An updated version of the Manual of Business Methods in Church
Affairs has just been released and is available online. This is the
first full-scale revision of the manual since 2012. You can download a
copy from the diocesan website here. You may purchase a simple printed copy from The Episcopal Church Finance Office for a fee of $20. To do so, please contact nduverseau@episcopalchurch.org.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Free threat preparedness workshop for churches
The Virginia Fusion Center's SHIELD Program is collaborating with the Faith-Based Information Sharing & Analysis Organization
to educate faith-based organizations on the Hostile Events Attack Cycle
and challenge them to consider their preparedness and ability to
respond to threats. This workshop will:
- Provide a one-day forum for faith-based and charity organizations to enhance their threat awareness and preparedness relating to potential physical attacks at their facilities.
- Use a hostile events scenario to provide participants an opportunity to interact with one another and discuss issues, concerns, best practices and other salient points regarding physical security preparedness, coordination and response among participants.
- Use a hostile events scenario to provide participants with greater awareness of U.S. Government and local government resources, guidance and best practices relating to hostile events and physical security to help inform organizational preparedness, security and resilience.
The workshop will be held on Tuesday, April 14 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. Aidan's, Virginia Beach. Click here to register. St. Aidan's is located at 3201 Edinburgh Drive in Virginia Beach.
American Guild of Organists workshop: Repertoire You Can Count On!
Calling all church musicians, organists, choir members, choir
directors! The American Guild of Organists Tidewater Chapter
presents Repertoire You Can Count On! Join us for a wonderful
educational opportunity to explore 'tried and true' repertoire for
choirs and organists. Five of our experienced colleagues will bring us
five compositions each which they enjoy using. These choral anthems or
organ works are their 'go to' pieces and they will share them with YOU!
This event will take place on Saturday, February 8 at 10am at St.
Andrew's Episcopal Church, 45 Main Street, Newport News. Free and open
to all. For more information and to RSVP, please contact Deborah Carr
at deborahcarr53@gmail.com or call/text 757-406-4970. Click here for more information.
Friday, January 10, 2020
A Pastoral Address from the Bishop
January 8, 2020
Click here to download a PDF of this message
As we hear and watch the news of the
moment, our unfortunate reality is that once again we are engaged in
armed international hostilities. While reflecting upon this situation it
is all too easy to default to the emotions of all too quickly formed
conclusions and anticipations. Often that means that we will appeal to a
combination of anger and fear. In 1861 during his inaugural address to
our nation President Abraham Lincoln, seeing that the country was as
well at the brink of hostilities, then a time of conflict which
ultimately would pit states against states and even brothers against
brothers, asked the members of our country to appeal to our "...better
angels." (1) When the dark clouds of such hostilities are on the
horizon, it is well for people of faith to be reminded that we follow a
different way; a way of faith in God that beckons us to rise above
vengefulness to way of our better angels.
While our inclinations for revenge and
retaliation are wholly natural responses, as persons whom the Apostle
Paul described as people of "...the way..." (2) of Christ Jesus, we are
called to an extraordinary and different response. In 1963, the Roman
Catholic Bishop of Rome wrote a letter to the church entitled "Pacem in
Terris (Peace Upon Earth)." While the backdrop of this letter, the
global nuclear arms race, was a different setting than what we face
today, the bishop offered what I believe are some very applicable
thoughts. For one thing, the letter was addressed to "...all men of good
will." (3) The Bishop believed that all men and women of God's creation
had the infused spiritual capability to rise above partisanship and
join in the pursuit of peace upon earth. Accordingly, the Bishop of Rome
challenged people of faith to be both-and-citizens of the countries and
states in which they lived: full faithfulness and full citizenship.
They were called to be people of prayer whose constant supplication was
for peace and thoughtful decisions for the good of all of God's
children. Simultaneously, they were called to be citizens who were fully
engaged in the affairs of their nation. Our Christian mission is to be
both followers of the risen Lord Jesus and to be citizens involved in
the public life of our country.
Considering the heavy military
concentration within the confines of our diocese, this is a particularly
poignant moment in our lives. As a retired career service member I have
great empathy for service members and service families who must bear
the heavy weight of this burden. To them and to all of us I ask you to
be mindful that we are in the hands of a loving and caring God.
In her recent missive to our diocese,
Bishop-elect Susan Haynes implored us to a daily rule wherein we
faithfully read our scriptures and offer our prayers. As individual
Christ-followers and corporately as members of the body of Christ, this
is a time when we need to be so engaged. Accordingly, for your
individual and corporate worship usage I commend these prayers adapted
and taken from The Book of Common Prayer (1979):
Eternal God, in your perfect kingdom no
sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but
the strength of love. So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all
peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as
children of one God of all people. Guide the nations of the world into
the way of justice and truth, and establish among them that peace which
is the fruit of righteousness, that they may become the kingdom of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Almighty and loving God, your Son
commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to
truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in
your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
O Lord our Governor, whose glory is in
all the world: We commend our nation to your merciful care, that, being
guided by your Providence, we may dwell secure in your peace. Grant to
the President of the United States, and to all in authority, wisdom and
strength to know and to do your will. Fill them with the love of truth
and righteousness, and make them ever mindful of their calling to serve
this people in your fear; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
Almighty God, we commend to your
gracious care and keeping all the men and women of our armed forces at
home and abroad. Defend them day by day with your heavenly grace;
strengthen them in their trials and temptations; give them courage to
face the perils which beset them; and grant them a sense of your abiding
presence wherever they may be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
+Jay
- https://www.the-american-interest.com/2019/07/04/better-angels-in-our-past/. Accessed January 08, 2020.
- Acts 9:2, NSRV.
- http://www.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_11041963_pacem.html. Accessed January 08, 2020.
Gizelle Moran named CE-Net co-chair
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|
CE-Net is educators, laity and
clergy, volunteer and professional, who work with Christian Formation in
parishes around our diocese and meets five or six times a year for
support and sharing.You can learn more about CE-Net here or by
contacting one of the co-chairs:
Vicky Koch,
vkoch@stpaulsnorfolk.org, 757-627-4353, ext. 23
Gizelle Moran, gizelle@trinity-portsmouth.org, 757-393-0431
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
The Name of Jesus
Eternal
Father, you gave to your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be the
sign of our salvation: Plant in every heart, we pray, the love of him
who is the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.
Amen.
Notice that we are praying for God
to plant within the hearts of everyone love for the name of Jesus. We
are asking God to do the planting, which means that we acknowledge that
God is the one who has the power to plant seeds of love and change
within the heart of His creation. This is good news for Evangelism! Good
news because our job is not to plant, but to nurture growth and then to
harvest. Very often when we think of Evangelism we think that it is up
to us to change the hearts of people and to persuade them to become
Christians. We feel powerless to effect such change and then we feel
guilty. Once the guilt sets in, it paralyzes us and we do nothing. And
we miss where the true power lies: in the Name of Jesus.
In
the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Jesus tells his disciples that the
harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few and says that we should
pray for God to send workers into the harvest. Our job, as those who
believe in the Name of Jesus, is to be ready and prepared to work the
harvest. First Peter 3:15 tells us that we must always be prepared to
give an account for the hope that is within us. Such preparation is
actually a tool of the harvest. We must practice articulating why we
believe that the Name of Jesus is the most powerful name on the Earth.
If we don't engage in such preparation, we are like harvesters that go
into the field without hoes or other tools of the harvest. We go into
the field not expecting to bring in fruit.
How can
we engage in preparation to make us ready to harvest that which God has
planted in human hearts? We can engage in a disciplined life of prayer
and Bible study. We can deliberately execute acts of kindness and
justice. We can attend to our church community life faithfully. All of
this prepares us to be harvesters of the fruits of the Name of Jesus.
Sounds like some good New Year's resolutions doesn't it?
- Read the Bible every day.
- Start every morning with prayer - pray for others, pray for yourself, pray for the church, pray for the world. Set an alarm on your phone and pause a few times a day to pray.
- Do something every day for someone else as an act of kindness or charity (preferably anonymously)
- Resolve to attend Church weekly.
- Trust that God is planting Himself in everyone you meet and act accordingly.
As
your Bishop-elect, I ask on New Year's Day - the Feast of the Holy Name
of Jesus -- to join with me in committing to do these things in 2020;
and let's see what God plants and what kind of harvest we gather in the
Diocese of Southern Virginia in 2020.
Blessings and Peace in Christ,
Susan+
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