A wonderful fall day, some of our current saints celebrating a 65th wedding anniversary, historical saints, lighting candles for the recently departed
Pictures and text from this Sunday, Nov. 4
The Week Ahead…
Nov. 7 – 10am-12pm, Ecumenical Bible Study
Nov. 7 – 5pm-6:30pm, Village Dinner
Nov. 9 – 7:30am, ECM
Nov. 11 – 10:00am, Living the Good News Christian Ed for children
Nov. 11 – 11:00am, Holy Eucharist, Baptism Rite II – Baptism of Everett Huffman, Kickoff of the Heifer Project, Remembering the end of World War I
Sunday, Nov. 11 Readings and Servers
The “Season of Giving” is here!
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
The Season of Giving is almost upon us! It begins on Nov. 4, All Saints with the UTO kickoff and extends to Dec. 16, the end of the ECM Christmas.
Part of holy living is to share our resources with others since God has been generous with us. The Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons give us the opportunity to do just that. During the next few weeks at St. Peter’s, you can choose one or more of several ways to help people close to home and those around the world by participating in these various opportunities. At a glance:
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Project |
Focus |
Items |
Collection |
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ECM |
Local |
Funds |
Nov. 4. By Nov 18 (Thanksgiving) Dec. 16 (Christmas) |
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UTO |
National, International |
Funds |
Nov. 4 – Dec. 2 |
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Heifer Project |
International. |
Funds |
Nov. 11 – Dec. 9, Fill the Ark! |
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Episcopal Relief & Development |
International |
Funds |
By Dec. 12 Help ERD support cleanup for Hurricane Florence and related disasters. Your gift provides their partners on the ground with critical supplies, such as food and water, pastoral care and other urgent needs for communities impacted by Hurricane Michael and other ravaging storms. Funds are also used to assist with the long-term efforts needed to rebuild and heal. |
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Village Harvest |
Local |
Food stuffs, Funds |
By Nov 21 (for Nov), By Dec. 19 (for Dec.) Please donate toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex and other paper products |
1. Heifer Project is new this year! We will be doing the “Fill the Ark” project
Each family will receive a Calendar and Giving Bank on Nov. 11. The calendar is divided into four weeks, one week on each page. Each day focuses on a single animal, part of Heifer’s work with populations.
After reading the day’s lesson, determine how much money to place in the Giving Bank. Place your family’s gift into the Giving Bank and say a prayer that the money will be used to help another family somewhere in the world.
As you fill a Giving Bank with money you’ve saved, you’ll learn how your gifts can share God’s love and end hunger and poverty around the world. Bring the Giving Bank back to the church by Dec. 9
2. The United Thank Offering helps The Episcopal Church Women help people in the United States and around the world. Put coins in the blue box for thanks and blessings in your life. What kind of thanks? FOR LITTLE THINGS like a good parking spot on a busy day, sunshine for your family picnic, or a birthday card from a friend. FOR BIG THINGS like recovery from serious illness, a new job, or forgiveness and reconciliation after a long dispute.
Thankfulness leads to generosity, and your donation will help with projects that provide new spaces for people to gather and to worship, transportation, playgrounds, education, medical services, hot lunches—the list is endless.
The money you donated to the UTO last year helped to fund grants . Last year we collected $757.09
Begins Nov. 4 with the distribution of “blue boxes” with collection by Dec. 2. You may submit a “blue box” or check to St. Peter’s with “UTO” in the memo line.
3. Episcopal Church Men (ECM). Last year they supported 3 families for Thanksgiving and another 2 families for Christmas and collected $1,135 (compared with $1,085 the previous year). This effort will include Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner and Christmas presents for them. The men will contact the families and purchase the items in consultation with them and deliver them at the appropriate time.
They are requesting donations of any amount from the congregation in support of their project. This is not just a ECM project!
Thanksgiving -Collection begins Nov 4 and ends Nov. 18 for Thanksgiving.
Christmas collection begins Nov 25 and ends Dec. 16. Please mark your check “ECM, season of giving”
4. Village Harvest
VH is 4 years old in November! It has provided these benefits:
A. Food for those who are being challenged economically.
B. Enriching those at St. Peter’s who help with the distribution.
C. Providing a role for the church in the community. People who are not members are coming here.
Monthly, the parish has contributed other non-perishable products, such as chicken broth, beans, rice, spaghetti and sauce, paper product, tuna, peanut butter, etc.
The method of distribution has evolved from paper bags to a market style distribution where people can shop as they need.
Please donate toilet paper, paper towels, Kleenex and other paper products by Sun., Nov. 18 and help celebrate 4 years of this vital ministry. You can always make a monetary donation with “Village Harvest” in the memo line.
Thanks goes out to Johnny and Cookie Davis who go to the Northern Neck Food Bank to purchase fresh produce. That’s a big commitment. Thanks to all in the church who have contribute the non-perishable products each month and particularly to those who help distribute the food monthly.
5. Episcopal Relief and Development.
In their mission statement they say “We facilitate healthier, more fulfilling lives in communities struggling with hunger, poverty, disaster and disease. Our work addresses three life-changing priorities to create authentic, lasting results.”
We are focusing on giving to their Hurricane Relief Fund by Dec. 16.
Read more about 2018’s Season of Giving…
Heifer Project kickoff, November 11
Melanie Kapinos, the local liaison for Heifer International, will be at St Peter’s on Sunday, November 11th, to get our Fill the Ark campaign going as part of the Season of Giving. Melanie has worked for Heifer International since September 2017. As a Community Engagement Coordinator, Melanie primarily supports the efforts of faith, school and civic communities to further the mission of Heifer International. She plans awareness events, coordinates volunteer efforts and serves as a liaison between communities and the greater Heifer International organization. She manages a territory that includes Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and North Carolina.
During Fill the Ark, each family will receive a calendar and an offering box. Hopefully, each family will be able to choose an animal to send to a family in need somewhere in the world so that we can help Fill the Ark.
See this link for the Heifer Project
Checks or Cards – We’ve got it covered!
In the past people have given cash and checks during the Season of Giving during the church service. And that has been beneficial to those we serve.
This year we want to extend our reach and go a step further. We are inaugurating “Season of Giving – online” where you can charge a credit card for these gifts through the secure platform of Paypal.
You can find the link here.
We do this since we see our “congregation” beyond those who sit in the pews on Sunday and beyond just “Episcopalians”. We add those on social media, those who come to our Village Harvest food distribution, those who live in our local community who come to our events and any who may want to support our work to make people’s lives just a little bit better. To paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson writing years ago – we are “hitching our wagon to a star”. We want to see where it may take us. We are inviting you to come along for the ride. Blessings to you in this approaching holiday season.
On Nov. 11, 2018 Catherine will be baptizing Everett Huffman, the son of Andrew and Felicia Huffman. Please come share in the Baptism and welcome the newly baptized.
“Let Us Beat Swords into
Plowshares” “Tragedy of War”-Michael LaPalme
Veterans’ Day, November 11
At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War I (called the Great War) ends.
On November 11, 2018 at the beginning of the worship service, we along with many Americans will toll bells in remembrance of those who served and sacrificed.
From a Litany for Veterans by Robb McCoy-“God of love, peace and justice, it is your will for the world that we may live together in peace. You have promised through the prophet Isaiah that one day the swords will be beaten into plow shares. Yet we live in a broken world, and there are times that war seems inevitable. Let us recognize with humility and sadness the tragic loss of life that comes in war. Even so, as we gather here free from persecution, we may give thanks for those that have served with courage and honor. ” Here is an English Veterans’ Service.
All gave some, Some gave all.
While the US has “Veterans’ Day” celebrating and honoring all veterans who have served, Europe and Canada has “Remembrance Day” about the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. The red remembrance poppy has become a familiar emblem of Remembrance Day due to the poem “In Flanders Fields”. These poppies bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I; their brilliant red color became a symbol for the blood spilled in the war.
Mark Knopfler wrote “Remembrance Day” about this day. The song and illustrated slideshow are here .
From “Remembrance Day”
“Time has slipped away
The Summer sky to Autumn yields
A haze of smoke across the fields
Let’s sup and fight another round
And walk the stubbled ground
“When November brings
The poppies on Remembrance Day
When the vicar comes to say
May God bless everyone
Lest we forget our sons
“We will remember them
Remember them
Remember them”
Recap:David Lose on the Saints
David Lose is the president of Luther Seminary in Philadelphia
“…Saints are not only those persons in the Bible or Church history who did great things. Nor are Saints only those who died for the faith. Saints are not even only those who are of such great moral courage, kindness or discipline that they set examples for the rest of us. Rather, saints are also – and especially – all those who have been baptized into Christ.
“Our word “saint,” in fact, comes from a Greek word meaning “holy ones,” a word which itself stems from a Hebrew one meaning “set apart” for the Lord’s use. In Holy Baptism, you see, each of us was set apart, consecrated, named, called, and commissioned by God to be God’s children, partners, and co-workers in the world – those people, that is, whom God will use to achieve God’s own will.
“Therefore, simply because God has set us apart and called us “saints” in baptism we have God’s promise that God will use us – our talents, abilities, interests – our whole lives! – to further God’s will. This not only gives our lives meaning but also conveys tremendous significance upon our daily routine, as all of our roles – parent, spouse, child, citizen, employer, employee, co-worker, volunteer, friend, and so many others – become the places we take our stand as God’s co-workers and partners to do, literally, holy work; work, that is, that God has set apart and called holy because it is done by holy people…
“All Saints’ Day, then, is our day, as we perceive ourselves to be those persons who have been set apart to do God’s work in the world, those whom God has promised to accompany through all of our living and our dying, unto new life, and those who are joined to all the faithful who have lived, labored, and died in the faith before us
Lectionary, Pentecost 24, November 8
I. Theme – Offering all to God in faith
The Widow’s Mite – Daniel Bonnell
“He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.'” – Mark 12:38-44
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
Old Testament – 1 Kings 17:8-16
Psalm – Psalm 146
Epistle – Hebrews 9:24-28
Gospel – Mark 12:38-44
Today’s readings challenge us to offer everything to God and to celebrate the fact that God similarly offers everything to us. All of these passages today remind us that we are called to step out in faith. This is not easy, but in order to see the greater picture, in order to understand more deeply the fullness of new life offered in Christ, we have to take the leap of faith and to trust God
This week’s lectionary readings deal with some of the most important energies of life- – the energy of romance, conception, and sexuality; the energy of money and its proper use; the energetic quest for God in a difficult time; and the energetic field of force created by Christ, the high priest of wholeness.
In the story of Elijah and the widow, from 1 Kings , God honors the sacrifice and faith of the woman with abundant oil and flour. The author of Hebrews assures us that Christ not only came to remove sin, but now, in God’s presence, intercedes on our behalf. In today’s gospel, Jesus praises the generous devotion of a homeless, penniless woman.
The Kings reading and the Gospel both examine widows. The poor widow in the Gospel only serves as an example of the Kingdom of Heaven contrasting the behavior of the Scribes (“who devour widow’s houses). Her giving is similar to that of the widow of Zarephath in that she gives all that she has. This time, however, she gives out of her own faith, a sign to Jesus of her salvation.
…Read more about the lectionary…
2. Contact the Rev Catherine Hicks, Rector 5. Latest Newsletter-the Parish Post (Nov., 2018) 6. Calendar 9. Latest Sunday Bulletin (Nov. 11, 2018 11:00am), and Sermon (Nov. 4, 2018)
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Block Print by Mike Newman
Projects
| Red** | All Saints Day or Sunday | Nov 1 [or the next Sunday] | White | |
| Green | Ordinary Time | Nov 4-24 | Lt. Green | |
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, Nov. 4 – Nov. 11
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4
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5
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6
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William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1944 |
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7
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Willibrord, Bishop & Missionary, 739 |
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8 |
Ammonius, Hermit, 4th c. Elizabeth of the Trinity, Mystic, 1906 |
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9
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Louise DeKoven Brown, Social Reformer & Philanthropist, 1953 |
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10
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Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome, 461 |
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11 |
Martin, Bishop of Tours, 397 Lili’uokalani of Hawaii, Queen & Hymnographer, 1917 |