Holy Comforter E-Messenger for Sunday,
April 28, 2024
New This Week
Upcoming Events
Articles of Interest
Worship
Ministry Offerings
Social Media
Our Vestry Appoints Don Ellison as Treasurer
We are thankful that Don is our treasurer as he brings experience to the position from St. Mark's on Capitol Hill, where served as treasurer. We thank Jamey Hooks for his time as treasurer and his ongoing work as an assistant treasurer. David Lehman is also an assistant treasurer.
Hoco Celebrates Earth Day
Next Sunday, May 5, we will have a special Creation Eucharist, followed by a Garden Planting Day from 12-2 pm, when grownups and children are invited to plant flowers in the new Creation Garden. Please bring work gloves and trowels if you have them.
Airswimming to be Directed at RTP by Melissa Rayford - Starting April 12
Richmond Triangle Players will be presenting the play, Airswimming, directed by Melissa Rayford. Melissa is the daughter of Julie Edwards. The show runs from April 12-May 4. Link for purchasing tickets: https://rtriangle.org/
Set in 1920's England, Airswimming is based on the true story of two women who have been incarcerated in a hospital for the "criminally insane" for having borne illegitimate children. Forgotten by their families and not released until the 1970's, Dora and Persephone adopt alter-egos, Dorph and Porph, to enact their fantasies and survive the silence of incarceration. By turns very funny and moving, Airswimming reminds us of the forgotten women of these generations in both Britain and Ireland.
Julie Edwards (Proud Mama)
Gender Affirming Service
Click here to volunteer.
Help Needed - Join the Team!
Would you like to serve as an acolyte, Eucharistic Minister, or Crucifer? We need to add to our ranks to cover the roles each Sunday. These are wonderful ways to serve God and our community. Serving in these ways can be joyful and spiritually significant for you. Please speak with one of our clergy or Anne Snyder for more information. Training will be provided.
Pledges and Thank You Notes
The Messenger Newsletter
Please see our April newsletter for more information. We are moving to a publication schedule based on the seasons of the Church year rather than having a monthly newsletter. At the time of publishing our April newsletter, we thought that we might not have this sort of newsletter at all because of the retirement of George Collier as our layout person, but thankfully, Keyan Herron has stepped up to fill this role. While you won’t see a newsletter at the beginning of May, we plan to publish within the next two months. The Messenger team, and the Editorial Board, now include, in addition to Keyan, Bruce MacAlister, editor, Laura Hunt, Hilary Smith, and Chris Hall. If you would like to help with church publications, please let us know.
Vestry Meetings
Our vestry meetings are on a new day and have a new time. We now meet on the 4th Monday of the month from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm in the Conference Room, which is next to the Food Pantry. Vestry meetings are open to all. There is a Zoom option though we encourage in-person attendance. We are meeting this Monday and the Zoom link will be, https://urichmond.zoom.us/j/4138512253 which is a new one.
Connection Time This Week
Connection Time will be hosted by Angie Palmer this week. Thank you so much for volunteering!
Do you enjoy gathering with your fellow parishioners after church? Maybe sharing a quick bite and a cup of coffee? Please consider going to https://bit.ly/hoco_connections and signing up to host on a future Sunday. No experience is necessary - if you need help hosting for the first time, just note that in your signup. Thanks!
Welcome to the Church of the Holy Comforter (HoCo)! Here is Some General Information
Join us at church on Sundays at 10:00 am for a service of the Holy Eucharist. We often use prayers from Enriching our Worship, which offers expansive images of God. We live stream our Sunday morning service on FaceBook and post it to be seen at your convenience on FaceBook and YouTube.
Parish office hours are Mondays through Thursdays, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm but do vary. Contact Vera Limn, our office assistant, to confirm the hours if you plan to visit the office. Email Vera by using office@hoco.org or call 804-355-3251.
If you have a pastoral emergency, at any time of day, call our Rector, Hilary, or Deacon Joe (their numbers can be found in the parish directory). Hilary's email is hbshococlergy@gmail.com and Joe's email is Deacon@hoco.org. If you would like to schedule an appointment to talk with Hilary, Joe, or another member of our parish clergy, please email or call to schedule a time.
If you would like to make a financial offering, you may use online giving or US Mail. Thank you for supporting God's ministry to our local community and beyond through HoCo.
This Week's Worship Bulletin
Metro Richmond at Prayer (Richmond Hill Cycle of Prayer)
We pray for the Churches and religious institutions of Metropolitan Richmond: For a spirit of unity, mutuality, cooperation, reconciliation, reform, and common ministry within the faith community
Evangelism Resources
Please enjoy these evangelism resources from the Episcopal Church, and these cards that may be useful for prayer and thinking about how to share your faith.
Informal Artists of HoCo announces UFOs – Un Finished Objects
We'll meet in the Conference room from 10:30 - noon (ish) on Tuesdays to work on our own personal projects. Knitting, sketching, drawing, writing... good conversation and busy hands! All are welcome - bring a friend. Contact Kipley Herr if you have any questions.
HoCo Book Group
The HoCo Book Group, which just thoroughly enjoyed The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb, has chosen Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald for its May read. (Our pattern has been to alternate fiction and non-fiction books).
Here is a brief description from Goodreads of May's selection, which was published in 2020 and was the Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Science & Technology (2020).
Animals don't exist in order to teach us things, but that is what they have always done, and most of what they teach us is what we think we know about ourselves...
Click here for all the details!
Sunday Morning Adult Class
The Sunday Morning Class continues its current curriculum The History of Christianity II: From the Reformation to the Modern Megachurch. The presenter is Dr. Molly Worthen, associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a freelance journalist. The primary focus of this 36-lecture DVD-based course is to place Christianity in its historical context as it transforms from a relatively homogenous entity at the end of the Middle Ages into the diverse global religion of today. Presentations explore the basic ideas (and paradoxes) of Christian theology; see how these ideas are embedded in real life; introduce some of history's most fascinating characters; and see how secular modernity and globalization have transformed Christianity. We will conclude this curriculum on Sunday, June 23rd.
Lectionary Study
Join us on Zoom, at 4 pm, on Thursdays. The Zoom link is found on our website, hoco.org. We consider the biblical readings for the coming Sunday. Our rector, Hilary, leads this time of reflection and discussion. This is a great way to prepare for Sunday! We will be on break for Holy Week and Easter Week, March 28 and April 4.
Monday Evening Classes on Hiatus
The Monday Evening Class will resume via Zoom on Monday, April 8th with its current curriculum The Fall of the Pagans and the Origins of Medieval Christianity with Dr. Kenneth W. Harl, Professor of Classical and Byzantine History at Tulane University. The course scope: "The conversion of the classical world to Christianity is one of the fundamental changes in Western civilization that has been matched only by the discovery of the New Word and the industrial revolution... This course will explain the reasons for the clash between the pagans ('worshippers of the ancestral gods') and the early Christians that ended in the Christianizing of the Roman world between the 4th and 6th centuries A. D." We will conclude this 24-part series on Monday June 10th.
Tuesday Morning Book Group
Tuesdays at 11:00 am. We are discussing the book, Ladder to the Light, by Bp. Steven Charleston. We meet in the parlor. All are welcome at any time. We will be discussing this book through May, at least.
The Current Messenger
