Sustainable landscapes for churches

God's Earth Ministry (GEM), a Peninsula-based interfaith creation care association, is hosting a lecture on Sustainable Landscapes for Churches at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Hampton on April 21 at 2:00 p.m.  Diane Rosilius, an award winning certified Landscape Designer and Horticulturist, will be speaking on "Sustainable Landscapes for the Church: A Guide On How to Work With the Environment to Improve It, Not Destroy It."  This talk will teach how churches can work with the environment, not against it, when designing landscapes, columbaria and social areas.  We hope that you can join us, and spread the word on to others you think should be interested. It's free and open to anyone!

Chanco Open House

Visit us on Sunday, April 7 from 1 to 5 pm (394 Floods Drive, Spring Grove, VA 23881) and meet our new Executive Director, take a tour of our property, learn more about our camp programs and fly along a zip line if you dare! All our welcome, no charge. Bring a friend! (Remember you receive a $50 tuition discount for every new registered camper you refer to us!) We hope to see you on April 7!

Take the Chanco Challenge! Anonymous donor will match up to $30,000

Chanco is pleased and blessed to report that we have been offered a donation of up to $30,000 to match funds raised in our Restoration Fund this year!  Chanco is seeking to execute the complete exterior renovation of Conference Center lodges B and C among other major property renovations and is challenging our friends to prayerfully consider matching their Annual Fund donation (still needed for scholarships and to offset operating costs) with a donation to our Restoration Fund where this year your dollar will have double the impact!  Make your donation by April 16th and the Chanco Board can move forward with Lodge renovation plans for this summer! Checks should be made to Chanco on the James with Restoration Fund in the memo line and mailed to Chanco at 394 Floods Drive, Spring Grove, VA 23881.  Thank you for your support - you are making a difference in Chanco's future!

Province 3 ECW Annual Meeting April 27-28

The Province 3 ECW Annual Meeting will be held April 27-28, in conjunction with the Province 3 Synod Meeting, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. The ECW and Synod will enjoy joint meals, worship and time for both entities to work, conduct business, and enjoy fellowship. Click here for more information and a registration form.

Easter: 50 Days of Fabulous

From the folks that brought you Lent Madness... 50 Days of Fabulous. This blog site is a way to engage the season of Easter beyond just one day. Each day of the Easter season is a day to celebrate rebirth, light, resurrection, surprise, joy, and the triumph of life over death. In the daily reflections, based on scripture, saints, art, music, and whatever else inspires contributors, readers will be invited into this amazing party that is the Feast of the Resurrection. Each day also has a response. Our faith is not a faith of reading something and thinking, "How nice." Our faith is a faith of proclamation, action, prayer, and response. Easter implores us to proclaim the resurrection, and this site will offer you some simple, profound, and even quirky ways to do so. Bloggers include our own the Rev. Penny Nash of Bruton Parish, Williamsburg and a couple of clergy folks who used to serve here in Southern Va - the Rev. Maria Kane and the Rev. Megan Castellan. Go to www.50days.org.

Easter message from the Presiding Bishop

Rejoice, rejoice and sing, rejoice and be glad... for earth and heaven are joined and humanity is reconciled to God! (From the Exsultet, BCP, p. 286-287)

As the Lenten season ends in Easter rejoicing, note what has been wrought in you this year.  A remarkable cross-section of America has been practicing Lenten disciplines, even some who are not active Christians. There is a deep hunger in our collective psyche to re-orient our lives toward life and light, healing and peace. We share a holy hunger for clarity about what is good and life-giving, and we yearn to re-focus on what is most central and important in life.  

Easter celebrates the victory of light and life over darkness and death. God re-creates and redeems all life from dead, dry, and destroyed bones. We are released from the bonds of self-obsession, addiction, and whatever would steal away the radical freedom of God-with-us. Our lives re-center in what is most holy and creative, the new thing God is continually doing in our midst. Practicing vulnerability toward the need and hunger of others around us, we have cultivated compassionate hearts. We join in baptismal rebirth in the midst of Jesus' own passing-over.   

The wonder of the resurrection is upon us once more. May we embrace God's ever-new life with every cell of our being, every yearning of our soul, and every muscle of our will. Christ is risen, death is vanquished, humanity is restored to holy and creative relationship with God's ongoing and eternal liveliness. Praise God who brings light out of darkness, life out of death, and newness out of the stale and moribund. Alleluia! Christ is risen!

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori

Message available on the web here. 

Have you "liked" us on Facebook?

Our diocesan Facebook page is getting lots of traffic these days. We now have over 800 followers. Are you one of them? If not, drop by  www.facebook.com/diosova and see what you're missing. In addition to advance notice of upcoming workshops and conferences, links to resources, and news from our churches, you can follow the adventures of diocesan Comptroller Nancy James and her dog Jake as they visit every church in Southern Virginia this year. On March 27,  you'll also be able to follow the community Stations of the Cross led by St. George's, Newport News, as it happens, 6 to 7:30 p.m.