Join us in discerning Christ Church's response to the Afghan refugee crisis. More than 50,000 Afghan refugees are expected to be resettled in the Maryland/Virginia/DC area. Under humanitarian visas, they receive just 90 days of services upon entering the U.S. There will be an immense, ongoing need for housing, economic/workforce development, tutoring and mentoring, and other services for families and individuals who've been forced to flee their homes. Under the guidance of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS), an organization that has long-served refugees from around the world, we are embarking on a theological and scriptural-based discernment process to determine how we would like to respond as a congregation to the huge needs of these refugees. We have four Zoom sessions planned: Monday, August 30th from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 1st from 6-7:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 7th from 6-7:30 p.m. and Thursday, September 9th from 6-7:00 p.m. If you're interested in helping discern the way forward, please download the series document and check the Monday editions of Christ Church's This Week on Zoom email for links and details. You can attend as many sessions as you’re able to. While we don't yet have details on specific volunteer opportunities, we are exploring both short-term needs/responses and a long-term, sponsorship-type commitment. Once we go through the discernment process and coordinate further with LIRS, we will have a better idea of how we can specifically meet the needs of those who will be coming to our area. One very powerful thing we can right do now is to pray. We can pray as individuals, as a congregation, and as a community. In this spirit, LIRS is hosting a virtual Interfaith Prayer Vigil on August 31st at 4:00 p.m. You can register here to take part in this interfaith community event. If you have questions about this emerging ministry area, please contact Deacon Denise at deacondenise@christchurchcolumbia.org

Today is the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Collect of the Day: Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. Readings for today: Song of Solomon 2:8-13 Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10 James 1:17-27 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Today's Sermon: Father Manny's Sermon for today can be read here. Today's Worship Livestream: Today's service bulletin can be found here.

I am sure you have seen the commotion on TV screens and read about all the chaos in Afghanistan. It has been heart-wrenching, to say the least. I am at the point where I don’t even want to read about it, or to turn the TV on and see what’s going on there - not that I don’t want to know, but because I am so heartbroken about the entire situation. I think about the loss, the incalculable loss in life and treasure, and I can only feel a deep sense of hurt and disappointment. It has been tragically upsetting. I want to find that sense of optimism and hope in the debacle, but I remind myself that that may not be enough. I am not a politician. In fact, as much as I can, I stay away from politics. I did not serve in the military, nor am I in the military. Deacon Denise, however, did serve in the military and I have the utmost respect and regard for her and the millions of others who found a calling in laying down their lives in service of the people they love - whether those people are known or unknown to them. I share in the deepest frustrations of those who risked their lives for what we all truly believed was a worthy cause. For many of those people, this feels like a total letdown, and there’s no word that one could find to describe the depth of anguish that many of our veterans feel. There are now some deep and serious questions: Could we have stayed in Afghanistan in perpetuity? Of course not! At some point, we have to leave. Was there a better way to pull out? Probably so. There’s always a better way of undertaking a task. Was the Afghan Army, which we had trained for years, ready and willing to fight for their own country? Perhaps not. If, after all these years of training, they wouldn’t fight for their own country, how then do we justify sending American soldiers to fight for people who are not willing to fight for themselves? This is my dilemma - if we cannot stay in perpetuity, and if the American-trained, Afghan Army wouldn’t fight for Afghanistan and the institutions that have been built to support daily life and work, what then is the endgame? Can you see new life spring out of the hard concrete of desolation, hopelessness? In the 20th century, Karl Barth - a Swiss theologian - was the leader of a group of Christians in Germany who opposed and resisted Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. He spoke in a way that invited his hearers to see the radical nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He wrote that "Faith is awe in the presence of the divine incognito; it is the love of God that is aware of the qualitative difference between God and man and God and the world." Remember this - faith is the love of God that is aware of differences. It is this awareness that, in his view, should drive every Christian to live life with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. Both the Bible and the newspaper should inform and influence our actions in the world. The Bible helps us to understand who our neighbors are, opens our eyes to see that neighbor, and embraces our duty to our neighbors with purpose, humility, and gratitude. The newspaper reveals our neighbor’s situation to us and helps us to understand what is happening to our them. Having been duly informed of what is happening to our neighbors, the Bible’s invitation to us is to then respond the best way that we can in helping our neighbors out of their distress. In a sense, then, faith isn’t a subjective esoteric reality that seeks to shield us from the dire needs of the neighbors of our world; instead, it is the energy that drives us to engage with our neighbors and others to respond. In one word, faith is a response. For this reason, we have to go back to the questions in paragraph three of this article and probably ask some more questions, but we must do so with the goal of trying to understand how we can live faithfully in a world that can sometimes make hell look like paradise. Some of our parishioners gathered to reflect on the best way that we, the Christ Church community, can respond. Remember, faith is a response, and we have begun work on discerning what our response to the Afghan refugee crisis will be. As days unfold into weeks, we will share more information about how you can also help. In the meantime, if you are interested in being a part of this process, please reach out to Deacon Denise by emailing her at deacondenise@christchurchcolumbia.org, talking to her for a moment or two on a Sunday morning after church, or by contacting me. A couple of days ago, a parishioner, Adrian, returned my earlier call to her. In our conversation, she shared with me a quote from Abraham Herschel which had had some impact on her. Herschel wrote, “God is of no importance unless he is of supreme importance.” I sincerely believe Herschel’s words because if God is of no supreme importance to me, what else can be? It is, therefore, my recognition of God’s supreme importance in my life that I respond, holding the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other, to the needs of the world. For me, that is how we should respond to this Afghan crisis, and how we can offer new life to a refugee family that may walk into our common life during the coming weeks. I hope you feel that sense of faithful response as I do. ~Manny

Fall Brings Additional Changes Involving Columbia Community Care As fall approaches, the all-volunteer organization Columbia Community Care (CCC) has announced several changes in addition to a reduction in distribution days. Home delivery service will be suspended as of Saturday, Aug. 28. The service, which benefits people who lack transportation or face other challenges, is expected to resume after CCC obtains a new pantry. Until this weekend, its sole pantry has been operating at New Hope Adventist Church in Fulton. But New Hope needs the space for regular church operations, and the pantry will close as of 6 p.m. on Saturday. Volunteers are no longer able to sign up for slots to make home deliveries because the goods to fill recipients’ grocery lists have been stored at the pantry. “Through today, we have made 12,328 home deliveries to families in Howard County! This was only possible because of the dedication and love of our volunteers like all of you,” said CCC Founder Erika Chavarria, who posted a statement on Aug. 24 in the CCC Group on Facebook. She said CCC will continue to search for a suitable pantry. The group had already announced changes for Fall 2021. The CCC sites will be closed the week of Labor Day, from Sunday, Sept. 5 to Sept. 11. That means the three distribution sites will not open on Wednesday, Sept. 8, nor on Saturday, Sept. 11. With the return of school, CCC will reduce its days per week by eliminating Wednesday distribution. The next distribution day after the break will be on Saturday, Sept. 18. Organizers say CCC plans to monitor site numbers and determine if changes to hours and days are needed after that. Signups have been updated with dates through Oct. 30, 2021, on the “I Can Help” part of its website. On Saturdays, volunteers and donation drop-off begin at 9 a.m. Hours for recipients are 10 am to noon. The distribution sites are at Oakland Mills Middle School, 9540 Kilimanjaro Road; at Long Reach Village Center, Suite 9, 8775 Cloudleap Ct., and at Wilde Lake Interfaith Center, 10431 Twin Rivers Rd., all in Columbia. Starting immediately, CCC’s point of contact for Christ Church transfers fully from Diane Phillips Laguerre to Violet Smith, who had already been taking our donated goods to the pantry. Instead, she will make the dropoff early on Saturdays at Wilde Lake. 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. Please put any of these items in the yellow bin, marked “CCC,” inside the Parish Hall. You can drop off items on weekdays until 2 p.m., but we ask that you call the church office (410) 381-9365 ahead of time. Thanks to All Whose Donations to DRC Are Helping the Homeless For parishioners who enjoyed hands-on volunteering when Christ Church routinely served hot meals to the homeless, please wait until November. That’s when the staff of the Day Resource Center (DRC) at the Leola Dorsey Center in Jessup expects to resume pre-pandemic services. The DRC is operated by Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, which had hoped to begin serving hot meals next month. But those plans were put aside after the delta variant caused coronavirus to spread. Meanwhile, the staff experienced shortfalls among items that the DRC distributes on a curbside basis. To help, Christ Church agreed to supply men’s underwear and women’s jeans, and Outreach Commission member Dione Mahoney sprang into shopping mode. She turned to parishioners' donations that had been designated for the DRC, spending $180 to buy new underwear in assorted sizes and 32 pairs of gently used women’s jeans. She and husband Jim Mahoney delivered them to the DRC. Parishioners who supplied items on the monthly wish list for the DRC and for Grassroots’ Freetown Road shelter fulfilled another need: canned fruit. (See photo of our donated clothes and food on the shelf in Jessup.) Please lift up our homeless friends in prayer, that they may continue on a path to stability in their lives and enjoy the clothes and food in good health. Thanks to one and all who contributed, either in-kind or monetarily! Find the wish list on the Christ Church signup site for the monthly meal that we provide at Grassroots’ Freetown Road shelter. Save the date: Monday, Sept. 20, arriving between 3:15 and 3:30 p.m. to drop off your dish in the parking lot near Old Brick. Donate Personal Care and Cleaning Supplies for FISH in Bin on our Breezeway Organizers for FISH of Howard County request household cleaning supplies such as liquid dish soap, bleach, and cleanser as well as personal items such as deodorant, shampoo and bath soaps. At present, its pantry has an adequate supply of groceries. The bin is between Old Brick and the Parish Hall. 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.

Indoor Holy Eucharist without music at 8:00 a.m. Masks are required indoors at all times. Outdoor Holy Eucharist with music at 10:30 a.m. Please bring your own chair, if you can. This helps our Sunday morning setup volunteers a great deal. Register to attend either service at https://www.christchurchcolumbia.org/attend We will also broadcast the 10:30 service online, as usual.

Today is the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Collect of the Day: Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Readings for today: 1 Kings 8:[1, 6, 10-11], 22-30, 41-43 Psalm 84 Ephesians 6:10-20 John 6:56-69 Today's Sermon: Rebecca Warlow's Sermon for today can be read here. Rebecca is a licensed Lay Preacher at Christ Church. She is such an important part of our common life for many years, and as she discerns a call to be a deacon she is about to begin the second phase of the Diocese of Maryland’s program, called Discerning Ordained Vocation, in Baltimore. Today's Worship Livestream: Today's service bulletin can be found here.

The Spiritual Life Commission at Christ Church has joyfully sponsored weekend retreats for the last decade, and this year we will do so from October 1-3 in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Each retreat, we begin exploring and discussing our Spiritual Life Theme, and the theme for the coming year is “Be one body in Christ …belonging to each other” from Romans 12:5. Our Retreat leaders this fall will be our Christ Church Rector, Father Manny, and our Deacon, Denise Schiavone. The program schedule includes lively and insightful discussions on Friday evening, on Saturday morning, and for a bit on Saturday evening. We then conclude our weekend with a special Eucharist in the Chapel on Sunday morning. In addition to retreat activities, we have a good deal of free time to visit beautiful Rehoboth Beach, and our location is three blocks from the beach in a quiet residential area. You can learn more about the Rehoboth Beach region, its beaches, and its attractions here. The retreat campus is a beautiful beach home of the duPont family, and is now owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Delaware. The house has 11 bedrooms and can accommodate 32 people, and there are some spaces still available. Every room has its own bathroom and can accommodate 2-4 people. The house is comprised of a large living room, a reading/computer room with wi-fi, a cozy library, a dining room with extensive windows overlooking a small lake, a commercial kitchen for the catering staff, a resident kitchen, an attached chapel, a large deck, and a bonfire area. To call this past year and a half "challenging" would be an understatement. Many celebrations, activities, and gatherings were canceled or delayed in the process. But as we now begin safely re-gathering, this unique and enriching parish gathering couldn't come at a better time. We have this unique opportunity to spend a refreshing and reflective weekend together in a relaxed setting and get to know or reconnect with one another, as well as deepen our connections as a family of faith. The retreat cost is $265 per person, which includes two nights lodging and six catered meals throughout the weekend. We are obligated to pay a non-refundable deposit soon in order to hold the spot, and so are asking for a 50% deposit from each person attending by September 12th (the Sunday after Labor Day). The remaining balance will be collected on arrival in Rehoboth. Checks can be made out to Christ Episcopal Church with the designation Rehoboth retreat in the memo line. If you would like to attend or have any questions, please let Ellen Boudreau Hoke know by speaking with her on a Sunday morning at church, by sending her an email or text message, or by emailing us at info@christchurchcolumbia.org. We hope that you will join us for this special weekend.

As we all look forward to re-gathering this fall, our plan is to publish a photo or two - along with a few fun facts - of a parishioner &/or their family in each week’s Sunday service bulletin. This is a unique way for us all to learn a bit about those whom we might not have seen in a very long time, to meet those who might be new to our parish family, and to connect/reconnect with one another as we do so. We’ve created a form on our website with a few question ideas, or you can add your own bits of information. Visit https://www.christchurchcolumbia.org/2021-parish-family and complete the form so we can include the details in an upcoming Sunday bulletin. You can also send a photo or two and information to communications@christchurchcolumbia.org

In a couple of weeks, we will begin our program year. As many of you know, we have had some of our staff move on to different organizations and so we have been on a hiring spree. I’d like to keep you posted on where we are: Priest Associate: I have called The Reverend Marcia Davenport as the Priest Associate for Christ Church. Marcia served here at Christ Church during the tenure of our beloved Rector, Jim Shields, who passed away a few days ago. Marcia has served at different places since, most recently in Ireland. Marcia will be with us for fifteen hours a week and she will primarily be working on children formation. Her other responsibilities will be adult formation and small groups. Marcia begins her ministry at Christ Church on September 1st as a non-stipendiary Associate. Parish Administrator: Over the past year, we have been supported in the office by Yetti Lipede as the interim Parish Administrator. I sincerely appreciate her dedication and commitment to Christ Church. She has served this church very well. I want to also thank Paula Rees, who chaired the search for a new Parish Administrator. She was ably supported by Michon Semon, Isaac Olajide, Matthew Gately, Jonelle Ocloo, and Jan DeBoissiere. Through their work, we have a new Parish Administrator, Aisha White, who will begin with us on September 1st. Aisha will be in church on Sunday so please come by and say, "Hello" to her. Youth Minister: One of our goals has been to have a Youth Minister who will rally our youth for formation, service, and outreach. We are excited to be offering this new Christ Church position of Youth Minister to Todd Domer. He will be working with clergy and parents on growing our youth ministry. Todd will also be with us this Sunday; please come by and offer him the warmest Christ Church welcome. Director of Music: A few weeks ago, we bid goodbye to Adam Detzner, our Director of Music for the past three years. My promise was that we would move quickly and fill that position. Thankfully, we have attracted a great number of candidates and have now narrowed it to two. I want to thank Nancy Schempp, who chaired the search and served alongside Sara Kirkpatrick, Jan DeBoissierre, Laura Nyanjom, Sonni Aribiah, Heather Kelso, Diane Phillps-Laguerre, Doug Jimmerson, JB Hanson, Lynn Foor, and Jenn Lavanish. It is my hope to make a decision next week. I’d like to thank Chris Pouch, our Communications Administrator. Chris has been phenomenal, and I am always in awe of his dedication to Christ Church. He keeps all of us in the loop about our common life. I cannot thank him enough for all the work that he does. Lastly, I am thankful for the ministry of the Reverend Denise. It has been a great joy having her at Christ Church. She has been a great support during these turbulent times and I look forward to many more years of partnership and service. On my part, I am grateful for the opportunity to serve here at Christ Church. This is a magnificent parish with enormous potential, and serving you continues to be the joy of my life. ~Manny

Disaster Aid for Haiti Goes to Episcopal Relief and Development After Haiti was slammed by back-to-back natural disasters, Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) has taken steps to relieve suffering and help in recovery. Saturday’s powerful earthquake led to the deaths of nearly 2,000 people, and survivors were drenched only days later by Tropical Storm Grace. On behalf of Christ Church parishioners, members of the Outreach Commission voted Tuesday to contribute $1,000 to ERD to assist Haitians like the woman who described her plight in an interview on PBS Newshour on August 17th. “The rain fell on top of us. We slept sitting down on chairs. Nobody has come to help us. We have no tarpaulins. We sleep here sitting down. I don't want to go home. I am in God's hands,” said Theard Andrise. ERD stated in a news release that it has begun supporting the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti and other partners in response to the 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Besides a death toll that could increase as rubble is cleared, the earthquake caused at least 9,000 injuries and affected more than 1.2 million people, according to the United Nations. Acting through the diocese, ERD in its first grant will support 400 vulnerable households in 21 isolated communities. It remains in close contact with the diocese and other partner organizations on the ground in Haiti as leaders assess needs. Please pray for Ms. Andrise and all those who have been affected by the earthquake and tropical storm as well as by COVID-19 and other perils. Haiti is still seeking to recover from Hurricane Matthew in 2016, from an even deadlier earthquake in 2010 that was followed by a cholera outbreak, and by persistent civic unrest. If you wish to make a personal donation, go online to ERD’s Haiti Fund, which will allow our worldwide aid organization to continue its response to this latest disaster. Anyone who prefers donating by writing a check to ERD should put “Haiti Fund” on the memo line and mail it to ERD, P.O. Box 7058, Merrifield, VA 22116-7058. Columbia Community Care Plans Holiday Break, Fewer Distribution Days As summer wanes, the all-volunteer organization Columbia Community Care (CCC) has announced changes for Fall 2021. The CCC sites will be closed the week of Labor Day, from Sunday, September 5-11. That means the three distribution sites will not open on Wednesday, September 8th nor on Saturday, September 11th. There are no signups created for those two days on the “I Can Help” part of its website or in the volunteering posts of the CCC group on Facebook. With the return of school, CCC will reduce the days per week that its sites operate by eliminating Wednesday distribution. That means the next distribution day after the break will be on Saturday, September 18th. Organizers say CCC plans to monitor site numbers and determine if changes to hours and days are needed after that. Signups have been updated with dates through October 30, 2021. Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to noon for recipients. Volunteers and donation drop-off begin at 9 a.m. The distribution sites are at Oakland Mills Middle School, 9540 Kilimanjaro Road; at Long Reach Village Center, Suite 9, 8775 Cloudleap Ct., and at Wilde Lake Interfaith Center, 10431 Twin Rivers Rd., all in Columbia. CCC shared its gratitude with all those who help: “Thank you all for your time and energy in keeping our community fed and supported this summer! We love our volunteers and the people we serve!! 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. Please put any of these items in the yellow bin that's marked “CCC,” inside the Parish Hall. You can drop off items on weekdays until 2 p.m., but we ask that you call the church office (410) 381-9365 ahead of time. LEMS Supplies - Can You Help Us this Monday? Thanks to our wonderful parishioners, we have raised over $5,000, ordered supplies, filled 50 bags for incoming Lake Elkhorn Middle Schoolers, and boxed supplies for 75 more students. Principal Melissa Shindel is so appreciative of your generous support. The last step is to load the bags and boxes into vehicles and deliver them to LEMS this coming Monday, August 23rd. We need a few strong people who can come to the Parish Hall at 11:00 a.m. to help carry 50 bags and 34 boxes of supplies outside and load them in vehicles. If anyone in your family would like to help us, please contact Onyx Williams (ow6062@gmail.com) or Cathy Whittaker (catharinewhittaker@gmail.com) so we will know you are coming. Thank you! Donate Personal Care and Cleaning Supplies for FISH in Bin on our Breezeway Organizers for FISH of Howard County request household cleaning supplies such as liquid dish soap, bleach, and cleanser as well as personal items such as deodorant, shampoo, and bath soaps. At present, its pantry has an adequate supply of groceries. The bin is between Old Brick and the Parish Hall. 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.

As you can see from the included photos, our wonderful and dedicated volunteers recently finished bagging the school supplies. Now, we will shuttle the bags over to Lake Elkhorn Middle School and get them into the hands of over one hundred students. Thank you to all of you who helped get us to this point, whether by donating funds, stuffing the many bags of supplies, or those of you who will help load and transport everything to the school. This could not have been accomplished without every one of you.