Sunday, October 6, 2013 (full size gallery)
This Sunday is unusually warm for early October. Temperatures on Sat. reached 90 degrees. We had 38 in church today
This week we celebrated our animals and St. Francis with the Blessing of the Animals on Oct. 4. We had 8 dogs and 17 humans to enjoy a day of blessings, frolicking and snacks. This Blessing was memorable by the number of children enjoying the day and the animals which was in contrast with last year. Here’s the gallery
Thanks always to Elizabeth for her mouse treats.
We noted today the Pogue’s anniversary – they were away in NY. Also, celebrating birthdays included Evan Davis.
Coffee hour was sponsored by Cookie and Betty. The main dishes were venison ( Cookie, wow!), apples, various cheeses and cookies and cakes (by Betty)
For the second week we had 6 in Godly Play. The gallery will show you the kids enjoying themselves at the end. Hopefully we can attract others in the community.
The pictures above start with late afternoon and evening pictures of St. Peter’s taken at the Blessing of the Animals. To me this is the height of the St. Peter’s experience. The sun peaks through in many places on the outside and inside providing its own show.
Disasters can be the catalyst to good scriptures and in the end the need for faith. It’s amazing how the events in our time parallel the scriptures this week. The sermon described some of these. "Meanwhile, in the past few weeks we’ve had the Navy Yard shooting, a mentally disturbed woman killed after a car chase through DC, and a man who set himself on fire in the center of the National Mall." The readings are here
The Old Testament reading is a great example with the invasion from the Babylonians advance on Egypt and then Judah in the early 6th century BC. Judah’s own ruler Jehoiakim was no help. God seems to be working through the Babylonians. God’s answer to Habakkuk is to have faith in divine righteousness. But what will that be? How and will God’s righteousness finally manifest itself? That’s for God to know. Our job is to keep our faith strong in troubling times. As the Psalm states the wicked will fade away.
Paul’s greeting and opening exhortation in the second letter of Timothy provides assurance. Remember who you are, rekindle the gift in you, don’t be afraid. There is no shame in suffering when it comes from trusting and obeying the Lord.
But what type of faith. Faith should be not confused with simple obedience . Jesus tells the disciples in the Gospel that with genuine faith, however small, anything is possible. Quality of faith matters more than quantity. We already have what we need to get the job done.
David Lose says we often feel like the disciples that we are not up to the job in being Christian. Faith is not heroic. " Faith, as Jesus describes it, is just doing your job, just doing your duty, not because of any sense of reward but simply because it needs doing"
"And so Jesus tells his disciples — both then and now — that we’ve got all that we need to be faithful, and that being faithful, finally, is about recognizing all the God-given opportunities just to show up and do what needs to be done:
- doing our work
- caring for those in need
- protecting the vulnerable
- reaching out to the lonely
- befriending the friendless
- keeping the world going
- contributing to the common good.
"It’s all the ordinary stuff we do all the time and, taken together and blessed by God, it’s pretty darn extraordinary.
"But faith is not only a muscle, it’s also an adventure. Faith is putting one foot in front of the other and walking toward a future we do see yet but trust God is fashioning. Faith is heading out the door each day looking for opportunities to be God’s partner and co-worker in the world. Faith is imagining that the various challenges put in front of us — whether solving a problem at work or forgiving someone who wronged us — are actually opportunities that invite us to grow as disciples and witness to God’s presence and goodness in the world."
The sermon talked about how faith can reduce some of the anxiety . "God’s final appointed time has not yet come. So in the meantime, as today’s scriptures make clear, we are to live by our faith… We need to readjust our focus and know what it is that we really need to seek. The disciples had it right. “Lord, increase our faith.” And scripture provides lesson after lesson for us about how we really can increase our faith and live by our faith– IF we are serious about changing our focus and leaving behind the ill-will, anxiety and frustrations that can so easily hold us captive in our current culture.
"At the very least, if we can’t give them up, we can at least give these anxiety producing focuses second place rather than first place in our lives."