Monday, November 28, 2016

Knit Together



A WITNESS BY LINDA WALTON

From a very early age, I began enjoying crafting and the process of ‘creating’ something special. My first knitting project was a pair of wristlets for my grandmother. Although they were gaudy, I knitted them with the intent of pleasing her.

I could not have imagined then that my knitting skills would evolve nor that they would interweave so well with my spirituality and desire to give back to others. Now I knit to create items for gifts, silent auctions, the Sisters of Bethany Prayer Shawl Ministry, which also knits hats for newborns. I especially like the idea of blessing the gift and giving it in honor of a newborn, as a tangible sign of God’s handiwork in their lives and life to come. At Christ Church, I have witnessed the importance of focusing on and developing a child’s faith, and believe this ministry is a wonderful way to begin.

Not only do I get the pleasure of seeing people wear my creations, but I also enjoy the gift of fellowship with other knitters in our congregation. We share yarn, patterns, lessons learned and ideas for our knitting or crocheting. When I am alone, I find knitting keeps me occupied while I watch TV, travel, or sit in some obnoxiously long and tedious meeting or teleconference!

I love to watch colors and different textures merge together to become something beautiful and useful. God knit us together in our mother’s womb, and my knitting joins me together with friends and recipients in the Christ Church community.

*This story originally appeared in the April 2014 print issue of Sharing Our Faith. It is reprinted here with a video recorded at the most recent meeting on January 26, 2017.

For more information about the Sisters of Bethany Prayer Shawl Ministry, please contact Rev. Darren Steadman

God Works Through the Children


A WITNESS BY KIM SCHARF
"Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18:3
One of my biggest challenges as an adult has been to keep my faith strong and put my trust wholeheartedly in God. I know God's got it, that His will be done, but I still try to control things around me. My Sundays are precious to me, especially since I stay at home with 3 and 5 year old boys, both with sensory needs and one with autism. For an hour every week as I sit in church, I get a reprieve from Angry Birds, Disney, and arguments about wearing pants outside of the house. On Sundays I have the opportunity to refill my cup with the Spirit, to reposition my armor and get ready to do the Lord's work again this week. As hard as it was for me to give up this time, I felt called to serve as a Sunday School volunteer once my oldest son started going. Initially, I thought it was to help him transition into the program--but after two years, I know it's just as much for me as it is for him.

God calls us to be like children: not power-hungry, not focused on outward differences, just content to be taken care of and accepting of the authority above us. And as I teach my little friends the stories we've heard so many times, hearing how they understand it and see God's love in their own lives, I find myself to be the one learning. Our sweet kids love their parents wholeheartedly. Ask them "Who helps you feel better? Who takes care of you? Who makes you happy?" and "Mom and Dad" are always the top answer. We talk about harder things too, what to do when someone is mean or we make a mistake. Again, my little friends give the best answers. They know to forgive, or apologize, or give a hug--there is no egotism or grudge-holding. They move on.

It is amazing how God works through the children on my heart. My family's church attendance has become much more consistent, which allows all of us to get the spiritual time and growth we need. No matter how hectic our days are, or what mini-crisis occurred just as we walked out the door, I have never once regretted teaching, in fact I always leave with a fuller heart than when I walked in. Our littlest friends are such a good and gentle reminder from God to trust in Him, and it is such a privilege to serve them!



In addition to teaching preschool Sunday School, Kim Scharf serves on the nursery and Sunday school committees. She is married to Adam and has two sons, Eli and Owen. 






Sunday, November 27, 2016

Children Helping Children



At the November Kids Care Club, part of our First Sunday’s formation offerings, we welcomed a very special guest, Suzanne Hicks. Suzanne is the Executive Director of Hope for Humanity, an organization that was founded by a CCE member and seeks to equip and give hope to boys and girls in South Sudan, believing that education is the best way to help people grow and become self-sustaining.

The young participants listened to the parable of the Good Samaritan and learned about the boys and girls studying at Hope and Resurrection School(HRSS) in South Sudan. Putting faith into action, the Kids Care Club created ornaments to be displayed on the annual Hope for Humanity Giving Tree.

You are invited to take an ornament during Advent and make a donation to benefit our
brothers and sisters in South Sudan. This year, the ornaments beautifully represent the school. You can choose between a bookmark, the funds from which will help provide education to a nation’s next generation of leaders; or you can purchase an ornament filled with rice and beans. Each day, the students at HRSS are given a lunch of rice and beans. Local food insecurity means that this is frequently their only daily meal. The lunch is critical in nourishing the growing minds and bodies of the students and allowing them to fully participate in class.

The Kids Care Club made a connection with students half a world away, children all precious in God’s sight. We invite you to connect, too -- by supporting the Giving Tree this year. With your support, Hope for Humanity, Inc. will educate and feed more than 250 students. The ornament will bring life to your home as your gift helps make change possible for HRSS students, their community, and the world we share.

You can purchase your ornament from the milling area now through December 18.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Cherish the traditional and rock the contemporary


BY KEITH TAN

One of the many joys I have serving at Christ Church is the opportunity to build bridges. From the very beginning of my ministry at Christ Church, during the height of the “worship wars” of High-Church versus Low-Church, of traditional versus contemporary, God has equipped me as a classically-trained pianist who also loves pop music, to bridge the divide between classical and pop music, blending their styles together, and to bring that into the church.

If God is worshiped by all the saints (who stretch across time and space), wouldn’t the sound of heaven be a glorious fusion of musical styles? I long to join in that heavenly praise and music!

Through fresh rhythmic arrangements of classic hymns and ancient chants, through classical orchestrations of contemporary praise music, and everything in between, Christ Church’s music ministry passionately and resolutely focuses on helping people connect with God, despite stylistic preferences.

I’d like to update you on some exciting news in our ministry. It starts with the state of our old digital organ-keyboard on stage. It is faulty and old (non-sensitive touch screen, blown speakers, and a very outdated and limited sound selection), and like all digital computers, not really worth repairing after 20 years of technological advancement. It just needs to be replaced.

The Music Team (supported by our rector and our vestry), along with our church’s Keyboardists (including myself) have been looking into this project, wondering what instrument to replace it with (a digital organ? We wondered). Now, we are committed to continuing our ministry’s artistic legacy of embracing and blending traditional and contemporary styles. We discovered that there does not exist one instrument that adequately performs well in both traditional and contemporary styles. Hence, our very exciting news…

We are purchasing two keyboards – a Roland C200 Portable Organ (Yeah, right? I didn’t know these existed!) and a Yamaha Montage 8 (their flagship synthesizer), which I will connect together. (Turns out that this solution, that we will purchase using funds from our music restricted funds, only cost a fraction of a digital organ!)

Together, these two keyboards represent our commitment to cherish the traditional and rock the contemporary. Through them, we can create a new voice that draws upon the depth and resilience of timeless classics and the modern expressions of today. Together, we can create a new kind of ancient future music, perhaps momentarily joining in the timeless worship of heaven!

I look forward to showing them to you in this Advent!

Friday, October 28, 2016

Prayer and Care this Election Season

During this election season, Christ Church invites you to prepare your spirit in a variety of ways:

Join us in worship this weekend as we lift our hearts, minds and voices to God. // Saturday at 5 PM, Sunday at 9:00 & 10:45 AM.

Watch this special video message from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.

Turn to the Word. Join us for a special look at the Gospel According to Luke at the First Sunday's Bible Study // Sunday, November 6, 5:00 PM.

Pray. Pray. Pray. Our Bishops in the Diocese of Virginia have invited us all to take part in a 56-hour Prayer Vigil. //Begins at 12 PM on All Saints' Sunday, November 6, and extends to 8 PM on Election Day, November 8.
“So owe no-one anything except to love one another. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments ‘You shall not commit adultery’, ‘You shall not murder’, ‘You shall not steal’, ‘You shall not covet’, any other commandment, they are all summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’. Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” - Romans 13
www.ccerva.org

Monday, October 24, 2016

Learning Curve


A WITNESS BY SHAWN DUNHAM

2 Timothy 1:7: For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline. 
These are the words that have powered me over the past two years. I recognized by reading The Confidence Code that I was not fully participating in life. The fear of not being good enough was holding me back from many things. I was so conscious of my own foibles and frailties that I shied away from positions of leadership. I didn’t want to put myself out there for others to judge and, in my mind, who would judge me as inadequate.

I became aware that I was not allowing myself a learning curve. Rather I was imposing on myself the burden of having to perform perfectly in every new endeavor. “Why try, when you know you will stumble along the way?” I would ask myself. Too aware of my perceived flaws, hyper-focused on what was lacking versus what was.

Discovering this scripture helped me to realize that fear and timidity is not what God desires for me. It became my mantra, one that I used to remind myself not to hold back, but instead to move forward in confidence. So when I was asked to serve on the Vestry, I said yes. When I was offered the opportunity to assume a supervisory position at work, I said yes. I have performed these roles imperfectly, but boldly.

Joan Chittister writes in Following the Path, “What fills the heart with happiness is not what we get out of the world; it’s what we put into it. Being about something worthwhile, spending our lives on something worth spending a life on is what, in the end, makes us happy.” I couldn’t agree more.

You can’t make a difference in this world standing on the sidelines. By holding back, I was missing God’s call to me. Missing opportunities to apply my gifts - maybe even missing tasks that God desired me to perform. How can you be God’s hands and feet in the world if you always hold back in fear?

To better serve God, I’ll need to apply myself, step out, take a chance, explore, examine, make false attempts and build skills. I’ll need to leverage my God given gifts and hone them through practice. I’ll need to accept new roles with the understanding that I will likely perform them imperfectly. Yet as a dear friend said to me, “it doesn’t matter if someone else could perform this role better. That someone else is not here. You are.”

So in this season of my life I am allowing myself a learning curve. Not requiring perfection, but embracing the journey. Saying yes to God’s spirit of power and love and self-discipline. The power which can work through me to bring more love into the world. Think of the possibilities if each of us could commit to living out this scripture (imperfectly) today.

—Shawn Dunham serves on the Vestry at Christ Church Episcopal

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Caring for Our Creation


A WITNESS BY ADAM WILLIAMS

Last Saturday, 10 of our middle and high school students and 4 adult volunteers journeyed down I-64 East and the Boulevard before arriving to the historic and beautiful Byrd Park. Our job for the morning? Meeting up with other Richmond-ers for a city-wide day of service in parks, neighborhoods, food banks, and other locations that often need the loving touch of a volunteer. After going over a few guidelines, strapping on our safety vests, and securing our work gloves, we were off and running, cleaning up storm debris and trash strewn about the park after our recent bouts with inclement weather. What was supposed to be a two-hour job was shortened to an hour because of just how hard our team worked to help restore a place that so many enjoy.

Working alongside of our students as they respond to God’s call to take care of their world (see Genesis 2:15) and the people in it is, without a doubt, the most rewarding part of my job. When we act as gracious and careful stewards of creation, we do so much more than simply pick up trash or move tree branches to the curbside. We help give people pride in their neighborhoods; we help make parks and playgrounds safe for children to play; we help reinforce that all of God’s creation is good and is therefore deserving of our attention and love. Our students, with bright smiles on their faces and dirt on their clothes, understand this quite well.
— Adam Williams is the Minister to Students at Christ Church Episcopal

Monday, September 26, 2016

Lay Pastoral Care through "A Community of Hope"



Acting on Feedback from Focus on the Future
A WITNESS BY LINDA WALTON

“I have been looking for a way to plug in….” and “I was looking for a way to reengage, and then the letter arrived.” These are but a few of the observations of people carefully considering their role in the emerging lay pastoral care ministry at Christ Church.


The desire for a vibrant and enduring lay pastoral care ministry was clearly communicated during our Focus on the Future sessions and later stated in the Parish Profile used to recruit our rector. Participants recognized a need for Christ Church of the future to be a place where clergy still focus on pastoral care yet aren’t stretched too thinly. Ideally this will be done, in part, through better development of lay leadership.

Thankfully, there is a "A School for God's service" — the Community of Hope International. The mission of Community of Hope is “to create Christian communities of lay volunteer pastoral care givers united in prayer, shaped by Benedictine spirituality, and equipped for and serving in pastoral care ministries.” Christ Church is joining an organization which is already established throughout the world.

The Community of Hope uses a 14 week, 42-hour curriculum to equip caregivers for this ministry. After the training, caregivers are commissioned as lay pastoral ministers. Commissioned pastoral caregivers then agree to participate in The Circle of Care, which is a monthly group meeting where they worship together, take part in continuing education, and report and debrief on their visitations. The program demands intentional dedication but rewards by strengthening community relationships and growing awareness of the presence of God in our lives.

This ministry is a gift of grace to both care receivers and care givers. More importantly, it is a gift from Christ:
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. — Ephesians 4:11-12
You will hear more about this ministry as it develops and classes are scheduled. But you can also learn more by visiting www.ccerva.org/care or contacting The Rev. Robin Teasley. Please keep this new ministry and the volunteers in your prayers as they work to effectively deliver it to Christ Church.


- Linda Walton is one of the lay leaders called to implement A Community of Hope here at Christ Church.

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Faith in Action

On September 25,  congregations around the world participated in Social Media Sunday. This was an opportunity to express ourselves and share our faith online. It was inspiring to see members of the CCE community engaged as digital disciples. Thank you for participating!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW SOME OF THE POSTS

Thursday, September 15, 2016

Love Your Neighbor


A WITNESS BY LAURA LAFAYETTE

In the gospel of Matthew, when Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment, he replies: “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” At this point, he has answered the question; but he goes on to say: “and the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus explicitly links the command to live in right relationship with God to living in right relationships with our fellow human beings. Many resources can aid our efforts to live in right relationship with God: the biblical texts, sermons that provide insights into the texts, the opportunity to gather in worship, and spiritual disciplines—chief among them, prayer.


But how are we to love our neighbors? Our neighbors must be fed, clothed, sheltered; that’s why so many at Christ Church are involved in ministries that meet basic needs. That’s essential. Those needs will always be there; and they must always be met.

And yet, what if we could envision a regional community in which the necessity for these kinds of yeoman efforts to meet basic needs was few and far between, a community in which each and every one of us—no matter the circumstances of our birth—had an opportunity to flourish? For me, to “love your neighbor” is to work towards the creation of “communities of opportunity.” Communities of opportunity are communities that boast attractive, affordable housing—both rental and owner occupied. These houses line safe streets. The children in these homes have the opportunity to attend high performing public schools. The adults earn wages that enable them to meet the needs of their loved ones. The jobs, education, and housing are all linked by a multi-modal public transit system that stretches across the region. And woven throughout all of this is a rich tapestry of natural and cultural amenities that are accessible and affordable to all. In a nutshell, the goal of building communities of opportunity is to secure social justice through public policy.

So advocating for Bus Rapid Transit, working to pass bond referendums that will funnel more money to schools, changing zoning codes to allow for the development of affordable housing (even in the suburbs!)—all are acts of loving our neighbors. The pursuit of social justice through systemic changes in public policy presents us with a chance not only to transform our neighbors’ lives but ours as well. When I lobby local governments, I speak their language—budget priorities, cost-savings, return on investment, etc. And every word of that is true; social justice is the most efficacious, cost efficient public policy we could possibly pursue. But I know as well that my faith compels the work; because to love our God is to love and serve our neighbors.

—Laura Lafayette is the chair of our Missions & Outreach Ministry Team and is the chair of the board of directors for the Better Housing Coalition.


Monday, September 12, 2016

Growing, Serving, Celebrating!

Yesterday was a wonderful day of growing, serving, and celebrating at CCE! The ministry fair and Block Party brought together hundreds of folks and we feel so blessed to be surrounded by such a vibrant community. A big THANK YOU to our community partners who helped make it happen -- Henrico County Police Department, Henrico County Division of Fire, East of Afton, Jadean's Smokin' Six O, Cheezilla's Grilled Cheese, Sweet Cakes RVA, Slideways Mobile Bistro, Mister Softee Richmond VA -- and many more helping hands, including our dedicated lay leaders who organized the event.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Where our treasure is...


BY BECKY COMSTOCK
Pictured: Jack Morley & Becky Comstock with over 100 Jack Packs

One of my favorite things about working with children has always been watching how their amazing joyous spirits react to the world around them. It’s often in stark contrast to how we as adults respond to daily realities of life and circumstance. It was with intent and enthusiasm, therefore, that I watched these little spirits unfold during our week of Vacation Bible School.

As leader of elementary missions & crafts activities for the week, I worked with various mission organizations to plan crafts for VBS participants to complete that will then be donated to help those organizations’ causes. For example, this year kids made close to 125 dog and cat toys for animals at the Richmond SPCA; we decorated and packed 245 lunches for our CARITAS guests (minus sandwiches); they made 20 fleece blankets for patients at Crossover Ministry and the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU; and they created approximately 120 activity packs to be given to pediatric cancer patients receiving treatment at VCU.

While they demonstrated immense spirits of generosity and caring throughout the activities that week, it was perhaps most evident on the day we made “Jack Packs” to be given to ASK Childhood Cancer Foundation. To share about ASK’s mission - and the inspiration for Jack Packs themselves - the children listened intently as Christ Church member Jack Morley, his mom Krissi and his sister Addi shared the story of his battle with childhood cancer. At 6 years old, Jack was diagnosed with Wilms Tumor, a type of kidney cancer, and underwent 6 months of treatment including surgery, radiation and chemotherapy at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond.
VBS children creating "Jack Packs"

While there, the Morleys became part of the ASK family. ASK’s mission is to provide Assistance, Support and Kindness to patients and their families undergoing treatment at the clinic. Jack and everyone benefited from the love and support provided by this amazing organization, and when he finally tested cancer-free a little more than a year ago, one of the first things on his mind was giving back. He had the idea of creating “Jack Packs” to be distributed to other patients at the clinic. These bags would contain games, toys and activities to keep young minds occupied and help break up the boredom of endless days stuck in a hospital room. They also provide a little reminder that someone cares.

Shortly after their Jack Pack endeavor, Krissi Morley contacted the Children’s Ministry Team to share the idea and find out if ASK might be an organization that would align with our mission goals. Of course, it was the perfect fit! Not only was the cause worthwhile, but it would be incredibly impact to engage our children in spreading God’s love through service work they can relate to.  

Matthew 6:21 tells us,“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

As a parent, my greatest desire is to raise children who will serve the Lord and help make our world a better place. It’s a lofty goal in today’s world, but I know that all of the experiences I give them are working together to shape their values and beliefs about what’s most important. They treasure performing acts of love and kindness and helping others. I witnessed all 120 of our young VBS participants treasure the time they spent creating items to be donated. They worked alongside their new friend Jack, drawing pictures and writing inspirational messages like “You’re a superstar!” and “Just keep swimming.” They chose games, puzzles and crafts to fill their bags that they knew they would enjoy doing themselves. And in the end, I know they all returned home that week with hearts a little more full of Jesus’ love.

 — Becky Comstock serves on the Children's Ministry Team.