The Church of the Nativity and Holy Comforter

06/14/2026

06/12/2026

Enews 6/12/26

This week, I’d like to share a personal achievement. This past weekend, I attended the Mid-Atlantic Melee, a two-day stage combat workshop in Columbia, MD. It is my second year attending and it was so much fun to see friends I hadn’t seen in a year and get the chance to meet amazing stage combat...

06/10/2026

Almighty God, who led your pilgrim people of old by fire and cloud: grant that the ministers of your church, following the example of your servant Enmegahbowh, may lead your people with fiery zeal and gentle humility.

Today, our Healing Service elevates priest and missionary Enmegahbowh (1807-1902). John Johnson Enmegahbowh, an Odawa Indian from Canada, was raised in the hybrid traditions of his grandfather's Midewiwin traditional healing and his mother's Christianity. His missionary work brought him to the United States. Though he attempted to leave his mission, his boat was stopped by storms on Lake Superior which gave him a vision of Jonah, who spoke to him about not turning aside from the path that God had given him. He served as a deacon and helped to found the St. Columba's Mission in 1852. He worked to promote peace among the Native American peoples, inspiring the Waubanaquot mission which focused on establishing peace between the Ojibway and Dakota peoples.

Enmegahbowh is the first recognized Native American priest in the Episcopal Church. His name in Odawa means "the one who stands before his people" and his understanding of Native traditions helped him to bridge the gap between Ojibway culture and Christianity. The long-standing tradition of Ojibway hymn singing is a testament to his work and the work of the deacons he trained over his lifetime as he tirelessly travelled through Minnesota and beyond to develop mission strategy and policy for the Episcopal Church. His life is celebrated for the peace he achieved and the nurturing collaboration he used to encourage the cohesion of Native traditions and Christianity.

All are welcome on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 AM for the Healing Eucharist service and to come on Sunday mornings to raise your voices in praise!

06/07/2026

06/05/2026

Enews 6/5/26

Though Jesus was a devout Jew who practiced his faith, he was criticized for eating with tax collectors and sinners—the religiously nonobservant. Jesus criticizes the self-righteous and reminds us that mercy is to be at the heart of our religious practices. God continues to be made known in those ...

06/03/2026

Pour out your Holy Spirit, O God, upon your church in every land, that like your servant Boniface we might proclaim the Gospel to all nations, that your kingdom might be enlarged and that your holy Name might be glorified in all the world!

This morning, our Healing Service elevated Bishop and Missionary Boniface as our Saint of the Day. Known as one of the "Makers of Europe", Boniface was born, educated, professed, and ordained in England before being called to missionary work and travelling to the Netherlands and Germany, with papal approval. Boniface devoted his life to reforming, planting, and organizing churches, monasteries, and dioceses in the Germanic lands. Eventually his work earned papal approval so much that he was made bishop, and then archbishop of Mainz. Because of Archbishop Boniface's annointing of Pepin as the King of the Franks, the way was paved for Charlemagne to rise to the throne and revive the Christian Dominion in western Europe!

This is also the first Wednesday Healing Eucharist led by our Bridge Pastor, Rev. Annette Chappell! We are so grateful to Episcopal Diocese of Maryland for their assistance and support in our time of transition and we look forward to the time that Mother Annette will spend with us until a permanent pastor is called! Welcome, Mother Annette!

All are welcome on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 AM for the Healing Eucharist service and to come on Sunday mornings to raise your voices in praise.

05/31/2026

05/29/2026

E-News 5/29/26

One of the blessings of spring are the new animals being born and the cycle of life continuing onward. Tiny cheeps of new birds, stumbling steps of baby fawns, the soft snuggles of little bunnies; these are all part of the wheel of the year and the circle of life. Unfortunately, the circle of life d...

05/27/2026

Almighty God, who has enriched you church with the learning and holiness of your servant Bede: Grant us to find in Scripture and disciplined prayer the image of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and to fashion our lives according to his likeness, to the glory of your great Name and to the benefit of your holy church.

We have persevered through the torrential rain and an unexpected power outage to still join together in prayer for the world and those on our Parish Prayer List! We are grateful for Rev. John Deason who came to join us today from Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.

This morning, we elevated St. Bede. Educated at a monastery in Jarrow in northeast England, Bede joined the church as a deacon and then a priest and found his calling as a historian. He is widely considered to be the greatest scholar of his day in the Western church, writing extensively about Scripture commentary, treatise on chronology, orthography, poetic meter, biographies, and historical records. He is most well known for his "The Ecclesiastical History of the English People", which remains the primary historical source of the Anglo-Saxon cultural development in 597-731. He died on the eve of the Ascension in 735 and his body, placed in the Lady Chapel at Durham, remains a site for pilgrims from around the world.

All are welcome on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 AM for the Healing Eucharist service and to come on Sunday mornings to raise your voices in praise.