Sunday, May 21, 2017, Easter 6 (full size gallery)
The Village Harvest served 157 people this week, the exact same number as April. Growth in this ministry continues. For the first 5 months, 692 people have been served compared to 547 for the same period a year ago, representing growth of 27%.
A group of 12 ventured on Saturday, May 20 to the Washington Cathedral and met a similar group from St. Asaph’s. Story and pictures are here
On Friday we lost another sycamore to a storm which leaves only one. The Vestry had considered eliminating it last year when another had to be taken down. There was some damage on our fence on Market Street but no other property was affected
We had 40 today in Church for Easter 6. 3 came to "Road to Emmaus" for a brief glimpse into Episcopal history. Godl Play had 7.
We celebrated Wendy’s birthday. Becky provided some information on Vacation Bible now scheduled for the 3rd week in June. This Sunday was also the ingathering for the UTO offering. Since Betty was not in church, she extended the ingathering by one week.
Ed and Doris Hooker who come back about twice a year (Nov,, May) paid us a visit.
Today’s readings encourage us to remain steadfast in our witness to the good news. Paul tells the Athenian philosophers about the resurrection. 1 Peter urges us to present our faith and hope in Christ, no matter the circumstances. Jesus assures his followers that he will always be with them, loving and empowering them.
The Gospel contains Jesus’ repeated assurances that his death will not leave his disciples “orphaned.” Jesus promises an indwelling presence to those who keep his commandments.
That presence is described in three ways. First, the Father will send “another Advocate” (v. 15), who will remain with believers. The word “Advocate” (Greek, paracletos) may also be translated Counselor or Helper. Second, Jesus himself will come, visibly after the resurrection, invisibly in the Christian community and finally at the second coming. Third, Jesus and the Father are in union and they will dwell with those who love Jesus and obey him (v. 23).
John does not particularly distinguish among these three kinds of presence. As these verses show, the presence of Jesus after his return to the Father is accomplished in and through the Advocate.
The sermon considered this message through the use of an acorn
"Since this is Rogation Sunday, I’m going to use an illustration from nature to talk about responding to God’s love.
"This is an acorn. It fell onto the ground from an oak tree in our yard last fall. The acorn lay on the ground all winter, and as you can see, nothing has happened.
"Now here’s another acorn. It may well be from the same tree as the first one. But what a difference! This little acorn is already growing into an oak tree. It has put down roots and sprouted leaves…
"When we decide to respond to God’s love by loving God back, that’s when we start growing into the people God wants us to be, like this acorn that is already growing into a tree."
Repetentance worked its way into the sermon:
"So one way to think of repentance is to consider the ways in which our attention to things besides God limits our potential for growth.
"When we let other things besides God become the containers that define us, we become root bound. To repent is to remove ourselves from these false gods that confine us so that we can plant ourselves once more in the limitless life producing mysterious love of God.
"This way of repenting is a life long process of growth, realizing gradually or sometimes in a flash of blinding light how something has crept up on you and has limited your ability to live freely in God’s love. Repenting is breaking out of that container and moving more fully back into God’s ground of being, God’s nourishing love. "