October

2013 Issue 34

Prayer In This Issue

Rio de Janiero Prayer is so simple. It is like quietly opening a door and slipping into the very Looking for Volunteers presence of God. There in the stillness we can listen to His

voice or even petition. Why I Became a DOK What we have to say matters not;

Just to be there Peruvian Journey in His presence is prayer. Prayer

Cross+Links Editor Visit to Rio de Janiero Susan O'Brien

Cross+Links Assistant Editor

Lynn Kimbrell Quick Links

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Because the Royal Mural of Micah 6:8 Cross comes out 4 Painted in Prophet Square, Cidade de Deus, Rio de Janiero, times a year, you an outreach project of Christ the King Parish. might want to join our Mailing List to receive After attending National Triennial (July 2013 in Porto Alegre, Brazil), my Cross+Links news adventure continued in Rio de Janiero, where I visited Daughters there. My first monthly via e-mail. visit was to Cidade de Deus (the City of God). Pat Powers, Elizabeth Daniels, and I, escorted by The Reverend Canon Nicholas Wheeler, arrived at the parish of Province Presidents

Christ the King by commuter bus after almost an hour of travel through the city Province I and other suburbs of Rio de Janiero. Cidade de Deus is a planned community Donna Abramov established by the government in the 1960s in the western zone of Rio de Janiero. (The movie and book, City of God, was recommended to learn more Province II Janet Papa about this community.) During our visit, I learned about Elizabeth's and Pat's work as missioners there, we had a tour of the parish, and Father Wheeler acted as Province III guide for my walking tour of Cidade de Deus. He described their outreach Laura Richards projects, including murals and providing space as a community gathering center. We then had lunch with Dora Brown and her family. Dora is a Daughter who has Province IV lived in Cidade de Deus since it was settled and is a member of Christ the King. Lindy Kirk

(Please keep her in your prayers as she continues to recover from a stroke.) Province V Pam Sebura

Province VI Lyn Zolman

Province VII Brenda Amos

Province VIII Sara Macdonald

Email the National Office at [email protected] or Call 770-517-8552

Please be sure to use the most recent version of these forms:

Order Form for ordering brochures, crosses and all supplies from the National Office

Dora Brown and Susan O'Brien at Dora's home. Application for Sr (Prayer quilt is from Daughters in the U.S.) Membership use one for each prospective new Bidding goodbye to Dora, her family, and Father Wheeler, Elizabeth, Pat and I member and submit traveled by taxi to another zone of Rio de Janiero to visit with another Daughter, with the Order Form Betty Sherrill, and her husband, Bishop Ned Sherrill (retired). The drive itself above through various neighborhoods of Rio was an experience and education. Then from our visit with Betty and Bishop Ned, I learned more about the history of the Transition Form and Daughters in Brazil. use when transitioning from Chapter to Chapter to Daughter-at- Large or to report a From these two Daughters, I learned we have threads that weave us together, member's joys and concerns in common, and a shared call to pray and serve that our Order Reinstatement, has answered. I pray that Daughters throughout the world be open to God's voice Resignation or Death calling us to help one another as we serve Him.

Susan O'Brien National Secretary/Cross+Links Editor

Looking for Volunteers

There are a number of Junior Daughters-at- Large. It would be great to get them connected with Junior Chapters as Prayer Partners. I am looking for someone who would be willing to actively work on keeping up with the list of Junior Daughters-at-Large and actively trying to find Junior Chapters to be Prayer Partners with them. If you are called to this ministry within the Junior Daughters, please let me know and we can talk about this. You can email me at [email protected] or call me at 828-980-5552.

Susan Keith National Junior Directress

Why I Became a Daughter of the King

"Pray for me" were the first words my granddaughter spoke as she lay limp, a pool of blood around her head from the gash above her eye. She had fallen 14 feet into a stairwell. "Pray for us", we said to friends and family when our youngest daughter had a stroke on Christmas Day, 1998. "Pray that we may have courage and strength to walk the path before us", I asked when we learned my husband had lung cancer. "Pray for me" are words we, as Daughters of the King, hear over and over because we are known to be Pray-ers, women who pray and who know how to pray.

Was this why I became a Daughter of the King? If so, I did not know it. I became a Daughter of the King long before any of the above events, and I thought becoming a Daughter would help me grow in my understanding of and love for Christ. Well, it has helped me grow. I have grown and stretched and grown some more through prayer. Our Order publishes a brochure, called "Prayer Changes Me," which tells about the many aspects and types of prayer. Many people pick it up and take it when it is displayed it at gatherings. It is the most popular brochure I carry with me. I will quote one paragraph from our brochure:

"Communication with God affects and transforms each moment of our existence. As prayer becomes integrated into our lives, we experience the reality of the gift: the conversion of our hearts to God and the passing on of the gift of God's love and fellowship in service to others."

There is a sense of peace and calm which I experience in the storms of life when I know people are praying for me, not just any people but my sisters in Daughters who I know will answer my call when I cry, "Please pray for me". The feeling is so significant that it causes me to want to pray for others so they will have a similar peace in their distress.

There is a sense of peace and calm and joy as I walk with Jesus each day and listen to the sounds of creation. I can give Him the cares entrusted to me through the many prayer requests received. I can let them go, and He can handle them. His presence reassures me so I can serve Him more faithfully. My sisters in Daughters guide me in finding daily lectionary or devotionals such as "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young or "God Calling" by A. J. Russell or "Hearing God Through the Year" by Dallas Willard. When reading them I gain new perspectives of Jesus. What an amazing King we worship and serve. He is truly the "true light" that came into the world, so much more than we can imagine.

When we gather at retreats we are reminded of the trust, faith, love, and hope we have for each other and find encouragement to spread the word of the wonderful Kingdom of God with the help of our King and Savior, Jesus Christ and often, Miracles Happen. This truly is why I became a Daughter of the King.

Lyn Zolman Prov VI President

Observations of Peruvian Journey

In July 1979, my husband and I flew to to adopt two children. In July, 2013, with our now adult children, we flew to Peru to visit their ancestral home. It was an extraordinary journey for our family and for me, a growing awareness of the power of faith in history.

On our first Sunday in Lima, we visited the Cathedral Church of the Good Shepherd, which was founded in 1844 as the first non- Roman in Peru. It is now a bilingual parish and there were several women interested in the Order of the Daughters of the King. We had an interesting discussion with many questions. The women, already involved in a program of evangelism and service, were interested in how our Order would enhance that mission. I encouraged them to pray for discernment and promised to keep in touch and send them any materials they might need.

As we traveled around the country, I reflected on the Temple of the Sun difference between evangelism today and how it was done in the days of the Spanish conquest in the 16th C.

During that century the doctrine of the Roman Catholic church included a strong belief that if you were not part of the Church, you would go to hell. So the conquistadores had the argument that it was their duty to make all people Christians, i.e. Catholics - by any means necessary. This could be by promises of material goods, positions, jobs or torture and terror. By contemporary standards, these are not ways to bring people to the Christian faith. But during the many years of the Spanish conquest and occupation, power not persuasion was used to bring people to Christ. Military power was used to destroy sacred temples and spiritual leaders. Churches were built on top of the foundations and the ruins of those temples and sacred places.

The Christian God of mercy and love had been brought to these people by some of the monks who came to work in Peru during those years. This concept of a loving and merciful God was taught, often at the risk of the monk's lives. But the overwhelming message was that God was on the side of the Spaniards and all others needed to be subservient. It was not a new concept.

In our travels, we visited the pre-Inca sites of the Temple of the Moon and Chan Chan in northern Peru. I was struck by the slavery and the enormous amount of human sacrifice. The history of being exploited by rulers and religion was not new to these people. I wondered what it must have been like to be part of a culture which sacrificed hundreds and hundreds of human beings to gods in exchange for - what? At one point, these pre-Inca Moche rulers decided that the god they had been worshipping in such a manner was not responding and they changed gods! Still the sacrifices continued and the offerings came to the rulers.

Today one is aware of the many Madonnas and Virgin Marys, in parks and on street shrines. (No separation of church and state there.) But the remains of the old religion remain. An early painting of the Virgin in the Cathedral is really Pachamama, Mother Earth Goddess. Many Peruvians today acknowledge her every time they drink something by pouring out a little onto the ground. (Pachamama predates the Incas.)

I think of these traces of their ancient faith and I marvel at the loyalty and acceptance of this heritage. I also think of all those in this beautiful land, who are dealing with the many challenges this heritage of pain and oppression present. There are many today, who are working to enlarge the concept of Christ as the best possible expression of God's love for us. I pray for their efforts.

Mariana Bauman Communications Chair

For the Mission of the Church

Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you through your Son Jesus Christ: Inspire our witness to him, that all may know the power of his forgiveness and the hope of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.