September 23, 2018, Season of Creation 4B
Butterflies for the altar covering and prominent in the sermon, Fall begins with rain, flowers for new baby boy, Helping a parishioner without an umbrella, blessings for mother and child, Ron Okrasinski assisting with communion.
Pictures and text from this Sunday, Sept. 23
The Week Ahead…
Sept. 26 – 10am-12pm, Ecumenical Bible Study
Sept. 29 – 5pm- Gospel on the River at the Heimbach home
Sept. 30 – 9:00am, Season of Creation 5, Eucharist, Rite I
Sept. 30 – 10:00am, Creating Nature Mandalas with Karen Richardson, Parish House
Sept. 30 – 11:00am, Season of Creation 5, Eucharist, Rite II
Sunday, Sept 30 Readings and Servers
Looking Ahead …
ECW Fall Meeting – Thurs.,Oct 11. 8:30am registration The meeting will be at Epiphany Episcopal church in Oak Hill, VA. The registration is due Oct. 1. Registration Form
Ecclesiastes in Music from September 23
The Old Testament reading for Sept. 23, 2018 is the famous passages from Eccleasiastes 3:1-8 used in weddings, funerals and many events. It is best known in its transformation into song.
Pete Seeger, an American Folk Singer, wrote "Turn, Turn, Turn" in the late 1950’s. It was based on the King James version of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. The song was originally released in 1962 as "To Everything There Is a Season" on the folk group the Limeliters’ "Folk Matinee" and then some months later on Seeger’s own "The Bitter and the Sweet."
The folk rock group the Byrds made it into an international hit in 1965. The idea of reviving the song came to lead guitarist McGuinn during the Byrds’ July 1965 tour of the American Midwest, when his future wife, Dolores, requested the tune on the Byrds’ tour bus. McGuinn added harmonies and the Byrd’s trade mark 12-string Rickenbacker guitar.
Village Harvest, Sept 19
The Village Harvest in Sept. 2018 fed 112 people. Except for Aug this is a typical number from May onward. For 2018, it is about 19% less than last year at this time though 8% above a similar period for 2016. It is down from 140 last month. The average served for 2018 is 122 compared to 147 in 107 and 111 for 2016.
On the other hand food sources of 1,492 pounds were close to the the average for 2018 (1,500). Relating it to the number of shoppers, 13.3 pounds were available per person, one of the highest values of the year. The value per shopper was close to $80. Food provided is 16% higher than last year and 41% higher than 2016.
There was a wide variety of foods from the food bank – fresh cabbage, cucumbers, apples, onions, tangerines, eggplant, loaves of bread, saltines. There were three choices of meat along with cooked chicken bites. Hash browns with meat Finally, a small amount of cereal for children or large families.
2019 pledge campaign is ongoing..
Elizabeth, Stewardship message, Sept. 16, 2018
Stewardship is … “Using the gifts that God gives us to do the work God calls us to do.” No gift is too large for God’s work. We give back as we are given by God.
Pledging should be about growing your faith. As your faith grows so should your giving.
Make your pledge for 2019 and return it Sunday, Oct. 7
If you didn’t receive a pledge card in church, you can pledge online
Check out our stewardship page
The Commitment
A better word than pledge card is commitment card. We commit so we can give:>
- Commit to help us reduce hunger in this area, through the Village Harvest Distribution
- Commit to us to bring hope to our community,
- Commit to help us bring comfort to those suffering in sickness or loneliness,
- Commit to help us in Christian education and encourage fellowship.
- Commit so we can make a difference.
What should be our commitment to what God has given us ?
God calls us to share in God’s mission of caring for the world, using all the gifts God has given us. Our gifts includes those of treasure. Over 80% of the funds used to support and plan for ministry in a year come from pledges.
Celebrating the Life of Lancelot Andrewes, Sept 26
Lancelot Andrewes’ life (1555-1626) encompassed the reigns of Elizabeth (1558-1603) and James I (1603-1625). He was closely associated with both of them. We celebrate his day on his death Sept 26, 1626.
Andrewes was the foremost theologian of his day and one of the most pious. He will be forever linked to the creation of the King James Bible being on the committee that created the book. He served not only as the leader of the First Westminster Company of Translators, which translated Genesis – 2 Kings, but also as general editor of the whole project. His contemporaries include everyone from Shakespeare, Sir Walter Raleigh, Captain John Smith who ventured to Virginia and scientist Galileo.
St. Michael and the Angels, Sept. 29
Michaelmas, or the Feast of Michael and All Angels, is celebrated on the 29th of September every year. As it falls near the equinox, the day is associated with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days; in England, it is one of the “quarter days”.
Traditionally, in the British Isles, a well fattened goose, fed on the stubble from the fields after the harvest, is eaten to protect against financial need in the family for the next year; and as the saying goes:
“Eat a goose on Michaelmas Day,
Want not for money all the year”.
Part of the reason goose is eaten is that it was said that when Queen Elizabeth I heard of the defeat of the Armada, she was dining on goose and resolved to eat it on Michaelmas Day.
On this day, we give thanks for the many ways in which God’s loving care watches over us, both directly and indirectly, and we are reminded that the richness and variety of God’s creation far exceeds our knowledge of it.
Focus on 5 areas of the Environment in the Season of Creation
We have taken the five Sundays reading and highlighted a specific environmental area which we will cover weekly. (This week we have added Energy .) How is this area affecting us ? What can we do at St. Peter’s and individually to improve our use of them ?
Isaiah 55:9-10
“8 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.”
Collect
“O God, creator of heaven and earth, you have filled the world with beauty and abundance. Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that rejoicing with your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. ”
James 5:7-8
“Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. ”
Romans 8:18-21
“18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ”
5. Energy – Sept 30
Isaiah 40:28-31
“The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
31 but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.”
Understanding Climate Change
Hurricane Florence and climate change
Global Warming & Climate Change Myths
Climate -Climate change could render many of Earth’s ecosystems unrecognizable
Climate Change is making storms like Hurricane Florence even worse
Understanding Energy
“We have got a big appetite for wind or solar.If someone walks in with a solar project tomorrow and it takes a billion dollars or three billion dollars, we’re ready to do it. “The more there is the better.” – Warren Buffett to Berkshire Hathaway May, 2017
Energy Resources – Conventional and Non-Conventional
Renewable Energy 101 | National Geographic
Top 10 Energy Sources of the Future
Virginia Energy Savers Handbook
Lectionary, Season of Creation 5, Year B
I. Theme – Set aside our fear to hear the good news of Jesus
The changes and chances of this life are many. Our bodies go through inevitable changes that ultimately end in death. Change is inevitable, life is fleeting, and we have damaged the only home we know—planet earth. Fear, weariness, and discouragement, once planted in the heart, are hard to uproot. And yet, God does not grow weary, and when we wait on God, God renews our strength. God given strength is necessary to set aside fear, to find hope even in the most hopeless of situations, and to take the strength God gives us to carry out God’s healing work in the world. In Mark’s resurrection story, the angel tells the women not to fear, that Jesus has been raised, and that they are to go and tell the disciples and Peter that they are to return to Galilee, where they will see Jesus. Terrified, they say nothing to anyone. Our challenge is the same. We must set aside our fear to hear the good news that Jesus has been raised, that God is continually in the process of making all things new, and that God is with us, continually renewing our strength—and to act on that good news.
Visualizing Revelation
The Epistle reading on Sept. 30 is from Revelation 21:1-7. "The top portion of the window is the City of Jerusalem is from our reading – Revelation 21:1-7. From the passage – Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Tiffany created for St. George’s church in 1912 a window entitled “Angels with Trumpet and Incense”. While it featured these two angels on the bottom, it also featured a vision of the New City of Jerusalem on top.
How did Tiffany produce this work – The upper window shows the city of Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, emerging from a backdrop of opalescent glass, milky hues of blues, browns, and greens. The Jerusalem image fades into the background. The city shows buildings with columns and onion skin domes.
The city was painted onto a sheet of colored glass with enamel. A sheet of spotted glass was then laid or plated on top, creating a sense of sunlit distance. Spotted glass was made by adding fluorine during the firing process— the fluorine crystallized and caused the spots. Drapery glass is used to produce ripples of varying hues and tints in the angels’ gowns. This type of glass has been bent and folded to produce ripples that create an illusion of depth.
The solemn pose of the angels contrasts with the iridescent glimmer of the city that hovers above, instilling the design with surreal grandeur and a sense of what is to come.
Louis Tiffany’s genius was using paint and many different types of glass techniques to create his art. Just in this window you opalescent class, drapery glass and spotted glass and well as hand painted enamel.
Prayers for the Earth
Based on the Fifth Mark of Mission
To Strive
God, creator of the universe,
Fill us with your love for the creation,
for the natural world around us,
for the earth from which we come
and to which we will return.
Awake in us energy to work for your world;
let us never fall into complacency, ignorance,
or being overwhelmed by the task before us.
Help us to restore, remake, renew. Amen
To Safeguard
Jesus, Redeemer of the World,
Remind us to consider the lost lilies,
the disappearing sparrows;
teach us not to squander precious resources;
help us value habitats: seas, deserts, forests
and seek to preserve this world in its diversity.
Alert us to the cause of all living creatures
destroyed wantonly for human greed or pleasure;
Help us to value what we have left
and to learn to live without taking more than we give. Amen
Integrity of Creation
Spirit of the Living God
At the beginning you moved over the face of the waters.
You brought life into being, the teeming life
that finds its way through earth and sea and air
that makes its home around us, everywhere.
You know how living things flourish and grow
How they co-exist; how they feed and breed and change
Help us to understand those delicate relationships,
value them, and keep them from destruction. Amen
To Sustain
God, of the living earth
You have called people to care for your world –
you asked Noah to save creatures from destruction.
May we now understand how to sustain your world –
Not over-fishing, not over-hunting,
Not destroying trees, precious rainforest
Not farming soil into useless dust.
Help us to find ways to use resources wisely
to find a path to good, sustainable living
in peace and harmony with creatures around us. Amen
To Renew
Jesus, who raised the dead to life
Help us to find ways to renew
what we have broken, damaged and destroyed:
Where we have taken too much water,
polluted the air, poured plastic into the sea,
cut down the forests and soured fertile soils.
Help all those who work to find solutions to
damage and decay; give hope to those
who are today working for a greener future. Amen
Anne Richards, Mission Theology Advisory Group, Resources available on www.ctbi.org.uk The Dispossession Project: Eco-House
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2. Contact the Rev Catherine Hicks, Rector 4. Sept., 2018 Server Schedule 5. Latest Newsletter-the Parish Post (Oct., 2018) 6. Calendar 9. Latest Sunday Bulletin (Sept. 30, 2018 11:00am), and Sermon (Sept. 23, 2018) |
Block Print by Mike Newman
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Saints of the Week, Sept. 23 – Sept. 30
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23
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Thecla of Iconium, Proto-Martyr among Women, c.70 |
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24
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Anna Ellison Butler Alexander, Deaconness, 1947 |
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25
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Sergius, Abbot, 1392 |
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26
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Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop, 1626 |
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27
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Thomas Traherne, Priest, 1674 |
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28
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Paula & Eustochium of Rome, Monastics & Scholars, 404 |
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29
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Saint Michael and All Angels |
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30
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Jerome, Priest, and Scholar, 420 |