Emmanuel Episcopal Church

The Second Sunday of Easter

Easter message from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

Video available here.

It's taken me some years to realize it, but Jesus didn't just happen to be in Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday. He wasn't on vacation. He wasn't just hanging out in town. Jesus was in Jerusalem on purpose. He arrived in Jerusalem about the time of the Passover when pilgrims were in the city. When people's hopes and expectations for the dawn of freedom that Moses had promised in the first Passover might suddenly be realized for them in their time.

Jesus arranged his entrance into Jerusalem to send a message. He entered the city, having come in on one side of the city, the scholars tell us, at just about the same time that Pontius Pilate made his entrance on the exact opposite side of the city. Pilate, coming forth on a warhorse. Pilate, with soldiers around him. Pilate, with the insignias of Rome's Empire. Pilate, representing the Caesars who claimed to be son of god. Pilate, who had conquered through Rome the people of Jerusalem. Pilate, representing the Empire that had taken away their freedom. Pilate, who represented the Empire that would maintain the colonial status of the Jewish people by brute force and violence.

Jesus entered the city on the other side, not on a warhorse, but on a donkey, recalling the words of Zechariah:

Behold your King comes to you

Triumphant and victorious is He

Humble and riding on a donkey

Jesus entered the city at the same time as Pilate to show them, and to show us, that God has another way. That violence is not the way. That hatred is not the way. That brute force and brutality are not the way.

Jesus came to show us there is another way. The way of unselfish, sacrificial love. That's why he entered Jerusalem. That's why he went to the cross. It was the power of that love poured out from the throne of God, that even after the horror of the crucifixion would raise him from death to life.

God came among us in the person of Jesus to start a movement. A movement to change the face of the earth. A movement to change us who dwell upon the earth. A movement to change the creation from the nightmare that is often made of it into the dream that God intends for it.

He didn't just happen to be in Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday. He went to Jerusalem for a reason. To send a message. That not even the titanic powers of death can stop the love of God.  On that Easter morning, he rose from the dead, and proclaimed love wins.

So you have a blessed Easter. Go forth to be people of the Resurrection. Follow in the way of Jesus. Don't be ashamed to love. Don't be ashamed to follow Jesus.

Have a blessed Easter.  And bless the world.  Amen.

 

The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry

Presiding Bishop and Primate

Ecumenical Gathering, Watson Memorial United Methodist Church, Sunday, Jan. 22 at 3 PM.

Bishop Will Willimon will deliver a lecture on “small church ministry and discipleship” at Watson Memorial United Methodist Church on Sunday, January 22nd beginning at 3 p.m.

The service begins with a Joint Choir, followed by the Lecture by Dr. Willimon, and at 4:15 pm a question & answer time.  This will be followed by a fellowship time with refreshments. 

Rev. Dr. Willimon served as a bishop in the Methodist Church after a long and distinguished career as a theologian, professor, and Dean of the Chapel at Duke University.  He has published over 60 books. 

Please call 434-432-0161 if you would like to sing in the choir.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's Christmas Message

News from The Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's Christmas message "This child came to show us how to change the world," Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop and Primate Michael Curry said in his Christmas Message 2016. "So this Christmas, make room for Him to change us. This Christmas help us change the world." Click here to watch Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's Christmas message. Click here to read his message (available in English and Spanish).

Presiding Bishop's Easter message 2014

 

"Where and how will we look for the Body of Christ, risen and rising?" Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori presents in her Easter Message 2014. "Will we share the life of that body as an Easter people, transformed by resurrection and sent to transform the world in turn?"

 

Click here to read Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's Easter Message 2014.  

 

Bicentennial of the Rev. G.W. Dame to be Celebrated by Emmanuel Church & Chatham Hall on September 30th

On Sunday, September 30, Emmanuel and Chatham Hall will celebrate, at Emmanuel, the bicentennial of the birth of the man who revived the almost-extinguished Episcopal faith in the area and served as trustee of Chatham Hall (then the Chatham Female Episcopal Institute) and as Danville and Pittsylvania County’s first superintendent of schools,

The fete honoring the Reverend Dr. G.W. Dame (1812-1895) will include Chatham Hall’s 28-voice St. Mary’s Choir, overseen by Choir Director David Grimes; as well as an “antique” service of worship from the 1789 Book of Common Prayer, used in Dame’s day.

The Reverend James Mathieson will lead the worship service.  He’ll also share his thoughts on the Rev. Dr. Dame’s contributions, as will Chatham Hall Rector Dr. Gary Fountain.

During and after the Revolution, when Southside residents rejected British rule they also turned their backs on the Church of England.  Membership in the Anglican Communion dropped to nearly zero in and around Chatham and Danville; and there it stayed until Dame came to town.

Dame, 28 in 1840, and soon-to-be an ordained Episcopal priest, arrived in Danville to head the Danville Female Academy.  He was eventually appointed as the first post-Revolution Episcopal rector of Camden Parish, comprised of Patrick, Henry, Franklin and Pittsylvania Counties.  When he arrived, he found eight Episcopalians in the parish.

Two "New Wine" Regional Meetings Remaining

Diocesan eNews

It's not too late to participate in one of our New Wine regional conversations. Two sessions remain, both on Saturday, April 9: St. John's, Chester, from 9 a.m. to noon and Trinity, South Boston, from 1 to 4 p.m. 

 

Register to attend by clicking on the meeting of your choice:

St. John's, Chester, April 9, 9 a.m. to noon
Trinity, South Boston, April 9, 1 to 4 p.m.

Continue reading Diocesan eNews

New Wine: A New Vision & Mission for the Diocese of Southern Virginia

"Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved." - Matthew 9:17 The parishes of Southern Virginia are a diverse group-urban and rural, small and large, contemporary and traditional. Together we are the Diocese of Southern Virginia. We are enriched, and at times challenged, by our differences. Yet we share a common mission and each of us brings particular, vital gifts to that mission. The world is changing at an unprecedented pace and our diocese hasn't been immune to that change. It's time to take a look at our mission, to listen and talk about who we are and what we are called to do and to be.   The first step in this process is listening to the members of our congregations. Six regional meetings will be held. Everyone is invited and encouraged to attend. The information gathered at the meetings will be reported back once all the meetings are complete and will be the material from which our new mission will be developed. Come, listen and be heard. In order that host churches may plan appropriately, please register to attend by clicking on the meeting of your choice.  March 12, 2011 Emmanuel, Virginia Beach - 9 a.m. to noon Holy Trinity, Onancock - 1 to 4 p.m. March 19, 2011 St. Christopher's, Portsmouth - 9 a.m. to noon St. Stephen's, Newport News - 1 to 4 p.m. April 9, 2011 St. John's, Chester - 9 a.m. to noon Trinity, South Boston - 1 to 4 p.m.

The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical

Shane Claiborne was a young Methodist who grew up in the Bible Belt, became a Jesus freak, and moved to Philadelphia despite his family's misgivings, helping the homeless there. Then in his early twenties he boldly requested an internship with Mother Teresa in Calcutta. She simply responded, "Come."

Besides illuminating his own faith journey, Claiborne is insightful on the huge U.S. cultural and economic divide: the problem isn't that wealthy Christians don't care about the poor, he says, it's that they simply don't know the poor.

Read the reviews. Order the book.

Evangelism for Episcopalians

(who don't want to go there)

by Ben E. Helmer

The word, Evangelism, comes from the Greek word that refers to proclaiming (the) Good News. 

What most people know is that it has become a by-word for folks who are insistent on making others see God and Jesus the way they do, and it is often associated with slick preaching and door knocking.

Actually, being an evangelist is something we all promise in our Baptismal vows when we agree to “proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ” (Book of Common Prayer, p. 305).

Most evangelism takes place in the work place or in families. Did you know that research has shown that every Christian knows at least 7 people who are unchurched?  That means that we are all placed in a context with others who do not know much about God or Jesus.  As someone once said, “You might be the best Christian someone knows”.