IN THIS EDITION
: Bishop Brown's COVID Update: Regathering In-Person Document | Trinity Sunday - Worship with Bishop Brown
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Profound Unrest
Injustice — Outrage — Inhumanity
Time of Pandemic
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Stop the Injustice!
Bishop Brown's
Pentecost Sermon
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Bishop Brown's COVID-19 Update:
Regathering Document -
All Things in Love: As We Return to Gathering in Person
I am thrilled to introduce
Version 1 of
All Things in Love: As We Return to Gathering In-Person. This document lays out guidelines for parishes across the Episcopal Church in Delaware for how they might safely regather, if they choose to do so. It was prepared by our New Normal Task Force, to whom I extend my gratitude. It was a large task and their work continues.
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Celebrate Trinity Sunday with Bishop Brown
and your fellow Episcopalians across Delaware!
The bishop is delighted to extend an invitation to everyone in the Episcopal Church in Delaware to join him in worship on Trinity Sunday, June 7, at 11:00 a.m. via Facebook Live. It will be wonderful knowing that we will all be together, even if only virtually, and seeing the chats from across our diocese. Read full invitation and how-to directions
here
.
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Responding to the Sin of Racism
On Monday, during protests and a time of unrest across our nation, a group of 25 friends and members of the
Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew
painted this banner in solidarity with people of color in the city of Wilmington.
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Question:
Do you know which church in our diocese began life as a barn?
Clue:
It was reborn!
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Christ Church Christiana Hundred
celebrated Pentecost in an unusual way!
Come Holy Spirit, Come!
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Christ Church Christiana Hundred, Wilmington celebrated the Day of Pentecost in an unusual way in these unusual times.
Over 100 cars gaily decorated with symbols of the Holy Spirit, with red being the dominant color, participated in a spectacular Car Parade and Blessing of the Cars on Sunday, May 31.
Pictured left is the Rev. Ruth Beresford, rector, and right is the Rev. Michael Kurth, associate rector, greeting parishioners as the parade drove through the parking lot. People stayed in their cars as the clergy gave them a Pentecost blessing and refreshed their baptism, sprinkling holy water on cars — and their inhabitants if the windows were open! See more joyful photographs
here
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How the Rich Reacted to the Bubonic Plague Has Eerie Similarities to Today’s Pandemic
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Then—as now—the wealthy fled to the countryside, while the urban poor were forced to work on the front lines.
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With sadness, the A. Felix duPont Memorial House announces it will be closed through September 14.
We are living in uncommon times today — filled with anxiety, uncertainty, fear, and yes, even grace, hope, and peace. Together, we are all experiencing an uncertainty that we didn’t expect to be dealing with and, together, we hope we might find some joy.
Loving our neighbor, the Episcopal Church in Delaware continues to take steps to ensure the safety of everyone, including our clients and our staff, and will adhere to the State of Emergency declaration and all modifications of the declaration by the Delaware Governor, John C. Carney. Public health and well-being is an overriding concern.
Therefore, in accordance with Delaware Governor Carney’s declarations and subsequent modifications, following CDC guidelines, and loving our neighbor, Bishop Brown, along with the Memorial House staff, has had to make the difficult, but necessary, decision to close A. Felix duPont Memorial House until September 14, 2020.
We are available to discuss what this means for you and what we can do that would be most helpful to you. Please contact Dina Hollingsworth by email at
[email protected]
or at 302.567.2808. Blessings to each of you, keep safe, and we look forward to welcoming you back!
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News from the Episcopal Church in Delaware
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In this time of pandemic, our churches and parishioners are finding new and creative ways to serve their communities. Please let us know the ministries, e.g. feeding, clothing, social justice, etc., you are involved with or providing at this time. We would like to share with others. Please include any images you might have.
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The Impact of COVID-19 on the people of Gaza: A Pentecost Message from the Very Rev. Bill Lane, Pastor, St. Nicholas Church
In this season of COVID-19, we have been focused on our parishes, on the nurture and care of their people and the continuation of their ministry. We have new ways of doing corporate worship, and we have engaged in pastoral care, with compassion and love, even when we cannot be in the same physical space. Even as we are doing this, we are also mindful that the field for the mission and ministry of the parishes of the Episcopal Church in Delaware stretches far beyond its geographical boundaries. Even as we seek the resources for doing the work of the Church in our own back yard, we know that there are places with need but few resources to meet that need. One of those places is Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. This hospital, part of the ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, has served the people of Gaza since 1882. This service has continued through wars, occupation, and now the menace of COVID-19. Indeed, the World Health Organization has declared that the full impact of the pandemic in Gaza is yet to come. Read full message and information about how you can help
here
.
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With sadness Camp Arrowhead has announced that the 2020 summer camping season has been cancelled due to COVID-19.
This decision was incredibly difficult to make and was arrived at through weeks of consultation with the Episcopal Camps and Conference Center, the American Camping Association, health care workers with ties to Camp Arrowhead, state guidelines, Bishop Brown, and the mission support staff....and prayer! Many factors played into this outcome, but in evaluating how the camp could run under restricted conditions, either the program or safety were compromised, and Camp Arrowhead was not willing to jeopardize either.
In a heartening response
, several Camp Arrowhead supporters have made donations to the camp's COVID Relief Fund. For a letter from the Executive Director, click
here
. For an explanatory video, refund response form, FAQs, and donation options, visit the
Camp Arrowhead website.
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Cycle of Prayer in the Episcopal Church in Delaware
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T
his week (week of May 31) we hold up in prayer
the Musicians in all the parishes in the Episcopal Church in Delaware.
For Cycle of Prayer Calendar for 2019-2020
click here.
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News from the Episcopal Church
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Statement from Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry on President Donald Trump’s use of a church building and the Holy Bible
The following is a statement from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:
This evening, the President of the United States stood in front of
St. John’s Episcopal Church
, lifted up a bible, and had pictures of himself taken. In so doing, he used a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes. This was done in a time of deep hurt and pain in our country, and his action did nothing to help us or to heal us." Read full statement
here
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The
Presiding Bishop Curry’s Word to the Church: When the Cameras are Gone, We Will Still Be Here
“Our long-term commitment to racial justice and reconciliation is embedded in our identity as baptized followers of Jesus. We will still be doing it when the news cameras are long gone. In the midst of COVID-19 and the pressure cooker of a society in turmoil, a Minnesota man named George Floyd was brutally killed. His basic human dignity was stripped by someone charged to protect our common humanity. Perhaps the deeper pain is the fact that this was not an isolated incident. It happened to Breonna Taylor on March 13 in Kentucky. It happened to Ahmaud Arbery on February 23 in Georgia. Racial terror in this form occurred when I was a teenager growing up black in Buffalo, New York. It extends back to the lynching of Emmett Till in 1955 and well before that. It’s not just our present or our history. It is part of the fabric of American life." Read full message
here
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Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Pentecost sermon from Washington National Cathedral
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’sPentecost sermon from the Washington National Cathedral service was live-streamed on May 31, 2020. His sermon may be watched at any time by clicking
here
. The full text in English may be read
here
. The full text in Spanish may be read
here
. The full text in French may be read
here
. This Pentecost service included the collect, “A Prayer for the Power of the Spirit among the People of God,” specially written for this time. This prayer is included at the end of the sermon text.
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Will you proclaim the Good News of God in Christ?
Embracing Evangelism video series and resources now available
In the Baptismal Covenant, Episcopalians promise to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ.
Embracing Evangelism
,
a new six-part evangelism video course, is a resource to help Episcopalians grow in their own relationship with Christ and to help others do so as well.
More information
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Third season of The Way of Love with Bishop Michael Curry
Season 3 of The Episcopal Church’s
podcast
The Way of Love with Bishop Michael Curry, is now available. These weekly conversations, featuring Bishop Curry, podcast host Sandy Milien, and a variety of guests, center on ways to live a life committed to living the way of God’s unconditional, unselfish, sacrificial and redemptive love. Season 3 changes include longer conversations between Bishop Curry and his guests: faith leaders, authors, and thinkers who are committed to following the Way of Jesus in the world today. Framed by the
Way of Love
– those seven practices of turning, learning, praying, worshipping, blessing, going, and resting – listeners will hear stories and lessons about how they can grow closer to God in daily life.
More information
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Love God, Love Neighbor: Episcopal Month of Action
In the month of June, join the Episcopal Church Office of Government Relations and Episcopal Migration Ministries for
Love God, Love Neighbor: Episcopal Month of Action
, a series of webinars to learn and advocate with and on behalf of immigrants, DACA recipients, refugees, and asylum seekers. New-comers contribute greatly to U.S. communities, enriching our common life, strengthening the U.S. economy, and bringing joy as they join and reunite with families and friends. And yet, immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees face a wide array of challenges, including federal policies and legislation that are outdated and do not address the realities of immigrants in America today. As the Episcopal Branch of the Jesus Movement, we are called to advocate with and for our siblings seeking safety and a better life in the United States
.
Full webinar and other information
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Celebrating Graduation resources available from The Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Church Faith Formation Department’s Office of Youth Ministry and Office of Young Adult and Campus Ministries have been collaborating with youth ministers, campus chaplains, and young adult ministers around the church to curate resources, ideas, and liturgies to help celebrate those who are graduating from high school and college.
Celebrating Graduation resources
include prayers and blessings, service videos and virtual choirs, worship bulletins and scripture, as well as a collection of resources and ideas for celebrating 2020 graduates during this pandemic
.
More information and Presiding Bishop's video message.
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News from the Anglican Communion
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The Lambeth Conference: God's Church for God's World
The once-a-decade Lambeth Conference, to which all bishops in the Anglican Communion's 40 provinces are invited, has been rescheduled from summer 2020 to the summer of 2021, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. More information is available in a
press release
and
the Lambeth Conference website
.
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Anglican network warns of COVID-19 impact on indigenous communities around the world
Anglican indigenous leaders have reported from around the Communion that already stressed indigenous health systems now face pressure to perform on lower resources than non-indigenous health systems as they work to protect their people from the COVID-19 disease. Each of the Anglican Communion’s indigenous church leaders expressed concerns that national responses to the pandemic did not take into account the extra needs of older and at risk people in indigenous communities. In each place where Anglican indigenous churches minister, indigenous communities have to contend with lower baseline health due to racial discrimination-led poverty, including under-resourcing of indigenous health needs by non-indigenous health systems. Read full report
here
.
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Major new resource equips churches to tackle COVID-19-related Domestic Abuse
A major new resource by the Anglican Alliance and Anglican Consultative Council will equip churches to recognize and take action to prevent domestic abuse. The resource,
Domestic Abuse and COVID-19: How Churches can respond
, says that lockdown measures and restrictions on movement can “have an impact on the prevalence and severity of domestic abuse and gender based violence”, and adds that “the increased fear, tension and lack of money can worsen a toxic environment where abuse can thrive unchallenged.”
It goes on to say that “the Church is well placed within communities to be a light and refuge in times of need and can reach into communities where governments cannot. Our Christian call is to love one another as Christ loved us and not to turn away from our own flesh and blood.”
Full report here
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Review begins into post COVID-19 priorities of the Anglican Communion Office
The review was proposed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon. “The Church around the world now faces a whole host of new challenges and mission priorities than it could have envisaged just a few short months ago”, the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, said. “A ‘new normal’ is emerging. It is too early to say what that ‘new normal’ will look like, but it is clear that the assumptions and priorities of the past are not the assumptions and priorities for the future. The work and ministry of our member churches is being changed. We need to change too, in order to help them in that work and ministry.
One thing won’t change is the priority of all of us to be God’s Church in God’s World; but the world has changed and this review will help us to discern how we be God’s Church in these changing times.” Read full press release
here
.
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