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News & Notes from 'Old Durham'

September 2, 2020

Christ Church, Durham Parish
'Feeding Souls Since 1661'
We are the Episcopal Church in Nanjemoy, Maryland.  Although our historic church building at 8700 Ironsides Road, Nanjemoy is currently closed, we are regularly gathering for worship over Zoom. We'd love to have you join us.  

Morning Prayer at 10:30am on Sundays.
Compline (a brief service of nighttime prayers) at 8pm on Wednesdays.

Click here to join us in worship

or dial 301-715-8592
 and punch in Meeting ID: 827 6276 3261 and Password: 411356
Learn more at OldDurham.org
All are welcome to join

Wednesday Noon Study

Stretch your faith muscles!
This is an illustration of St Francis of Assisi, Copyright © Saint Mary's Press.
Our joint St. James/Durham Wednesday Noon Study will resume on September 9th with a 5-session series on the legacy of St Francis of Assisi.  Topics include atonement, eco-spirituality, living like Jesus, and other Franciscan themes.  Each session will include a 30-minute video presentation followed by discussion.  The videos are accompanied by a guidebook that includes background material, questions for personal reflection, and discussion prompts.  The guidebook costs $10; contact Rev. Robin to obtain a copy.  
Worship this Week
Sunday, Sept 6, 2020 is the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  Durham Parish will hold a service of Morning Prayer at 10:30AM over Zoom.

Click here to join the service

or dial 301-715-8592
and punch in
Meeting ID: 827 6276 3261
and
Password: 411356


*it's a good idea to update your Zoom app if you can
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.  
Another prayer-and-scripture resource that has gained traction in the parish is Pray-As-You-Go, a daily 10-minute scripture reflection with music.
Joe's Place Update
If you're thinking you saw a different picture here last week of these same trucks loaded with goods for Joe's Place, you're right--Our dedicated logistics crew (AKA, Carl and John), have been putting in many miles and many hours collecting items to be distributed at Joe's Place.  Through connections with other food banks and charities, and through the generosity of parish produce-purchasers and produce-growers, as well as a welcome stream of monetary donations, Joe's Place is well-supplied and meeting an increasingly critical need in our little corner of Charles County.  The Rohdes continue to form the backbone of the actual distribution events.  Thank you to everyone who is sharing Christ's abundance so tangibly with our neighbors!

The statistics for August:  56 households representing 146 individuals (8 of them new) were served by 7 volunteers who put in 54 hours of work to do so. 
Meanwhile around the
Diocese and the Region
The Southern Maryland region of the Diocese is going to be sponsoring a 'Sacred Ground' group with monthly meetings from September through June.  Click here for more information on this video-based program.  Specific information about the Southern Maryland group will be shared soon.

Also, here's your chance to meet other local Episcopalians from the comfort of your own home: The Southern Maryland Regional Meeting will take place over Zoom on Saturday. October 3 from 10AM to 12 noon.  Attendance at this meeting is expected of Wardens, Delegates, and Clergy, but it is open (and usually interesting) to others as well.

And finally, here's a look at upcoming offerings from the Diocese's new School for Christian Faith and Leadership.  There's everything from Yoga to Finance.  Check it out here.
Could You Use Some Help? 
EDOW Covid-19 relief money
Thanks to the generosity of many,  the diocese is now able to provide direct assistance to those within our congregations and the communities they serve. The COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund amplifies congregational ministry to assist congregation and community members experiencing financial hardships as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic; and established congregational food pantries and meals programs experiencing increased demand.  Learn more.
Could You Offer Some Help?
Love one another photo
Our community needs us now, more than ever.  There are a number of ways that we can continue to serve our community, even in these difficult times.
  1. Joe’s Place is continuing to feed people who are able to come on Thursday afternoons twice a month.  At the moment, we seem to have enough food to keep up with demand.  Monetary donations are, of course, always welcome.  You can mail a check (made out to the church) to the church or use the Paypal “Donate Now” link on the church’s website.  Just be sure to indicate, either in the memo line of the check or in the information box online, that the donation is for Joe’s Place.
  2. If you are a person who sews, you can make face masks.  First for your family, and then if you have ones you can donate, Deacon Susan will be glad to pick them up from you.  She has a number of sources that are able to put the masks to good use.
  3. The Diocese has set up a COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund (see above) to help parishioners, and folks associated with our parishes, who don’t have enough money for food.  It also is set up to support established food pantries like Joe’s Place.  Applications for assistance are made by the clergy on behalf of the parishioner, and reviewed by a diocesan committee.  Contact to Rev. Catharine to apply for assistance.  You can also donate to the fund here.
We are a community committed to following Jesus in his Way of Love.  In these times when we cannot worship together in person, God can still show us ways in which we can follow him faithfully.  By reading scripture and praying for guidance we can be led to acts of love that show the good news of the gospel in action  When that happens we discover that we ourselves are blessed by extending the blessings of Christ to others in these tangible ways.

Image: "Love One Another", from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.  http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55171 [retrieved April 29, 2020]. Original source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/niznoz/5658062870/.
ICYMI:
 Virtual Choir performance now online!
Lentz icon of Mary Protectress
If you missed 'The Canticle of the Turning' in another stunning homegrown Virtual Choir presentation last week, here's your chance to hear it again.  Click here or go to OldDurham.org and scroll all the way down on the front page.
Money Matters
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 on the church website.  Please don't use the 8685 street address, as that goes to our tenant.
Online Giving.  The Diocese is encouraging us to use online giving as much as possible, for reasons of both physical and fiscal hygiene.  If you do use the PayPal link, be aware that the site charges a small fee of about 3% of your donation.
Giving Statements.  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.
Our parish's finances are in remarkably good shape, considering the COVID-19 situation.  Overall giving is running very close to, or slightly above, budget amounts.  Some of our other sources of revenue, however, like the Fish Fries, Festival, and Labor Day bike ride, aren't going to come through for us this year.  The need to set up online and, possibly, hybrid online/in person worship is likely to create some expenses for which we did not budget this year.  The Finance Committee and Vestry are keeping an eye on the situation.
When Will This Be Over?
The Bishops of Washington, Maryland, and Virginia have issued a joint statement on how they expect the "re-gathering" process to go.  It will likely be a slower and more gradual process than many of us imagined when we first closed the doors of the church.
See their statement here.
The Diocese of Washington has also put out a checklist and set of parameters for any re-gathering at church facilities.  Those are available at the COVID-19 "hub" on the diocesan website.

**As of this week, the Re-gathering Task Force and Vestry are working hard to make our first in-person worship services a reality!  We are hoping to offer an outdoor service of Holy Eucharist on Sunday, September 27, and also to host a joint Blessing of the Animals service with St James' outdoors on Sunday, October 4.  Watch for details and instructions on how to sign up next week! 


Image:  Dave Walker's CartoonChurch
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 out previous issues here.
Episcopal Asset Map. The Episcopal Church has a massive site that allows people to find us, our worship services and our services to the community.  Our own parish’s entry (and not ours only!) needs some spiffing up.  Deacon Susan and Mike Cahall are working on it at the direction of the bishops.  If you have a little time, check out the Asset Map to see how other parishes are represented, and if you have information that you think could or should be included, please let Deacon Susan know.
In Our Prayers

Let us pray…
...in thanksgiving for the members of our congregation:
Ron, Marie, Gloria, and Dan;
....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: Ron (friend of Rick P), Katlyn (great-niece of Dian), Thelma (mother of Deacon Susan), Sam and family (son of Chris), Rick, Tom;  Our continuing prayers are offered for: Frank (father of Frank), Mabel, Dan, Barbara, Vivian (mother of Barbara), Butch, Livvy (mother of Kathy), Buddy, Jeanne, Roy, Luci (aunt of Barbara), Rose (friend of Gloria).

The Diocese of Washington cycle of prayer: Presiding Bishop Michael Curry; National Association of Episcopal Schools; Pray for all students and teachers; Labor Day (September 7) Pray for all who labor, those who are unemployed, those who seek jobs, and all who must work for less than a living wage.  The Anglican Communion Cycle of Prayer: Pray for the Anglican Church of Southern Africa; The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba - Archbishop of Capetown and Primate of Southern Africa.

Collect for Labor Day (September 7) Almighty God, you have so linked our lives one with another that all we do affects, for good or ill, all other lives: So guide us in the work we do, that we may do it not for self alone, but for the common good; and, as we seek a proper return for our own labor, make us mindful of the rightful aspirations of other workers, and arouse our concern for those who are out of work; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

A Prayer for Social Justice (from the Book of Common Prayer): Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A prayer for patient trust by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ
Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability—and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually—let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste.  Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give Our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.

"The Merton Prayer" by Thomas Merton OCSO:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. 
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