Creation Care

The Creation Care Ministry at the Church of the Holy Comforter is called to:

Restore habitat to provide homes, shelter, food, and water for our fellow creatures whose lives and very existence depend on the church’s grounds

Provide education and resources to help the congregation replicate healthy habitats in their own gardens

Establish a pleasing, meditative, and restorative landscape

Sustain a sylvan sanctuary in which people can experience the presence of the Divine

3rd Saturday Workday:

Join us on the 3rd Saturday of every month as we work to restore our forest, and to make our campus more environmentally responsible. We gather at the lower end of the parking lot at 9:00 a.m., and work until noon, doing different activities each month, depending on the season. Cancelled if the weather is unpleasant. For more information, please contact Margaret Bain or Kerry Gilpin.

More Events:

To Love and Heal Creation: An Environmental Ministry Conference – The Creation Care Committee of the Diocese of Virginia is hosting a conference, called To Love and Heal Creation: An Environmental Ministry Conference at Roslyn Retreat Center (near Richmond) on September 28 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Learn more.

Creature Pictures Needed – For our St. Francis Day celebration on October 6, we need photographs of the kind of creatures we see around our houses and in the woods—chipmunks, birds, groundhogs, foxes… If you have any, please bring a print to display on the notice board in the Narthex, any time during the month of September.

Seeking Young Singers to Join the Chorister Program!

Our Chorister program is open to boys and girls in 2nd through 12th grade. Choristers rehearse on Thursdays from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Chapel with Minister of Music, Dr. David Kelley and Miss Lolly Mixter, learning music theory and vocal skills, and sing on Sunday mornings with the Adult Choir. We have a fun dinner together once or twice a month following rehearsal. No previous musical experience is required to join the program but good reading skills are helpful. More information is available for download HERE and you may also contact Dr. Kelley.

At Holy Comforter we offer a variety of musical offerings throughout the year, Questions? Please contact Margaret Bain or Kerry Gilpin.

Holy Comforter’s Organ

The current organ at Church of the Holy Comforter was installed in September 2012 by the Walker Technical Company of Zionsville, Pa., and features more than 80 stops playable from four manuals plus the pedal keyboard.

A fully digital instrument, its voices draw on Walker’s extensive library of electronic samples taken from pipe organs built by the famous Aeolian-Skinner company of Boston, which was active from 1932 to 1972.

As the current clergy and Vestry have recognized in discussions and planning sessions for the future direction of Holy Comforter, our great strength is meaningful worship; and, as our previous rector Bob Denig expressed in 1988 before purchase of our previous organ, “Music is at the heart of that worship; it plays an absolutely irreplaceable role…(and) so often says what cannot be said.”

Music surrounds and enfolds the liturgy and readies us all to be in the presence of the majesty and mystery of our relationship with God. The new Walker Technical Company organ greatly enhances our music program in several ways: it allows the authentic performance of most all of the classical and traditionally Anglican repertoire; it enhances all parishioners’ worship experience, and better leads hymn singing; and it enhances the literature sung by the choirs.

We envision our organ as the foundation of a variety of musical events in addition to use in worship, with concerts becoming the basis of various outreach and other fund-raising activities.

View the Organ Stop List.

If you have questions about the Creation Care Ministrty and/or any of our current offerings, please contact Margaret Bain or Kerry Gilpin.

Earth Sunday, 2024

In honor of Earth Day, we gathered after the 9:30 a.m. service on April 21, for discovery, exploration, and fun for all ages!

Our theme was “This Fragile Earth.”

We discovered how Holy Comforter seeks to care for the land entrusted to us and to address issues like:

Home energy conservation and composting

Sustainable operation of the church and its campus

Support for ecosystems and landscaping for native plants

We explored fun opportunities for all including:

Bird Identification Walk

Bicycle Generator

Electric Lawn Equipment

Native Plant Giveaway

Plant-Based Food

Regenerative Gardening

Sneaker Recycling!

There were opportunities for kids including:

Earth-Themed Stories

Make a Bird Feeder

Tree Leaf Rubbings

Creation Care

Creation Care

3rd Saturday Workday:

More Events:

Seeking Young Singers to Join the Chorister Program!

Holy Comforter’s Organ

Earth Sunday, 2024

Chorister Program

Taizé Contemplative Worship