We held 2 services - 12 attended 9am’s Holy Eucharist, Rite 1 and 35 at 11pm Morning Prayer on a beautiful sunny day with moderate temperatures considering it is January.

The main concept presented in the scriptures revolved around authority. In our life as a church in Va. when we think of authority, we first think about the influence of the Episcopal Church and how it plays out in the Diocese.

During the announcements Eunice and  Catherine reflected on attending the Diocesan Council held this past week. Eunice was impressed with the  exuberant celebration for the retirement of Suffragen Bishop Jones after 17 years in the Diocese and noted  the size of the Diocese. In that context, Catherine reminded the Church to review the list of candidates that will be published Feb 3, 2012 for the Suffragen position and to give their  thoughts  to our lay delegate (Linda or Eunice) and Catherine who will have a vote at the Diocese election April 21 in Fredericksburg. 

Last week we celebrated the baptism of Jesus. This week (and next) the God's call to us is explored in the context of Jesus calling his disciples as Jesus' identity unfolds in the gospels.

Today it was the Gospel of John with call of Philip and Nathanael. The call was different for each disciple (God called Philip, Philip led Nathanael toward Christ) and their name for Jesus was different.  However they followed the call - "come and see" or "come and believe."

In the Old Testament it is the call of the 12 year old boy Samuel to become the last of the Hebrew judges. He became a priest and prophet as Israel was moving toward a monarchy.

The children did a play about Samuel. It's easy to miss or misinterpret God's call as Samuel did 3 times. Eli, his guardian priest, finally interpreted it for him though his family was condemned by God due to their sins. Here is how it went:

The season of Epiphany from Jan 6, 2012 to Feb. 22, 2012 emphasizes God making God known in the world through Jesus, the divine son. It is the gradual unfolding of the identity of Jesus and his ministry through scripture and song. It should cause us to rethink our way too as the Magi did.

Today we celebrated Jesus' Baptism in Mark 1:4-11 by reciting our own baptismal covenant.  (Readings are here).  The sermon explained 3 gifts of baptism : 

1 Gift of an Opened Door. God has pierced the barrier between heaven and earth so God's grace can engulf us. God is with us in our difficult times, our temptations, and in death.

2 Gift of the Holy Spirit.   "So through the water of our own baptisms, we are reborn by the Holy Spirit, and we have the opportunity to become a new creation, just as the formless void became God’s new creation of heaven and earth, at the beginning of time in Genesis." The Holy Spirit is the creative side of God and we become part of God's work on this planet. We walk in newness of life. The Holy Spirit changes us from the inside out as opposed to John's repentence which only washed the sin away. As the scripture from Act indicates we must receive the Holy Spirit to be baptized.

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols was an appropriate first Sunday in 2012 to wrap up 2011. Compared to our services, the Eucharist and Morning Prayer, it's a new service, created by the Church of England in 1918 at a time when the community of Cambridge was devastated by loss in World War I. It's out of loss that something wonderfully new was created, a very creative service with no sermon or communion that celebrates the written word in scripture and music.   (The service format is flexible in both the readings and hymns though since 1919 Lessons and Carols has begun with "Once in Royal David's City.") The bulletin of our service is here. The readings which were selected can be found here.  

The readings capture the whole range of human emotions from the promise and tragedy of Genesis to hope of the prophet Isaiah forecasting the birth of Jesus to the wonder and celebration of the story of Jesus birth with the shepherds, angels and the manger.