Open Worship Committee Meeting

Join us for an Open Worship Committee Meeting Next Wednesday, May 2nd at 6 pm 

If you would like to be a part of helping us re-visit worship, join us on May 2nd for an Open Worship Committee meeting to discuss plans for Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, as well as Summer worship plans.  We need everyone’s input and energy.  

For more please see Father Grey’s Reflection: 

https://www.memorialboltonhill.org/blog/2018/4/18/the-view-from-bolton-st

Book Club - May 8

Next book club is May 8 at 7:30 in the Memorial Rectory. 

The book selection was made by Tiz  and is A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility—a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal, and is sentenced to house arrest in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin. Rostov, an indomitable man of erudition and wit, has never worked a day in his life, and must now live in an attic room while some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history are unfolding outside the hotel’s doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.

Brimming with humor, a glittering cast of characters, and one beautifully rendered scene after another, this singular novel casts a spell as it relates the count’s endeavor to gain a deeper understanding of what it means to be a man of purpose.
 

(Summary from Amazon)

If you are interested in dinner we will be eating at the Dizz again at 5:30 before hand.

Movies that Matter

Wednesday, May 9, 2018, 6 pm

Memorial Episcopal Church
1407 Bolton Street
Baltimore, MD 21217

An evening of films exploring powerful themes through the lens of some of Baltimore's finest youth filmmakers from Wide Angle Youth Media.

We will screen and then discuss each with the creative teens who made these films.

Void
Addresses the circumstances of teenage depression with a rare power.

Violence in Baltimore: A Community in Chaos
Provides insight into the ways young people are challenging dominant narratives and seeking peaceful, de-escalating methods of conflict resolution.

"Why Black Lives Matter"
Selection of short films that explore themes of intersectionality and how different systems impact race in Baltimore.

The event is free and open to the public. We will pass the hat to raise money for programs that support youth, so please come prepared to be generous.

Screening co-sponsored by the Public Justice Center and Memorial Episcopal Church.

Look Back: Earth Day at Memorial

By Dick Williams, Creation Care Team Co-Lead

Earth Day along the sidewalks of Memorial was marked by two colorful Planet Earth 22” Bubble balloons tethered to hand railings.  The idea included marking our W. Lafayette and Rectory entrances for neighborhood and other visitors who might be unsure of where to enter for Tom Pelton’s presentation at Liturgy & Living. 

Or, in the Rectory meeting room, for Lisa Schroeder’s pre-show reception and talk about some important projects at Parks & People Foundation which also included JoAnn Trach Tongson’s and my presentation about the butterfly micro-habitat/garden classroom at Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School.

In case you missed Tom Pelton’s presentation, his talk about the Bay and environmental regulations brought cheers and a standing ovation for his work.  Yeah, true!  A great turnout by Memorial’s tree huggers.  Many bought one or multiple copies of Tom’s new book, The Chesapeake in Focus: Transforming the Natural World.  I have a few copies that I’d sell to you at $20/ea. with all proceeds going to our Creation Care restricted account at Memorial.  Incidentally, I recommend you add Tom’s “The Environment in Focus” weekly radio show on WYPR to your list of news sources.  I find it valuable.

Lisa Schroeder talked about 6 new parks built by Parks & People in neglected East and West Baltimore, meant to help reconnect neighbors with one another.  Beyond the ubiquitous swing sets and the like in neighborhood parks, she told us surveyed residents wanted chess boards.  And, that’s exactly what’s been provided.  She described 8 Equity Goals of the foundation.  Goal #8 was important to me: “…implementing a performance management process that includes developing outcomes, indicators for success and program evaluation methods.”  While the turnout was small, much deeper networking among people who do green in Baltimore City was afforded.  My expectations are high for results from the networking.

Thanks to all of you who attended one or both presentations!  Much learning about Creation Care was offered.

Glistening: Nature mirrored through video art

I strongly encourage you to consider spending some time taking in the show “Glistening: Nature Mirrored in Video Art” at Maryland Hall in Annapolis.  It closes on Saturday, May 5th.  Details about it may be found at this link.

What’s captivating about the video art is how Nature has inspired the artists to consider it through the medium of video art.  It’s one of the most stunning and beautiful art shows I’ve seen in the recent years.  And, as the artworks are loaned by a private collector couple, you won’t be able see it after the show.

It’s on our shared topic of appreciating Nature for all of its wonders.  And, how such appreciation must for the faithful translate into caring for it.

Look Back: Thomas Sunday with the Jazz quartet

This year ‘Low’ Sunday was anything but!  

The Sunday after Easter Memorial was joined by Katherine Gorman, Isaac Chang, Lola Stevenson and Cameron Thomas - four students from Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA) who took us on a ‘Closer Walk’ so that we could ‘Wade in the Water’ with ‘St. Thomas’ and feel a little ‘Sunny’ in this colder than usual April. 

In many Episcopal Churches, the Sunday after Easter has low attendance, a guest preacher, and Some exhausted clergy and staff. 

But Memorial is not your typical Episcopal Church. Jazz Music, new hymns and service music from ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’, and an energetic sermon challenging all of us to ‘get Resurrected’ kept the hopefullness and the energy going after Easter Sunday. 

We are hopeful that ‘the BSA Quartet’ can join us again at least once more before the year is out. And if you couldn’t be with us on Sunday, a sample of their playing is included below. 

The View from Bolton St.

Okay maybe I went a little over board.   It turns out we DO need a bulletin for some things. Like when the Priest needs to read of the special prayer intentions at the end of the service for example! 

But I am excited, because the energy that came out of the service, and the vestry report after on Worship and Culture, is generating a lot of positive conversation about how we worship and live together at Memorial.  From involving student artists and musicians more regularly, to increasing special services, to focusing more intently on how we pray and study scripture together, on Sunday Mornings and throughout the week.  And because, more importantly, I think we are in the beginning conversations about really examining the culture of Memorial to engage the question of ‘are we a welcoming congregation to our friends and neighbors?’ That is to say, are we a congregation that is intentionally welcoming to young children, people of color, and the millennial and post-millennial communities that are increasingly part of our surrounding communities.  It is my and the vestry’s hope that anyone who comes into our worship space can make the same journey the Disciples did in Sunday’s gospel — from fear to joy, from worry to hope, from despair to disbelief in how good God can be. 

For those of you who couldn’t be there this Sunday, don’t worry!  There will be many more times to engage with these questions. Beginning with our next worship committee meeting on May 2nd at 6:00 pm.  This meeting is open to any member of the congregation who is interested in being involved in our worship life.  Are you a fan of Jesus and punk rock karaoke? Do you love musicals as much (or more) than you love scripture? Does traditional Anglican Evensong transport you into a different realm? Do you have a love of the visual arts and aren’t sure how that fits into a Sunday morning context? Please join us.  If you would like to participate, but need child care, please email Jamie in the office so we can plan ahead. 

Erin Kelly, our worship committee chair, and I are excited about this new direction for the worship committee,  and about working to make the sunday morning experience a transformational moment in people’s weeks and people’s lives.  If this is interesting to you, I hope you will join us. 

If you would like to watch the full Sunday Sermon It is available Here:  https://www.facebook.com/MemorialEpiscopal/videos/1868666263155911/  

Special Guests!

On Sunday, April 29, at the 10:30 am service, we will have a special encore presentation for the Offertory Anthem. The children's chorus of Into the woods along with Kay-Megan Washington (the Witch) will be performing for us. As part of the wrap-up of Into the Woods, the performance will help connect the show's message with the church's message. You don't want to miss church on April 29!

Special "Into the Woods" Liturgy & Living

On April 29, after Coffee Hour, director Stephen Deininger, who also played Tateh in Ragtime and Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden, will join us to talk about Into the Woods. Stephen plans to focus on the spiritual and social themes in the show, particularly where children are concerned. How do we build and keep coherent family units? How do we raise responsible children? How on earth can Into the Woods help with that? It promises to be a fascinating and uplifting discussion that will help all of us to achieve a greater connection with the Theater Arts ministry and why we go through all this work every Spring.

Earth Day at Memorial

Here’s what’s up at on Earth Day at Memorial, Sunday, April 22nd—a week from today! Please consider supporting with your presence and your questions one or both of these efforts. 

•  12:10pm in Upper Farnham Hall (W. Lafayette St. entrance): Noted environmental broadcast journalist/author Tom Pelton will discuss Chesapeake Bay history as described in his new book, The Chesapeake in Focus: Transforming the Natural World.  Tom speaks boldly and knowledgably about the Bay and environmental challenges.  His publicist will have copies of the book for purchase and signing.

• 1:30pm in the Rectory Building (1209 Bolton St.): At the “Into the Woods” pre-show reception, Lisa Schroeder, President & CEO of Parks & People Foundation, will tell us about the organization’s current initiative to connect everyone in Baltimore to nature, their communities and each other through vibrant parks and green spaces. The foundation is currently creating parks in 5 blighted neighborhoods to provide equitable access to safe, healthy green space for 65,000 people within a 10-minute walk. Next steps in striving to achieve that equity throughout the city will be offered.

JoAnn Trach Tongson, talented landscape architect with Mahan Rykiel Associates, will join parishioner/green team co-lead Dick Williams in discussing the pollinator micro-habitat/garden classroom now under construction at Mount Royal Elementary/Middle School.  (Copies of Tom Pelton’s book will be on hand for purchase there too.)