March 10, 2021
In this edition: Youth Trivia with the bishop; churches making headlines; solo (Agnus Dei) from Church of Sts. Andrew & Matthew; Did You Know?; Check it Out!; Fun Fact, CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated, news from the diocese, Episcopal Church, and Anglican Church.
Attention Senior High Youth!
What are you curious
to know about
Bishop Brown?

Come for a fun Zoom time of
Trivia with the Bishop
Saturday, March 20, 10 - 11 a.m.
Register by clicking the link below and come to ask the Bishop your questions!
Two Churches Making Headlines!
Renovations being made to
historic Christ Church, Dover
The Rev. Charles S. "Chuck" Weiss and leaders of Christ Church, Dover know the uproar that would surely come from preservation groups if they made any outside renovations to the church's nearly 200-year-old sanctuary. However, to bring the church more up-to-date and in the hope of offering a wider variety of activities to members and the community they have begun some renovations inside the building during the pandemic. Read full article here.
St. Peter's, Lewes exhibition memorializes Covid-19 dead
St. Peter’s, Lewes held an art exhibit to honor lives lost from COVID-19 and health care heroes. The Rev. Canon Mark Harris, a priest and printmaker, created four pieces for the exhibit, including a silk screen with 500,000 dots to symbolize the half a million dead in the United States. The exhibit Remembering and Naming allowed visitors to write down the names of people they know who have died as a personal memorial. Read full article and see video here.
A beautiful solo rendition
of the Agnus Dei
Sung by Kimberly Doucette accompanied by David Christopher
at the Church of Sts. Andrew & Matthew, Wilmington
A lenten offering
Fun Fact

Question: The Order of the Daughters of the King was founded in New York in 1885 by Margaret Juliet Franklin. At which church was the first Delaware chapter established, and when?

Clue: It was also the first Delaware church to have a woman treasurer, Miss Annie E. Hunter who served from 1891-1911.

Answer: Here
Two women who have made history
in Delaware and beyond
Did you know?
First Black woman publisher in North America was from Wilmington
Mary Ann Shadd Cary was an Anti-slavery activist, journalist, publisher, teacher and lawyer. She was the first black woman publisher in North America and the first woman publisher in Canada. She was one of the most outspoken female proponents of the abolition of slavery of her day, and promoted equality for all people. Cary was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 9, 1823 to a socially activist father. Her family moved to Pennsylvania (at the time had better educational opportunities for Black children), and she attended a Quaker school. In 1987 she was posthumously designated a Women’s History Month Honoree by the National Women’s History Project. She was also honored by Canada and named a Person of National Historic Significance. Mary Ann Shadd Cary’s former residence in the U Street Corridor in Washington D.C. was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
Check it out!
The founder of
Wilmington's first
public kindergarten
Born in Wilmington in 1861, Emily Bissell was the founder of Wilmington’s first public kindergarten. She is also known for her efforts to introduce child labor laws. In 1883, she founded an organization, now known as the West End Neighborhood House, that originally provided social services to Wilmington’s immigrant Irish and German families. Bissell was passionate about finding the cure for tuberculosis. She popularized the Christmas seal system by which people attached a special Christmas stamp to their mail with the proceeds going to fighting the disease. Though the idea failed at first, Bissell continued on, eventually making three thousand dollars, which was well beyond her original goal. She spent the rest of her life promoting Christmas stamps to eliminate tuberculosis, before dying in 1948. In 1980, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in her honor.
CDC Issues First Set of Guidelines on How Fully Vaccinated People Can Visit Safely with Others

Cycle of Prayer in the Episcopal Church in Delaware
This week (week of March 7), in our diocesan Cycle of Prayer, we hold up in prayer St. Nicholas' Church, Newark, the Very Rev. William B. Lane, pastor. For the 2020-2021 diocesan Cycle of Prayer Calendar click here.
Positions open in our parishes and community
St. Thomas's Parish, Newark, is seeking a part-time sexton
The sexton maintains all interior spaces of the parish’s buildings and is responsible for monitoring appliances and systems, performing periodic inspections, making repairs as appropriate, and notifying the property committee when the services of outside contractors are needed. The sexton reports to the rector and collaborates with the parish’s property committee, but must be able to work with minimal supervision. S/he must also be flexible in scheduling maintenance activities around parish and outside events, as well as in periods of heavier use of the parish’s buildings (eg. Christmas and Holy Week/Easter). Read full position description here. Interested applicants please contact the rector, the Rev. Dr. Howell J. Sasser here.
News from our parishes and community
This week — Your chance to participate!
Diocesan Acceptance Process Review
Diocesan Council created a task force to review the current acceptance process. You are invited to participate in this review!

Today, parishes accept a share of the costs associated with the council’s budget. These acceptances fund work that makes more sense to be done in a centralized way instead of each parish duplicating work. The current acceptance process was created back in the 1970s when the world was very different. Did you know that the diocesan budget (adjusted for inflation) was 12 times larger than it is today? Did you know that the diocese provided most program materials for all parishes at that time?

The Acceptance Review Task Force is holding a series of workshops in March. Their purpose is to get feedback from the entire Episcopal Church in Delaware on this topic. All of us are in this together. We want your reactions and thoughts. Nothing will change without broad support across the church and Convention's approval. These workshops are a way of understanding where the Episcopal Church in Delaware is on this topic. Register in advance for any one of the following meetings to join a discussion on this topic:

  • Thursday, March 11, 7 - 8:30pm registration here
  • Saturday, March 13, 10:30am – 12pm registration here
  • Tuesday, March 16, 7 - 8:30pm registration here

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Episcopal Church Women
of Delaware

Book of Remembrance
Your help is requested!
One of the most iconic and revered record books for the ECW is the Book of Remembrance. Started in the early 1950s, it documents the names of our Episcopal sisters who have died each year, organized by the name of the parish where their death was recorded. The book, purchased with donations from families of early presidents of the Episcopal Women’s Auxiliary of the Episcopal Church, the forerunner of ECW, has run out of room. An artisan has been found who will custom-make a leather bound binder to use as a second Book of Remembrance, which will enable pages to be added and keep the Book of Remembrance going for another 70 years or more. The new book will be ready in time to be blessed and dedicated at next fall’s Annual Meeting. Your donations would be greatly appreciated. More information and how to make a donation here.
Episcopal Church in Delaware (ECD) is now a member
of the Episcopal Network for Stewardship (TENS)
This organization supports giving efforts across the board for The Episcopal Church. They have a relatively new director, David Gearheart, who is doing very good work. Because the ECD is a member, each parish now has access to their content information. There is now a link to their website on the diocesan webpage, under Stewardship Resources here where you can find content which might be useful for your parish. AND – be on the lookout for new content from our Stewardship Resource Team for the upcoming year. More information
Province III
Q&A with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Author of "How to be an Antiracist"
Wednesday, March 24, 8-9pm
As the capstone of the Province III Anti-Racism and Racial Justice discussion of his book, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi will be joining us for a question and answer session. And everyone in Province III is invited to join us! The event will take place via Zoom.
News from the Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Women's History Project Celebration of Women's History Month
This month the EWHP is featuring stories of Episcopal Women who have done something for their church, congregation, community, state, country, or in the wider world.  A woman has many ways to serve the church. These are amazing stories of women all over the world.  Perhaps you will be encouraged to undertake something you have been thinking about.  In the meantime, enjoy meeting the latest of these Women Worth Knowing here. To become a member join here!
“From Many, One” Webinars to Fuel Practice of Conversations Across Difference, Web practice sessions begin March 12
A set of upcoming webinars promises to prepare Episcopalians to effectively listen, honor difference, and help to heal families, congregations, communities, and nations. More information
My Way of Love offers personalized suggestions for spiritual growth - Sign up now! 
The Episcopal Church, in partnership with RenewalWorks, a ministry of Forward Movement, is offering My Way of Love, a free, eight-week email series that provides personalized suggestions for spiritual growth based on the seven practices of the Way of Love. More information
Presiding Bishop issues an invitation from the Episcopal Church Creation Care and Evangelism Departments: Plant more! Pray more! Proclaim more!
The mission of the Good News Gardens movement is to partner with people in transformational agrarian ministries that feed body, mind, and spirit. It is a church-wide movement of individuals, congregations, schools, colleges, seminaries, monasteries, camps and conference centers involved in a variety of food and creation care ministries: gardening, farming, beekeeping, composting, gleaning, feeding, food justice, and advocacy. Collectively Good News Gardens share their abundance, their prayers, and the Way of Love in their communities and beyond.When we commit to planting more (be it beehives or herb gardens,) praying more (with our words and deeds,) and proclaiming more (through our stories and bounty) in order to share the loving, liberating, and life-giving Good News of God's love, we will find ourselves, our church, and our world transformed. See Presiding Bishop's video
and more information on how to join the movement here.
Religious leaders on overcoming hardship: You are stronger than you know
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and Rabbi Sharon Brous discuss ways to overcome hardships especially as we approach one year of the pandemic. They talk about the importance of finding community and spreading joy even as shutdowns continue. See video here.
Poetry, Science, and the Imagination, L'Engle Seminar series, Wednesdays in March, 1pm
Poetry and the sciences are connected in deep and surprising ways. Both the poet and the scientist engage reality through the imagination. In in this five-part online seminar series with Brian Volck and special guests, you are invited to explore imagination as a way of knowing within the two disciplines. Each hour-long session will have a distinct focus and feature the insight of a wide array of poets, scientists, philosophers, and theologians. These seminars are made possible by a grant from the estate of Madeleine L’Engle and are inspired by three characteristics of her life and work:
  • attention to the generative interplay between faith, art, and science;
  • recognition that all art is incarnational and that science enlarges our understanding of creation;
  • and generous engagement with diverse faith traditions.
More information and registration here.
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry calls for the Good Friday Offering to support ministry in the Anglican Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East.
The 1922 initial Good Friday Offering was an intentional call to support Anglican ministries in the Jerusalem and the Middle East that were impacted by the devastation of World War I, the Spanish flu pandemic, and social and political unrest throughout that region. The Good Friday Offering continues to support churches, medical programs and schools today. In Curry's Good Friday letter he asks each bishop and congregation to consider providing assistance for the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East. Read more in English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin here.
Episcopal Toolkit for COVID-19 Vaccination Distribution
The Episcopal Church’s Office of Government Relations has developed a toolkit for individuals, congregations and ministries to facilitate and promote COVID-19 vaccine distribution in the United States. This toolkit promotes the ongoing work that parishes and dioceses have already been doing, shares best practices, and offers ideas for ways that communities can help U.S.-based Episcopalians to facilitate vaccination, overcome vaccine hesitancy, and find information from state and local officials. Churches and church leaders (lay and ordained) can serve as an important trusted bridge between public health officials and communities. More information in English and Spanish here.
Project Resource Offers Spring Stewardship Training, 6 consecutive Sundays, April 18 to May 23 (begins two weeks after Easter) 5 - 6:30pm, via Zoom
Project Resource is the stewardship formation offering of the College for Bishops. At a time when many of our resources, both denominational and ecumenical, in this area are contracting, Project Resource has proven success in being an effective and enduring set of practices for changing the culture of giving in congregations. Being good stewards of the bounty God has placed in our hands has been our struggle from the earliest days of the Church. But if we have learned anything from the past year, it is that we cannot continue to do what we have done before. We must learn contextually appropriate strategies that reflect the diversity of our beloved community. We must learn to do a new thing. Project Resource is that new thing. More information here.
Upcoming Grant Deadlines!

Episcopal Church Young Adult Service Corps, application deadline for 2021-2022 extended to April 9
Applications for 2021-2022 placements with the Young Adult Service Corps (YASC), the international missionary program of The Episcopal Church, will now be accepted through Friday, April 9, 2021. YASC offers Episcopalians ages 21-30 the opportunity to follow the Way of Love into deeper relationship with God and the global Anglican Church while spending a year living and working with communities around the world. More information in English and Spanish here.

Episcopal Church scholarship for the 2021-2022 academic year, application deadline April 11
Applications are now being accepted for educational scholarships from the Episcopal Church for the 2021-2022 academic year. More information in English and Spanish here.

Becoming Beloved Community grants available for local/regional efforts, applications due April 12
The Presiding Officers' Advisory Group on Beloved Community Implementation is pleased to announce the availability of grants to catalyze the church’s work of racial healing, reconciliation and justice. Allocated by the 79th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, the intent for this funding is to build capacity and increase Episcopal engagement in four primary fields: telling the truth about our churches and race, proclaiming the dream of Beloved Community, practicing Jesus’ way of healing and reconciliation, and repairing the breach in institutions and society. More information in English and Spanish here.

Care of Creation Grants now available, application deadline extended to April 16
The Episcopal Church’s Task Force on Creation Care and Environmental Racism is now accepting applications for its 2021 Grant Cycle. An informational webinar for those interested in learning more about the grants and the application process is scheduled for February 18th at 3 pm. More information in English and Spanish here.
News from the Anglican Communion
Science-faith partnership is vital for tackling climate change
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, told an international gathering of faith leaders that the fight against climate crisis would benefit from the relationship between science and faith. He made his comments in the first of a series of online meetings being held in advance of the UN’s COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow later this year. Archbishop Justin said that “the relationship between science and faith presents us with a very real and a powerful route to lasting, major change. Our global reach, our commitment to local communities and our hope combined with the knowledge and expertise of science can forge a powerful alliance.” You may read the full transcript of the Archbishop's comments here.
Archbishop of Canterbury to address UN Security Council
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, will address the UN Security Council on Friday, March 19, on the theme “Religious Actors in Peace Processes.” This will be his second address to the UN Security Council (UNSC). In August, 2019, he became the first Archbishop of Canterbury to address the UNSC. The address will be part of a consultation that the UK government hope will lead to a UNSC Resolution on religious minorities in conflict.
A prayer for racial justice written by Archbishop Justin Welby and
Dr. Sanjee Perera, Archbishop's Adviser on Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns 
Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ, who took human form and broke down the walls that divide;
We seek your forgiveness for not living out the truth that all are one in Christ, for the sin of racism.
We pray for all those affected by the marginalization of prejudice and the violence of racist words and actions.
We pray that we might uproot its cancerous and systemic hold on our own institutions.
We pray that we might recognize in reverence your divine image and likeness in our neighbor,
And find joy in the resemblance.
We pray in your name and seeking your glory. Amen.
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