We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Ben Hicks

Voices on Good Shepherd Sunday

1. Br. James Koester, SSJE/

The good news is that we don’t need to be perfect. We only need to be found. We give thanks that the Good Shepherd continues to search for us, so that one day we will be found, gathered into his arms, and brought home.

2. David Lose – "God is Not Done Yet"

Amid Jesus’ discourse on being “the good shepherd,” what jumped out to me this time was Jesus’ simply but bold assertion that, “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Have you ever noticed that before? Or, more than notice it, have you ever given much thought to its theological and homiletical implications? 

What strikes me is that, quite simply, Jesus isn’t done yet. Despite his healings, despite his preaching, despite all that he had already done and planned to do, Jesus isn’t done yet. He still has more sheep to reach, sheep that are not in this fold. By extension, I’d suggest that God isn’t done yet, either. And this matters for at least three reasons. 

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The Good Shepherd in our hymns

“The Good Shepherd” – Jorge Cocco

Our hymns speak of the qualities of the Good Shepherd

1 Savior, like a shepherd lead us . Author  Dorothy Ann Thrupp (1779-1847) speaks of Jesus as guardian of us in our lives,  keeping away from sin and coming after us when we go astray, freeing us in the process. She calls upon Jesus help us do His Will in general

Thrupp compiled several hymnbooks for children. Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us appeared unsigned in her Hymns for the Young, published in 1836, but is commonly attributed to her.

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Good Shepherd.. in the movies

In the Old Testament, Shepherds are used to represent leaders of God’s people (see Isaiah 63:11; Jeremiah 23:2). Shepherds watch for enemies who might attack the sheep, and they defend them when necessary. They tend to sick or wounded sheep and search for and rescue lost or trapped ones.

In Christ’s teachings, shepherds love their sheep and try to earn their trust. The sheep know, love, and trust the shepherd above all others. A good shepherd will even die for his sheep. Christ contrasts the shepherd with the hireling, who deserts the sheep in times of danger because he does not love them.

There are movies where the main character exhibit this behavior.

One of Jack Nicholson’s early films was “One Flew over the Cukoo Nest” (1975). Randall McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) is sent from the state penitentiary to a mental hospital in order to be evaluated. McMurphy is promptly situated as the deviant who will challenge the establishment, embodied principally by the villainous Nurse Ratched. Randall demands to know what medication is being administered to him, attempts to teach fellow patients basketball and black jack, and instigates a futile campaign to have the schedule altered so that everyone may watch the World Series. His threat to the stability of the institution is finally acknowledged by the Board after he commandeers the hospital bus in order to take his disciples on a fishing expedition. The group gradually questions the hospital’s procedures. A violent uproar ensues, causing Randall’s beloved disciple “Chief” (Will Samson) to physically assault a ward who attempts to subdue McMurphy.

After the administration of corrective shock treatment to the dissenters, McMurphy begins to persuade the others to leave the institution, a premise they resist due to a lack of faith in their own capabilities to function on the outside.

In the concluding sequence, it is obvious that McMurphy has empowered at least one of his disciples to do what was once unthinkable. “Chief” hurls a limestone bathroom fixture through the window and escapes the hospital. The rush of water at the beginning of the scene can be linked to baptism.

Link to the last scene

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day prayer BCP 829 #46 (adapt for “mothers”) Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give to all mothers calm strength and patient wisdom as the bring them up, that they may teach them to love whatever it is just true and good, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen

Mother’s Day prayer“Dear Lord, we come before you today to thank you for those who have brought new life into this world. We thank you especially for Mary , the mother of our Savior Jesus Christ, who brought to birth your Son who shared our human nature and lived and died as one of us. Give us the grace, all of us, to welcome you into our hearts and minds and spirits and bring your love to birth in this world. In the name of your song and through the power of the Holy Spirit we pray. Amen”

For mothers

“God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.” A ]ewish Proverb

“There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.” – Chinese Proverb

“A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.” – An Irish Proverb

“As truly as God is our Father, so truly God is our Mother.” -Julian of Norwich

“A mother understands what a child does not”. Jewish proverb

“The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.”—Elaine Heffner

Origin of Mother’s Day

In the photo – Anna Jarvis and Julia Ward Howe who in the 19th century promoted the idea of mother’s day. Then 3 men who wrote about their moms, Lincoln, Edison and Churchill

This Sunday is Mother’s Day. Originally Mother’s day was less about Mom but the conditions she faced in being Mom. In wartime it became a peace movement. Finally, it became about Mom herself in our time.

In the late 1850s, Ann Jarvis established Mother’s Work Day, a day dedicated to teaching mothers how to better prepare food and clean so as to prevent disease. The mission was to improve sanitary conditions. This mission was driven by personal experience, as seven of her eleven children died before adulthood. Though personal, this experience was anything but unique in a time before vaccines and a widespread understanding of germ theory. They raised money for medicine and helped families with mothers suffering from tuberculosis, among other supports.

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A Mother’s Day Poem – “To the Moms Who Are”

On Mother’s day we celebrate all mothers. The Bible is full of great mothers – Sarah: the mother who waited in the Old Testament to the New Testament, Elizabeth: the mother who believed in miracles and Mary: the mother who is blessed among Women.

This poem will be a part of our services today in honor of our mothers.

“To the Moms who are struggling, to those filled with incandescent joy.
“To the Moms who are remembering children who have died, and pregnancies that miscarried.
“To the Moms who decided other parents were the best choice for their babies, to the Moms who adopted those kids and loved them fierce.
“To those experiencing frustration or desperation in infertility.
“To those who knew they never wanted kids, and the ways they have contributed to our shared world.
“To those who mothered colleagues, mentees, neighborhood kids, and anyone who needed it.
“To those remembering Moms no longer with us.
“To those moving forward from Moms who did not show love, or hurt those they should have cared for.
“Today is a day to honor the unyielding love and care for others we call ‘Motherhood,’ wherever we have found it and in whatever ways we have found to cultivate it within ourselves.”

– Hannah Kardon, Pastor at Elston Avenue United Methodist Church

Francis Perkins and Mother’s Day

Frances Perkins listened  sympathetically as a stalwart member of the New York state legislature confessed a political misdeed. Because she barely knew him, she asked why he had confided in her. ‘Well, Miss Perkins,” he said, “all men have mothers.” The young lobbyist for workers’ welfare realized her tricorne hat and sober manner of dress reminded him of his mother.

As the chief advocate and architect of the Social Security Act as Secretary of Labor under Franklin Roosevelt, Perkins succeeded in lifting half the nation’s elderly out of poverty shortly after it became law in 1935. Through it, she also provided unemployment  insurance and workers’ compensation to millions of others and stipends  through age 18 to millions of children who lost a wage-earning parent.

A lifelong associate of All Saints Sisters of the Poor, she spent one day a month in silent retreat at their Maryland convent throughout her 12 years in the New Deal cabinet. Perkins was also ahead of her time in fighting human trafficking in Philadelphia.