Beginning this evening, March 4th at 6 p.m. in Old Brick, Christ Church will offer the first of six Taizé worship services including chants, prayers, Scripture, intercessory prayer, and silence. Mother Marcia, a long-time adherent to the Taizé community and frequent visitor, will lead the service. This form of worship, based on the practice of the Taizé community in France, offers a time of quiet and intentional reflection, worship, and drawing closer to the Presence of God in Christ Jesus. The founder of the Taizé community, Brother Roger, explains: "What we usually call 'worship' the Taizé community simply calls 'Prayer'. Taizé Prayer consists of 'short chants, repeated again and again, giving them a meditative character. Using just a few words, they express a basic reality of faith, quickly grasped by the mind. As the words are sung over many times, this reality gradually penetrates the whole being. Meditative singing thus becomes a way of listening to God." Silence is also an important component and a welcome gift to Taizé worship The use of lighted candles and icons offers a visual invitation to pray silently in the presence of others and God. Although chants and even prayers are sung, there is no requirement to be musically gifted to participate. For more information, email Mother Marcia or simply join us in Old Brick any Friday during Lent, beginning on March 4th. This series runs for six consecutive Friday evenings.

Our world is not perfect. We’re all seeking connection. The connection piece is so strong and yet it remains elusive to many of us. As a child, I wasn’t exposed at home to religion. My parents divorced when I was four years old and, with that, any ties to my father’s Episcopal upbringing were severed. My mother remarried and, together with my stepfather, decided not to choose a particular religion for my brother and me. Growing up, I was always searching for a sense of connection. I attended various church services with my friends and their families, and I was drawn to the rituals and mystery I found in the Catholic Church. As a young adult, I joined the RCIA program at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, in Dallas, Texas, where I was living at the time. Roughly six months later, I was baptized and confirmed in a beautiful Sunday Mass on Easter, and I’ll always love Easter’s message of hope and renewal. Since my relationship with God has taken a few turns and gone in a few circles, but I’m grateful to say my love for God is strong today. I’ll always be grateful I intentionally chose to connect with God in the presence of a faith community in my early twenties. Today, as a member of Christ Episcopal Church, my spiritual journey has come full circle. My husband, Steve, and I have recently moved out-of-state, and we’re grateful we’re able to remain virtually connected to CEC. My closing wish is for all of you to have a meaningful and reflective Lenten season. I believe we can find connection by opening our hearts and minds in new, higher ways than we previously thought possible. God bless you all! ~Lisa L.

I shared with you last week that I was in Atlanta for a conference. It was a very good conference, and I enjoyed the blessing of meeting fellow Episcopal clergy colleagues that I haven’t seen in a while. I also got the chance to learn a lot about the post-pandemic life of the church. As part of the conference, there was a special service: A Festival of Sacred Songs at All Saints Episcopal Church. One of the songs that were performed by a lead singer of a Jazz Band was an African-American Spiritual - Fix me, Jesus. Fix me for this world you have made. Fix me, Jesus, fix me. Fix me for this life you saved. Fix me, Jesus, fix me. Fix me for the pilgrim’s road Fix me, Jesus, fix me. Fix me for the journey home. Fix me, Jesus, fix me. The song was sung in such a beautiful way that you could feel a pin drop in the sanctuary. It was so moving, so emotional that it really got me. I could feel the deep yearn within me-fix me. I could feel the underlying cry-fix me. I could feel my personal desire to be fixed-fix me, Jesus, fix me. Remember the cliché “If ain’t broke, don’t fix?” Well, that cliché seems so empty and meaningless, especially when you take into account your brokenness and mine if you take into consideration our society’s brokenness and the brokenness of our world. Over the past several days the world has witnessed with horror the sorry ego of a broken man whose sole desire is the domination of a weaker neighbor through violence. His attitude reminds me of the neighborhood bully who felt so insecure in himself that the only way he could garner any respect was to make others feel his sense of weakness. Like many of you, I am shocked at the horror that the people of Ukraine have to endure. Why would someone put so many lives at risk? And for what purpose? A few days ago, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Nations read a screenshot of a text message exchange between a Russian soldier and his mother: Mother: why has it been so long since you responded? Are you really enjoying training exercises? Son: Mama, I am no longer in Crimea. I am not in training sessions. Mother: Where are you then? Papa is asking if I can send you a parcel. Son: What kind of a parcel can you send me, mama? Mother: What are you talking about? What happened? Son: Mama, I am in Ukraine. There is a real war waging here. I am afraid. We are bombing all of the cities together. Even targeting civilians. We were told that they would welcome us and they are falling under our armored vehicles, throwing themselves under our vehicles and not allowing us to pass. They call us fascist. Mama, this is so hard. According to the Ambassador, this was several moments before this young soldier was killed. You and I know that this young soldier had a whole life ahead of him. But that life has been wasted over a needless war. And now a mother and father have to grieve for the rest of their lives over the death of a son who wouldn’t text mama again. What you and I must recognize is that what the president of Russia is doing is symbolic of our own brokenness, and we all need a fix, we need Jesus to fix you and me for this world. Here’s another example of our brokenness. A chapter leader of the Proud Boys who in the company of other people were shouting racial slurs outside a bar. An African American lady-Ms. Morgan, who happened to have heard them responded “You can’t say that. That’s not okay.” Mr. Walls confronts Ms. Morgan, repeats the slur, and sucker-punches her. When she got up, she with her friends, engaged Mr. Walls in a fight. I do not claim to know Mr. Walls’ reason for the racial slurs or the sucker-punching of Ms. Morgan. But the effects of his actions aren’t lost on me either. He also is as broken as I am and needs some fixing. I have similar tendencies to Mr. Walls and Mr. Putin. I am as broken a man as Putin and Walls, and so are you. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” Paul said. And so, for me, the issue is not the act themselves or the behavior of these people or my own behavior, those are symptoms of a much bigger problem. The real issue is you, me, Walls, and Putin, and how we deal with our brokenness. The reality is that one cannot necessarily fix a behavior without fixing a person. In many ways, it is not a behavior that we necessarily fix, we fix a person. And when a person is fixed, it shows in his/her behavior. Fix me, Jesus. Fix me. For a very good reason, Lent is that time of year when our brokenness is laid bare before us. Lent is that time of year when we are made acutely aware that we cannot be God, but we can be like God by being more human. Lent is that time of year when we get the sense that we are fallible. It is that time of year when we touch our mortality-that we are but dust and that there’s a beginning and an end to the human narrative. And that it is only by the grace and mercy of God that life is often more beautiful, tolerable, and worthwhile. The good news is that our brokenness is not meant for us to despise ourselves. Rather, it is an opportunity for us to cry out fix me, Jesus, fix me. More than that, it is for us to take the necessary steps toward being fixed. What do you need fixing this Lent? Fix me, Jesus. Fix me. Manny.

Sabina School Expresses Gratitude for Educational Support during Uganda’s Coronavirus Difficulties The headteacher at Sabina Boarding Primary School in Uganda has written to Christ Church, voicing the gratitude of teachers who have been able to continue their careers in extremely difficult times. In Uganda, students returned to classrooms in January after months of suspended schooling due to the pandemic. The school is operated by the nonprofit, Friends of Sabina (FOS), which is supported through the Outreach Commission by parishioners’ contributions and by individuals. Some parishioners sponsor students whose families are unable to pay tuition while other parishioners support teachers. Some at Christ Church do both. Because of the support, teachers did not have to abandon their profession to survive. The Sabina staff was retained and – even more significantly – children weren’t at risk for falling behind while schools were shuttered nationwide. Sabina teachers prepared education packets that they and staff members delivered to students' homes to keep them engaged in learning. In Uganda and around the world, other children have fared much worse. A recent United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report called the shutdowns “a nearly insurmountable scale of loss.” Younger and more marginalized children faced the greatest loss, the report says. By contrast, headteacher Jude Ssentale had a positive tone in his letter of Feb. 24th: “Currently, our neighborhoods are entrusting us with more children into the school,” he wrote, “with now a more robust human resource in place that is assured of a salary at the end of the month.” Sabina is located in the Kyotera District, an agricultural area. “It should be noted that Sabina Boarding School is a unique institution where those who would not be in a position to afford education are supported to acquire quality education and mentorship,” he wrote. “The bigger community where the school is located is extremely challenged and therefore, without this support from sponsors like you, these highly vulnerable children would not be at school.” In January, returning students showed great eagerness to learn, a FOS newsletter says. For more than a decade, the Outreach Commission at Christ Church has backed efforts at the school and, as you may recall, hosted FOS leaders during a Zoom coffee hour. Through Outreach, Christ Church supports the Sabina library, which serves as a community center, and pays the annual salary of the librarian, Richard Tumusiime. (See photos from a video shown at the Aug. 2 virtual coffee hour). Vestry-approved funds, derived from your contributions, also pay for news and periodical subscriptions and Sabina’s internet fees. FOS expects to put that internet service to even better use during 2022, as plans take shape for a new computer lab. FOS is raising funds for the lab and other improvements now that the nonprofit has met its goal of raising $80,000 for WASH, a water and sanitation campaign. It was featured in a FOS video on YouTube shown during a Dec. 8 virtual update. FOS leaders will be on-site during spring and summer. Ann Marie Davis plans a stay from March 10 through May 2, and Maria White, from July 18 to Aug. 10. If you have questions, contact info@friendsofsabina.org while they are at Sabina. Join Small Delusions in Helping Provide Support for Ukrainian Refugees On Sunday, March 20th at 2:00 p.m. join us in New Brick as the wonderful band, Small Delusions, performs a concert to help raise funds for Ukrainian refugee families. The United Nations reports that nearly one million people have already fled the catastrophic situation in their homeland, and that number will likely rise exponentially. For a few hours on the 20th, we will have an opportunity to hear classic sounds while raising funds for a very worthwhile cause. Small Delusions - Jan DeBoissiere, JB Hanson, and Shannon Pruitt - used to be part of a larger group called Delusions of Grandeur. As they say, "Our delusions are still there; they are just smaller." They have performed together for over six years, and we're thrilled to have them back at Christ Church. We'll have more info in the coming weeks, but if you wish to donate in the meantime you can use the Refugee Ministry online form. Just select "Ukrainian Refugee Ministry" from the MEMO dropdown menu, and Christ Church will direct those gifts toward relief for the people of Ukraine. Columbia Community Care Calls for Volunteers to Prepare Its Next Pantry The all-volunteer organization Columbia Community Care (CCC) has obtained a site to establish a new pantry and has set dates for a weekend clean-up. “We officially have the keys to the Columbia Flier Building for a temporary home for now, and we will begin our process to re-start our home delivery service!” announced CCC founder Erika Strauss Chavarria in a recent post on the CCC Group on Facebook. “The first step of this process is to clean and decorate our new space, and we need YOUR HELP! We will have a “CCC Volunteer Clean-up and Beautify the Flier Building Weekend Extravaganza” on Saturday, March 19th, and Sunday, March 20th,” she wrote. The building, located at 10750 Little Patuxent Parkway, had been the iconic home of the Columbia Flier and other community newspapers of Patuxent Publishing Co., which was acquired by the Baltimore Sun Media Group. After the building was vacated in 2011, the Howard County government bought it in 2014. CCC asks the community to pitch in on the conversion to a pantry. “Anyone looking for service hours, this is a GREAT opportunity to get those hours in! Hope to see you all there!” said Chavarria. CCC has an online sign-up form for volunteers who are willing to perform duties during various shifts from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 19th or from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 20th. CCC also asks supporters to lend or donate items needed to clean and paint. Please go to a separate online sign-up form, which will give further instructions as the dates approach. At Christ Church, members of R.A.G.E and the Outreach Commission ask parishioners to continue supporting CCC by collecting diapers, baby wipes, sanitary and personal care items and adult diapers. Put these items in the yellow bin, marked “CCC,” inside the Parish Hall. Baltimore Seafarers News As a reminder, the Women of Christ Church gather donations for Seafarers throughout the year. At this time, they are looking for magazines, cards, notebooks, gloves, hats, and scarves. If you’d like to donate any of these items, the "Seafarers" box is under the table in the Tower Room of New Brick. Donate Snacks, Crackers, and Cookies to FISH in Bin on our Breezeway Organizers for FISH of Howard County are continuing to ask for cookies, crackers, and snacks to fulfill its shopping lists. The yellow bin is between Old Brick and the Parish Hall. Thanks for your contributions to our neighbors in need. In general, if you have suggestions about ways to help the community, if you want to get involved, or if you need assistance, please email Christ Church Outreach at outreach@christchurchcolumbia.org. Your help is greatly welcomed and appreciated. Thank you.

The next WOCC meeting takes place via Zoom on Monday, March 7th at 1 p.m. If you're a woman aged 18 or older, you're already a member of the WOCC, so join us and see what's happening! Email us for the link - wocc@christchurchcolumbia.org - or use the link that's in our weekly emails. In other news, The WOCC delivered large-print bibles, sugar-free hot cocoa mix, and a variety of snacks to our friends at Springfield Hospital Volunteer Services on February 17th (see photo above). We still can’t make our monthly bingo visits due to COVID-19 restrictions, but we check in with Volunteer Services to see if we can help them meet current patient needs. The snacks will be used in their Incentive Program, and the Bibles were a request from their new chaplain, on behalf of a few patients with sight challenges. We've also published our WOCC Calendar of Events for 2022, so please check it out and join us in our activities. We’ve got lots of opportunities coming up in March, so mark your calendars: We’ve been invited by St. John’s in Ellicott City to their Saturday afternoon guided Lenten Labyrinth walks. Guides will be available between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. each Saturday in Lent, beginning March 5th. You can read more about it from the image below. We visited the site last fall; you can see our report about that experience here. March 21st is our trip to Maryland Women’s Heritage Center to celebrate Women’s History Month. Carpooling will be available. Email us for details. Finally, as a reminder, the Women of Christ Church gather donations for the Baltimore Seafarers Ministry throughout the year. At this time, they are looking for magazines, cards, notebooks, gloves, hats, and scarves. If you’d like to donate any of these items, the "Seafarers" box is under the table in the Tower Room of New Brick.

Every year during Lent the Spiritual Life Commission of Christ Episcopal Church compiles and publishes a Lenten Meditation Book, containing submissions from our parish family that are intended to inspire, encourage reflection, and spark action in our community and the world. These meditations range from poems and quotes to Bible verses and prayers, as well as songs, personal reflections, and inspirational passages from well-known theologians or authors. Our LMB also includes a Daily Office for the Lenten season. If you're nearby, you can grab a printed copy of our LMB at Christ Church while supplies last, or you can visit us here each day, as we'll post one meditation each weekday. You can also check our social media outlets; simply click the links in this post, or bookmark the icons at the top of this page. We hope that you enjoy and appreciate these meditations, as they reflect our varied and vibrant Christ Church family. We're pleased to be able to share them with you. Marcia’s Dragonfly In my middle year of seminary, I decided I would try a silent retreat for a week. I chose the monastery of St. John the Evangelist in West Newberry, Massachusetts because it housed the Bishop Coburn Hermitages, and I had known and loved Bishop Coburn as a professor at Virginia Seminary. It was a perfect place for quiet reflection, each separate small hermitage set in a beautiful meadow of wildflowers next to a river and a state forestry. I took my mother, who lasted about a day before being unable to take the silence; even at mealtimes, she would invent reasons to go to town, and ended up forming friendship with the kitchen monk where she could sit and talk while chopping vegetables! I, however, loved it. As the mother of three children, all that quiet, freedom from doing, was glorious. One day, my spiritual director for the week asked me, “Have you ever just asked Jesus, God to come to you, just because you wanted, needed Him to?” “To come as exactly what/who you need, now?” I was puzzled. Just ask God to come because I needed Him? Not because the plane was going down, or because I was desperate, but just because I wanted Him/Her to be with me? “Never,” I replied. “Try it” he said. I went outside and sat on the dock by the river and started to read my latest mystery. The sun was shining, and the river was murmuring, and I noticed huge blue dragonflies zooming over the water. So, on a whim, I said, out loud, "Okay, God, can you come as a dragonfly?" And nothing happened. I didn't expect anything to, a frivolous request that God come just because I asked. So, I went back to my book. And then, a minute later, I felt something on my toe. I looked up, and there on my big toe perched the largest shimmering blue dragonfly I had ever seen. Just sat, and then lifted off to fly out over the river, and came back, to perch on that same toe. Not once, or twice, but over and over in the next several minutes, delicately and repeatedly my dragonfly God came to me. It was a gift of life-changing wonder. If God would, could come 'just because' I wanted Him, just for me, then I could trust and love the present God in my life, the who chose to come to me because that is who God is, our Beloved. Try it. Asking and needing and waiting. God comes.

Ash Wednesday is a unique day on the Church’s calendar. It's a day when we are reminded of our mortality, of who we are, and of whose we are. Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent, as well, and so to get our hearts and minds ready for the season, we'll have in-person services at 7:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, and 7:30 p.m. (please remember that masks are required while on campus). The morning service is in Old Brick, and the latter two are in New Brick. The leaflet for today's services can be found here. The 12 noon and 7:30 p.m. New Brick services will be livestreamed on our website, YouTube, and Facebook pages. 12 noon service: Mother Marcia's 12 noon sermon text can be read here. 7:30 p.m. service: Deacon Denise's 7:30 p.m. sermon text can be read here.

Come to Our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper! Tonight at 6:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to join the Christ Church Youth Group as we host the 2022 Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper today, March 1st at 6:30 p.m. If you would like to attend, please sign up here or visit https://tinyurl.com/CECshrove2022. Ticket prices are on the form, and you can process payment by using our online giving form. Simply select Youth Ministry from the FUND dropdown menu and write "Shrove Tuesday" in the MEMO line. Questions? Contact Yetti Lipede any time. We hope to see you there!

Lent is a season of transformation and self-examination, when we ask God for forgiveness and repentance while creating space to talk about Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. These forty days lead us into closer unity with God. Read more on our website about how Christ Church will be observing the season and how you can prepare for Holy Week. From our Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper and Ash Wednesday services through Easter Sunday, our entire Lenten schedule can be viewed at https://www.christchurchcolumbia.org/lent. Daily Lenten Meditations will also be posted on our website and social media pages each weekday morning throughout the season, and these can help present you with moments of reflection and prayer as you carry on with your day. You can receive our weekly email newsletter by joining our mailing list; email us at communications@christchurchcolumbia.org and we'll add you so that you can receive the latest information. To practice Lent is to draw near, and better understand, Jesus Christ. Lent is a season of intentional discipleship under Christ and with Christ. We also practice Lent to bond more closely with fellow Christians who are on the same journey - not only with those at Christ Episcopal Church but also with all those around the world.

Today is the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. Collect of the Day: Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Readings for today: Joshua 5:9-12 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Psalm 32 Today's Sermon: Rebecca Warlow's Sermon text can be read here. Today's Worship Livestream: Today's service bulletin can be found here.

This week I am in Atlanta for a conference. Atlanta is, to me, the ideal place filled with nostalgia. It reminds me of all the wonderful things that have shaped my life in America. It is the place where my theological transformation began. Atlanta reminds me of my first experience with diversity and inclusion. It reminds me of the first time in my life that I was able to buy a box of cornflakes for 99 cents. Any trip to Atlanta is not only about a trip down memory lane for me, but it is also about a trip back to the source, the very place where life took off, the very place which became the soil for the seeds which were ready to grow. The idea of the soil reminds me of the Parable of the Sower where Jesus talks about the seeds from the Sower which fell on many different spots. The seeds which bore much fruit were those that fell on the good soil. For me, Atlanta was that good soil. Today, I am inclined to talk about Ad Fontes, a Latin expression that simply means ‘back to the sources,’ ‘back to the fountains,’ or ‘back to the basics.’ This phrase became popular during the renaissance and later the reformation. During the former, it meant a return to the classical sources, because there was the belief that there was life there. During the latter, it meant a return to the scriptures and to Christ - the foundation of the Christian faith and life. In both these periods, the goal was a return to that one source-the one which was so life-giving, compelling, nurturing, sustaining, and transcendent that it was enough to transform anyone and everyone because it was the divine being itself, God. The invitation to return to the source or fountain is for me, a return to God. For it is only in this return do we find out that everything collapses into God, and that on our own and by ourselves, we cannot lay claim to anything. This sober reflection brings to the fore, especially as we conclude our celebration of Black History Month, the trial and conviction of the three men who violated the Civil Rights of Ahmaud Arbery, and the two police officers in New Jersey who, upon finding a White boy and an African American boy fighting, arrested the African American boy and not the White boy with whom he was fighting. I do not know any of these people, nor can I judge their intentions or motivations. Heaven knows that I am not a psychologist. But what I can question is their actions, and what their actions reveal to me is one of a claim to something inherently superior - which, in a very real way, is very dangerous. Whatever that claim is, I totally and unreservedly reject it. You know, Atlanta is the very place where I heard for the first time the beautiful words to the hymn, In Christ, there is no east or west: In Christ, there is no east or west, In Him no south or north But one great fellowship of love Throughout the whole wide earth That, to me, is the source, the fountain, the basics of our Christain faith, and the human narrative. And so the question is, how far removed are you from this narrative? How far away are you from the fountain from which you can draw on the living water that freely flows? How comfortable are you with the basics of your faith which invites you to disavow any claim that questions the humanity of others? The Bible tells a story of a Samaritan woman who met Jesus at a well. She had come to draw water. Jesus, upon seeing the woman, asked her to give him some water. The surprised woman questions Jesus’ request. In the midst of their conversation, Jesus promises her living water. This was the Samaritan woman’s humble response: “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” Indeed, how can you be thirsty when you sit by a well? Bob Marley rightfully reminds us: “In the abundance of water the fool is thirsty.” How thirsty are you? Ad Fontes, return to the source, to the fountain where we come alive in God. The sad reality is that all that is going on in our lives, communities, and the world is driven by the desire to lay claim to something other than God. To stem the tide of all these problems is to make a request similar to that of the Samaritan woman. That is the only request which reminds us of the one source who nourishes all, sustains all, transcends all, and nurtures all-for all have their source in Him, all meet in Him. Listen to the hymnist: In Christ now meet both east and west, In him meet south and north. All Christly souls are one in him Throughout the whole wide earth Ad Fontes, a call to return to the God who is the source of all. Ad Fontes, a call to lay claim to nothing but God alone. Manny. NOTE: In last week's Christ Church Gatherings article titled "Uneasy Deceptions," I misconstrued Obenawa's thoughts, and sincerely apologize for the error. ~Manny