favor allowing them.
Miller said last week that he is reviewing the recommendation of his Standing Committee and will respond later this summer. But he reiterated his reservations, saying the blessing falls short of a marriage rite and as such treats same-sex couples inequitably in the eyes of the church.
"My concern about the rite is that it looks like marriage but says it's not," said Miller, who has voiced support for same-sex civil marriages.
"A blessing still keeps gay and lesbian people in a second-tier status," Miller said.
More here-
http://www.jsonline.com/news/religion/local-episcopal-advisory-board-backs-same-sex-blessings-b99303891z1-265959781.html
From Milwaukee-
They call themselves the Rectors of Rock. The Fathers of Funk. The Collar Studs.
It’s all cheeky fun, but believe it or not, these four Episcopal priests live up to the billing.
Fathers Drew Bunting, Andrew Jones, David Simmons and Don Fleischman are the fab four of Monstrance, a rock, blues and country band more interested in fun than fame, whose members lend their considerable talents to worthy causes throughout the Milwaukee diocese.
“We’re not in this to make money. We know we’re never going on tour,” said Drew Bunting, priest-in-charge at St. James Episcopal Church in Milwaukee, who sings lead vocals and plays bass in the band. “We just want to have a good time. We know we have these gifts and we want to use them in service of the greater good.”
The good fathers fired up the amps under the stained glass windows of Simmons’ home church — St. Matthias in Waukesha, Wis. — for band practice on a recent Friday. There, they ripped through covers of Cheap Trick, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and the Ramones, not to mention an ecclesiastic parody of the J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold.”
More here-
http://kdhnews.com/living/religion/priests-rock-the-house-with-a-religious-message/article_91aa77ea-a671-11e3-973f-001a4bcf6878.html
From The Living Church-
The people of St. Luke’s Church in Milwaukee have a way of knowing what their neighbors need — even those they’ve never met.
What’s their secret? They ask. And they hear responses — “Pray for my uncle with cancer” or “Pray for my friend who needs a job” — even from those who never step inside the church.
Since 2010, St. Luke’s has been collecting prayers in an outdoor prayer basket that sits in a wooden box atop a post. Passersby open the box, fill out a prayer request slip, and drop it down a slot into a basket.
Prayer slips are accessible only to a parishioner or staff member with a key. Prayers are then combined with those of parishioners, and each worshiper goes home on Sunday with a prayer request to fulfill.
“This was a way that we came up with to reach out to the community, without knocking on doors or being invasive into their lives,” said Mike Bossow, who built the prayer box. “If they feel they need prayer for something, we can do that for them.”
More here-
http://www.livingchurch.org/baskets-prayer-milwaukee
From Wisconsin-
It was a decision bound to disappoint people either way, and the Rev. Steven Andrew Miller knew it.
Miller is bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee, an area that covers the southern third of Wisconsin, including Madison. Last summer, the national Episcopal Church voted to allow the blessing of same-sex unions, but it left it to individual bishops to decide whether to allow such ceremonies in their dioceses.
Miller, in a decision issued June 7, announced he would not be authorizing the rite. That means no same-sex blessing ceremonies can be held at the 58 Episcopal churches in the diocese, including the four in Madison.
Miller’s reasoning has been viewed as too conservative by some, too progressive by others.
On the progressive side, Miller wrote that the right to a civil marriage should be available to all, regardless of sexual orientation, and that he would support efforts to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage in Wisconsin. (He also has voiced concern in the past that authorizing the blessing rite could create a “second tier of relationships.”)
Read more:
http://host.madison.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/religion/in-the-spirit-episcopal-bishop-s-decision-on-same-sex/article_13583497-b76d-5b3d-bd3c-a6adbab406dd.html#ixzz2X81Peo1z
From ENS-
