Frontpage, November 8, 2020

November 8, 2020 – Twentieth third Sunday after Pentecost

First week in November.

---

The Week Ahead…

Nov. 8 – Twenty Third Sunday after Pentecost

Lectionary Review

Nov. 8 – 11:00am Holy Eucharist on the River

Nov. 8 – 7:00pm Compline – Join here at 6:30pm for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 839 9039 4934 Passcode: 521853

---

Nov. 11 – 10:00am – Ecumenical Bible Study through Zoom

---

Nov. 15 – Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Nov. 15 – 11:00am Diocesan Annual Convention service on Zoom

Nov. 15 – 7:00pm Compline – Join here at 6:30pm for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 839 9039 4934 Passcode: 521853

---

Marking Time: Compline, 7pm every Sunday in November on Zoom

The ancient office of Compline from the Catholic Church derives its name from a Latin word meaning ‘completion.’ The office provides quietness and reflection before rest at the end of the day. Compline begins on page 127 in The Book of Common Prayer and was added only for the 1979 Prayer Book.

The Catholics set up 9 prayers are time during the day in the middle ages. It was designed as a means of devoting the whole of one’s daily life to the Lord. It is called the liturgy of the hours.

Compline was a service to close the day before retiring 7pm. It was an opportunity to give thanks for the joys and graces experienced, a chance to confess sins committed throughout the day, and the perfect moment to close the day the same way it started: in prayer. If Morning Prayer is designed to start the day off right then Compline is designed to end it well. It frames you for sleep and puts the day in perspective. You are then ready for the next day.

“Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

---

Events in November

• Village Dinner – Wed., Nov. 10 – Turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, string beans, cranberry salad, and sweet potato pie
• Annual Convention, Diocese of Virginia – Nov 12-13 . On Zoom
• ECM Thanksgiving, Christmas collection – Nov. 15. Please make a check to St Peter’s with ECM in the memo line. The Department of Social Services will be providing families with secure store specific grocery limited gift cards due to the ongoing pandemic
• ECW Zoom Tea, 4pm, Nov. 19 – Link to be provided. We’ll talk about Village Dinners in the coming year, and about what we can do to support our community at Christmas. The ECW has $2575.29 in its account to allocate to organizations
• UTO – By Nov. 29. Donations this year will be given as grants to support Episcopal/Anglican ministries directly responding to the COVID -19 pandemic and the resulting economic downturn

---

Fund the Causes in November – ECM, Thanksgiving and Christmas collection

200″ src=”https://churchsp.org/sites/default/files/images6/ecm2.jpg”

Each year the Episcopal Church Men (ECM) help St Peter’s provide support to those in need during the holidays. The men coordinate with the Caroline County Department of Social Services to provide families in the area with Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas gifts.

This year the Department of Social Services will be providing families with secure store specific grocery limited gift cards due to the ongoing pandemic.

Ken Pogue says on behalf of the ECM, “Your donations are greatly appreciated by the ECM and the recipients of the gifts, especially the children. Thank you so very much in advance from a grateful community for your love and your participation” in this worthy holiday project.

If you’d like to donate, please make a check to St Peter’s with ECM in the memo line. For a Thanksgiving donation, please make your donation by November 15th. Donations after the 15th will be used to assist families at Christmas.

Last year the congregation contributed $510 toward helping families at both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

---

---

“Let Us Beat Swords into
Plowshares”                         “Tragedy of War”-Michael LaPalme

Veterans’ Day, November 11  

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”

---

November Sundays- JUDGMENT!

Matthew concludes this Lectionary Year A with the weighty subject of judgment from 3 stories from Chapter 25:

Matthew 25:1-13 – Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids (Nov. 8)
Matthew 25:14-30 – Parable of the Talents  (Nov. 15)
Matthew 25:31-46 – The Sheep and Goats  (Nov. 22)

The three parables in Matthew 25 examine the procedure, preparation, and intention required to enter the Kingdom of God.  Here is a Youtube video that covers these three stories.  There are some similiarities:

First, in each parable the judgment occurs at the consummation of this age. While the timing of that event is unknown, each follower is to be ready for and anticipate the coming kingdom.

Second, the judgment will render decisions that are eternal in nature,reflecting the status of each human being with regard to his or her eternal relationship to the kingdom. Phrases such as “the darkness outside,” the  “fiery furnace,” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” describe eternal separation from the kingdom. They are not simply expressions of grief over a Christian life that did not count for much in the kingdom, for they are figures and phrases representing an eternal exclusion from the presence of God.

With this in view, it has been suggested that salvation in these parables is viewed as a “whole,” not simply as a point of entry. The “sons of the kingdom” and the “sons of the evil one” (Matt 13:38) are on opposite sides of the soteriological divide. Those who are rejected are permanently excluded.

Third, the basis for this eternal judgment is the individual’s works. In some cases the emphasis is on faithfulness to a job assigned: perhaps in a picture of preparation for an event, or a picture of the fruit of the believer. But however it was pictured, works were the key to the judgment.

However, Works are not separated from the faith one exercises for entrance to the kingdom for works are evidence of that faith. A true change of heart will be reflected in a person’s life. A lack of that change is apparently enough to prevent entrance into the kingdom. Works are never ultimately separated from the faith of the individual, for it was also shown that works are not in themselves enough to impress the Son of Man positively in His role as judge.

---

Lectionary, Pentecost 24, Nov. 15

I.Theme –   The way of abundance is using and acting on what you have now. Squandering your talents is a sure way to be caught up on the wrong side of the “Day of Judgment.”

 “Parable of the Talents -John Morgan (1823-1866)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

Old Testament – Zephaniah 1:7,12-18
Psalm – Psalm 90:1-8, (9-11), 12 Page 717, BCP
Epistle –1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Gospel – Matthew 25:14-30

God asks us to make appropriate use of our gifts and talents
1. Matthew – Parable of the Talents
2. Thessalonians – Paul – quit worrying about the time of Jesus return and live fully as Children of the light
3. Zaphaniah announces God’s coming judgment against the self-indulgent and complacent
4. Psalm contrast the realm of God with man’s limits but encourages man to live fruitfully within these limits

All of these scriptures, as we prepare for Reign of Christ Sunday, remind us to be prepared to do our part in the reign of God here and now, as we await Christ to come into our lives in a new way. We are called not to become content with the status quo, not to take our fill and turn away from the poor as the people did in Zephaniah’s time. Rather, we are called to do what the first two servants did in the parable of the Talents–to risk what we have been given in order to do greater good in the reign of God. That might mean our reputations in standing with the marginalized, or our own possessions in standing with the poor, or our own contentment in standing with the oppressed. We are called to live as participants in the reign of God here and now. This is not something we are waiting for at the end of our lives, but something we are active in now.

Zephaniah cries out and proclaims the day of the Lord is drawing near, a day of judgment. Zephaniah prophesied just before King Josiah carried out great reforms, both politically and religiously. In Zephaniah’s time, Israel (Northern kingdom) had fallen one hundred years before. Judah (Southern kingdom) was in danger of falling to their enemies and the kings had continued to be corrupt, to worship other gods, to let the wealthy elite stay wealthy and trample upon the poor. Josiah, upon the rediscovery of portions of the Torah that had been lost, will reform the political and religious sphere, but Zephaniah writes just before this time. Zephaniah proclaims judgment for those who have forsaken God’s ways, who have betrayed their people and their God.

Psalm 90: 1-12 remarks on how short human life is, in contrast to the vastness of the life of creation. God is beyond time; God is beyond our understanding, and our lives are short, so we should be humble, grateful for what we have, and repent where we have gone wrong. We are called not to waste our days, but to count them, so “that we may gain a wise heart”

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 are words of encouragement for Paul in this time of waiting for the reign of God to come, in this time of waiting for Christ to come again in a new way into our lives, but also a reminder, as last week’s parable taught us, to keep awake. To be ready. To be prepared for the coming reign of God. This reading is in contrast to the darker tone in early readings from the book.

Matthew 25:14-30 is the second parable of this last chapter before Christ’s anointing, before the preparation for his death. . In the previous parables, he has told us that we need to be prepared for the Second Coming at all times.

A master, before leaving on a journey, entrusts his slaves with his money, “each according to his ability” (v. 15). (A talent was about 15 years’ wages for a laborer, a large sum of money.) Two servants invest the money and earn more (vv. 16, 17); the third simply buries it (v. 18). When the master returns (v. 19), he praises the investors; they, he says, will be made responsible for “many things” (vv. 21, 23), and will “enter into the joy of your master”. But the third slave, admitting that he was afraid of his master’s wrath (v. 24), simply returns the original sum (v. 25). The master chastises him for his wickedness and laziness. This slave loses what he has been given (v. 28) and is condemned to “outer darkness” (v. 30). This would have caused a stir in Jesus’ day, for a rabbinic maxim commends burial of money as a way of protecting it.

But this parable is about the kingdom of heaven, so what is the lesson it teaches? “Weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 30) is a stock phrase for condemnation of the wicked at the Last Day. The master stands for God and the servants for various kinds of people. Yes, God both rewards generously and is a stern judge. He expects us to be good stewards of his gifts. We will be commended and rewarded for faithfully carrying out his mission. Failure to use what he gives us will result in punishment – by separation from him, the essence of goodness. We are expected to make it grow. He is free to distribute his gifts as he sees fit (vv. 28-29).

Read more about the Lectionary…

---

Fully Alive

“Recently, a friend of mine wrote me about an experience some years ago that had changed her life. She had gone to an artist’s studio to have her portrait drawn. The artist took his time, asking her a number of questions aimed at drawing her out. Eventually he asked her what she feared most. Her first answer was nuclear war. She mentioned that she had repeatedly had nightmares about nuclear holocaust.

“But the artist said, “No, I don’t believe you. That can’t be right. Something more personal.”

“Nancy thought and thought. Finally it dawned on her. “What I fear most is getting to the end of my life and realizing that I had been too fearful — too careful — that I never really used my talents.”

“That’s it,” the artist said.

-Robert Ellsberg
Sermon, St. Augustine’s Church, Croton-on-Hudson
November 12-13, 2005

-“He that had received one” – made his having fewer talents than others a pretense for not improving any. Went and hid his master’s money – Reader, art thou doing the same? Art thou hiding the talent God hath lent thee?”

–John Wesley 1703-1791 Wesley’s Notes on the Bible

See Preston Smiles in this Youtube video tell the story and talk about the key messages of the Parable of the Talents.

---

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11  “Should Christians be Afraid of Ebola or Climate Change or ISIS or…?”

Odyssey Networks – On Scripture

“Fear is in the air.

” Ebola. War. Conflict. Economic turmoil. Political victories. Political losses. This is the stuff of the nightly news. And everywhere we look we have a new villain to worry about, a new threat against which we ought to brace, a new sense of hopelessness.

” This is nothing new, of course. The world has always been a scary place. If anything, we have become inured to the greatest threats we might face. With roofs over our heads and weather forecasters to warn us of impending storms and economic structures to cushion us from financial catastrophe, we keep vany dangers at bay.

” And yet in the midst of so much safety and comfort, we seem to search compulsively for something to fear, something to raise our ire, something that will keep us up at night. It is not enough to feel safe apparently; for some reason, fear is too tempting.

” Anytime these world disasters emerge—whether disease or storm or war or financial crash—some Christian or another will step to the microphone to declare the end of days. Things have never been this bad before. The global crisis is unprecedented. This can only mean the dawn of the end as we know it.

” Then again, the same could have been said in the days when the plague was ravaging Western Europe. The same could have been said by the victims of Western expansion in the Americas. The same could have been said by our grandmothers and grandfathers as the economic system crumbled before their eyes in the Great Depression. The same could have been said by a Jew facing the Holocaust. The same could have been said by the Nigerian girls who were stolen for the sake of a deluded ideology.

” Disasters are not new. Recent disasters do not erase old ones. And old ones do not discount new ones.

” And yet our current compulsion to call today’s tragedy the worst ever is the arrogance of the present day. We feel that we must be the center of history, the moment when everything changes, the hinge upon which Jesus’ return will occur. That compulsion is driven by fear not sobriety, by anxiety not hope.

” And most troubling may be that all that misdirected energy keeps us from loving our neighbor near and far and addressing the real dangers we face as a people. As we worry about some fantastical fear, the reality of a yawning gap between the wealthy and the poor can seem too ordinary and thus not worthy of our attention. While we tremble at the prospect of an international war that may well be averted or at the threat of a disease that we have a minute chance of catching, we don’t see the victims of that potential war, that ravaging disease. While we worry about the remotest possibilities, the real, daily cries of our neighbor go unrequited.

Read more …

---

“Since We Have to Wait, We’d Better Get to Work” (Matthew 25)

Summary of article by Matthew L. Skinner for OnScripture

“What does the Christian life consist of? What does God expect from us?

“Here’s Jesus’ answer, according to Matthew’s Gospel: “Wait faithfully. Together. Or else.”

“Sure, that isn’t an exact quotation, but it sums up — again, according to Matthew — what Jesus says to his followers when he instructs them about how they should live after he has departed from this earth.

“If there’s any good news in these parables it resides in their insistence that judgment (whatever it is to look like — remember, these parables speak metaphorically) is God’s prerogative, not ours. And this judgment is not arbitrary, for it discloses and affirms those people whose lives express the virtues Jesus embodies: faithfulness, perseverance, readiness, obedience, and compassion.

“This brings us to the reason why we must wait faithfully together, which is also one of the primary reasons why I go to church: on my own, I’m not capable of expressing those virtues. I need a community to help me, so we can work at them together, relying on God’s help. Individually, none of us can muster the endurance or the faithfulness we need; nor can we fully trust our private motivations.

Faithful readiness must be active readiness.

“And so faithful readiness expresses itself actively, sometimes through impatience with suffering. It may express itself in outrage over yet more incidents of gun violence in the news and over the ongoing cowardice that keeps politicians from taking up measures to combat the problem.

“Faithful readiness can express itself in bold solidarity. Consider medical professionals who travel into West Africa to combat Ebola and to provide care to its victims while ignorant and fearful people try to isolate Africa even further, acting as if this is another continent’s problem, or another people’s problem.

“Faithful readiness can express itself in impulses for change and longings for freedom and human dignity. We may see it in some who participate in the Umbrella Movement on the streets of Hong Kong and among those who support those people with prayer and material or strategic support.

“Faithful readiness can express itself in a refusal to accept closed doors, to borrow and refashion an image from the parable. This happens especially when doors are locked to keep out the vulnerable and to buttress our prejudices.

Watch the inspiring stories of active readiness expressed by people of faith who advocate for children who flee to the United States only to be apprehended at borders, including some of the 74,000 captured this year alone. These young people, “the least of these,” deserve the same kind of care, support, and regard that we would give to Christ himself.

Read entire article …

---