Special Council convenes Saturday in Dinwiddie

The Special Council to Elect the 11th Bishop of Southern Virginia will convene on Saturday, September 21, at Dinwiddie High School in Dinwiddie. Council will open with Holy Eucharist at 10 a.m. Complete information about Special Council can be found here.

Results of each ballot will be posted on the diocesan website, Facebook page, and Instagram.

Information about the candidates can be found here. A recording of the Bishop Candidate Walkabout on September 6 at Bruton Parish, Williamsburg, is available on our YouTube channel. The recording has been divided into seven shorter videos so that you can view the opening segment, and the individual candidate segments separately.  

 

Please hold the Diocese, clergy and lay delegates, and bishop candidates in your prayers.

 

Almighty and most gracious God, source of all wisdom and guidance, send your Holy Spirit to guide us as we seek and discern a shepherd for the Diocese of Southern Virginia. Inspire us with hope, hearts to love you and a desire to serve one another. Grant us grace to entrust you with the future of your Church and all things. We ask in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ Our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

Holy Land Pilgrimage departing Feb. 9, 2020

Join the Rev. Peter Hogg for a pilgrimage offering a complete immersion in the Holy Land, including the Galilee region, Tiberius, Capernaum, Cesarea, Philippi, Mt. Hermon, the Golan Heights, Nazareth, Jericho, Jerusalem, Bethany, Masada, the Dead Sea, Qumram, and Joppa. An optional Jordan extension of the trip includes Mt. Nebo, Madaba, Petra and Emmaus. This pilgrimage departs February 9, 2020 for 10 days in the Holy Land, and February offers the best weather for travel in this region. This tailor-made tour is limited to just 20 people, offering a more comfortable and intimate experience. It will include unique private events like dinner in a Palestinian home in Bethlehem and an evening at St. George's Anglican Cathedral. Pilgrimage cost is $3,348 and is all-inclusive, includes direct flights (Dulles to/from Tel Aviv), taxes, tips, all entrance fees, etc. The optional three-night Jordan extension is an additional $998.  Click here for a tour brochure with complete details. Contact the Rev. Peter Hogg, 757-635-3557 or phogg123@gmail.com.

 

Video of Bishop Candidates Walkabout available

The Bishop Candidate Walkabout on September 6 at Bruton Parish, Williamsburg, was livestreamed. Please note that the livestream experienced technical difficulties that evening. However, a high resolution video recording was made of the event and can now be found on our YouTube channel. The recording has been divided into seven shorter videos so that you can view the opening segment, and the individual candidate segments separately. 

Episcopal Relief & Development providing relief support after Hurricane Dorian

In partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, the Episcopal Church in South Carolina, the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, and the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry, Episcopal Relief & Development is giving assistance such as food, water, clothing, shelter and other emergency supplies to individuals and families affected by the storm. The organization is also working through the Anglican Alliance to provide support to the Anglican Diocese of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos as they continue to assess the needs of communities.  

Donations to the Hurricane Relief Fund will help Episcopal Relief & Development's partners respond to the storm in the most efficient way possible. Many partners are not in a position to receive, store or distribute donations of physical goods or effectively use volunteer assistance at this time. Click here to make a donation.  

Episcopal Relief & Development's Disaster Preparedness Initiative equips Episcopal dioceses to prepare for and respond to crises. By offering resources and training and providing emergency support, the program helps vulnerable groups of people to make a full and sustained recovery and helps them to develop resiliency against future disasters. Many of the dioceses impacted by Hurricane Dorian have been working to develop this resilience and were ready to respond as needed. To learn more about building a Season of Resilience and to download disaster preparedness resources, visit episcopalrelief.org/resilience. 

Fall Camp at Shrine Mont registration now open

Fall Camp is a four day adult conference sponsored by the Tri-Diocesan Council on Aging which represents all three Episcopal dioceses in Virginia, and is held at the Shrine Mont center in Orkney Springs. This year's Fall Camp will be October 28-31. Keynote speaker will be author Philip Gulley. Gulley has written 21 books, including the Harmony series recounting life in the eccentric Quaker community of Harmony, Indiana. He also co-authored the progressive spirituality books If Grace is True and If God is Love. He also authored If the Church Were Christian, and The Evolution of Faith. Click here for details and registration. 

Carter's Walk in support of Chanco

The Rev. Carter Sinclair, deacon at Emmanuel, Virginia Beach, has made a commitment to walk 65 kilometers for his 65th birthday! Carter hopes to complete this walk in 12 hours or less on October 5. The Rev. Mimi Lacy, Rector of Emmanuel Church, recommended that Carter dedicate his walk to fundraising for a worthy cause. Carter chose The Campaign for Chanco.  

Carter shares, " Chanco is the spiritual center of the Diocese. As a summer camp, it might be first place that youth get exposed to the good news of Jesus Christ. Chanco is undergoing a wonderful building campaign and is very close to reaching the goal to fund all of the new construction and renovations that are so desperately needed. Therefore, I am asking for a pledge per kilometer, starting at 10 cents per kilometer (with no upper limit)."  

To support Carter in his walk for Chanco, click here for easy on line donation indicating "Carter's Walk" in the "notes" section or you may mail a check made out to Chanco with " Carter's Walk" in the memo line and mail to Chanco at 394 Floods Drive, Spring Grove, VA 23881. Thank you for your prayerful support of Carter's Walk!

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry to participate in launch of Jim Wallis' new book, Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus

On September 25, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will join Sojourner's president Jim Wallis in Washington, D.C. for the launch of Wallis' new book, Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus. Bishop Curry will join Wallis is discussing the ways in which Jesus speaks directly to our current political and moral crisis.  

Bishop Curry, in the foreword for the book, explains the importance of responding to our nation's current moral and "constitutional crisis" at this political moment: "With Christ in Crisis, Rev. Wallis creates an unprecedented spiritual field guide for Christians and those of different faiths-or no faith at all-who are trying to survive the polarizing bitterness and anger of our divided nation and move forward in the post-2016 political context."

The event will run from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at National City Christian Church on Thomas Circle in Washington, D.C. Click here for more information and registration.