Frontpage, Aug. 22, 2021

Ecumenical Bible study is for all faiths and all times, meeting on Wednesdays, weekly. It goes back to at least 2001 since we have a picture of it but it is certainly older. As the school year begins it is appropriate to remember this educational ministry.

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Pentecost 13 – Aug. 22, 2021

Aug. 22 – 11:00am, Morning Prayer . Guess preacher, the Rev. Amy Turner, our first Godly Play teacher. 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

 

• Bulletin
• Pentecost 13 Sunday readings
• Lectionary discussion
• Sermon

• Videos, Aug. 22
• Photos, Aug. 22
• Description – What went on, Aug. 22?

Aug. 22 – 7:00pm, Compline on Zoom – Join here at 6:30am for gathering – service starts at 7pm Meeting ID: 878 7167 9302
Passcode: 729195

 

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Aug. 23 – 6:30am – Be Still Meditation group in a 20 minute time of prayer Meeting ID: 879 8071 6417 Passcode: 790929

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Bible Study on Wednesday 10am-12pm!

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Aug. 29 – 11:00am, , Holy Eucharist

Aug. 29 – 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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A big weekend in Mission!

The Jamaica Project Mission Trip takes place this coming week! Thank you all for your support of this project. Thanks to you, the mission team will be distributing school supplies for every student at the Victoria Elementary School, over 300 students. In addition, your donations have covered the shipping of these supplies, the cost for customs and also enough money left over to contribute to the school for ongoing projects. The team will give a complete report upon their return.

Thanksgivings for Andrea Pogue, who had the vision for this project and who has done a great deal of work to make the vision a reality. Please pray for those who will be traveling to Jamaica: Andrea and Ken Pogue, Cookie and Johnny Davis, Laura Carey, Jan Saylor, and Catherine Hicks.

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Jamaica Project Itinerary

Thursday, August 19

• Arrive in Kingston, go to Port Royal
• Travel to Linstead

Friday, August 20

• Go to school to sort items and prepare for distribution.
• Go to Lemon Ridge in the country, social distancing picnic, give out clothing, etc
• Visit the house that all who have bought Andrea’s dinners have helped make possible
• Visit Myrtle’s and Lester’s graves

Saturday, August 21


• Distribution – Two kids per class for photo op, two kids for each grade and school will distribute the rest with the school opening pushed back to September 15 due to Covid

Sunday, August 22

• A Jamaican church service

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The Jamaica Team in Jamaica (Port Royal), Aug 19 . From Catherine

“We got here, no problem, and then went to Port Royal, spent hours in a restaurant (service VERY slow) but when the food finally came it was delicious. Seafood! We are finally in the hotel (Linstead) we are staying at for tonight and tomorrow night. We did have our little worship service outside around a table just at dusk.”

View the service on the first night in Jamaica, Aug. 19

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Jamaica Team in Jamaica, Fri., Aug. 20. From Catherine:

“The group went to the Victoria School today after breakfast and morning worship. The school has approximately 310 students from first grade to sixth grade. Each grade has two teachers. The principal was present to help us with today’s work. We packed the three hundred book bags that St Peter’s donated with a notebook, crayons, erasers, rulers, pencils and pens. We also put masks into each bag. This process took several hours.

“After finishing our work at the school, we drove up into the country to visit the house that Andrea’s family and their friends, including many of us, have helped to build. The work on the house is coming along nicely. We got to meet many local people and to try some Jamaican food like roasted bread fruit, and cashews. We did a brief house blessing and presented Junior with a beautiful framed house blessing made by Jan Saylor.

After a delicious dinner prepared by friends of the family, we returned to our hotel, looking forward to meeting the students at the Victoria School tomorrow at the book bag distribution.”

There were two services:

1. Morning Aug 20

2. Evening, Aug 20

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A disappointing Aug. Village Harvest

We had the food – but not the clients! We set a new record in Aug. Not the one we are looking for! We only had 25 shoppers, the lowest count since we began the Village Harvest in Nov. 2014.

Why ? Some possibilities

1. People have received the child care credit. Eligible parents got the first advance child tax credit payment on July 15, with more partial installments being sent out through the end of 2021. Each child under age 6 could qualify for a maximum of $300 a month, and each child ages 6 to 17 could qualify for a maximum of $250 a month.

2. People have found work with labor in demand

3. People are away with the summer waning .

4. Children are back in school with the school picking up some of the food demand

Ironically, we had one of the larger food inventories. We have 1,461 pounds, the largest number of pounds since March. This included 476 pounds of produce, 702 pounds of grocery items, 248 pounds of meat and 35 of baker items. We paid $200 for the food but for those getting food a total of $351.

There was food left over. Elizabeth Heimbach reports, “we took the fruit, cabbages, peppers, bread, and some other things to the Food Pantry in Bowling Green. There are 16 bags of non-perishables and lots of frozen chicken all packed ready for next month.”

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Lectionary, Aug. 29, 14th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B
 

I. Theme –   The challenge of living according to God’s guidelines

Cerezo Barredo (1999)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

Old Testament – Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
Psalm – Psalm 15 Page 599, BCP
Epistle –James 1:17-27
Gospel – Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23  

Today’s readings remind us of the challenge of living according to God’s guidelines. Moses in Deuteronomy teaches that the law of the lord is a gracious gift to God’s people.  James reminds us that the word planted within us can save us as we do what it says. Jesus emphasizes that right relationship is based on obedience to God, not in compliance with human traditions.

Incorporated in the Deuteronomy passage is the incalculable mystery of Israel’s election and mission. Moses appeals to the unique revelation of God to Israel and pleads for whole-hearted obedience to God. The law is to be a fence around the people of God so that they may live obedient to the One God, preserved from idolatrous influences in the years to come. The nation’s fidelity to God’s law was meant to demonstrate to all humanity the divine rule in human history. Here in substance is the missionary purpose of Israel’s existence.

Judaism considers the messianic claim of Jesus an addition that radically departs from the basic principle of the Jewish faith–the unity of God. The reference to a “god so near” is interpreted by the rabbis to mean that no intermediary of any sort is required for the worshiper to approach God in prayer. Judaism has a wide tradition of religious tolerance. It teaches that all people are judged solely on their moral life and the righteous of all nations share in the world to come with the righteous of Israel.

Judaism always taught that right motives are all-important, and Jesus certainly emphasized this in his teaching and preaching. In Mark 7, he points out that evil comes from within, “out of the heart.” Although righteousness cannot be legislated, the innumerable additions to the Torah via the oral tradition were justified by Israel’s teachers as necessary for deeper understanding and for increased resistance to idolatry–the offense that leads to all other sin.

Sin continues to take its toll. Human pride and perversity remain unconquered without divine intervention–the new and marvelous things that God did by sending the Son into the world. We know that the rulers of darkness and the spiritual hosts of wickedness assail us. The sword of the Spirit is still the Word of God. But the word came new and powerful in Christ to cleanse our hearts of evil from within. Christ completes the “whole armor of God.”

Faith is a matter of head, heart, and hands. Faith without works is useless, so says the author of the Epistle of James. Theology that can’t be practiced is irrelevant – a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Action without reflection or divorced from values and vision is ultimately aimless and destruction, and certainly self-serving. Holistic theology embraces the wisdom of embodiment and integrates it with the guidance of spirit and reason.

In all things and at all times, our lives should praise God. In all things and at all times, our lives should model to others the love of God. In all things and at all times, our words should build up the reign of God, and not harm others. We are called to tear down the walls of division, not to judge others. We are called to care for the poor, the widows, the orphans, the marginalized, the oppressed—not to condemn or curse or justify ourselves. And when we bring ourselves into alignment—our words, actions and beliefs/values, we find ourselves living more authentically as Christians and followers of God’s way, and living more filling lives. We give value to ourselves and to others when we live authentically as followers of Jesus the Christ.

Read more about the lectionary…

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Aug 24 – The Feast Day of St. Bartholomew

Bartholomew was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, and is usually identified as Nathaniel and was a doctor. In Mark 3:18 he is one of the twelve Jesus calls to be with him. He was introduced to us as a friend of Philip, another of the twelve apostles as per (John 1:43-51), where the name Nathaniel first appears.

He was characterized by Jesus on the first meeing as a man "in whom there was no guile.” He is also mentioned as “Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee” in (John 21:2). His day is remembered on August 24. After the Resurrection he was favored by becoming one of the few apostles who witnessed the appearance of the risen Savior on the sea of Galilee (John 21:2).

From Eusebius history, Bartholomew went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. Other traditions record him as serving as a missionary in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, and Lycaonia.

Along with his fellow apostle Jude, Bartholomew is reputed to have brought Christianity to Armenia in the 1st century. Thus both saints are considered the patron saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church. He is said to have been martyred in in Armenia. According to one account, he was beheaded, but a more popular tradition holds that he was flayed alive and crucified, head downward. He is said to have converted Polymius, the king of Armenia, to Christianity. His brother consequently ordered Bartholomew’s execution. The 13th century Saint Bartholomew Monastery was a prominent Armenian monastery constructed at the site of the martyrdom of Apostle Bartholomew in what is today southeastern turkey

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