Bishop Benhase is leading a diocesan-wide Bible Study focusing on the Letter to the Philippians during Eastertide. It is available on both the Diocese's Facebook page and YouTube channel each Wednesday at 11:00 am. Each session will be pre-recorded, so there will not be an opportunity to ask questions in real time, but the Bishop encourages folks to ask questions on the Diocese's Facebook page and he will respond to them following each session. Below is the schedule. the materials are available here. Please join us! 

 

April 29 - Our Call to Imitate Christ's Humility (2:1-11) 

We Are Lights Shining in the World (2:12-18) 

Paul's Fellow Laborers (2:19-30) 

 

May 6 - Nothing in the Law Can Save Us (3:1-11) 

Pressing Towards the Goal, Which is Christ (3:12-4:1) 

 

May 13 - Closing Exhortations (4:2-9) 

Acknowledgment of the Philippians' Gift (4:10-20) 

Benediction (4:21-23) 

The Adult Sunday Class, led by the Rev. Bob Brown has moved to Mondays, at 11:00 am, via Zoom. If you'd like to join the group, you can find it here: https://zoom.us/j/430040512  The meeting ID is: 430 040 512  

The Adult class has begun a new study entitled Stories based on a book by Will Willimon who is the Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Duke University Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. 

  

For questions about where to get the book or how to connect with Zoom, please contact Bob at [email protected].

The Women's Book Study Group has begun meeting remotely, via Zoom, on Thursdays, at 1:00 pm. The book they're reading is Keep It Shut: What to Say, How to Say It, and When to Say Nothing at All by Karen Ehman.  The book is available at Christian book stores and on Amazon. Please contact Mtr. Ashton at [email protected] if you'd like to join the group and for more information about meeting using Zoom.

Applications for the next round of college scholarships from Episcopal Youth and Children's Services for college students is now open! EYCS began as an orphanage for girls in Savannah in the early 1800's and has morphed an organization supporting children and youth in our diocese by awarding scholarships for summer camp programs at Honey Creek and college scholarships. 

1. You may apply by going to www.eycs.georgiaepiscopal.org and selecting the Educational Scholarships tab at the top of the page. 
2. Completed applications should be submitted and/or postmarked by May 31, 2020.
3. All applicants must be Episcopalian, 22 years of age or under, and legal residents of and members in good standing within the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.  Funds are only available for undergraduate (not graduate) study and are awarded based on family need. 
4. Applicant must be, or intend to become, a full-time undergraduate student taking and passing at least 12 credit hours per grading period.  
5. Education scholarships are approved for one school year only.  Applicants may reapply in successive years (for a maximum of 4 years).

Families! Please join the Christ Church Families Facebook group to keep up with all the latest events and activities. Find us on Facebook here !

The Backpack Buddies ministry continues to go full speed ahead, despite the additional (and important) health and safety restrictions for our assembly lines, complex delivery schedules and increasing food shortages. By the time this week's deliveries are done, we will have given away 2482 bags of food to Glynn County kids during the month of April. That's more than 11,000 pounds of food! Thank you to our Backpack Buddy angels and donors! Well done!

 

We do have a couple of urgent needs for Backpack Buddies assembly line: paper grocery bags, and shelf-stable proteins like Vienna sausages, cans of Beanee Weenees and Raviolios, and plastic jars of peanut butter. If you can spare a few paper bags and/or pick up some of the protein items the next time you're in the grocery store, we would be very grateful. All items may be dropped off on the front porch at the Christ Church Parish House.

 

Two local non-profits (there are others) that will be doing good works to address this current crisis include: 

 

FaithWorks - many of you know FaithWorks and their many outreaches, from The Well, to Sparrows Nest and much more.  https://faithworksministry.org

 

Firebox - a relief organization here in Glynn County, started by the folks as Southern Soul to support restaurant workers in need. Many restaurant workers have been out of work for a while, with no income for themselves or their families.  https://ssbbqfirebox.com

Mother's Day is less than two weeks away, and this year, we'd like to honor our mothers with a special musical tribute during our online morning worship service, at 9:15 am, on Sunday,  May 10, 2020. 

What we would like to do is show photos of all of our beautiful mothers and the women who have been like mothers to us. If you have photos that you would like to share, please send them to either Fr. Tom at [email protected] or to Julie Hancock at  [email protected], by Thursday, May 7, and we will include your mother in a special Mother's Day visual presentation. If possible, please share your mother's name with your submitted photos. (Names will not be shown during the visual presentation, but will be listed in the service bulletin, for which you will receive an email link.)

We're also missing seeing all your dear faces and would love to see how you're faring at home, as you practice social distancing. If you've got photos of yourself or your family members at home that you'd be willing to share, please send them to Julie at  [email protected]. We will, in turn, share them with all of the congregation on a Sunday in the near future, so that we can all "see" each other again!

Meeting ID: 792 428 337

Password: 005760

By now you may have heard that, because of concerns about the coronavirus, in-person attendance at my ordination and consecration as your bishop will be limited to no more than 30 people total. In light of this great disappointment, I wanted to speak briefly to you, the people of the Diocese of Georgia. I am deeply grieved by the loss of our gathering in person for this important occasion in our common life. And yet, at the same time, I find myself oddly at peace about it. I would've thought that my fondest wish would be for a large ordination liturgy in which we all celebrate in the same room. But, given the current circumstances, it has become clear to me that my fondest wish is that the vulnerable among us stay safe and well.

There have been times that I have not been able to be present for someone's ordination as a deacon or priest, due to an unavoidable conflict. I write to the person to let her or him know that when the gathered community is asked if they support this person in their ministry the chorus of voices shouting "We Will!" is not limited to those in attendance, and includes many others who have supported them up to that point and will do so after. I let them know that although I cannot give a hearty "We will!" in person, I will be present in spirit and adding my voice in prayer. In the case of the May 30 ordination and consecration, we will make this spiritual connection tangible through the live stream of the event so that you can join in from home. No, it is not the same, but Jesus taught us to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Worshiping in this way makes that love all the more real.

During the walkabouts leading up to the bishop election, I found myself being asked the question why it is that I feel called to serve you as your bishop. And an answer I said one evening is that I love the Diocese of Georgia, its people and its churches. I added that I love my wife, I love Mexican food and I love walking on the beach. I just don't mean the same thing when I say love in each of those cases. But when I say that I love Diocese of Georgia, it is not only because I have seen the people of this diocese on their best days, though I have enjoyed some wonderfully good days while serving among you.  We have enjoyed some amazing times. But when I say I love this Diocese, it is because my work as your Canon to the Ordinary has placed me with people and congregations on some of your worst and hardest days. And on your worst days, the love of God shines through the brightest. In floods and hurricanes, in schism and more, you rise to the occasion in ways that have given me hope. On the worst days, you are pretty awesome.

May 30, while different than we had planned or hoped for, is going to be not our worst, but one of our best days. Not because I will become the 11th Bishop of Georgia, but because we will protect the vulnerable among us, even as we use technology to worship together. I felt your very real support when serving as a church planter in Kingsland. I have felt that support as Canon to the Ordinary. I have experienced your support all the more powerfully as I have traveled to Diocese since November's election. There is nothing that can diminish the joy and light I feel in becoming your Bishop. I look forward to following Jesus together for many years to come.

We are going to let the Holy Spirit work through us to do more than we can ask for or imagine, and it is going to be amazing.

So while I wish we could gather in person for my ordination, I am counting on us gathering in spirit and online, as we begin this new part of our journey together.

- The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Bishop-Elect