Nov 19 Liturgy and Living: Trans and Christian.

This Sunday, please plan to join us following the 10:30 service for a special Liturgy and Living program in honor of Trans Day of Remembrance. Our speaker will be Vivian Taylor, a seminarian at Duke University, Army Veteran, and a person of sincere and deep faith.

This year so far, at least 25 trans individuals have died by violence in the United States. Please come here how this issue affects those of us of the Christian Faith.

Vivian Taylor is a leader in the North Carolina Transgender Action Committee who organized against North Carolina's bathroom bill and previously was the executive director of the Episcopal Church's national LGBTQ ministry.

Find What Feeds You

Find What Feeds You

2017 has been a year of abundance at Memorial with new faces in the congregation, new and revived ministries, better relationships with our neighborhood, and new pledges. In the midst of growing concern about the state of our country and the world around us, it is easy to overlook the abundance in our lives, and at Memorial particularly.  As a Church, we are blessed with spiritual and material wealth including the talent, energy and resources to care for each other, our church and our world. We are fed by our shared faith, our commitment to our brothers and sisters and a belief that we can each help make the world better.  Every day we live out Jesus' commandment to 'feed people' in new and different ways.

How are we 'feeding people' at Memorial? We are:

Expanding our community. Attendance is growing, with many new and returning faces.

Creating space for the kids. Sunday School is bursting with energy; we have opened the "Pray-ground; and expanded staffed nursery hours for wee ones. 

Initiating new members into Christ's body. Celebrating ten baptisms this year! Membership is up as well.

Caring for this fragile earth our island home. We use 100% wind power, have begun a tree planting project, and joined One Water Baltimore to protect the Jones Falls.

Creating a Home. The Episcopal Service Corps interns are making our Rectory a home again and contributing to our life together. Community groups use our space every day of the week.

Sharing our talents. From the choir to the food pantry to acting on stage, we use the gifts God gave us.

Welcoming questions and learn together. We have re-started a regular inquirers class to bring in new members, leading challenging bible studies and asking difficult questions about our faith and common life.

Not afraid to speak. From racism + bail reform to education + immigration-Jesus gave us a voice to use it.

Welcoming all. From newcomers and returning members to those exploring religion for the first time. From Sunday best to did-my-best-and-got-here, Memorial is a place for YOU to be fed.

How Does Memorial Feed You? What gives you energy, strength and joy?

Among all our ministries and activities, we invite you to find those that feed you.  All that we do together, for each other and for our community, needs resources to continue. Please consider the ways in which you are fed at Memorial as you determine your pledge of support for the work of the church so that we can continue and expand our work in the next year.

in peace, Father Grey

Combined Service with St. Mark’s Lutheran Church

For the Feast of Christ the King Memorial will join with our brothers and sisters in Christ at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church.  We will have a joint choir, joint readings and a special guest preacher — the Rev. Rob W. Lee — a descendent of Robert E. Lee who has been very active in preaching about the evils of White Supremacy and the need to deconstruct the idols we have made in.

Stewardship In-Gathering This Sunday

You should now have received a letter inviting you to make your annual pledge to support the mission and ministries of Memorial in 2018. The letter is accompanied by a pledge card and a financial statement that describes our plans and hopes for the coming year. Please read them carefully as you determine your level of support, understanding that we can only move forward with our vision for the future with assurance of a financial commitment from parishioners.

We hope you will bring your pledge card to the In-Gathering this Sunday, Nov. 19. Other options are noted on the card itself. If you have not received a pledge card, there will be some on the table at the back of the church or you can request one from the office.

Honesty: A Shooting In Texas

I want to be brutally honest with you.

The hardest part, for me personally, about this weekends shooting, at a Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, TX truly shocked me.

It wasn't the numbers of dead and wounded - though that was tragic.

It wasn't that the pastor lost his own daughter in the shooting - though that was heartbreaking.

It wasn't even the (again) ignored incidents of domestic violence, or the lack of interest in our elected officials wanting to do something - ANYTHING - to stop this kind of event from happening again.

The hardest part. The worst part. For me? Was my first response to this tragedy.

"Oh, another shooting. Too bad nothing will happen."

It was hard for me, a Christian Pastor, to muster an emotional response because this is happening so often. Everyday there is more gun violence, more angry husbands, more emotionally disturbed young men, more incidents of violent extremism.  And everyday we as a country seek to do nothing to prevent it from happening again.

Maybe you are like me? Maybe you are also tired of what seems like almost weekly reminders of how many guns are on our streets and how unwilling we are collectively to stop it. Maybe you are tired of getting upset. Tired of feeling hurt and angry and sad.  Maybe you don't know what else to do.

There is an increasing amount of condemnation of 'thoughts and prayers' in the wake of shootings like this - and while I agree that thoughts and prayers are not enough, they serve an important purpose.

Because Sunday Afternoon, after I took some time to breathe, and pray, and consider Jesus' pain at yet another mass shooting at the hands of a young man with a semi-automatic weapon, I was reminded that there is still much for us to do.  Jesus offered me the strength to cry, to mourn, to open myself up to feel a bit of the pain of that community, of that pastor, and of the thousands of victims and relatives of victims of gun violence around the country and right here in Baltimore.  I was reminded that we still pray for the victims of gun violence every day. I was reminded that Reggie Jefferson, a security guard at Pedestal Gardens, was shot just a few blocks from Memorial for doing his job.

So friends, please don't stop praying. But also don't forget that we have a common responsibility to work to end violence by being active in our communities, by cutting off the flow of cheap guns into our cities and towns, and by creating spaces for people to share their stories of pain and hurt before they turn into violent acts of retribution - whether it's because of a drug beef, a domestic incident, mental illness, or just pure anger. 

So keep praying friends. Keep listening, and keep working for peace. 

in peace, Father Grey