In this edition: Diocesan parishes inviting, welcoming, and connecting with their community; Bishop Brown congratulates graduates; Care of Creation for Parishes; June is Pride month; Fun Fact; Did You Know?; Check it Out!; news from the community, Episcopal Church, and Anglican Church.
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Two Parishes Making a Difference
Inviting, Welcoming, and Connecting
in their local communities
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Many parishes in our beloved diocese have found new ways to invite, welcome, and connect with their local communities. Read about two parishes that are making a difference as they take advantage of their location to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. |
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Trinity Parish, Wilmington
New garden in honor of survivors of gun violence dedicated in Survivors' Garden, Trinity Parish, Wilmington
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by the Rev. Patricia Downing
Three months ago, I was invited to attend a prayer event at the corner of 8th and Monroe Streets. There had been a shooting that resulted in a young man’s death. I’ve been to far too many such gatherings over the years. When I arrived, there were about twenty people gathered around a make shift shrine. Candles burned in a circle around a picture of a young man about 25 years old. Everyone was wearing masks so it was hard to recognize folk. When it was my turn to pray, a member of the young man’s family said to her friend, “that’s my priest.” I did a double take at the shrine’s picture. The young man looked familiar, I just could not put a name to the face. It was Shaun.
Trinity continues its partnership with Mom’s Demand Action, Stop the Violence Prayer Chain, Connection Families 4 Justice, and The Moonflower Garden Club with the creation of a Survivors of Gun Violence Garden. Over 107 people have been shot in Delaware over the past year. The garden stands as a memorial to them. It also stands as a reminder to the rest of the community that the work to end gun violence must continue. Striving for justice and peace requires that we break the systemic cycles of poverty, injustice, and helplessness. Seeking Christ in all persons means we are to be bearers of hope, love, and possibility. Trinity is honored to be in this work with many other dedicated groups. We’d love to have you
join us.
The garden was dedicated on Sunday June 6th and will stay in place until June 14th.
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All Saints' Church, Rehoboth
All Saints’ Church offers weekly outdoor garden service in a beautiful setting,
near the beach, Saturdays, 5pm
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by the Rev. Shelley D. McDade
Our reasoning in starting the service was most definitely to attract and welcome new people to the church, and to invite a new experience to those who have been members for a long time. The unique downtown beach location, only half a block from the boardwalk and oceanfront, invites a seasonal congregation, as well as year-round residents. Our property committee worked hard in the last few years to create an even more intimate garden experience between the church and the rectory, both day and night, for the many people (visitors, tourists, and residents) walking by. At dusk, lights automatically turn on and shine from the ground up into the trees creating a Cathedral-like expression in the garden.
Perfectly set between the Baptismal font on the east end and the rectory on the west, bunnies, birds, squirrels, and even a fox live inside the lush natural nave of flowers, trees and bushes — a peaceful oasis and perfect complement to our ocean home. It's a beautiful place to worship and allows the parish an opportunity to share the Gospel more widely and connect with our community.
The weekly Saturday service begins at 5pm. Music will be offered by local and visiting musicians, as well as parishioners. Limited chairs are available with plenty of space for your beach chairs or beach towels. All are welcome and we hope you will have an opportunity to join us.
All Saints' Church
18 Olive Avenue, Rehoboth Beach
302.227.7202
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Editor's message: It's great to hear about the good works of all of our diocesan churches. Please send us your story of inviting, welcoming, and connecting in your community so we can share the good news with everyone. communications@delaware.church. |
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Bishop Brown
Congratulates all graduates!
Congratulations, graduates, from your friends and family across the Episcopal Church in Delaware! After such a demanding school year, you have more reason than ever to celebrate this milestone in your life. As you begin your next chapter, whatever and wherever that may be, remember that you are beloved of God, that Jesus Christ is the light and hope of this world, and that the Holy Spirit will guide your steps if you will ask. Keep praying, stay joy-filled, and share God’s love every day.
Your brother in Christ,
+Kevin
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A Prayer for Schools and Colleges
O Eternal God, bless all graduates, and bless all schools, colleges, and universities that they may be lively centers for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that those who teach and those who learn may find you to be the source of all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
— Book of Common Prayer
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A Unique Opportunity: Care of Creation for Parishes
Join representatives from
Energize Delaware and Delaware Interfaith Power & Light
Webinar, June 17,6:30pm
Participate for a virtual smorgasbord of tips, tools, and financial resources to help our parishes and members lower energy bills, reduce waste, increase property value, improve health and comfort…and reach the stewardship goals in our Genesis Covenant. Together we will learn about:
- no cost (churches) or low-cost (individuals) energy audits
- strategies for energy efficiency upgrades
- financial incentives
- solar installation loans
- revolving loan funds
- home energy workshops
- creation care displays and resources
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Grants offered
Helping to Ensure Healthy Buildings
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During this past year, church leaders have struggled to come to terms with restrictions on gathering in our buildings for Sunday and weekday services, how to remain hospitable to those outside groups that have leaned on us in the past, and how to continue ministries to our communities. With many folks vaccinated and the Covid metrics thankfully in decline, we are returning to our buildings for worship and other gatherings. Now we need to ensure our buildings are healthy. The Advance and Development Fund Committee is offering grants to be used to consult with representatives from Tetra Tech that will:
- Host a meeting on-site to allow the consultants and parish representatives to gain an understanding of their facilities, and/or proposed HVAC systems improvements
- To understand space utilization
- To review current maintenance/cleaning procedures
- To determine flexibility to make modifications
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June is Pride Month
In the first century, Jesus of Nazareth inspired a movement. A community of people whose lives were centered on Jesus Christ and committed to living the way of God’s unconditional, unselfish, sacrificial, and redemptive love. As Episcopalians, we believe in a loving, liberating, and life-giving God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe in following the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection saved the world. We have a legacy of inclusion, aspiring to tell ... read more
Image created by Kristen Wheeler
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Happy Pride Month!
The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, New York
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The Cathedral of Saint John the Divine has a long history of standing with the LGBT+ community through times of pain, triumph, and celebration. As is tradition, our Nave and High Altar are lit up in a rainbow to show our support and love for our LGBT+ community members through the month of June. All are welcome; it’s your cathedral! #nycpride #pride2021 #pridemonth #lgbt
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Fun Fact
Question: Seven years before the Black Cat Riot in L.A.’s Silverlake neighborhood, and ten years before the Stonewall Rebellion, what riot took place that is considered the first gay uprising in the USA?
Clue: Police were pelted with donuts and paper plates.
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Summer Edition of
Delaware Communion
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The latest edition of the diocesan quarterly magazine is published and includes:
- A Woman, a Social Worker, an Episcopalian: Meet Alice
- Poisoned by These Fairy Tales: Recognizing and Reckoning with Racial Mythologies
- To Pray or Not to Pray: The Pain and Prayer Project
- The Story of United Thank Offering: More than Little Blue Boxes
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A Blessing from the Islands of the Sea
and Visual Commentary on Scripture: Redeeming Original Sin
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Delaware's Openly LGBT Legislators |
Episcopalian Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation, is the first openly LGBT Cabinet member. As of the 2020 elections, the legislatures of 48 states have had at least one openly LGBT member. Only Mississippi and Louisiana have never had an openly LGBT legislator, although Mississippi had legislators who came out after their term. In Delaware, Sen. Karen E. Peterson (D) came out 2013 and Sen. Sarah McBride (D) is the first openly transgender state senator. More information
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LGBT Pride Month occurs in the United States to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred at the end of June 1969. As a result, many pride events are held during this month to recognize the impact LGBT people have had in the world. Celebrations are held worldwide. In this 2016 photograph, the Stonewall Inn, site of the June 1969 Stonewall riots, the cradle of the modern LGBT rights movement, and an icon of queer culture, is adorned with rainbow pride flags. More information
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Cycle of Prayer in the Episcopal Church in Delaware |
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Open Positions at Camp Arrowhead |
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Camp Arrowhead is urgently seeking staff for camp this summer:
- Counselors: High School graduates and up
- CITs: Juniors and Seniors in High School
- Pool and Waterfront Guards: 17+ with a free class
- Maintenance and Kitchen Staff: 16+
- Boat Driver: 18+ with life-saving certification, certification class offered free
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Choir School of Delaware Annual Gala and Benefit
Christ Church Christiana Hundred 500 Buck Road, Wilmington
Wednesday, June 16, 6pm
An evening of Broadway music by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. This event is available in-person and online. We will also be recognizing our graduating seniors. The in-person event includes a heavy hors d'oeuvres reception.
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Upcoming events in the Episcopal Church |
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Episcopal Migration Ministries to host webinar, Q&A for World Refugee Day, June 10, 4pm
Panelists will discuss ‘Repairing the Breach’. Episcopal Migration Ministries invites those interested in the perspective and plight of refugees to join a webinar panel discussion, Repairing the Breach: Building Beloved Community through Welcome, at 4 p.m. ET, Thursday, June 10. More information
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No Longer Strangers: the Episcopal Church offers bilingual exploration of immigration issues
Tuesday, June 15, 7pm
In June, join The Episcopal Church’s Office of Latino/Hispanic Ministries, Episcopal Migration Ministries, and Forward Movement, for a conversation about No Longer Strangers: Exploring Immigration Issues. More information
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Good News Gardens June Gathering - Garden Spirituality, Tuesday, June 15, 7pm
In this month's Good News Gardens Gathering Jeannie Marcucci will present on "Garden Elements: Aspects to Garden Spirituality." Marcucci is a candidate to the diaconate in the Diocese of New Jersey, with a September ordination planned. She has a master’s degree in landscape design from Columbia University and has practiced landscape design in the Delaware Valley for over twenty years with a focus on residential and small-scale commercial projects. Marcucci also trains DIY homeowner gardeners with in-home garden consultations and guest-speaking events with local farmers markets and community-supported venues. “Good Morning in the Garden,” a weekly blog/newsletter, is the main writing vehicle for Jeannie as “the garden evangelist.”
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Episcopal Migration Ministries Virtual Prayer Vigil for World Refugee Day, Sunday, June 20, 7pm
Offering solidarity and support for refugees worldwide, Episcopal Migration Ministries will host a virtual prayer vigil for World Refugee Day on All are welcome to join this gathering in recognition of those forced to leave their homes and seek new beginnings elsewhere. More information
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Online Service Planned to Bless the Work of 2022 General Convention
Join a Convocation of Bishops and Deputies at 2pm on July 17, Feast of William White
The 80th General Convention of the Episcopal Church will not take place this summer as originally planned, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but bishops, deputies and others will gather for an online convocation to pray for the work of the convention, now scheduled for July 2022. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will preach, and House of Deputies President Gay Clark Jennings will give opening remarks and officiate at a service led by deputies, bishops, and others from across the church. The service, which will be livestreamed, is scheduled for the Feast of William White, the only person ever to serve as both the church’s presiding bishop and president of its House of Deputies. More information
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News from the Episcopal Church |
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Evangelism Matters
“When we ask ourselves who Jesus might be, we must look in the mirror and at each other. Just as we look for Jesus in others, people are looking for Jesus in us.” Miriam McKenney. Read latest Evangelism Matters newsletter here.
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‘Investing as Doing Theology’ Offers Compelling Snapshot of Episcopal Institutions
New Task Force publication highlights 15 investment stories
An organic movement of faith-informed investing is growing within The Episcopal Church, according to a task force that identified and examined the practices of 15 such investors. The findings are chronicled in Investing as Doing Theology, a newly published – and acclaimed -- Blue Book report for the church’s 2022 General Convention. More information in English and Spanish.
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Episcopal Church prepares for release of new prayer book translations
Spanish, French, Haitian Creole versions to be available for feedback
The Episcopal Church is pleased to announce the upcoming release of trial translations of the Book of Common Prayer in Spanish, French and Haitian Creole and plans to seek feedback from native speakers in those languages. More information in English, Spanish, and French.
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Seminary Built on Slavery and Jim Crow Labor Has Begun Paying Reparations
The Virginia Theological Seminary is giving cash to descendants of Black Americans who were forced to work there. The program is among the first of its kind. More information
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Episcopal Church Executive Council shares reflections, invites discernment on diocesan relief funds
Further to its April 16 announcement making $40,000 financial relief grants available to any diocese, the Episcopal Church Executive Council has released a reflection detailing its path of discernment for supporting the diverse needs of the church’s dioceses amid myriad disruptions to church and life in 2020. Read more (In English, Spanish, and French) here
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United Thank Offering invites 2022 Annual Grants
Fall webinars will provide info, answer questions about process
The United Thank Offering (UTO) Board is pleased to announce the availability of their 2022 UTO Annual Grants, with an application deadline of February 4, 2022. These grants are awarded for projects in The Episcopal Church and throughout the Anglican Communion, each year with a different focus. Read more here.
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The Episcopal Church’s Tell Me Something Good web series 2, episode 4 available now, here
Tell Me Something Good highlights positive stories from around the church through conversations with a variety of guests. In Episode 4, The Rev. Nurya Love Parish, Plainsong Farm, Rockford, Mich., and Katie Forsyth, canon for evangelism and networking with the Episcopal dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan, talk about the healing nature of getting one’s hands dirty in the garden and the gifts their dioceses have experienced by joining the Good News Gardens movement as a community of communities. New episodes of Tell Me Something Good will be released every two weeks and will be available for viewing, along with Season 1, here or on Instagram TV @theepiscopalchurch.
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The Episcopal Church’s Economic Justice Loan Committee invests in nine community loan funds
Honoring its commitment to share resources in ways that prioritize those who have been disenfranchised and oppressed, The Episcopal Church’s Economic Justice Loan Committee approved nine investments in 2020 totaling $2.7 million. More information
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News from the Anglican Communion |
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Scientists and theologians join forces for new Anglican Communion Science Commission
A new Anglican Communion Science Commission (ACSC) is being formed to “resource the whole Anglican Communion for courageous and confident spiritual leadership in issues involving science.” The ACSC will be co-chaired by the Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba; and the Bishop of Oxford, Stephen Croft. The ACSC will formally launch at the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England, in July and August next year; and will hold its first conference shortly afterwards. Scientists, theologians, and bishops from around the globe are being invited by the Anglican Communion’s Secretary General, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, to serve as Commissioners. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has asked Anglican Communion Primates to nominate a Bishop from their Church to serve as provincial representatives at conferences of the Commission. Science will be a significant feature at the 2022 Lambeth Conference. Today, organisers have posted a series of videos, exploring the relationship between science and faith, see videos here.
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Archbishop of Canterbury joins global leaders in calling for equitable distribution of vaccines
Archbishop of Canterbury and global leaders have issued a joint call for equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines around the world. On the opening day of the World Health Assembly, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have said that global leaders must choose between “vaccine nationalism or human solidarity”. In a joint declaration co-signed by international faith, health and humanitarian leaders, Archbishop Justin Welby and ICRC president Peter Maurer said that the equitable distribution of Covid-19 vaccines is a humanitarian imperative. More information
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