Ridley Foundation Scholarship applications due Jan. 15

The Ridley Foundation board will meet in February to consider new applicants for the second semester. New applications and documents are due by January 15. Current recipients need to send their first semester transcript in order to receive the second half of their grant. Click here for more information on the Ridley Foundation Scholarships.

Episcopal Church women support Jackson-Feild

The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) of the Diocese of Southern Virginia has a long history of helping the children at Jackson-Feild Behavioral Health Services. The members met recently at St. Timothy's, Clarksville where they collected items from a Wish List as part of their "Bless the Children" project and presented them to Jackson-Feild.

 

The ECW was founded in 1890 to assist the women of the Episcopal Church to carry on Christ's work. Their mission today is to empower women to do Christ's ministry in the world.

Chanco seeking members for Board of Directors

Do you have a passion for Chanco's ministry and a desire to see it thrive into the next generation of campers and retreat guests? Then we may have the job for you! Chanco is seeking lay and ordained persons to serve on the Board of Directors beginning service in early 2016. There possibly may be no more exciting time to be a part of Chanco's growth than now. All interested persons must be a member in good standing at an Episcopal church in our diocese.  All applications are vetted through the current Chanco Board and Bishop Hollerith. Click here for an application to be sent to Executive Director Gareth Kalfas at director@chanco.org. Questions? Contact Gareth at 888-7CHANCO (888-724-2626) or via email.  We are grateful for our Chanco Board and the vibrant ministry they support.

United Thank Offering

Drop one of more coins in your UTO Blue Box this week as you remember and give thanks for those who have positively impacted your life and for those who love you without condition: teachers, parents, neighbors, and children.

It is so easy to put a coin in your United Thank Offering Blue Box: open the wallet, feel around in the change pocket, take out a penny or two or three, drop them in the Blue Box. Countless people have put coins in the box in just that manner, but many more of them have found something else; a joy, a sense of peace, even a way of living that has radically changed their attitudes about stewardship and shown them a clearer path to following Christ's commandments to help the needy.

Many ideas to help women feel empowered in the past have included taking special classes or meditating or finding rituals and spaces of quiet to try to bring joy and peace into one's life. These have all been tried over the years. Out of many self-help ideas that were generated, this one seemed to stand out: that is, to "keep a record for a week or so of things or people that one is thankful for". Wow, how easy! Really, it isn't a new concept.

One woman at a recent seminar shared how this singular action of empowerment changed her life. She wrote her first entry recording her thanks on a scrap of binder paper. The items were the usual list of thanks like being thankful for her home, children, husband, and garden. She continued to record her thanks daily and soon bought a bound book to date and record her thanksgivings and blessings. Pretty soon she started not just listing her thanks but thinking about "why" she gave thanks and recording those thoughts. Eventually she started "paying it forward" in small ways like paying for a soldier who was having lunch in the same restaurant or in the Starbucks line. Soon she was committing "random acts of kindness" like delivering food to the sick or senior citizens homes. She did most of this without thought of a return but just because it "felt good". Her husband and friends noticed that she seemed happier, more positive, was smiling more and they also wondered what change had occurred in her life.

She found that practicing thankfulness and gratitude increased her thankfulness and gratitude; that the more she gave, the more she herself felt gratitude and thankful. Much of her giving was monetary, coins and bills of various denominations all put in the Blue Box over the years. But, she also found she was giving of her time and her talents to others as a way for her to give thanks.

Visit United Thank Offering online and on Facebook.  

Trinity Institute 2016 to be live webcast at Diocesan office

The Trinity Institute's 45th annual conference - Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice - will be webcast live at the Diocesan office in Newport News, Jan. 21-23, 2016.

This year's conference focuses on racial justice. It is for anyone who is interested in a theological perspective on racial justice and a fuller understanding of present realities and ways to transform them. Featured speakers include Nicholas Kristof, Anna Deavere Smith, Emilie Townes, Michael Curry, and many more.

Get more information and register online at www.diosova.org.

Liturgical resource for Day of Repentance & Reconciliation

Annual Council Resolution R-1 (2013) resolved that "November 2, 2014, All Souls Day, will be designated as the 'Day of Repentance and Reconciliation' in the Diocese of Southern Virginia and parishes will annually hold this observance during the octave of All Saints."

We encourage all parishes to live into R-1 and plan a meaningful service during the octave of All Saints. In the diocesan service we used a story format.  "Repentance, Reconciliation and Healing: A liturgical resource for congregations" follows the format of Holy Women, Holy Men. This booklet offers several options for readings and psalms.  

If you need further assistance or have questions, please contact Canon Caroline Black, cblack@diosova.org, or a member of the Repairers of the Breach Commission.  

Day of Repentance & Reconciliation events

St. George's, Pungoteague will hold a Solemn Evening Prayer for Racial Justice on Sunday Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m.. Celtic and Appalachian hymns by fiddler David Kohut.
 

Good Shepherd, Norfolk, will host a series of events leading up to a Holy Eucharist for Repentance, Reconciliation and Healing for the Sin of Racism at 7 p.m. on Nov. 5.

Sunday, November 1, 7:00 pm - Hymn Sing. All are invited to come together for a good old fashioned hymn sing. There choirs and musicians from the local community joining us. Please come out and raise the rafters! There will be a reception and nursery! Bring your kids! Monday, November 2, Dinner 6:00 pm, Presenter 6:30 pm - Aditi Dutt, Family Educator at Bon Secours Health System, will speak to us on the topic of cultural diversity. Appropriate for teens and adults, we encourage all to come and engage this important topic. Nursery provided. Wednesday, November 4, Dinner 6:00 pm, Presenter 6:30 pm - Anthony Holley, Youth Advisor and Board Member at Teens With a Purpose, along with some of the youth involved with TWP, will present on their work with teens and their mission to raise up the next generation of leaders. Especially appropriate for teens, please encourage your youth to attend. Adults are also welcome. Nursery provided. Thursday, November 5 , 7 p.m. - Holy Eucharist for Repentance, Reconciliation, and Healing for the Sin of Racism. Join us as we finish our week of song, presentations, and reflection with a celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Deacon Candidate Genevieve Nelson will be our guest preacher. A reception in the Narthex will follow the service. Nursery provided.

St. Augustine's, Newport News; St. Cyprians, Hampton; St. John's, Hampton; and Emmanuel, Hampton, will be coming together for a service of Repentance, Reconciliation and Healing at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 8.  The service will take place at St. John's, Hampton.  Four choirs will present a special anthem in addition to a performance by Weyanoke. Weyanoke is an a cappella vocal ensemble specializing in the songs and stories of the African Diaspora. Canon Michael Spear-Jones will be preaching. This service is a wonderful opportunity to come together as a wider community and reflect on our history while embracing a hope filled vision for the future. In this service we acknowledge that we are called as a Christian community to repent of our sins so that we can be reconciled and one day healed. After the service there will be a reception that is hosted by the St. John's young adult group with contributions from all of the participating churches. 

St. George's, Newport News, invites you to join them for an evening of fellowship and prayer on Thursday, November 5. Acknowledging the sin of racism in our past and in our present, they will gather for a time of repentance, reconciliation and healing. All are welcome. There will be a free dinner at 6 p.m. and the service will begin at 7 p.m. Clergy, please vest and process - green or multicolored stoles. St. George's is located at 15446 Warwick Blvd., Newport News. Call 757-877-0088 for more information.

ECW Board members installed at Fall Annual Meeting

By Nancy Smith, St. Aidan's, Virginia Beach     

 

Folks woke up to ice-coated windshields in Clarksville on October 18. St. Timothy's, Clarksville, ECW, led by Jean Crowe, ECW President, welcomed women who traveled across the diocese to the ECW Fall Annual Meeting that morning, with fresh-baked donuts and hot coffee.

The principal business at ECW Fall Annual Meetings is the installation of new board members. During the Celebration of Holy Eucharist, the Very Reverend Dr. Susan Grimm, Rector, St. Timothy's, Clarksville, installed the ECW board members: Kathy Haney, Recording Secretary, Christ Church, Danville; Andrea Morgan, Prayer/Worship Chair, Trinity, Portsmouth; Louise Boss, Second Vice President, Christ Church, Eastville/Bridgetown and Deborah Austin, Church Periodical Club Director, St. Mark's, Suffolk. They will serve a two-year term beginning in January 2016.

Megan-Drew Tiller, Church Relations, the Boys Home of Virginia, and Tod Balsbaugh, Vice President of Advancement, Jackson-Feild Homes attended the meeting and received contributions from parishes for God Bless the Children: ECW's 2015-16 Outreach Project. At lunch Molly Kratt, a member of St. Timothy's, shared Seven Stylish Tips for Tying Your Scarf.

ECW dues, $3 per member, are due November 1. Technically, all Episcopal Church Women, are members of ECW. Two dollars ($2) fund donations given to recipients in the diocese, nation and the world through the ECW Diocesan Budget. Imagine what sizable donations those would be, if every women in diocese gave $3. For information about recipients go to the ECW page at www.diosova.org.

PHOTO: The Very Reverend Dr. Susan Grimm, Rector, St. Timothy's, Clarksville, installed ECW board members at the Fall Annual Meeting October 18. Back row, l. to r.: Kathy Haney, Recording Secretary,Christ Church, Danville and Rev. Susan Grimm. Front row, l. to r.: Andrea Morgan, Prayer/Worship Chair, Trinity, Portsmouth; Louise Boss, Second Vice President, Christ Church, Eastville/Bridgetown; Presenter, Nancy Sands, ECW Diocesan President, Christ Church, Danville and Deborah Austin, Church Periodical Club Director, St. Mark's, Suffolk.