Communications

Point of Information

The National Council of the Order of the Daughters of the King®

wishes to assure our members and their clergy that there has been no change in our bylaws regarding who may have seat, voice and vote. According to the vote at Triennial 2006 and reaffirmed at the 2009 Triennial, delegates from all chapters may have seat, voice and vote at the business meeting of the convention (Bylaws, Article VII, Section 2.B).

Although we live with uncertainty, we look forward to our future together, For His Sake.

— The National Council of the Order of the Daughters of the King®

May, 2010

Dear Daughters,

Two new groups, both modeled in many respects on the Daughters of the King, enrolled their first members and installed their first officers here in Province IV within the last six months. Many of you may find this hard to accept; certainly it has been hard for me.

 In September I saw friends and former leaders in Province IV give up their DOK crosses to become Daughters of the Holy Cross.  They feel called to transplant the basic design of the Daughters of the King into a North American Anglican context.

In February, I saw Daughters, including some I had hoped would work with me to resolve internal issues, named to the Circle of Leadership of The Episcopal Community, now in process of incorporation. (The EC has decided, appropriately, that a woman should not hold a leadership position in both DOK and EC.) Although membership in The Episcopal Community does not require leaving the Order, most Daughters do not want to pay dues to both groups. Already some chapters are at odds on this question. Arguments and, yes, tears, result.

We need tears.  On a deeper level, we need to grieve—with or without tears—at genuine loss. Wounds need attention—but when we allow our Shepherd to cleanse and anoint them, they will heal. We must not let loss keep us from trusting God. If we are blinded by tears we may not recognize the glory of Easter.

Both Lent and Holy Week help us to experience and process spiritual grief appropriately: to face our failures and disappointments, forgive those who have failed us, and go still further to sorrow over the enormous cruelty human beings inflicted on the perfect Son of God.  It’s hard to gaze at the cross and what it tells us, both about God and about ourselves. Yet only after we truly grieve over all the things in ourselves and in our world that grieve the heart of God can we experience the full measure of joy that Mary Magdalene experienced on Easter morning.

 “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” Jesus said to his disciples, when the bottom was about to drop out of their world. “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another.”  Not a suggestion: a commandment. These are the keys to healing: trust that our Good Shepherd will lead us, feed us, and restore our souls; and obedience to His new commandment, no matter how challenging the circumstances.

Love is patient; love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. I Cor. 13:4-6.

The Apostle John saw a vision of the risen Lord, his hair like snow, his feet like molten bronze, his face like the sun.  On the lampstands before him were oil lamps that represented first century congregations.  In the 21st century I dare to see the Order of the Daughters of the King as another burning lamp, among thousands, in the presence of God.  If our Lord molds a new lamp, fills it with the oil of the Holy Spirit, and lights the wick from our flame, should we be glum?  If the Daughters of the Holy Cross or the members of the Episcopal Community spread a passion for prayer and service in the name of our King and Saviour, Jesus Christ, let us rejoice that God is using them to bless others.  Let us praise God that Daughters in Honduras, in the Dominican Republic, in Haiti, in Malawi, in Kenya, in India, and elsewhere have caught a passion for prayer and service from Daughters in this country. What a privilege, to share what we have been given!

Let us take care, then to rid ourselves of any attitudes that might create smoke, instead of light and warmth. Daughters of the King, let your light shine!

For His Sake,

Grace Sears