As our team sat at DCA airport in Virginia, waiting for our flight back to Seattle, I knew a part of us would forever be changed by our time at the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) 2023. We had just spent the last four days at the University of Maryland, learning, sharing, growing, and meeting 700+ Episcopal youth and their adult leaders from all over the world. We had been surrounded by a sea of people whose hearts were on fire
From Naomi Woodrum, Diocese of Olympia EYE Coordinator: We are excited to introduce the team representing the Diocese of Olympia at the Episcopal Youth Event (EYE) in Maryland, July 4-8. EYE is a gathering for youth ages 15-19 from around the world who assemble on a college campus to learn, laugh, and worship together. Its focus and mission are to help develop these young people’s leadership skills, spiritual practices, and early stages of vocational discernment. Our delegation is sending five
In a society that celebrates youthful energy and productivity, we have largely dropped any value for the distinctive features of the second-half of life. But clearly God made a world in which the process and experience of aging is a defining feature, which means God must value it. Join Fr. Eric Stelle of St. John’s, Gig Harbor for a 3-week class that explores the inherent spiritual worth of knowing ourselves as aging creatures, and the potential of this being a
Deadline: March 6 (Better Together March 12) Be a part of the diocese-wide slideshow at Better Together’s opening session: Saturday, March 12 at 9:00am. We are looking for photos that show where you see God in Western Washington. These could be photos of nature, of people, at church, at home, taken anywhere in this diocese which stretches from the Canadian border to the Oregon border and from the Cascades west to the Pacific. Photo by Fr. Berto of his dogs
From Sue Tait, Diocesan Librarian: How do we consider the challenges ahead, challenges to the church, our congregations, ourselves? Three recent books provide some thought provoking responses. Books written before 2020 can see hopelessly naïve now, speaking of a world that no longer exists. That is not true of all of them of course, as Alice Scannell shows us in her book below. But one of our tasks of the future will be to apply learnings developed in a more
From Sue Tait, Diocesan Librarian: There are certainly plenty of “introductions” to the bible available, and here is another one, published this year from Church Publishing – Blessed to Bless: An Introduction to the Bible, by Tim Sean Youmans (Church Publishing, Inc., 2020. CUR 220.61 You). The author is department chair at Casady School in Oklahoma City, a pre-K through 12th grade Episcopal college preparatory school, and curriculum for middle school students includes a four-year survey of the Bible. Youngmans invited parents
From Diocesan Librarian Sue Tait: In 2016, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (305.8 Ken) was received with acclaim and won the National Book Award. In 2020, Jason Reynolds, who is a very big deal in literature for young people, “remixed” that book in Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (305.8 Rey) – in partnership with Kendi. His book is not just a synopsis, although they cover the same ground; Reynolds claims often that this is not a
The Episcopal Church offers grants each year to support innovative approaches to reaching young adults. These grants are intended to provide funding for an Episcopal ministry in a congregation that is seeking a new relationship with or currently engaging young adults on and off college campuses. Grants range from $100 – $30,000 and are for the 2021-2022 academic year. Deadline for submitting grants is November 20, 2020. There are four categories of grants: Young Adult Ministry Grants: to provide seed
We invite those of you in faith formation ministries – whether you are paid, volunteer, or a rector who wears many hats – to share with us your faith formation experience through this brief, ten-minute survey. Your input will help us with two main goals: to gather and make available data on the compensation, hours, and roles of faith formation ministers in the Diocese of Olympia; and to find out what faith formation ministers need so the diocese can better
Traditionally “6-Day” takes place in person at Camp Huston and has served as the culminating event for youth as they graduate high school and transition into young adulthood. Capturing the key touchstones of a long-standing diocesan program and reimagining it in a virtual format was quite the challenge! Participants received a program supply box for the weekend’s activities in the mail featuring a camp T-Shirt, arts and crafts, props, activities, and a portable worship kit complete with custom alter cloth
