Dear Friends,
“September is the other busiest month of the year”. This year certainly proves that to be true. With Rally Sunday, three weddings and a funeral already in the books, we have a lot to celebrate. In addition to these services, we will be embracing National Suicide Awareness Month. Together with St. Luke’s, we will be hosting events and forums to encourage conversation around this difficult and painful topic. We hope to see you and your friends a lot in September.

The statistics shown on the front of The Messenger state that 83% of people attend church because they were invited. When was the last time that you invited someone to join you at Manakin? Do you love your church so much that you want your friends and neighbors to join you here? This is your church where you receive spiritual nourishment, education, inspiration and strength. This is received through worship, forums and fellowship and although we may think things are great here, we can be better.

I recently read an article written by Lorene Hanley Duquin “How you can make your parish better”. In this, Duquin suggests six ways that we can work towards being the best:

1. Think of yourself as part of a parish family. As a parish family we share a common heritage and history. We are grounded in the same beliefs, values and traditions. With our commitment to one another we form a family foundation.

2. Be welcoming. Opening welcome visitors and newcomers by introducing them to other members of the congregation. Help to incorporate them into parish activities and events. During worship invite them to sit with you and to join you afterwards for fellowship time.

3. Use your gifts and talents for the good of the parish. Many gifts are needed for each and every service. God has given you a unique gift and talent that is intended to be shared. Please see committee chair or me to find the right use of your gifts and talents for Manakin. There is something for everyone!

4. Attend parish events. Community is built through participation. Getting to know other members of your parish family is typically done outside of worship. Your attendance to events not only shows your support for the organizers, but also your fellow members.

5. Support your parish financially. Giving to the Church is more than a financially obligation, it is a recognition that everything we have is a gift from God. Giving is a spiritual practice that shows our support of the work that God has called us to do at Manakin Church.

6. Pray for your parish. Please keep the staff and fellow parishioners in your daily prayers. Pray for those whom you see regularly and for those who have strayed away. Listen to how God is calling you to respond to these prayers. You may be encouraged to reach out to someone in support by calling or sending a card or an invitation to worship.

Can you imagine what we could do if each person committed to following these suggestions? I am excited just thinking about it.

See you Sunday!
Blessings,
Gini+

Dear Friends,
One of my daily prayer practices is to say the Lord’s Prayer to start and end each day. Before my feet hit the ground or even before I open my eyes, I begin with prayer.

While out on leave during July, I read this reflection by Frederick Buechner. This gave a refreshed look to the prayer that can become rote in reciting, if not careful. I pray that it brings new insight to you as well.

The Lord’s Prayer, by Frederick Buechner

In the Episcopal order of worship, the priest sometimes introduces the Lord’s Prayer with the words, “Now, as our Savior Christ hath taught us, we are bold to say…” The word bold is worth thinking about. We do well not to pray the prayer lightly. It takes guts to pray it at all. We can pray it in the unthinking and perfunctory way we usually do only by disregarding what we are saying.

“Thy will be done” is what we are saying. That is the climax of the first half of the prayer. We are asking God to be God. We are asking God to do not what we want, but what God wants. We are asking God to make manifest the holiness that is now mostly hidden, to set free in all its terrible splendor the devastating power that is now mostly under restraint. “Thy kingdom come . . . on earth” is what we are saying. And if that were suddenly to happen, what then? What would stand and what would fall? Who would be welcomed in and who would be thrown the hell out? Which if any of our most precious visions of what God is and of what human beings are would prove to be more or less on the mark and which would turn out to be phony as three-dollar bills? Boldness indeed. To speak those words is to invite the tiger out of the cage, to unleash a power that makes atomic power look like a warm breeze.

You need to be bold in another way to speak the second half. Give us. Forgive us. Don’t test us. Deliver us. If it takes guts to face the omnipotence that is God’s, it takes perhaps no less to face the impotence that is ours. We can do nothing without God. We can have nothing without God. Without God we are nothing.  

It is only the words “Our Father” that make the prayer bearable. If God is indeed something like a father, then as something like children maybe we can risk approaching him anyway.

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Blessings,
Gini+

Dear Friends,

I will be away the five Sundays in July on medical leave, but rest assured that you are in good hands and in great care with our supply clergy. The best way that you can help me during this time is to continue to worship on Sundays by supporting our visiting clergy and continuing with your fellowship and care of one another. Please see the following bios and Sundays that these great priests will be serving. I look forward to hearing them myself!

If you have a pastoral need, please contact the church office or Gunnar Kohlbeck, Senior Warden. Gunnar will be in touch with you to have a Stephen Minister provide care or will get in touch with one of our clergy on call for assistance. I look forward to seeing you all in August.

Blessings,
Gini+

Please welcome our July Supply Clergy

July 2 & July 23:
The Rev. Andie Rohrs has been in the Diocese of Southern Virginia since 2009 where she recently ended her term as President of the Standing Committee. In her last position, Andie had the privilege of serving as the Associate Rector at St. Andrew’s, Norfolk, where she oversaw parish life, pastoral care, and family ministry. She and her family relocated to Richmond in September. She is married to The Rev. John Rohrs and is the mother of Anna, Tom, and Will.

July 9 & July 16:
The Rev. Glenn Chalmers led urban parishes and outreach ministries in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Chicago and New York. His ordained ministry began by building a congregation in an empty inner city church in one of the poorest neighborhoods in New Jersey. As Rector of Grace Church, Lawrence, MA, he initiated services in Spanish and today the parish hosts the only parochial school for low-income Latinas in the Episcopal Church. Serving as Executive Director of Cathedral Shelter of Chicago, Fr. Glenn opened a 27-unit supportive housing complex for homeless people and families recovering from addiction. He retired after serving as Rector of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Manhattan, while also being Executive Director of its soup kitchen, the second largest on-site feeding program in the country serving 1,000 people every weekday. After retirement, his ministry continued as interim and served parishes in Rome, Italy and Mexico. With two sisters living in the Richmond area and being a history buff, he is happily a frequent visitor to Virginia.

July 30:
The Rev. Canon James Drinard Smith is a retired Episcopal priest and attends Manakin regularly. Jim served in the Diocese of Virginia, Southern Virginia, Northwest Pennsylvania, Eastern North Carolina and Southwestern Virginia before retiring in 2003. After retiring, he served as Transitional Pastor/Vacancy Consultant for the Diocese of Southern Virginia at St. Stephens, Petersburg; St. Michael’s, Bon Air; Christ Church, Amelia and St. Michael’s, Colonial Heights. Jim also served on the Diocesan Executive Board, Youth Ministry Coordinator; Summer Camp Programs; President Chanco Board of Trustees; Parish Consultant, The Educational Center, St. Louis; Faculty, Diocese of Southern Virginia School of Ministry Formation (Church History, Liturgics, Christian Ethics and Moral Theology). Jim and his late wife, Gerry, have two sons and two granddaughters.