Plans are coming together for both the Spring and Fall Clergy Conferences at Honey Creek as well as for two Chrism Masses in Holy Week. Priests and Deacons will want to mark their calendars for these upcoming dates.

 Clergy Conferences

The dates for the Spring Clergy Conference had to be moved from the more customary first weekend in May to the end of April. This year, the Spring Clergy Conference will meet April 26-28 and the Fall Conference will be held September 27-29. Both will be at Honey Creek. Registration information will follow.

Two Chrism Masses
In order to facilitate more priests and deacons taking part in the renewal of their ordination vows, two Chrism Masses will be offered this Holy Week. On Tuesday, March 31, St. Anne's, Tifton, will host the liturgy at 11 a.m., with lunch following. Then on Maundy Thursday, April 2, Trinity, Statesboro will host the liturgy, also at 11 a.m. with lunch following. At the Chrism Mass, the clergy (including the Bishop) are invited to renew the commitments they made at their ordination. The liturgy takes its name from the most eminent of the three holy oils which the local bishop blesses for use in his diocese's parish churches during the coming year. 

Diocesan Convention

As previously announced, Convention 2015 will be held on November 12th through 14th in Savannah. This date is moved back by one week from our anticipated pattern as the first weekend in November our meeting would have to compete with the Rock and Roll Marathon which tangles downtown Savannah with traffic and visitors. More information on the convention will follow. 

The ELCA Lutheran Bishop Julian Gordy will assist Bishop Benhase this Sunday in consecrating the new St. Patrick's, Albany. This rare combined consecration is an extension of the Lutheran Church of Our Savior having become a part of St. Patrick's, with St. Patrick's offering a separate Lutheran-based service each Sunday. The new church building includes a chapel of Our Savior which Bishop Gordy will consecrate. Bishop Benhase will consecrate the church building and bless its furnishings. The Sunday, February 1st, consecration will be at 10:30 a.m.

Evensong on Sunday   

In order for those who are attending their own churches that morning, but wish to join with St Patrick's in their celebration, the church will offer Evensong and Organ Celebration at 5:30 p.m., commemorating the Eve of Candlemas. St. Patrick's is located at 4800 Old Dawson Road in Albany. You can find them online at stpatricksalbany.org 

Bishop Benhase and the gathered priests of the Diocese laid hands on Jamie Maury praying for God to make him a priest in the Church in a liturgy held Saturday at St. Paul the Apostle, Savannah. The Very Rev. Billy Alford preached the sermon. Maury graduated in May from the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale. He has served since the fall at St. George's, Savannah, as a time of additional formation. Maury and his husband, Dan, were long term, active member of All Saints, Tybee Island, prior to attending seminary. Maury is pictured below during the Litany for Ordinations and offering Bishop Benhase his blessing as the procession out began. A full album of photos is online here: Maury Ordination Photo Album
 

The week of prayer for Christian unity began at St. Athanasius' Church with two special moments in the life of that parish. On Sunday, the congregation welcomed as its preacher the Rev. Dr. Jesse Truvillion (Pictured at right with St. Athanasius' Interim Rector, the Rev. Canon Douglas Renegar). He is a retired Presbyterian minister who was active in the civil rights movement where he worked very closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Truvillion brought a message of hope and reconciliation. 

A special moment of that service occurred when Ed Bland from Christ Church, Frederica made a wonderful gift from that parish to St. Athanasius' Church. It was the funds needed to put a new roof on our parish house. No longer will we need to put out pans and buckets to catch the streams of water  which would course through the roof every time we had a hard rain. This continues a long tradition of friendship and fellowship between the congregations especially in the shared ministry of the food pantry.

On Monday morning more than 20 members of our congregation joined in the Martin Luther King Jr. Parade. It was a celebration of his life and ministry and well as a recognition that people must continue work to end discrimination of any kind and ensure that hope, justice, peace and love will be shared by all. This unity we all pray for is certainly the promise, opportunity and responsibility of the Gospel message.

"Bishop Nelson was elected at a convention held in St. Paul's Church, Macon, on Nov. 11, 1891. And he was consecrated in St. Luke's Cathedral, Atlanta, on St. Matthias' Day, Feb. 24, 1892, by Bishops Quintard of Tennessee, Howe of South Carolina, and Lyman of North Carolina, five other bishops being present and assisting in the laying-on-of-hands.

"Many of those here knew Bishop Nelson, for he was our Bishop. He came to us in the full vigor of his manhood. With robust physical health and mental vigor, a stalwart and handsome presence and a zeal and industry in service that knew' no limit, he gave himself to the Church in the Diocese in missionary labors. From the North to the South and from the East to the West he went incessantly, establishing missions, building churches and preaching the gospel of Christ and His Church. The best proof of his industry and veal is found in the fact that in fifteen years the work of the Diocese, especially in the number of churches which must be visited and sustained by his encouragement and assistance outgrew even his capacity for labor.

"He was especially interested in and energetic in carrying on and enlarging the work among the negroes, which had been the concern of both his predecessors....In 1907 the Diocese was divided and the diocese of Atlanta set off of which Bishop Nelson elected to become the diocesan. At the time, of the division, there were 54. clergymen on the roll, and 8,524 communicants and 439 people were confirmed, an increase since 1892 of 3,252.

"Bishop Nelson died Feb. 13, 1917, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, his episcopate having lasted just 25 years."