E-Church 10:30am, 2/28

To join us, all you need to do is click on the link below. We will have the order of service up on the screen to follow along. We recognize that all of us have different levels of comfort with technology - we will do our best to help everyone do what they need to feel comfortable and participate!

Two tips for Zoom worship:

1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance. 

2) Please mute yourself unless you have a speaking role in the service. And if you find you are muted, please don’t unmute yourself unless asked. However - even when you are muted, please do respond to the prayers and readings, as we are all worshipping together. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84992001341?pwd=QUMvMFYzZU9HQkRLVmxISkVPRGlIQT09

Meeting ID: 849 9200 1341

Password: 563025

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (Germantown)

+19292056099,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (New York)

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+13126266799,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

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        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID: 876 9436 6639

Password: 729226

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoU8Ii34Q

E-Church 10:30am, 2/21

To join us, all you need to do is click on the link below. We will have the order of service up on the screen to follow along. We recognize that all of us have different levels of comfort with technology - we will do our best to help everyone do what they need to feel comfortable and participate!

Two tips for Zoom worship:

1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance. 

2) Please mute yourself unless you have a speaking role in the service. And if you find you are muted, please don’t unmute yourself unless asked. However - even when you are muted, please do respond to the prayers and readings, as we are all worshipping together. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84992001341?pwd=QUMvMFYzZU9HQkRLVmxISkVPRGlIQT09

Meeting ID: 849 9200 1341

Password: 563025

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (Germantown)

+19292056099,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (New York)

One tap mobile
+13017158592,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID: 876 9436 6639

Password: 729226

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoU8Ii34Q

E-Church 10:30am, 2/14

To join us, all you need to do is click on the link below. We will have the order of service up on the screen to follow along. We recognize that all of us have different levels of comfort with technology - we will do our best to help everyone do what they need to feel comfortable and participate!

Two tips for Zoom worship:

1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance. 

2) Please mute yourself unless you have a speaking role in the service. And if you find you are muted, please don’t unmute yourself unless asked. However - even when you are muted, please do respond to the prayers and readings, as we are all worshipping together. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84992001341?pwd=QUMvMFYzZU9HQkRLVmxISkVPRGlIQT09

Meeting ID: 849 9200 1341

Password: 563025

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (Germantown)

+19292056099,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (New York)

One tap mobile
+13017158592,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID: 876 9436 6639

Password: 729226

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoU8Ii34Q

E-Faith@8, 2/14

The Faith@8 group is continuing to meet during this time of social distancing. Join us for an informal, community led service with more questions than answers and an open spot for whoever appears. Just follow the Zoom link below!

Memorial Faith@8

Time: Sundays at 8:00AM Eastern

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83309554789?pwd=czZUbWt6Yk1WVmgvNlAwNExQUWc5QT09

Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789

Passcode: 214106

Dial by your location

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789

Passcode: 214106

The View from Robert Street

God is Here

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

Has it not been told you from the beginning? 

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

Isaiah 40:21

Sometimes a thing is so obvious, too obvious, that we don’t notice it.  The prophet Isaiah reminds us of the one simple truth that underlies all of our existence.  

God made this. 

Genesis 1 starts out “In the Beginning, God” 

John 1 starts out “In the beginning, the Word” 

In the beginning, God was already there.  From the foundations of the earth, knitting us together in our mother’s wombs, God has always been there.  Through floods and fires, God has been there. Through plagues and wars, God has been there.  At the crucifixion, when Christians were fed to the lions and hung on crosses, God was there. Through crusades, and darkness, God was there. Through wars of religion and division, through the spanish flu, all the way up to the present day, God was there. 

And God is here now. 

As your (and my) frustrations rise over human error around vaccine distribution and disease management and mask adoption — we should heed Isaiah’s reminder that God is here. God hears our cries, shares in our frustration and anxiousness, and wishes for us all to be whole and together soon. 

If we are patient, if we are prayerful, If we listen and discern to what God is calling us towards — God will provide. 

but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.

In 2017 when we started talking about racism and the Church, there was no agenda.  Though we all had human inclinations to ‘fix it’ — as a body we were patient, prayerful and discerning.  We listened to God’s still small voice, we heard the cries of ancestors in the stillness of our own hearts, and we noticed the fissures and cracks in our own hearts. 

So when we finally moved towards reparations, we did so understanding God’s place in that work, and our role as well.  It doesn’t mean it will be easy!  But it does mean we are clear that Jesus is walking with us in this work. 

What other parts of our lives could we slow down in? Listen? Pray? Wait? Hope? 

Where else do we need God’s clear presence in our lives?

Perhaps as we struggle to find our way in a post-COVID world, a we figure out how to re-open, to prioritize our schedules, and wait for vaccines, we can do some prayerful consideration of where is Jesus in this moment and how do we go about following him.  

Because this is God’s world. We just live here. 

E-Faith@8, 2/7

The Faith@8 group is continuing to meet during this time of social distancing. Join us for an informal, community led service with more questions than answers and an open spot for whoever appears. Just follow the Zoom link below!

Memorial Faith@8

Time: Sundays at 8:00AM Eastern

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83309554789?pwd=czZUbWt6Yk1WVmgvNlAwNExQUWc5QT09

Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789

Passcode: 214106

Dial by your location

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789

Passcode: 214106

E-Church 10:30am, 2/7

To join us, all you need to do is click on the link below. We will have the order of service up on the screen to follow along. We recognize that all of us have different levels of comfort with technology - we will do our best to help everyone do what they need to feel comfortable and participate!

Two tips for Zoom worship:

1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance. 

2) Please mute yourself unless you have a speaking role in the service. And if you find you are muted, please don’t unmute yourself unless asked. However - even when you are muted, please do respond to the prayers and readings, as we are all worshipping together. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84992001341?pwd=QUMvMFYzZU9HQkRLVmxISkVPRGlIQT09

Meeting ID: 849 9200 1341

Password: 563025

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (Germantown)

+19292056099,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (New York)

One tap mobile
+13017158592,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID: 876 9436 6639

Password: 729226

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoU8Ii34Q

E-Church 10:30am, 1/31

To join us, all you need to do is click on the link below. We will have the order of service up on the screen to follow along. We recognize that all of us have different levels of comfort with technology - we will do our best to help everyone do what they need to feel comfortable and participate!

Two tips for Zoom worship:

1) Let us see your face! If at all possible, please start a video feed so we can see each other face to face, even across distance. 

2) Please mute yourself unless you have a speaking role in the service. And if you find you are muted, please don’t unmute yourself unless asked. However - even when you are muted, please do respond to the prayers and readings, as we are all worshipping together. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84992001341?pwd=QUMvMFYzZU9HQkRLVmxISkVPRGlIQT09

Meeting ID: 849 9200 1341

Password: 563025

One tap mobile

+13017158592,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (Germantown)

+19292056099,,84992001341#,,,,0#,,563025# US (New York)

One tap mobile
+13017158592,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Germantown)
+13126266799,,85296035556#,,1#,141735# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

        +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

        +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)

        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

        +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)

Meeting ID: 876 9436 6639

Password: 729226

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdoU8Ii34Q

E-Faith@8, 1/31

The Faith@8 group is continuing to meet during this time of social distancing. Join us for an informal, community led service with more questions than answers and an open spot for whoever appears. Just follow the Zoom link below!

Memorial Faith@8

Time: Sundays at 8:00AM Eastern

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83309554789?pwd=czZUbWt6Yk1WVmgvNlAwNExQUWc5QT09

Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789

Passcode: 214106

Dial by your location

        +1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)

        +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)

Meeting ID: 833 0955 4789

Passcode: 214106

The View from Robert Street

We Did It!

This past Sunday we took five huge steps forward to act on Memorial’s commitment to Justice through reparations! 

We announced the Guy Hollyday Memorial Justice and Reparations Fund - a five year commitment to a minimum $100,000 a year in outward facing justice programs focused on housing inequality, education reform, climate justice and civic engagement. 

We authorized a $50,000 (10%) withdrawal from the Parish's endowed funds to jumpstart the Hollyday Justice and Reparations Fund immediately. 

We adopted our 2021 budget that includes an additional $50,000 which, together with the endowment funds, will ensure that we meet our new $100,000 annual commitment to Justice and Reparations ministry this year.

We launched the "Memorial Makes Room" campaign to prepare our sanctuary for a post COVID reality where we are making room in our sanctuary for Faith, Justice and Community by repairing and replacing the floors, adding lights and installing a modern HVAC system. 

Finally, we commemorated the removal, deconsecration and re-installation of the Memorial Plaques in the Rectory Garden; acknowledging that the presence of the plaques memorializing slave owners does continued harm to our African-American members and all who enter our sanctuary.  

I am proud to stand with all of you on such a momentous occasion and it would not have happened without all of your prayers, intentions, and actions over the last few years.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So you are probably wondering.... What's Next? 

We are in the process of identifying an advisory committee to help direct our attention and efforts - made up of both Memorial and Community Members.  The committee will include representatives from BOND(Building our Nation's Daughters), The No Boundaries Coalition, The Madison Park Improvement Association and St. Katherine's. Their first task will be to help us identify a justice organizer to help guide our efforts and to build a detailed Justice and Reparations Action Plan. 

The organizer will be crucial in providing full-time support for the Justice and Reparations Ministry in several ways:

• Raise significant grant funds for the Ministry each year for projects identified in our Action Plan that will focus on black led organizations in West Baltimore in general and our zip code in particular

• Staff, organize and mobilize around concrete justice initiatives in the 21217 zip code

• Facilitate connections between our organization partners and support from a broader base of local and state organizations directed to Hollyday Fund priorities

Next, We will reform Memorial's justice committee with a focused study on Justice and Reparations from January-May. We will publish a reading list for the rest of the congregation to participate in. Informed also by the Hollyday Advisory Committee, we should conclude in June with a summary of findings for the parish about where we believe God is calling us as a body to engage in justice work. 

The work of the Advisory Committee and the focused study referenced above will provide the foundation for the vestry to meet this spring and make decisions to allocate the first funds from the Hollyday Fund.  Some of this will go to the Diocesan Reparations Fund, but most of it will go directly to support the work outlined in the Action Plan in our communities right now.  

A generous donor from the congregation has come forward with a gift of $10,000 annually for the next five years to the Guy Hollyday Justice and Reparations Fund.  While the endowment contribution will help us meet our 2021 $100,000 commitment and grant funds will further ensure meeting that commitment each year, we think it very important that the congregation itself meet at least half of the $100,000. If you would like to help us match it, you can donate here.