Light the Way Project at Boys Home

On Wednesday, February 25, a group of students and staff from Boys Home of Virginia will assist at the Greater Lynchburg Habitat for Humanity ReStore location. This project called Light the Way is a show of gratitude to the many area supporters and groups who have helped Boys Home through the years. Named to honor Bishop Heath A. Light, retired bishop for the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia, the Boys Home group will provide lunches for the construction manager, building crew and volunteers.

Susan Morris, program assistant for GLHFH, will provide a tour and explanation of the program as well as show how volunteers play a major role in the success of the Habitat for Humanity organization, locally, nationally and internationally.

The students attend the Boys Home School located on the Boys Home campus, in Covington, Virginia. Boys Home School provides residential education for young men who need remedial classes in elementary or middle school or concentrated classes in high school to gain credits towards a high school diploma.

Boys Home students and staff regularly volunteer their time and talents to community services projects, most in the Covington area. Some of the projects are sponsored by the local Alleghany Highlands Kiwanis Club through the Boys Home Key Club or through community involvement.

For more information about Boys Home, please contact Amy R. Hubbard, Manager of the Intake and Evaluation Center at 540/965-7739 or Jodie Weidman, Director of the Boys Home School 540-965-7737.

Rotary Youth Leadership Awards benefits Jackson-Feild

In a three-day session at the 4-H center in Wakefield, 120 high school students recently met for the 2015 Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program held by Rotary District 7600. RYLA is a leadership development program run by Rotary International.

The students from high schools across District 7600 which runs from Fluvanna County to North Carolina east to the Eastern Shore participated in presentations, activities, and workshops covering a variety of topics, including: leadership fundamentals and ethics, communication skills, problem solving and conflict management, and community and global citizenship.

An important part of the event includes the organization and planning of a community service project. Members chose Jackson-Feild Homes to be this year's beneficiary. Participants engaged their Interact Clubs and local Rotary Clubs to collect school and art supplies, clothing, personal care items and sporting equipment for the residents at Jackson-Feild.

The items were presented to Jackson-Feild during event. Ms. Shadhri Stith, Senior Residential Supervisor at JFH was thrilled to receive these items that have been put to good use.

From the Presiding Bishop: On Healing and Wholeness

Healing is the primary work of people of faith and the communities of which they are a part.  Christians, as disciples of One who came to save (rescue, heal, make whole) the world and its inhabitants, seek to heal their relationships with one another and with all that is.

Episcopalians believe this is God's mission and we are its ministers or servants.  We are meant to seek to repair what is breached and broken, to stitch up what is torn, to heal what is sick, to release what is imprisoned and oppressed, to comfort the dying, to encourage the ignored, forlorn, and grieving.  Our life finds meaning in responding to the cries around us and within us, as individuals in community.  We follow One who was himself vilified, tortured, and finally executed for proclaiming the possibility of reconciled relationships in communities divided by poverty, violence, and religion.

The tragic death of Thomas Palermo challenges us all to attend to the work of healing.  We cannot restore what is past, but we can seek reconciliation and wholeness for all who have been affected - the Palermo family, Heather Cook, the biking community and others in Baltimore, the Diocese of Maryland, bystanders and onlookers who have witnessed any of these traumatic events.  

We begin in prayer - lament and wailing at loss and at human frailty.  We continue in prayer - for succor and comfort, for compassion, for transformation and healing.  Episcopalians worship a God who came among us in fragile human flesh and suffered pain and death at the hands of other human beings.  We understand his resurrection to mean that death does not have the final word - and that healing and wholeness transcend the grave.  That healing is never quick or easy, it does not "fix" what has already happened, but it does begin to let hope grow again.

Our task is that hard work of healing.  It requires vulnerability to the pain of all involved - victims, transgressors, onlookers, friends and families and coworkers and emergency responders and community members.  A violent death often divides communities, yet ultimately healing requires us all to lower our defenses enough to let others minister to us, to hear another's pain and grief, to share our own devastation, and indeed to look for the possibility of a new and different future.  Healing also comes through a sense of restored order, which is the role of processes of accountability.

Healing requires hope for a redeemed future for the Palermo family as well as Heather Cook.  Many have been changed by this death, yet their lives are not ended.  They can be healed and transformed, even though the path be long and hard.  Our work is to walk that path in solidarity with all who grieve and mourn.  May we pray with the psalmist, "Yea, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me."  May we also be that companioning presence, the image of God in the flesh, for those who walk through that valley.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate, The Episcopal Church

Snow day is the perfect day to register for camp!

The snow blankets Chanco grounds and covers the stunning cross at the bluff.  But while white blankets Chanco's grounds, we are still thinking of sunshine and summer camp!  Home from work and school today?  It's a great day to get on line and get that camp registration done!  With specialty sessions such as Ropes Camp and Mariner's Camp filling fast, and First Session historically filling to capacity, now is the perfect time to ensure the Camp Chanco session of your choice!  Visit www.chanco.org for more information on all sessions and easy on line registration.  Chanco offices are closed today due to road conditions but once open, you can reach us at 888-7CHANCO (888-724-2626) or director@chanco.org with any questions.  Enjoy the snow, stay warm and safe, and relish the thoughts of warmer weather as you register for Camp Chanco today! 

Praying for the churches of Southern Virginia

As part of our liturgy at Annual Council 2015, each delegation wrote a prayer for their parish. We are sharing these prayers each week in the eNews so that we all can support one another in the upcoming year.

Hickory Neck, Toano

Gracious and loving God, we thank you for all of the blessings that you have bestowed upon this congregation. We, your humble servants, seek your guidance and direction; Instill in us your grace, and grant us the ability to hear your words with our ears and in our hearts, so that we may find a new rector who will enable your church to grow in faith and service. Help us to welcome new disciples, of all ages, so that together, through changing and uncertain times, we may continue to praise your glory and keep our light on this Holy Hill shining brightly; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

St. Michael's, Colonial Heights

O God, who knows our need before we can think to ask, we at St. Michael's sense our calling to care for the multiple needs of our own, as well as strategically  reaching out to our community.  We pray for your Holy Spirit's guidance in this service.  We also pray for those beset by violence beyond their control, and for those whose view of life is so pained and angry that violence seems their only recourse. We offer these hopes through you, our Creator, Savior, and Ever-present Guide.  Amen.

Love a timely topic for ECW Time for Reflection

By Nancy Smith, St. Aidan's, Virginia Beach

Aptly, love was the topic at the ECW's Time for Reflection held Valentine's Day. Through interactive workshops, reflection and worship, women from across the diocese explored God's greatest gift to us- love. Cynthia Gossman (front row, 3rd from the right) author, trainer, motivational speaker and Joy Restoration Coach, led the annual prayer and worship conference held in Williamsburg. Sharing the love, attendees donated 54 scarves and 19 hats to the Cancer Care Foundation of Tidewater. Many thanks to Ronda Toll, ECW Prayer and Worship Chair for planning a wonderful day. 

Absalom Jones Celebration Feb. 22

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Union of Black Episcopalians will hold its annual Absalom Jones Day Celebration on Sunday, February 22 at Tabernacle Christian Church (2500 East Washington Street, Suffolk), hosted by St. Mark's, Suffolk. The celebration starts at 4 p.m. and will be followed by light refreshments. The Very Rev. Phoebe Roaf, rector of St. Philip's, Richmond, will preach.

Absalom Jones was an African-American abolitionist and clergyman. He was the first African-American ordained as a priest in the Episcopal Church in the United States in 1804. He was born into slavery in 1746 and achieved his own freedom in 1784. Absalom taught himself to read out of the New Testament, among other books.

The Very Rev. Phoebe Roaf, the rector of St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Richmond, will preach. Roaf is a graduate of Virginia Theological Seminary and is the first African-American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Louisiana. She is the first woman to serve as rector of St. Philip's in its 150 year history.  

Please join us in the Festival Eucharist and Celebration.