We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, who are still here, and we honor with gratitude the land itself and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do. We welcome all people to our church.
Plant sale Sept. 29 during the Season of Creation.
Oct. 3 – 11:00am, Eucharist In person in the church or on Zoom. – Join here at 10:45am for gathering – service starts at 11am Meeting ID: 869 9926 3545 Passcode: 889278
Oct. 3 – 7:00pm, Compline on Zoom – Join here at 6:30pm for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID 834 7356 6532 Password 748475
Oct. 4 – 6:30am – Be Still Meditation group in a 20 minute time of prayer Meeting ID: 879 8071 6417 Passcode: 790929
Bible Study on Wednesday 10am-12pm!
Oct. 10 – 11:00am, Holy Eucharist, Pentecost 20
Oct. 10 – 7:00pm, Compline on Zoom – Join here at 6:30am for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID 834 7356 6532 Password 748475
Concluding the Season of Creation
We conclude the Season of Creation this week on Oct. 4, the day we celebrate St. Francis. We look to Wendell Berry to give us some final thoughts:
"That’s why we must first, before we do anything else, take the time to appreciate the natural world in its beauty and sometimes terrible magnificence, to see it as the dwelling God has given us rather than an object to be used up for our own benefit…"
Wendell Berry is a farmer living in another Port Royal – Port Royal, Ky. We know Berry best for his over 40 works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. He fits well into the season of creation since he challenged the the church to take environment issues serious. As we end the Season of Creation this week Berry remains a model of taking nature seriously
Links
1. Interview with Bill Moyers.
2. Interview with Krista Tippett, On Being
3. His own page
More Thoughts from Wendell Berry
So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Give your approval to all you cannot understand. Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees every thousand years.
Listen to carrion – put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
Practice resurrection.
From "Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” from The Country of Marriage
The Season of Creation, 2021 – a summary
Oct. 3 is the 5th and last Sunday in the Season of Creation and it has been busy one for us as well as productive.
1 This year’s symbol, Abraham’s tent, signifies our commitment to safeguard a place for all who share our common home, just as Abraham did in the Book of Genesis. Abraham and Sarah opened their tent as a home for three strangers, who turned out to be God’s angels (Gen 18). By creating a home for all, their act of radical hospitality became a source of great blessing.
Abraham’s tent is a symbol of our ecumenical call to practice creation care as an act of radical hospitality, safeguarding a place for all creatures, human and more human, in our common home, the household (oikos) of God
By faith, we join the Psalmist in remembering that we are not stewards of an inanimate creation, but caretakers within a dynamic and living community of creation. In Christ, God calls us to participate in renewing the whole inhabited Earth, safeguarding a place for every creature, and reform just relationships among all creation.
2 People were invited to bring their composting to the church during the season. In particular Catherine talked about the benefits of composting. We reviewed composting and other steps taken for the Season of Creation at the church.
3. There was a land acknowledgement at the beginning of the service that our church sits on land originally belonging to indigenous people – To pay tribute to those who came before us, our services now open with an acknowledgement of the Nandtaughtacund people, and the Rappahannock Tribe
4. We provided Goodside’s M.O.R.E. Model for Effective Climate Action, a chapter each Sunday online.
M.O.R.E is an acronym for measure, offset, reduce and educate. Our goal with this book is to arm you with the know-how to easily adopt lifestyle changes, habits and actions that will aid in your efforts against the climate crisis”.
Book is free and online -https://www.joingoodside.com/guides/more-climate-action
5. We held a “Tea and Native Plant sale”, Sept 29 and made $400 for our tree fund which cares for trees at the church
6. Many uses of the Season in hymns, the sermon, Prayers of the People
The sermon on Sept 19 introduced the congregation to American burnweed, which is so efficient at absorbing nitrogen dioxide. And these weeds are helping to anchor the soil so that it doesn’t wash into the watershed. The Eucharistic Prayer was “We Give Thanks” – “You brought forth all of creation and filled it with life, from the shining stars at the farthest reaches of the universe, to the abundance of the earth itself; its dark rich sustaining and life giving soil replenished by rain, and the springs and creeks, streams and rivers that water the earth. You made us in your image to dwell within your miraculous creation, but we wandered away from your endless gifts of abundance into the dry and dusty waste lands of our own making.”
A Pet Blessing for St. Francis day, Oct. 4
The blessing -"Our pets have already blessed us. On St Francis Day, we get to bless our pets. St Francis of Assisi, who lived from 1182 to 1226, had a great love for animals and the environment. He understood the earth and everything in it as God’s good creation and believed that we are brothers and sisters with everything in creation. So on this day, we remember St Francis and thank God for the gift of our pets.
When you have a moment with your pet, offer this blessing written by Bishop Mark S. Sisk:
Live without fear. Your Creator loves you, made you holy, and has always protected you. May we follow the good road together, and may God’s blessing be with you always. Amen.
"Who was St. Francis? " – a link collection
"Brother Sun, Sister Moon"- trailer
Director Franco Zeffirelli’s "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" focuses on the early years of Francis of Assisi in this 1972 film.
Poem by Jan Richardson from the "Painted Prayerbook"
Addressing myths about St. Francis
St. Francis preaching to the birds
Rhonda Mawhood Lee: "Go a little crazy on St. Francis Day", a sermon preached at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Durham, N.C
"It’s appropriate to go a little crazy on St. Francis Day, because during his own lifetime, many people thought Francesco Bernardone was insane."
Stewardship IS..
“The Vestry needs your pledge by Oct. 24. From the Sept 26 sermon, “When I fill out my pledge card this year, I’m going to try to remember that all that I have is a gift—as Richard Rohr says, “It’s all a gift!” –and that I can share my financial gifts freely with not only St Peter’s, but with many other groups as well, the groups that are doing what I would consider to be God’s work out in the world.”
Stewardship is … Everything I do after I say, “I believe.”
ALL that we do, with ALL that we have, ALL the time.
We are stewards, caretakers of God’s gifts. Everything we have was a gift from God, and God asks us to use it all for God’s purposes. Generosity flows naturally out of our gratitude for the gift of love, family, and life itself.
Stewards promote the Shalom of the Kingdom: blessings of life, health, growth,
harmony, justice, abundance, fulfillment, joy, praise of God
In the church, we are stewards of the good news of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ.We are called to share that good news with new generations. But we live in a world where sharing that news is becoming ever more challenging. In order to share the good news, we need financial and other resources.
Our worries about stewardship tend to focus on money. But stewardship is all about mission. It’s those gifts which help St. Peter’s ministries thrive – food distribution and meals in our community, outreach to those in need, Christian education and fellowship for all.
Convince people that the church is doing God’s mission and that it will truly transform our lives and our communities … and each of us is an integral part of that mission … heart, mind and body … and the money will follow.
Stewardship is …
+ Sharing in God’s mission with a glad, generous and grateful heart.
+ Transforming lives in our community.
+ Prayerfully responding to God’s call.
+ A deeply spiritual matter.
+ Something that blesses the giver more than the receiver.
Stewardship is discipleship; it is a complete reorientation of our lives toward God, who calls us through Jesus Christ.
Lectionary, Oct. 10, 20th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
I. Theme – Working for Justice may cause us to change our lives and lifestyle
"Rich Young Ruler"
"He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’ Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions." – Mark 10:20-22
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Amos 5:6-7,10-15
Psalm – Psalm 90:12-17 Page 718, BCP
Epistle – Hebrews 4:12-16
Gospel – Mark 10:17-31
Today’s readings encourage us to work for justice, to release our attachment to things and to trust Jesus to form us into a people of compassion. Amos decries Israel’s unjust treatment of the poor and oppressed. Trusting in God’s justice, Job wants God to hear his case in person. The author of Hebrews points out that only through Jesus will any of this be fully accomplished—as our apostle and high priest, he builds us into “God’s house.” In today’s gospel, Jesus advises a wealthy man who seeks God to obey God’s commandments and to detach from his possessions and focus fully on God. With God all things are possible!
Being faithful to God calls us to live into God’s ways of justice. We need to love our neighbor as ourselves—it is the commandment Jesus gives us—and we cannot love our neighbor without seeing to their needs. And it is hard for us to see to their needs when we are too busy caring for our stuff, worrying about our material wants, rather than seeing the needs of others. This is a difficult lesson for us, and I’m not sure I’ll ever fully be able to let go of all the things I have. But I know that faith is a lifelong journey, and I don’t have to accomplish it all now. Before God, all our sins are exposed, but before God, all things are possible, all forgiveness is given, and all things are made new
Read more about the lectionary…
Make a Gift Today! 2. Contact the Rev Catherine Hicks, Rector 5. Latest Newsletter-the Parish Post (Oct., 2021) 6. Calendar 9. Latest Sunday Bulletin (October 3, 2021 11:00am), and Sermon (Oct. 3, 2021) 10. Recent Services: Readings and Prayers, Pentecost 16, Sept. 12, Readings and Prayers, Pentecost 17, Sept. 19, Readings and Prayers, Pentecost 18, Sept. 26, |
Block Print by Mike Newman
Projects
3-Minute Retreats invite you to take a short prayer break right at your computer. Spend some quiet time reflecting on a Scripture passage.
Knowing that not everyone prays at the same pace, you have control over the pace of the retreat. After each screen, a Continue button will appear. Click it when you are ready to move on. If you are new to online prayer, the basic timing of the screens will guide you through the experience.
Daily meditations in words and music.
Your daily prayer online, since 1999
“We invite you to make a ‘Sacred Space’ in your day, praying here and now, as you visit our website, with the help of scripture chosen every day and on-screen guidance.”
Saints of the Week, Oct. 3, 2021 – Oct. 10, 2021
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3
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[John Raleigh Mott], Ecumenist & Missionary, 1955 |
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4
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Francis of Assisi, Friar, 1226 |
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5
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6
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William Tyndale & Miles Coverdale, Translators of the Bible, 1536, 1568 |
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7
7 |
[Birgitta of Sweden], Mystic and Prophetic Witness, 1373 Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Pastor, 1787 |
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8
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William Dwight Porter Bliss, Priest, 1926, and Richard Theodore Ely, Economist, 1943 |
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9
9 |
Robert Grosseteste, Bishop, 1253 Wilfred Thomason Grenfell, Medical Missionary, 1940 |
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10
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Vida Dutton Scudder, Educator and Witness for Peace, 1954 |