Administrators & Treasurers Lunch Group will meet Jan. 14 in Virginia Beach

The next Administrators and Treasurers lunch will be Wednesday, January 14, noon to 1:30, at Eastern Shore Chapel, Virginia Beach (2020 Laskin Road). This will be a good time to take a break from all the year-end work and get together to talk, share ideas, and ask questions.  Bring your own lunch; beverages will be provided. RSVP to njames@diosova.org.

African Evensong presented by Women-to-Women of the Diocese

Women-to-Women of the Diocese of Southern Virginia is presenting a lively African Evensong at Good Shepherd, Norfolk (7400 Hampton Blvd.) on January 25 at 5:30 p.m.  Donations will go to the women of the Diocese of Bukavu in the DR Congo to counsel, educate and train victimized women, giving them a chance for new life.  For more information, call  Susan Broaddus, 757-623-0205.

Healing the Shepherds: Clergy retreat in Virginia Beach

The Rev. Nigel Mumford of Galilee, Virginia Beach, will lead "Healing the Shepherds", a private retreat for ordained clergy of all denominations Jan. 21-22 at the Holiday Inn North Beach in Virginia Beach. Registration deadline is Jan. 18. The retreat will be a time for renewal, fellowship and healing. Program cost is $135 and does not include accommodations or meals. Discounted hotel rate is $59 per night. For more information and registration, go to www.byhiswoundsministry.org or contact Lynn Mumford, lynn@byhiswoundsministry.org or 757-496-0001.  

Summer camp counselor applications now being accepted

If you love the outdoors, children, adventure, singing, and Christian fellowship then serving as a Chanco counselor or counselor-in-training might be just for you!  Our counselors serve as mentors to young people ages 8-18 and often make a difference in a child's life that lasts a lifetime.  Chanco is accepting applications for activity staff, counselors and counselors in training.  Service begins with staff week in mid June and extends through mid August. Visit our website at www.chanco.org for more information. Click here for the employment application and email it to director@chanco.org, fax it to 757-294-0727 or mail it to 394 Floods Dr Spring Grove, Virginia 23881. Preference will be given to applications received before March 15.  Questions?  Contact Executive Director Gareth Kalfas at director@chanco.org or 888-7CHANCO (888-724-2626).  We hope you will apply to join our team this summer!

Summer Camp 2015 registration is open

Don't wait to register for the summer camp session of your choice!  With the popular Sail Camp returning, a second annual Family Camp session, and an ALL NEW Ropes Course specialty session being offered for the first time, the choices are many!  As always, our one and two week residential session are also available. Visit www.chanco.org for more information and easy online registration. Come to Chanco and see why we are one of the longest running summer camps in Virginia (over 45 years!) and voted number one Summer Camp in Virginia Living magazine 2014 "Best Of" edition. Questions?  Email us at director@chanco.org or call 888-7CHANCO (888-724-2626).

Bishop Hollerith's 2014 Christmas message

Dear Episcopal Church Family in Southern Virginia,

The crèche is surely one of the most enduring traditions of the Christmas season.  During the holidays many churches manage to display one somewhere on their property.  Crèches really vary in size – from a small display set on a table in the back of the church or parish hall, to a life-size, elaborately lighted one in the church yard.  And there are a few industrious congregations that even perform an outdoor living crèche, replete with live animals and costumed congregants.

Likewise, crèches are popular in homes.  I grew up watching my mother set one up each year with delicate precision on the dining room sideboard.  The figurines were made of china.  I can still remember the “negative feedback” my baby brother and I received one Christmas when we “borrowed” Joseph to lead our army of plastic toy soldiers into battle.

Lizzie and I have a crèche that was given to us years ago as a wedding present.  Rather than made of china, ours is made from olive wood from the Holy Land.  It appears to be indestructible – which is a good thing after raising three children.  Each Christmas Lizzie still sets it up on our dining room sideboard – just as my mother did – just as her mother did.

Regardless of size or location, all crèches have a couple of common attributes.  The first and most obvious are the characters – Mary, Joseph, barn animals, wise men, sometimes shepherds, maybe an angel or two, and, of course always, the baby Jesus.

A second and less obvious attribute is that crèches are opened depictions.  The barn scene is always displayed outwardly toward the observer – not unlike a stage play is displayed outwardly toward an audience.  Each crèche means to tell a story – the story of Jesus birth.  Yet, this telling is about more than the mere conveyance of historical fact.   The crèche is an attempt to dramatize something holy, to elicit in an observer a first-hand experience of the abiding peace, tranquility and joy that so characterize the essence of the miracle of the Incarnation.  Also, the crèche dramatizes the startling news that God has opened his home to the whole world.  In the birth event God literally invites the whole world in to his inner sanctuary to meet his newborn son.

Sharron Kitchen Miller names to Jackson-Feild Homes Board

Jackson-Feild Homes is pleased to announce that Sharron Kitchen Miller of Newport News has been elected to the Board of Trustees. She currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the state agency that appropriates General Assembly funds for non-profit arts organizations throughout Virginia.

A retired Pediatric Administrator, Ms. Kitchen Miller has a strong history of community involvement and charity work on the Virginia Peninsula including service to the Hampton Roads Chapter of the American Red Cross and a recent three-year term on the Board of the Virginia Living Museum. She has also served on the Newport News Public Works Advisory Committee, the Deer Run Golf Course Citizens Advisory Committee and as a Liaison Board Member to the USS Newport News.

Ms. Kitchen Miller and her husband, John, are the proud parents of two adult children and a grandson, Isaac.