On Sunday, March 16, St. Andrew's celebrated the Feast of St. Patrick with a fellowship meal after our service.

All ages at Corpus Christi in Springfield, VA, together focus on fasting, almsgiving, and prayer this Lent.

As we enter into Lent 2025, I want to encourage us to keep our rhythms of daily prayer using the Book of Common Prayer. And, I want to encourage us this Lent to return often to the beautiful and challenging Confession and Litany of Penitence that we pray during Ash Wednesday.

That’s the invitation for this Lenten season: to turn from sin, and prepare with joy for the resurrection season. It’s an invitation to forty days of intentional reorientation together in response to the grace of God found in Christ Jesus our Lord and empowered by his Holy Spirit.

Simeon's prophecy about Christ's light going to the Gentiles is tethered to a prophecy about the pain that the Blessed Virgin Mary will experience in her son's life and ministry.

Frankly, I think this is actually great discipleship strategy. As Christians we trust Jesus, the author, pioneer and finisher of our faith, who goes ahead of us and calls us to follow him into a future that is totally secure and yet which can sometimes (often?) feel disorienting. With joy and a twinkle in his eyes, I can envision our Lord saying, “Come follow me - turn and face the strange…"

In December Christ the Redeemer enjoyed a Carols and Cookies service.

Church planting is a synergistic effort—a collaboration between our diocesan congregations and the diocese itself. This partnership beautifully balances our commitment to congregationally led ministry with the shared mission to expand God’s kingdom.

So, a heartfelt thank you for your prayers, generosity, and dedication. Please continue to pray for this vital work, and I look forward to sharing new stories of church planting in the year ahead!

New Spaces and New Faces in Chambersburg

Multiple generations of from Corpus Christi Anglican Church served their neighbors experiencing housing insecurity.

This Friendsgiving provided a gathering for the church family, local college students, and neighbors who might otherwise spend the holidays alone.

This year our older youth led an outreach event where we sold Christmas trees to give a percentage of the sales to the Ecumenical Community Housing Organization (ECHO).

The Christ the Redeemer annual fall festival, they offered hayrides, food, face painting, and fellowship. We also had the chance to meet many Messiah University students at an open house event for area churches. 

In celebration of the Feast Day of St. Francis, many churches around the Diocese offered their communities an opportunity to participate in a pet blessing.

This summer Christ the Redeemer in Dillsburg, PA (CTR) was privileged to be at local events to give away Bibles and Bible sticker/coloring books. After receiving free face painting, a young girl in the sixth grade came to the table and spotted a Bible.

Stacy and I had the opportunity to escape the Virginia heat in early June as we walked St. Cuthbert’s Way in southern Scotland and northern England – a rigorous 82 miles of walking that left us wondering if we had made a fatal miscalculation! We were told to expect rain or “mizzle” daily! Thankfully, we had only half a day of rain, during which we were soaked, but for the most part, we saw the Scottish and English countryside as we journeyed to Lindisfarne. The trip exceeded our expectations in every way – a real gift!

God has been doing good things here, and as we move forward we are pleased to announce that Bishop Chris has approved St. Andrew's Anglican Church as the new name for the Frederick church plant.

Frederick Anglican Fellowship is looking forward with joy to having the Rev. Seth Zimmerman begin as priest for the Frederick church plant in July.

Canon Tuck Bartholomew is very pleased to announce that the Reverend Seth Zimmerman has accepted a call from Bishop Chris Warner to lead DOMA’s church plant in Frederick, MD.