Virginia Episcopalian Magazine Winter 2015 Issue | Page 21

Members of St. David’s, Ashburn, help pack supplies and take
part in a prayer service for Ebola-stricken areas in West Africa.
Together, St. David’s and St. Anne’s, Reston, filled a shipping
container with over 1,000 boxes of medical necessities and food.

“The Episcopal Church, despite its small numbers, is
an important component in bringing the [religious] groups
together,” explains the Rev. Anne Lynn, president of AFDJ.
“This is important to ensure that they know each other,
support each other - an important role that the Episcopal
Church takes on and yet cannot accomplish without the help
of parishes like St. Andrew’s, Burke; Christ Church, Alexandria;
St. Stephen’s, Richmond; and St. Luke’s, Alexandria - churches
who are stepping up and understand what needs to be done
here.” For example, after taking a pilgrimage to the area,
members of St. Luke’s created a knitting ministry to provide
crocheted and knitted baby blankets to hospitals.

Not only is work being done to reach out to our Middle
Eastern neighbors in Jerusalem, but also here in Virginia. St.
Andrew’s, Burke, has established relationships with a sister
parish, St. Andrew’s in Ramallah, through a partnership of
mutual prayer and financial support. St. Andrew’s also opens
its doors every Friday for its Muslim neighbors across the
street, who’ve outgrown their space. “While we are supporting
our fellow Christians in Gaza, Palestine, Israel, Syria, Lebanon,
we also are mindful that we have neighbors across the street in
need of a place to meet to say their prayers,” said the Rev. Tim
Heflin, rector of St. Andrew’s. “We are trying to build bridges
between Jews, Christians and Muslims.”

The Rev. Fadi Diab, rector of St. Andrew’s in Ramallah, paid
a visit to the partner congregation in Arlington. “It’s important
for Christians, not only in the Diocese of Jerusalem but also in
the Middle East, to know they are not alone,” said Diab.

Heflin’s response: “We are doing in our own way, in the
way we can afford, and in the small way we can do and the
best way we can do – we are trying to remind them that they
are not alone.”
When it comes to matters of thinking big in world mission, the
Rev. Anne Lynn of AFDJ puts it this way: “The fact is that, as
all of us work toward peace, families need to put food on the
table tonight. Children need to go to school tomorrow. And we
can ensure that that can happen. There’s an enormous amount
of work that can be done, can be done successfully today by
individual parishes and individual donors. And we can help
make that happen.” t

WINTER 2015 / Virginia Episcopalian

19