At once travel guide and vision for the future, the Transformation series is good news for the Episcopal Church at a time of fast and furious demographic and social change. Series contributors - recognized experts in their fields - analyze our present plight, point to the seeds of change already at work transforming the church, and outline a positive new way forward. What kinds of churches are most ready for transformation? What are the essential tools? What will give us strength, direction, and purpose to the journey?

Each volume of the series will: Explain why a changed vision is essential Give robust theological and biblical foundations Offer a guide to best practices and positive trends in churches large and small. Describe the necessary tools for change Imagine how transformation will look

In the Episcopal Church, it seems the only real purpose and end of Christian discernment is professional ordination, either to the priesthood or to the vocational diaconate. This book deals with such questions as, How can both communities and individuals discern a call from God within the vocations and tasks in which they find themselves? How can the Church deal creatively with its confusion about the differing roles and authority of ordained and lay ministers?"

Calling upon teachers G.K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis, Sam Portaro wades into the abyss of confronting a life of faithfulness in a world where the Church has created a dictionary unintelligible to anyone not part of itself. Acknowledging it a risky adventure to attempt to put into printed words his faith, Portaro steps boldly onto the pages of Sheer Christianity: Conjectures on a Catechism.

"Dayspring, my dictionary tells me, is an archaic word meaning 'dawn.' But I have chosen Daysprings as the title for this collection of meditations for the several meanings in the ancient word and its components. I hope these brief reflections shed new light on old, familiar passages and illuminate the way through new ones. I also hope these pieces will prove to be springboards to new and creative meditation for readers, pastors, and preachers, and that they will find within these pieces an extra buoyancy for each day. Lastly, I hope these thoughts will flow like fresh, living waters through days of fast and feast, bringing refreshment. -from the Preface In his accompanying volume to Brightest and Best: A Companion to the Lesser Feasts and Fasts, Sam Portaro offers meditations for each of the weekdays for the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, and Easter. Following the lectionary texts for each day, he focuses on the seasonal themes of incarnation, manifestation, suffering, redemption, and resurrection, showing how the eternal truths of the gospel shed light on the ordinary and extraordinary events of our lives. Solidly grounded in the prayers and scriptures of these seasonal liturgies, Portaro's meditations bring fresh and powerful-sometimes pointed-insights for those who follow the daily readings and prayers of these days of the weeks in the church year as found in Lesser Feasts and Fasts.

In these meditations on the lesser feasts and fasts of the church calendar Sam Portaro asks the question, "What do these saints and commemorations have to say to Christians today?" His answers are often surprising and always thought-provoking, with fresh insights into the lives and teachings of those who have gone before us in the Christian faith. The cycle of the year begins in Advent with St. Andrew and ends in late November with Kamehaneha and Emma of Hawaii. Each reflection looks at the scripture readings for the day and focuses on a distinctive attribute of the saint or feast in the light of contemporary questions of faith, mission, and community. Saints of the distant past such as Columba and Agnes, Cyprian and Augustine, Thomas Becket and Catherine of Siena are included, as well as those closer to our own day-Charles Wesley and Julia Emery, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Evelyn Underhill and Jonathan Daniels. Following the calendar provided in Lesser Feasts and Fasts, meditations on the holy days of the church seasons are also included, such as All Saints and the Epiphany." Brightest and Best is designed for a variety of Christian education purposes, including adult forums, confirmation classes, seasonal presentations, clergy groups, and groups of students and young adults. It is equally useful for individuals seeking varied and interesting devotional reading. Although based on the church year, each chapter is discrete and readers can focus on any event or person and begin at any season. Since these pieces began as homilies in a college setting, they are useful as a preaching aid and could be the basis of a homily at a midweek service.

From the earliest days of recorded history, conflict has been an integral part of human life. Although conflict and crisis are painful, they are visible and vital signs of the perpetual work of the church and society. Viewed in this light, they become sources of growth and gifts to be pressed into service. The trouble with Jesus was and is that he stands in the midst of conflict, and allows the conflict actually to live in him even though it tears him apart, in order that new life might be born. The trouble with Jesus was and is that he invites us to follow where he has led. Newly revised and expanded, this book is not a how-to manual for problem-solving, but a hopeful and creative reflection on the positive aspects of conflict in our relationships and institutions, as demonstrated throughout scripture in the life and ministry of Jesus, the early church, the church today, and within ourselves. For those willing to embrace conflict and the work that it requires, the result is a celebration of the community that God has given us. Conflict is frightening. It threatens our sense of control and upsets our notions of order. It touches our vulnerability and reveals uncomfortable realities. Therefore, we tend to deny conflict, or we try to manage it, tame it. In fantasies of ultimate control, we banish conflict altogether. . . . But the ways of God in the real and quite tangible world in which I live are obviously not the same as my ways. In this world, I am rarely in agreement with others and God obviously tolerates much more untidiness than I find comfortable. This conflict, which is with me every hour and becomes quite apparent hundreds of times a day, arouses fear within me. I want to be in control, and yet I cannot be in control. from Conflict and a Christian Life This edition features a study guide designed by educator Amanda Millay Hughes, making it a valuable resource for group study by vestries, parish staffs, adult education groups, and anyone wishing to gain greater facility in negotiati

* Daily Lenten reflections with a novel approach * Color images enhance message of text Lent is often a season given to denial of physical pleasure and sensation, but we're already denied these by a cultural atmosphere saturated with visual images, noise and air pollution, violence, and processed foods that dull the senses. The physical senses play an integral role in the human capacity for emotion and feeling. Overstimulation in the physical senses gradually erodes one's ability to feel emotion. Yet empathy-emotional identification and connection with others-is crucial to liturgical engagement, especially in the highly dramatic practices of the signal events of the Christian Year. Sam Portaro proposes to restore our ability to participate emotionally in the Lenten journey by revisiting the five physical senses-one per week-in Lent. The discipline of a 40-day preparation for Easter suggests the importance the Church places on this seasonal retelling of the central acts of Christian redemption. Sense and Sensibility encourages the reader to renew a relationship with the physical senses that is a prerequisite to a deeply attuned engagement with the biblical stories read, taught, and liturgically re-enacted in the rites of Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter.