Bishop in Baghdad in July 4th!
July 4, 2008
Here's a message from our Franciscan Bishop Geoff Ames, OSF, currently deployed and in Baghdad.
"My chaplain and I were visiting a unit and these members of the Iraqi Army were playing a soccer game. The winning team wanted to have their pictures taken with us. Unfortunately, I can't tell you exactly where we are in the pictures but all I can say is that we were in Baghdad. These guys play a mean game of soccer on hard packed dirt with lots of rocks. When they go down, they hit hard and you can bet it hurts!
I also am including an article that will be appearing in the "Ivy Leaf" publication of the 4th Infantry Division whom I'm with for a little while until I move again. I’m doing good, loving the dry heat, and keeping busy."
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Ordination Celebration!
June 29, 2008
We celebrate the second anniversary of the apostolic ordination of Canon Robert Smith today! Canon Smith entered Christian ministry many years ago, with parish work in Panama and Arizona. Canon Smith is also an endorsed chaplain in the Civil Air Patrol - United States Air Force Auxiliary and has served the members of the USAF at Luke Air Force Base as well as CAP cadets at Wing encampment held at the Arizona National Guard Papago Military Reservation as a CAP chaplain. Canon Smith is the ecclesiastical Superintendent for the Methodist-Episcopal Missions that are within the Free Episcopal Church USA.
May God shower an abundance of blessings upon Canon & Mrs. Smith!
+Ken, osf
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Canon and Mrs. Smith return from Panama!
June 23, 2008
The Rev. canon and Mrs. Smith have returned from their mission and parish ministries in Panama. The Director of the "Republica de Panama Ministerio de Desarrollo social Hogar de Ninas de Penonome" has recognized the ministry and labors of the Smith family, calling it a "noble" work for the extremely poor girls in Penonome, Panama. Many blessings upon Bob & Irene for the wondrous and selfless labors! Please check the web site for some recent photos...
+Ken, osf
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Feast of Pentecost
May 12, 2008
Control. The Feast of Pentecost is a celebration about "control." It is the control of our thoughts and lives by the indwelling and constant infilling of the Holy Spirit! This is not the human, misdirected, selfish sense of control. Rather it is a divine sense of control that fills us with the Spirit in such a way that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are divinely manifested in our lives for the betterment of others. The control of the Holy Spirit enables us to minsiter to others. The control of the Holy Spirit is a ministry of grace in us and through us. The control of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the meaning of the feast of Penetecost is the life of Christ lived in and through us. Without service to others, others before self, compassion, love, and grace, we have no baptism in the Spirit, we have no Feast of Pentecost. As St. Paul told us, we are to examine ourselves and see if we are in the faith or not, if we are running for the prize of laboring in vain. Where am I at in my journey...
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The Succession of TIFPEC
May 3, 2008
With the sad passing of the Xth Primus of The International Free Protestant Epioscopal Church (TIFPEC), The Most Rev. Dr. +Horst-Karl Block, the one official branch of TIFPEC in North and South America has been passed on to The Free Episcopal Church USA (TIFPECUSA). Additionally, TIFPEC ministries exist in Spain, under the Rt. Rev. Francescao Reale. These appointments were made by +Horst-Karl before his passing, and thus provide for the continued succession of the global TIFPEC ministry that was originally founded in 1897 in Europe as the Free Protestant Episcopal Church (FPEC).
Pray for the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit for this new association of ministries!
Pace e Bene,
+Ken, osf
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"Jesus Loves You!"
April 14, 2008
While I drive through the different yet contiguous cities in the Phoenix-Metro area, I enjoy reading the signage in front of many of the church buildings. Recently, one read something like this: "God loves those that love Jesus." I would like to share a few thoughts on this, I am sure, well-intentioned remark. First of all, we clearly know that this is a biblical statement, cited in such passages as St. John 14:21, among others. However, as I read this billboard, and pondered the passage from St. John, I was also prompted by the Holy Spirit to recall these words of scripture from Romans 5:8 (HCSB): "But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us!" I do not intend to fall into a controversy about these two passages and their doctrinal implications. Rather, I would like to point out the potential attitude that can come from a misperception about the love of God and the absolute all-sufficiency of Christ's atonement. You see, many people misperceive the love of God and consider it to have exclusionary qualities. St. Paul informs us that, even while the entire planet, every person, even every...
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Orphanage Update!
March 24, 2008
Canon & Mrs.Smith report that the girl's bathrooms have now been completed! This was close to miraculous as workers attempted to chisel through a foot of solid concrete with decades-old plumbing that was embedded into it. Canon Smith was able to get some additional help to get the job done and help bless those orphaned gilrs with a sanitary and fully functioning washroom! Plans now commence to work towards a drop-down ceiling during the next mission trip.
Additionally, chapel services began on Easter with the Methodist-Episcopal Mission in Santa Clara, Panama!
Please continue to support these missionary activities with your prayerful and financial support!
Peace and Everything Good,
+Ken, osf
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Progress in Panama
March 5, 2008
The work on the bathrooms has been slow because the cement in the floor is 12" thick and the walls are 10". We have the men using all hand tools to remove the cement! After one week we were able to break through the floor on one bathroom. Well, prayers are powerful and the IDAAN water company has loaned us a jack-hammer with an operator. Work is constant and steady.
We are grateful for all the prayers and support we receive from everyone. Blessings abound.
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Panama Mission Update
March 1, 2008
We hope all is well with you all in the states. All is well with us in Panama.
Today we started work at the orphanage. We have a contractor to repair the sewer system and two bathrooms as well as repair the showers, toilets and sinks. We will add one sink in one of the bathrooms since it has only one. We will be adding a new tile floor after the sewer is repaired. Each bathroom is for 17 girls and each bathroom has 3-showers, 2-toilets and 2-sinks.
When we first talked with the director she gave us the original estimate for labor and materials. This original estimate was for over $3,000. We took the list to get another estimate from the hardware store (ferreteria) where I purchase my materials. We ended up getting the materials for less than half the original estimate. I was also able to get the labor at about half the original estimate. So, we saved about $1500!
At the moment we have about $1100. so we are well on our way to meet the required $1600.
We had a small dinner party with friends and they will be passing the word...
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Missing God...
February 17, 2008
The Renovare' Spiritual Formation Bible (NRSV) offers a poignant remark or two about our relationship with the Divine. Commenting upon St. Luke 6:20 (Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven), the Formation Bible states that the people Jesus is talking about: "...miss God. They miss his love and his truth. They are homesick, their hearts broken in a world captivated by fossil fuels and plastic and trophies and violence and celebrities." The easiest application for our lives might be the temptation to look out at those around us, in our neighborhoods, in our state or in our own country, and readily list all the correlations between the plastic sins of violence perpeutaed upon those controlling fossil fuels, upon a society with a sick focus upon celebrities, etc., etc. However, I would challenge both myself and all who read this blog, to consider a narrower focus upon the self and the home in which we find ourselves. As I ask myself about my duties to nature, to renewable energy, to pollutions of ground, air and even minds, I must look deeper into the sense of a loss of God underlying all of these issues. I must...
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