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Block Print by Mike Newman
Projects
Help us advertise the concert!
Go to the Thirteen page for links including the poster.
| Colors | Season | Dates | |
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| Green | After Epiphany | Jan 7-Feb 10 | |
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, Jan 21- Jan. 28
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21
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Agnes, Martyr at Rome, 304 |
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22
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Vincent, Deacon of Saragossa, and Martyr, 304 |
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23
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Phillips Brooks, Bishop of Massachusetts, 1893 |
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24
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Ordination of Florence Li Tim-Oi, 1944 |
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25
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The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle |
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26
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Timothy Titus [and Silas], Companions of Saint Paul |
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27
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[Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe, Witnesses to the Faith] |
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28
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Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Friar, 1274 |
The Thirteen began the yearly concert series in 2013. We are pleased to welcome that back in our 6th concert year.
The above description is the concert they will present at St. Peter’s. It fits in well with the "Season of Creation" from last fall.
From their website “Described as having “a tight and attractive vocal blend and excellent choral discipline” (American Record Guide), The Thirteen is an all-star professional choir known for inspired and powerful live performance. Since its founding in 2012, the choir has been at the forefront of bringing invigorating performances to the American choral community in repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to the Romantic, from Bach to Bruckner; and from Gregorian chant to the world premieres of new American composers. “
The concert is free but we encourage donations so we can keep this series going.
Help us advertise the concert. The Thirteen page has both informational links as well as 2 posters that you can download and distribute .
The Thirteen originated in 2012 with performing music from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In our first concert in Oct., 2013 this included works from Tallis, Palestrina and highlighted works of the 16th century. Several forms were presented – madrigals and selections from the mass of St. Cecelia. Over the years they have expanded to include selections from the 18th through the 20th centuries.
The following article will concentrate on the Renaissance and Baroque and then 20th century work to show the diversity of the choir. One work will be highlighted in the earlier periods which is still an area of emphasis for the group.
Check out last Sunday – Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018
The Week Ahead…
Jan. 24 – 10:00am – Ecumenical Bible Study
Jan. 25 – 5pm – Fredericksburg Region Meeting at Christ Church
Jan. 28 – 9am – Holy Eucharist, Rite I
Jan. 28 – 10am – Christian Education for childrren
Jan. 28 – 11am – Morning Prayer
Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018 Readings and Servers
Conversion of St. Paul, Jan 25 – in art and words
On January 25 we remember how Saul (or Paul) of Tarsus, formerly a persecutor of the early Christian Church, was led by God’s grace to become one of its chief spokesmen. Here are two art works that depict the event :
“The Conversion on the Way to "The Conversion of St. Paul"
Damascus” Caravaggio 1601 Nicolas-Bernard Lepicie, 1767
"and suddenly a light from heaven shined round about him. And falling on the ground, he heard a voice saying to him: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Who said: Who art thou, Lord? And he: I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. " Acts 9: 3-5
The Italian painter Caravaggio painted the one on the left in 1601 for the Cerasi Chapel of the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in Rome. The painting depicts the moment recounted in Chapter 9 of Acts of the Apostles when Saul, soon to be the apostle Paul, fell on the road to Damascus.
Caravaggio is close to the Bible. The horse is there and, to hold him, a groom, but the drama is internalized within the mind of Saul. There is no heavenly apparition. He lies on the ground stunned, his eyes closed as if dazzled by the light.
Caravaggio’s style featured a dark background with usually one point of breaking light. Paul is flung off of his horse and is seen on his back on the ground. Although Paul reflects the most light out of all the characters, the attention is given to him in a strange way. Because Paul is on the ground, he is much smaller than the horse, which is also at the center of the painting but he is pictured closer to the viewer.
The second painting constrast with Caravaggio in the use of color and light. This one has some of the most vibrant colors. Heaven’s light is shown coming dynamically from left to right. The painting is like the key frame in a movie on the conversion. At the time Lepicie was a professor at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris
Read more about Paul’s conversion…
Make your reservation for the Shrine Mont retreat in May!
Once again Christ Episcopal has extended an invitiation to St. Peter’s to join them on the mountain at Shrine Mont. It will be in the first week in May, May 4-6. Signups are due in mid Feb.
Catherine designed Shrine Mont 2017 program around Celtic Christianity.
If you plan to attend, please let Catherine know as soon as possible. Shrinemont is a wonderful place to enjoy nature and fellowship with one another. Here is the group from last year: 
Forward Movement, Feb-April, 2018
This is a notification that that Lenten issue for Feb., March and April, one of the most popular issues of this magazine, is now available on the back pew. The church subscribes to this publication for the parishioners.
Even those familiar with the publication may not be aware of the background of this organization. From their website: "Forward Movement, a ministry of the Episcopal Church, grew out of the determination of the General Convention in 1934 to counter a period of anxiety, distrust, and decline in the Episcopal Church with a "forward movement" charged to "reinvigorate the life of the church and to rehabilitate its general, diocesan, and parochial work…Since 1935, we have produced pamphlets, booklets, and books on topics such as prayer, liturgy, pastoral concerns, evangelism, stewardship, church history, and introductions to Anglicanism and the Episcopal Church."
On St. Peter’s frontpage on the left sidebar we also have a link to the daily "Day by Day reading they provide. A real treasure!
A Real Souper Bowl, Feb 4, 2018
Souper Bowl of Caring" is an annual fundraising drive organized in partnership with the NFL. It focuses attention on the issues of hunger and poverty in our community and throughout the world. 149 million will tune into the big game but there are 50 million facing hunger. We would like to "change the game" from hunger to abundance.
It began 28 years ago with a simple prayer : “Lord as we enjoy the Super Bowl, help us to be mindful of those without a bowl of soup to eat.” Souper Bowl evolved into a separate non-profit. During "Souper Bowl of Caring 2017", 6,540 group s generated $10.1 million. Hunger and poverty have a negative impact on individuals and the communities they live, yet there is joy in serving and giving to those in need. There is an online video about the program.
St. Peter’s began participating in 2012 so this is our 6th year. The money and food we collect stays local and benefits Caroline County since the proceeds will go to our Village Harvest Food ministry.
Last year, the church donated $125 and 26 food stuffs last Sunday. Separately, the ECM announced they had bought food , $600 to the Caroline County Food Pantry in Bowling Green. There were funds left over from Christmas.
On Sunday Feb 4, 2018, please make a separate donation at the offertory (with “Souperbowl” in the memo line) and/ or bring in some food for this worthy cause. The youth will also be collecting dollars in our pail outside at the conclusion of the service.
Poverty and Hunger facts
Poverty and hunger in America often go hand in hand, but they are not the same. Poverty is not the ultimate determinant of food insecurity – rather, it’s one of many associated factors. Research shows that unemployment, lower household assets and certain demographic characteristics can also be key predictors of food insecurity among people living in the U.S.
Read more about Poverty and Hunger…
Epiphany 4, Year B Lectionary Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018
Scope and meaning of God’s Authority
"St. Peter’s – inside picture as a drawing"
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm – Psalm 111 Page 754, BCP
Epistle –1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Gospel – Mark 1:21-28
Mark – Jesus demonstrates divine authority by healing a man with unclean spirit. Jesus preaches the Good news even when it leads to conflict
Deuteronomy – Moses encourage people to listen to God’s prophet an/pd heed God’s word
Corinthians – True obedience to law must be balance by love and compassion
From Bruce Epperly – "Process and Faith"
"Today’s lectionary readings reflect on the nature of authority and the impact of our actions on the wellbeing of others. The season of Epiphany is an invitation to reflect on the many places and ways God reveals Godself to humankind. With the mystic Meister Eckhardt, Epiphany is grounded in the affirmation that all things are words of God. Anyone of us – and also the non-human world – can be a vehicle of divine revelation. Yet, revelation is always contextual, concrete, and variable.
"In the historical matrix of life, some persons and places are more transparent to the divine than others. This is a matter of call and response – God’s call and our responses as individuals and communities. Still, even though all of us turn away from God at times, some more than others, all persons have something of the divine within them. As John’s Gospel proclaims, the light of God enlightens all, even when we pursue darkness rather than light.
Read more about the Lectionary…
Possession in the Gospel of Mark
by David Lose, president of Luther Seminary
One more thing on Jesus’ first public appearance and activity. We’ve already said that these early words and deeds of Jesus are important to pay attention to because they help flesh out what he means by “the kingdom of God.” But even if we’re paying close attention to what’s happening at this point of the story, we almost immediately run into a problem. And that’s with miracles – they don’t always fit into the way we look at and think about the world today, and that makes them hard to relate to. And in this first miracle of Jesus, it’s even worse: possession. I mean, who believes in possession any more.
Actually, I do. I have, that is, on occasion been possessed by anger at a colleague or family member that has led me to say and do things I regret. I have been possessed by jealousy and envy that had led me to use my resources in ways I regret. And that’s just the beginning. And can you honestly tell me that you haven’t had these experiences also, when you feel possessed by something that is so clearly not the Spirit of God blessing us to be a blessing to others? And there are worse things to be possessed by as well. Think of what it’s like to be possessed by an addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, or pornography. Or how it feels to be possessed by prejudice. Or maybe it’s the kind of possession that isn’t quite as obvious, or that our culture actually approves of, like workaholism, affluenza, or greed. (Remember Gordon Gekko’s Wall Street speech that “greed is good” and the way that attitude more recently has both captured and ravaged our culture and economy?)
There are, I think, a lot of ways to be possessed. Is that what Mark describes in this story. I don’t know, but I do think we might be helped by shedding our Hollywood-fed images of demons causing us to vomit and spin our heads (Exorcist-style) and instead image that they represent those forces that are diametrically opposed to God’ will. Rather than bless, they curse; rather than build up, they tear down; rather than encourage, they disparage; rather than promote love, they sow hate; rather than draw us together, they seek to split us apart.
So maybe we could boil down this first miracle of Jesus this way: Jesus has been baptized, tempted in the wilderness, and now comes to proclaim and demonstrate the kingdom of God on earth, and he does this by opposing the forces of evil which would rob the children of God of all that God hopes and intends for them.
Preaching the Healing Narratives in Mark
By Lawrence
The new messianic community: healing, restoration and conflict
Jesus’ ministry is about gathering into being a new community – a messianic community – which is a sign of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the world as it ought to be and will be under God. The message of the kingdom is the Good News that Jesus preaches (1:14). It has “come near” in Jesus and begins to take shape – takes on “ground space” – in the community of disciples and followers that Jesus gathers around him. This new community is an anticipation and sign of the kingdom of God.
Significantly, this happens on the margins. Jesus’ ministry takes place in Galilee, far away from Jerusalem. He is baptized in the vicinity of the city, but in the wilderness. This is the place of resistance to the Temple and the religious purity system center there. The point is that the purity system breaks down community by exclusion. The focus of Jesus’ ministry is among the excluded.
We need therefore to be constantly alert several narrative-structural features of the healing narratives, in addition to the healings themselves:
· Jesus is a healer, not a curer. This is the “healing and wholeness” point. Jesus pays virtually no attention to the symptoms of illness, so crucial in medical diagnosis. He is not a super-doctor! He does not attempt to explain the causes of illness, either in medical or spiritual terms (eg as a result of sin).
·A fundamental feature of the healing narratives is the restoration of community. Peter’s mother-in-law is healed in order to participate in the Sabbath meal (with all the importance that attaches to table fellowship). Lepers are healed in order to be re-integrated into the community. The purity system excludes sick people from participation in communal life and blessing, and the healings that Mark records almost invariably entail the restoration of the healed person to the wider community.
· Unsurprisingly, the healings are therefore in effect (though not intention) a direct confrontation with the religious purity system. We need to be alert to the reaction of those who see healing as a threat. So, for example, the healing of the man with the withered hand (3:1-6) is set in terms of the conflict over Sabbath keeping (as is Peter’s mother-in-law, by implication). Healings are theologically significant and provide the context for many of the deadly conflicts over the Law between Jesus and the Pharisees. The account of a healing concludes with the Pharisees and the Herodians conspiring together to destroy Jesus (3:6).
· The healings are messianic actions. Not only are they the presence of the saving actions of God (the plundering of the Strong Man’s house) but they directly provoke the opposition of the religious authorities that results in Jesus’ suffering and death (which is what is to define his messiahship).
· They make sense of the “great reversal” of the kingdom. Jesus heals among the marginalized and outside the dominant religious system. The dominant system has no place for these people, so that the idea that God is at work through the Messiah among these is anathema to the leaders. This is part of the reason why “the first shall be last and the last first”. Grace is seen in God’s radical inclusion of the excluded. Those who are unable to accept this cut themselves off from Jesus, the new messianic community and the kingdom.
· Jesus did not see himself primarily in opposition to the religious system of his day, but as a prophetic, “purification” movement within Judaism.There is a dynamic tension in all the gospels over what would have happened had Jesus and his message been accepted. The passion predictions suggest that Jesus was fully aware that he had come to be rejected and that his death was inevitable. His weeping over Jerusalem suggests his hope that he would have been accepted and that the kingdom he inaugurated would come about. The healing stories reflect this tension. In the cleansing of the leper (1:40-5), Jesus urges the leper to go to the priest and go through the proper cleansing and restoration rituals. It is clear that Jesus wished to establish the new messianic community within Judaism, rather than in opposition to it. The healing narratives help to plot the movement of Jesus’ initial hope of acceptance, then through opposition to rejection and inevitable death. They help to emphasize the fact that Jesus died because of the life of the kingdom he lived, rather than only a result of the divine plan of salvation through suffering and death. They make his life, as well as his death and resurrection, significant for Christian discipleship.
Read more about the healing narratives…
Numbers in the Bible (and in the Super Bowl)
We may not be rich in money but we are certainly rich in numbers. Pick up any newspaper or listen into any news broadcast and you see what I mean. Usually these numbers are negative "2 die in car crash", "3 arrested in drug sting." Unfortunately we rarely do see or hear this one – "4 children do a good deed in their neighborhood."
If we look at our lectionary readings this week, we see the number 1 in Deuteronomy ("the prophet") and 1 in the Psalm ("Lord"). When we get to the New Testament it gets more complicated. Yes, Corinthians talks of one – "God", one "Christ" but then we get "idols". How many are there ? The Gospel talks "scribes". How many did Jesus see ? "Disciples". How many were there at this time ? But then we are back to "1", "the man with the unclean spirit" and then Jesus. Numbers convey messages and spiritual truths as well.
Jesus is the "one with authority." It only takes one Jesus to deal with many idols. And we do have them. Have you ever counted them ? Here are a few -anger, fear, greed, workaholism, affluenza, substance abuse, etc. etc. Too many! Jesus takes care of the unclean spirits succinctly. As David Lose writes "God does not want these things for us and that church, at its best, is a place where we gather in Christ’s name to support each other in escaping the hold these things have on us that we might grow as individuals and a community as people blessed to be a blessing."
Back to numbers. There are websites that deal with numbers in the Bible. Here is a good one. Pick your number and get a story.
There is another way to deal with numbers and that is the countdown approach. Think you know the Super Bowl ? The writers at Time have come up with a countdown and over 49 years they bring up 49 Super Bowl Facts You Should Know. Enjoy the game!