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News and Notes from

'Old Durham' Church


April 3, 2020

'Feeding Souls Since 1661'
We are the Episcopal Church in Nanjemoy, Maryland.  In ordinary times we gather for worship every Sunday at 10:30am in our historic church building at 8700 Ironsides Road, Nanjemoy.  During the COVID-19, pandemic we are instead gathering on the phone and internet over Zoom. We'd love to have you join us.  
Learn more at OldDurham.org
This Week's Announcements
ANNOUNCEMENTS
All of our meetings are either cancelled or being moved online.

Joe’s Place Food Pantry is going ahead under special conditions and with limited staffing.  No extra volunteers are requested.

Paying your pledges.  Yes, you can still pay your pledge! In fact, the parish budget is counting on it!  You can either mail a check to the church's postal address (8700 Ironsides Road, Nanjemoy, MD 20662) or use PayPal at  this link, which is also on the church website.  Please note that these payment arrangements may be adjusted over the next few weeks as we try to mesh the current situation with financial best practices.  One way in which we are trying to provide financial oversight in these tricky times is to issue regular giving statements to our pledging members.  When you receive your statement, please check to confirm that the church’s records match yours.

"Easter lily" dedications.  The custom of dedicating Easter flowers to our loved ones who have gone before us and rejoice with us "upon another shore and in a greater light" by making a donation to the church for the purchase of flowers will need to be modified this year. If you would like to offer a memorial dedication, please send the name and dedication to Dian Lockamy by Thursday, April 9.  We will include those names and dedications in the prayer list on the Second Sunday of Easter.  You are encouraged to make a donation in honor of your loved ones, which we will collect and forward to Our Place Waldorf to serve those suffering locally.  (For more information about Our Place Waldorf, see below.) 

Music for Compline.  "Compline" is the name for the bedtime prayers of the church.  Our Compline services on Sundays and Wednesdays continue to be well-supported.  The actual service lasts about 20 minutes, and we generally chat for another 10 or 15 minutes.  Each evening we are featuring music selected or performed by a different household in the parish.  If you have a musical selection (something under 5 minutes in length) that you would like to share in the service, please get in touch with Rev. Catharine.
Our Place Waldorf logo
Our Place Waldorf serves hot meals to all comers from 5:00 to 6:15 on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays year-round.  
We were incorporated in July 2013 and received our 501(c)3 in July 2014. We became partners with United Way in January 2016 and in April 2016. We now have two part-time Program Coordinators, and one is on-site every evening we serve. We are otherwise staffed exclusively by volunteers from Board members to cooks and servers.
As of December 31, 2019, we have provided over 34,000 meals to more than 25,000 adults and 9,000 children. We are currently averaging almost 60 guests per evening we serve, and during the current pandemic the numbers have steadily increased.
We are totally dependent on sponsors, donations, fund raisers, and grants for all expenses, and on our volunteers to prepare and serve the meal.  We receive volunteers and dinner sponsors from many churches, businesses, restaurants, and families and individuals within our community.
Holy Week and Easter 
By Porquenopuedo - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2031416
All the services of Holy Week will be offered jointly with St. James’ Indian Head. Rev. Catharine, Rev. Robin, Deacon Susan, and (nearly)Deacon Mike will share the leadership of these services, which will incorporate lay readers from both parishes.  The services on Good Friday evening and Sunday early morning (as well as our Durham “Easter tea”) will be accessible through the regular Durham worship link, here or on the front page of our website.  The services on Wednesday evening, Friday noon, and Saturday evening will be accessible through St James’ Zoom link, which we will share ASAP. 
Wednesday evening (April 8) Tenebrae at 7PM over Zoom:  Tenebrae is a traditional Holy Week evening service in which candles are gradually extinguished as scripture readings are offered.  At the end of the service a loud noise serves to remind us of the earthquake that occurred at Jesus’ death. 
Maundy Thursday (April 9): Please be on the look-out via email for a simple at-home service that you can use to observe Maundy Thursday at home over a family meal.  St James’ will offer some of the prayers from that service over Zoom at 7PM. 
Good Friday (April 10):  Stations of the Cross at 12 noon over Zoom.  The Stations of the Cross (also called the Way of the Cross) is a traditional liturgical devotion commemorating the last day of Jesus’ life, often with images to commemorate each of the traditional 14 stations (or stops) on the Way of the Cross.
 Good Friday Liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer at 7PM over Zoom.  In the Good Friday service, we listen to St. John’s account of Jesus’ passion, and then we, as the Body of Christ, pray for the needs of the world and bless the cross that symbolizes how far God is willing to go to meet those needs.   
Saturday evening (April 11) The Great Vigil of Easter at 7PM over Zoom: The Great Vigil of Easter is the service at the heart of the Christian holy days, in many ways the most “important” service of the year in that it commemorates the mighty act by which God broke the power of death.  The stories of salvation history are recounted, the new light of Christ is kindled in darkness, and traditionally new Christians are baptized at this service.  This year’s service will obviously be adapted to our peculiar circumstances.
Sunday (April 12) “The Lesser Vigil of Easter” AKA the Sunrise Service at 6:15 AM over Zoom:  Our “regular” Easter Sunrise service is a stripped-down version of the Great Vigil, and this year’s version will be a stripped-down version of that.  But if you can join us to light a candle (maybe a Candlemas candle, if you still have one) and watch the sun rise as we welcome the light of Christ from our own homes, we can still celebrate God’s amazing work among us.
11:15 AM: All Episcopalians are encouraged to watch the service at the National Cathedral. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will preach, and music should be glorious.
4:00PM (tea time): Folks from Durham will gather over Zoom for a few prayers, maybe some songs, and some fellowship.  Wear your Easter finery, break out the chocolate bunnies, and pour yourself a cup of tea!
This Sunday's Worship
Durham doors with palms
April 5, 2020 is The Sunday of the Passion, Palm Sunday
On this day we would normally bless palm branches and then carry them in procession to the church before celebrating together a Eucharist with a dramatic reading of the Passion story.  Given the current social-distancing conditions, we can neither join in procession nor gather to make  Eucharist together.  Instead, we will gather on Zoom at 10:30am to watch and listen to a slide show depicting the procession, and then listen to the Passion story read in a contemporary translation and followed by a brief homily and prayers. 
At 8PM we will read Compline together. 

Image: Dian Lockamy

Fun idea for Palm Sunday: Join Christians around the country who are hanging a green branch of some sort (doesn't have to be a palm--anything from your yard will do!) on their door on Sunday in observance of Palm Sunday.  Maybe take a picture and share it on social media (#palmsunday) or with the church (send it it to christchurchdurhamparish@gmail.com). 
Check out this handy calendar to see what the readings will be in the Episcopal Church this Sunday or any Sunday.  The Revised Common Lectionary site has additional resources for exploring each week's scriptures.
If you're looking for the Daily Office (Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer), you can visit Forward Movement.  You will also find Forward Day by Day at this site.
 
Observing a Holy Lent
Lenten images
Lent Madness is entering the home stretch! Check out www.lentmadness.org .
Living Well Through Lent, an offering of Living Compass, is once again offering a daily devotional for Lent.  This year’s focus is on courage, and our own Bishop Mariann is one of the contributors this year.  You can learn more about LivingCompass here.
Signs of Life: Our Signs of Life study group has concluded.
 
In the Wider Church
Keep abreast of goings-on in the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, of which we are a parish.  Sign up for the newsletter or check our previous issues here.
In Our Prayers

Let us pray......in thanksgiving for the members of our congregation: Jinger, Ann, Mabel, and Linda
....for support and protection for those who serve our country at home and abroad: Alex, Mike, Wes, Thomas, Steven, and Megan
....for those in need of God’s healing grace: Anna and Chris (daughter and son-in-law of Jinger and Sue), Mabel, James (parish cleaner and neighbor of Rick and Mary), Ronda (daughter of Marie), Jane (sister of Bill), Barbara, Rick, Buddy, Suzanne (mother of Frank); Tom; Our continuing prayers are offered for: Vivian (mother of Barbara), Sam, Thelma (Deacon Susan’s mother), Butch, Livvy (mother of Kathy), Buddy, Rhonda, Jeanne, Jean, Rose (friend of Gloria), Roy, and Luci (aunt of Barbara).
The Diocese of Washington cycle of prayer: Presiding Bishop Michael Curry; Calvary Church, DC; Church of the Atonement, DC; African Palms.  The Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer: Pray for the Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean, The Most Revd James Richard Wong Yin Song - Archbishop, Province of Indian Ocean & Bishop of the Seychelles.  To learn more about this province and their prayer concerns, read the Anglican Communion New Service’s blog post.

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