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.

Thanksgiving

“Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.” Amen.

Christ the King Sunday

 

Last Sunday in Ordinary Time -We celebrate Christ the King Sunday as the last Sunday of Ordinary Time just before we begin Advent. It is the switch in the Liturgy between Years A, B, and C. Year A focuses on Matthew, Year B on Mark and Year C on Luke. The Gospel of John is included in each year in the Easter time frame.

The readings for the last Sunday after Pentecost are full of references to the return of Christ, when evil will be defeated and Jesus will begin his final reign as King of kings. In Advent, the Church year begins with a focus on the final restoration of all creation to its original glory. In preparation, on the last Sunday of the Church year, we proclaim the advent of the Lord of lords and King of kings.

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.

Christians have long celebrated Jesus as Christ, and his reign as King is celebrated to some degree in Advent (when Christians wait for his second coming in glory), Christmas (when "born this day is the King of the Jews"), Holy Week (when Christ is the Crucified King), Easter (when Jesus is resurrected in power and glory), and the Ascension (when Jesus returns to the glory he had with the Father before the world was created).

The recent celebration of Christ the King came from the Catholics in the 20th century. Pope Pius XI wanted to specifically commemorate Christ as king, and instituted the feast in the Western calendar in 1925.  Pius connected the denial of Christ as king to the rise of secularism. 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

Pius hoped the institution of the feast would have various effects. They were:

1. That nations would see that the Church has the right to freedom, and immunity from the state

2. That leaders and nations would see that they are bound to give respect to Christ

3. That the faithful would gain strength and courage from the celebration of the feast, as we are reminded that Christ must reign in our hearts, minds, wills, and bodies

Art

Art celebrates this Sunday with various symbols – Crown of Thorns
Crown,  Jesus on Throne,  Jesus holding scepter and orb,  Kingly attire/activities, Crucifix.

Scripture

Christ’s kingship is one of humility and service. Jesus said:

"You know that those who are recognized as rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones make their authority over them felt. But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to become great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all. For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:42-45).

Pilate said to Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?"… Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." So Pilate said to him, "Then you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth (John 18:33b, 36-37)

Reformation Day, Oct. 31

Reformation Day is a religious holiday celebrated on October 31, alongside All Hallows’ Eve, in remembrance of the Reformation, particularly by Lutheran and some Reformed church communities. It is a civic holiday in some German states.

It celebrates Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 theses on the church door at Wittenberg in Germany on Oct. 31, 1517. The event is seen as sparking the Protestant Reformation.

There are some questions of fact. The event was not publicized until 1546 by Philipp Melanchthon and no contemporaneous evidence exists for Luther’s posting of the theses. At the time, it was common for scholars to post their debate points on the door where people could read them. Copies of Luther’s theses and his fiery follow-up sermons were mass produced on a relatively new invention the printing press.

Luther’s movement began as a criticism of Catholic practices, not to split off from the Catholic church. Sinners could buy God’s forgiveness by purchasing an indulgence. Luther preferred justification by faith.  He also wanted people to read the Bible in their own languages and not just in Latin

The Reformation led to the split from one Catholic church to Protestant ones. There are now nearly 45,000 Protestant denominations around the world, including mainline Protestants, Anglicans, Evangelicals, Pentecostals and more.

It has been seen as the most significant event in Western Christian history and mirror in which we measure ourselves today.  Many of the differences that promoted the reformation have been solved – indulgences, justification by faith and having the Bible printed in multiple languages. Others such marriage of priests, same sex marriages are still divisive.  Will they be able celebrate communion together ?  That may take another reformation.

Here is an impromptu performance after the 11am service on Oct. 27, 2019 of part of Luther’s famous hymn. He wrote the words and composed the melody sometime between 1527 and 1529:

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Autumnal Tints

Shortly before his death, Henry David Thoreau finished an extraordinary ode to autumn in his essay, “Autumnal Tints.” Enjoy the entire essay here – and read on for a few of its highlights, with Thoreau’s lovely prose laid out as poems for your reading pleasure.

+++++

October is the month of painted leaves.
Their rich glow now flashes round the world.
As fruits and leaves and the day itself
acquire a bright tint just before they fall,
so the year near its setting.
October is its sunset sky;
November the later twilight.

+++++

It is pleasant to walk over the beds
of these fresh, crisp, and rustling leaves.
How beautifully they go to their graves!
How gently lay themselves down
and turn to mould!
Painted of a thousand hues, and fit
to make the beds of us living.
So they troop to their last resting place,
light and frisky. They put on no weeds,
but merrily they go scampering over the earth,
selecting the spot,
choosing a lot,
ordering no iron fence…
How many flutterings
before they rest quietly in their graves!
They that soared so loftily, how contentedly
they return to dust again, and are laid low,
resigned to lie and decay at the foot of the tree,
and afford nourishment to new generations of their kind,
as well as to flutter on high!
They teach us how to die.

+++++

Let your walks now be a little more adventurous;
ascend the hills. If, about the last of October,
you ascend any hill in the outskirts of our town,
and probably of yours, and look over the forest,
you may see well, what I have endeavored to describe.
All this you surely will see, and much more,
if you are prepared to see it,—if you look for it…
Objects are concealed from our view,
not so much because they are out of the course
of our visual ray as because we do not bring
our minds and eyes to bear on them;
for there is no power to see in the eye itself,
any more than in any other jelly.
We do not realize how far and widely,
or how near and narrowly, we are to look.
The greater part of the phenomena of Nature
are for this reason concealed from us all our lives.
The gardener sees only the gardener’s garden…
There is just as much beauty
visible to us in the landscape
as we are prepared to appreciate,
—not a grain more.

+ Henry David Thoreau

The End of October, Early Nov. – a summary

Halloween originated in Celtic cultures the day before Samhain, the beginning of the Celtic winter. It focused on death blending in the supernatural. The Catholic Church incorporated non-Christian traditions into its holidays to bring people to the church. It scheduled All Saints (Nov 1 ) and All Souls (Nov. 2) after Halloween. All Soul’s focused on those who had died without the supernatural. All Saints celebrated all who believed and were baptized. The word saint originally meant “holy”. Later it became a feast day commemorating all martyrs.

Baking as Prayer

By Kendall Vanderslice
Excerpted from Build Faith

“After years of early mornings, late nights, and low pay in the restaurant industry, I needed work that was physically, spiritually, and financially sustainable. I accepted a job helping a nearby church run a small bread bakery, selling loaves at the local farmer’s market as a way to get to know the community. Meanwhile, I began teaching workshops on bread baking as a form of prayer, helping others to experience God’s nearness through the feel of dough too.

“Over the next few years, I honed this method by teaching in churches and colleges across the country.

“I believe that all of our time in the kitchen can be a form of embodied prayer, a time to meet with God through the movements of our hands. Too often we imagine prayer to be the words that we say to God, whether those written so carefully in our prayer books or expressed extemporaneously in the quiet of our hearts. But God longs for us to simply rest in God’s presence, whether or not we have words to encompass our need. In a cultural moment of loneliness, isolation, and increasing polarization, this tactile method of being present with God is the balm we need. As is the practice of sharing the fruits of our labor with friends and family, strangers and neighbors—a way of extending the love of God to everyone in our lives.

“The idea of baking as prayer can feel a bit strange at first. The simple liturgy below is my favorite way to help newcomers dip their toes into the practice.

A Liturgy for Baking

1. Mise en Place (A Time of Preparation)

Prepare your workspace and yourself for the dish you are about to make. Read through your recipe from beginning to end so that you know what to expect and where you will end up. Gather up all the ingredients you will need.

As you do, pray these words through the rhythms of your breath:
Inhale: My soul finds rest
Exhale: in God alone.

2. Mix Follow the instructions for the recipe you are using to mix up your batter or your dough. As you do, continue your meditative breathing. Pay attention to the feel and smell of each ingredient. Watch with wonder as the ingredients transform in your hands.

3. Rest When the time comes to set your bake aside—whether to let the yeast rise or the cookie dough relax or the fruits macerate—then allow yourself to rest as well. Begin this time of respite with this prayer: God, help me to trust that you are at work while my hands and my heart are at rest.

4. Bake When your dish is ready for baking, slide it into the oven. If your oven allows you to see inside, watch the dough rise, burp, and relax into place. Pay attention to the smells that fill your kitchen. Find joy in the creativity of God who made these ingredients to work together in this way and gave humans the idea to combine them.

5. Eat As you prepare to eat the fruits of your labor, close your eyes and breathe in deeply. Enjoy each and every crumb, allowing your delight to be a prayer of its own, a sign of your gratitude to God and God’s good gift to you.

St. James of Jerusalem, Oct. 23

We celebrate James day on Oct. 23. He is known as St. James of Jerusalem (or “James the Just”). James was so respected by all, including even unbelieving Jews, that he was nicknamed “the Just”.

He is referred to by Paul as “the Lord’s brother” (Galatians 1:19) and the equal of the other disciples. Matthew provides some clues in Matthew 13:55 on his identity. “Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” with the story of Jesus less than enthusiastic reaction in Nazareth.

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St. Michael and the Angels, Sept. 29

Michaelmas, or the Feast of Michael and All Angels, is celebrated on the 29th of September every year. St Michael is one of the principal angelic warriors, protector against the dark of the night and the Archangel who fought against Satan and his evil angels. It is the “mass of Michael.” As it falls near the equinox, the day is associated with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days. It used to be said that harvest had to be completed by Michaelmas, almost like the marking of the end of the productive season and the beginning of the new cycle of farming.

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40 Old Testament Stories that every Christian Should know – #1 Story of Creation

Pastor Vicki Zust was the rector of St. Paul’s, Clarence, NY. Having completed a 2 year cycle of reading the entire Bible she decided to try something different. As she writes, “So I went through the Old Testament and wrote down the stories that a lot of our theology and history depends on. It turns out there are 40 of them.”

For the next few weeks we will look at her list with links to the reading. Her blog is here.

Link to the reading – Genesis 1

“Actually it is the two stories of creation.

“There are two slightly different versions of the story (or maybe just a retelling of the story with a different focus).

“Most Christians are basically aware of the Creation story. “In the beginning, when God was creating the heavens and the earth …” Everything was created in six days and on the seventh day God rested.

“I want to point out three things about the story that you may have skimmed over (or forgotten)

“1. Everything God created was good. Every day of creation ends with “and God saw that it was good.” Creation (including us) are good at its beginning. God saw that creation was good.

“2. We are made in the image of God – to quote from the NRSV – “And God made humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male & female he created them.” This is a pretty good translation from the Hebrew. We are made in the image of God – male & female, black & white, all of us, are made in the image and likeness of God.

“3. God says a strange thing in talking about humanity, again from the NRSV – “and God said, “let us make humankind in our image.” Did you catch that – God is talking to God and talks about himself in the plural. Our image – not my image, that is a good translation from the Hebrew too – so, what do you think that says about God?

Here is another way to look at this sequence.