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Block Print by Mike Newman
Projects
Daily meditations in words and music.
Read the Bible in a year or a part of it:
Prayer requests – Add a name to the prayer list here.
Saints of the Week, Feb. 9-15
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9
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10
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11
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[Frances Jane (Fanny) Van Alstyne Crosby, Hymnwriter, 1915] | |
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12
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[Charles Freer Andrews, Priest and “Friend of the Poor” in India, 1940] | |
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13
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Absalom Jones, Priest, 1818 | |
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14
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Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop, Missionaries to the Slavs, 869, 885 | |
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15
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Thomas Bray, Priest and Missionary, 1730 | |
Port Royal : Block By Block – Part 9, Block of Middle, Market, Cumberland and King
This is part of a series examining Port Royal "block by block" based on a map owned by Jim Patton from 1930. See here for the background.
The block is three blocks away from St. Peter’s. It is bordered by Middle, Market, Cumberland and King. It encompasses lots 47, 46, 53 and 54.
The original plat of 1744 designated Lots 46,47,53,54 to be reserved as a square for “For Public Civic Use.” In some cases it has not been, especially on Lot 47.
There have been carnivals, auctions, carnivals and other civic events such as 2013’s Charter Day scheduled there . Many different structures have appeared including schools, two houses, Town hall, post office, water towers and Volunteer Fire department. Currently the medical office from Lot 17 is there, the library building and volunteer fire department and the tower. The tower needs replacing but the town has had inadequate funds to do
Lot 46
Lot 46 has never had a structure
Read more about this lot with the map…
Sunday, February 9, 2014 (full size gallery)
February 16- 10:50am, Godly Play (preschool through 2nd grade)
February 16- 11:00am, Holy Eucharist, Rite II
This Sunday at St. Peter’s – Servers, Readings
"Ladies Night Out", Feb. 15 – the 2014 version
What a night! Food, Fellowship and Jeopardy! There is more "Ladies Night Out" here, including a photogallery.
Two examples of leadership at St. Peter’s, Feb. 9th
1. Johnny Davis described his work with "Hunters for the Hungry." This is coordinated through Essex Baptist. Hunters store the deer in a truck with Champlain. The Baptists pick it up and deliver to the butcher who prepares it and returns it to the Baptists which later distribute it. St. Peter’s provides a donation for the work and Johnny delivered 550 pounds to Caroline Social Services which took a freezer and 1/3.
2. Ken Pogue, our Stewardship chair has proposed a new tutoring program for Port Royal youth from kindergarden to high school. He provided a sign up sheet to request tutors. Deadline is end of the month. It is not just about the learning but for students about professionalism and workplace skills, community and family life skills, motivation (spiritual and secular) and career resources/opportunities. The program will evolve with the students and tutors and will be depend on the commitment of both.
You can sign up for this program online.
Day of Prayer for South Sudan on February 16
Presiding Bishop Schori wrote :
"The world is increasingly concerned over the rampant violence in South Sudan,” the Presiding Bishop said. “The recent increase in armed conflict, murder, and mayhem has been fomented in part by inaccurate reports of tribal partisanship. The new nation needs peace, in order that all its people might thrive. The Episcopal Church of Sudan is partnering with others on the ground in that work of peace-building. The Sudanese communities within our own Episcopal Church have been important and effective leaders in this work. I ask your prayers for peace, as well as your awareness and involvement in the lives of our brothers and sisters across the globe. The Prince of Peace serves the whole world. As his disciples, may we do no less!”
Over 600,000 people have been displaced in the recent fighting, including the two women on the left. The current crisis reflects underlying tensions and mistrust among South Sudanese leaders and ethnic groups that date back to Sudan’s civil war (1983-2005), and before.
Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori has noted that The Episcopal Church now has a number of Sudanese congregations and communities of faith as a result of the Lost Boys of Sudan, who immigrated to the United States as refugees beginning in 2001.
What can we do ? Give to the ERD’s South Sudan Fund"
The Sudanese Development and Relief Agency (SUDRA), the humanitarian wing of the Episcopal Church in South Sudan & Sudan (ECSSS), is supplying food, water and medical care to people displaced by the conflict currently enveloping the world’s newest nation. Episcopal Relief & Development is providing technical assistance and financial support to SUDRA, and serving as the key liaison for a group of Anglican Communion organizations supporting the relief and recovery work.
Read more about South Sudan with additional links …
Remembering Black History Month
Links
1. Black history month – video
2. Episcopal exhibit on Black History
3. State of Racisim, a forum in 2013
Region One are the 19 Episcopal churches from Colonial Beach in the east to Madison in the west.
We welcomed the Very Rev. Dr. Marian Windel as the new dean of Region One. Marian has been the priest at Church of the Incarnation in Mineral for 7 years. She is active on the Diocesan level, serving on a variety of committees.
The region meeting concentrated on three topics – reactions to Annual Council, What’s Happening in Region One and planning for 2014. We were joined by our two youth delegates to Council, Hannah Cannon from St. George’s and Mike Hamilton from Trinity Episcopal.
Hannah was onstage during Council serving as one of the Girls Group from St. George’s which has a radio show and has worked with African issues. She liked seeing the church from the inside at Council and shared her story coming back to the church in middle school. She appreciated adults who could explain possibilities of how youth can serve in the church and serve as mentors for teens in the process of confirmation and beyond. She stressed the importance of social media in working with youth – for example tweeting during the onstage show. It’s a way to building community to those both presenting and those hearing it.
Mike read the scriptures in the first reading at St. Paul’s during the afternoon service and worked with the resolutions. He noted the role of Trinity’s rector Kent Rahm in providing a background to Council. Mike praised the bulletin board at Trinity that is helpful in providing opportunities on how to get involved.
We turned to evaluate the Annual Council experience. Many felt energized by the Council’s “story” format. But several brought up the cost of council and the scheduling of the resolutions close to the end.
Hymn of the Week — "Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven", Feb. 16
"Praise My Soul, the King of Heaven" was written by two 19th century Englishmen. Most notably, this hymn was sung at the wedding of the future Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, in Westminster Abbey, London, 1947.
The music was composed by John Goss who composed mostly church music. He was organist at St. Paul’s from 1838 onward in London. Queen Victoria knighted him in 1872. In 1876, Cambridge University awarded him a Doctor of Music degree. He also held the post of Professor of Harmony at the Royal Academy of Music for almost half a century.
Goss composed the melody entitled LAUDA ANIMA (Latin for the opening words of Psalm 103) for this text in 1868. He also contributed his original harmonizations, intended to interpret the different stanzas.
Henry F. Lyte wrote the words for this piece originally as Spirit of the Psalms, 1834. Lyte was a priest and excellent flute player. He is known for his ministry educating children and seamen for whom other schooling was virtually impossible while in Brixham, a fishing village. Each year Lyte organized an Annual Treat for the 800-1000 Sunday school children, which included a short religious service followed by tea and sports in the field. Lyte was also able to identify with his parish of fishermen, visiting them at their homes and on board their ships in harbor, supplying every vessel with a Bible, and compiling songs and a manual of devotions for use at sea.
You can hear this hymn sung in St. Paul’s in London where Goss was organist.
Lectionary, Feb. 16, Epiphany 6
I.Theme – The joy and blessings of obedience Also, is the idea of building a new community through new behaviors (culminating in Matt 5: 37)
"Hands across the Divide" – Maurice Harron. A metal sculpture in Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Since the 17th century, Londonderry has had two cultural traditions: Catholic and Protestant, Irish and Ulster Scots. During the Troubles, this became a big problem. The city became best known for tragedies like Bloody Sunday, and so most tourists stayed away. Yet since the start of the peace process, Londonderry has been transformed. It’s rediscovered its rightful role as a cultural destination, and its dual heritage has become an asset, rather than a source of strife. The image is included in relationship to the Corinthians reading.
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
1A. Old Testament 1 Ecclesiasticus 15:15-20
1B. Old Testament 2 Deuteronomy 30:15-20
2. Psalm– Psalm 119:1-8 Page 763, BCP
3. Epistle – 1 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
4. Gospel – Matthew 5:21-37
The Old Testament and Gospel readings are linked around the older community in Deuteronomy (The setting is the plains of Moab, as the Israelites prepare to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land) and the new community in Matthew (Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount). How do we get along in community ? The focus is the calling and teaching of disciples of Jesus. (Paul in Corinthians is centered on a related idea – being or becoming healthy as the body of Christ.)
Deuteronomy
In the four verses immediately preceding 30:15–20, Moses assures the people that the commandments of the LORD are neither too hard nor too remote.
Just prior to our text, Moses announces wonderful blessings for an obedient Israel and blood-curdling curses for an apostate Israel (chapter 28). These benedictions and maledictions are followed by a prediction of eventual exile (29:18–29) and return (30:1–10) .
Having assured the people that what God commands they can do, Moses launches into his final call for a decision.
The choice is stark. "If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today…then you shall live and become numerous
But if your heart turns away and you do not hear… I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess." Moses use of the word "today" is the hope for a new beginning.
Like Matthew there is the emphasis on the creation of a new community. There is the need for a break with the past. However, in the following chapter, it becomes very clear that both Moses and God know that the people will fail miserably.
Psalm
The first section of the ‘long Psalm’ is an acrostic based on alpeh, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Like the other 21 sections of the Psalm, it consists of eight double lines. The longest acrostic Psalm, it is therefore constructed with great skill, which no translation can really convey. The choice of vocabulary is also rich, expressing different terms for what we very flatly call ‘law’. Although the Jewish celebration of ‘rejoicing in the law (simchat torah) was a later development in Judaism, the psalm expresses similar sentiments. As a Psalm extolling the torah, it has similarities to Psalms 1 and 19:7-11. These eight verses are a suitable general introduction to the rest of the Psalm.
1 Corinthians 3: 1-9
Following on from the situation reported to him by ‘Chloe’s people’ (1:11), after a passage dealing with ‘the message of the cross (1:18-2:16), Paul returns to the theme of factions in the church at Corinth. The intervening section emphasizes the cross as God’s wisdom. This stands in sharp contrast to the rivalry exhibited by the groups in the church. The metaphor of ‘growth’ is developed both in the imagery of the ‘child’, and also of the ‘field’. Paul’s favorite dichotomy of flesh and spirit is also brought to the fore. Nevertheless, the Corinthian believers are still Paul’s ‘brothers and sisters’, and fellow workers. Despite their shortcomings, although he does reprimand them he does not disown them. The fact that only Paul and Apollos are mentioned here (and not Cephas nor Christ, as in 1:12) probably reflects the history of the congregation’s founding and leadership by these two apostles. Paul might have taken some of the glory for this, but he refuses to do so.
Matthew 5: 21-37
The first four of the six ‘antitheses’ of the Sermon on the Mount are included in this reading (the final two are in next week’s reading). The quotations from ‘those of ancient times’ include aspects of both torah and tradition (halakah). The time-honored description of this section as ‘antitheses’ may be misleading, for although in part Jesus cuts across the interpretation of the law, he does not contradict or discard torah itself. Jesus’ own interpretation intensifies and internalises the force of the commands.
Jesus also broadens the impact of torah/halakah, i.e. murder becomes an issue of anger and unforgiveness; adultery is broadened to include lust and stumbling-blocks in general; divorce and adultery are linked; and the making of vows is illustrated by specific examples and by the simplicity of Jesus’ teaching.
The explanatory expansion of these commands by Jesus may also be understood as the root cause of the specific sin, eg anger or unforgiveness in the heart can lead to physical murder.
Read more about this week’s lectionary…
Annual Council Inspiration, Part 2 -Jordan Casson, Dir. Youth Ministry, St. Paul’s, Ivy
“Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.” (Luke 13:10-17)
In the spring of 2012, I visited the 2000-year-old ruin of the Synagogue at Capernaum; it was there that Luke’s narrative about Jesus and the unnamed woman took on a deeper meaning for me. In previous readings of this text, I had categorized it as just another healing story. However, as I walked through this synagogue, which architecturally segregated men, woman, and children, I realized that there was more to this text. Jewish women who lived in the Greco-Roman world could not worship with men. And so our friend in the text finds herself in an unfamiliar space. In order for her to reach Jesus, she must defy the social and cultural norms of the day. She must do what no other woman would dare do: she must move out of her comfort zone, she must stretch, because it is only in her willingness and actions to stretch, that her spirit is renewed and her life is changed forever.
As I reflect more seriously on her physical movement to Christ, and engage critically her fear, courage, compassion, and conviction to follow Jesus, I think of a “mission trip” I took last weekend when I accompanied our youth to our nation’s capitol, a trip to work with and learn from the homeless there. I am reminded of how our young people were literally stretched, when they offered their services to clean what they thought was a park that homeless people occupied for sleep, only to enter a piece of land that over the past twenty years has been used as a land fill by residents of Washington. As we pulled mattress, TV’s, bowling balls, carpets, and toilets out of the ground, the boys in my group gave their entire bodies to pulling and removing old and worn tires filled with water and grime. By the time we left this location later in the day, we had removed over seventy discarded tires from this place.
Read more from this meditation