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.
The Fifth Sunday of Easter , Year C
May 15 – St. Peter’s 186th anniversary
May 15 – UTO Spring Ingathering -distribution of the blue boxes. Due back on
May 29
May 15 – 11:00am, Easter 5 – Join here at 10:45am for gathering – service starts at 11am Meeting ID: 869 9926 3545 Passcode: 889278
- Bulletin May 15, 2022
- Lectionary for May 15, 2022
- Commentary May 15, 2022
- Videos May 15, 2022
- Photos May 15, 2022
May 18 – Bible Study 10am-12pm
May 18 – 3pm-5pm, Village Harvest .
If you would like to volunteer, please email Andrea or call (540) 847-9002. Pack bags for distribution 1-3PM, Deliver food to client’s cars 3-5PM.
May 15 – 186th anniversary of St. Peter’s Consecration – Here is the 175th
It’s hard to believe it has been 11 years since we celebrated the day of the 175th anniversary. We had two services that day 11am followed by lunch and then 2pm, Service for our ancestors. The anniversary of the consecration is this week. Here are some links to refresh your memories:
Historical record May 15, 1836
In 1836, Bishop Richard Channing Moore’s pastoral address at the Diocesan Council in Fredericksburg, tells of the Consecration of St. Peter’s Church:
“On Sunday, May 15, 1836 I went to Port Royal at which place I consecrated a new Church: a building which is a great ornament to the town, and reflects the greatest credit upon those by “whose munificence it has been erected, and which, I trust, will prove a blessing to them and to their children to their latest posterity. The congregation was very large and attentive during the whole service. Prayers were read by several of the clergy who attended on the occasion — the discourse was delivered by myself — the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was administered — I baptised three children and confirmed two persons. It gives me the greatest pleasure to mention that a very handsome large silver cup was presented for the use of the altar, by a benevolent gentleman in the Parish; and I have every reason to believe that the sound of an organ will soon accompany the voices of the congregation in singing the praises of God and of the Redeemer of mankind. The Rev. (William) Friend stands high in the estimation of his parish; and I trust will see the work of the Lord prosper tinder his pastoral care.”
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175th Anniversary – The Day |
May 15, 2011, Services |
UTO Ingathering, May 15-29
The United Thank Offering (UTO) is a ministry of The Episcopal Church for the mission of the whole church. Give thanks to God for everyday blessings and make an offering for each blessing using a UTO Blue Box.
The mission of the United Thank Offering is to expand the circle of thankful people.
Over 125 years ago, the United Thank Offering was founded as a women’s ministry to help individuals pay more attention to the spiritual blessings in their lives by making small thank offerings to support innovative ministries in the Church for which the church budget had not yet expanded to fund.
Fill a blue box available in the church and bring it back to the church by May 29. The UTO is entrusted to receive the offerings, and to distribute the 100% of what is collected to support innovative mission and ministry throughout The Episcopal Church. Your blessing becomes a blessing for others.
The offering raises over $3 million for grants that focus on meeting compelling human needs and to expand the mission and ministry of the church at home and throughout the world.
Thoughts for your UTO Blue Box:
Give thanks this day for your own health. Drop a coin in your Blue Box as you give thanks and pray for the continued health and improved health of those you love.
Give thanks this day for friendship with others. Drop a coin in your Blue Box as you give thanks and pray for your friendship with others.
Give thanks this day for the UTO’s work with mission by contributing to their work.
Over the next three years, the United Grant Offering, in the spirit of Matthew 25:36, will focus on ministry that serve those whom society has left out and left behind.
Therefore, the UTO grant focus for 2023 will be on innovative mission and ministry projects addressing all aspects of the worldwide incarceration crisis, specifically:
- preventative programs and intervention
- prisoner support outreach
- prison reform work or post-prison re-entry
Bishop Michael Curry – Love as a commitment
This is from an interview of Michael Curry in the Harvard Business Review, May-June 2019
Easter 5 featured the following Gospel scripture from John.”I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
“How do you encourage people to bring love into their workplaces?”
“In the past couple years I’ve started thinking of love less as a sentiment and more as a commitment to a way of being with others. As a sentiment, love is more about what I’m getting out of it than what you’re getting out of it. But as a commitment, love means I’m seeking your self-interest as well as my own—and maybe above and beyond mine. That kind of unselfishness is actually how Jesus talked about love most of the time in the New Testament—the Greek word that’s used is agape. That’s the kind of love you see in a person who has done something selfless for you and affected your life for the good: a parent, teacher, Scout leader, or coach. Take that further and you realize that there has been no social good that’s been intentionally done apart from this kind of love. We don’t give people Nobel Peace prizes for selfishness. We recognize those people because they’ve given of themselves without counting the cost to themselves. So, I’ve been playing with the mantra: Is the action I’m contemplating selfish or selfless? I invite folks to just ask that question throughout the day: Selfish or selfless?”
Rogation Sunday, May 22, 2019
Rogation Sunday, a time of celebration and prayer, is a time set aside to appreciate and recognize our dependence upon the land for our food and most importantly upon our dependence of God for the miracles of sprouting seeds, growing plants, and maturing harvest.
One activity is walking the bounds of your property. Rogation was accompanied by processions around the parish boundaries, and our ancestors in this procession would have recited the Litany of the Saints. It became known as “Beating the Bounds” and was a way of preventing encroachment by neighbors, making sure boundary markers had not moved and were visible, and to pass on the knowledge of where the boundaries were to the next generation.
The Rogation Days, the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, originated in Vienne, France in 470 after a series of natural disasters had caused much suffering among the people. Originally, the Christian observance of Rogation was taken over from Graeco-Roman religion, where an annual procession invoked divine favour to protect crops against mildew. Archbishop Mamertus proclaimed a fast and ordered that special litanies and prayers be said as the population processed around their fields, asking God’s protection and blessing on the crops that were just beginning to sprout.
The Latin word rogare means “to ask”, thus these were “rogation” processions. The tradition grew of using processional litanies, often around the parish boundaries, for the blessing of the land. These processions concluded with a mass. The Rogation procession was suppressed at the Reformation, but it was restored in 1559. The poet George Herbert interpreted the procession as a means of asking for God’s blessing on the land, of preserving boundaries, of encouraging fellowship between neighbours with the reconciling of differences, and of charitable giving to the poor. The tradition of ‘beating the bounds’ has been preserved in some communities. In the latter a group of old and young members of the community would walk the boundaries of the parish, usually led by the parish priest and church officials, to share the knowledge of where they lay, and to pray for protection and blessings for the lands. Others maintain the traditional use of the Litany within worship. In more recent times, the scope of Rogation has been widened to include petition for the world of work and for accountable stewardship, and prayer for local communities, whether rural or urban.
The Sunday before the Rogation Days came to be considered a part of Rogationtide (or “Rogantide”) and was known as Rogation Sunday. The Gospel formerly appointed for that day was from John 16, where Jesus tells his disciples to ask, and ye shall receive.
Lectionary Easter 6, Year C
I.Theme – God dwells with God’s people.
" John the Evangelist" – Cimabue (1301-1302)
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Acts 16:9-15
Psalm – Psalm 67
Epistle – Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
Gospel – John 14:23-29
Gospel – John 5:1-9
Today’s readings remind us that God dwells with God’s people. In Acts, Paul’s preaching brings about the conversion of Lydia, who opens her home to Paul and Timothy. John, in his Revelation, imagines life in the new Jerusalem, where the lord will be our temple, our sun and moon, our life. In the gospel, Jesus promises us the continuing presence of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit.
It’s clear from our Christian Scriptures that the historical Jesus was deeply concerned his ministry be carried on after his death and resurrection. That’s the problem: how do we know what Jesus practically wants us to do in our everyday lives? He certainly didn’t give his followers a step by step journal outlining what he expected. He simply gave them the Holy Spirit, his own Spirit which would not only “remind” us of the things he told his original disciples, but would also “teach” us.
As we prepare for Pentecost, in a sense we are preparing for the renewal of the Holy Spirit. God’s love is powerful and transforming. People we would never expect, like Lydia—a woman who made money by her own means and seemed to have a satisfying life—she was still yearning for more. The man who waited beside the pool for years in the second Gospel ofJohn reading had to help break down the walls of oppression himself before he could escape the oppression that kept him from the healing waters.
From John’s Gospel , we know that the Holy Spirit is working among us and reminding us of what we know, assuring us that we are part of something greater than ourselves, reminding us that God’s love is with us when we love Jesus. And we love Jesus by keeping his words—living out his commandment to love one another.
As we prepare for Pentecost, however, we are preparing for a revival, a renewal, a re-appearing of the Spirit in our lives. Perhaps the Spirit has never left us and has never left the world, but in preparing for it to come again, perhaps we will find the Spirit at work in us in a new way
Make a Gift Today! 2. Contact the Rev Catherine Hicks, Rector 5. Latest Newsletter-the Parish Post (May, 2022) 6. Calendar 9. Latest Sunday Bulletin (May 15, 11:00am), and Sermon (May 15, 2022) 10. Recent Services: Easter 2, April 24 Readings and Prayers, April 24 Easter 3, May 1 Easter 4, May 8 |
Block Print by Mike Newman
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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.
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“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, May 15 – May 22, 2022
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[Pachomius of Tabenissi], Monastic, 348 Junia and Andronicus |
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16
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Martyrs of Sudan & South Sudan |
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William Hobart Hare, Bishop, 1909 Thurgood Marshall, Public Servant, 1993 |
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Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988 |
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Alcuin of York, Deacon & Abbot, 804 |
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[Lydia of Thyatira], Coworker of the Apostle Paul John Eliot, Missionary among the Algonquin, 1690 |
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[Helena of Constantinople], Protector of the Holy Places, 330 |