Christ Episcopal Church Chronicle for March 2017

Transcription

1 Christ Episcopal Church Chronicle for March 2017 Corner of Ridgecrest Drive and Franklin Turnpike, P.O. Box 10355, Danville, VA Church Phone: (434) As we approach the start of Lent next week with our Ash Wednesday service. I would like to talk about how we at Christ Church, can incorporate the 3 aspects of Lent: Prayer, Fasting & Almsgiving into our lives. Prayer: More time given to prayer during Lent should draw us closer to God. Just as Jesus went to pray at Gethsemane apart from his disciples, we too need to find a moment to separate ourselves from distractions and pray. Whether it's at night before bed, during a walk, or just sitting in the car rider line to pickup the kids from school. I encourage everyone during Lent to find a moment each day to thank God for what they have, and say a prayer for others. In our bulletin is a list of people that are sick and/or recuperating, in the military, in college and having birthdays or anniversary's that week. Please take the bulletin home and include those people in you prayers. If you like more scripted prayers, there is a little book called "Our Daily Bread" (available on the church credenza) that includes prayers for each day of the year. If you re going to pray for money, we d appreciate if you pray for an extra 10 percent. Fasting: Fasting is one of the oldest practices linked to Lent. After the Shrove Tuesday feast, many people "give up" some food item for Lent or set aside a day during the week for fasting. Fasting should also be linked to our concern for those who are forced to fast by poverty, and should lead us to greater efforts to alleviate that suffering. Instead of just "giving up" something for Lent, I challenge everyone to "add" something to help the hungry in our community. We periodically have food drives at church to help God's Storehouse, but the basket for donations is always available in the front hallway. When you are at the grocery store and see a great deal on something, consider picking up a extra can or two for those less fortunate. Maybe you could volunteer a few hours at God's Storehouse or at the lunch program that Epiphany runs. John Benz can give you more information about both programs. Almsgiving: Each year during Lent, Christ Church distributes cardboard coin holders for members to put coins in each day throughout Lent. At Easter, we collect the folders and donate the money to a charitable organization,. (continued) Upcoming Events Ash Wednesday Wednesday, March 1st - 7pm Vestry Meeting Wednesday, March 8th - 6pm Daylight Savings (Spring Forward) Scout Sunday Sunday, March 12th - 10am Youth Group Wednesday, March 15th - 5:30pm ECW Meeting Sunday, March. 19th following church

2 Pray, Fast, Give (continued).. this year the money will be donated to God's Pit Crew. For me, the coin folder represents participation in a larger community. A way that Christ Church can do something greater than it can do alone. In Sunday School, the kids are taught that we don't just receive the gift of God's love for ourselves we also need to share it with others. Everyday, but especially during Lent, please P r a y, H e l p t h e n e e d y, a n d s u p p o r t organizations that spread God's Love beyond our doorstep. With the Grace of God, John Ross, Senior Warden Coin Folders Again this Lent we have the opportunity to make a special contribution through the discipline of daily remembrance. If you choose to use a folder, please don t feel that you have to fill a folder with quarters; use bills or a check if it is more convenient for you. We would also ask that you avoid taping individual quarters. It makes them very sticky, which makes our bank very unhappy. This year we will be sponsoring God s Pit Crew. We ask you to consider participation in this Lenten Tradition. Coin folders will be available this Sunday, February 26th. Spreading Hope across the nation and at home God's Pit Crew is a local non-profit, faith based crisis response team of over 300 volunteers who wish to serve others in their time of need. They send teams of volunteers with supplies to help support and rebuild in areas that have been damaged by fire and natural disasters. MISSION: With God's help and direction to bring hope, healing and restoration to hurting people in times of crisis. The first event this month that the ECW was involved with was the celebration luncheon for Mother Helen s 10th year of her ordination. Thank you to all who set up on Friday, and all who cleaned up, men and women, on Sunday. It was a wonderful celebration. Usually at this time the ECW hands out the UTO Blue Boxes for an ingathering in April. The United Thank Offering of the Episcopal Church is a personal spiritual discipline of thanksgiving that supports God s mission throughout the world. Here at Christ Church this always coincides with the Lenten Offering Coin Folder. This year the monies from the Lenten Folders are going to God s Pit Crew. This is an important outreach that we all should support. Therefore we will wait until the end of the summer, when we will hand out the UTO Blue Boxes for the fall ingathering in October. The next event that the ECW will be supporting is the Pancake Supper, which is a Church Fundraiser. Come and bring your family and friends! Our next ECW meeting will be March 19, At that meeting Kathy Haney will talk about the feasibility of having a blood drive here at Christ Church. Lu Sullivan ECW President We will be collecting candy for the Easter Egg Hunt again this year. If you can help please bring in bags of w r a p p e d c a n d y beginning Sunday, March 5th until Sunday, April 9th. The church has plastic eggs but we will need help filling them. Any donations would be helpful. Thank you!

3 March 1st Ash Wednesday 7pm April 9th Palm Sunday 10am April 13th Seder Supper 6pm April 13th Maundy Thursday service 7pm April 13th-14th The Gethsemane Watch: Maundy Thursday Vigil 8pm-Midnight 8am-Noon April 14th Good Friday Stations of the Cross 7pm Apri 16th Easter service 10am Reception Following Easter Egg Hunt Thank you to everyone that brought in food on Souper Bowl Sunday. We were able to deliver over 8 bags (53 pounds) of food to God's Storehouse. May God continue to bless and use you as you share your gifts with others. Birthdays & Anniversaries March Angie Daniel 16 Cathy Ballenger 23 Selena Fifield 23 Olivia Grekos 25 Jim Hall 26 Zach Huemoeller 28 Brittany Barnett 29 Andy & Sharon Sands - Anniversary 30 I would like to thank everyone that attended the Annual Meeting on January 29th. We had 35 adult voting members in attendance. If you were unable to attend there are still copies of the 2016 Annual Report on the credenza. Reports were given by members on the different church ministries and on the financial heath of Christ Church. One overriding theme was that we are a very tight knit family who do an amazing amount of outreach for such a small parish. The congregation elected Shaun Anderson, John Benz (reelected), and Sandy Isom for a 3 year term on the Vestry. Thank you to outgoing members, John Benz, Lu Sullivan, and Jackie Wilson for their time and energy serving on the Vestry for the past 3 years. After the Annual Meeting the new Vestry met and elected John Ross as Senior Warden, John Fifield as Junior Warden, Cathy Ballenger as Clerk and Nancy Sands as Treasurer. This is YOUR vestry, we cannot do the work of the church without YOUR input. If you have a question, suggestion, or complaint we want to know about it. Thank you for all your support to Christ Church. - John Ross

4 The youth group met on Wednesday, January 25th for their monthly meeting. We began our meeting with the youth led E v e n i n g P r a y e r service. After our service, we enjoyed a pancake dinner complete with bacon and sausage and strawberries on the side. The youth watched our Iseado program where we began discussions on Love and what love looks like. The youth group had some lively discussions about love and even played some games. The youth created bags to pray for others, decorated cookies and searched for God s love all around the room. It was a great chance to fellowship and learn. The next Youth Group meeting is March 15th from 5:30-7:30. Our youth group is small but the kids really enjoy their time together and and working on projects around the church. Please let us know if you have any suggestions for the youth group or would like to be involved in this ministry. Please continue to pray for the youth of our church and their ministry. - John & Kristi Ross Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Do you know what these are? These are the Fruits of the Spirit. Our Sunday School class has spent the better part of the Sunday School year discussing these so far. I'm not positive before we started learning these that I could have told you what the Fruits of the Spirit were. We have had some pretty awesome discussions about them over the course of our study. God gives us each these gifts and plants them like a seed inside of each of us. Then as our relationship with Christ grows so too do the fruits grow and show in our actions. Let me tell you some of these are harder than others to show each day. We talked at length about scenarios in our everyday lives and how to use these situations to show our love for Christ and grow closer to him. We are now transitioning into Bible exploration and study through Lent. It is a pleasure to work with the young people of our church and watch them grow. As always please continue to pray for our youth and the youth programs of this church. - Kristi Ross On Sunday, March 12th we will celebrate Scout Sunday. We have several scouts that attend our church and we want to honor them and support their role and growth as leaders in our community. This date coincides with Girl Scout Week celebrating the birthday of Girl Scouting. The motivating force in Girl Scouting is a spiritual one inspiring girls with the highest ideals of character, conduct, patriotism and service. The Girl Scout Promise states On my honor, I will try to serve God. Girl Scout Sunday is a way for girls to focus on the importance of the words, to serve God. Boy Scout Sunday is usually celebrated the week of February 8th in coordination with the birthday of Boy Scouts. The Scout Sunday tradition was started to make people in houses of worship aware of Scouting, and to allow Scouts to live out their "Duty to God" pledged each week. The Scout Law says that a "Scout is Reverent" and the Scouts of all ages promise to do their "Duty to God". These values strengthen youth character in their family, community and faith. Please help us to honor these organizations and the youth and adults who help shape these young people in our community.

5 Nancy Sands, has served as the ECW Diocesan President for the last two years. She had the opportunity to speak at the Annual Council to deliver her end of year report. During her report, she highlighted the multiple meetings that she attended throughout the year and the work that the ECW did throughout the Diocese. During the past year, the ECW gave $20,000 each to the Jackson Field Home and Boys Home of Virginia to aid in the rebuilding of structures on their campuses. They also were able to give out multiple scholarships and $100 love gifts to graduates from these schools. During Nancy's two years as Diocesan President, the ECW gave out over $100,000 in outreach. A well deserved standing ovation was given during the meeting after her presentation. Thank you Nancy for your hard work and dedication. A copy of Nancy's speech is located on the bulletin board in the front hall. Outgoing ECW Diocesan President Nancy Sands with Bishop Hollerith at the Annual Council On Sunday, February 19th Christ Church celebrated with Mother Helen on her 10 year anniversary of her ordination. The Fellowship Hall was set with real plates and silverware and the tables of food were over flowing. Mother Helen has served at Christ Church since 2008 in either an Assistant or Supply Priest role. She has been integral in the church s worship and service in our community. The church presented Mother Helen with a gift of a beautiful new Alb to be worn for worship and Lu read a letter written by Rev. Cleon Ross congratulating her on her 10 years of service to the Lord. There was a nice picture tribute for all to look at celebrating Mother Helen and special memories of her service to this church. Please continue to pray for Mother Helen as she continues to do the Lord s work not only in this church, but in her daily life.

6 The 125 th Southern Virginia Diocesan Council Held in Williamsburg on Feb. 10th and 11th The Council s theme this year was Christian Stewardship. We convened on Friday morning and Bishop Hollerith warmly welcomed everyone. There were no controversial issues to be considered and the Council ran very smoothly. Bishop Holly s Opening Remarks: The Bishop summed up 2016 by mentioning the problems of environmental deterioration, terrorism, religious extremism in the Middle East and Asia, and here in the USA, suffering through one of the most contentious, disquieting, disheartening and destructive political processes in the last century. And yet, he said, despite the kind of year it s been, our parishes, from one end of the diocese to the other, have remained thoughtful and persistent in following the call of our Lord. We have worked hard to be a presence in our communities for the perplexed, downhearted and disenfranchised. While 2016 was a difficult year on the world stage, here in the Episcopal Church in Southern Virginia we moved steadily forward with our vision. That is to focus on three areas: Local Formation, Chanco Development and Social Justice. The Social Justice Task Force was a new addition in The Church s role is to raise people s awareness of problems in society. (In the past (ie., WW II) the Church did not address this and lost credibility.) The Gospel speaks to this issue and we agree to comply in our promise to God to seek and serve Christ in all persons and strive for justice and peace among all peoples and respect the dignity of every human being. The Bishop stated that it is not his place to say what kinds of social justice ministries our parishes should be engaged in. Each parish should define that for themselves. General Council: Budget: The budget was read and passed by consent. See the diocesan website. A Resolution for a Canon change called for the creation of a Diocesan group to help out Parishes in severe financial or other distress. For example, if a Parish has no Trustees, or does not partake in a Diocesan pledge, or has no means of income, or has no Priest nor Supply Priest, or does not offer the Eucharist, or a combination of the above, that Parish may be identified as in distress. The Standing Committee (a group of clergy and lay persons) will vote on placing that Parish on such a list and the Diocese will attempt to help solve whatever problems are present. This Resolution was written because Vestries of distressed Parishes had asked the Diocese, Where were you when we needed you?. (There was no system or trigger to actuate help.) This Resolution passed with no discussion and almost unanimous consent. Main Speaker: Rev. Canon Timothy Dombek This was both an informative and challenging presentation which should bind congregations and help to re-focus on goals. We brought back a Video and a Power Point for our congregation that will be offered in the near future. - Janis and Bob Chenery thank you for allowing us to represent you as Delegate and Alternate.

7 Christ Episcopal Church - March 2017 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday February 28 Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper 5-7pm $5 per person 1 7:00pm :00am Holy Eucharist 1st Sunday in Lent The Rev. Helen McKee Coffee Hour following 6 7 Noon Lunch Checkered Pig 8 Vestry Meeting 6:00pm 9 Spring Forward 12 Daylight Savings Time Starts 10:00am Holy Eucharist 2nd Sunday in Lent Scout Sunday The Rev. Dr. Janet Fuller Coffee Hour following Noon Lunch Village s 15 Youth Group 5:30-7:30pm Evening Prayer 5:30pm Altar Guild 9:00am 19 10:00am Holy Eucharist 3rdSunday in Lent The Rev. Helen McKee Coffee Hour following ECW Meeting 26 10:00am Holy Eucharist 4th Sunday in Lent The Rev. Leon Spencer Coffee Hour following Noon Lunch Wendy s Noon Lunch Ciro s

8 March 2017 Service Assignments Date Reader Chalice Elements Servers Ushers Altar Hostess March 1 7:00 pm Kristi Ross Shaun Anderson & Lu Sullivan Mollie Huemoeller & Nancy Seagle Kayleigh Hall Joe Hile & John Fifield Sandy Isom & Kayleigh March 5 10:00 am Janis Chenery Bob & Janis Chenery Luke & Ivey Burris Anna Ballenger John Benz & Jackie Wilson Sarah Oakes Linda Oake March 12 10:00 am John Fifield Joe Hile & Sarah Oakes Shaun & Dinah Anderson Kayleigh Hall Joe Hile & John Fifield Nancy Sands Kristi Ross March 19 10:00 am Sherry Gott Shaun Anderson & Lu Sullivan Bob & Janis Chenery Anna Ballenger Cort Oake & Jerry Oakes Dinah Anderson Nancy Sands March 26 10:00 am Mollie Huemoeller Bob & Janis Chenery John & Marge Fifield Kayleigh Hall Shaun Anderson & David Hill Lu Sullivan Dinah Anderson