September 24, 2017 – Season of Creation 4 – "Rest"
From the sermon – "The act of resting is an essential part of the deep and wise working of creation itself.
"Out of all the days of creating and saying, “It is good,” God blessed only one of those days. And that day was the seventh day.
"God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all the work of creation.” According to God, the earth itself must rest.
"The first reason for these cycles of rest is to give the people and the earth a physical rest from the hardship and frustration of work.
"The second reason for “these rhythmic rests” is to invite people into the creative space of Sabbath rest in their lives so that they can rest in God in worship."
Read about our Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017
The Week Ahead…
Sept. 27 – 10:00am – Ecumenical Bible Study
Oct. 1 – World Communion Sunday
Oct. 1 – 10:00am – Godly Play for Adults
Oct. 1 – 10:00am – Children’s Christian Ed with Becky
Oct. 1 – 11:00am – Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Oct. 1 – 12:00pm – First Sunday Social
Sunday, Oct. 1, Readings and Servers
We need these items:
1. For Oct’s Village Harvest on Oct 18 we are distributing beans and rice. Bring your supply to the church by Sunday, Oct. 15.>
2. For the "Buzzing Bees", ongoing 
a. Granulated sugar, in any amount, so that Andrew Huffman, the beekeeper, can prepare it for the bees for food.
b. Mason jars, preferably pint size 16oz, for the bumper crop of honey that the bees will provide for harvesting next year
Stewardship
We give back as we are given by God – Make your pledge for 2018 and return it next Sunday, Oct. 1
The Commitment
Sunday, Sept. 17 was the distribution of 2017 pledge cards. They are due back on Oct. 1. A better word is commitment card. We commit so we can give:>
- Commit to help us reduce hunger in this area, through the Village Harvest Distribution
- Commit to us to bring hope to our community,
- Commit to help us bring comfort to those suffering in sickness or loneliness,
- Commit to help us in Christian education and encourage fellowship.
- Commit so we can make a difference.
What should be our commitment to what God has given us ?
God calls us to share in God’s mission of caring for the world, using all the gifts God has given us. Our gifts includes those of treasure Over 80% of the funds used to support and plan for ministry in a year come from pledges.
Got Questions ?
Is my stewardship defined only by the money I give to the church?
Why should I pledge ?
How much should I give ?
See our Faq
Coming up! St. Francis Day, Oct. 4 at St. Peter’s
Special activities in honor of St Francis will take place from 4-6PM at St Peter’s.
- Andrew Huffman will give “tours” of the St Peter’s bee hive and answer any questions you might have about the bees.
- Susan Tilt will be offering an art project that anyone, children or adults, can manage.
- There will be a fall scavenger hunt for children.
- The Blessing of the Pets will take place at 5PM.
End your day with dinner – Stay and enjoy our own Village Dinner afterwards which begins at 5pm and lasts through 6:30pm.
Lectionary, Oct . 1, 2017, Season of Creation 5
I.Theme – Resting and Living a life without worry
The lectionary readings are here
Creation Week 5. The scriptures for the last Sunday in the Season of Creation about how to return the Lord and more particularly about resting or changing your pattern of life away from worrying so we can return
“The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.” In the reading from Leviticus, God has Moses instruct the Israelites to observe every 50th year as a jubilee year. They are to rest and return to their property, and to let the land rest: “you shall not sow, or reap the aftergrowth, or harvest the unpruned vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat only what the field itself produces.” This jubilee year is a year of rest and return. How do we rest in the steadfast love of the Lord? In the gospel, Jesus turns to nature to describe the rest of one who waits on the Lord rather than worrying about what to eat or drink or wear. How does honoring God’s work as Creator help us rest and return to the Lord? As Isaiah says, “in returning and rest we shall be saved.”
Read more from the lectionary …
6 Degrees of Change -conclusion
Lynas’ outlines the effects on the planet of climate change equivalent to a global temperature rise of one, two, three, four, five and six degrees with reference to a vast library of scientific reports and study.
The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Warning signs
- Average global temperatures have risen 1 degree with most in the last 40 years
- 1-6 degree increase is possible over the next century.The last time the temperature changed 6 degrees was when England plunged 6 degrees 18,000 years ago in the last ice age
- It’s not just a temperature change but a vast change in the way that world works. Global warming is playing out in terms of decades, rather 1,000 or millions of years. The rate of change now is unprecedented.
Global warming stems from rise in C02 gases deriving from our lifestyle. C02 increase is in correlation with rise of fossil fuels – coat, oil and natural gas over the last 250 years. That’s 98% of our energy.
Gases (methane, C02, water, ozone, nitrous oxide) get stuck in the greenhouse effect.
One Degree
- Glaciers, ice caps, water
Africa’s three highest peaks will have lost half their glacial area compared to 1987. This will affect downstream water supply, wildlife and bio-diversity.
The Arctic “tipping point” is coming. Already:-
– World temperature has risen 0.7°C over past 10 years
– We have lost permafrost that has led to the draining of 10,000 lakes worldwide
– each year an extra 10,000 sq km of ocean is created from melting artic ice-sheet
– In Sept 2005, an area of the arctic ice sheet the size of Alaska vanished. Snow and ice reflects 80% of sun’s heat whereas the dark ocean absorbs 90% of the sun’s heat.
Rock-falls will be widespread in alpine regions due to loss of alpine permafrost which will have implications for population settlements in those regions.
- Weather
Hurricanes The increase in hurricane activity is due to warmer oceans
In 2004 the first ever hurricane in Brazil in the southern hemisphere, a certain sign of climate disturbance
Hurricane Vince landed in Huelve, Spain, the first tropical cyclone ever recorded in Europe.
Hurricanes in 2005 (Katrina, Wilma, Rita, etc.) killed 1000 people left 1,000,000 homeless and caused $200 billion damage
- Farming
Return of the “Mid-west American dust bowl” but with greater vengeance. Shortages of grain and wheat in the west
- Seas
Coral reefs already in serious danger. Some 70% of reefs world-wide are dead or dying.
Tropical Attols threaten the lives of H million people on Tuvalu (probably lost already), Kribati, Marshall Islands, Tokelau and the Maldives.
Read more from the conclusion …
On September 29…
Michaelmas, or the Feast of Michael and All Angels, is celebrated on the 29th of September every year. As it falls near the equinox, the day is associated with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days; in England, it is one of the “quarter days”.
Traditionally, in the British Isles, a well fattened goose, fed on the stubble from the fields after the harvest, is eaten to protect against financial need in the family for the next year; and as the saying goes:
“Eat a goose on Michaelmas Day,
Want not for money all the year”.
Part of the reason goose is eaten is that it was said that when Queen Elizabeth I heard of the defeat of the Armada, she was dining on goose and resolved to eat it on Michaelmas Day.
On this day, we give thanks for the many ways in which God’s loving care watches over us, both directly and indirectly, and we are reminded that the richness and variety of God’s creation far exceeds our knowledge of it.
In the Hebrew Scriptures, it is occasionally reported that someone saw a man who spoke to him with authority, and who he then realized was no mere man, but a messenger of God. Thus we have a belief in super-human rational created beings, either resembling men in appearance or taking human appearance when they are to communicate with us. They are referred to as "messengers of God," or simply as "messengers." The word for a messenger in Hebrew is malach, in Greek, angelos, from which we get our word "angel"
World Communion Sunday, Oct. 1
World Communion Sunday is celebrated the first Sunday in October every year in many Protestant churches. It originated in the Presbyterian Church USA in 1936. The day has taken on new relevancy and depth of meaning in a world where globalization often has undermined peace and justice – and in a time when fear divides the peoples of God’s earth. On this day we celebrate our oneness in Christ, the Prince of Peace, in the midst of the world we are called to serve – a world ever more in need of peacemaking.
We also celebrate those students serving abroad particularly the Young Adult Service Corp. Here is a list of blogs of these students.
The Anglican Communion is composed of 38 worldwide member churches, or provinces, all of which are in communion with the See of Canterbury. Each province exercises jurisdictional independence but shares a common heritage concerning Anglican identity and commitment to scripture, tradition, and reason as sources of authority, worship and practice.
Unity and cooperation in the Anglican Communion are encouraged by the Lambeth Conference which meets every 10 years. The work and vision of the Lambeth Conferences are continued between meetings by the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), the Communion’s main legislative and only representative body which includes bishops, clergy and laity from Anglican and Episcopal churches throughout the world.
—PROVERBS 21:26 “The righteous give and do not hold back.”
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Block Print by Mike Newman
Projects
Beginning Nov. 12 (no class Nov. 26) for 4 Sundays in the Parish House! Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol and the Bible.
A Christmas Carol has delighted audiences since it publication in 1843 in its book form and through the many movies made from its story. Few people know of Dickens’ connection with religion. A Christmas Carol has many Biblical references, some cleverly hidden within the story. The regeneration of Scrooge mirrors the regeneration of mankind in the Bible. Even with the title, “A Christmas Carol”, Dickens is using the meaning of “carol” familiar to him: a song celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Dickens each chapter of his book a stave, a stanza of a song. We will discuss Chapter 1 of the book on the first Sunday. Where to find it ?
2 The book and audio are available free at Project Gutenberg on the web. It is available in plain text, formatted text, Kindle for book readers (with or with images). It is available in in audio in mp3 format and itunes audiobook
3 If you want a hardcopy, it is available on Amazon. Look for Dover Thrift edition for as little as $3 plus shipping.
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, Sept. 24- Oct. 1
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24
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[Anna Ellison Butler Alexander, Deaconness, 1947] |
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25
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Sergius, Abbot of Holy Trinity, Moscow, 1392 |
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26
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Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester, 1626; also [Wilson Carlile, Priest, 1942] |
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27
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[Vincent de Paul, Religious, and Prophetic Witness, 1660; also Thomas Traherne, Priest, 1674] |
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28
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[Richard Rolle, 1349, Walter Hilton, 1396, and Margery Kempe, c. 1440, Mystics] |
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29
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Saint Michael and All Angels |
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30
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Jerome, Priest, and Monk of Bethlehem, 420 |
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1
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Remigius, Bishop of Rheims, c. 530 |