Bishop Brian is pleased to announce that Brother Andrew Aelred will be joining our diocesan staff as Missioner for Communications and Evangelism on October 7. Most recently, Andrew has been serving as Communications Coordinator and Associate Music Director at Church of the Ascension in Knoxville. Accomplished in communications and music, Andrew is also a natural leader. At Church of the Ascension, he created and maintains the church website. He is responsible for social media, handles electronic communications, and created the

Today is September 11th. 9/11. For many, this day will always take us back to an incredible national tragedy, a day of deep and unspeakable loss, as deaths in New York City, Washington DC, and a field in Pennsylvania touched all of us. Today is also my mother’s birthday. Before 2001, this day was all celebratory for my family. Now, while we still express thanks for my mother’s continued health and presence in our family’s common life, we do so

Sermon given on the 10th Sunday after Pentecost All Saints, Sewanee | August 18, 2019 Luke 12:49-56 Watch the video of the sermon here. Did you know there is such a thing as a fire historian? I knew historians could specialize. Civil War historians, historians of the Reformation, art historians—such ones as these I had heard about. But fire? I have only recently discovered that you can grow up to be a fire historian. So, while those other boys and

Susan and I traveled to Door County, Wisconsin in late July for our summer vacation. While we were there, along with a chance to unwind, take long walks, read books, and enjoy cooler weather, we also celebrated that it had been two years since the East Tennessee bishop election. In that time since the election, it has been a real joy for us to put down roots in East Tennessee and listen to you and dream and plan for common

Reflection on Jonathan Myrick Daniels Pilgrimage by Michelle Simmons Michelle is a Sewanee seminarian from the Diocese of Colorado doing her Field Education at St. Timothy, Signal Mountain I spent the last two days on an amazing pilgrimage in honor of Jonathan Myrick Daniels and the martyrs of Alabama. Daniels was an Episcopal seminarian (like me) studying for the priesthood in 1965 when he responded to a call by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for volunteers to help assist with

East Tennessee Friends, I want to commend to you the statement below from Bishops United Against Gun Violence. I am a member of this network of Episcopal bishops committed to ending the epidemic of gun violence in the U.S. Our core gospel work as Episcopalians in East Tennessee is the ministry of reconciliation. A reconciled land is one where the vision we hear from Zechariah is made real, “where old men and old women shall again sit in the streets

July 29 is the 45th Anniversary of the first ordinations of women in The Episcopal Church, the “Philadelphia 11.” In April 2015, East Tennessee Episcopal Church Women sponsored a Symposium and Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Women’s Ordination with two of the Philadelphia 11, and the author of a book about the 11. Below is a reprise of the article written by Pam Strickland about the celebration. They were compared to witches and called names by male priests that

By Bro. Andrew Aelred “In all times and places, the Eternal One calls forth souls to help creation realize its destiny. God so calls us, believers from many Christian denominations, to come together into the Ecumenical Order of Charity. Through living out the principles embodied in our rule of life, The Founding Document, and through the profession of our five unique vows, we dedicated ourselves to becoming active conscious participants in the unfolding of the Reign of God on Earth, co-workers with Our

By Brother Larry Walter Reich In 2009 I began my journey to answer God’s call. At my age, the priesthood and diaconate were not in my future. At that time we had two brothers at St. Paul’s in Chattanooga that were in the Brotherhood of St. Gregory (BSG). This is a large order of Friars in The Episcopal Church. I began to ask questions of them and I had a dream that this was what God has called me to

I recently hiked up Mt. LeConte with a group of hikers, mostly made up of Good Samaritan Knoxville members. There were nearly 60 of us and we chose different trails to make our way up to the Lodge, where we spent the night. My group chose the Boulevard Trail. Somehow, our trail required you to walk uphill BOTH ways. I’m really serious. Both going and coming, there were stretches of uphill, even in the descent. My quads are only now