Merry Christmas

From the Christmas Eve services

Merry Christmas 🎄🎄✨✨🎄✨

Join us today or tomorrow to give thanks to God, to sing, and rejoice in community! Christmas Blessings to all, near and far.

Helping the homeless

This year Holy Comforter got as its Christmas present the care of families with small children for a week.  Currently homeless, these 30 are our guests via CARITAS.

Contemplative Advent Eucharists

Wishing Everyone a Blessed Advent

Here for Others

Connecting and Caring

Our life together as members and friends of Holy Comforter, Richmond, is about so much more than what happens within the walls of our church. Sure, what happens internally is important, but we believe that we are here to connect with those who do not come to our church. We believe that we are here to care for people because we are all part of the same community, which is called 'humanity'. In the last two months, we have connected with so many in the wider community---in helping same-sex couples to have a civil marriage, in working with our local inter-faith group to plan a Thanksgiving Gathering of many different denominations and faiths, hosting our neighborhood's community meeting, working with people in the wider community to plan a Word AIDs Day service. And tomorrow, we will be supporting the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by talking about them, educating, and collecting and giving an offering to the Malala Fund, which supports education for girls throughout the world. Malala Fund, UN Millennium Development Goals

Animals Blessing Us

The Blessing of the Animals

On October 4th, we had a very fun day with our pets! Everyone was invited to come to church with their animals. Our life together in community involves animals and the environment in which they and we live. In observing St. Francis' Day, we were able to celebrate our pets, to celebrate God as Creator, and to consider how we are called to be stewards of creation and of all that God entrusts to our care. 

Life Together Online

The HoCo App

Nothing beats being together in the same room or working together to help others or hanging out together during Youth Group, but technology can help us stay connected when we can't be together. To help us know when we are gathering at the church or at PrideFest (this Saturday) or for a meeting of the Meditation Group, we now have a mobile app that can be installed on your phone or device for both Apple products and Android systems. The app is also a great way for your friends to get to know us, at least a bit. For the full experience, we hope that the app will encourage people to visit us in person.

RIP, average attendance | Faith & Leadership

What Does Life Together as a Church Look Like Today?

What helps you feel active in a church, be that Holy Comforter or another church? How often to you attend when you feel you are really involved and connected to the church community? Please comment if you would like to contribute your thoughts; I would love to know what you are thinking. 

From the article: "At one time, “active” meant attending services three or four times a month. Today people feel active when they enter the church building once or twice a month. Some people engage worship more regularly online than from the pew. Others prioritize participation in a small group over worship attendance."

RIP, average attendance | Faith & Leadership

Welcome Back Sunday

Let's all come to church on Sunday September 14th for Welcome Back Sunday! Even if you have not been away, this will be a great time to see those we might have missed over the summer because of vacation schedules. We will also have a ministry fair that day with a chance to win cool HoCo prizes.

Back to School, Near and Far

Our life together is the life we share as members and friends of Holy Comforter, and it is also a sharing in the reality of each other's lives beyond the corner of Monument and Staples Mill. Tomorrow, Sunday August 31st, we will take time to acknowledge and celebrate the beginning of the new school year with special prayers for students, teachers, parents, and all who work in educational settings. What we call the "Blessing of the Backpacks." As we have been anticipating the time for these prayers, some who have worked closely with the children in the village of Mzula in Tanzania, asked me if they could come forward with pencils to be blessed to represent the children of that village. Yes! What a great idea. As we bless and pray for the children who will gather at the church tomorrow, we will also pray for and bless these children in a village far away but close to our hearts.

Engaging the World and Being Engaged By It

The Church is not the Building

Over the last few weeks, we have been reaching out to our neighbors, people who live near the church and people who may not. We continue with our Outreach ministries of feeding homeless veterans and offering food to our food pantry visitors. We attended the neighborhood block party in the church's neighborhood a two weeks ago. The focus of the gathering was on getting to know each other, knowing who our neighbors are, and neighborhood safety - police and fire personnel were there, as was a local politician. Those of us from the church had a great time meeting and talking with people. It gave me a sense of who is living near the church...who they are, what their lives involve. Getting out and meeting people rather than staying in a church office is what we who work in the church need to do. The phrase, "The Episcopal Church is here for you." is for everyone who does not yet attend, and may never come to our church, as well as for those who do. 

Holy Comforter also needs our neighbors. At that gathering, we were able to share that vandals had done some damage to the church. It felt good knowing that our neighbors cared, which was obvious as they offered support. Not everyone will come to Holy Comforter or the Episcopal Church, but we are still in this life together...here for each other.

While the church is not the building (the church is you and me), we still hope to keep our buildings and grounds in good shape for this and future generations. Not a lot of damage has been done, but enough that it hurts...even a little hurts. We prayed during the worship service last Sunday that the people doing the vandalism will know God's love and joy, and be able to move on to better activities for their good and ours. Even though it is not a laughing matter, I had to laugh a little at this damage to one of our outdoor lights.

So Rich and Varied

Over the last two weeks, I have been struck by, even during the summer, known for a slower pace, our life together as people connected to HoCo has been so full and varied. And in every case, it is a life of relationships. I am going to try to get back to my original intention for this blog - to reflect on what it means to be the people of God and to be the Church in the world today.

Pictures from Pentecost 2014

Pentecost Sermon 2014

Tremendous Companionship

Pentecost Sermon

Pentecost Sermon Preview June 8, 2014

Tremendous Companionship

Join us tomorrow, Sunday June 8th, 10:00 am,  to hear this sermon live or catch it on soundcloud later. Hope that your Day of Pentecost is filled with a sense of God with you, the tremendous companionship of the Holy Spirit.

preview created at wordle.net

Sermon from the 6th Sunday of Easter, May 25, 2014

An Altar to an Unknown God

Sermon from today, May 25th, given by our Young Priest Initiative Intern, Grant Mansfield

Sermon May 25, 2014

Sermon Preview for May 25, 2014

An Altar to an Unknown God

Join us on Sunday at 10:00 am to hear this sermon given by our intern from the diocesan Young Priest Initiative, Grant Mansfield. Come hear what a young adult, 21 years-old, thinks, discerns about God and the Church.

Sermon from May 11, 2014

Ways of Knowing God

After I finished this sermon, I learned of the tragic hot-air balloon accident in which three persons died. I address that at the start of the sermon. Toward the end of the sermon I am quoting from Nan Merrill's wonderful book, Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness. After quoting from her preface, I attribute a version of Psalm 23 to her, in fact, the version that I read is from Eugene H. Peterson's translation founding in his The Message Remix: The Bible in Contemporary Language, 2006. Merrill's version of Psalm 23 is lovely as well.

Sermon May 11, 2014

Sermon Preview for May 11, 2014

Ways of Knowing God

created at wordle.net

Sermon from May 4, 2014

Recognizing the Risen Christ

sermon

My Message for May

This appears in the May 2014 edition of the Holy Comforter newsletter

Dear Friends and Companions in Ministry,

Thank you for a meaningful Holy Week and wonderful celebrations of Easter, at both the Vigil and on Easter Sunday morning.  Thank you to all who contributed to our services by singing, organizing the many aspects from altar guild duties to those reading lessons. Thank you to Carey Perkins, our parish administrator, and Martha Burford, our director of music, for working so well with me and supporting me in my first Holy Week/Easter with you. Thank you to Bill Smith for building our new cross for the “Flowering of the Cross.” With the nights of frost a few days before Easter, I was concerned about having a sufficient supply of flowers for the children to put on the cross, but no need for concern – you all provided more than enough!  In my Easter Sunday sermon, I mentioned that each flower put on that cross represented to me the gift that each child, and each person, gives to God and to the world, which makes Resurrection visible in our midst. This continues to be a powerful image for me, and really represents for me who we are as a faith community. We each bring beautiful gifts, the gift of ourselves, and we offer those gifts to help others and to make God’s love visible. We might never think about it that way; we don’t have to; we just do what we do, we are who we are, and that makes all the difference in the world. God’s love is made visible; we are the hands and heart of the Risen Christ.

Everyone has heard of the Stations of the Cross, but have you ever heard of the Stations of the Resurrection? I have had the joy of celebrating services with Stations of the Resurrection. Each Station speaks of Resurrection, of new life, God’s love, and the human spirit being known in powerful ways. The ideal is that a community makes Stations of Resurrection based on the circumstances of their lives and ministry. For example, one station for us might be a visual representation of our Food Pantry. We would create the art together and also write text for prayerful expression in words of our experience of God/Resurrection/Great Love among us, in our world. Maybe we will do something like that as a group at some time, but, for now, I encourage you to consider what the Stations of Resurrection might before you. We do so much during Lent for spiritual development, but often the Easter season gets little attention as a season for growth. On June 8^th, we will celebrant our great festival of Pentecost; before that day, we are in the season of Easter. Perhaps during the Easter season, you and I could consider where we see Resurrection: new life, God’s love in action, our love in action. What would a Station of such a thing look like, for you? Can we think of one each week of the Easter season? I would love to hear what you see, what images you have of Resurrection in daily life. Let me know.  Blessings for an Easter season filled with joy!

Faithfully yours,

Hilary+

The Third Sunday of Easter, Sermon Preview

Recognizing the Risen Christ: 

In Our Lives and in Our World

Sermon Preview for May 4, 2014; the 3rd Sunday of Easter.

Where do we see and experience the Risen Christ in our lives in our world?  As I did in my Easter Sunday sermon, I continue to consider why the Resurrection as a stand-alone event is difficult to understand, and why we need each other, the community and the stories of our faith community from the past and the present, in order to enter deeply into the mystery of resurrection...and let it enter us.

Join us at 10:00 am on May 4th to hear this sermon live.
Join us every Sunday at 10:00am to celebrate and give thanks to God
for our life together and all of life.


preview created at wordle.net

Happy Easter!

Dear Friends,

I've been so busy with our Life Together that posting to this blog became less of a focus. BUT, there is so much to share about the faith community of Holy Comforter Richmond. Let's start with some pictures from Holy week and Easter.

Sunday's Sermon for February 23, 2014

Love is the Criterion

Sermon give on Feb. 23rd

February 23, 2014 Sermon Preview

Love is the Criterion 

Sermon Preview for Feb. 23rd, this sermon is entitled, "Love Is the Criterion" I use, and the title comes from, the book, Understanding Difficult Scriptures in a Healing Way,  by Matthew Linn, Sheila Fabricant Linn, and Dennis Linn 

preview created at wordle.net

The Answer To Our Prayers - Sermon preached on Feb. 9, 2014

The Answer To Our Prayers by Holy Comforter, Richmond on SoundCloud - Hear the world’s sounds:



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Martha's 104th Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Martha!

On February 5, 2014, Martha turned 104! We had a lovely luncheon with many of our church members who live at Westminster-Canterbury, Richmond.