May 8, 2016 (full size gallery)
A triple pack Sunday – Easter 7, Ascension and Mother’s Day. The lectionary was Easter 7 with the Ascension mentioned in the Sermon. A special Mother’s Day prayer was heard after the Prayers of the People
After a week of mostly rain, the sun, often a hazy sunlight was appreciated. The iris are spectacular this year with blue and red the front and blue and yellow in the back. Once again, Cookie had arranged Iris in the church windows.
Godly Play had 5 children and "Weaving God’s Promises" had 7 children and adults, the latter featuring the Acts reading this morning – Acts 16:16-34 where a Roman jailer and his family are unexpectedly baptized. Catherine asked us to pick all of the instances of the Holy Spirit work and then how the Holy Spirit has entered our lives. All of this went better with some banana muffins which she brought.
The theme of the lectionary readings this week could be "forging the glorious unity of God’s people. Today’s readings give us a sense of comfort – we catch a glimpse of the glorious unity of God’s people. Paul and Silas show their concern even for their Gentile jailer, who becomes a believer through their example. John, in his Revelation, describes the believers’ urgent longing for final union with Jesus. In the gospel, Jesus prays for us, who have come to faith and unity in him through the testimony of the disciples .
Cookie brought a number of pictures from the 150th anniversary of the church in 1986. These are Linda Upshaw’s pictures and both had labelled the backs of the pictures. Additional help was provided by Nancy Long today. Next week we will celebrate the 180th anniversary of St. Peter’s.
We had 43 in the service. The sermon was an exploration of the ‘Lion King" in relationship to Easter 7 and Ascension. Catherine’s daughter took her to the show in Richmond on Friday.
We celebrated the wedding anniversary of Nancy and Alex Long. They had two of their children and all grandchildren present today. An amazing site!
Catherine announced we made $980 at the Community Give to benefit the Village Harvest food distribution.
She alluded to the Parish retreat last weekend. Although rainy, the Fishers made it to the top of North Mountain, including Zeke at age 7!
Catherine recognized Charles McGuire as the newest member of the church. His transfer from Christ Church Dover came in this week.
Upcoming events this week include Shredit on Thursday May 12 at 4pm and Susan Tilt’s "Day of art" on Saturday.