New resources available

The diocesan website has a wealth of resources to assist churches and their parishioners in being the Church during the coronavirus and new resources are being added each week.  

 

Messages from Bishop Susan, including her lectionary reflections, are all available on our website here.  

 

Here are a few of the newly added resources:

 

Light in Dark Times Healing Souls During the Pandemic and Beyond, a free webinar TODAY at 1 p.m. from Fresh Expressions US.    

 

Youth Group at Home ideas, Galilee, Virginia Beach, has put together some youth group at home ideas for the whole family.   

 

Ecumenical resources for Holy Week and Easter, Christian Churches Together, Churches Uniting in Christ, and The National Council of Churches have joined together to offer resources for Christians who are observing Holy Week and Easter in their homes.

 

Holy Week Resources for Families, a free download from Church Publishing.

 

Holy Week at Home, a resource created by Kristen Ketron, Director of Formation Ministries for Children & Youth at St. Matthias, Midlothian.

 

Stations of the Cross for younger people, a resource created by Kristen Ketron, Director of Formation Ministries for Children & Youth at St. Matthias, Midlothian (a PDF in booklet format).

 

Sermons for Holy Week 2020: New resources for worship, reflections, meditation

 

A new resource, Sermons for Holy Week 2020, is an ideal companion for Holy Week devotions. Like all resources offered by The Episcopal Church's office of communication, Episcopal congregations, dioceses, and organizations and agencies have permission to use Sermons for Holy Week 2020 for online worship, study groups, or other virtual use.

 

Sermons for Holy Week 2020 is designed for public and personal use for group discussions, personal meditations, reflections, and devotional reading by preachers, groups, individuals, adults and youth.

 

Prepared through The Episcopal Church's popular Sermons That Work, the resource is designed for use throughout Holy Week to follow Jesus through the streets of Jerusalem, to Gethsemane, to the foot of the cross, and toward the joy of Easter.

 

Included are resources for Palm Sunday through the Great Vigil, all presented in different voices by the cadre of writers from Sermons That Work. Topics are: Made Holy; Extravagant Love; Shame; The Paradox of Judas; By Our Love; and He Has Been Raised from the Dead.

 

Sermons for Holy Week 2020 is available to download at no fee  here. 

 

Sermons That Work will also be launching a podcast on Palm Sunday, April 4, offering audio versions of the sermon for each day of Holy Week. After Easter, the podcast will continue weekly, with a new sermon available for every Sunday. Find the podcast here or on your favorite podcasting platform.

 

For more information contact Christopher Sikkema, Office of Communication manager for special projects, csikkema@episcopalchurch.org.

Safe Church Training postponed through June

Due to Governor Northam's mandatory stay-at-home order, all in-person Safe Church Training workshops have been postponed thru June. The registration links have been removed from the diocesan website and we will be contacting individuals who submitted registrations to inform them of this decision. We plan  to reschedule the in-person training events once it is safe for individuals to gather, after this health crisis has passed. 

 

Online training is still available, however please do be mindful that the training covers difficult topics and can be a trigger point for individuals who have been victims of abuse. If you wish to register to complete the training on-line, click here. 

 

Watch the e-news and the website for updates about summer safe church training offerings. 

ECW Grapevine newsletter available

The Grapevine, the diocesan ECW newsletter, for Spring 2020 is here! Click here for your copy. This edition includes important information about:

• Annual Spring Meeting cancellation
• ECW Scholarship applications due JUNE 1 (CORRECTION)
• Province III ECW Annual Meeting
• and MUCH more

The Grapevine is a quarterly print-ready newsletter available for individuals and churches to receive via email. Subscribe by going to www.diosova.org  and entering your email address in the "Sign up to receive news" box at the top right of the page.

 

ECW seeking historian/archivist

The Episcopal Church Women (ECW) of the Diocese of Southern Virginia is seeking an historian/archivist. The Historian/Archivist shall: 

1. Search out and continue to compile records of the history of the ECW.  These  records shall include parish,  convocation and diocesan histories and shall be stored in a fireproof area of a building with public access, said building to be selected by the historian/archivist.
    
2. In addition to these duties, the Historian/Archivist must be able to chronicle and document the history of the Diocesan ECW, placing activities/events and functions in a chronological and historical context.  She must posses excellent writing skills, knowledge of Word processing functions, and the capability to make informed  determinations of which materials or artifacts will be preserved in their original condition or scanned/digitized for future use/reference.
3. Update with information on storing archives. 

If you are interested, please contact Laura L. Manigault, Diocesan Episcopal Church Women President, carver.manigault7@gmail.com or Deborah Austin, Nominating Committee Chair, complianceretired@gmail.com. Please also make this announcement to your ECW Chapter in your Parish.

How you can help Boys Home during the COVID-19 outbreak

The Boys Home in Covington shares these ways you can support them during this time:

• Pray for our students, staff, and administrators.
• Because several spring events had to be postponed, Boys Home can use your gifts now more than ever. The recently-passed CARES Act now allows certain contributions to be deducted "above the line" and loosens percentage limitations on gifts made to non-profits in 2020. Consider a donation to Boys Home and make a difference in the life of a boy. Thank you to those who have remembered us with donations--particularly to the general fund, since that is what helps us the most at a time like this.
• Due to state regulations and an effort to lessen the threat of spreading the virus, Boys Home will not be accepting in-kind gifts until further notice.
• Consider purchasing quilt tickets for our current raffle. More info available in this newsletter.

Triduum during quarantine; other new resources

As we navigate this global pandemic health crisis we are reminded that as we maintain social distancing and are prohibited from physically gathering in our church buildings, for the health of all, we are still the church. We will still be the church during Holy Week and Easter even if our worship looks and feels different from what have previously experienced. Creativity, connection, and innovation have been the new benchmarks for clergy and lay people alike as we explore and experience being church in new ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

The resources included in this Google Drive were curated and provided by Lisa Kimball and James Farwell from Virginia Theological Seminary for their two-part webinar, Triduum Under Quarantine. You can find the recorded two-part webinar here and also in the Google Drive under "Follow Up email."

 

In addition to those resources, we've provided an edited version of  "The Three Days for Home Use"  for use in Southern Virginia. It is available here in both Word and PDF versions and includes hymns from the 1982 Hymnal (with video links for those without access to a hymnal), and The Solemn Collects for Good Friday.  In addition,  individual names have been removed from the prayers and prompts are provided to encourage users to read or view individual clergy sermons if they are available.

 

We invite you experience a rich, holy and meaningful Holy Week using these resources in your homes.  

 

Messages from Bishop Susan and many more resources on the diocesan website

 

The diocesan website has a wealth of resources to assist churches and their parishioners in being the Church during the coronavirus and new resources are being added. Messages from Bishop Susan, including her lectionary reflections, are all available on our website here. Here are a few of the newly added resources: 

 

Resources for Communities Online - a wide variety of great resources from Virginia Theological Seminary

 

Invite Welcome Connect in Virtual Church - from Episcopal Church Foundation

 

The Work of the People - offers many free films for streaming, including the series The Four Gospel Journey.  

 

Outreach opportunities - Foodbanks in Southern Virginia have information about how you can help provide for the vulnerable and those out of work in our communities. Find that info here.

News from Chanco on the James

Register for Camp Chanco with confidence

 

Though Chanco has currently suspended group activities until further notice, you can register for Camp Chanco with confidence! Camp Chanco registrations are up by more than 50 campers compared to this time last year! The Chanco Board of Directors recently passed an amended refund policy so that our families can register with confidence. In the event of cancellation of your program, your deposit will be refunded, credited toward a future program, or may be donated to Chanco as a gift in support of our mission, based on your preference. Through this policy change, we hope to build on our strong relationships and reputation from more than 50 years in camping to reassure you that you have nothing to lose when you register with Chanco again this year! Click here to read our full message. Click here for a 2020 Camp Chanco dates and rates flyer. Register here today! Questions? Contact us at hospitality@chanco.org or 888-7CHANCO (888-724-2626).

 

Virtual Easter Vigil from the Bluff  - join us on Facebook

 

The Rev. Eileen Walsh will be officiating a special virtual/electronic Easter Vigil from the bluff on April 11. The Easter Vigil is one of the oldest liturgies in the church. This electronic service will involve readings that tell the history of salvation, music, the lighting of the Pascal candle and other candles, the ringing of bells, and the joyous celebration of the resurrection! Join the Rev. Eileen Walsh for a special electronic Easter Vigil from Chanco on Saturday, April 11 at 8 pm via our Facebook page.

A reminder about signs

If you are posting a sign on the front doors of your churches advising that public worship is suspended, please remember, if you are doing any live-streaming or recording of services for Facebook, etc. to put information on those signs directing people to those resources.  This is a wonderful opportunity for us to PROCLAIM the good news of God in Jesus Christ!

 

- Bishop Susan