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Saints of the Week, Jan. 8 – 15
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8
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Harriet Bedell, Deaconess and Misisonary, 1969 |
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9
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Julia Chester Emery, 1922 |
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10
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William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1645 |
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11
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12
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Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx, 1167 |
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13
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Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, 367 |
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14
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15
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Jan. 15 -Second Sunday after the Epiphany
"2016"
What’s in store for St. Peter’s 2017 ? Who will be the new members of the Vestry ? What the key things that happened in 2016 ?
These are other questions will be part of the 2017 congregational meeting held after the 11am service. We will be electing two members of the Vestry and be hearing reports of the happenings of the ministries in 2017.
The 2017 Congregational Meeting reports. Please read the reports and bring questions to the meeting on Sunday.
We will have the reports in several formats – as a spread, pdf format, in a flash book format, and an html5 format:
1. Spread. (Great for PC, smart phones, tablets ). This shows the reports as a table of contents in the left sidebar and you can click on the reports which will display in the right pane. Below the table of contents are also the PDF and flash formats described below.
2. Pull up a PDF for a single page view. (For PC, smart phone, tablets)
3. Book view, For PC (flash format) . This format will not work with mobile phones or tablets.
4. HTML 5 format, For PC, smart phones, tablets.
For those who want to compare all of this with 2016, here are the topics and reports of last year’s 2016’s meeting .
June 8 -First Sunday after the Epiphany – Baptism of Christ
"Baptism of Christ" – Dave Zalenka
A snowy Sunday
From Last week…
Sunday, Jan 8 Baptism of Christ
Epiphany service, Jan 6 Check out the details – description, photo gallery, readings
The Week Ahead…
Jan . 9 – TBA – Vestry
Jan . 11 -10:00am, Ecumenical Bible Study
Jan . 13 – 7:30am, ECM
Next Sunday…
Sunday, Jan 15 Readings and Servers
January Food Village Harvest Food Distribution — Next Sunday, please bring paper towels and toilet paper for the distribution. On Wednesday, January 18th at 2PM, all are welcome to help prepare the bags for distribution.
Lectionary for the 2nd Week of Epiphany
Considering the Annual meeting this coming week and the current request for those to serve at St. Peter’s in the coming year, the lectionary message this week is timely. The Gospel details the calling of the first disciples to serve. "Come and see."
I.Theme – Call and response to service
"Jesus and John" – Hagia Sophia, Istanbul 532
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
1. Isaiah 49:1-7 – Isaiah
2. Psalm- Psalm 40:1-12
3. Epistle – 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
4. Gospel – John 1:29-42
Isaiah is there to call Israel back to God. He identifies himself as chosen before he was born (like Jeremiah, Paul and John the Baptist) and even named (like Jesus). At the first level, in vv. 8-13 God invites the exiles to return from Babylon But note also “a time of favor” (v. 8) and “a day of salvation”: these terms speak of the end times. God saves both now and in the era to come.
In the Psalm, God has snatched a human being out of the realm of death and has given life back to him. This is the origin of this thanksgiving. But this thanksgiving is not ‘a return,’ a human answer or ‘offering’…— Yahweh has put the song of thanksgiving into the mouth of the singer which begets new obedience." The self-recognition or self-discovery in the Psalm is an experience every Christian faces.
Paul is called to be an “apostle”, one sent out by Christ to perform a special mission to the Corinthians. God has strengthened them through their telling of the good news. He has called them into “fellowship”, union with other believers which is union with Christ. It will be Christ who will really put them on a firm footing when he comes and God is the one we need to rely on ultimately. God is the one who really constitutes the community as a community of Christ, a Christian community. It began with God through Paul and it ends with God.
The Gospel’s includes John’s version of the baptism of Jesus and the calling of the first disciples, with an emphasis on the meaning of the events. In the Gospel, those who are called gradually accept the identity of the one who calls them. With that goes whatever service the Lord calls us to. There are three themes in the passage: John’s witness to Jesus, Jesus’ epiphany and identification, the call to discipleship. In this passage, Andrew and Peter are called to be disciples.
Read more about the lectionary
Remembering Martin Luther King on his birthday, Jan 15,
King would have been 88 on this birthday. His genius is not only what he said and did but his inspiration for others.
Ernest Green was the first black student to graduate from all white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark in 1959. Green talked many years to UMW in Fredericksburg and provided the crowd five characteristics agents of change a leader must possess.
The first one was this – One must ask “why not” when faced with a challenge, a lesson learned while still in high school in Little Rock when he upset the status quo. King spoke about people like Green in his last speech before he was assassinated." The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." When Green graduated in 1959, King was in the audience. Green’s last characteristic of change was this – One must remember they are not alone in the fight for change.
You can read about all the agents of change here.