Frontpage December 27, 2020

December 25, 2020 – Christmas

1. Lighting of all candles 2. Gospel reading from Luke 3. Away in a Manger 4. Joy to the World 5. What Child is This

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The Week Ahead…

Dec. 27 – First Sunday After Christmas

Dec. 27 – 11:00am Lessons and Carols – Join here at 10:30am for gathering – service starts at 10am Meeting ID 874 0903 2653 Password 699097

A unique Lessons and Carols! Read about the music and images

Dec. 27 – 7:00pm Compline – Join here at 6:30pm for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 871 1089 1688 Passcode: 097146

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Jan. 3 – Second Sunday After Christmas

Jan. 3 – 11:00am Morning Prayer. Bishop Porter Taylor visits on Zoom – Join here at 10:30am for gathering – service starts at 11am Meeting ID 874 0903 2653 Password 699097

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Welcome Bishop Porter Taylor Jan. 3!

Bishop Porter Taylor is our newest bishop, joining the Diocese of Virginia as of July 1, 2020. He will be with us Jan. 3, 11am, Morning Prayer.

Bishop Taylor was ordained a priest in 1994 in the Diocese of Western North Carolina. From 1994-96, he served as Assistant Rector of St. Paul’s Church in Franklin, Tenn. He then served as Rector of St. Gregory the Great in Athens, Ga., from 1996-2004. In 2004, he was consecrated the sixth Bishop of the Diocese of Western North Carolina. Following his retirement as Bishop in 2016, he joined the faculty of Wake Forest University Divinity School.

In addition to his Master of Divinity from University of the South, Sewanee, Bishop Taylor also holds a B.A. in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.A. in English from the University of South Carolina, and a Ph.D. in Theology and Literature from Emory University.
He is the author of To Dream as God Dreams: Sermons of Hope, Conversion, and Community, and From Anger to Zion: An Alphabet of Faith.

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3 Saints after Christmas Day

1. St. Stephen Dec. 26

Stephen was among the earliest Christian martyrs, stoned to death for his beliefs. St. Paul not only witnessed the event but held the garments of those stoning Stephen which he regretted later on and carried a lasting sense of guilt.

2. John the Apostle Dec. 27

John, one of the Apostles, possibly lived the longest life associated with the Gospel, an author in that time and Evangelist spreading the Gospel to many in the Mediterranean area who were not of Jewish background. He is believed to be the only Apostle not martyred for the cause. He is associated with the Gospel that bears his name, 3 Epistles and possible authorship of the Book of Revelation.

3. Holy Innocents Dec. 28

The term “Holy Innocents” comes from Matthew’s Gospel Chapter 2. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, King Herod, fearing for his throne, ordered that all the male infants of Bethlehem two years and younger be killed. These children are regarded as martyrs for the Gospel — “martyrs in fact though not in will.” This can be compared to the conduct of Pharoah in Exodus 1:16. “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”

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Dec. 27, 2020 – 11am -A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is the Christmas Eve service held in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge England and was introduced in 1918.

Kings College Cambridge holds this service every Dec. 24. The main gate to Kings College opens at 7:30am for the 3pm service.  Many people get in the line by 5am for a 10 hour wait!

Here is their 2019 bulletin.

Here are musical selections from
1994

It was conceived by Eric Milner-White, the Dean of the College, for Christmas Eve 1918 whose experience as an army chaplain in World War I had led him to believe that more imaginative Christmas worship was needed by the Church of England.  He actually reached back to an earlier time for a service structure.

The original service was, in fact, adapted from an Order drawn up by E.W. Benson, later Archbishop of Canterbury, for use in the wooden shed, which then served as his cathedral in Truro, at 10 pm on Christmas Eve 1880. AC Benson recalled: ‘My father arranged from ancient sources a little service for Christmas Eve – nine carols and nine tiny lessons, which were read by various officers of the Church, beginning with a chorister, and ending, through the different grades, with the Bishop.”

The story of the fall of humanity, the promise of the Messiah, and the birth of Jesus is told in nine short Bible readings from Genesis, the prophetic books and the Gospels interspersed with the singing of Christmas carols, hymns and choir music. The readings can vary as can the music. Traditionally, “Once in Royal David City” is the opening hymn. Beyond that the service is flexible.

An opening prayer that is used provides a focus:

“We gather here to recall the mystery of our redemption.
Though sin drew us away from God, he never stopped loving us.
The prophets told of the coming of a Messiah
who would initiate a reign of justice and peace.
This promise was fulfilled in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
Let us now reflect with joy on this wondrous mystery.”

The 2018 bulletin is here. Pictures from the services are here.

Lessons and Carols is usually done at the beginning of Advent as an introduction to Advent or towards the end as a summary of all that has happened.

This St. Peter’s service is the perfect culmination of your Christmas week, a joyous celebration along with thoughtful, introspective moments. Plan now to attend.

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King’s College Cambridge – As you have never seen it

The famous church in England, home of Lessons and Carols, built by Henry VII is altered by projectionist, Miguel Chevalier.

To illustrate Stephen Hawking’s research about black holes, Miguel Chevalier imagines an immersive environment made up of thousands of constellations that plunge the guests into the mystery of the universe.

Video Link

More examples

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Prayer of Thanksgiving for the year just past…

God of new beginnings, we thank you for the year just past, with all of its joys and wonders. We thank you for all that we were able to do together . We thank you for giving us opportunities to serve You well and in doing so to let your light shine in our church and out in our world. We pray now for Your guidance in this new year, and for the courage to follow You wherever You would lead us. We pray for the strength to carry out everything that You will give us to do. And may our love for one another reflect the transforming love that You have for each one of us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

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And a Blessing for the New Year!

From Pastor Dawn Hutchings

“The art of blessing is often neglected. The birth of a New Year calls forth the desire in us to bestow a blessing upon those we love. Several years ago, John O”Donohue, one of my favorite Irish poet’s created a New Year’s blessing for his mother entitled Beannacht-for Josie. It is a blessing of superior quality. And so, on this New Year’s Eve, may you all receive this beannacht with my added blessing for a peace-filled New Year in which the God in whom all of creation is held, might find full expression in your miraculous life!”

Beannacht – A New Year Blessing
John O’Donohue

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

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The Work of Christmas

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

– Howard Thurman

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Dr. Howard Thurman was an influential author, philosopher, theologian, educator and civil rights leader. He was Dean of Theology and the chapels at Howard University and Boston University for more than two decades, wrote 20 books, and in 1944 helped found the first racially integrated, multicultural church in the United States.

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Christmas 2, Year A Lectionary Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020 

I.Theme –  God/Christ as Redeemer and Revealer 

Guido of Siena,13th Century Italian

The lectionary readings are here 

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Psalm 84

Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a

Matthew 2:13-15,19-23

The details of the Gospel story, the flight into Egypt, makes it easy to forget the intent of it that shows God in control and not Herod or his son, even though it looks that way on the face of it with Joseph’s family side stepping the political moves of the day and winning out. God is leading us and with us even when events do not go our way.  We are not alone.  We have to look at the bigger picture, often difficult to see while we are going through life.

This is a realistic story with our current world situation – the numbers of babies killed in Syria and the migrations away from that worn-torn land to Turkey and Lebanon.

In Ephesians God has revealed his will in the sending of Christ, and he seeks to “gather up all things” in both heaven and earth in Christ. Christ is therefore both the Redeemer and the Revealer through the Holy Spirit. God’s accomplishing all things according to his will in Christ’s resurrection and reign.

The idea of redeemer and revealer is present in the Old Testament reading of Jeremiah. The people deported from Jerusalem in Babylonia will return. There are images of redemption – God’s love and faithfulness to promises made remain intact through Israel’s infidelity and consequent judgment. God rescues this and builds a new life out of the rubble. There are images of revelation and promise – those who lived on the outside of society will not live that way. The hope is those who have suffered.

This psalm praises God as the longed-for goal of the pilgrim. The “dwelling” of God is the Temple (and perhaps also the land of Israel). To live in the Temple is greatly to be desired: those who live there have security and happiness, even the birds (v. 3) who nest in the Temple area. Making a pilgrimage to the Temple offers these hopes.

Read more..

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