Frontpage, Feb. 3, 2019

February 3, 2019 – Epiphany 4

Top to bottom left to right – Birthday party at Potluck luncheon after the service for Feb. birthdays, Credence Table aglow in light today in church, Millie turns 95 this week our oldest parishioner, a bald eagle visit across the street, feast at the Heimbachs after the service, Souper bowl fans on opposite sides, Thumbs up for the Potluck luncheon

Pictures and text from this Sunday, Feb. 3, 2019

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The Week Ahead…

Feb. 5 – 4:30pm – ECW takes dinner to “the House” at UMW

Feb. 6 – 10:00-12pm – Ecumenical Bible Study

Feb. 8 – 7:00 am (new time!) – ECM at Horne’s

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Feb. 10 – 10am – Adult Education – Good Book Club – Romans

Feb. 10 – 10am – Children’s Education Living the Good News

Feb. 10 – 11am – Holy Eucharist, Epiphany 5

Sunday, Feb. 10 Readings and Servers

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Come to “The House” with the ECW, Feb. 5

The ECW goes to “the House” at the University of Mary Washington, 820 College Ave. Fredericksburg at 4:30pm to deliver dinner. If you would like to help serve show up at 4:30pm at 820 Collage Avenue, across from Trinity Episcopal.

As they describe it – “The House is a campus ministry for Episcopal, Lutheran, and all other students attending the University of Mary Washington. If you like talking about meaningful things, talking about stupid things, playing games, eating home-cooked meals, having a closely-knit circle of friends, worshipping and praying in a more intimate/casual setting, going on exciting field trips and retreats, doing puzzles, participating in community service projects, laughing and trading stories late into the night, or having a quiet air conditioned place to go in the chaos of college life.”

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The Souper Bowl collection on Feb. 3, 2019 was a success attracting $210 compared to $175 and $125 for the previous two collections. We have been involved in the program since 2012 and we have collected $1.3K during that time.

The Souper Bowl program in conjunction with the NBF 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.

It began 29 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 2018”, schools, faith-based organizations and service clubs throughout the United States raised over $8 million that was donated to local charities

$210 goes to our monthly Village Harvest food distribution on the 3rd Wed. of each month. This year’s donation will cover 1.5 months of Village Harvest food purchased from the Happy Harvest Food Bank in Montross. Thanks to all who contributed and helped with this year’s collection!

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On the Road with the “Way of Love”

The Episcopal Church is embarking on a video series “Traveling the Way of Love” to put 7 practices of the
Way of Love in an everyday context. The first one came out about “Blessing” – Blessing in a school in Washington. Check out this link

The Church traveled to Bishop Walker School in Washington DC to show the idea of blessing. The host wrote in the introduction “Jesus called his disciples to give, forgive, teach, and heal in his name, and we are empowered by the Spirit to bless everyone we meet, practicing generosity and compassion and proclaiming the Good News of God in Christ with hopeful words and selfless actions. Come along as we visit the Bishop Walker School in the Diocese of Washington. This school, founded to share blessings with the young people of Ward 8, has found itself blessed in turn by its students and community.”

The energy in the school is contagious! See what you think.

Blessing comes from the Latin word “benedicere”, which is also the root of benediction. It means a good word. The good word can cover many subjects – protection, wellness, intention. How have you communicated that word to others today?

The Bible contains many different examples of blessings. God promises repeatedly that he will bless Abraham by giving him descendants as numerous “as the stars of heaven.” (Gen. 22:17) Jesus famously refers to certain kinds of people as blessed in the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 and Luke 6 .

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Black History Month – The Church Awakens

Links

1. Episcopal exhibit on Black History

2. Truth and Reconciliation Pilgrimage to Ghana

In January 2017, a group of 23 pilgrims including the Most Rev. Michael B. Curry, his brother and sister bishops, as well as Episcopal Relief & Development leaders, supporters and several staff members, participated in a Truth and Reconciliation Pilgrimage to Ghana. Pilgrims prayed and reflected at several sites critical to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, including the Elmina and Cape Coast slave forts. They also visited Episcopal Relief & Development programs and deepened relationships with the resilient and resourceful people of Ghana.

The three-video series shared here welcomes viewers to join and reflect on the pilgrimage, through the perspectives of three participants.

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Reading Romans during Epiphany

Read Romans during Epiphany which began Jan. 7. This is sponsored by Forward Movement, the people who make “Day by Day” and encouraged throughout the Episcopal Church. They call the initiative the “Good Book Club.”

Why Read Romans ?
from J. I. Packer, Canadian Theologian.

Paul’s primary theme in Romans is the basic gospel, God’s plan of salvation and righteousness for all humankind, Jew and Gentile alike.

Paul’s purposes for writing this letter were varied:

1. He wrote to prepare the way for his coming visit to Rome and his proposed mission to Spain (1:10-15; 15:22-29).

2. He wrote to present the basic system of salvation to a church that had not received the teaching of an apostle before.

3. He sought to explain the relationship between Jew and Gentile in God’s overall plan of redemption. The Jewish Christians were being rejected by the larger Gentile group in the church because the Jewish believers still felt constrained to observe dietary laws and sacred days.

There are 50 daily readings here from January 7 to March 5. The readings are in manageable chunks plus there are resources to help you along the way.

Links

1. The Readings

2. Basic Resources

3. Catherine’s Roman’s Outline

4. Catherine’s Roman’s Study Guide

5. Indepth Resource

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Epiphany –  Jan 6 until Lent  begins March 6, 2019

Adoration of the Magi – Bartholomäus Zeitblom (c. 1450 – c. 1519)

The English word “Epiphany” comes from the Greek word epiphaneia, which means “appearing” or “revealing.” Epiphany focuses on God’s self-revelation in Christ.  

Epiphany celebrates the twelfth day of Christmas, the coming of the Magi to give homage to God’s Beloved Child. 

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The Epiphany celebration remembers the three miracles that manifest the divinity of Christ. The celebration originated in the Eastern Church in AD 361, beginning as a commemoration of the birth of Christ. Later, additional meanings were added – the visit of the three Magi, Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River with the voice from heaven that identifies Jesus as God’s son, and his first miracle at the wedding in Cana. These three events are central to the definition of Epiphany, and its meaning is drawn from these occurrences.

More about Epiphany

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Lectionary, Feb. 10, 2019

I. Theme – Unworthiness 

“Calling of Peter and Andrew’ – Duccio di Buoninsegna (1318/1319)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Isaiah 6:1-8, [9-13]
Psalm – Psalm 138
Epistle – 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Gospel – Luke 5:1-11

There’s a common theme running through all of today’s readings. That theme is “unworthiness.”

The unworthiness felt by Isaiah in the presence of the Lord; the unworthiness of St Paul even to be called an “apostle”; and the unworthiness of St Peter – who is so acutely aware of his own weakness, that he asks Jesus to go away: “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

A sense of unworthiness is probably something most of us experience at some time or another. We may feel unworthy for a particular task, unworthy of another’s trust, unworthy of another’s love. And that’s not surprising. We know our failings and our weaknesses better than anyone. When someone puts their trust in us, even though we want to do our very best for them, we are afraid – afraid that we’re not up to the task. And sometimes, sadly, we’re not. Sometimes we do fail, sometimes we do let others down, sometimes we do betray their trust.

In calling Peter to become his disciple, Jesus places immense trust in him. Equally, some might say, Peter’s willingness to put out the nets one more time, showed his trust in Jesus. Peter, after all, was a professional fisherman; he’d grown up alongside the Sea of Galilee. Jesus, on the other hand, came from Nazareth; he knew nothing of the sea or of fishing. So it does seem incredible that Peter should have gone along with Jesus’ suggestion when all his better instincts must have told him it was pointless.

What makes it all the more surprising is that, as far as we know, Peter has no particular reason to trust Jesus. At this point he probably doesn’t know him very well. Jesus hasn’t yet proved himself with any great miracles. So maybe it’s not trust we see in Peter’s response to Jesus, maybe it’s something else entirely. Peter, we can imagine, isn’t feeling too good about himself. The night’s fishing has been a complete disaster. He’s failed at the one thing he’s supposed to be good at. He is no doubt extremely tired, completely fed up. He’s been out all night; he needs some sleep.

He’s just finished packing up his nets and is about to head off home to bed, when along comes Jesus. He climbs into the boat, and starts one of his talks; a talk which goes on forever. When at last he’s finished, and just as Peter thinks he can get off home for a kip, Jesus tells him to head out into deep water and put out his nets. I’m not at all sure Peter’s response does demonstrate his trust in Jesus. I think it shows his complete exasperation, his irritation even: “Master we worked hard all night long and caught nothing – the fact is, there are no fish. I know it, James knows it, even young John knows it. Still, you know best, you say there are fish, so I’ll pay out the nets.” And it’s then, when Peter is at his lowest ebb, when he’s tired, irritable, feeling completely useless – that the miraculous catch of fish occurs.

Often, it’s when we are at our lowest, when we have failed, when we are most acutely aware of our weakness, that Jesus comes to us and works his miracles. And it’s then we have to trust in him, to launch out into deep water, knowing that it’s not our strength or our talents that matter, but his.

Read more..

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Voices on the Gospel

1. From “Living with Jesus Project”

The call of the first disciples appears, naturally, early on in the ministry of Jesus. Up to this point, the main events have been Jesus’ baptism (3:21-22), his temptation in the wilderness (4:1-13), his inaugural sermon and rejection at Nazareth (4:16-30), and a series of healings (4:31-41). More immediately, there is a series of events that includes his going to a deserted place to be alone, his being sought out by crowds of people, and his teaching in synagogues (4:42-44).

Peter is the only named disciple who reacts in a dramatic fashion to the miraculous event …

In the third-person narrative in which the author directly speaks to his audience, Jesus (even the risen Jesus of John’s narrative) is referred to simply as “Jesus”; Peter and Peter alone addresses Jesus as “Lord” …

The other fishermen share in the action of catching the fish … but neither on sea nor on land do they (apart from the beloved disciple in John 21:15-17) say anything once the miracle begins.

At the end of each story, Jesus directly or indirectly issues a summons to Peter to follow him …

The abundant catch of fish symbolizes in each story the future misionary work and the resultant success of Peter and the other disciples. A further idea symbolized in each story is that the disciples, left to themselves in the night of this world, are doomed to failure. With Jesus’ help and direction, they are granted startling success.

2. Ralph Milton

In this story, Simon (aka Peter) wins the lottery. He’s been out there all night working his butt off, and catches almost nothing. Then Jesus tells him to try again and they fill up the boat.

Peter’s a bit like a guy who wins the lottery, but then never goes to cash in the winning ticket. Peter doesn’t take that haul of fish to the market to sell so he doesn’t benefit from the bonanza. He and his partners, James and John, just leave everything there and follow Jesus. Which makes no economic sense.

These three men go stumbling over their nets and boats and follow Jesus, and the crowd that saw all this witnessed a sermon in action that was more powerful than the one Jesus preached. Luke doesn’t tell us a thing that Jesus said in that sermon. Nor does he say whether Simon and his buds were paying attention. He tells us what they did.

And we’re still talking about it!

Read more..

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