By Donna Hudgins, Eastern Shore Chapel, Virginia Beach
Friday,
September 12, 7pm, Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church in Virginia
Beach will open its 325th anniversary celebration weekend with Under
Five Prayer Books and Four Flags. The original music/dramatic readings
performance recognizes the centuries and forces of history through which
the church survived from Colonial times to the present: Revolution,
Wars, Civil Rights, Women’s Ordination, and Societal Shifts. The program
features well-known historic readings and music performed by choir,
clergy, parishioners and guests. The performance will be held in the
church, 2020 Laskin Road. Saturday, September 13, 11:30-3pm, the church
will rejoice with families on the church lawn: featuring live music, BBQ, oysters from the Lynnhaven River, local rockfish, and games for the entire family.
Sunday, September 14, 10:15am, the church will conclude its celebration
with a worship service of thanksgiving and prayers highlighting historic
prayer books and American sacred music. All events are free and open to the public.
Said
Rector Reverend Thomas Deppe, “ We have this singular opportunity
to celebrate the vibrancy, dedication and community outreach ministries
of generations of parishioners who kept this church alive through
revolutions, separation from the Church of England, wars, social justice
changes, and the destruction and moving of worship spaces. Through it
all, they continued to worship and serve our community."
The
church is interlaced in the story of Colonial Virginia and the City of
Virginia Beach, tracing its founding to Adam Thoroughgood and the
Anglican services he held on his land grant plantation. While the church
is believed to date back to the 1660s, it is first mentioned in public
records in 1689. The first Chapel was built as a "Chapell of Ease" on the
eastern shore of the Lynnhaven River to more easily allow rural
colonial parishioners to reach the chapel by water to attend services.
Three
colonial structures and a fourth 20th century chapel built in the 1950s
have served the churches growing congregations continuously with
worship services for over three centuries. The design of the first
chapel is lost in history; the second chapel (circa 1730-1754) and the
third chapel (circa 1754-1952) were built on what was then the Salisbury
Plains plantation of Joel Cornick and is now N.A.S. Oceana. In the
1950s with the expansion of the runways at Oceana, the 200- year old
third chapel was dismantled and in 1954 a new chapel incorporating
elements from the earlier chapels was built at its present Laskin Road
location. The current location is less than a mile from the original
17th century Chapel of Ease.
Eastern
Shore Chapel is often recognized in Virginia Beach for its expansive
Food Pantry, its prison ministry, its Parish Day School and as the
church of the 1,000 flags which are planted on the front lawn each
Memorial Day to honor fallen military.
Chaplain Service Prison Ministry of Virginia is changing its name to
GraceInside. "This is a much simpler name, even our own staff couldn't
always get the old name right consistently," said the Rev. Randy Myers,
president, "and is quite descriptive of what our God is doing in the
prisons through our chaplains. This is a new beginning for us, and we
are very excited, as you'll see from the crazy, celebratory picture."
Soon to come will be a new website, new email addresses for central
staff, as well as entry into social media. Learn more about the prison
ministry of GraceInside 
The Jackson-Feild Home (JFH) received a grant from the Altria Companies
Employee Community Foundation (ACECF) to provide supplies and materials
for art, dance and music therapy programs for the residents of
Jackson-Feild.