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Block Print by Mike Newman
Projects
Link to the reports from Jan 15 Annual Meeting
3-Minute Retreats invite you to take a short prayer break right at your computer. Spend some quiet time reflecting on a Scripture passage.
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.
Daily meditations in words and music.
Your daily prayer online, since 1999
"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, Aug. 13 – Aug. 20
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13
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Jeremy Taylor, Bishop of Down, Connor, and Dromore, 1667 |
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14
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Jonathan Myrick Daniels, Seminarian and Martyr, 1965 |
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15
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Saint Mary the Virgin, Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ |
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16
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17
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[Samuel Johnson, 1772, Timothy Cutler, 1765, and Thomas Bradbury Chandler, 1790, Priests]; also [Baptisms of Manteo & Virginia Dare] |
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18
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William Porcher DuBose, Priest, 1918; also [Artemisia Bowden, Educator, 1969] |
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19
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20
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Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, 1153 |
August 13, 2017 – Adventures on the Land and Sea..
"He said (to Elijah), ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence." – 1 Kings 19:11-12
"Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds… When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land,[a] for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” – Matthew 14:22-27
The Week Ahead…
Aug. 16 – 10:00am – Ecumenical Bible Study
Aug. 16 – 9:30am – Village Harvest Preparation
Help needed: 9:30ish, help needed to unload the truck. Many hands make light work. 1PM, help needed to set up. 3-5PM help needed for the distribution itself. Help the shoppers gather what they need.
Thank you for your contributions of both food, school supplies and time. Everyone can share in making this important St Peter’s ministry happen.
Aug. 16 – 3:30pm-5pm- Village Harvest
Sunday, August 20, Readings and Servers
Village Harvest, Aug. 16, 2017 – a new monthly record
Photo gallery. Thanks to Andrea Pogue for the wonderful pictures.
We supplied meat, cumcumbers, oranges, lemons, carrots, tuna, peanut butter, crackers, chicken patties, and assorted beef. Poundage was down since they did have some of the heavier bulk items – potatoes, onion, cabbages. We served 167 people, a new monthly record, compared to 163 last month.
The chart below looks at 3 Augusts, 2015,2016, 2017. People served rose from 105 to 167 (59%) in 2017 from 2016 but foods declined by 15% from 871 pounds to 739. Last month we had 1,536 pounds but this month only 736 pounds. We did provide school supplies which filled the back pew last Sunday. 
For the year our average people served is up to 145 people compared to 107 a year ago in 2016 and food from 1,016 to 1,243 pounds. Average numbers of people served have grown this year by 35% and food by 22%. The increasing numbers of people are outstripping the growth of food.
We also provideed an assortment of school supplies.
Looking at it another way, we are serving as many people in a month on one day in Wednesday in food as we serve for four Sundays in our regularly scheduled services. The Village Harvest is another dimension of our ministry.
Art Day with Bishop Goff, Aug 26
Saturday, August 26
9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Roslyn Retreat Center, Richmond
Come enjoy the day with Bishop Goff and become co-creators with God!
Join Bishop Goff for a day of creativity at Roslyn Retreat Center. No art experience required. Cost is $35 per person. Space is limited. Call 800.477.6296 to reserve your spot.
Lectionary, Aug. 13, 2017, Pentecost 11, Proper 15, Year A
I.Theme – God comes to all us, includes all in his mercy and calls us to lead lives of justice
"Jesus and the Canaanite Woman" – Jean Colombe
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Isaiah 56:1,6-8
Psalm – Psalm 67 Page 675, BCP
Epistle –Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Gospel – Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28
Three ingredients come together to create a celebratory mix in this week’s Lectionary: The first is God’s salvation (expressed in terms of justice and mercy); the second is God’s blessing given to those who are saved; and the third is the inclusion of "foreigners" and "outcasts". The expansion of the gospel beyond the boundaries of Judaism does not supersede God’s love for Israel, but reflects God’s love and inspiration of all people. The focus, then, of this week’s worship is on God’s coming to us, welcoming all people, and including all people in God’s mercy, salvation and blessing, while also calling all people to lives of justice.
In Isaiah 5 , God calls God’s people to justice and fairness because God promises to come to them and bring not just God’s people, but also the foreigners and outcasts, to worship and to be blessed by God on God’s mountain.
Psalm 67 is a psalm of praise for God’s blessings and mercy, which calls all nations to join in praising God for God’s saving power.
In Romans 11, the apostle Paul affirms God’s faithfulness to the Jewish people. There is no room for anti-Judaism in Christianity. God’s providential gifts of grace are irrevocable. God has made an eternal covenant with the children of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. God’s revelation in Christ expands God’s covenant to include all the peoples of the earth. God will have mercy on disobedient people everywhere, whether Jew or Gentile.
The question of being chosen once again is ambiguous. An omnipresent and omni-active God, for whom love is the guiding principle, chooses all creation. No one is left out. This is problematic for those who see the Jewish people and nation, or any other nation, as absolutely unique. As some prophetic writings suggest, Israel was chosen for a mission, to be a light to the Gentiles, bringing God’s love to all peoples.
The gospel reading places Jesus in an unusual light. When a Canaanite woman comes to Jesus to seek healing for her daughter, Jesus puts her off, apparently excluding her because of her ethnicity from God’s healing realm. The woman persists and eventually Jesus relents, apparently impressed by the depth of her faith and her willingness to experience humiliation for the love of her daughter. Jesus cures her daughter from a distance; his energy transcends the boundaries of space.
This story also portrays another kind of transcendence, the transcendence of ethnic and personal barriers for the sake healing and wholeness. Now, there are a number of ways to interpret the encounter of Jesus with the Canaanite woman. At first glance, Jesus appears to succumb to the racist tendencies that characterized the attitudes of many Jewish people toward foreigners. He puts her off because, as a Canaanite, she is unworthy of God’s love. A second interpretation suggests that Jesus is testing her faith, trying to discern how much she loves her daughter and what she is willing to do to secure a healing for her daughter. Finally, a third interpretation asserts that Jesus may be creating a trap for those who see the woman as an inferior outsider. He acts and speaks like a racist, getting their insider assent, and then pulls the rug out from under them by healing the Canaanite woman’s daughter. From this perspective, the encounter is a parable, a reversal of expectations, a turning upside down of socially acceptable racism in light of God’s realm of inclusion and healing.
However, we understand the meaning of the encounter between Jesus and the Canaanite woman, the story portrays Jesus’ eventual inclusion of non-Jewish people into his ministry. God’s healing embraces all people, regardless of gender, ethnicity, race, or sexuality. Mature faith widens the circles of God’s love to go beyond our well-being to embrace and support the various gifts of the earth’s peoples.
Earlier in the readings, Jesus explains that it is not what we eat that defiles us but the evil that is in our hearts. Then he is approached by a Canaanite woman who convinces him, in spite of his initial reluctance, to heal her daughter who is being tormented by a demon.
Addition selections about the Canaanite woman