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Link to the reports from Jan 15 Annual Meeting
Daily meditations in words and music.
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Saints of the Week, Feb. 12 – Feb. 19
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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 |
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16
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[Charles Todd Quintard, Bishop of Tennessee, 1898] |
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17
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Janani Luwum, Archbishop of Uganda & Martyr, 1977 |
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18
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Martin Luther, 1546 |
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19
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Feb. 12 -Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
From Last week…
Sunday, February 12, Epiphany 6
Last weekend, as the Big Game was being played in Houston, thousands of people came together to make a difference in their community. Reports are still being tallied, and over $6.3 million in cash and food items has already been reported.
Separately, the ECM donated over $600 of food to the Caroline County Food pantry.
The Week Ahead…
Feb. 15 – 10:00, Ecumenical Bible Study
Feb. 15 – 3:30pm-5pm, Village Harvest distribution
Feb. 19 – 10:00am, Christian Ed – Godly Play (preschool through 2nd grade)
Feb. 19 – 10:00am, Christian Ed – "God’s Kids" (3rd grade and up)
Feb. 19 – 11:00am, Holy Eucharist, Rite II
Sunday, Feb. 19 Readings and Servers
The Village Harvest, Feb. 15 – Behind the scenes.
The Harvest takes a full day to get together and involves a team to get the food, a team to organize and a team to check and keep the flow going. Peel back the cover for a story and photo gallery from the Feb. 15, 2017 Harvest.
Hands Across the Divide – in Ireland and the US
“For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 3:1-9
The striking bronze sculpture above of two men reaching out to each other symbolises the spirit of reconciliation and hope for the future; it was unveiled in 1992, 20 years after Bloody Sunday in Derry, North Ireland.
Bloody Sunday increased Catholic and Irish nationalist hostility towards the British Army and exacerbated the conflict. During Bloody Sunday, British soldiers shot 26 unarmed civilians during a peaceful protest march against internment. Fourteen people died: thirteen were killed outright. A 12 year inquiry made public called the shootings both "unjustified" and "unjustifiable". This art was created out of the need for reconciliation.
Reconciliation and hope for the future was on the mind of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. We celebrate his birthday on Feb 12. Eric Foner’s book The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery describes Lincoln’s trials with slavery.
Lincoln wrote – "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."
Lincoln’s Bishop
Today is Lincoln’s birthday, Feb. 12, 1809. Think you have heard all the Lincoln stories? Maybe not this one. The story was published in 2014 as Lincoln’s Bishop by Gustav Niebuhr
From the book’s summary – "More than a century ago, during the formative years of the American nation, Protestant churches carried powerful moral authority, giving voice to values such as mercy and compassion, while boldly standing against injustice and immorality. Gustav Niebuhr travels back to this defining period, to explore Abraham Lincoln’s decision to spare the lives of 265 Sioux men sentenced to die by a military tribunal in Minnesota for warfare against white settlers—while allowing the hanging of 38 others, the largest single execution on American soil. Popular opinion favored death or expulsion. Only one state leader championed the cause of the Native Americans, Episcopal bishop, Henry Benjamin Whipple."
You can read an early version of the story from the LA Times- How a bishop moved Lincoln, and saved 265 Dakota Indians.
For the Village Harvest, Feb. 15
We’re collecting ingredients for chili, so please bring cans of kidney beans, or other type of beans, (you can also bring dried beans) and cans of tomatoes—diced, crushed.
Last Village Harvest distribution – Jan. 18. How are we doing ?
Sign up now for our Lenten study – "Five Marks of Love"
Our Lenten study for 2017 is jointly prepared by the brothers at St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) and Virginia Theological Seminary. This is the same partnership that brought us “Growing the Rule of Life” last Lent.
We will use this on Sundays as an intergenerational study over 6 weeks. It worked well last year for all age groups to add to the study and reflect on the comments of others. However, even if you don’t come to Christian Ed, you can follow along at home through daily messages from SSJE’s website with a short video.
“In this six-week series we will be examining and reflecting on the ways in which God’s Life and God’s Mission express themselves in and through us. Inspired by the Anglican “Marks of Mission,” we will look for signs of God’s presence and activity in our lives, in our communities, and in the world around us. Each week we will explore one of the “Marks,” using short daily videos, thought-provoking questions and activities, and prayerful discussions to reflect on what God is doing in our lives and in our world
You can sign up for the daily messages here. It is free. Do this now because Lent begins quickly March 1 with Ash Wednesday.
Read the text, watch the video, and reflect. You can share your thoughts , using #5marksoflove on your preferred social media. You can download the workbook if you wish as it is free but we will have copies on hand on Sunday.
The Rev. Thom Blair, interim rector of St. James’ Church, Richmond, will lead a Lenten Quiet day at Roslyn Conference Center in Richmond on Thursday, March 16, 2017, beginning at 9:30 a.m. and concluding around 3 p.m. with a Eucharist. His topic is “Searching for Light: Living by the Parables.” The $30 fee includes snacks and lunch.
Please contact Mary Holly Bigelow or 804-285-2598 for more information. Men are welcome to attend. Registration deadline is March 1.
The Church Awakens, Black History Month
Links
1. Black history month – video
2. Episcopal exhibit on Black History
3. State of Racisim, a forum in 2013
Lectionary, Feb. 19, Epiphany 7
I.Theme – There are no limits to your love of your neighbor or to the poor. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, they, and everything else, belong to you (the community), and you to Christ.
"Love of Neighbor " – Hermano Leon
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
This week is a continuation of last week when the challenge was: 1. You shall not commit murder. 2. You shall not commit adultery 3. You shall not divorce 4. You shall not bear false witness. These four and the two above are the Six Antitheses or contrasts. Jesus makes six quotations or paraphrases of commands of Moses in the Bible, and then he says, “But I say” and makes a similar but stronger statement.
We take up 5 and 6. Leviticus and Matthew both talk of dealing with the poor and your neighbor. This is a week of "higher righteousness." We are really challenged this week.
The New Testament appropriates Leviticus 19:18 in a variety of contexts. ‘Love your neighbor’ is a central injunction for all followers of Jesus. So who is our neighbor ? This may be answered best by Luke 10:29-37 the story of the Good Samaritan.
We struggle with the idea of creating just economy in dealing with the disadvantage. One that is equiable. It is tough. Matthew raises the bar. "Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you."
We can nod our head at all of this. But do we really believe that we have a God who not only makes "the sun to rise on the evil and on the good," (Matthew 5:45) but also enables the good to love and to pray for the evil? Can we "be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect"? (Matthew 5:48)