Annual Council of the Episcopal Church in Mississippi

January 26-28 the legislative meeting of the Diocese of Mississippi will convene in Southaven for two days to elect new Diocesan leadership, approve a budget, and hear reports on the ministries of the Episcopal Church in Mississippi.

Nativity’s delegation includes Peter, Kathy Whicker, Harris Powers, and Tish Goodman. Going as alternates are Philip Lawes and Katie Jones. Additionally, Ellie Knight is attending Council as the lone Youth Delegate for the entire Delta Convocation. The January edition of The Mississippi Episcopalian will include information on nominees and potential resolutions, so let your representatives know how you think they should vote! On Sunday, January 28, all the clergy of the Diocese will be in Southaven, and Episcopalians from far and wide are invited to attend one huge, statewide Eucharist at 10am at the Landers Center. Jim Barrett will lead Morning Prayer at Nativity that morning.

Annual Parish Meeting

Please plan on being present for the 2018 annual parish meeting Sunday, January 14 after the 10:30 service. We’ll have a potluck meal together, hear from leadership on the state of the parish, elect new vestry members, and take a look at the first annual report of the Nativity Permanent Endowment. Additionally, the parish will be asked to approve one minor revision to the existing policies and guidelines of the endowment. Contact Peter if you would like more information on that revision.

A Note from Peter (January 2018)

The Rev. Peter Gray

This January, I’m looking forward to a series of conversations on church security we’ll be having during Adult Forum on Sunday mornings. You may think I’m crazy, but I actually can’t wait to talk as a church family about what we need to feel safe in this church. I’m even looking forward to those moments when our differences of opinion and differences in experience lead all of us to feel uncomfortable.

Two years ago Bob Provine and I invited the vestry and the membership of Nativity into a conversation about same-sex marriage and its place within the liturgical life of this parish. My experience of that time confirmed an intuition I already held: that when a church family explores difference, rather than avoiding it, it has the opportunity to come out the other side with relationships that are stronger and deeper.

As we explore the issue of church security, my goal as a facilitator will be, first of all, to help us acknowledge our differences as a parish. What makes one person feel safe makes another feel insecure. One person’s need for security may come into conflict with another person’s need for hospitality. Hearing those differences loud and clear offers the opportunity to know one another more deeply and to find creative solutions we never would have imagined on our own.

After we’ve heard the different needs of our church family, our second task will be to brainstorm ways that we might meet these different needs with one course of action. A good plan won’t just address the concerns of one group of people, but will try to creatively thread the needle. After we’ve brainstormed together, a committee of church leaders, including myself, the Wardens, Charlie Swayze, and Danny Faught will huddle and fine tune a workable way forward that we can present to the congregation for feedback at a later date.

This process is based on a mediation model I studied for my annual continuing education back in October. That model is built on a couple of important insights. The first insight is that diversity is a fundamental part of creation; there’s no getting around it, even if it sometimes makes life more difficult. The second insight is that when everyone is in agreement, folks typically aren’t communicating, and relationships aren’t growing.

With that in mind, I hope you’ll take time to be with us Sundays at 9:30am in January. Our task is to answer some pragmatic questions about a contemporary topic. But our goal is really to grow in love with one another.

Peter+

Chorale to perform holiday concert

The Greenwood Chorale has resurrected itself for a holiday concert, this time under the direction of Nativity Episcopal Church’s music director, David Williamson.

The Chorale, which debuted in Greenwood in May 2011, was founded by Ray Smithee of First Presbyterian Church to provide an outlet for singers interested in learning a challenging musical repertoire.

The initial choir was made up of 27 members and has both increased and decreased in size over the years.

Smithee decided to take a break from directing following the chorale’s patriotic concert during the summer of 2016, and last year there was no holiday concert.

But this year, stalwarts have returned and are tackling a challenging range of music with everything from a comical take on “The Twelve Days of Christmas” to a complex composition by composer Benjamin Britten, “Hymn to the Virgin,” first performed in 1931 and written when Britten was just a teenager, according to Williamson.

Traditional favorites will include “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane, and a medley of Irving Berlin Christmas melodies.

“Paul Brown and I just picked some of our favorites, a sacred and secular mix,” Williamson said.

Brown, the organist at Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, will sing in the program along with some 20 others.

Four singers have been driving from Indianola to practice, Williamson said, and one lives as far away as Lake Village, Arkansas. Another is a church musician in Cleveland.

“We’ve been working on the music since late August,” he said.

At last Tuesday’s rehearsal, the chorale mixed seriousness with silliness as the members ran through the program.

They sang:
On the second day after Christmas,
I pulled on the rubber gloves
And gently wrung the necks of
Two turtle doves.

“Pretty darn good,” said Williamson. “Let’s get all our nonsense out.”

Frederick Silver’s parody, “The Twelve Days After Christmas,” provides plenty of opportunity for that.

On a more formal note, the choir tackled Gustav Holst’s “Christmas Day,” a fantasy on old carols, including “Good Christian Men Rejoice,” with precise harmonies and a piercing soprano solo by chorale member Emily Shafer.

Williamson, who has conducted and played church music for more than 30 years across the Delta and in Memphis, brings both humor and vast musical knowledge to the mix of voices.

Before the singers departed on Tuesday, he warned them.

“Y’all remember between now and next week, stay away from strangers and children. They have germs!”

Facebook notices throughout the week have identified at least two members who’ve come down with viruses but should be recovered by concert time.

Doors to the parish hall at Episcopal Church of the Nativity, 400 Howard St., will open before the first number, scheduled for 7 p.m. The concert is free, and the public is invited and encouraged to attend.

Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.

Christmas at Nativity

Join us this year for worship at Christmas time! We will gather on the morning of December 24th at 9am for Rite I Eucharist with Hymns. Then at 5:00pm, our special Christmas Eve music will begin as a prelude for our 5:30pm Christmas Eve Candlelight Eucharist service with incense. On Christmas morning there will be a 10:00am Eucharist service with piano and carols. If you have any questions, please call the church office at 662-453-7786.

Community Thanksgiving service coming up Sunday at New Zion

The Greenwood Ministerial Association will hold its annual community-wide worship service on Sunday night at New Zion Missionary Baptist Church on Carrollton Avenue.

The service begins at 6 p.m.

The gathering is designed to bring together people from across the community to give thanks and to offer prayers for the upcoming year.

“All of Greenwood is invited,” said the Rev. Peter Gray of the Episcopal Church of the Nativity. Gray, as current president of the Ministerial Association, will preach at the multi-denominational event, which moves from one church to another across the city each year.

New Zion’s choir and music director will provide the music.

“This is a time for us to come together as a community,” said the Rev. Richard Owens of Westminster Presbyterian Church, one of the organizers. “We want people from north and south Greenwood, we want it to be multicultural and we’d like to see people attend from a variety of churches.”

Each pastor associated with the ministerial association will offer a prayer for one aspect of the community.

“We’ll give thanks for our public servants, our first responders,” Owens said. “We’ll offer prayers for our people, for our community, for children, for the poor and unemployed and for the upcoming year.”

Among those ministers participating are Owens and Gray; the Rev. Calvin Collins of New Zion; Bishop Milton Glass of New Green Grove Church of Faith; the Rev. Ricky Wheat of North Greenwood Baptist Church; Lt. Jamaal Ellis of The Salvation Army; the Rev. Juanita Cook of Barwick United Methodist Church; the Rev. Brady Canright of First Baptist Church; the Rev. Jessie Payne of Providence Missionary Baptist; and Father Cam Janas, a priest at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church and Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church.

New Zion Church is at 726 Carrollton Ave. Child care will be provided.

Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.

Myra Gayle Stribling Clements Flautt

Myra Gayle Stribling Clements Flautt died peacefully at her home in Greenwood on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2017.  A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Episcopal Church of The Nativity with the Rev. Peter Gray officiating.  Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the church.

Gayle lived an incredibly full life as a mother, businesswoman, artist and free-thinking seeker.  She was deeply loved by everyone who knew her.  She was preceded in death by her sister, Pie Dale, and a brother, Bill Stribling.

Gayle is survived by her husband, Henry Flautt; her sister,  Betty Ann Stribling of Greenwood; and her children, Cathy Bailey (Clinton) of Memphis, Susan Chick (Jim) of Memphis, Ganes Clements of Greenwood, Ann Clements (Bobby) of Memphis, Dr. Henry Flautt (Mary Haley) of Greenwood and Frances Zook (Jim) of Atlanta.  She is also survived by her grandchildren, Henry Clements Bailey, Clifton Clements Odom, Irene Annelle Bailey, Charles Stribling Odom, Andrew Clements Odom, Matthew Ganes Clements and William Stribling Clements; and her nieces, Page Whites, Ellen O’Neal and Kathryn Sessions.

The family asks that memorials be made to the Clements Flautt Outreach Fund C/O The Episcopal Church of the Nativity 400 Howard St., Greenwood, MS  38930 or to  Church Health, 1350 Concourse Ave. Suite 142, Memphis, TN 38104.

An online guest book may be signed at www.greenwoodmsfuneralhome.com.  Greenwood Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Miles/Gregg Wedding Announcement

Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Gordon Miles Jr. of Olive Branch and Ms. Margaret Lipe Miles of Greenwood announce the engagement and upcoming marriage of their daughter, Margaret Webb Miles, to Matthew Thomas Gregg of Greenwood.

The prospective bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Billy Harold Gregg Jr. of Greenwood. He is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Billy Harold Gregg of Greenwood and the late Mr. and Mrs. James H. “Bill” Stallings.

The bride-elect is the granddaughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Carl Thomas Lipe and the late Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Gordon Miles.

Miss Miles is a graduate of Pillow Academy. She received an associate’s degree in nursing at Mississippi Delta Community College and a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Mississippi University for Women.

She is employed as a registered nurse at Greenwood Leflore Hospital.

Mr. Gregg attended Carroll Academy. He is employed at Sequel Electrical Supply.

The couple will exchange vows at 5 p.m. on Nov. 11 at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity.

The Rev. Peter Gray will officiate.

A reception at The Alluvian hotel will follow.

Sermon: Sunday, August 20, 2017 – Matthew 15:10-28

Every bit of scripture we have this morning is about God drawing diverse peoples into fellowship…with God…and with one another.

Now, who says the Bible’s not relevant?

In the gospel, Jesus’ ministry gets challenged and it gets expanded by his encounter with a woman who is ethnically and religiously different. Our brother Paul, writing to the Church in Rome, writes to the Romans about how it is that God remains faithful to the Jewish people…even as God does something new through Jesus and the Church.

And then in the Old Testament, Isaiah speaks to a nation that is rebuilding itself and is wondering just how inviting they should be to outsiders, to foreigners. The Word of God delivered through Isaiah is, “Look, my house shall be a house of prayer for all people.” Those words are written in stone on the National Cathedral in Washington. “My house shall be a house of prayer for all people.”

In each of these readings, God is drawing diverse peoples together in fellowship with God and one another. And that is lovely, isn’t it? It’s hopeful. It’s aspirational. And it’s easier imagined than it is realized, isn’t it?

These scriptures are relevant to the moment in which we find ourselves, but let’s ask the hard question of them: How do we start? What’s the first step toward living in that kingdom…where our differences stop impeding connection…and instead begin enriching?

Well then, let’s check in with Jesus, shall we?

Now, Jesus was a Jew. We know that, right? And he had a vocation, a call, to his people. Mary and Joseph were Jewish. Jesus learned the faith in his home town synagogue just as we learn it in our home church. On occasion, he would have gone to the big city Jerusalem to the Temple for big festivals.

His call, his ministry, was distinctively Jewish also. He disciples called him “Messiah,” that’s a Jewish term, right? The Romans were no more looking for a Messiah than they were looking to give up their bacon in the morning. But Jesus’ people…were in need of a Savior. They had no king; the Temple was under squirrely management; they were ruled by an empire with a habit of violence and desecration of the Holy. He was Jewish; his vocation was Jewish.

So, busy with that call…to his people…he hits a speed bump, doesn’t he?

He’s wandering outside his home base in the border country between his people and the rest of the world, and a Canaanite woman comes calling after him. This is a woman who is ethnically and religiously different from him. Shouting, she says, “Have mercy on me! My daughter is tormented by a demon.”
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And he just keeps walking.
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She persists.
The disciples say, “Jesus, would you please go deal with this? It’s getting awkward. She clearly doesn’t know how we do things around here.”
And Jesus says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” that is, my people.
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But she persists, still. The nerve, right? She falls down on her knees in front of him and begs, “Lord, help me!”
And our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ says, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
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Now that is an uncomfortable moment. For her, for him, for us disciples who hear it. It is safe to say that in this moment, the differences between Jesus and this woman seem pretty insurmountable.
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You ever thought you knew something, only to find out you were wrong? I have!
These brains of ours…they are a blessing and curse. Humans are inquisitive by nature. We try to understand our environment, the world around us. But once we settle on an understanding, good luck dislodging that! Once we decide we’ve got the world figured out, it is very hard to change our minds. Social scientists call this confirmation bias – we are inclined to see in the world information that confirms what we already thought…and discount the rest.
We lived in New Orleans for five years, and in New Orleans, there is a very fine line between art…and vandalism. And one artist had painted these little signs – black border with a white box inside, black lettering – and nailed them to utility poles around the city. They read, “Think that you might be wrong.” And I’d sit there at the stoplight thinking, “Other people sure do need to read that sign.”

This problem – of sticking fiercely to what we think we know – is toxic toward overcoming differences amongst humans. Because you think you’ve got the world figured out, and I think I’ve got it figured out, and neither of us thinks that we might be wrong.

You sit there with your whole life’s worth of experience: where you came from, who your parents were, your work, your schooling, your struggle, your griefs, your joys, your skin color, your sexuality, your gender…a history. And I’ve got mine.

That difference impedes connection, especially when the going gets tough. When the world gets tense, we try to navigate by falling back on what we think we know.

Years ago I heard a preacher say, “There comes a time in every marriage when you’ve got to decide if you want to be right…or if you want to be married.”

So, my question earlier was, “What’s the first step toward living in the kingdom …toward letting differences enrich instead of impede. Step one is: give up the commitment to being right.
And ask the question, “I wonder…”
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Jesus, laser-focused on his call from God to save his people…gets caught by the lapels by a woman who was not even on his radar.

He says, “It is not fair to throw the children’s food to the dogs,” that is, what I have to offer is for my people, and I can’t go wasting my time with the rest of the world.

She says, “Yes, Lord. But even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall to the floor.”
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What a marvelous expression of her desperation. “Friend, I’m just looking for crumbs. Friend, I think you just compared me to a dog, but I’m still here. Friend, do you see how desperate I am for the daughter that I love?”

And Jesus gets caught – in a good way – right? He loses his laser focus, loses his understanding of what is right, of what his call is about. He gets caught, perhaps, wondering what it might be like to be this woman.

Desperate. Willing to be brushed off, ignored. Willing to chase down a wandering rabbi with whom she had little chance. Willing to grab hold of Jesus and wrestle for dear life like Jacob and the angel.

I think…he gives up on being right – which can blind us all – and instead asks himself, “I wonder what it’s like to be her.      Which moves him to a broader view of his call. Moves him to recognize that he’s saving more than just his own here, but all of us too.

All of us who follow Christ want to live in a world where differences enrich the kingdom rather than impede it. But how?

The first step is to ask, “I wonder.” To self-consciously set our own experience, our own ideas, our own sense of how the world works…set it to the side…and try to put ourselves in the shoes of another. To ask, “I wonder what it’s like to be him? I wonder what it’s like to be her?” You know what we call it when we set aside ourselves for the sake of another. We call that love. To love our neighbor enough to ask, “I wonder what it’s like…” That’s the first step.

I wonder what it’s like to struggle with chronic illness?
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I wonder what it’s like to be a single parent?
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I wonder what it’s like to run a business?
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I wonder what it’s like to be a police officer in this moment?
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I wonder what it’s like to survive sexual assault?
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I wonder what it’s like to be Jewish and see Charlottesville?
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I wonder what it’s like to live for eighty years and then watch the world change dramatically?
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I wonder what it’s like to be sixteen and gay?
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I wonder what it’s like to be proud of Confederate ancestors?
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I wonder what it’s like to be black in Greenwood?
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To love our neighbor…the first step is to get past the notion that we already know all we need to know, and ask, “I wonder.” I wonder.

This is actually what Mission Mississippi – which I’m always talking about – is up to. Mission Mississippi is not playing nice and pretending that nothing divides us. Rather, it’s about gathering across the divide, telling the truth about what’s real in my life, and then having a person who is different take that ‘what it’s like’ on and pray. And then I do the same for them.

We ask, “I wonder.” It’s the first step. And if Jesus was willing to take that step, I promise you, we’re not too good for it either.
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That’s one option. The other option is that we double down on what we already think we know and pretend that we couldn’t possibly be wrong.

So, we’ve got to decide: do we want to be right?

Or do we want to be Christians?

In Christ’s name.

Nativity Day School

The Nativity Day School welcomes children ages 10 weeks through the 3k year. The school is open Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Our school is staffed with highly qualified teachers and caregivers to ensure that the students of the Nativity Day School receive the best care and instruction possible. If you are interested in enrolling your student in the Nativity Day School please contact the Director of the Day School, Landi Mohamed at 662-453-7786.