Reading the Bible in a year!
Resources
Block Print by Mike Newman
Continuing Projects
Don’t see your pet ? Upload a picture
2. Prayer requests – Add a name to the prayer list here.
3. St. Peter’s Directory
We will be taking pictures next for the Directory on Sundays, Jan. 20 and 27, after Church for the 2013 Directory. You can "schedule yourself" by just appearing on the second floor of the Parish House in Catherine’s study for the photo.
3.What is this Epiphany thing all about ? Here is an explanation.
The Baptism of Jesus, Jan 13, 2013
Christ centered, Biblically based, spirit filled and a place of simple hospitality, we have shared our communal life with our church,our community, and those in need. Your presence enriches us.
Jan. 20 -9:45am – "Emergence Christianity" in Adult Education
Jan. 20 -11:00pm- Holy Eucharist Rite II
Coming next Sunday! 1. View the reports 2. 2012 photo gallery
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity focuses on Micah
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is sponsored by the World Council of Churches, a fellowship of 349 churches. Here is the main page for this week. The week is supported by the Anglicans, Methodists, Orthodox, Roman Catholics and others. Each year a theme is picked and explored by combined services of faiths and prayer. Last year’s service in Fredericksburg is described here. This year’s service will be on Wed. Jan 23 at 7:30pm at St. Mary’s Catholic in Fredericksburg.
To make Christian unity a visible part of the call for justice and peace, and inspired by the struggles of Dalits in India, this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity explores the theme, “What does God require of us?” (Micah 6:6-8).
The traditional period in the northern hemisphere for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is 18-25 January. Those dates were proposed in 1908 by Paul Wattson to cover the days between the feasts of St Peter and St Paul, and therefore have a symbolic significance.
The Student Christian Movement of India was invited to prepare the resource for the week of prayer, along with the All India Catholic University Federation and the National Council of Churches in India. The focus is on the Dalit Community.
The Dalits in the Indian context are the communities which are considered outcastes. They are the people worst affected by the caste-system, which is a rigid form of social stratification based on notions of ritual purity and pollution. Under the caste-system, the castes are considered to be "higher" or "lower‘. The Dalit communities are considered to be the most polluted and polluting and thus placed outside the caste-system and were previously even called ‗untouchable‘. Because of casteism the Dalits are socially marginalized, politically under-represented, economically exploited and culturally subjugated. Almost 80% of India
Micah‘s strong call to justice and peace is concentrated in chapters 6:1 – 7:7, part of which forms the theme of this year‘s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (WPCU). He sets justice and peace within the history of the relationship between God and humanity but insists that this history necessitates and demands a strong ethical reference. Like other prophets who lived in the period of the Israel monarchy, Micah reminds the people that God has saved them from slavery in Egypt and called them through the covenant to live in a society built on dignity, equality and justice.
Here are the readings for the week
Emergence Christianity in Adult Ed, features Phyllis Tickle on Jan 20, 9:45am
Phyllis Tickle is probably most responsible for the term “Emergence Christianity” which was part of her 2008 book "The Great Emergence" and became the title in "Emergence Christianity (2012). Tickle is a former religious editor of Publisher’s Weekly, a dean, a mother of 7 chldren and author of two dozen books. She sees "Emergence Christianity" as a grand conversation.
Her famous theory is about 500 year cycles in history. She writes "Rt. Rev. Mark Dyer, an Anglican bishop known for his wit as well as his wisdom, famously observes from time to time that the only way to understand what is currently happening to us as 21st-century Christians in North America is first to understand that about every 500 years the church feels compelled to hold a giant rummage sale. And, he goes on to say, we are living in and through one of those 500-year sales. … When that mighty upheaval happens, history shows us, there are always at least three consistent results or corollary events. First, a new, more vital form of Christianity does indeed emerge. Second, the organized expression of Christianity that up until then had been the dominant one is reconstituted into a more pure and less ossified expression of its former self. The third result is of equal, if not greater, significance. Every time the incrustations of an overly established Christianity have been broken open, the faith has spread—and been spread—dramatically into new geographic and demographic areas."
The key question each 500 year period answers is "Who has the authority?" In the middle ages, the Pope or in the case of the Reformation, scripture. Now is appears it is both in the scripture and the community with no part having ultimate authority. Knowledge is growing too fast to have an authority. She sees Christianity existing in a complex network with each part connected to each other. Each is only a single working piece of what is evolving and is sustainable so long as the interconnectivity of the whole remains intact.
We will explore both books and see her in video. Come join us and see the results of this rummage sale. Here are several videos in the meantime 1. Here spiritual journey 2. Sessions on Emergence Christianity 1, Emergence Christianity 2
Imagine if you were living in a city and then found yourself in a new land that was rural. All you knew was gone. You have to step up and find ways to feed your family. A 100,000 refugees fleeting Sudan to the South know that feeling. Plus there were floods and a border conflict between the Sudans to deal with.
We would like to help with this plight and at the same time support our missionary there Larry Duffee.
Region One of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia is starting an innovative project, “Tools for the Sudan “ to support these new residents. Our project is simple, but unique, to encourage you, the parishioners of the 19 Region One churches and others, to “buy” them tools through a shopping art. More details to follow…
Some background is necessary. Here is a link for the Episcopal Church in South Sudan. Also we considered the country in "Building Futures", part of Adult Ed, May, 2012.
The border conflicts which have helped to create a refugee population are examined here.
The wave of refugees is described here.
Larry Duffee was a member of St. George’s in Fredericksburg when he received a call for the missionary after hearing Diocesan mission coordinator, Buck Blanchard speak. He started as a financial consultant for the Episcopal Church in Sudan (EPS) in 2010, managing inflows and outflows of money from many international partners. He had to learn to deal tactfully with many peoples from bishops to businessmwen. He is now the International Coordinator of the ECS. "In this I am responsible for managing all of the relations between the ECS and its many international partners, for presenting the ECS to the international community."
Read more here. Larry has a blog which he calls "Duffman in Africa."