THE BT TIMES GLAD TIDINGS - We've Come This Far By Faith - The Church of the Nativity and Holy Comforter
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October 2021
THE BT TIMES Glad
We’ve Come This Far By Faith
GLAD TIDINGS Tidings
Our stewardship theme this year, We Have Come This Far By Faith, asks us to reflect on our journey
together through the pandemic and to cast our gaze forward to God’s preferred future for our church.
Your generous dedication to our ministry together with your time, your prayers, your support online and
in person with your financial support are critical investments in our future life and ministry. Thank you
for being willing to join the long list of Nativity and Holy Comforter saints who have brought us thus far
on the way as we continue to follow Jesus together.
When we travel forward in faith, we are reminded of the good company of saints we keep. Scripture is
filled with stories of people going on a journey with God, most often ones filled with unknown perils
and uncertainty. In the Hebrew Bible, Abraham, by faith, leaves his home to travel to Canaan and then,
because of famine, he seeks relief in Egypt. The Israelites are enslaved in Egypt, and then God leads
them, by cloud and fire, into the Promised Land. Ruth and Naomi, struck by the tragic loss of their
family, go with God to find safety in Bethlehem. In the New Testament, Mary and Joseph are traveling
through unwelcome land when the Messiah is born. Each of the 12 disciples are called out of their
ordinary lives to journey with Jesus, to the Cross and beyond. From there, the gospel, shepherded by the
Holy Spirit, travels throughout the world.
Since March of 2020, we traveled through the uncharted territory of a global pandemic. This journey
affected us as individuals and as communities at work, school, neighborhood, and families. Above all
else, God has sustained us through this journey, and it is our faith that has brought us this far.
It is the same faith that has led God’s people for centuries, and we are now invited to share in the
journey by joining in the renewing work of the Holy Spirit happening all around us. This includes the
continued financial support of our beloved church. More than ever, we must express our love and
gratitude by continuing to pledge to Nativity and Holy Comforter, our spiritual home.
You will be hearing more from John McConnell who is chairing our Annual Giving Campaign this year
on behalf of your Church Council. Please pray about how you can respond this year and about whether
you are called to serve as a member of the Church Council. The Stewardship Ingathering will be on
November 14 when we will also have elections at our Annual Meeting in person and on Zoom.
There is much to celebrate, and there is much to do. As we continue to adapt to what church must look
like in the days to come, it will be essential for that support to continue and grow so that we can say, with
the saints, that we have come this far by faith, and indeed, the best is yet to come.
Faithfully and gratefully yours,
.
Fly-Fishing? Notes from the Church Office
Carolyn Surrick, Parish Administrator
I cannot describe the gratitude I feel for this congregation. I have just finished the penultimate
week of my sabbatical with a trip to Viroqua, Wisconsin where I took part in a Women’s
Spiritual Fly-Fishing Retreat. Yes, you read that correctly. Fly Fishing and women and spiritual
retreat.
Clearly it was a stretch for me. I knew nothing about Fly Fishing. I’m not big on hanging out with
people I don’t know. By nature (and by choice) I tend to keep my thoughts about God to myself –
and if I do share my beliefs, they either sound heretical or like I’m a medieval Druid.
Pastor Stewart understands that I am not the person to go to when seeking answers about God,
and David Neff constantly overestimates my knowledge of all things liturgical or biblical. It’s a
thing.
The women attending this retreat were mostly drawn from an Evangelical with Reformed Roots
congregation in Chicago, and honestly, I wasn’t sure how I would do. I’m not great at keeping my
mouth shut, I don’t think God is gender conforming, and whatever God is, it’s definitely not a
guy. I believe so strongly in a woman’s right to choose that the subject not negotiable for me, and
if anyone ever suggested that submission or obedience was part of my relationship with God, I
might leave the room and never return.
There was a lot for me to think about. There was a lot for me to unpack. I had to listen with an
open heart, to be present to ideas that were challenging to me, and I found myself caring for (and
seeing) people instead of judging their ideology.
It was big. It’s one thing to be a parish
administrator for a congregation that
thinks like you. It’s quite something
else to listen and think and try to be
present with women whose lives are
not like yours.
I was there, in that sacred space
because my sabbatical was embraced
by our congregation. I was able to
reassess so much of my thinking
because things did not come to a
grinding halt when I left town. I
cannot thank you all enough, for
allowing me to be in a bigger world. I am so grateful.
Remembering All Our Saints Sunday, November 7 at both services It’s been a hundred years since the world saw a pandemic that so turned lives upside down, leaving families broken and grieving. Our congregation has been spared the terrible numbers of lost members that many other congregations have seen, but like many others, our losses have been magnified by the solitary nature of our grief. And the solitary nature of our lives. We all know that sorrow resonates within us. Surely the proximity changes the intensity, but when we walk the path with a friend, we are reminded of our own experiences. In these days of isolation, we have all had cause to remember our darkest moments - sometimes recalling a shared life that exists only as a memory. This year, we are not alone on All Saints’ Day. This year we will worship together. We will remember together. There will be prayers, there will be candles, there will be hymns, we will be there for each other as we recognize the magnitude of our grief, the depth of our love. Send the names and pictures of your beloveds to the office. Or bring a framed picture or memento for tables set up in the church for the services on Sunday November 7. May the souls of the all the departed, through the mercies of God, rest in peace. Annual Meeting Sunday November 14 after the 10:30 am service Our congregational meeting this year will be held in the church and on Zoom. We will be reviewing the last year and looking into 2022. The business at hand is to approve the mission budget for the next calendar year and to elect 3 members to our Church Council. Do you have gifts to serve on this new combined governing body of our church? If you would like to be considered for this leadership position, please contact the Nominating Committee council@nativitycomforter.org. Per our new Bylaws, the Nominating Committee will present a slate to the Council for approval, and then the Council will share the candidates with the congregation before November 14.
Firsts of July by Sam Dowding Note from the editor: We have often shared creative writing from fellow members of our church. If you would like to submit a poem, reflection, meditation, or artwork for publication, please send it to office@nativitycomforter.org. In his retirement, Sam Dowding is taking several courses including one on creative writing. You can contact him at samdowdi53@gmail.com Two hundred and fifty-five years to the day that Thornton Wilder’s collapsed Bridge of San Luis Rey tossed five Peruvians to their demise in the gorge below, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module gently touched down on the moon. As Neil Armstrong was disgorged to the surface, he gave to history his famous “one small step for man, one giant step for mankind” line. July 20, 1969 was also the day that I first took flight, departing my native Guyana for the so-called mother country, England. Three different modes of conveyance: a rope bridge, a spacecraft, and a BOAC Vickers Viscount turboprop airplane. Fortunately, the rope bridge was the only one of those three that failed on July 20. My graduating high school class at the Jesuit-run St. Stanislaus College, was scheduled to travel in July 1969 to Lethem, a sleepy town on the southern border that Guyana shared with Brazil. Lethem was notably the site, in January that year, of our Defence Force’s short-lived battle, some may say skirmish, with rebel ranchers who wanted to establish a break-away republic. Upon relating my interest in traveling with my school friends, my father clarified my dilemma: “which one you want? you coming to England or going to the bush?” July 1969 was notable for other firsts in my life. With the flight from Guyana making stops in Trinidad, Barbados and Bermuda on the way to London, it was also the first time that I touched down in each of those countries. Except for Bermuda, that was only the first of many subsequent visits, including a three-year residence in Barbados. Certainly, none of my touchdowns on that day were as monumental as Neil Armstrong’s final hop to the surface of the moon, but those July firsts served as a springboard for the travel bug that would infect me in later life. In recent years, I found out that the Timehri International Airport, formerly Atkinson Field, from which I departed Guyana, and the airport in Bermuda at which I was in-transit, are linked by an interesting World War 2 historical coincidence. Both were built by the American Army in 1941 under the Lend-Lease agreement with the British government. Under this program, airfields were constructed on Bermuda in the North Atlantic, and British Guiana on the north coast of South America, among others on other colonies in the British Caribbean. The songs “Rum and Coca-Cola” by the Andrews Sisters, and the calypso “Jean and Dinah” by Sparrow, are
emblematic of the American presence at Chaguaramas in Trinidad. “Working for the Yankee dollar” was a popular refrain in my youth. The main purpose of the bases established in the colonies was to facilitate air patrols of the Atlantic thereby to combat Nazi submarine incursions. Atkinson Field in Guyana also facilitated an end-run, so to speak, for American troops and supplies to safely cross the Atlantic further south between South America and West Africa, thus circumventing the German menace. Fifty years later, in 2019, I was again in Britain, this time in Glasgow marking another July first. My first visit to Scotland had a secondary exploratory purpose - to find out more about the life of a possible distant relative, Air Chief Marshall Sir Hugh Dowding, who was born in the village of Moffat. I was hoping that I might determine that his 18th and 19th century relatives included the Dowdings that ventured to Barbados and Guyana and became plantation and slave owners in those colonies. On my visit to Moffat, we were met by a friend of a friend, Evelyn Atkins. Evelyn and I had exchanged emails in the two months prior, and she was well acquainted with my interest in learning of Sir Hugh’s provenance. She was a gracious host, shepherding us to the local library, where we viewed their Dowding exhibit, learned that Sir Hugh is celebrated every year on September 4 with aerial fly-overs and speeches, and then took pictures in front of Sir Hugh’s Memorial in the town park as well as at Dowding House. We were denied entry at the latter: sharing an unusual surname with its eponymous honoree was not convincing enough. Alas! Sir Hugh’s birth in Scotland in 1882 was only incidental to his father’s assignment as headmaster of the St. Ninian’s boys’ school, the complex that is now memorialized as Dowding House, a retirement residence for old soldiers and airmen. It was a minor disappointment to establish that his family heritage probably originated in either Ireland or Derbyshire. My search continues. Yet, there was one place in Moffat where my surname accrued some value, however tiny. Having paid by credit card for our delicious smoked salmon sandwich lunch at the Moffat House hotel, I was never billed! My yearning to determine a possible Scottish lineage died, less painfully, but just as surely as the five souls who were precipitated into the Lima gorge when the San Luis Rey rope bridge broke 305 years prior.
Dates to Remember
v Blessing of Quilts Sunday October 17 with Sam
Dowding preaching.
v Mass on the Grass Sunday October 24 at 10:30 am
weather permitting.
v Reformation Sunday, October 31
v Reception for Bill Hallam in Hart Hall on Saturday
afternoon, November 6.
v All Saints’ Sunday, November 7.
v Annual Meeting November 14 after the 10:30 am
service in person and on Zoom with Stewardship
Ingathering.
Daya and Chris
Angalia
April 10, 2021
Doug and Jaclyn
Knowles
October 9, 2021
Leo Cunningham and Robin Marquis
October 2, 2021
International Share a Book Month! There’s been a lot of reading happening while people have been sequestered in their homes. Fewer people have been going to the library, more people have been buying books. This has led to many houses being overrun with once-read books. In an effort to solve all of the world’s problems, The Church of the Nativity and Holy Comforter is hereby declaring this October the First Annual International Share a Book Month. We’re calling on all interested parties to bring in their gently used books, and similarly, take a book that looks like a perfect winter weather antidote. Put them on the sharing table in the foyer. Bring one, take one, give one to a friend. North Avenue Mission Needs Over the last year, this mission has grown from a single street encounter to a flourishing and stable presence in Station North. A grassroots faith-expansive community coming together in the name of healing and human flourishing, NAM is a ministry of and to the vulnerable communities that call this neighborhood home that includes a weekly Free Market, weekly Family Life outreach, and Red Shed Village, all in the Station North neighborhood of Baltimore. Please bring them to the box in the foyer. Deodorant, Bar soap, Shampoo and conditioner, Allergy medicine, Ibuprofen, Wash rags, Lotion! Yoga and Meditation Groups Don't forget about our Monday Chair Yoga gathering at 10:00 am and Thursday night Meditation Group at 7:30 pm. Both gather on Zoom with Linda Mcgill as the leader. You can find times and links in the weekly email and on the back of this newsletter.
Weekly Community Gatherings
See the weekly email or website for Zoom links.
www.nativitycomforter.org
Sunday Mornings
Holy Communion in person at 8:30 and 10:30 am.
Find the livestream on Facebook.
The Church of the
419 Cedarcroft Rd.
Monday Chair Yoga & Mindfulness Meditation
Baltimore, MD 21212
This 10:00 am class is led by Linda McGill.
Nativity & Holy Comforter
Wednesday Healing Prayers
We gather on Zoom at 10:30 am.
Wednesday Night Live
Prayer and reflection at 7:30 pm on Zoom.
Our conversations will inform and reinforce our
faith and spirituality, while promoting an
appreciation for God's creation in its widest diversity.
Thursday Morning Bible Study
meets on Zoom with Pastor Don at 11:00 am
Thursday Evening Meditation Class
with Linda McGill on Zoom from 7:30 - 8:15 pm
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