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