Hello All Saints family! We look forward to relaunching All Saints Sharon Chapel worship on First Advent, Sunday, November 27, 2022. For this first Sunday we will have one service at 10:30 AM with CGS for the kids offered at 9 AM and fellowship at that time for the adults. We will also have coffee hour after the service in Gunnell Hall. Our chapel space will be undergoing a transformation over the foreseeable future as we work to update the space to support our services so please bear with us! We are looking for volunteers for many ministries so please reach out to the vestry or the people identified below if you are interested in helping! We need all hands on deck to make this happen! Below are some of our greatest needs: CGS: We need supporters (crafts, food prep, and more), volunteers, and catechists. The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is centered on the deep bond between God and the child, a relationship that continually nurtures in the child the desire to draw near to God. The role of the CGS volunteers is not to “fill” the child with information, but to prepare an environment that responds to the needs of the child and to share elements that help “call forth” a response from the child. Together the catechist and child listen, ask, and wonder together. Contact: Davette Himes at CGS@sharonchapel.org Alter Guild: We need volunteers for a group of the parish whose ministry is to care for the altar, vestments, vessels, and altar linens of the parish. Altar Guild members prepare the sanctuary for services, and clean up afterwards. Altar Guild members frequently supervise the decoration of the sanctuary of the parish with flowers. Contact: Michael Neuhardt at michaelneuhardt@me.com Communication Coordinator: We need volunteers who coordinate messages to the parish-usually weekly bulletins with key information. Contact: Nick Lombardo at lombardo.nick@gmail.com Greeters and Coffee Hour Volunteers: We need volunteers who greet congregants to the parish servIces and provide fellowship after services. Contact: Cindy Stanley at cbuxton7@yahoo.com Technology Volunteers: We need volunteers who oversee and operate the equipment to communicate with our parishioners for a hybrid service through Zoom. Contact: Jim Taylor at jimetaylor@aol.com Thanks and see you soon!

RAISING AWARENESS ​ In December 2015, the Social Justice and Racial Reconciliation team convened a meeting with parishioners to discuss social justice issues in the aftermath of the death of Michael Brown during the riots which took place in Ferguson, Missouri. Parishioners of varying ages, races, and overall perspectives shared their thoughts on confronting racism and upholding social justice, and they discussed how Christ is making His presence known in the midst of our current conflicts in society. During the summer of 2016, several parishioners participated in a reading club with other Northern Virginia Episcopal churches; the reading club read Between the World and Me, a book written by African American writer Ta-Nehisi Coates as a letter to his teenaged son about the feelings, symbolism, and realities associated with being African American in the United States. Group members held weekly conversations throughout the summer about the book and shared their candid feelings about many of the painful issues which Coates raised. In December 2016, approximately 20 parishioners gathered at Hoffman Theater in Alexandria to see the movie “Loving,” the real-life story of Mildred and Richard Loving’s fight for the right to live as a mixed-race married couple in the commonwealth of Virginia during the civil rights movement. After viewing the film, we held two discussions after the following Sunday’s services to explore our feelings about the film and the social justice and racial reconciliation issues which it highlights. In March 2017, we organized an outing for 20 parishioners to visit the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, DC; it was a wonderful opportunity to see the scope of African American experiences throughout history depicted so movingly.​ TAKING ACTION Under the leadership of our rector, the Reverend Cayce Ramey, our parish has been involved in several events and initiatives in support of the cause of social justice and racial reconciliation; these events and initiatives include the following: A special service at All Saints Sharon Chapel in remembrance of Natasha McKenna, an African American woman who died in police custody in a Fairfax, Virginia jail in 2015. Participation in Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice with passion and accountability. Participation in “The Triangle of Hope”, a partnership between the Dioceses of Virginia, Liverpool (England) and Kumasi (West Africa) -- three areas once connected by the slave trade -- which is dedicated to transforming the long history, ongoing effects, and continuing presence of slavery in our world through repentance, reconciliation, and mission. A forum entitled “A Mile in These Shoes: Understanding Privilege in our Desire for Christian Unity” held in August 2017 at All Saints Sharon Chapel. As a parish family, we will continue to explore ways in which we can deepen our awareness and act in support of social justice and racial reconciliation, and with God’s help we will remain committed to continual learning and growth together. Since December 2015, Racial Justice Ministry is currently engaging in the following initiatives: Engagement with Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy annual conferences. Hosting forums led by parishioners concerning affordable housing in Fairfax County, and prison reform in the state of Virginia prison system. Early work has started to identify how we might address possible reparations for formerly enslaved people in Fairfax County especially those enslaved on the former Frobel plantation. Options might include a range of both financial and non-financial strategies that recognize the sacrifice and legacy of these former enslaved people, and the continuing impact on those families to the present day.