Virtual Easter Vigil a collaboration of nine Episcopal and Lutheran churches

By Kim Lenz, Acting Communications Coordinator, Grace, Yorktown 

 

The Holy Saturday Easter Vigil, held each year on the York River shoreline, will go virtual this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Seven Episcopal congregations along with two Lutheran congregations have been working to turn what's been an eight-year tradition of drumming, fire, processions and baptisms into a virtual Vigil for participants to experience at home. Recreating what's been a highly participatory experience of a couple hundred folks has been no small feat, but all churches involved have done their best to bring this ninth annual vigil to the people.

 

Music Director Suzanne Daniel at Grace, Yorktown, has led the technology charge to record - safely and individually - this year's participants for a YouTube broadcast that will begin at 7 p.m. this Saturday, April 11. The Rev. Thomas Haynes of Christ the King, Tabb, will give the homily. The Rev. Sven vanBaars, rector of Abingdon Church in White Marsh, and this year's lead clergy, says the decision to produce a virtual Vigil is partly to mark the resurrection as the defining moment of Christian faith, but also the opportunity to have a fuller expression of the meaning of this event. The opening prayer "reminds us that the church is dispersed around the world. Maybe in this time of social isolation, in this time of being dispersed rather than gathered together as we typically are, we can hear and experience the words of this ancient liturgy with fresh ears and hearts."

 

The Vigil on the York River has historically been a collaboration recognizing Easter as a celebration of the whole church, not just individual parishes. "With the safe distancing guidelines in place we knew that we could not do the Vigil as we had, but we also knew that it was perhaps more important to make a statement of our faith in Christ's resurrection," says vanBaars. "Luckily, our Creator has made us very creative and we used our creative spirits to bring this event together in a virtual context."

 

A bulletin for this service, which also has a link to Grace's YouTube channel where it will be broadcast, is available now on the Grace Church homepage. For those who have not been to the waterfront Vigil, click here for a video created to promote last year's event.

 

This year's participating congregations are: Grace Episcopal in Yorktown; Abingdon Episcopal in White Marsh; Ware Episcopal in Gloucester; Apostles Lutheran in Gloucester; St. George's Episcopal in Newport News; Reformation Lutheran in Newport News; Kingston Parish Episcopal in Mathews; St. John's Episcopal in West Point; and Christ the King Episcopal in Tabb.

Virtual Easter Vigil from Chanco

Even though Chanco has suspended in-person group activity, we are finding ways to stay connected to our community. Join the Rev. Eileen Walsh for a special virtual/electronic Easter Vigil at Chanco on Saturday, April 11 at 8 p.m. via Chanco's Facebook page.  

 

The Easter Vigil is one of the oldest liturgies in the church. This service will involve readings that tell the history of salvation, music, the lighting of the Pascal candle and other candles, the ringing of bells, and the joyous celebration of the resurrection! Don't miss it! 

Great Vigil from St. John's, Portsmouth

The Great Vigil of Easter is the largest worship celebration each year at St. John's, Portsmouth. Hundreds of worshippers usually gather each year in candlelight to hear the story of salvation (using scripture, video clips, and a wide variety of sacred and secular music), renew their baptismal vows, baptize new sisters and brothers in Christ, share the Eucharistic meal, and continue feasting at an elegant reception that goes well into the night! 

 

Though this year's shelter in place order makes all that impossible, you are invited to catch a flavor of this amazing annual Easter celebration on their Facebook page as St. John's Church celebrates The Great Vigil & First Celebration of Easter Online this Saturday, 4/11, at sunset (7:42pm...the beginning of the Third Day!).

Help us connect college-bound students with Campus Ministries

In an effort to help college-bound students make connections with the Episcopal Church and Canterbury fellowship when they arrive on campus this fall, we are asking one representative from each parish (Parish Administrator, Clergy, DRE, Youth Minister) to complete the data sheet linked below for anyone in our diocese who is college-bound this fall and email it to the Youth Missioner Megan Dern, mdern@diosova.org. If you have questions, please feel free to give Megan a call at 757-213-3393.  

 

Click for College-bound Students Data Sheet

 

The diocesan-sponsored Canterbury ministries at the College of William and Mary, Old Dominion University, Hampden-Sydney College, and Longwood University are eager to welcome new students and the information you provide will help facilitate that connection.  However, we want to make sure students are able to get in touch with a ministry wherever they go, even if it is not at one of the aforementioned universities. This is a great opportunity to support our youth and young adults as they go off into the world and to help continue to foster their relationships with the Episcopal Church. Thank you in for your help in gathering this information! 

 

Celebrating graduating seniors

Also, we are currently looking at different avenues to celebrate graduating seniors.  We know that with the school year cut short and many events cancelled, that seniors are not able to celebrate in ways that they have seen other classes be celebrated.  If you are interested in participating in this conversation, have seniors that you think might be interested in participating, or are doing something cool within your parish, please contact Youth Missioner Megan Dern, mdern@diosova.org.

New resources available

The diocesan website has a wealth of resources to assist churches and their parishioners in being the Church during the coronavirus and new resources are being added each week.  

 

Messages from Bishop Susan, including her lectionary reflections, are all available on our website here.  

 

Here are a few of the newly added resources:

 

Light in Dark Times Healing Souls During the Pandemic and Beyond, a free webinar TODAY at 1 p.m. from Fresh Expressions US.    

 

Youth Group at Home ideas, Galilee, Virginia Beach, has put together some youth group at home ideas for the whole family.   

 

Ecumenical resources for Holy Week and Easter, Christian Churches Together, Churches Uniting in Christ, and The National Council of Churches have joined together to offer resources for Christians who are observing Holy Week and Easter in their homes.

 

Holy Week Resources for Families, a free download from Church Publishing.

 

Holy Week at Home, a resource created by Kristen Ketron, Director of Formation Ministries for Children & Youth at St. Matthias, Midlothian.

 

Stations of the Cross for younger people, a resource created by Kristen Ketron, Director of Formation Ministries for Children & Youth at St. Matthias, Midlothian (a PDF in booklet format).

 

Sermons for Holy Week 2020: New resources for worship, reflections, meditation

 

A new resource, Sermons for Holy Week 2020, is an ideal companion for Holy Week devotions. Like all resources offered by The Episcopal Church's office of communication, Episcopal congregations, dioceses, and organizations and agencies have permission to use Sermons for Holy Week 2020 for online worship, study groups, or other virtual use.

 

Sermons for Holy Week 2020 is designed for public and personal use for group discussions, personal meditations, reflections, and devotional reading by preachers, groups, individuals, adults and youth.

 

Prepared through The Episcopal Church's popular Sermons That Work, the resource is designed for use throughout Holy Week to follow Jesus through the streets of Jerusalem, to Gethsemane, to the foot of the cross, and toward the joy of Easter.

 

Included are resources for Palm Sunday through the Great Vigil, all presented in different voices by the cadre of writers from Sermons That Work. Topics are: Made Holy; Extravagant Love; Shame; The Paradox of Judas; By Our Love; and He Has Been Raised from the Dead.

 

Sermons for Holy Week 2020 is available to download at no fee  here. 

 

Sermons That Work will also be launching a podcast on Palm Sunday, April 4, offering audio versions of the sermon for each day of Holy Week. After Easter, the podcast will continue weekly, with a new sermon available for every Sunday. Find the podcast here or on your favorite podcasting platform.

 

For more information contact Christopher Sikkema, Office of Communication manager for special projects, csikkema@episcopalchurch.org.

Safe Church Training postponed through June

Due to Governor Northam's mandatory stay-at-home order, all in-person Safe Church Training workshops have been postponed thru June. The registration links have been removed from the diocesan website and we will be contacting individuals who submitted registrations to inform them of this decision. We plan  to reschedule the in-person training events once it is safe for individuals to gather, after this health crisis has passed. 

 

Online training is still available, however please do be mindful that the training covers difficult topics and can be a trigger point for individuals who have been victims of abuse. If you wish to register to complete the training on-line, click here. 

 

Watch the e-news and the website for updates about summer safe church training offerings. 

ECW Grapevine newsletter available

The Grapevine, the diocesan ECW newsletter, for Spring 2020 is here! Click here for your copy. This edition includes important information about:

• Annual Spring Meeting cancellation
• ECW Scholarship applications due JUNE 1 (CORRECTION)
• Province III ECW Annual Meeting
• and MUCH more

The Grapevine is a quarterly print-ready newsletter available for individuals and churches to receive via email. Subscribe by going to www.diosova.org  and entering your email address in the "Sign up to receive news" box at the top right of the page.

 

ECW seeking historian/archivist

The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) of the Diocese of Southern Virginia is seeking an historian/archivist. The Historian/Archivist shall: 

1. Search out and continue to compile records of the history of the ECW.  These  records shall include parish,  convocation and diocesan histories and shall be stored in a fireproof area of a building with public access, said building to be selected by the historian/archivist.
    
2. In addition to these duties, the Historian/Archivist must be able to chronicle and document the history of the Diocesan ECW, placing activities/events and functions in a chronological and historical context.  She must posses excellent writing skills, knowledge of Word processing functions, and the capability to make informed  determinations of which materials or artifacts will be preserved in their original condition or scanned/digitized for future use/reference.
3. Update with information on storing archives. 

If you are interested, please contact Laura L. Manigault, Diocesan Episcopal Church Women President, carver.manigault7@gmail.com or Deborah Austin, Nominating Committee Chair, complianceretired@gmail.com. Please also make this announcement to your ECW Chapter in your Parish.