News of The Church of the Holy Comforter in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia

Richmond, June 2015

Inside this issue:

• Anne Cullison is recognized

• Graduations and other academic achievements

• What is a “Christ Family” Ministry?

• Thom Blair's bible study groups take a summer break

• A message from Hillary +

• Food Pantry a major outreach from Holy Comforter

• Episcopal 101 to Continue - June 3rd, 7:00pm

• Teeny Weenie Greenie

• The HoCo Financial Times

• Fall Parish Retreat at Shrine Mont!

• Springfest brings in big crowd and nets $4,000 for Outreach

• Parish Birthdays in June

Anne Cullison is recognized Reported by Bruce MacAlister

Anne Cullison's years heading the Food Pantry and the Christ Family program was celebrated at the 10am service May 10th. A specially commissioned pendant was created by parishioner and jeweler Kipley Herr and presented as a surprise to Anne. The parish kept the secret well.

Photography - George Collier

Graduations and other academic achievements Pat and Joan Prest's grandchildren: Eric Albee, M.S. in Accounting from

Virginia Tech, Lindsey Johnson, B.S, in Psychology and M.S, in Teaching from University of Virginia. Lennie and Mike Geipel: “So proud of my son Clayton who graduated from UVA's engineering school with high distinction...” Pictures and more at https://www.facebook.com/lennie.geipel?_rdr. Evan Herr son of Kipley and Steve Herr: Evan just finished his fourth year in Physics as VCU with a semester left. He is available for odd jobs such as lawn mowing, landscaping, moving help, house-sitting and pet-sitting. He can be contacted at herrea@vcu.edu or 804-514-4859.

News of the Church of the Holy Comforter - Richmond, Virginia - !2

The origins of our current Christ Family Project began in 1967 when members at Holy Comforter reached out to 25 children at Grace Arents School and provided them with new outfits and a visit from Santa for Christmas. The program was expanded in the 1970s under the guidance of the Rev Canon Fletcher Lowe, Holy Comforter's Rector, to include entire families by providing food for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners as well as Christmas presents. During the 1980s the program evolved to provide help for needy families throughout the Richmond area. In recent years, this project flourished first under the guidance of the late Patty McKellar and most recently under Anne Cullison. The beautifully worded Mission Statement, taken from the handbook, describes its purpose: • To provide friendship, guidance, pastoral

support, and financial assistance to individuals and families experiencing hardship caused by mental or physical disability, illness, injury, homelessness or job loss.

• The family or individual may be going through a short-term crisis or may have ongoing problems caused by conditions that may not improve or that cannot be overcome.

• We will maintain contact with and support the family for as long as assistance is needed and appropriate, always guiding the family toward greater stability and independence.

• Throughout the relationship, we strive to “seek and serve Christ in all persons and to love our neighbors as ourselves.”

From the same handbook the “core values are dignity, purpose, growth, opportunity, connectedness and hope.” Currently we are serving 9 families, many of whom are trying to subside on wages from

minimum wage jobs or social security. We recently helped one family keep their lights on by helping out with the electric bill. As you are reading this, another family’s oldest child will be working on his high school graduation wish list. He will be graduating from TJ’s International Baccalaureate program with over 400 hours of community service to his credit and is planning to attend college. Please keep these people in your thoughts and prayers and continue to help us with your gifts of support.

The weekly Monday evening and Wednesday morning bible study groups led by the Rev, Dr. Thom Blair are taking a break for the summer months. They will resume in September. Contact me if you need more information.

What is a “Christ Family” Ministry? by Patty Galdun

Thom Blair's bible study groups take a summer break By Peggy Hombs, Adult Formation Committee Chair

News of the Church of the Holy Comforter - Richmond, Virginia - !3

A Message from Hilary +

Dear Friends and Companions in Ministry, June makes me think of three things - graduations, transitions, and General Convention. First, congratulations to all who are graduating this year! You did it! Be it middle school, high school, college or graduate school, you have completed an experience of learning and building relationships, and now it is time to move on to the next experience. During your time of transition and, perhaps, discerning what comes next, please know that you will be in my prayers and the prayers of our community. Others are making transitions that require moving from Richmond for work or retirement. We won’t be the same without you. We will miss you so much! But we also are thankful that you are able to make the desired moves. All the best to the Chapman/Busby family, Peter, Gail, Evan, and Alana; and to the McCreary family, Barbara and Adele. During the summer, individuals and families will be moving to Richmond and looking for a new church home - let’s pray for those people as well, and, if it is God’s will for them, that they find Holy Comforter and find us to be the faith community they are seeking. Every three years, the Episcopal Church holds its General Convention, which, when it meets, is

the largest legislative body in the U.S. debating policies, passing resolutions, and a lot of legislative business does occur during this two week meeting, which begins June 23rd. This is what many think of as ‘the politics of the Church’ and seek to avoid it. But General Convention is about more than legislation - it is also about building relations and seeking God’s vision for the Episcopal Church. Our system was developed in the 1700s, to move slowly - it takes two consecutive meetings of General Convention to change things that are in our Constitution and Canons. On Wednesday, June 3rd, 7 to 8pm, I will offer some education about General Convention and specifically on the movement in the Church to change some of our structures and the way we function as a Church. The question being what is our mission, and are we organized in such a way to best carry out that mission? During General Convention, I will be blogging, http://godatgencon2015.blogspot.com/, tweeting, https://twitter.com/HilaryBSmith, and doing some Facebook posts https://www.facebook.com/hilary.smith.9659. Wishing you a great start to the summer! Peace, Hilary+

Holy Comforter's priest-in-charge Hilary Smith and the Virginia deputation to the triennial Episcopal General Convention meet prior to departure on June 25. (Diocesan photo.)

News of the Church of the Holy Comforter - Richmond, Virginia - !4

The week before Christmas, nearly everyone in the parish signs up as Holy Comforter serves as a CARITAS homeless shelter. The rest of the year it's the Food Pantry. Over forty parishioners serve in teams that arrive at 5pm two Tuesday evenings or two Saturday mornings each month, pairs of shoppers who go to the Central Virginia Food Bank each week for supplies, monitors who keep an eye out on what we need and stock donations as they come in, and people who donate non-food items such as homemade, environment-friendly detergent. The whole parish chips in with food and non-food items as well as monetary donations. It's a lot of work but lots of workers in the parish are involved.

We had a very good experience of learning and sharing during our Episcopal 101 class that ran from April 15th to May 20th, meeting on Wednesday nights from 7:00pm to 8:00pm. We will hold

another class/presentation on the topic of "Reimaging the Episcopal Church," on June 3rd. What is important about the Church; and what structures, systems of governance and administration help the Church to be who God calls us to be, and which structures and systems do not help? Leaders in the Episcopal Church have been asking these questions. Come and hear some of the results of their study and discernment. Everyone is invited to attend. Hilary will lead the presentation. Join us first for a parish potluck supper that begins at 6:00pm. We had a very good experience of learning and sharing during our Episcopal 101 class that ran from April 15th to May 20th, meeting on Wednesday nights from 7:00pm to 8:00pm. We will hold another class/presentation on the topic of "Reimaging the Episcopal Church," on June 3rd. What is important about the Church; and what structures, systems of governance and administration help the Church to be who God calls us to be, and which structures and systems do not help? Leaders in the Episcopal Church have been asking these questions. Come and hear some of the results of their study and discernment. Everyone is invited to attend. Hilary will lead the presentation. Join us first for a parish potluck supper that begins at 6:00pm.

Food Pantry a major outreach from Holy Comforter Reported by Bruce MacAlister and Phoebe Winter

Episcopal 101 to Continue - June 3rd, 7:00pm By Hilary Smith

Photography - Phoebe Winter

About 1 million plastic bags are used every minute. • Plastic bags are the second-most common type of ocean refuse. • Plastic bags remain toxic even after they break down. • Every square mile of ocean has about 46,000 pieces of plastic

floating in it. • The average family accumulates 60 plastic bags in only four trips to

the grocery store.

What can you put into the compost?

News of the Church of the Holy Comforter - Richmond, Virginia - !5

Freezer-burned fruit and vegetables Pet hair

Paper towels Rabbit manure

Coffee grounds Wood ashes

Old pasta Corncobs (takes a long time to decompose)

Kleenex tissues Flower petals

Nut shells Toenail clippings -(ew)

Lint from clothes dryer Cooked rice

Moss from last year's hanging baskets Stale breakfast cereal

Wool socks Vacuum cleaner bag contents

Popcorn – popped or un popped Bird cage/ small animal cleanings

Hair clippings from the barber Stale bread

Sawdust Houseplant trimmings

Jell-o (gelatin) Animal fur

Expired flower arrangements Stale potato chips

Olive pits Peanut shells

Banana peels Wooden toothpicks

Dust bunnies' from under the bed Pencil shavings

Teenie Weenie Greenie By Kipley Herr

News of the Church of the Holy Comforter - Richmond, Virginia - !6

The HoCo Financial Times By J Moon, Treasurer What a great response we had from all

from our annual pledge campaign this year. As I’m sure you have heard our support numbers are up dramatically from years past and we are within eye-shot of turning around a multi-year deficit. Thank you to all and thank you especially to Hilary, Martha, Grant, Ellen and many, many, others for making Holy Comforter the happening place that it is! As you might guess, Summers tend to be a bit slow with contribution numbers dropping off. The more we can avoid this the easier it makes HoCo’s planning. This will especially be true this year as we all got “whacked” by heating bills through the roof in the first quarter. As for the actual numbers, our current paid pledges through the first quarter of the year stand at about 19% of our anticipated total for the year. 25% would be right in line. We are about $14,000 behind that figure. Compound this with the fact that with our extra frigid winter our heating and electric bills are well ahead of budget. Clearly it would be nice if we could pick up the pace in anticipation of the normal summer doldrums. We appreciate your support and all you do for Holy Comforter and, most of all, love seeing you in the pews on Sunday.

Fall Parish Retreat at Shrine Mont By Phyllis Dawson

Plan now to retreat from the daily rush of life for our Fall Parish Retreat at Shrine Mont! October 23-25, our own Carol Gibbs and Deb Love will lead the HoCo 2015 Parish Retreat at beautiful, enchanting Shrine Mont. We will focus on fun creative activities for all ages, based on A Book of Blessings, a collection of blessings for sadness, as well as special joyous occasions and the ordinary days of the journeys of our lives. Carol and Deb will lead us in

recognizing and discussing our blessings and how to bless those around us. We will explore all kinds of blessings from both Biblical and Celtic traditions. They will also guide us to ways of living with gratitude and help inspire us to write our own blessings. Carol says, "We are exceptionally qualified to lead this because we have been richly blessed and all of you are part of those blessings!" This time with them will be a true gift for all of us. Sign ups will begin May 3rd, with discounted rates available through May 31st. Registration for any spaces left after May 31st will continue through the end of September with full payment due September 30th. Listen for announcements to come before Sunday services and find specific information on the sign up board in the narthex. Rates will include lodging, all meals from Friday evening through Sunday lunch, all activities and creative materials, and s' mores at the Saturday night bonfire. So mark your calendar and make plans for memorable meals cooked and baked lovingly by local folks; total relaxation and fellowship with your HoCo family; a blazing bonfire with silly and sacred singing; your choice of stargazing, hiking, or rocking on the porch; and plenty of free time to read, nap, sit by the lake listening to the birds and bullfrogs, or any other activity that takes your interest. For more information about our Parish Retreat, please contact Chris Hall or me, co-chairs of the Parish Retreat Planning Committee. Our contact information is in the Parish Directory, which may be obtained from our Parish Administrator during regular office hours. See you at Shrine Mont!

(Last year’s photo)

News of the Church of the Holy Comforter - Richmond, Virginia - !7

Springfest brings in big crowd and nets $4,000 for Outreach

Reported by Bruce MacAlister On Saturday May 16th the Carey Montague room in the parish hall was wall to wall with donations for sale. It was the tenth annual Springfest yard sale, this year under new management. Megan Graber, Angie Palmer and Rose Marie Wiegandt took the helm from long-time leaders Kipley Herr and Diane Gilkenson. In the past the income has gone to the parish's general fund. This year the $4,000 in proceeds went to the Outreach for its various programs. For the past several years Outreach has lived off interest from the investment of moneys collected from bequests and special gifts.

Parish Birthdays in June Mark Mobley, 1; William Banton, 7; A.J. Wiegandt, 10; Sunni O'Brien, 10;

Lucinda Hanayik, 12; Merida Hayman, 13; Flannan Hayman, 13; Sue Ellen Taylor, 14; Alana Chapman, 14; Howard Watterson, 14; Grant Mansfield, 15; Mitchell Culver, 16; Scott Redford, 17; Barbara Marques, 18; Mary Menchel, 19; Dulcy Harris, 21

News of the Church of the Holy Comforter - Richmond, Virginia - !8

Church of the Holy Comforter, Richmond a parish in the Diocese of Virginia under the Episcopal Church in the USA which is part of the

worldwide Anglican Communion Monument Avenue at Staples Mill Road

web www.hoco.org; e-mail administrator@hoco.org; phone 804-355-3251; fax 804-355-0049

Holy Comforter is a Christian community, engaging diversity, empowering through worship, and embracing the spiritual journey,

in our church and in our community and in the world, that all may be made whole and fully alive.

Coming Events at the Church of the Holy Comforter• Sundays, 8:45am, Adult Formation,

Hayward Parlor • Sundays, Choral Eucharist, 10am • Sunday, about 10:15am, Children's

Chapel, starts in the Church, moves to Parish House Chapel

• Food Pantry Hours: • First and third Saturdays, 11:00am to noon • First and third Tuesdays, 5:30 to 6:30pm • Veterans Shelter Dinner and Service • Fourth Thursdays, 5pm and 6pm

See the inserted calendar page for detailed calendar and rota

The next Messenger will be available Sunday, July 12th, 2015. The deadline for that edition is Friday July 3rd, 2015

Please send your submissions to editor@hoco.org