English Español Today, we mark Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit among the apostles and followers of Jesus. Celebrated 50 days after Easter (including the day of Easter itself), the name of the holiday comes from the Greek Pentēkostē, which literally means “the 50th day.” The events of the day are foretold by Jesus in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, just before his Ascension. While his followers were with the risen Christ, he tells them, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5, NRSV). He goes on to s ..read more

English Español The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ is celebrated 40 days after Easter Day, marking the conclusion of Jesus’ postresurrection appearances and his ascension into heaven. This year, Ascension Day fell last Thursday, May 9. Celebration of this holy day dates back at least to the late fourth century, and scriptural references to Jesus’ ascension occur in both The Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of Mark: The Ascension. Hans Suss von Kulmbach, 1513. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y. “So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time ..read more

English Forty Becoming Beloved Community grants supporting the work of racial justice, healing, reconciliation, and creation care were approved by The Episcopal Church’s Executive Council during its April meeting. The grants total $226,930. Funds for these grants were first allocated in 2018 by the 79th General Convention; in 2022, the 80th General Convention approved further funding for continuing the work of “organizing our efforts to respond to social and racial injustice and grow a Beloved Community of healers, justice makers, and reconcilers.” Since 2019, more than $1 million has been ..read more

This week marks the fourth of five sessions of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution. As these discussions progress toward a legally binding treaty, we encourage the United States to strongly support measures to phase out single-use plastics. As the Episcopal Church, we are part of the Anglican Communion, and we echo the call of our Anglican siblings to reduce and eventually ban single-use plastics. As people of faith, we believe caring for God’s creation is a moral obligation, and as one way we love our neighbors as ourselves. Plastic has made its way into every co ..read more

To order UTO materials, please visit https://dfms.formstack.com/forms/uto_orders May 20 is the deadline to order materials before we launch our new distribution model over the summer. We are no longer able to ship materials “on demand.” If you are in an emergency, please email Heather and she’ll be happy to help if she can. In June, we’ll launch a new ordering system which will allow you to place orders for either fall materials, spring materials (Lent), or materials that are not seasonally dependent. We will ship fall materials in August, Lenten materials in February, and non ..read more

The Episcopal Church Executive Council approved more than $1 million in United Thank Offering grants supporting 20 innovative mission and ministry projects during its April meeting. The funds come from the United Thank Offering’s yearly Ingathering, which includes monies collected in “blue boxes” at Episcopal churches, designated as thank offerings. This year’s total includes a special matching challenge grant to raise funds for the ministries of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East. This is the second of a three-year United Thank Offering grant focus on Matthew 2 ..read more

Por el Subcomité de Lengua Española Inscríbase en los eventos en español y/o solicite material aquí Fecha límite para solicitar material: 15 de mayo. La Iglesia Episcopal ha cambiado muchas cosas debido a la pandemia, y quizás una de las formas más importantes en que ha cambiado se verá a través de la Convención General que toma lugar este año en Louisville, Kentucky. La Junta de la UTO, decide que en lugar de volver a la forma en que siempre hacíamos las cosas, queremos usar lo que hemos aprendido para tratar de ser lo más efectivos posible, aunque hubo cambios que afectan a la UTO en los q ..read more

By UTO Executive Committee The pandemic has changed a lot of things for The Episcopal Church; perhaps one of the biggest ways that it has changed is seen through the smaller scale of General Convention this summer in Louisville, Kentucky. For those of us at UTO, there is a loss: For the second time since 1889, there will not be an Ingathering Service at General Convention. We hope that it might return at the 2027 convention in Phoenix, Arizona. There is also much rejoicing; our presence at convention will be very intentional and deep in Kentucky. We’re looking forward to having our booth be ..read more

By Heather Melton, UTO Staff Officer My kids participate in a program called KidStrong. For the past few months, one of the activities they’ve been learning about is how to order food. Now this might seem simple to those of us who have been ordering food for a long time, but most kids have their food ordered for them by their parents. This past week, one of the parents I was sitting next to commented that there are a lot of adults who could use this tutorial as well, so I realized I should pay closer attention to the steps the kids were learning.  Step One: Make eye contact. Step Two: C ..read more

By Susan Axelrod  At its 2023 Diocesan Convention, the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire took the bold step of passing a resolution to create a formal reparations plan for the diocese. The resolution is a logical next step living into previous General Convention and diocesan resolutions that encouraged parishes to tell the truth about their history of racism as a first step to Becoming Beloved Community and following Jesus in the Way of Love.  The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld, tenth bishop of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire, with newly ordained deacons. Photo courtesy of Susa ..read more