October 13, 2019 – Pentecost 18

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The Week Ahead…

Oct. 14- 4:00pm – Vestry

Oct. 16- 10:00am – Ecumenical Bible Study

Oct. 16- 3:00pm – 5:00pm Village Harvest

Help needed: 9:30ish, help needed to unload the truck. Many hands make light work. 1PM, help needed to set up. 3-5PM help needed for the distribution itself. Help the shoppers gather what they need. You can still bring cleaning supplies on the day since these are not available at the Food Bank. Thank you for your contributions of both food and time. Everyone can share in making this important St Peter’s ministry happen.

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Oct. 20 – 11:00am – Holy Eucharist, Rite II

Sunday, Oct. 20 Readings and Servers

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Request for Names for All Saints Sunday, Nov. 3, 2019

We remember those who have died on All Saints Sunday, Nov. 3 since the last All Saints Sunday.

If you have a name you would like to submit, please email Catherine by October 28.

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PhilHarmonia is a 28-voice community choir that sings classical and contemporary choral music from Philadelphia. Founded in 2013, and now in its sixth season, PhilHarmonia continues to delight audiences with its commitment to musical excellence, and its diverse range of choral programs.

They will be here Sat. Nov. 2, 2019, 7pm to share their music. There will be a reception preceding the concert.

PhilHarmonia is pleased to open its 7th Season with “Music, She Wrote” – a concert celebrating works by women composers through the ages. From Italian Renaissance madrigalist, Madalena Casulana, the first woman in western music history to have her works published to composers today such as Estonian composer Evelin Seppar, Australian-American composer Melissa Dunphy, and American composer Mari Esabel Valverde, PhilHarmonia will perform an eclectic tribute to music by women. We also mark the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Clara Schumann, herself a remarkable composer and extraordinary musician, with her only extant choral set, Drei Gemischte Chöre, Op. 19.

Composers include: Madalena Casulana, Rafaella Aleotti, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Clara Schumann, Amy Cheney Beach, Evelin Seppar, Katerina Gimon, Melissa Dunphy, Mari Esabel Valverde.

Website

Music Samples

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Help us advertise the concert

“Right Click” the link and “Save Linked Content as” and input your file name:

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6 14 labels on a page – PDF

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Lectionary, Oct. 20 2019 – Pentecost 19, Year C

I. Theme –  Seeking intimacy with God through scripture study and constant prayer

"Old Woman Praying"-Aert de Gelder (1700) 

The lectionary readings are here or individually:  

First Reading – Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm – Psalm 121
Epistle – 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Gospel – Luke 18:1-8 

Today’s readings encourage us to seek intimacy with God through scripture study and constant prayer. As he wrestles with God, Jacob  becomes Israel, patriarch of God’s people. Paul commends the use of "the sacred writings" for growth in the faith. Jesus illustrates how, unlike an unjust judge, our God welcomes our persistent prayers and quickly gives justice.

This image of God as companion also appears in today’s psalm, Psalm 121. There, God is as close as a person’s hand, and as welcome as shade from the sun. The psalmist’s image of God as guardian will ring true for anyone who has felt insecure about sleeping in an unfamiliar place. While most of us don’t have bodyguards, we still know how the presence of a trusted friend in a strange situation calms fear and enables sleep.

There are really 3 themes in today’s readings. 1) the meaning of divine law and its relationship to our well-being, 2) the inspiration of scripture and its role in sharing God’s news, and 3) persistence in prayer and the question of unanswered prayer.  These themes are woven together by a vision that God acts in ways that invite us to be part of a greater adventure, companionship with God in healing the world.  Alignment with divine evolving order, sharing the good news of an open-spirited gospel that reflects a living, moving God, and prayerful persistence in seeking the greatest good are all responses to God’s vision of Shalom

Today’s readings can prompt us to reflect on our own prayer. Do we approach prayer as an unsavory bargaining process in which we must wrangle what we want? Or do we see prayer as an encounter with our dearest love?

Faith is not just a journey, but a struggle. We all struggle at times with doubts but we perhaps struggle even more with being in community with one another. But our God is the God of community: the God of a people, the God of all peoples, the God of Creation. And we struggle and wrestle with one another and with God. But when we are persistent for justice, when we remain faithful to God’s ways—we will see it through. And while we may not change others, we may change the world for ourselves, and through persistence justice, peace, and hope may come.

Read more about the Lectionary….

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October

 BY ROBERT FROST

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Saint of the Week – Teresa of Avila, Oct. 15

Poem – "Christ Has No Body"  

"Christ has no body but yours,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion on this world.
 Christ has no body now on earth but yours  "

—Teresa of Avila (1515–1582), mystic, reformer, writer, Oct. 15

Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada (later known as Teresa de Jesus) was born in Avila, Spain, 28 March 1515, one of ten children whose mother died when she was fifteen. Her family was of partly Jewish ancestry. Teresa, having read the letters of Jerome, decided to become a nun, and when she was 20, she entered the Carmelite convent in Avila. There she fell seriously ill, was in a coma for a while, and partially paralyzed for three years. In her early years as a nun, she was, by her account, assiduous in prayer while sick but lax and lukewarm in her prayers and devotions when the sickness had passed. However, her prayer life eventually deepened, she began to have visions and a vivid sense of the presence of God, and was converted to a life of extreme devotion.

In 1560 she resolved to reform the monastery that had, she thought, departed from the order’s original intention and become insufficiently austere. Her proposed reforms included strict enclosure (the nuns were not to go to parties and social gatherings in town, or to have social visitors at the convent, but to stay in the convent and pray and study most of their waking hours) and discalcing (literally, taking off one’s shoes, a symbol of poverty, humility, and the simple life, uncluttered by luxuries and other distractions). In 1562 she opened a new monastery in Avila, over much opposition in the town and from the older monastery. At length Teresa was given permission to proceed with her reforms, and she traveled throughout Spain establishing seventeen houses of Carmelites of the Strict (or Reformed) Observance (the others are called Carmelites of the Ancient Observance).

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Saint of the Week – St. Luke, Oct. 18

Luke was a Greek and a Gentile. He is the only Gentile to author any of the Books of the New Testament. Hence, he translates Hebrew words into Greek or gives their Greek equivalent.

Luke is the author of the Gospel of Luke and the presumed author of the Book of Acts. He was also witness to the growth of the first century church and carried the Good News to the Gentiles. He wrote in the 80’s and wrote approximately 24% of the New Testament more than any other writer including Paul.

He was a Syrian from Antioch and more reflective of Middle Eastern Culture than the Jewish writers in the rest of the Gospels. He was  a passionate story teller, emotional, similar to today’s Arab culture.

He records virtually nothing about himself, but his fellow apostles do reveal some information about him. We may also discern some things about him based on the manner in which he presents information, his background and the times.

Read more about Luke….

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