Reading the Bible in a year!
Resources
Continuing Projects
Don’t see your pet ? Upload a picture. New animals this week- Rudy, Giblet, Dopplar – bird pictures from Brad.
2 Prayer requests – Add a name to the prayer list here.
3 Hard candy donations – We will be providing Christmas candy to over three hundred prisoners at Peumansend Creek Regional Jail. Your donations of hard candy, individually wrapped, and small plastic snack bags would be greatly appreciated. The Evening ECW and the youth will put the bags of candy together and deliver them to the jail. Deadline Dec. 17
4. St. Peter’s Directory
We will be taking pictures next for the Directory on Dec. 16 and and 23rd. You can "schedule yourself" by just appearing on the second floor of the Parish House in Catherine’s study for the photo.
A Review of Last Sunday – Veterans’ Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012
Christ centered, Biblically based, spirit filled and a place of simple hospitality, we have shared our communal life with our church,our community, and those in need. Your presence enriches us.
Nov. 25 -9:00am, Morning Prayer, Rite II
Nov. 25 -9:45am Christian Education for children and adults
Nov. 25 -11:00am, Holy Eucharist, Rite II "Christ the King"
Sunday Readings and Servers
What is Christ the King Sunday, Nov. 25th?
- Celebrated on the final Sunday of Ordinary Time, the Sunday before Advent.
- Comes at end of the church year . This year we will switch from Year B with a focus on Gospel of Mark to Year C to read the Gospel of Luke
- Celebrates/Symbolizes: Jesus as King, Messiah, and Lord. The earliest Christians identified Jesus with the predicted Messiah of the Jews. The Jewish word "messiah," and the Greek word "Christ," both mean "anointed one," and came to refer to the expected king who would deliver Israel from the hands of the Romans. Christians believe that Jesus is this expected Messiah. Unlike the messiah most Jews expected, Jesus came to free all people, Jew and Gentile, and he did not come to free them from the Romans, but from sin and death. Thus the king of the Jews, and of the cosmos, does not rule over a kingdom of this world
- Came out of the Catholic tradition. Pope Pius XI connected the denial of Christ as king to the rise of secularism. At the time , secularism was on the rise, and many Christians, even Catholics, were doubting Christ’s authority, as well as the Church’s, and even doubting Christ’s existence. Pius XI, and the rest of the Christian world, witnessed the rise of dictatorships in Europe, and saw Catholics being taken in by these earthly leaders
"History of Christianity", this Sunday, Nov. 25, 9:45am – God in the Dock , Part 2
We are at the end of our series confronting the 20th century.
The 20th Century may have been the most challenging for Christianity. The writer of this series, Dr. McCulloch calls one of the beginning events of the century, World War I as the “War that Killed Christendom”.
Christianity seemed to be losing its grip on its ability to distinguish right from wrong. And they seemed to be on the “wrong side” or failed to see the implication of world events. In World War I Christians were urged on to kill other Christians equally reassured that God was on THEIR side. Many German Lutherans were some of the biggest backers of Hitler before World War II. While groups that set up the “Confessing Church “ confronted Hitler, much of their work failed in particular to deal with the Jewish issue. Some of their leaders went to their deaths. The Vatican between the war years saw communism as a greater threat. Later, Christians seemed to wanted to deny the implications of the holocaust.
It may be ironic that in our time that the real conflict of Christianity is not with the state but with society, that is secular society. While churches in Africa and the East are growing in leaps in bounds, churches in the West find it hard in come cases to keep the doors open. Racisim and sexism have divided the church against itself.
The series concludes on a positive note – “If the history of the Church teaches us anything, it’s that it has an exceptional knack for reinventing itself in the face of fresh dangers. The modern world has plenty to throw at the Church scepticism, freedom, choice. But modernity can’t escape the oldest questions at the heart of the messy business of being human – questions of right and wrong, purpose and meaning." This reinventing may be what Phylis Tickle calls Emergence Christianity.
Did you miss the earlier sessions ? Here are transcripts or this session only.
Advent 1 is Dec 2!
Come to the Ultimate Advent Celebration, Dec. 2!
Since its first performance in 1742, Handel’s Messiah has remained a Christmas favorite. Many don’t realize that the text is scriptural from the King James Bible, and from the Psalms included with our own Book of Common Prayer . Come see what it’s all about at Adult Education , Dec. 2, 9, 16 and 23rd, 9:45am, Parish House.
We will read the background Biblical text of The Messiah, listen to the songs, and watch performers on video that bring this work to life. Please join us to listen to fine music and read some inspiring text which will broaden your Christmas experience.
UTO Ingathering, Dec. 2
Bring your UTO boxes and/or checks to support the work of the UTO.
UTO is an outreach ministry of the Episcopal Church. Founded by women in 1889 to enable the missionary work of the church, the program has been administered by the women of the church. The ECW gives the money raised, called the United Thank Offering, in grants to fund mission projects in our diocese and around the world.
These projects include:
• Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieving universal primary education
• Reducing child mortality
• Improving maternal health
Become a part of the United Thank Offering by offering thanks for God’s blessings in your life. Please save your coins in the blue UTO box or write a check and place it in the blue box, available in the back pew . Every coin is used to support grants for mission and ministry.
Potluck Supper at the Everetts, Dec. 2, 5pm
Last Christmas on December 2- we ventured to the Everett’s home in King George for an old fashion Christmas sing. They have the most amazing collection of Christmas decorations spanning centuries! Cherry starts decorating in November.
This year they have offered an invitation for a potluck supper to celebrate the beginning of Advent at 5pm on Dec. 2. Their homes is at 17186 Cherwood Pond Ln, King George, VA, 22485. Bring a dish to share and join in the excitement and get a glimpse of Christmas that you only see in magazines
Protestantism has succeeded because it gave a new identity to people facing new situations.
Dr. McCulloch writes about the expanding Protestant branch of Christianity – “there was a force behind this expansion greater than British imperial power: the Protestant religious movements underpinning it were international. What is remarkable about these stories is their interconnection across Europe and the world, and the fact that they took both their immediate and their long-term origins from Protestant Germany” 
We continue the Reformation moving to England. In 1534, Henry VIII seized control of the Church of England when the Pope refused to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. The English provided a middle way emphasizing Protestant concepts of justification of faith, eliminating indulgences but keeping many Catholic forms of worship – a liturgy, vestments, and a rich musical tradition. But not everyone in England approved of half measures of reform. Puritans were austere Protestants which hated anything that suggested Catholicism. Under a successor to Elizabeth I , Charles I their anger swelled into civil war. Puritans soldiers fighting for the Westminster Parliament smashed stained glass windows and any symbol of English Catholic monarchy.
We move to the third branch of Christianity, Protestantism which is our branch. The next two weeks will focus on the Reformation, that period in history from 1517-1648 where the Protestant churches developed and also the so –called Counter Reformation, which was the response of the Catholics. We will explore the thoughts and actions of Martin Luther, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli who developed the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland. Their work solidified Protestantism for Northern Europe which is still true today 
The rulers of Russia took up the cause of Orthodoxy and saw themselves as the "third Rome" after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. Orthodoxy in Russia as with Byzantium became defined by one building – St. Basil’s Cathedral a strange church enclosed within eight separate churches built in 1552 by that notorious Russian ruler Ivan the Terrible.
Have you ever walked a Labyrinth ? The ECW will be venturing to St. Mary’s White Chapel in Lancaster Va. in place of their normal meeting to do just that. Labyrinths date back thousands of years and are not limited to any single culture or religious tradition. The earliest examples are more than 3000 years old. They were used in place of pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the Middle Ages since it was so dangerous to go. There will be time for lunch afterwards.
The distinctive Orthodox worship style is highlighted in this video. It bears an influence from the middle eastern origins of the First Christianity – Syriac Orthodox and Church of the East. The sights and sounds of Orthodoxy are much different than our own with incense and icons. The service is great in high drama and rich in symbolism and ritual.
While Rome was being conquered by the “barbarians” after 410 the church enlisted the Celtic and Benedictine monks to serve as a spiritual militia for winning the barbarians to the Christian faith. 
By the time of King Charlemagne in the eighth century, the pope crowned him. What a role reversal ! The popes slowly assumed more and more power until Innocent III (1198-1216) taught Europe to think of the popes as world rulers. Their cathedrals seemed to reach into the heavens!