Baltimore church of the nativity

Watch Past Masses. Stream on any Platform Click an icon below to stream Nativity Online from wherever you are. Is this your first time? Kids Messages Kids programs are for age 6 months to 4th grade. Kids Messages. Students Messages. Online Small Groups Small Groups is where our large church gets small. Join a Group. If you need someone, we are here. Pastor Stewart and Pastor Don are happy to make themselves available for virtual or phone conversations, or safely distanced and masked chats at the church or on your front porch.

Just send them an email or call the office to schedule. We are a community. We are a community of faith, and love, and we believe in joy, and laughter, and the power of a good old-fashioned garden to heal our souls.

Sunday Worship and am Holy Communion indoors Masks and social distancing are required Click here to watch on YouTube or here to watch on Facebook. Monday Chair Yoga am Click this link or call then enter Leader: Linda Mcgill, or or email. Wednesday Healing Prayers am on Zoom In person on August 4 Click this link to Zoom or call then enter Thursday Morning Bible Study am Click here to join or call then enter Meeting ID: In a state which is solidly democratic with a Republican Governor, in a city which has suffered from systemic racism and all of the attending tragedies and yet has a heart and soul that is the envy of other big cities, in a time when fewer people are engaged in organized religion, and during a raging worldwide pandemic, we thrive.

We the people, the congregation, we choose to worship together. We were born into the Lutheran faith. We were born into the Episcopal Church. Or maybe we decided later to affirm our faith in a church that would embrace us.

This is our church. We hail from nine countries, we speak different languages, have gone to different schools, live in different communities, love who we love, and we are politically diverse in a time when few organizations are. We laugh, we listen, we feel the power of prayer, and the grace of music. Jesus is here. Joy is here. We are a casserole-making, tree-planting, food-donating, room-painting, bunch of Christians who choose to value doing over talking, love over hate, prayer over violence, and we welcome the stranger.

Although building a new church in the suburbs was considered, the congregation decided to rebuild. Fourteen months after the fire, they moved into a new building on the same site. But Govans was changing. The congregation was overwhelmingly white. As other churches abandoned the city, Holy Comforter took a different approach: it reached into the community and welcomed its neighbors.

Word gradually spread that this was now a multicultural church. While facing problems confronting many older mainline churches—aging buildings, declining attendance, and financial strains—Holy Comforter in celebrated its th anniversary with a sense of hope and resolve.

Longer Nativity History The story of the parish begins on February 20, , when services were first held in private homes in the vicinity of the present church as a missionary effort of the Reverend Charles A.

Hensel , rector of the Church of the Redeemer. Later that year, Bishop Paret reserved the name, Chapel of the Nativity, for the new mission, and in the diocese purchased the land. The present church building was originally a chapel for summer colony inhabitants of private estates in Garrett County, located in western Maryland.

When they moved away in , W. Other parishes donated furnishings, and the first service was held in the still uncompleted church on Christmas Day In , an annual lawn fete was held as a fundraiser that has evolved into what is now known as the June Fair.

The Great Depression of the s left the mission with reduced income and a huge debt, with little prospect of paying it off. In January , Adams disappointedly resigned even though the number of communicants had doubled during his tenure. Scriven as Vicar. An unexpected legacy in and a grant from the Reconstruction and Advance Fund of the Episcopal Church in enabled the diocese to pay off the remainder of the parish house debt that year.

Freedom from debt and growth in membership enabled Nativity to incorporate as a parish in with Fr. Scriven as the first rector. In , a non-parish preschool was begun that still uses the parish house today. With the postwar housing boom and growing number of worshipers taxing seating capacity, the church building was enlarged and financed with a loan paid off in Growth in church membership caused the addition of a third, family-oriented service.

The Reverend Herman A. He led the parish through the transition to the new prayer book and hymnal, incorporated the Holy Eucharist at services, and instituted a program of home communion. During his pastorate, the church building was air-conditioned, a new organ was installed, and a library was created in the parish house.

The Reverend C. Allen Spicer came to Nativity as the third rector on February 1, During his tenure, the Christian education program was overhauled and a midweek healing service with Bible study was begun.

The Reverend Thomas B. Carter came to Nativity as the fourth rector on November 13, Outreach ministries included Partners in Care through the Maryland National Guard to care for soldiers in need after returning from war. Carter led a 2-week mission trip to Liberia. The project to expand parish offices and install an elevator was a tremendous success and was paid for in five years.

Nativity celebrated its centennial in with many special activities throughout the year. Carter retired on December 31, The Reverend T. After a year of ministry, the Vestry discerned along with Bishop Eugene T. Sutton that he was the right person to be called as the fifth rector.

His celebration of new ministry took place on May 15, At the AM service on Sundays, we generally worship using the more traditional language of the Rite I Liturgy from the Book of Common Prayer in a spoken service singing a hymn at the end of the service. The choir sings from September through May. At this informal service, we normally remember one of the saints of the church.

We read his or her biography, and the clergy person leads a dialogue on what we can learn from the readings and the lives of the saints. We then offer prayers for healing for those in our congregation and for those on our hearts for who we have promised our prayers. Those who desire to receive the lay on of hands for healing are invited to the altar rail.

The Holy Eucharist then follows. About Us. Our Mission.