E-Communiqué: Good News in Fairfax Station; Welcome Bishop Harris; Pilgrimage for Racial Justice; Episcopal Youth Event; Shrine Mont Camps Hiring

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Going Where the Hunger Is

by the Rev. Susan Hartzell

“It’s hard to teach hungry kids,” remarked the principal as we toured a local elementary school in the church’s neighborhood.

St. Peter’s in the Woods had partnered with the school the prior year, supporting their families with gift cards at Christmas and weekend meal kits for food-insecure students. The relationship deepened during Covid, when we bought books to support young readers, served as virtual (and then in-person) Reading Buddies, and funded an Uber account to enable parents without cars to attend school meetings.

But it was that comment, about teaching hungry kids, that Outreach Leader Mark DeVoll couldn’t shake. It brought home the searing reality of food insecurity for families and young children in our church’s neighborhood, in Fairfax County, one of the most affluent counties in America. Here nearly 75,000 residents are food insecure and just under 60,000 children qualify for free and reduced meals in the public schools. Mark wondered what God was up to in planting that seed, and how one person – one church – could make a difference?

“I have an idea,” he would later tell me. “It might be crazy, but what if we could bring food into the neighborhood where some of the school’s most needy families live? Box it up, drive in with a truck and deliver it?” Read on

Welcome Bishop Gayle Harris

Bishop Stevenson chats with Bishop Gayle Harris, who begins her ministry as Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Virginia on April 1. The Bishops share their experiences on visiting historic sites on the journey toward racial reconciliation and healing. Your own journey awaits as the Diocese launches its first Pilgrimage in Racial Justice and Healing (see below).

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Racial Justice & Healing Pilgrimage

October 17-22, 2023

The Diocese of Virginia invites you to join its inaugural Racial Justice and Healing Pilgrimage. We will journey by bus to historical sites in the fight for racial justice and equality. Beginning in Richmond, we will travel to Memphis, Tennessee, then Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama. Destinations include the National Civil Rights Museum at The Lorraine Motel, the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the Legacy Museum, and the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery.

Our Racial Justice and Healing Pilgrimage is about creating opportunities, in sacred community, to think, reflect, pray, and be in dialogue with others who are engaging in ministries of racial justice and healing throughout the Diocese of Virginia. It is an invitation to have a deeply transformational experience in Christian community and expand one's understanding and practice of racial justice and healing.

Registration is now open. The cost for this trip is $1,350 per person, which includes transportation, accommodations, daily breakfast, and museum entry fees. An installment payment plan is offered. Some scholarship assistance is available. Questions? Contact Jennifer Cox at jcox@thediocese.net.

Episcopal Youth Event 2023

July 3-8

University of Maryland, College Park

For youth ages 15-19

APPLY

Spots are still available for youth and chaperones to join the Diocese of Virginia delegation. But the deadline to apply is next week, March 29.

The Episcopal Youth Event is a gathering of more than 1,400 youth from around the world who assemble on a college campus to learn, laugh, and worship together. The culture of EYE is like summer camp…a really, really big summer camp! Each diocese throughout The Episcopal Church is invited to send youth and adult attendees. The Diocese of Virginia is hoping to take 25 students and five adult chaperones to the University of Maryland for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Youth participants in EYE23 must be enrolled in 9th -12th grade during this school year and must be 15-19 by July 3.

The cost is $400 (includes EYE, the Province 3 Pre-event, and transportation). The Diocese of Virginia is covering costs for transportation and the Pre-event. Scholarship assistance may be available. For more information about applying, contact James Williams or Sue Cromer.

Shrine Mont Camps Are Filling Up. Chaplains, Nurses, Counselors Needed!

Camp is coming -- sooner than you think! Sessions are filling up, and we would love to have your camper join us on the mountain this summer. Detailed descriptions of all camps are found at shrinemontcamps.org.

Now Hiring

Experience a summer of joy, community, connection, love and play at camp! People who work at Shrine Mont Camps enjoy the chance to grow their skills with youth and the outdoors. They leave deeply changed. Many cabin counselors and staffers come back summer after summer. Right now, we're especially in need of camp chaplains and camp nurses (specifically Registered Nurses who can give two or more weeks). Intrigued? Fill out an application or reach out to Camps Director James Williams.

More to Learn

Dismantling Racial Faith with Dr. Willie James Jennings

Sunday, April 16, 4:30 p.m.

St. Paul's Memorial Church, Charlottesville

The Rev. Dr. Willie James Jennings will present the 2023 Koinonia Lecture, Dismantling Racial Faith. Dr. Jennings teaches systematic theology at Yale Divinity School. He is a pastor, theologian, poet, and author of The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, acclaimed as a “theological masterpiece” by the Englewood Review of Books; the The Revolution of the Intimate, a commentary on the Book of Acts; and After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. The lecture is free and open to the public. Details

Fractured Lives, Fractured Churches: Healing the Breach

Hosted by The Lombard Mennonite Peace Center

June 15, September 12, or December 5

9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EST via Zoom

With American society fraying at the seams, church leaders are called to understand our current challenges and lean into God’s call of peacebuilding. With the prevalence of despair, falling life expectancies, estrangements in families, increased isolationism, polarized tribalism, and generations at odds, the workshop will offer insights from a systems perspective and practical approaches for church leaders to engage their communities in authentic and meaningful ways. Embrace opportunities to overcome these disparities and learn skills to enhance healing and restoration. Cost per person: $99 (or $84 per person for a group of 4 or more). Register / Details

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