Last Sunday (Easter 4, Year B, April 26, 2015)
May 1 – 3, Parish Retreat at Shrine Mont
May 3 – 10:00am, Godly Play (preschool through 2nd grade)
May 3 – 11:00am, Morning Prayer at St. Peter’s
May 3 – 12:00pm, Coffee hour
May 5 – All Day!, The Community Give – Donate for the Village Harvest!
May 6 – 10:00am, Ecumenical Bible Study
May 6 – 5:00pm, Village Dinner
May 7 – 6:30pm, Peumansend Jail Ministry
May 8 – 4pm -5pm, Shred-it! at St. Peter’s
May 9 – 8:30am ECM at Horne’s
This Sunday at St. Peter’s – Servers, Readings
Continuing – Easter Tide, UTO Spring Ingathering
Captain Sally Tompkins from the Booth Weekend
Sally describes her role in the Civil War and St. Peter’s. Thanks to Jim Heimbach for this video. Sally is played by Marilyn Iglesias.
Tompkins work with the wounded is legendary. In a hospital she established in Richmond, she saw 1,333 confederate soldiers and only 73 deaths occurred there due in large part to Tompkins’ emphasis on cleanliness and order. She refused payment for her service and supplemented costs of the hospital with an inheritance.
Mary Chestnut, the Civil War diarist, visited the hospital on Aug 26, 1861 and wrote "From there we went to Miss Sally Tompkins’s hospital, loaded with good things for the wounded. The men under Miss Sally’s kind care looked so clean and comfortable."
During the 1880’s Tompkins resided at Riverview in Port Royal, Virginia, the home of John Lightfoot and Harriet Field Lightfoot. Sally purchased the property in November 1896 and owned it until 1905. She spent the last eleven years of her life in Richmond at the Home for Needy Confederate Women.
Nepal Earthquake Relief
Episcopal Relief and Development writes, "A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on the morning of April 25, causing severe damage and loss of life across the small nation. We will help meet urgent needs such as food, clean water and shelter, as well as support for assessment and search and rescue teams in the initial phase of the disaster, through the ACT Alliance in Nepal and with our own partners in surrounding areas including northern India and southwest China. Following the initial relief phase, this fund will continue to support longer-term recovery efforts with local partners."
As of April 27, the death toll has exceeded 5,000. Due to the rough terrain and isolated nature of communities in Nepal and across the Himalayas, search and rescue efforts are being carried out on foot and by helicopter. Communications are still down across wide areas of the region, further hampering assessment and rescue efforts.
You can donate securely to Episcopal Relief and Development for Nepal relief here.
Fixin’ Up the Mountain – The Shrine Mont Capital Campaign
Our parish returns for a second year to spend with Christ Episcopal, Spotsylvania. 10 are making the trek. Shrine Mont has meeting space for parishes during the year and a summer camp program.
Shrine Mont is in the midst of a capital campaign to improve the summer camps portion of the facility. The camps are over 50 years and obvious some renovation is needed. There are two basic needs – half of it people oriented and the other half facility:
1. More to the Mountain Fund – $1MM. "Half of our goal—$1 million—will be used to create the More to the Mountain Fund. This endowment will help 175 additional youth and families attend a Shrine Mont Camp each year. It will also make the salaries of our 100+ summer staff members more competitive. As a result, Shrine Mont will better reflect the true diversity of the Diocese and the Church."
2. Maintenance- $1MM Through the campaign they will:
- Renovate and replace cabins
- Better protect facilities from the elements
- Create new staff housing
- Expand camp capacity and meeting space
That’s the basic goal $2MM. But there is an extra $500M for a "stretch goal". This is an ongoing maintenance funds to "enable us to better care for the camps, enhancing the experience of campers and reducing long-term maintenance expenses."
So how are they doing ? They are at $1,875,000+
St. Peter’s as a church has contributed. We have had campers in the summer – the Fishers are now going there and the Longs preceded them. We are asking individuals in the church to contribute.
Consider a gift to the renewal of this wonderful facility and to support future campers.
Links: 1. Main site
2. Ways to Give You can give over a number of years.
3. Shrine Mont camps visit June, 2013.
4. List of anticipated camp improvements
Last year’s Parish Retreat
St. Peter’s was invited by Christ Episcopal in Spotsylvania to share with them their Shrine Mont Reservation. We sent 12 people.
All agreed that they would like to repeat the experience next year. Highlights include a trip up to the cross. (Yes, Zeke made it! though tired later), walking the labyrinth, visting a cover bridge near Mt. Jackson, participating in the program on Benedictine spirituality and a campfire on Sat. night.
Eunice reflected on the weekend at Shrine Mont . "Love the ambiance, the buildings and the people. Two things that struck me about the facilities were how well maintained they were (the pride taken in the gift of this place) and the feeling of safety. All rooms were open and no locks – not even in your private room (unless you requested it).
"It was so nice to be in a place where you feel comfortable to let your children run free. The outdoor stone chapel was a beautiful place for our Sunday service. Also, friendships were made that already have us looking forward to joining with those folks again next year. "
Here is a photo gallery from the participants.
Tucker Fisher’s Trip to Shrine Mont
Our roving reporter Tucker Fisher was on the scene at Shrine Mont and brings you this report
"When we got to Shrine Mont we settled into our room. After that we went to dinner. Then we went to the ballroom. In the ballroom, we met the people from Christ Church. Four people were in my age range. We played together outside, had snacks, and had evening Compline. Then we went to our rooms and slept. The next day we went on a scavenger hunt, boys against girls, we tied. David and I went to the Shrine three times. We also, went to one of the springs. It was Penny Springs. I also went to the cross twice, once on Saturday afternoon with a group from both churches and then again at 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning. It was pretty when we got there to see the sun come up."
Betty’s Shrine Mont Gallery
Click here to access it. Some wonderful clear and vibrant pictures of the weekend experience.
Taking it to the Streets
Thanks to Andrea Pogue this is the 4th anniversary of this event!
•Use this opportunity to securely dispose of those out dated, sensitive documents and financial records that you have accumulated over the years; and
•Use this occasion to clear out old file cabinets, boxes, folders and envelopes containing pay stubs, tax records, bank statements and receipts that have amassed over time.
Bring them to St. Peter’s on Friday, May 8 between 4pm and 5pm and watch the action. Suggested donation per bag $5.
This is a fund raiser for community enrichment and charitable outreach efforts. We also need to pay for the shredder. Please a consider a generous donation to this cause.
Whether for the environment, to help St. Peter’s or to rid your home of excess papers, come down and bring your stuff on May 8
St. Peter’s in the Community Give, May 5
The Community Give is a 24-hour day of giving on Tuesday May 5, 2015 from 12:00 a.m. until midnight. It is a day when everyone in our region (Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Stafford, Caroline, King George) is asked to make a donation and show support for the local nonprofit organizations that positively impact our lives every day. "
St. Peter’s is a beneficiary through our Village Harvest program, our monthly food distribution program. The goal is to provide a harvest of our resources – money to purchase fresh produce, excess food donations from parishioner and our talent – to put together fresh produce, canned foods and recipes – all to benefit the village of Port Royal and surrounding areas .
We are asking people in Port Royal and Caroline County, in particular, to donate a "portion of their harvest" and help us buy fresh produce for our clients. Please spread the word to your friends and neighbors to donate to the Village Harvest online on May 5.
We served 60 on the first distribution on Nov 19 and are now up to 77 on the third Wednesday of each month, distributing in excess of 500 pounds.
For every $10 you donate, you are providing 10 pounds of fresh produce each for 20 people.
Can you afford $40? For $40, you have provided produce for all of our clients in a monthly distribution.
Two ways to donate:
1. Go to the Community Give site –https://www.thecommunitygive.org/and search for "Harvest"
2. We have created our own publicity in the form of a special part on the website, churchsp.org/food . Links are on the first and last page for donations. Giving a little money goes a long way!
The page goes into the background of food insecurity and the problem in the county, how we have addressed it in the Village Harvest, information about St. Peter’s, a gallery and finally a pitch to the reader to donate.
The Next Village Dinner- May 20- What we need ?
We are collecting tuna fish and peanut butter for the next Village Harvest in particular, though any canned goods are welcome. Please bring them to the church by May 17.
We can also use workers for May 20 to help fill the bags. Many thanks for all who provide assistance for this vital ministry.
National Day of Prayer, May 7
There are three events in Fredericksburg:
1. Fredericksburg Traditional National Day of Prayer Observation
5/7/15 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Fredericksburg City Hall (Front porch)
Fredericksburg, VA. Luncheon follows.
2. National Day of Prayer Service
5/7/15 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM Fairview Baptist Church, 900 Charlotte Street, Fredericksburg, VA. This year’s focus is “Lord, Hear our Cry”. I Kings 8:28 as our Scripture for this year: “Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day.”
3. Interfaith proclamation by Fredericksburg religious leaders. They will gather in Market square at noon to continue this conversation.
The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman… It exists to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials, and to mobilize the Christian community to intercede for America’s leaders and its families. The Task Force represents a Judeo Christian expression of the national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible.
The National Day of Prayer has great significance for us as a nation as it enables us to recall and to teach the way in which our founding fathers sought the wisdom of God when faced with critical decisions. It stands as a call for us to humbly come before God, seeking His guidance for our leaders and His grace upon us as a people. The unanimous passage of the bill establishing the National Day of Prayer as an annual event, signifies that prayer is as important to our nation today as it was in the beginning.
It is estimated that over two million people attended more than 30,000 observances – organized by approximately 40,000 volunteers. At state capitols, county court houses, on the steps of city halls, and in schools, businesses, churches and homes, people stopped their activities and gathered for prayer.
Lectionary, May 3, Easter 5
I.Theme – Living in and Through Jesus.
Abide in Me
Jesus said to his disciples, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me." – John 15:1-4
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
First Reading – Acts 8:26-40
Psalm – Psalm 22:24-30 Page 612, BCP
Epistle –1 John 4:7-21
Gospel – John 15:1-8
Today’s readings reveal what it means to live in and through Jesus. In Acts 8, Philip explains to the Ethiopian eunuch the good news of Jesus. The author of 1 John reveals that true faith becomes visible through the obedience of active love. In today’s gospel, Jesus explains that, like branches connected to a vine, we abide with him and experience great fruitfulness.
ACTS 8:26-40. This passage tells how the gospel became a missionary faith outside of Judaism. The story is told as part of the main theme of Acts: To trace the expansion of the early church under the leadership of the apostles from Jerusalem to the Gentile nations of the world, especially to Rome, the capital city of the empire.
Philip has been presented as evangelist to the despised Samaritans. Now he has been sent to another outsider. Ethiopia in the first century referred to southern Egypt, now the Sudan. The eunuch may have been a Gentile proselyte or a “God-fearer,” who accepted much but not all of the Jewish law. As a eunuch, he would have been barred from Jewish worship, because he could not have any male heirs, “sons of the covenant” although Isaiah prophesied the inclusion of eunuchs.
The fourth servant song from Isaiah (Isaiah 52:13–53:12), which becomes the inspiration for the eunuch’s inquiries, was central for the early Church’s understanding of Jesus’ death and resurrection as Christians searched the scriptures to find confirmation of what they had seen to be true.
PSALM 22:25-31. Psalm 22 consists of a lament repeated by Jesus on the cross and a thanksgiving in which the psalmist describes the distress he is suffering and his trust in God. These verses express unwavering confidence in God’s saving deeds. This psalm figures prominently during holy week.
1 JOHN 4:7-21. Perhaps the finest definition of God is given here: “God is love.” In this reading, the theme is set in the context of the nature of God. Love is God’s most characteristic activity. God’s love is not an emotion but an event, made known to us in and through Christ’s incarnation and our redemption. Because this love is so intricately tied to Christ, the Christian’s mission of love is of necessity a mission of witness. We love one another as a manifestation of God’s life in us.
Like partners in a dance, we are invited to love each other as God loves us. No one has seen God, but as we love one another we allow the world to catch a glimpse of God’s true nature. In fact, God’s love is somehow incomplete until we feature that love in our lives.
JOHN 15:1-8. Jesus is offering these words to his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. He knows what is going to happen – both to himself and to his flock – and they do not. They are about to be cut down by his crucifixion and death and he is assuring them that it will not be mere, senseless cutting but that they will survive, even flourish.
The second context is that of the community for which John writes, 60 years after the resurrection. Because by the time they hear these words they have already been scattered, likely thrown out of their synagogue, and have had plenty of reason to feel like they’ve been abandoned. But John writes to assure them that while they have indeed been cut, it is the pruning for more abundant fruit and life.
The allegory of the vine and the branches offers insight into the way the early Christian community saw the redemptive relationship between God, Jesus and the faithful. John stretches the image most picturesquely.
Jesus, as Son, the representative of Israel, is “the true vine” (v. 1) who fulfills the calling of Israel. The disciples are the branches. Our life—spiritual life—flows out of that vine. To be in Christ is to draw one’s lifeblood, one’s identity, one’s purpose in life from that relationship. Outside that relationship there is no life—at least if we’re speaking spiritually. Just as the sap runs from the vine to branches, so the Spirit runs from Jesus to us.
The solid trunk of the vine emerging from the ground grows long, tender branches on which the fruit is produced. Without those branches, newly grown each year, the vine cannot produce. Cut off from the root, the branches are useful only as kindling for a fire. This was a common source of firewood in ancient times.
The expectation of the Christian life—a life lived in Christ—is that one will bear fruit. To do the commandments means to bear fruite. One’s life will reflect that mutual indwelling of Christ’s life in our life, and our life in his. God is in us, and we are in God. Galatians 5:22 mentions these things in bearing fruit – "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."
God is described as the vine grower who cares for both the vine and the branches. The Father is the vinegrower who “prunes” (v. 2, “trims clean”) the branches. Jesus reassures the disciples that they are already “pruned” ( v. 3, translated “cleansed” in the NRSV) by his word.
For John, Christian life is an active and committed life. There cannot be a living, unproductive branch. Those who do not remain, or abide, are taken away. This is exactly what has happened to Israel and to the church through the ages. Those who do abide through prayer bear fruit and show themselves as Jesus’ disciples. Part of that caring requires rigorous pruning so that the vine continues to produce good fruit.
The Gospel – "Abiding" – John 15:1-8
By Marek Zabriskie for the Bible Challenge
I have a small beautiful communion kit, which was given to me by a woman whose husband was a chaplain at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire and later an Associate Rector at St. Thomas Church, where I serve. Her husband died long before I became Rector of St. Thomas, but his wife wanted me to have his communion kit. It was one of the most touching gifts that I have ever received.
Her husband was a wonderful priest with a great pastoral heart. When a death or tragedy occurred, he immediately telephoned and said, “Put a pot of tea on the stove. I will be right over.” He often brought this communion kit with him, which was given to him by another priest, who received it from another priest, who was the Associate Rector of Holy Trinity Church in Rittenhouse Square, where Phillips Brooks, the author of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" was Rector. Brooks was the greatest preacher that the Episcopal Church ever produced. He gave his Associate Rector this communion kit, which now bears the initials on it of all whom have owned and used it.
Each time I bring communion to someone in the hospital or at home, we recite a short service. I begin by reading several verses of Scripture, including one which comes from John 15:
Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)
Few phrases in the Bible are more powerful. Our strength, wisdom and hope comes from abiding in God and spending time with Jesus through prayer and allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us each day as we read the Bible. “Abiding” is an old-fashioned word, which does not get much use nowadays, but it is a rich, wonderful word worthy of reflecting upon at length.
Engrafted to Neighbors
You, then, are my workers. You have come from me, the supreme eternal gardener, and I have engrafted you onto the vine by making myself one with you.
Keep in mind that each of you has your own vineyard. But everyone is joined to the neighbors’ vineyards without any dividing lines. They are so joined together, in fact, that you cannot do good or evil for yourself without doing the same for your neighbors.
–Catherine of Siena 1347-1380 "Dialogue, The Vines That Are Tended by the Divine Gardener "
Grapes, Tacuinum Sanitatis, 13th Century
Epistle – Acts 8 and recent killings of African Christians
On April 21, Anglican Bishop of Ethiopia reported “I have just learned the horrifying news that as many as twenty-eight Ethiopian Christians have been shot or beheaded in Libya by members of the terrorist group known as ISIS or ISIL. This alarming act of violencenbsp; against those that ISIS calls ‘people of the cross’ comes just two months after twenty-one other Christians – twenty Egyptians and one Ghanian, were beheaded on a Libyan beach.”
Ethiopia is Africa’s second most-populated country, and approximately two-thirds of its 90 million people are Christians. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church is the largest Oriental Orthodox denomination in the world.
44 percent of their nation’s population belongs to the Orthodox Tawahedo Church. Over the last several years, the Ethiopian government has been active in military response to the atrocities of the Somali Islamist terrorist group al-Shabab. The ISIS video may have indirectly referenced this as motivation for the group’s killing of the Ethiopian Christians. Many of the 250 migrants who drowned crossing the Mediterranean in 2013 were African Christians fleeing persecution.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tawahedo Church claims descent from the Ethiopian eunuch converted by Philip in Acts 8, our Epistle for this Sunday and dates formally to the preaching of Frumentius in the early fourth century and the acceptance of Christianity in 330 A.D.
We are in the part of Acts where Luke (the author) tells of the spread of the good news to non-Jews in the Middle East. He has just told us about carrying the gospel to Samaria. Jews rejected Samaritans because they had a different principal place of worship and scriptural tradition. Now we hear of the conversion of another outcast, a eunuch. Per Deuteronomy 23:1, a eunuch could not be “admitted to the assembly of the LORD”.
In chapter 8 Luke focuses on Philip, one of the deacons appointed to serve in the Jerusalem church. Philip is guided by an angel to minister to a seeker on the Gaza road going from Jerusalem. The seeker was a Gentile follower of the Jewish faith, although as a eunuch, his participation in religious celebrations would have been very limited. The Ethiopian was traveling in a covered carriage and was reading from Isaiah 53. The ancient practice was to read aloud, since the manuscripts of the time were not easy to read. Philip is prompted by the Spirit to run beside the wagon. Philip asks whether the Ethiopian understands what he is reading. Philip is then invited to interpret.
The Ethiopian’s question allowed Philip to explain the gospel and particularly the link between the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 and the Davidic Messiah of Isaiah 11 and the Son of Man of Daniel Jesus was the suffering Servant for the sin of the many. So, Philip communicated the gospel to the eunuch. Along the road they came to some water and Philip baptized him