Frontpage, May 30, 2021

Memorial Day Sunday, 5 years ago (2016)

May 30 – 11:00am, Trinity Sunday Holy Eucharist . In person in the church or on Zoom. – Join here at 10:45am for gathering – service starts at 11am Meeting ID: 869 9926 3545 Passcode: 889278

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• Bulletin
• Sermon
• Trinity Sunday readings
• More about Trinity Sunday

Left to right, top to bottom – Communion, congregation with 28 in the church, Magnolia flowers for the altar, Memorial Day Sunday with the flag behind the St. Peter’s sign, ECW ingathering collection, Children’s sermon explaining Trinity Sunday in the context of an apple, Rehearsing “Glory to You”

• Videos from Trinity Sunday
• Photos
• Sermon

May 30 – 7:00pm, Compline on Zoom. This short service of prayer and music offers the opportunity to close the day in one another’s company as we place ourselves in God’s protection for the night. – Join here at 6:30am for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 878 7167 9302 Passcode: 729195

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May 31 – 6:30am – Be Still Meditation group in a 20 minute time of prayer Meeting ID: 879 8071 6417 Passcode: 790929. Intentionally start the week in God’s presence by joining in twenty minutes of silent prayer together.

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June 1 – 3pm – ECW Tea. All women are welcome as we welcome newcomers to St Peter’s in the Parish House.

June 2 – Bible Study is taking a break in June

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June 4 – 11:00am, Sunday Holy Eucharist

June 4 – 7:00pm, Compline on Zoom – Join here at 6:30am for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID 834 7356 6532 Password 748475

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Trinity Sunday – the Trinity Knot

Sunday May 29 is known as Trinity Sunday on our church calendar, the only Sunday in the year devoted to a doctrine of the church.

The Trinity Knot is also known as ‘Triquetra’ which comes from the Latin for ‘three-cornered’. It has been found on Indian heritage sites that are over 5,000 years old. It has also been found on carved stones in Northern Europe dating from the 8th century AD and on early Germanic coins. It developed during Ireland’s Insular Art movement around the 7th century

It’s likely the Trinity knot had religious meaning for pagans and it also bears a resemblance to the Valknut which is a symbol associated with Odin, a revered God in Norse mythology. According to the Celts, the most important things in the world came in threes; three domains (earth, sea and sky), three elements, three stages of life etc. It is also possible that the Triquetra signified the lunar and solar phases. During excavations of various archaeological sites from the Celtic era, a number of Trinity knot symbols have been found alongside solar and lunar symbols.

For Christians, the Trinity knot consists of three corners, some designs also include the circle in the center. The three points of the Trinity knot represent the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and the circle eternal life

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Memorial Day Sunday

A Prayer for Heroic Service

“O Judge of the nations, we remember before you with grateful
hearts the men and women of our country who in the day of
decision ventured much for the liberties we now enjoy. Grant
that we may not rest until all the people of this land share the
benefits of true freedom and gladly accept its disciplines. This
we ask in the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord.” Amen. BCP 839

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May, 2021 Village Harvest – Plenty of sunshine and food

Our numbers were up in May. In fact at 99 they were best since January when we served 116. The weather was an absolutely glorious spring day.

Pounds of food were up to 1,184. While they were above last month’s 838, they were under Feb and March at 1,304 and 1,891, respectively.

Of course it is “what is brought to the table!” Thanks to Cookie and Johnny for continuing to get the food from the Healthy Harvest Food Bank. She provided some of he details -2 1/2hams each. grapes,2 dozen eggs each, apples to bag, rolls, canned peaches 🍑, canned tuna, cereal, canned green beans and a don’t forget a candy treat.

Pounds per person were 12 which would be worth $71.76 at $6 a pounds. Pounds per person, however is under the running average at 14.5 over the last year.

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The Hymnals Return!

A Return to normalcy!

“Old Friends” came back to the Church this week after being removed during the pandemic. Sorely missed!

Some people get confused by the fact we have 4 books in the pew racks. These books, however are wonderful resources reflecting the diversity and inclusiveness of the Episcopal Church and add to the richness of our services.

The Hymnal 1982 on the left is one of a series of seven official hymnals of the Episcopal Church, including The Hymnal 1940. It offers 720 hymns in addition to liturgical music. While some of the hymns date back to monastic chants, the hymnal offers more modern music and diverse influences – use of Native American, Afro-American, Hispanic, and Asian material.

This is followed by the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). The only one is not a hymnal but a book that guides our services as well as private prayer life. The first BCP goes back to the reformation in 1549 as the church was creating its identity from its Catholic heritage. The book’s fourth revision was published in 1979.

The green book is “Wonder Love and Praise”. It is a collection of two hundred additional hymns for Advent, Holy Week, Baptism, Ordinations, and Funerals as well as for healing, mission, unity, and peace

The book with a cross is “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” It includes 280 musical pieces from both the African American and gospel traditions. It includes service music and several psalm settings in addition to the Negro spirituals, gospel songs, and hymns.

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Jamaica Project continues in June

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Anything but Ordinary! Ordinary Time

Basically, Ordinary Time encompasses that part of the Christian year that does not fall within the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter.

Ordinary Time is anything but ordinary. According to The General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, the days of Ordinary Time, especially the Sundays, "are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects." We continue our trek through the both the Gospels of Luke and John- through parables challenges, healings – some great stories and teachings.  

Lent is about preparing people to live as disciples of Jesus. Easter Season is about giving especially the newly baptized or confirmed time to focus deeply on the doctrinal foundations of the faith and on discerning the Spirit’s calling and gifts for ministry, culminating in a celebration and commissioning for these ministries at Pentecost. The Season after Pentecost is about seeking the Spirit’s guidance and supporting one another as we undertake these ministries in Christ’s name.

While there are parts of Ordinary Time through the year, we think of Trinity Sunday until Christ the King Sunday or up to Advent as the Sundays of Ordinary Time. 

Read more…

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Lectionary, June 6 , Second Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
 

I. Theme –  The pervading role of sinfulness

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – Genesis 3:8-15
Psalm – Psalm 130 Page 784, BCP
Epistle –2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1
Gospel – Mark 3:20-35 

Today’s readings explore the pervading influence of sinfulness that makes humans stand in resistance and opposition to God. In 1 Samuel, we begin a series of readings describing the development of kingship in Israel. In Genesis (ALT), we learn the meaning of human sinfulness from the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Paul encourages the Corinthian Christians to trust in the eternal power of God. In the gospel, when his opponents declare that Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul, Jesus warns them of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

Commentary by Rev. Mindi

We enter this season after Pentecost, after Trinity Sunday, in which (at least in the mainstream Protestant tradition) there are no special days until Reign of Christ Sunday just before Advent. We begin this time with the story of the man and the woman hiding from God in the garden. The man explains his shame, his hiding by scapegoating the woman, who in turn explains herself by scapegoating the serpent, and the serpent is punished by God. As part of the curse of the serpent, humanity is separated from relationship with the creatures of creation. No longer will human beings and animals live in harmony; there will be predators and prey, a need to defend oneself against the wild creatures of the world. We often read this passage and recall humanity’s fall, but there is a sense that the model of harmony in the garden is disrupted among the rest of God’s creatures as well. This harmony is symbolically seen again upon the ark in the story of the flood, where miraculously somehow the animals don’t eat each other or the human beings who are caring for them. We are reminded that God’s intention for creation was harmony between man and woman, between human beings and God, and between humanity and the rest of creation; but through our greed and desire, we have distorted God’s intention, and it is God who must reconcile us through Christ.

The other choice for the Old Testament readings this year follows the historical books, beginning with 1 Samuel 8 and 11, telling the story of the anointing of Israel’s first king, Saul, by the prophet Samuel.

Psalm 130 is a song of hope in God, having patience in God’s deliverance. We may have sinned, but God forgives, and God will save, as long as we hold on to hope.

Mark 3:20-35 tells of Jesus’ homecoming after he called his first disciples and the reception he received. People had begun to talk about Jesus and were spreading some rumors and tales, including that Jesus was possessed by Beelzebul. Jesus’ own family wants to bring him home and stop this “madness,” this “nonsense,” of Jesus’ ministry and healing and preaching, but Jesus declares that Satan can not cast out Satan; therefore Jesus, who is doing good works, cannot be possessed by a demon, for what he is doing is the complete opposite of what demonic forces would do. Demonic forces would destroy, bring pain and anguish and despair; Jesus brings restoration, healing, joy and hope. When Jesus’ family calls out to him and the crowd informs Jesus of this, Jesus reminds them that whoever does the will of God is Jesus’ family–for we are all children of God, we are all Christ’s brothers and sisters, when we do the work of God, bringing healing, hope and restoration to the world by sharing God’s love.

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 proclaims that we live by faith, not by sight. What can be seen is temporary–what we have made, what we have done–but what cannot be seen, God’s intention for us, is eternal. We must hold on to hope and know that God will restore us, God will reconcile us, and God will heal us. Everything we experience on this earth is temporary, but what we cannot see, cannot perceive, cannot fully understand is eternal–that God’s love endures forever.

When we look back upon the creation story, we recognize the story of God’s intention: a world created in relationship with God, a world in which human beings are in relationship with creation and with each other. In Genesis 3 that relationship is distorted by human beings; but we see glimpses of God’s intention breaking through all throughout Scripture. We see it in the story of the flood and the ark and the rainbow; we see it in the Psalms; we see it in Revelation. We see places where humanity continues to insist on their own way, one in which people are scapegoated and leaders are given too much power over people, where people who do not make good leaders are made into kings and the poor are oppressed. And when God’s intention begins to break through, as in Jesus’ ministry, we still resist. We want our own way. We want to have and others to not have–because we believe we have worked harder, we have earned it. We fail to see that God’s intention is not rivalry but relationship. We fail to see that God’s intention is not survival but harmony. We fail to see that God’s intention is not being right, but doing right. We fail to see that God’s intention is not insiders and outsiders, but all of humanity as God’s children, brothers and sisters of each other. This is what God’s intention is for humanity and the world, what God’s desire is for us: that we be part of Christ’s family.

Read more about the lectionary…

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Lincoln’s "House Divided Speech", 1858

"If we could first know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the states, old as well as new, North as well as South.

Have we no tendency to the latter condition?"

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Lincoln gave this speech June 16, 1858 at the Republican State Convention in Springfield, Illinois. A speech that, under normal circumstances, would have been an acceptance speech for the Republican U.S. Senate seat nomination actually was a bold attack on the divisive issue of slavery. 

Lincoln hoped to use a well-known figure of speech to help rouse the people to recognition of the magnitude of the ongoing debates over the legality of slavery. Our Gospel this week contains the phrase, "If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come."

The "fifth year" refers to Kansas-Nebraska, the act that was focal point of the debate on the expansion of slavery in 1854. The violence in this area foreshadowed that of the Civil War.

The speech just came a year after the Dred Scott decision. In March of 1857, the United States Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, declared that all blacks — slaves as well as free — were not and could never become citizens of the United States. The court also declared the 1820 Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, thus permiting slavery in all of the country’s territories.

The "house" refers to the Union — to the United States of America — and that house was divided between the opponents and advocates of slavery. Lincoln felt that the ideals of freedom for all and the institution of slavery could not coexist — morally, socially, or legally — under one nation. Slavery must ultimately be universally accepted or universally denied.

This speech, given two-and-a-half years before South Carolina would become the first state to secede from the Union, foreshadowed the coming storm of the Civil War. Although Lincoln lost the election to Stephen Douglas, his eloquent political arguments put him in the national limelight and paved the way for his election to the presidency in 1860.

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