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Glad Tidings A MONTHLY PUBLICATION OF THE CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY April 2016 Issue No. 04-16

A Sabbatical For You and For Me

A recent study discovered that women need more sleep than men. The study found that because women tend to multi-task during the day, their brains need more recovery time during sleep. During sleep, the brain rebuilds itself, ready for the next day’s tasks and to-do’s. I imagine that sooner or later

there will be another sleep study that will determine that men need more sleep than we realized as well. As anyone who has lived with a toddler can tell you, rest is vital for us all. Our bodies, including our brains, cannot function well without adequate rest. Psalm 46:11a tells us “Be still, and know that I am God.” Prophets, sages, and spiritu-al teachers remind us again and again that to hear God, we must wait for the silences, the space around the edges, the quiet moments when all is still. “For God alone my soul in silence waits,” Psalm 62 reminds us. We need rest and stillness for the renewal of our souls as well as our bodies. This summer, we will have a time for rest, for renewal, for a longer-than-usual Sabbath. I will be taking a three-month long sabbatical, a rest from church work for the summer, but this isn’t just a time of rest and renewal for me alone. I invite the entire congregation of Nativity to take it a bit easier this summer–to make time for rest, for worship, for renewal, for fun. Our worship life will be in good hands this summer. The summer schedule will begin on May 29. We will move to two services, one at 8:30 am, the second at 10:30 am. 8:30 am will be contemplative and quiet for those who need some additional quiet. 10:30 am will have music, and those who would like to have fun vol-unteering to lead the singing in the pick-up choir are encouraged to do so. The Rev. Dr. Kara Slade and the Rev. Nita Byrd will preach and celebrate for worship this summer. I am excited that you will hear their voices during this time as both are excellent preachers with a passion for Je-sus and for the church. I believe you will enjoy getting to know them better and the prayerful, joyful pres-ence they will bring. Deacon David will continue his role in providing pastoral care during the summer. As for me, my time away will begin on May 23. I will be attending two conferences this summer: one on women’s leadership in the church, and another on asset-based community development. I will be attending a program on spirituality, which my children have dubbed “priest camp,” to go deeper into my relationship with God and to spend time with God in rest and contemplation. I have a large stack of books that have been looking at me for the past couple of years that I intend to tackle. My family has a trip to the beach planned, as time by the ocean has always been restorative to my soul. Mostly though, I plan to have time to do nothing, to knit, to run, to spend time with my family, and to rest. I am excited to experience worship with other communities this summer in Raleigh and on our travels. I encourage you all to continue coming to church this summer, and if you are out of town, visit the local Episcopal congregation and experience the similarities and differences in our communities. I will be back at Nativity August 29, eager to hear how your sabbatical time has been. Please keep me in your prayers this summer, and know that you all will be in mine.

Peace, Stephanie +

Glad Tidings Deadlines for the May 2016 Issue Submissions due Monday, April 18, at noon; Mailing date: Wednesday, April 27

Send articles to gladtidings@nativityonline.org

Our Mission: To inspire, nurture and expand Nativity’s spiritual growth through faith, worship, and community

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Glad tidings April, 2016

From the Senior Warden

In recent years, Church of the Nativity has been pleased to embrace many new members with new ideas and energy. And there are no signs that the folks who have been around awhile are slowing down at all. In fact, it is fair to say the two groups are mutually invigorating, whether in helping with the morning services, lifting trusses into place for a Habitat house, or filling a need on a ministry team. During those same years, however, we have not been able to fund as we would like the growing pro-gram demand, especially in mission, outreach, and creation care. In last month's column, I wrote about a campaign under consideration by the vestry to install solar panels on the education building and to elimi-nate our mortgage debt, thereby potentially increas-ing the annual program lines by more than $50,000. I want say a few words here about the decision making process regarding this campaign and how you might choose to be involved. As you know, we are pretty open around here about our operations. If you ever want to know what happened at the last vestry meeting or check out the latest financial re-ports, all you have to do is walk out of the men's or women's bathrooms in Estill House and check the

bulletin board. After talking with people who have been involved with recent capital campaigns at other churches, we invited two consultants for interviews at Church of Nativity. These interviews were open to all parish-ioners, though the timing was not convenient for many. However, both interviews (each just over an hour) can be downloaded from the desktop of the copy room computer in Estill House. Just bring a flash drive, open up the file with my name on it, and download a copy. Diana Church is a consultant with the 66-year-old Episcopal Church Foundation, and Peter Saros is an independent consultant who has so far advised 170 Episcopal Churches. The vestry plans to make at its April 19 meeting a decision about whether to proceed with the cam-paign, and if so with what consultant, if any. Before making these final decisions, the vestry is inviting all members of the parish to ask questions, express opinions, enter into dialogue. Toward that end, the April 10 Adult Formation Class will be de-voted to discussion of this matter. In addition, all vestry members invite your comments or questions at any time.

Spring Workday in April Alfred Christensen

Our semi-annual workday is scheduled for Saturday, April 9, from 9 am–3 pm. It has become a tradition that we have these workdays twice a year. If you have participated in one of those days before, you will know we experience a wonderful fellow-ship when working together with the purpose of making our church property look nice and welcoming. As usual, we have a long list of activities to be done on the workday. There are small activities and large activities, there are jobs kids and teens can do, and there are jobs for the craftsmen among us. No matter what your age or skills are, we will have a job for you that day. We will gather for bagels, coffee and juice at 9am, work the morning hours, break for a pizza lunch at noon and continue working until 3 pm or until the list of activities runs out (that has never happened so far). Come for as long as you can. We invite everyone to participate.

Update on Capital Campaign Deliberations Pete Crow, Senior Warden

Buildings and Grounds

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Glad tidings April, 2016

Parish Life

Art Show Features Travel Photography

Evelyn Judson

The current exhibition of parishioners' artwork opened Easter Sunday in the hallway behind the nave. The photographs were taken by Alfred and Gail Christen-sen during their travels in North and South America and Europe. Gail was one of the founders of Church of the Nativity and Alfred is a former Senior Warden.

New Citizens Congratulations to Alfred Christensen, Jon Edwards, and Roger Lias for recently becoming US citizens. Roger hails from England, and was sworn in on Octo-ber 30, 2015. Jon is from Canada and Alfred from Denmark. They both became US citizens on January 29, 2016.

Outreach

The Journey Is Part of the Gift: Honduras 2016 Steve Gordon

Many, perhaps most, of the people who come to our annual health clinics in Honduras come on foot. We’re up in the foothills, in a crossroads called Mad-rigales, and walking there from anywhere is a tough trek. We add to the difficulty by running the clinics in January, when the weather is hot and the dust is kicking up on the roads. This year, a girl named Yohansy walked to Madri-gales to see Pete Crow. She’d hiked to and from the clinic the day before and didn’t need anything more from us. She made a second journey solely to deliver a letter to “Don Pedro” that she wrote the previous day, after she got back home. She'd written “Dios es amor” on the envelope. Yohansy began her message by sending “affectionate greetings” to us North Americans. She hoped our trip would be a happy one and that God would watch over us in our travels. It was, and God did. Yohansy wanted us to know that she was in fifth grade and was an “expert” at painting and studying.

She liked how we treated the children who came to our clinic; we were friendly to the boys and sweet to the girls. She told us she loved us. She said that twice. She told us she was happy. She said that twice, too. Pete, Richard and Evelyn Judson, Jill Schuler, Chris Bernart, and I made up the Nativity contingent for this year’s Health Mission. It was Jill’s first trip; the rest of us have gone multiple times. The letter and how it got to Pete will, I hope, explain a little why we return. Virtually everyone who makes the trip calls it a life-changing experience. Here’s what I think it’s taught me. First, the desire to serve is a gift; it's a sign of grace. Second, Jesus is saying that no one is a “least of these.” Third, when you ask yourself just how, exactly, you've been changed by a life-changing ex-perience, and it's hard to come up with an answer, you understand it's the question that matters. And most important, Yohansy says that next year she’s going to bring Don Pedro a painting.

Psyanky “eggers” display their work.

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Glad tidings April, 2016

Outreach

Nativity Parishioners Raise Roof on Habitat House Sam Taylor

Nativity Parishioners turned out in force February 27 for our church’s lead day in building the Episcopal Habitat house in Crosstowne development in south Raleigh. Nearly 25 Nativity participants joined workers from other churches and civic groups to in-stall rafters on the new home and begin adding insu-lation board to the home’s exterior. Nativity volunteers were nourished in their work by a veritable banquet of “finger food” made and brought to the site at lunch time by Nativity cooks and supporters, led by Jane Vella and Patsy Christi-ansen. The meal included Chick-fil-A sandwiches donated by Charly Kerr, plus The delicious vegeta-bles, cookies, brownies, and other desserts prepared by Nativity volunteers. The Episcopal Build house will be purchased from Habitat on favorable mortgage terms earned by more than 250 “sweat equity” hours by Cheston Dooley. Dooley is a Wells Fargo employee who has lived in Raleigh since 2011. Churches and organizations participating in the Episcopal Build are St. Augustine University, St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Christ Church, Church of the Good Shepherd, Church of the Nativity, the Episco-pal Campus Ministry-Raleigh, and the Episcopal Di-ocese of North Carolina. The group has pledged vol-

unteer support and a $65,000 commitment to build the home. Walls for the home were assembled at Habitat’s warehouse on February 13. Churches from across the city participated in the work, which was blessed by Bishop Anne Hodges-Copple in a ceremony after the walls were complete. Although rapid progress has been made in weather-ing-in and beginning interior work on the home, more Episcopal volunteer participation is still need-ed to complete the project. Chris Christiansen, who is coordinating the project at Nativity asks that pa-rishioners who can make themselves available in the weeks ahead consider volunteering to help bring the house to completion. Volunteers are especially need-ed on April 23 and 30, and May 7, as well as Thurs-days and Fridays of most weeks. To volunteer for a day of fellowship and fulfilling work at the Episcopal Build home, register using the Habitat for Humanity of Wake County volunteer hub at http://vhub.at/episcopalbuild2016. For more infor-mation regarding the Build, contact Chris Christian-sen at jocmpc@att.net or Sam Taylor at samuelmtay-lor@earthlink.net. Brochures regarding the Habitat Episcopal Build are located in the Nave and in the bookcase at the front of Estill House.

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Glad tidings April, 2016

The Wild Goose Festival Michael Warrillow

It will be hot this July. Hot here in Raleigh and many other places around the country. In Hot Springs, NC, nestled in the mountains and beside a mighty river, folk from all over the country will be gathering for four days, July 7–10, at The Wild Goose Festival. I hope to be one of them. The Wild Goose Festival is a faith based outdoor music, art and teaching festival. For me, The Wild Goose Festival is the closest place to heaven on earth that I have yet to find. It is the celebration of God and our lives together; a way of life rooted in faith, justice, creativity, and beauty. The Wild Goose Festival is like a family reunion where you meet relatives you never knew you had. It’s a convergence of conversations, campfires, mu-sic, kids, art, grandparents, lawn chairs, prayer, song, dance, tents, food, sunshine, rain, laughter, and fresh air. The festival is a place of welcome. People feel at home: loved, safe and free. Since the festival is small, 1500–2000 attendees, you will meet folk. You will stop on the many trails around the shady, park-like camp and talk about the band you saw, or the seminar you just attended. I am looking forward to quiet nights sleeping beside the river (no amps after 11 pm), beer and hymns, seminars on non-violence, dancing to wild blue grass, celebrating Morning Prayer at dawn IN the French Broad River, seeing

old friends, making new ones. The river and scenic view of the surrounding moun-tains help one to reflect and find space in the festi-val. The town, just 800 yards away, offers a different refuge with launderette, post office, library, church, grocery, camping, and hardware stores. One is away from it all - spotty cell phone reception, but still just 30 minutes away from the bustle of Asheville. I like to tent camp but there many other options at the festival. Hotels near Hot Springs, cabins, rental glamping or bringing an RV are all possible. Food vendors serve from 7 am–11 pm. The kid and teen programs are outstanding. It is too early for a final lineup, but some past high-lights and those committed to come are Matt Maher, Tony Campolo, The Indigo Girls, Jim Wallis, Paula Williams, Brian McClaren, Frank Schaeffer, and Nadia Bolz-Weber. I hope I have conveyed something of my excite-ment of this festival. I can’t recommend it highly enough. The Wild Goose Festival has unadvertised tickets for just a single day, free tickets for volun-teers (done this 3x) and financial assistance for those who need it to attend. More information is available at wildgoosefestival.org. Please contact me with ques-tions at mpwarrillow@yahoo.com or 919-228-8414.

What in Heaven’s Name? The Diocese of North Carolina

Ailsa Tesser, Communications Liaison to the Diocese

You’ve heard the words “Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina,” but had you really wondered what the dio-cese is all about? The mission seems straightforward enough: Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the Diocese of North Carolina seeks to live God's dream by making disciples and making a difference. But what can that have to do with me, or you, or other lay persons at Church of the Nativity? It all boils down to how the Diocese can help us – we 48,000 faithful, caring Episcopalians – do the same thing… and do they have the resources and information to go for it! If you want an overview of how the Di-ocesan mission is carried out, visit this website: http://www.episdionc.org/Newcomers/about.html. You will also see in more detail what the Diocese does under “What we Do” on that page. There are, however, resources a-plenty for every level of need and interest on the “Resources” page and I call your attention to two I’ve found interesting and helpful. There’s the “Please Note” e-newsletter with items of interest, a calendar of upcoming events around the diocese, videos such as the recent chat Bishop Anne had with Dr. Stephen Jurovics, and more. Whether or not you receive the paper copy of The Disciple, the Diocesan magazine, you can read the same articles online, under that same resources page. You may, of course, sign up for the hardcopy version by emailing communications@episcdionc.org to request that you be added to the mailing list. There are webinars, a diocesan asset map that is being developed, information about youth ministry, and 21st Century Galilee… wait, what’s that? Presiding Bishop Curry will tell you–just visit the Diocesan web-site at http://www.dionc.org/ and be informed!

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Glad tidings April, 2016

US-Uganda Orphans Education Fund Pays it Forward

Barbara Kamya

The US-Uganda Orphans Education Fund (UUOEF) is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to finance the secondary school education of high potential, financially needy, orphaned students in Uganda. The fund is the outgrowth of the former Uganda Mission Fund, an outreach program of the Church of the Nativity. Since its inception, UUOEF has assisted over 200 orphaned students to complete their secondary school education. Most graduates have continued their post high school education at government-funded vocational schools or universi-ties. There have been many success stories concerning our graduates but one, Scovia Kiconco, stands out. While a student, Scovia’s life story was featured a couple of times in Glad Tidings. She is now a work-ing college graduate who hopes to help those in simi-lar circumstances. She wants to “pay it forward.” When we first met her, Scovia was a bright 11-year-old orphaned girl. Her caretaker had no funds to fur-ther her education beyond seventh grade. She faced the grim prospects of becoming a street urchin, juve-nile bride or prostitute. Fortunately, she was accept-ed into our program and excelled in all her studies, completing high school and graduating from a local

university with a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Ag-riculture. She is currently employed as a bank agri-cultural loan officer in Uganda. Scovia has expressed an interest in becoming a vol-unteer student co-coordinator with our program. Her job will be to assist in finding and screening poten-tial deserving orphaned students for our program. She very much wants to give back by helping other orphans. What a difference this program has made in this young lady’s life. She was helped and now she, in turn, will be the helper to others. It is through the donations we have received from Nativity and its parishioners that has made such positive life-altering changes possible. Thanks to everyone who has con-tributed over the years for giving children like Sco-via a chance to become productive members of their society. It is our hope that all our graduates will be-come future leaders who will give back by helping others who have suffered hardships similar to their own. If you would like to find out more about the pro-gram or wish to volunteer, please contact Barbara Kamya at bkamya1@gmail.com.

Youth and Children’s Ministry

Attending Happening 2016 from Nativity were Libby Kenney, Kieren Harrell and Noah Showalter. Stephanie Allen, Rector; Kathryn Buckley, Minister to Youth and Children; and Leighton Harrell attend-ed as planners and facil-itators.

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Kathryn Buckley

Glad tidings April, 2016

Youth and Children’s Ministry

Happening Weekend Libby Kenney

The Diocese of North Carolina holds a special youth event every year called Happening. Happening is a re-treat for high school students. This year the Happening weekend was held on March 11–13 at Camp Walter Johnson in Denton, NC. I had the opportunity to be a part of this wonderful weekend this year and it was re-ally a very special experience for me and all who attended. Happening is an event that each person can only attend one time as a participant. This makes the weekend very special because what goes on during the weekend, you can only really experience its full effects one time. Everything that goes on at Happening is so special that you need to go to the event in person to know what it is really like! Not only was I able to be-come much closer to God and learn more about Him, I was able to make friends I know I will have for a long time. Although we were only there for a weekend, it felt like we’d known each other for months. The special bond you are able to create with people who are so kind, loving, friendly, and caring is incredible. The pur-pose of this weekend was not just to make friends and have a good time, it was so much more. It was to con-tinue working on building a personal relationship with God and to learn more about how much we are truly loved. I would tell any high schooler to attend a Happening weekend. It is an amazing time!

Congratulations to our own Libby Kenney, Kieren Harrell, and Noah Showalter who attended Happen-ing 62. These three experienced a weekend of pow-erful faith renewal along with 30 other youth from our Diocese. Its purpose is to concentrate closely on the person and teaching of Jesus Christ. Their faith was seriously examined in a relaxed, fun, informal, and loving atmosphere. Their weekend was full of fun, games, sharing, surprises, and most of all, a time of spiritual renewal and empowerment. Through talks, skits, discussions, play, worship, prayer and song, Libby, Kieren, and Noah were reminded of the importance of love and life in Christ. Congratula-tions on Happening, Libby, Kieren, and Noah. We hope to see more of our youth at the Diocesan events. On Sunday, March 20, the Youth Group had their first ever “Extreme Easter Egg-Stravaganza.” The evening started off with an intense game of four square, mixed with ladies’ volleyball, and some col-oring followed a delicious BBQ baked potato bar with all the fixings one could ever dream of. Then the real action started: the youth channeled their in-ner basketball mixed with Skeeball skills to play “Peep Toss,” then picked up a slippery plastic spoon with an egg to raise in an effort to save their egg. The youth then attempted to play “Behind-the-Back Peep Toss” which took much concentration, coordi-nation and teamwork. Next, out came the potato

sacks for the hoppin’ fun while they raced down their lanes. Each team nominated one team member to see how many Peeps they could put in their mouth at once during our “Chubby Peep” contest. Last but not least, the youth embarked in a messy and raw game of “Egg Roulette” playing the odds of breaking an egg over each other’s heads without knowing if it was hard boiled or raw. Spirit Points were awarded throughout the evening for the most team and group spirit. Our winning team was the very crazy and sup-portive Team 1 made up of Annabel, Lindsey, Remy, Kylie, and Nadia! Messy, crazy fun was had by all for an “egg-cellent” night of fellowship. Don’t forget about our Small Group Nights: for April, our middle school Small Group will meet on Tuesday, April 5 and 19 at Chick-fil-A on Six Forks and our high school Small Group will meet on Thursday, April 7 at Five Guys Burgers and Fries on Creedmoor and 21 at Moe’s Southwestern Grill on Creedmoor. Join us for a night of fellowship outside of church and have some Holy Chow. These nights are low-key and a great way to build a community of students who want to learn and experience more about the Christian faith. No need to sign up–just show up! Don’t forget about our Youth Facebook Page where you can find out what’s going on with our youth, up-coming events and to check out pictures from our events: www.facebook.com/COTNyouth/.

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Glad tidings April, 2016

Creation Care

Event

Reminders:

Solarize the Triangle An informational meeting will be held from 7–9 pm on March 30 in Corlett Hall. Through bulk pur-chasing, Solarize helps homeowners and small businesses lock in low-cost clean energy. Every-one is welcome.

Shore Stories April 6, 7–9 pm, Corlett Hall. Nativity will host the showing of the docu-mentary Shore Stories. While on March 15 drill-ing for gas and oil on the NC coast was banned, there is still a possibility for seismic testing, which is harmful to marine life.

Doing Our Part: Avoiding the Most Serious Consequences of Climate Change

Carl Sigel Four months ago in Paris, our nation along with the rest of the world pledged to limit global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. The primary cause of the warming is from emissions of Green House Gases (GHG) into the atmos-phere. All of us can have a role in meeting the objectives of the accord by focus-ing on ways to green our homes and church campus, take action locally, and ad-vocate nationally for positive steps to reduce GHG emissions. For individuals the single largest source of GHG emissions is from driving, followed by housing (electricity, natural gas, waste, construction) and then eat-ing (mostly by consuming red meat, dairy and seafood products). We can all develop action plans to help reduce our impact on the planet (see for example: http://gwipl.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2016-VA-Creation-Care-Calendar.pdf). Over the past couple of months, Environmental Stewardship at Nativity has explored how we can as a faith community (and individuals) do our part in achieving a more sustainable future. Our top 5 priorities are as follows:

Work to advance the Nativity Solar Project Strive for zero waste at Nativity, recycle everything that we can, use

only eco-friendly recyclable or compostable paper projects Present creation care education that leads to action. (see article on

Faith Climate Action Week) Bring Your Own Mug (BYOM), curtail use of Styrofoam products Collect rain water for use in the Nativity Community Garden

By caring for creation we demonstrate our love for both God and our neigh-bor.

Nativity Garden News Emilie Sigel

The Nativity Community Garden (NCG) plots have been tidied and readied for planting. Early radish and snow pea sprouts are peeping out of the ground with a promise of more to come. A last lush harvest of hearty winter-grown kale and collards was deliv-ered to clients of the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. Green-thumbed gardeners are counting the days to the last frost date. Visitors are welcome in the garden.

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord

require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk

humbly with your God."–Micah 6:8

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Glad tidings April, 2016

Creation Care

Taking Care of God's Creation Dargan Gilmore

It is an election year, and that means that candidates and their super-PACs are hard at work trying to polarize the issues. Instead of trying to bring people together, it always seems that we are being asked to choose a side. The much-debated concept of "climate change" is one of these issues. The political powers at work insist that we believe in it, or not. There is no common ground. In the aftermath of all of this line-drawing, I think a lot of people give up trying to decide what is right. This leads to apathy, and inaction. I think the people that demand that we choose a side on climate change are missing the point. Earth–God's beautiful creation–is polluted. Our air quality is poor and in some areas, dangerous. Our streams are filled with trash. Our water is undrinkable in areas. Our oceans filled with plastic, and our landfills are overflow-ing. Through these numerous acts of pollution, we poison the very creation that God made in his own image–ourselves. Instead of debating whether climate change exists, let's find something we can agree upon and take ac-tion: The earth is polluted, and getting worse each year. The 7.4 billion people living on God's earth owe it to their children to leave the world in a better place than they found it. Through thoughtful stewardship, ra-ther than abuse of the Earth, we not only glorify God's creation, but we also help ourselves and our children. April 22 is Earth Day – a time to celebrate God's beautiful work. Environmental Stewardship at Nativity has put together several events during the month of April to give you some tools to help lessen your own in-dividual impact on the planet. Working alone, it is hard to imagine having any impact on a problem so vast. But if the 7.4 billion people of God's creation could find a way to come together, instead of finding ways to divide themselves, just imagine how much we could do.

Faith Climate Action Week Carl Sigel

The Faith Climate Action Week (formerly known as the Preach-In on Global Warming) will take place dur-ing Earth Week, April 15–24, 2016. In partnership with St. John’s Episcopal Church in Wake Forest and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Durham, Nativity will host a number of events. The Rev. Jerry Cappel, Envi-ronmental Ministry Coordinator, Province IV, TEC will be our guest for part of this week. April 17, 9 and 10:15 am at Nativity Stephen Jurovics will lead a discussion based on his recently

published book, Hospitable Planet: Faith, Action, and Climate Change. April 22, 5–9 pm at St John’s, Wake Forest Rev. Cappel will lead a Blessing of the new Nature

Garden, followed by an Earth Day Pot Luck and discussion, “The Appointed Time for the Church: The Episcopal House of Bishops’ Teaching on the Environment.” This pastoral teaching created by the Epis-copal House of Bishops in 2011, much like Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si, contains a clarion call for the people of God to amend their lives and align their faith to the realities of the environmental crisis.

April 23: 11 am–2 pm at St. Philip’s, Durham Earth Day Lunch and talk and discussion led by Rev. Cappel on two possible topics: 1) “Deeper Green Church: Going Beyond Stewardship onto Salva-tion for God’s Assembled People” a conversation about how Christians can more deeply engage the heart of their Christian faith in creation care through worship, fellowship, liturgy and gospel, and 2)“The Appointed Time for the Church: Pope Francis and the Episcopal House of Bishops Speak Up for Crea-tion.”

April 24: 9 am–12: 30 pm at Nativity Rev. Cappel will give sermons at 9 and 11:15 am, “The End-game of God and the Hope of the Church – All Creation New” and lead the 10:15 am Adult Formation “The Appointed Time for the Church: The Episcopal House of Bishops’ Teaching on the Environment.”

Everyone is welcome to participate in all of these events.

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Glad tidings April, 2016

Episcopal Bishops Issue A Word to the Church The House of Bishops of The Episcopal Church, meeting in retreat, unanimously approved the following Word To The Church: Holy Week 2016 On Good Friday the ruling political forces of the day tortured and executed an innocent man. They sacrificed the weak and the blameless to protect their own status and power. On the third day Jesus was raised from the dead, revealing not only their injustice but also unmask-ing the lie that might makes right. In a country still living under the shadow of the lynching tree, we are troubled by the violent forces being released by this season’s political rhetoric. Americans are turning against their neighbors, particularly those on the margins of society. They seek to secure their own safety and security at the expense of others. There is legitimate reason to fear where this rhetoric and the actions arising from it might take us. In this moment, we resemble God’s children wandering in the wilderness. We, like they, are struggling to find our way. They turned from following God and worshiped a golden calf constructed from their own wealth. The current rhetoric is leading us to construct a modern false idol out of power and privilege. We reject the idolatrous notion that we can ensure the safety of some by sacrificing the hopes of others. No mat-ter where we fall on the political spectrum, we must respect the dignity of every human being and we must seek the common good above all else. We call for prayer for our country that a spirit of reconciliation will prevail and we will not betray our true selves. The Episcopal Church House of Bishops met in retreat March 11–15 at Camp Allen Conference Center in Navasota, TX.

We reject the idolatrous

notion that we can ensure

the safety of some by

sacrificing the hopes of others.

Education for Ministry (EfM) Harlan Hagge and Gail McNally

EfM (Education for Ministry) will start another group of students in the Fall 2016 semester if there is sufficient interest. EfM is a four-year adult Chris-tian education program sponsored by the University of the South, School of Theology, Sewanee, Tennes-see, for lay people. Every baptized person is called to ministry - EfM provides the education to carry out that ministry. With a focus on discerning the im-plications in our personal lives of thinking theologi-cally, we will study the Old Testament (year one), New Testament (year two), Christian church history (year three), and theologians/philosophers (year four), If you are interested in EfM, you sign up for one year at a time, it is not a 4-year commitment. If you would like more information, please contact Gail McNally at gsmcnally13@gmail.com or 919-376-1869, or Harlan Hagge at hhagge@bellsouth.net or 919-261-9747.

Daniel and Bridget Knapp added special

music to worship on March 6.

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Glad tidings MArch, 2016

Reminders

Our congregation extends its sympathy and prayers to

The family and friends of Doug Smith The family and friends of Lawrence Troan

Derek Bodford on the death of his great-uncle, Bill Brown Father George Clifford on the death of his mother, Jean Clifford

Alicia Lester-Bodford on the death of her great-uncle, Tony Hicks Ron Commons on the death of his brother-in-law, Glenn Stephens

May their soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Prayer Chain: To begin a confidential prayer request, or to have names added to the Prayers of the

People list for Sunday services, please contact the church office 919-846-8338.

If you have an illness, hospitalization, or death in your family, please contact the church office or

Stephanie directly. If you have a pastoral emergency, please contact Stephanie on her cell: 919-744-1663.

Please Note: we are charged by the post

office for returned mail if you change your

address and do not notify the church

office! Please call, or email Jennie at

coordinator@nativityonline.org with your

change of address.

Connect Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/nativityonline Follow us on Twitter @NativityOnline Join our email group. Log on to http://nativityonline.org/news-events/keep-informed/ Read Glad Tidings online, in color, at http://nativityonline.org/news-events/keep-informed/

Job Postings—to receive daily job postings from Caring Con-nections, contact Karen Ridout at kgr@mindspring.com.

Seniors’ Luncheon Tom McNally

The next Seniors' Luncheon is scheduled for Sunday, April 17, at 12:45 pm. The luncheon will be hosted by Sandy and Ed Entrup at Manchester’s Grill, lo-cated at 9101 Leesville Rd. If you would like to at-tend please contact Sandy or Ed at eentrup@att.net or 919-420-0472 or Tom McNally at t24mac@nc.rr.com or 919-376-1869. Reservations must be made by Wednesday, April 13. Seniors and seniors-to-be are welcome. Please join us.

Altar Flower Chart Donations to the altar flower arrangements may be made in memory or in honor of loved ones. Fill out the Flower Chart calendar posted in the hallway of Estill, and note on the pink form the names of those being honored. The suggested donation is $30.

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Address Service Requested

8849 Ray Road

Raleigh NC 27613

Phone: 919-846-8338

Email office: coordinator@NativityOnline.org

Visit us on the web at: www.nativityonline.org

Glad Tidings Team

Stephanie Allen

David Cariss

Jeremy Clos

Jennie Herrick

Ailsa Tessier

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE

PAID RALEIGH, NC

PERMIT NO. 2464

“Jammies for a Cause” on March 13 (above)

saw children at church services wearing their

pajamas. To be able to wear pajamas to

church, books were donated to the book drive

for children.

Girl Scout Sunday (below) gave ushers David

Feraco and Carl Sigel plenty of assistance!

Girls helped pass out bulletins, collect the of-

fering, and deliver the sacraments to the altar.