St. Paul's, Norfolk, hosts Ultreya

St. Paul's, Norfolk, will be the host of the Ultreya on February 20 (201 St. Paul's Blvd., Norfolk, 23510). There will be a potluck shared meal from 6 to 6:45 p.m. A sandwich meal will be provided. Please bring a salad-type side dish or a dessert and beverage to share. The Ultreya will begin at 6:55 p.m. and end at 8:15 p.m. Come and enjoy seeing friends from our area Episcopal Churches. Please pray about attending, talk it up, invite and offer a friend a ride. Make it part of your plan for the week. Any questions or need a ride? Contact Bruce Comfort, comfort_1 @cox.net or 757-480-0316.  

Clergy Renewal of Vows services

The annual Renewal of Ordination Vows services for clergy will be held on Wednesday, April 1 at 10 a.m. at St. Cyprian's, Hampton, and at 2:30 p.m. at Manakin, Midlothian.

Liturgical items no longer needed can be donated on March 2

St. Mary's Mission, a charitable organization which finds new homes for liturgical and religious items, will be collecting items in our Diocese on Monday, March 2. They are coming to collect the Diocesan Council "Bishop Closet" items that did not find a home elsewhere, and they are also willing to come by your church if you have large items that cannot be transported to the Diocesan Center at Talbot Hall, or St. Michael's, Bon Air before March 2 (ie, baptismal fonts, altars, etc.).

If you have liturgical items to donate (vestments, hangings, prayer books, candlesticks, etc.) and would like to arrange for delivery or pick up, please contact The Rev. Canon Jeunée Godsey at Jgodsey@diosova.org or 434-603-1782.

Clergy Transitions

The Rev. Earl Christian began as Deacon at St. Cyprian's, Hampton, 1/12/2015

The Rev. Katherine Gray began as Deacon at St. Andrew's, Newport News, 1/20/2015

The Rev. Frederick Walker, Rector of St. Mark's, Suffolk, will begin as Priest-in-Charge at St. James', Portsmouth as the churches enter into shared ministry, 2/1/2015

The Rev. John Boucher will begin as Priest-in-Charge at St. Anne's, Appomattox, 2/1/2015

The Rev. Martha Jenkins will begin as Priest-in-Charge at St. James', Cartersville, 2/1/2015

The Rev. Donny Dunn III will begin as Interim Rector at Redeemer, Midlothian, 2/1/2015

The Rev. Tige Newell  will begin as Interim Assistant Rector at Redeemer, Midlothian, 2/1/2015 

Venture Mattress donates to Jackson-Feild

Venture Mattress, headquartered in Franklin VA, recently donated 50 brand new mattresses to Jackson-Feild Homes to improve the bedding and sleeping conditions of its residents. Working with their manufacturer, Mattress Tech, Venture developed the new mattresses and they in turn worked with their suppliers to produce them. Everyone along the way took a personal interest in this project and wanted to ensure the comfort of the children served by Jackson-Feild.

The new mattresses are twice as thick as the old and worn ones they're replacing, and are much better built. Already, the children are reporting that they are sleeping better and waking up in the morning feeling better.

Jackson-Feild is very grateful to Venture Mattress, Mattress Tech, and their suppliers for improving the boys' and girls' quality of life.

Jackson-Feild Homes is a residential treatment program with an accredited private school. It serves adolescent children who have severe emotional disorders. Established in 1855 the Home serves over 100 children annually. They are able to achieve positive outcomes for its residents where others have not.

Churches help police build trusting relationship with community

Residents in Virginia Beach’s Lake Edward and Campus East neighborhoods are building trusting relationships with city police thanks to the work of Western Bayside Churches United (WBCU) – an alliance of Good Samaritan Episcopal Church, Enoch Baptist Church, and Heritage United Methodist Church.

The three churches came together in 2010 with a simple mission – to make their neighborhood a better place to live. The Western Bayside area of Virginia Beach is a community in which many residents are struggling day to day and that has had one of the higher crime rates in the city. But that’s quickly changing.

In August of 2014, WBCU teamed up with officers of Virginia Beach’s third precinct in the Stop the Violence project. “One of the resident’s sons was murdered. Nobody knew anything even though there was a crowd in the yard when it happened. They were afraid to talk to the police,” explains Pastor Michael Daniels of Enoch Baptist Church. “She asked the church what we could do to help.”

The first step was a community meeting with the police, hosted by WBCU. “We wanted to talk about what the community could do, how we can partner with the precinct,” said the Rev. Wendy Wilkinson, rector of Good Samaritan Episcopal Church. “We have to take responsibility for our community.”

Stop the Violence builds on WBCU’s existing semi-annual Community Days. These events provided residents with, among other things, an opportunity to get to know each other and city agencies and services. The church leaders realized that the twice yearly events didn’t provide enough opportunity for residents to build trusting relationships with police.

WBCU now hosts a monthly community meeting at Enoch Baptist Church for residents, police officers, and civic leaders. Residents have the opportunity to get to know each other and the police officers serving their neighborhood. The project also encourages residents to join and use NextDoor.com, a social network for neighborhoods. The goal is to have at least 50% of residents using the site. The residents’ relationship with police has improved so much that WBCU is also helping residents obtain grant funds to install security cameras on their homes that will allow police to monitor activity in the neighborhood.

“People know the officers now. Police are getting calls now,” says Wilkinson.  “It’s made a huge impact on crime here. Daniels agrees. “The neighborhood sees the police in a different light now. The police are getting more tips. Crimes are being solved and there is some prevention also.”

The community is talking and making decisions together to take steps to reduce crime. “It came out at one of our monthly meetings that a local playground was a drug hangout,” says Wilkinson. “So the community decided to remove it.”

“One of the things we recognized is that the community had to change how they view officers and neighbors,” says Daniels. “We want to help neighbors feel more responsible for each other.”

Blessing the start of a new semester at CNU

The Rev. Lauren McDonald, Christopher Newport University chaplain, and the Rev. Scott Baker, rector of St. Stephen's, Newport News offered a special liturgy at CNU to bless the new semester there. Please treat yourself to reading Lauren's blog post on this special celebration.