Frontpage, Nov. 7, 2021

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.

 

Fall, Oct. 31, 2021


All Saints Sunday

Nov. 7 – 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

Nov. 7 – 7:00pm, Compline on Zoom – Join here at 6:30pm for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 878 7167 9302 Passcode: 729195


Nov 8 – 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!

Nov. 10, Village Dinner, 4:30pm-6pm Make your reservation by calling Susan Linne von Berg at 804-742-5233 to let her know how many dinners you plan to pick up. You can also eat in. Menu: Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potato, Green Beans, Cranberry Salad, Apple Pie.


Nov. 14 – 11:00am, Eucharist.

Nov. 14 – 7:00pm, Compline on Zoom – Join here at 6:30am for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID 834 7356 6532 Password 748475


The Importance of All Saints Sunday.

From St. Paul Lutheran, Arlington Massachusetts”

“All Saints Sunday is a celebration and a reminder of those people who, despite their brokenness, were chosen by God to do great things in the world. All Saints Sunday is also a time for us to uplift those saints in our everyday lives who impacted us and continue to impact us in deep and meaningful ways through small, regular acts of love.

“Luther believed that all baptized people are saints. This All Saints Sunday, we get the chance to remember, celebrate, and commemorate the witness of those saints who have gone before us and who are among us here and now.

Theologian Mary Luti, “Faced with intractable fears and exhausting complexities, the world whips out the sensation, the quick fix, and the magic of celebrity.” The church’s ancient wisdom offers instead ‘mystic sweet communion with those whose race is won.’ We have the saints, and if we look carefully, we find that they are us—extraordinary signs that ordinary vulnerability, love and repentance, courage and perseverance still count. For a lot. For everything.”


“Let Us Beat Swords into plowshares”

“Tragedy of War”-Michael LaPalme

Veterans’ Day, November 11  

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War I (called the Great War) ends.

From a Litany for Veterans by Robb McCoy-“God of love, peace and justice, it is your will for the world that we may live together in peace. You have promised through the prophet Isaiah that one day the swords will be beaten into plow shares. Yet we live in a broken world, and there are times that war seems inevitable. Let us recognize with humility and sadness the tragic loss of life that comes in war. Even so, as we gather here free from persecution, we may give thanks for those that have served with courage and honor. ”  Here is an English Veterans’ Service.

All gave some, Some gave all.


While the US has “Veterans’ Day” celebrating and honoring all veterans who have served, Europe and Canada has “Remembrance Day” about the end of World War I  on November 11, 1918.  The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem “In Flanders Fields”. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I; their brilliant red color became a symbol for the blood spilled in the war.

Mark Knopfler wrote “Remembrance Day” about this day. The song and  illustrated slideshow are here .

From “Remembrance Day”

“Time has slipped away
The Summer sky to Autumn yields
A haze of smoke across the fields
Let’s sup and fight another round
And walk the stubbled ground

“When November brings
The poppies on Remembrance Day
When the vicar comes to say
May God bless everyone
Lest we forget our sons

“We will remember them
Remember them
Remember them”


Lectionary, November 14, Pentecost 25

I. Theme – Holding fast to faith in difficult times

The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

“As Jesus came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’ Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down” – Mark 13:1-2

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Daniel 12:1-3
Psalm – Psalm 16 Page 599, 600, BCP
Epistle – Hebrews 10:11-14 (15-18) 19-25
Gospel – Mark 13:1-8

Today’s readings encourage us to hold fast to our faith, even in troubled times and persecution. Daniel speaks of a time of great trouble, through which the righteous will “shine like the stars.” As the Day of the lord approaches, the author of Hebrews tells us that our hard struggle with suffering will be rewarded.

In today’s gospel, Mark assures us that—even in chaos—God remains in control . This chapter of Mark begins with the destruction of the temple. Imagine how the early Christians must have felt, when Jerusalem was still in many ways their spiritual home. The Jewish heritage and tradition had probably been handed as carefully to them as a precious heirloom passed from parent to child.

All that was threatened by their new religion, then lost when Roman armies demolished the temple. It does not require a great leap of the imagination to see them feeling abandoned and without direction. To his community and to us, Mark issues a warning: watch. Be cautious of simplistic solutions, of the desire to cling to possessions and security. Beware of even well-meaning political reformers who simply replace one form of domination with another. Christ alone is our new direction, our liberation and only security.

How are we to respond when we face the violent upheaval of our world, or when others use mockery to dominate us in personal power plays? The temptation is to respond in kind, offering violence for violence and using force to overcome force.

What does it mean to trust in God’s grace and protection, to live out the peace and justice of God’s Reign in a world of war and injustice? The call to peace is always a difficult one to answer, both personally and collectively, but it is a call we must face in worship this week. This way is demonstrated in Daniel’s prophecy of the shining resurrected ones, in the Psalmist’s celebration of God’s protection and guidance, and ultimately in Jesus’ self-giving on the cross. It is interesting that, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus’ warnings are associated with the disciples’ awe at the temple building, which represented wealth and power both of a spiritual and political nature. It is when we get absorbed in the trappings of power and wealth that we become violent and oppressive

We give thanks for God’s faithfulness. We give thanks for the ways God is at work in our world. Even when we are consumed by what is going on in our life, our own problems, our own worries, God is at work in the world around us, God is at work in the universe, and God’s steadfast love and faithfulness endure forever. It may be hard to see that at times through our own narrow vision, when all we see is our own hardships and struggles, but we see in these scriptures the promise of resurrection, the fulfillment of God’s justice and mercy, and the hope of the future. From Hannah to Hebrews, we see that there is something greater going on than the struggles of one person or one people, and God hears our prayers, and desires to save the whole world.

Read more about the lectionary


David Lose – Mark’s Gospel – Dealing with Uncertainty

By David Lose, Lutheran minister

The antidote to uncertainty, it turns out, isn’t certainty, but courage; and the best response to insecurity is the confidence that comes from knowing that God esteems you worthy of dignity, honor, and love.


“In short, life was something of a mess for many of Mark’s community, and he employs the symbols and metaphors of apocalyptic traditions about Jesus that he inherits to place the struggles and questions of his people in a cosmic context and, in this way, offer a measure of both perspective and comfort.

We can “allow the images Mark employs to name figuratively some of our own challenges and questions. While there are several elements of this passage that might serve in this way, the one that draws my homiletical imagination is Jesus’ warning that many will come claiming to be him in order to lead his followers astray.

“Perhaps it’s the lure of wealth or possessions, the perpetual contender for our allegiance in a consumerist economy oriented to unending consumption. Or maybe it’s the possibility of a more prestigious position at work or acceptance by an appealing school or social group. Perhaps it’s the dream of the perfect relationship, or just being in a relationship with someone who values and cares for you. Or maybe it’s the “smaller” attractions of being super competent (and hopefully being noticed for that) or the ideal friend/sibling/child (again, with due attention to our achievement). Or maybe we find ourselves worshiping at the altar of providing our children with everything we never had but want to make sure they enjoy (with an emphasis on “making sure”). Or maybe…. Well, you get the idea.

“And here’s the interesting thing that all these various claimants of our attention and allegiance have in common: there’s nothing inherently wrong with any of them – not wealthy or status or belonging or relationship or competency or wanting the best for our children. In fact, there is much to be admired about, and much good that can be achieved through, these various desires. Yet none of them can save. Moreover, none of them can bear the weight of meaning we unconsciously ask them to and for which we desperately long. And yet we are either so insecure or confused (or maybe a little of both), that like Mark’s community we so crave a level of certainty that we take these God-given gifts and turn them into, well, God.

“Which is perhaps the human condition – worshiping the gifts of God rather than God the giver. And perhaps that’s what this tricky little passage is about: in times of confusion, challenge, and distress, we will not only be overly impressed by the symbols of power around us – “Teacher, look how big these stones are!” – but we will also take many of the delights and gifts of this life and seek to find our security in and through them rather than in the One who gave them to us in the first place.

“Living with uncertainty was hard for the first century-followers of Jesus and it’s just as hard for his twenty-first century disciples as well. The promise God offers us in Christ, however, is not that if we just work hard enough, are pious enough, make ourselves acceptable enough, or attain enough we’ll leave all our uncertainties and insecurities behind. Indeed, the Christian faith does not offer an end to uncertainty or insecurity at all. Rather, it promises that we can discover who we are only in relation to Whose we are, as we receive our identity as beloved children of the God who created and sustains all things and loves us unconditionally. The antidote to uncertainty, it turns out, isn’t certainty, but courage; and the best response to insecurity is the confidence that comes from knowing that God esteems you worthy of dignity, honor, and love. Rooted in these promises, we are better equipped to resist all pretenders to throne and give our allegiance to the One who gave all things for us. Thanks to be to God.”


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1. Newcomers – Welcome Page

2. Contact the Rev Catherine Hicks, Rector

3. St. Peter’s Sunday News

4. Server schedule, Nov., 2021

5. Latest Newsletter-the Parish Post (Nov., 2021)

6. Calendar

7. Parish Ministries

8. This past Sunday

9. Latest Sunday Bulletin (Nov. 7, 2021 11:00am),  and Sermon (Nov. 7, 2021)

10. Recent Services: 


Pentecost 20, Oct. 10

Readings and Prayers, Pentecost 20, Oct. 10,


Pentecost 21, Oct. 17

Readings and Prayers, Pentecost 21, Oct. 17,


Pentecost 22, Oct. 24

Readings and Prayers, Pentecost 22, Oct. 24,

Mike Newmans Block print of St. Peter's


Projects 


Colors for Year B, 2020-21


Daily “Day by Day”


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.


Follow the Star

Daily meditations in words and music.


Sacred Space

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.”


Daily C. S. Lewis thoughts


Saints of the Week, Nov. 7, 2021 – Nov. 14, 2021

7
7
[Birgitta of Sweden], Mystic and Prophetic Witness, 1373

Henry Melchior Muhlenberg
, Pastor, 1787
8
William Dwight Porter Bliss, Priest, 1926, and Richard Theodore Ely, Economist, 1943
9
9
Robert Grosseteste, Bishop, 1253

Wilfred Thomason Grenfell
, Medical Missionary, 1940
10
Vida Dutton Scudder,
Educator and Witness for Peace, 1954
11
Philip, Deacon
and Evangelist
12
[Edith Cavell], Nurse, 1915
13
14
Samuel Isaac
Joseph Schereschewsky
, Bishop & Missionary, 1906