The View from Bolton Street
Christmas Eve - a look back at the pageant and the traditional services
At about 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, the 24th of December, in the year Two Thousand and Seventeen, many, many children and not a few frazzled parents gathered in Lower Farnham Hall to don costumes and pray for remembered blocking and lyrics as the youth of Memorial Church readied themselves for the Christmas pageant. Having spent all of Advent in Sunday School and Children's Chapel learning and rehearsing, it was now go-time. And go they did.
The appreciative crowd of 140+ was treated to the story of the Nativity as narrated by Kate Gorman and performed by as many as 20 children (the final count was beyond the capabilities of this poor reporter. Kids move fast). The children portrayed the roles of Mary and Joseph and angels and animals while singing hymns and carols to flesh out the story of the Word Incarnate. It was a beautiful service and the children did a fabulous job.
At 10:00 the nave rang with the sound of the Memorial Choir as we began the final hours before Christmas. With thirty minutes of music before the service, a candlelight rendition of "Silent Night," "Angels we have heard on high," and "Joy to the world," it was just the sort of traditional service many of us remember from our own childhood. Descants rang, and at just about the stroke of midnight the joyous hundred went "forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit."
If you were unable to attend this year, we hope that this brief recalling of the evening will help you feel like you were there, and we invite you to join us next year.
Service spotlight: The Altar Guild
Have you ever looked up at the altar before, or during, a service, and wondered about how it is laid out, and who does that? Does the priest? The deacon? The verger? It is the dedicated members of the Altar Guild who set up, break down, clean up, and order all the supplies at every Eucharistic service. We have eight trained members in the Altar Guild, and two serve each week.
Each week before the 10:30 service one member will bring out the linens, the chalice and paten, the bread and wine, and the candles and set everything up in a precise order so that the celebrant can easily reach everything needed for the Eucharist. It is the responsibility of the Altar Guild to make sure we have the correct seasonal color set out -- the purple in the picture above is for Lent.
After the service, everything is removed to the sacristy, the small room just by the elevator, and the chalice and paten get sterilized while the linens are collected to be taken away and washed (also by a member of the Altar Guild).
The Altar Guild manages our supply and orders wafers, wine, and candles as needed. Many thanks are due to them all for their dedicated service. The Altar Guild is in good shape for the foreseeable future, but if any of this sounds interesting, or helpful in deepening your connection with the church, please feel free to reach out to Becky Clark to see about joining the ranks.
Vestry Nominees - Class of 2021
The Nominating Committee of Memorial Church hereby puts forth the following slate for Vestry Class of 2021:
- Fred Demers
Fred Demers has been a Memorial Church member since 1981, when he and his wife, Barbara, came to Baltimore. Attracted to Memorial by Barney Farnham’s leadership, our Diocese’s first ordained clergy woman and Memorial Assistant Rector Phoebe Coe, and Memorial’s shining example of community outreach. Since then, Fred has served as Junior Warden, vestry-member, Treasurer, Sunday School teacher, Samaritan Community Board member, member of various parish committees, and Chair of the Diocesan Compensation & Benefits Committee
He now lives in Bolton Hill and is active in BUILD (as a coach in its Turn-Around-Tuesday community program), Vice Chair of the Board for Integrace retirement communities (formerly EMA – Episcopal Ministries to the Aging), and is in year two of the Education for Ministry (EfM) education program at the Diocese.
Fred has two sons, Ben in Washington, D.C., Peter in Brooklyn, New York, daughter-in-law Angela, and beautiful baby boy / grandson, Leo (two months old!).
- Bill Roberts
Bill Roberts has been at Memorial Church since 1998. He is a registered nurse who leads the Pastoral Health Ministry, and its Partners in Care program. He is co-chair of the Pastoral Care Committee. He feels called to share God’s abundant love through the healing arts, and seeks to assist others to understand and manage their health care, through education, advocacy, and spiritual care. He has presented on health-related topics at several Liturgy and Living forums. He also serves on Memorial’s Justice Committee, where he focuses on immigrant/refugee and public education issues. He volunteers with the Episcopal Refugee and Immigrant Center Alliance (ERICA), a project of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, and is a member of Memorial’s Strong Schools Maryland Team of Ten. He lives in the village of Oella, with his husband and partner of 29 years, Jesse Millan, Jr.
- Daviedra Sauldsberry
Daviedra began attending the Rite One, 7 a.m. service at Memorial in 2002. After searching for a comforting place to worship, she was drawn to the biblical structure of the service and began regularly attending. Daviedra was confirmed in the Episcopal Church, in May 2006, six months after she and her husband, Woody, were married on November 12, 2005 in Sedona, AZ. While not a “cradle Episcopalian” but raised in the Baptist denomination, Daviedra enthusiastically adopted the Episcopal Church sacraments, rituals and ceremonies and has continued her Christian growth by attending the Inquirer’s Class, Wednesday Night Classes, and the first year of EfM. She currently serves as a chalicist, and she and Woody have prepared the Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner for the past few years. Daviedra and Woody live in Baltimore City and enjoy spending time with their 12 year old niece, Raina and 15 year old nephew, Bradley. Professionally, Daviedra is the director of marketing for Baltimore City Community College.
- Bill Wells
Bill is a researcher and government / nonprofit consultant at the University of Baltimore and lives in Bolton Hill with Stacy and their two children, Nathaniel and Mary Anne. While born, baptized, confirmed, and then married at Memorial, Bill has never served on the Vestry. Growing up in Memorial Church, having gone to Sunday School at Memorial, served as an acolyte, chalicist, ultimately being confirmed at Memorial, Bill served as co-chair of the Festival on the Hill for several years ( a lot of fun after growing up enjoying the Festival every year!), served as Co-chair of Memorial's "Rise up Ye Saints" capital campaign and chaired the Buildings and Grounds Committee for many years.
Bill was previously very active in Diocesan and Provincial youth ministry, designing, staffing, and running weekend and week-long youth and young adult conferences at the Bishop Claggett Center, collaborating with the Diocese of Virginia at Shrine Mont center near Orkney Springs, VA. In high school, Bill was fortunate enough to represent Maryland at Provincial youth events and conferences, was a participant at the 1990 Episcopal Youth Event in Missoula Montana, and co-Chair of the Diocesan Youth and Young Adults Committee.
In looking forward to Vestry service, Bill hopes to help continue Memorial's commitment to young adults, families, and youth and their role in ministry and social justice here and the rest of the world.
We will vote to approve the slate after church on January 28 at Annual Meeting in Upper Farnham Hall.
Environmental Epiphany
Saturday, January 6th, at 5:00 pm we will celebrate Epiphany with our liturgical kickoff to Environmental Epiphany. The environmentally focused Eucharist will be based on the Sunday evening Taize service rounded out by selections from years past. Taize is a chant based service designed to promote a meditative state of mind and ease of prayer. It is wonderfully appropriate to the season - encouraging all to discover new insights for themselves.
The eucharistic liturgy is rooted in themes of Creation, Water, and Light. The service, however, is not the end of our Environmental Epiphany. Each Saturday in Epiphany we will be hosting an environmentally focused film in Upper Farnham Hall, and then host a discussion of the film's subject the following day at Liturgy & Living after coffee hour in Upper Farnham Hall. All are welcome to join us for this free series of films, and for Liturgy & Living.
The complete list of Films will be updated in this space soon, so keep your eyes open!
The view from Bolton Street
Merry Christmas!
As we wind towards the end of 2017 and approach Christmas, time (finally) begins to turn a little slower. School work is slowing down, businesses are rushing to close out year-end reports or taking some much needed rest before the new year. You may be making last minute arrangements to visit family or friends, or just planning some quiet time at home. For more than a few folks this is a well-deserved, even necessary, break from an otherwise busy and hectic year. A time to take stock of the year that was and what is to come.
National and international politics has left us more divided. Violence and inequality locally continue to hurt our neighbors, friends and our whole city. A rise in ‘hate’, new voices carrying old messages of racism, bigotry, homophobia and xenophobia has left many of us a little more scared and a little less hopeful this holiday season.
It has also, I suspect, been a good year for many of you personally. New friends, new opportunities, new connections in unexpected places. Maybe some new love, new joy brought into your life. It certainly has been a good year for our parish community — a renewed sense of purpose around justice issues, community and children and youth; new members, new programs, new faces in the pews and I hope, a lot of new joy.
As we wrestle a bit more than usual with the tension between the good and bad, between fear and hope I want to invite you into the ‘Upside Down’ world of the Christmas Story.
You see the story of Christmas is the story of the birth of a Savior. A King! But royal births should have been in Rome or at least Jerusalem. They should have royal courts. And royal announcements. They should have clear lineages with high born parents. The world should take notice.
But what ‘should be’ for us is rarely what ‘should be’ for God. And Jesus - born lowly in a manger, surrounded by animals, heralded by shepherds, of dubious origin came - is here - to save us all.
So don’t worry if your world feels a little ‘upside down’ right now. Jesus was born into that upside down reality in order to turn us all right-side up. And as you take stock of the ending year and start looking toward the year ahead ‘fear not!’ Don’t worry if you don’t have the accolades, the wealth, the power, the prestige being projected from Washington, Rome, or City Hall - but instead look to the still small signs of hope and resurrection in your life, and in our common life, that tell us a new day is ahead. Take joy in knowing that the Light of the World comes amidst the darkness, in unexpected places, and in humble ways.
That is our Merry Christmas Story.
Christmas Lessons and Carols
What do we do once Christmas Day has come and gone? Many of our children may believe that the 25th is it; presents received and game over. Thankfully, we've got at least 12 days of Christmas (depending on whose calendar you are following) until Epiphany on January 6, to celebrate the coming of the King.
If you count yourself among those who can't get enough of Christmas - the stories, the music, and the joy - then Christmas Lessons and Carols, the First Sunday after Christmas, is for you.
Featuring six lessons from Genesis, Isaiah, and Luke, and six of everyone's favorite hymns, this is a more relaxed take on Christmas than the 24th, while still keeping all the wonder and mystery of the story. The choir is off for the weekend as a Christmas gift, and we can use every voice (whether you think it's any good or not!) to fill the space with a joyous sound.
10:30 am in the church on Sunday, December 31.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Services
Christmas Eve + Christmas Day Program
As we gather to celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus, please join us for one of three Christmas Services this weekend.
At 5:00 the service is centered around the story of Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus, as portrayed by the youth of Memorial. It’s the same story and many of the same words that we will hear later in the evening, but with a special interpretation that only children can give it. If you would like to be in bed sooner, rather than later, this is the service for you.
At 10:00 pm, the choir and musical guests will begin the last preparations for the arrival of Christmas. The service, sometimes referred to as “Midnight Mass” will begin at 10:30. With candlelight and all the music you remember this is one of the highlights of the liturgical year, and it comes right at the beginning! The service will end just before midnight with joy and fellowship and blessings of peace on earth and goodwill to all. This is, for many of us, a necessary refreshment after the harried and sometimes impatient period that is Advent. If you are in need of a break and a reminder of what Christmas is really all about, we’d love to see you at 10:30 on December 24.
On Christmas Day we will celebrate with an informal Eucharist with carols. A lovely, quiet way to start the Christmas season officially, it serves, for many, as a touchstone in the midst of Christmas Day busy-ness. Come join us for that bit of joy and celebration on Christmas Day.
2018 pilgrimage to Spain
The diocese is sponsoring a pilgrimage to Spain June 13-22, 2018. Led by Canon Scott Slater and Vaughn Vigil, this pilgrimage will follow the route of the Camino de Santiago. Deposits need to be made by January 15. Contact Vaughn (vaughn@memorialepiscopal.org) for further details.
