Church Days | The Episcopal Diocese of Olympia

Advent Tells Us Christ is Near…

With the First Sunday in Advent, we begin one of two major cycles of the Church year: Advent-Christmas-Epiphany (the Incarnation Cycle). The other major cycle is Lent-Holy Week-Easter (the Paschal or Resurrection Cycle). In our liturgies, seasonal changes in scripture readings, liturgical texts, music and practice, along with colors and ornamentation, reveal each season’s meaning within the overall shape of the cycle of which it is a part. Advent means “arrival” and “coming.” Advent’s readings weave together the three comings

Episcopal Educators and Advocates for the Deaf

Today we remember the lives of two remarkable men in the history of the Episcopal Church – the Rev. Thomas Gallaudet and the Rev. Henry Winter Syle. Gallaudet established the first deaf Epsicopal congregation and Syle, one of Gallaudet’s students, was the first deaf Episcopal priest. Both men lived out the church’s calling to respond to human need with loving service and to transform the unjust structures of our society. From a young age, Gallaudet’s father had wanted to become

The Feast of Florence Nightingale, Nurse and Social Reformer

Today we celebrate the Feast of Florence Nightingale, the nurse and social reformer who helped revolutionize patient care and is widely recognized as the founder of modern nursing. Though her views on religion were unorthodox, she became a member of the Church of England later in life and devoted herself to serving God. At seventeen, she wrote in her diary that “God spoke to me and called me to his service,” though she had no clear picture of how that