Frontpage, December 29, 2019

December 29, 2019

At the end of a year, we try to present a wrap-up article that includes the events significant in the life of St. Peter’s. We include the event title, a short description, a photo and a link to the story. We then try to go a step further. Was there a theme (or themes) that ran through the events of 2019 ? We think so for 2019 – Building Community Relationships.

Building Community Relationships. One of the threads that runs through 2019 is extending our reach and activities through the Port Royal Community and beyond. You can see it in the Spanish Bible Study that started in Lent and continued through the year, Hunters for the Hungry twice during 2019, the MS Walk as well as Shred-It in May, the Childrens’ Summer Program, the Season of Creation in Sept, the Way of Beauty retreat in November, the monthly Village Harvest which celebrated its 5th anniversary also in November, the Blue Christmas service at the end of the year.

See the pictures and stories through over 40 events in 2019.

Note, there is a table of contents with the list and links for the events covered. If you click on an event, it will scroll to it. There is usually a link to the event’s story and a related photo. There is a corresponding arrow on the right side of the screen that will take you back to the top.

---

The Week Ahead…

Dec. 31 – 6pm – New Year’s Eve Gala, Parish House

Sunday, Jan. 5 – Second Sunday in Christmas Readings and Servers

---

Prayer of Thanksgiving for the year just past…

God of new beginnings, we thank you for the year just past, with all of its joys and wonders. We thank you for all that we were able to do together . We thank you for giving us opportunities to serve You well and in doing so to let your light shine in our church and out in our world. We pray now for Your guidance in this new year, and for the courage to follow You wherever You would lead us. We pray for the strength to carry out everything that You will give us to do. And may our love for one another reflect the transforming love that You have for each one of us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

---

And a Blessing for the New Year!

From Pastor Dawn Hutchings

“The art of blessing is often neglected. The birth of a New Year calls forth the desire in us to bestow a blessing upon those we love. Several years ago, John O”Donohue, one of my favorite Irish poet’s created a New Year’s blessing for his mother entitled Beannacht-for Josie. It is a blessing of superior quality. And so, on this New Year’s Eve, may you all receive this beannacht with my added blessing for a peace-filled New Year in which the God in whom all of creation is held, might find full expression in your miraculous life!”

Beannacht – A New Year Blessing
John O’Donohue

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

---

The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

– Howard Thurman

---

Dr. Howard Thurman was an influential author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He was Dean of Theology and the chapels at Howard University and Boston University for more than two decades, wrote 20 books, and in 1944 helped found the first racially integrated, multicultural church in the United States.

---

Christmas 2, Year A Lectionary Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020 

I.Theme –  God/Christ as Redeemer and Revealer 

Guido of Siena,13th Century Italian

The lectionary readings are here 

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Psalm 84

Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a

Matthew 2:13-15,19-23

The details of the Gospel story, the flight into Egypt, makes it easy to forget the intent of it that shows God in control and not Herod or his son, even though it looks that way on the face of it with Joseph’s family side stepping the political moves of the day and winning out. God is leading us and with us even when events do not go our way.  We are not alone.  We have to look at the bigger picture, often difficult to see while we are going through life. 

This is a realistic story with our current world situation – the numbers of babies killed in Syria and the migrations away from that worn-torn land to Turkey and Lebanon. 

In Ephesians God has revealed his will in the sending of Christ, and he seeks to "gather up all things" in both heaven and earth in Christ. Christ is therefore both the Redeemer and the Revealer through the Holy Spirit. God’s accomplishing all things according to his will in Christ’s resurrection and reign. 

The idea of redeemer and revealer is present in the Old Testament reading of Jeremiah. The people deported from Jerusalem in Babylonia will return. There are images of redemption – God’s love and faithfulness to promises made remain intact through Israel’s infidelity and consequent judgment. God rescues this and builds a new life out of the rubble. There are images of revelation and promise – those who lived on the outside of society will not live that way. The hope is those who have suffered.

This psalm praises God as the longed-for goal of the pilgrim. The “dwelling” of God is the Temple (and perhaps also the land of Israel). To live in the Temple is greatly to be desired: those who live there have security and happiness, even the birds (v. 3) who nest in the Temple area. Making a pilgrimage to the Temple offers these hopes. 

Read more..

---