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Dec. 17, 2020Two ordinations set for Jan. 9The Rev. Jennifer Allen and the Rev. Mary Donovan will be ordained to the priesthood in a scaled-back, small service on Saturday, Jan. 9 at 10:30 a.m. in Grace Cathedral, Topeka. Only those invited by each ordinand can attend, but the service will be livestreamed on the diocese’s YouTube channel, is serving as the bishop’s curate for mission, working with Bethany House and Garden. Donovan is assisting with ministry at Canterbury House of Lawrence and Canterbury House at K-State in Manhattan.Anyone wanting to send greetings to the ordinands by card, note or letter may send them in care of the diocesan office, 835 SW Polk St., Topeka, KS 66612.Kansas deacon is among the first in the state to receive the Covid-19 vaccine Diane Kruger, an emergency department nurse in Wichita and deacon at Trinity, El Dorado, on Monday, Dec. 14 was among the first 100 people in the state of Kansas to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against Covid-19.Her full story is on the diocesan website, conference materials now are availableAbout 60 people around the diocese participated in the Digital Evangelism Conference, led by Jerusalem Greer, the Episcopal Church staff officer for evangelism, which took place earlier this monthShe covered many ideas around how to utilize the times we are in to sharpen one’s tools for digital presence and evangelism. The sessions are online for anyone who wants to view them: Session One:? Session Two:? Other helpful items she presented include:Greer’s first slideshow presentation: Greer’s second slideshow presentation: Social Media and Evangelism, a set of resources people can use to “make the ask to ask”: All things Episcopal Evangelism: conferences and learning labs on evangelism also are being planned.End-of-the-year financial deadlineChurches or others submitting checks to the diocese to be credited during 2020 need to make sure they are received in the diocesan office no later than Monday, Dec. 28.Those with questions should contact Comptroller Jay Currie at jcurrie@episcopal-, (800) 473-3563 or (785) 235-9255.New leaders named for Kansas to KenyaBishop Cathleen Bascom has named Pat Parker and Joe Bob Lake as co-directors of Kansa to Kenya, succeeding Deacon Jim Cummins who has stepped down after four years as director.Parker, a retired hospital pharmacy director, has been making trips with the K2K medical team since 2008. He also was instrumental in developing health-related educational opportunities for students at the University of Nairobi. He is a member of St. Margaret’s, Lawrence.Lake, a partner in a consulting firm, has been involved with K2K since 2011 along with his wife Nyakio, a native of Kenya, and has helped develop relationships with Agatha Amani House, Ngeya Primary School, the Osborne and St. Nicholas Libraries, and All Saints, a small Anglican parish in Maai Mahiu. He is a member of St. Thomas’, Overland Park.Knitters needed to help people without homesThe Rev. Jennifer Allen is looking for people to make knitted hats that she can distribute, through Bethany House and Garden, to unhoused people in the neighborhood.Allen has a pattern that can be used, or knitters may use their own pattern for a cap. Contact her for more information: jallen@episcopal- or (913) 620-7773.Scholarship aid requests from clergy children are due by Friday, Jan. 8? ?Jan. 8 is the deadline for clergy children to apply for a Father Young Fund grant for the spring semester. All students interested in receiving an award from the Father Young Fund should send a letter addressed to Bishop Cathleen Bascom, in care of Jeanne Atha at jatha@episcopal-. The letter should state who they are (their relationship to a clergy person active in the diocese), where they are attending school, their year in school and what they plan to study. Assistance will be provided for eight semesters of undergraduate work only. Application for the spring academic term is to be made no later than Jan. 8; for the fall term no later than Aug. 6.As soon as all applications have been received from students, the amount of financial assistance will be determined, and a check will be sent to the student at their home.If you have any questions, please contact Jeanne Atha at jatha@episcopal-, (785) 235-9255.The 2021 Cycle of Prayer now is availableThe annual Cycle of Prayer that provides a way to pray weekly for every church of the diocese, as well as diocesan institutions, Anglican provinces and nations of the world, now is available online at . Online Miqra will take place Jan. 15–18Miqra and Mini-Miqra registration now is openDue to the on-going pandemic, Miqra will be online this year. We’ve scheduled multiple sessions over the traditional Miqra weekend, Jan. 15-18, and invite all youth in grades 6–12 and young adults age 18–24-ish to join us. The registration fee is $20 and includes a Miqra stocking cap and Miqra-in-a-box, with activities and handouts for Miqra. Please register by Jan. 1 to ensure timely arrival of your Miqra box. More information and registration is available at Questions? Contact Karen Schlabach, kschlabach@episcopal-. Miqra readers are needed All members of the diocese are invited to help with the Miqra reading of the entire Bible, from Friday, Jan. 15 at 10 a.m. through Sunday, Jan. 18 at 10 a.m. Sign up for a reading slot, log on to Zoom at your time, find out from the previous reader where to begin and read. You may recruit or invite others to read with you and split the time up however you wish. Just make sure someone replaces you before you leave. Sign up for time slots to read at Questions? Contact Karen Schlabach, kschlabach@episcopal-. Miqra stocking caps are availableInstead of T-shirts, we’ll be offering embroidered Miqra stocking caps this year. They will be dark grey hats with a red brim and a pom-pom on top. The Hebrew Miqra letters will be embroidered on the rim. Order yours online and they will be shipped in early January. Hats are $8, plus $5 for shipping and handling. Order here: (NOTE that one hat is included with registration for Miqra or Mini-Miqra). New diocesan website is now onlineTake a look at the new diocesan website, which you can access by the previous URL: episcopal-. You will first notice a brighter look, with many more photos and a larger presence for diocesan news. Because of Bishop Bascom’s commitment to and love of the Flint Hills, many of the photos on the site were taken by Deacon Charles Pearce, from his frequent visits to the Konza Prairie. We deeply appreciate his generosity in making his photos available for this enhanced communication tool.Because saved links for the old website no longer will work, if anyone has trouble locating needed information, please contact diocesan Director of Communications Melodie Woerman at mwoerman@episcopal- for help.Reminder: help is available for upcoming recorded worship servicesAs churches prepare for online worship services for late Advent and Christmas, here are three resources that can help:>>> NEW: Hymns to use in online corporate worshipChurch Publishing Incorporated is granting permission until Jan. 6, 2021, for streamed performances of any hymns printed in Hymnal 1982; Wonder, Love and Praise; and Lift Every Voice and Sing II – if those items are either listed as public domain or if the copyrights are owned by Church Publishing Inc. or the Church Pension Fund. Hymns that do not meet these criteria are not covered under this free, blanket permission.>>> Seabury Academy students offer digital content for online servicesStudents from Bishop Seabury Academy, an Episcopal school in Lawrence, are providing audio and video content for use in online Christmas services by churches throughout the diocese.If your church is looking for music, both vocal and instrumental, to enrich Advent and Christmas services, you can browse and download all the submissions through a diocesan Dropbox folder, videos are free to use.A big thank you goes to Abigail Baldwin, a member of Trinity, Lawrence, for organizing and promoting this program.>>> ‘Old Saints for New Days’ sermons are availableEvery Monday at 12:10 p.m., clergy members of the diocesan staff offer a service from Grace Cathedral’s St. Mary’s Chapel, which is livestreamed to YouTube. The service celebrates one of the people commemorated in Lesser Feasts and Fasts in the coming week.On Dec. 21, that will be St. John the Evangelist, with Canon to the Ordinary the Rev. Patrick Funston preaching. The Sunday after Christmas marks the Feast of St. John.The sermon from this services, both as a video and s written manuscripts in Word, is available for churches to use in worship the following Sunday. Those can be downloaded from a diocesan Dropbox at 's%20shared%20workspace/Sermons-Old%20Saints%20for%20New%20Days.Bishop Bascom previously has given permission for these sermons to be used in parish worship, once a month, along with the accompanying lessons. Video and written sermons from other weeks also are available for download at the same link.Stay in touch with Bethany House and GardenKeep up to date on all the news from Bethany House and Garden by subscribing to their newsletter: You can read their November newsletter, with an Advent reflection: Advent meditation: Clergy housing allowance resolutions are required soonThe Church Pension Group reminds parishes of the need to have clergy housing allowances for 2021 finalized by Vestry resolution before a January paycheck is issued. This action must be recorded in the minutes. The priest needs to declare either a dollar amount or a percentage of compensation as the housing allowance for 2021.Take advantage of a special 2020 charitable deductionFollowing special tax law changes made earlier this year, donations of up to $300 made to qualifying charities before Dec. 31, 2020, are now deductible when people file their taxes in 2021.The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, enacted last spring, includes several temporary tax changes helping charities, including the special $300 deduction designed especially for people who choose to take the standard deduction, rather than itemizing their deductions.Donations through the diocese for which this donation can be claimed can be made online in several ways:To one of the designated ministries via the diocesan online giving portal: To one of the churches of the diocese through a special diocesan form: Bethany House and Garden: Portion of the value of clergy life insurance may be taxableThe value of clergy group term life insurance provided by employers is considered taxable income in the current year to the extent the coverage exceeds $50,000.The Church Pension Fund provides coverage to all eligible clergy in the Clergy Pension Fund. For active clergy, that is four times the total compensation, up to a maximum of $100,000. For retired clergy, it is four times the highest average compensation, to a maximum of $50,000.Any clergyperson, active or retired, who receives additional group term life insurance from any employer, may have additional income tax liability.To calculate the value of your insurance benefit for income tax purposes, the IRS uses the following numbers for the cost per $1,000 of all group life insurance coverage per month exceeding the $50,000 exclusion:Under 25, monthly cost is 5 cents25-29, monthly cost is 6 cents30-34, monthly cost is 8 cents35-39, monthly cost is 9 cents40-44, monthly cost is 10 cents45-49, monthly cost is 15 cents50-54, monthly cost is 23 cents55-59, monthly cost is 43 cents60-64, monthly cost is 66 cents65-69, monthly cost is $1.27Over 70, monthly cost is $2.06Anyone with questions about this may contact diocesan Comptroller Jay Currie at jcurrie@episcopal-, (785) 235-9255 or (800) 473-3563.Presiding Bishop’s Christmas messagePresiding Bishop Michael Curry has offered a message for Christmas, where he says, “Joy to the world! The Lord is come.?In your hearts, in your homes, in your lives, prepare him room.”The text of his message is available at video is available at Minutes of Council of Trustees meeting now are onlineMinutes of the Nov. 18, 2020, meeting of the Council of Trustees have been approved and now are posted on the diocesan website: People notesWith sadness we report the death of Kay Light, Grace, Winfield, on Dec. 3. She had served the diocese as a member of the Commission on Ministry, including while Bishop Bascom was going through the ordination process, as well as a distinguished lay leader in the diocese and her parish. A memorial service and burial of her ashes will take place at a later date. May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace and rise in glory.Clergy notesThe Very Rev. Don Compier has resigned as a deputy to General Convention, which now will take place in 2022. That means that the Rev. Casey Rohleder becomes the third deputy, and the Very Rev. Laurie Lewis moves from alternate to fourth clergy deputy. The Rev. Ashley Mather now becomes first alternate.Anniversaries of ordinationsCongratulations go to these people as they celebrate the anniversaries of their ordination in the next two weeks:Dec. 18: The Rev. Phillip Rapp, retired, Diocese of Western Kansas (59 years)Dec. 21: The Rev. Robert Terrill, retired (59 years); the Rev. Richard McCandless, retired (58 years); the Rev. Gary Gooch, retired (46 years); the Rev. Frederick Robertson, retired (46 years); the Rev. Tom Miles, retired (44 years); the Rev. Randall McQuin, non-parochial (41 years); the Rev. Larry Steadman, non-parochial, Diocese of Western Kansas (18 years)Dec. 22: Deacon Deborah Burns, Trinity, Lawrence (19 years)Jan. 5: The Rev. David Jenkins, St. Peter’s, Pittsburg (7 years); the Rev. Adrianna Shaw, non-parochial (7 years); the rev. Alan Tilson, retired (35 years)Jan. 6: The Rev. Mike Loyd, St. Andrew’s, Derby (2 years); the Rev. Bianca Elliott, non-parochial (2 years)Diocesan office to be closed for Christmas holidayThe diocesan officed will be closed, and staff who are working from home will be off, from Christmas Eve, Dec. 24 through New Year’s Day, Jan. 1.Staff will return to work on Monday, Jan. 4.Holiday greetingsWe wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!This is the final issue of DioLog for 2020. This comes with best wishes for all our readers, and with prayers for a safe, healthy and happy holiday season. We’ll be back in your inbox on Jan. 7.Stay in touch with the diocese on social mediaYou can find news, features and updates from the diocese on social media. We’re on Facebook – EpiscopalDioceseofKansas (), Twitter – @EpiscoKs and Instagram – @EpiscoKs.You can find diocesan youth and campus ministries on Instagram, too: Youth: @edokyouthCanterbury House of Lawrence: @canterburylfkCanterbury at K-State: @canterburyatkstateBethany House and Garden, one of the newest ministries of the diocese, offers these ways to stay connected:Facebook ()Instagram: @bethanyhouseandgardenTwitter: @garden_bethanyNext DioLogThe next edition of DioLog will be sent to subscribers on Thursday, Jan. 7. Information to be included should be sent to Melodie Woerman, diocesan director of communications, at mwoerman@episcopal- no later than Tuesday, Jan. 5.Parishes are free to excerpt anything printed in DioLog; attribution?that material is reprinted from DioLog is appreciated. Feel free to copy this and make it available to parishioners in whatever way is most useful.If you do not wish to receive this publication, you may unsubscribe from DioLog by sending an email to mwoerman@episcopal-. ................
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