Image courtesy of Episcopal Life online

Even in chronically drought-stricken states like California and Texas, most Americans have easy access to clean water for drinking and doing household chores.  This is not true in much of the developing world. When I lived in Micronesia as a child it took a lot of work to make sure that our water was safe; we collected and filtered rain water (it rained there every afternoon, all year long), because all the other water that was available to us needed to be boiled or bleached before it could be consumed or even used for washing dishes.  Most of us can’t imagine living like this.  Nor can we imagine having to walk miles to the nearest water source, and then being able to use only as much water as we can carry home with us.

And yet, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council “one billion people around…

Missioners from the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri in Lui, southern Sudan.

Eight missioners from the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri are spending Christmas working in southern Sudan, and sending news of their travels home via blogs and video.

The team arrived in Lui - Missouri’s sister diocese for nearly three years - arrived in Lui on December 15, and will return on January 8.

The purpose of the trip, according to a press release,

• a medical assessment for ongoing health care support in the Diocese of Lui;
• assist in the set-up of a grinding mill operation, which the Missouri Diocese is helping to fund through a United Thank Offering Grant of $19,000;
• explore parish-to-parish relationships between Missouri and Lui congregations; and
• further establish infrastructure (buildings and technology) in Lui.

In three years, the Missouri Diocese has drilled six deep water wells in Lui, with plans to drill three more - at $17,000 a piece - next year.

The missioners:

• The Rev. Emily Bloemker, a senior…

Hearing about the poverty, violence, and oppression that grip other parts of the world can be overwhelming, and it’s hard to imagine that there’s anything one individual can do. My own faith challenges me to move past that feeling of helplessness, to trust that God will bless whatever efforts, small or large, we can make to reach out to our brothers and sisters in need. Being informed is a good place to start.

To that end, I would like to invite everyone to take advantage of a rare opportunity. The Most Reverend Daniel Deng Bul Yak, Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, will be speaking from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 1, in Room 458 of Louderman Hall at Washington University. The event is free and open to the public.

An email I received notes that “The Archbishop will be discussing the political situation in Sudan , concentrating on the…