November 22, 2020 – Christ the King Sunday
Eucharist on the River, Nov 22
The Week Ahead…
Nov. 22 – Christ the King Sunday
Nov. 22 – 11:00am Holy Eucharist on the River
Nov. 22 – 7:00pm Compline – Join here at 6:30pm for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 839 9039 4934 Passcode: 521853
Nov. 25 – 10:00am – Ecumenical Bible Study through Zoom
Nov. 29 – First Sunday in Advent
Nov. 29 – 11:00am Morning Prayer – Join here at 9:30am for gathering – service starts at 10am Meeting ID 834 7356 6532 Password 748475
Nov. 29 – 7:00pm Compline – Join here at 6:30pm for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 839 9039 4934 Passcode: 521853
Our Wish for Thanksgiving
From a Thanksgiving sermon, Nov. 24, 2010 Deuteronomy 26:1-11;
“Our lesson from Deuteronomy gives us the following helpful suggestions.
“First, take time to open your eyes and see the miracle of this earth, to try to see with God’s eyes, to watch over the earth as God does, to live in relationship with it, knowing that the earth belongs to God, and that the earth itself is part of our covenant with God.
“Second, share what you’ve been given by bringing your offerings—and this offering of what God has given us has to be done thoughtfully, in the context of the story of our ongoing relationship with God.
“And that ongoing relationship is that God brings us out of the messes we get into, back into awareness of our places, here on this earth, secure in God’s love and care for us, because we are part of the ongoing story of God’s love for all of creation.
“Third, God wants us to offer thanks. As we say in our Eucharistic Prayer each Sunday, “it is right to give God thanks and praise.”
Supplies for the Detention Center
The chaplain at the Caroline Detention Facility has asked for donations of notebook paper, self-sealing envelopes, and stamps for those who wish to write to their families. Three hundred people are detained at this facility so the need for these supplies is great. Please contact Catherine, stpetersrev@gmail.com, to donate any of these items.
The UTO (United Thankoffering) Ingathering, Nov. 29
The UTO program culminates each year in the spring and fall In-Gatherings, when the offerings of each parish family are collected … offerings that are combined with those of Episcopal parishes everywhere to support projects worldwide for missions and ministry. In 2019, the Diocese of Virginia led Province 3 with donations exceeding $75K.
The funds go to a series of grants to Diocese and ministries. The 2020 grants were announced in June. They raised $1,548,013.66 in thank offerings compared to $1,484,693.66 in 2019. Of this, $30,600 went to support 6 Young Adult and Seminarian grants.
See the UTO in 2020
Sent your donations to :
St. Peter’s Church
P. O. Box 399
Port Royal, Virginia 22535.
Support the Village Harvest, Dec. 1, Giving Tuesday
Check out our Case statement – Village Harvest at 6
- Food for those who are being challenged economically
- Food for those who lack transportation to get it.
Our goal in #Giving Tuesday on Dec. 1 is to raise 25% or $450 representing 25% of our annual costs. It doesn’t take a large donation to make a difference:
A $10 donation feeds 6 people, 12 pounds each. It provides 72 pounds of food and $430 in total value!
A $20 donation feeds 12 people, 12 pounds each. It provides 144 pounds of food and $864 in total value!
How to Give ? Two ways:
1 Go online on Dec. 1 and use St. Peter’s secured PayPal account and donate via credit card using this link or churchsp.org/givingtuesday2020/
2 On or before Dec. 1 make out a check to St. Peter’s with “Giving Tuesday” in the memo line
St. Peter’s Church
P. O. Box 399
Port Royal, Virginia 22535.
We thank you for your support.
Words for the Season
From Bishop Rob Wright, Diocese of Atlanta
“We are in the midst of a uniquely challenging time in history. The global pandemic has no clear end in sight, systems of racial oppression have no clear resolution, political unrest is at an all-time high at home and globally, and we are seeing in real time the power of climate change all around us.
“Our common life has been disrupted individually and collectively; even our familiar patterns of being together and worshiping have been altered. All of this is true. Still, there is something more true than our trouble: God.
“Were it not for the gift of faith, you and I would be adrift right now. In all of the recent changes to modern life, God remains changeless. God did not cause Covid but God can use Covid! In fact, as the book of James says: “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” James I:1-5.
Getting Ready for Advent!
The name “Advent” actually comes from the Latin word adventus which means “coming.” It is a reminder of how the Jewish nation waited for the Messiah and how Christians are now waiting for the return of Christ.
Advent which begins on Sunday Nov. 29 is like a breath of fresh air -a new church year, a new set of Gospel readings from Mark, and the anticipation of the birth of Christ.
The four Sundays in Advent invite us on a journey. As the days grow shorter each week, we are invited to draw closer and closer to the light of Christ. We are invited to open our hearts a little wider each week to God With Us. In her book Learning to Walk in the Dark, Episcopal priest Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “…new life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.”
The Advent season is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and also to the anniversary of the Lord’s birth on Christmas. It blends together a penitential spirit, very similar to Lent, a liturgical theme of preparation for the Second and Final Coming of the Lord, called the Parousia, and a joyful theme of getting ready for the Bethlehem event.
The Advent wreath, four candles on a wreath of evergreen, is shaped in a perfect circle to symbolize the eternity of God. The Advent Wreath is beautiful and evocative reminder of the life-giving qualities of light. The evergreens used in the wreath are reminders of ongoing life, even in the face of death.
There are 4 candles, one for each week in Advent, are used with one larger white candle in the middle as the Christ candle. During each Sunday of the Advent season, we focus on one of the four virtues Jesus brings us: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace. Three of the candles are purple. This is the color of penitence and fasting as well as the color of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King.
The Third candle is pink, a color of joy, the joy that Jesus is almost here and fasting is almost order. Gaudete Sunday (from the Latin meaning “rejoice”) which is taken from Philippians 4:4-5, the Entrance Antiphon of the day.
Advent begins in a season of darkness but using the Advent wreath we see light winning over darkness. Lighting candles is a way we can keep time in Church And as the season passes, and another candle is lit each week, light finally wins out over darkness with the turn of the solstice in the stars and the birth of Christ on the ground.
At the center of the wreath is a white candle, which is called the Christ Candle. This candle is lit on Christmas Eve as a reminder that Jesus, the light of the world, has been born and has come to dwell with us.
It is a season of waiting, of rest but also a time to find new beginnings. Since the 900s Advent has been considered the beginning of the Church year. It is antidote for our society’s frantic behavior during the holiday season. There is so much in the world that tells you, you are not enough or you haven’t do enough before Christmas but you have to find out during Advent that you are enough.
The first week of Advent is all about hope. Lamentations 3: 21-24: “Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; “therefore I will wait for him.” (NIV).
The altar changes during Advent to represent the new season, particularly in the use of color. Today, many churches have begun to use blue instead of purple, as a means of distinguishing Advent from Lent. Blue also signifies the color of the night sky or the waters of the new creation in Genesis 1. Blue emphasizes the season is also about hope and anticipation of the coming of Christ. Christ is about transformation as the sky changes from dark to light filling our lives with grace.
A Family Advent
1. Make Your Own Advent Playdough Wreath at Home!
2. Family Prayer for the lighting of the candle
Each week remember one of the virtues Jesus brings us – Hope, Love, Joy and Peace as you light the candle.
3. Antiphons for an Advent Calendar
An antiphon (“voice”) is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung like a refrain in a song. Antiphons were written with pieces of the Psalms and other verses from the Hebrew Scriptures. They also express deep theological convictions!
The singing of Antiphons (as sung by in early Christian communities by the end of the 5th century) had its root in the Synagogue. Early Christians borrowed the Jewish traditions of chanting psalms and of singing hymns together.
We have an Advent Calendar with one antiphon for each day
Advent in 2 minutes Check out this Youtube video
Advent in 1 minute– A 2015 video from St. Mary’s Cypress
Explore Advent, Part 1– Over the next 4 Sundays there will be a presentation each week focusing on that week’s scriptures, art and commentary and how they demonstrate the themes of advent. Let’s get started with Advent 1.
Advent is the time when we change to a different year in the Lectionary. This year we move from Year A to B and from a concentration on the Gospel of Matthew to the Gospel of Mark. There are several articles which are a general introduction to Mark 1. Shortest from christianity.about.com 2. Longer from the Catholic Bishops 3. Longest from a catholic source
Interested in the Church calendar ? Matthew’s interest about time in First Advent lends itself to understand how we measure time.
Collected Advent resources
1. Advent resources for 2020 from the Episcopal Church Foundation.
3. From the Diocese of California
5. Create your own Advent Calendar
The Season of Advent is alive with colors, candles, wreaths and song. David Bratcher has written a wonderful article on Advent traditions.
There are several articles/presentations about the infancy narratives 1. Brief summary between Matthew and Luke 2. Longer comparison
Advent is a time of music though many of the traditional services are not scheduled for 2020 due to COVID19. Earlier services are available. Here is a link to National Cathedral’s Advent Lessons and Carols on Dec. 1, 2019
Arts and Faith- Advent 1, relating art and scripture
The First Week of Advent, Year B, is based on Mark 13:33–37. The art is William Holman Hunt’s “The Light of the World.”
“Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn.”
At the start of Advent, the Gospel calls us to vigilance—to watch and be ready for the Lord of the house, awaiting his return. William Holman Hunt’s The Light of the World offers us one image of what this arrival might look like. The Light of the World is deeply symbolic, showing Christ arriving at a door at night. It’s an allegory for Christ seeking entry at the door of the human heart. His way to the door is lit by a lantern, casting a soft light on the door to show that it is overgrown with plants; it has not been opened in a while. The plants also show that it is not only a late hour, but late in the year—they are dry, past harvest, and ready to crumble away as winter comes.
Hunt’s image softens any apprehension about the coming of the Lord, as he presents, through the choice of colors and in the representation itself, a warmth and gentleness that shows Christ’s deep love for us as the reason for his coming. A crowned and robed stately sovereign, Christ the King ventures into the darkness and the mess of brambles to seek entry into our hearts. This majestic King whose arrival would be expected to be announced by fanfare instead taps gently at the door to request entry. Our humble King seeks encounter instead of fanfare, our conversion instead of our confinement to darkness.
One of the boldest symbols of the image is the lantern Christ holds in his left hand, which shows Christ as the One that disperses the dark and illuminates the dead places within our hearts. A subtle detail is the fruit on the ground—a symbol of Original Sin, of our fall into the darkness of deception. Yet Christ does not leave us out in the darkness but comes for us, as our Light, into the dead of night.
Finally, a significant detail of the door is its lack of a handle or knob. This is Hunt’s way of showing that the door can only be opened from the inside, through our faithful response to Christ’s steadfast invitation. Watching and waiting for his coming calls us to attentiveness to encountering the Lord above all, even as this busy and frantic season gets underway.
Make a Gift Today! 2. Contact the Rev Catherine Hicks, Rector 4. Server Schedule November 2020 5. Latest Newsletter-the Parish Post (December, 2020) 6. Calendar 9. Latest Sunday Bulletin (Nov. 29, 2020 10:00am), and Sermon (Nov. 22, 2020) 10. Recent Services: Readings and Prayers, Pentecost 22, Nov. 1, 2020 Readings and Prayers, Pentecost 23, Nov. 8, 2020 |
Block Print by Mike Newman
Projects
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. 22 – Nov. 29, 2020
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C. S. Lewis, Apologist and Spiritual Writer, 1963 Cecilia, Martyr at Rome c. 230 |
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Clement, Bishop of Rome, c. 100 |
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[Catherine of Alexandria, Barbara of Nicomedia & Margaret of Antioch], Martyrs, c.305 |
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James Otis Sargent Huntington, Priest and Monk, 1935 |
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Isaac Watts, Hymnwriter, 1748 |
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Kamehameha and Emma, King and Queen of Hawaii, 1864, 1885 |
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