St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Port Royal, VA
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.
From Elizabeth Heimbach–The flowers are blooming, and the grass is turning green; it is time to look ahead! I hope everyone can come for lunch at 11:30 on Tuesday, April 9 at Horne’s.
We always have fun when we are together, and we will have time to brainstorm about fundraising ideas and future events including the Portland Guitar Duo Concert, the bishop’s visit, a holiday dinner and a reception. Please come with ideas! Hope to see you there!
Please Email Elizabeth if you plan to attend.
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This is a topical summary. We have another page that is a chronological listing of 2023 events with table of contents with links to the events.
The highlights can be grouped as follows:
A. New ministry
God’s Garden
Chancellors Village
Advent Worskhop
B. New expressions in ministry
Stewardship tree
Lent -Stations of the Cross in the graveyard and more services
C. Expanded and revised ministries
Mission trip to Jamaica
Anniversary Village Harvest Food Ministry
Sacred Ground revised
ECM (Episcopal Church Men) end of year expanded donations and use of an art auction.
Community – Prayer service, Outside Christmas pageant, Work with community organizations
Key parishioner volunteering
ECW (Episcopal Church Women) projects
D. Music provided new delights
Easter, the summer and Christmas
Blue grass concert
E. Losses connected with two historic trees and two heating systems.
1. New ministry – God’s Garden
A new ministry debuted Sept 17, 2023. God’s Garden for 5 to 9 year olds began with 4 children and two experienced teachers, Elizabeth Heimbach, the originator of the class and Jan Saylor.
One of the first activities was to “God’s Garden” which explored what it meant to be a saint, today (Oct. 1, 2023) for St. Francis Day on Oct. 4. As an example they told the story of St. Francis taming the Wolf of Gubbio. Then, they made Pet blessings with treats to give out in church to make pets happy on St. Francis Day, Oct. 4.
2. Expanded ministry in Jamaica
Even before the mission began, we hosted Annette Steele, principal of Victoria Primary School who enjoyed a full day at St. Peter’s on Sun, Aug. 13. She addressed the church at announcements about our joint mission to help the students in her elementary school get ready for school in Sept, both in 2021 and 2023. She explained how much it meant to the students and her community.
After the service, she enjoyed St. Peter’s hospitality at a luncheon and met our parishioners and guests.
The group of 3 on the mission team distributed our donations in Jamaica on Aug. 26
We not only brought the usual school supplies but added 6 tablets. Separately, 7 used computers were donated to a school that had never had a computer.
There were different ways of distributing the items. There were contests for tablets and food baskets won by answering questions. Certificates given out based on merit overall and in areas like math. A number of students won $1,000 Jamaican dollars for math competency. Teachers were not forgotten – 2 footballs were given out to the coach!
3. Village Harvest ended its 9th year and began its 10th year in August, 2023 and ended the year serving the most people since 2019.
For the year, we recovered from a slow 1st quarter, 2023 and ended the year serving 1,063 people compared to 1,051 in 2022. It was the best yearly total since 2019.
Unfortunately, the same trend overall wasn’t present with food. Food increased from 2021 to 2022 (14,303 to 15,302 pounds) but dipped to 13,859 pounds in 2023. The first quarter was the problem. We had 2,913 pounds in that quarter compared over 4,000 for 2022 and 2021.
As a result, pounds provided per individual dropped from 14.56 in 2022 to 13.04. In 2021, it was in the same range at 14.32. Overall, pounds per individual are substantially higher since 2019 than in earlier periods.
The 2023 collection on Giving Tuesday, Nov 28 of $1,205 was the highest Giving Tuesday figure since 2019 and provides over 5 months of support for purchasing food for 2024
4. Sacred Ground revised their scholarship program
Representatives from Sacred Ground met with Jessica Thompson, Executive Director of the Germanna Educational Foundation, for lunch at Castiglias in Fredericksburg on Oct. 10, 2023. The goal was to determine how we could move forward with a new focus on our scholarships for students.
Sacred Ground voted unanimously by email in early December to fund the recommendation forwarded by Jessica Thompson at Germanna for scholarships for students entering the trades. Each student is “in financial need and from underserved populations.” The $2,700 would be split equally to pay for their training.
Each student owes approximately $1,500 for the classes to complete the training. We will pay for the additional expense for each student through additional scholarship funds
They also toured Patawomeck Village in November. The goal of the visit was to understand their history and culture as well as our role
Earlier, the Sacred Ground group had the pleasure of meeting with Alanna Gray (beside Catherine), and her mother and grandmother (opposite Alanna) at Cuppa Cheer in February
The House is a combined ministry of the Episcopal/Lutheran churches focusing on campus, Young Adult, and Intergenerational Ministry centered around The University of March Washington and Germanna. The Rev. Ethan Lowery is the missioner who is supported and sponsored by by Trinity Episcopal, St. George’s Episcopal and Christ Lutheran.
St. Peter’s ECW signed up to provide dinner to one of their regular weekly meetings on Tuesday between 5pm. They have a dinner business meeting and program. We had 8-10 students for the dinner. (The students were in the midst of “crunch time” with exams next week).
Thanks to Elizabeth, Catherine, Linda, Alice and Robin who cooked the food and Jim Heimbach and Andrea who supported St. Peter’s at the event. St. Peter’s provided both regular and gluten free chile, corn bread and brownies as well as a vegetable tray.
Joining us was the Rev. Rosemary Beales who is a specialist in Godly Play and presented the story of Abraham with all the objects in a tray of sand. (Catherine took Godly Play under Rosemary prior to St. Peter’s implemented it several years ago. Rosemary works with Godly Play at St. George’s.)
We learned the House is conducting one of their main fund raising events this Sun Dec. 10 which is a crafts fair with items donated. Customer will not pay a price set by the House but one they believe is fair.
The ECW will be taking dinner to the “House” located on Collage Ave, Fredericksburg on Dec. 5. (This was last done Feb.5 , 2019 for about 10 students.) . Their website is – https://www.thehousefxbg.org/.
The Episcopal and Lutheran churches in downtown Fredericksburg have shared ministry for years, working together to fund and staff a mission to the University of Mary Washington campus since 2011. In 2018, the leadership of the three churches dreamed up the new position of Young Adult Missioner to coordinate campus ministries.
The missioner is The Rev. Ethan Lowery. College students meet Tuesdays during the semester from 5-7pm at The House for dinner and discussion and time to hang out and check in. Our goal for our young adult ministry is to create safe spaces for fellowship, creativity, and learning and growing
Our missioner’s work is supported and shared among three parishes–Christ Lutheran, Trinity Episcopal, and St. George’s Episcopal, all within walking distance of UMW and The House
This is a PowerPoint comprising a list and description of St. Peter’s ministries under four headings – internal, local partners, state and national partners and international partners. The internal are distinguished by parishioner involvement and are generally active yearly. The others may not be active every year.
Many of these ministries represent the day to day work of the church, both outreach into the world and inreach for those within the church. The church is more than just Sunday and the St. Peter’s building but is working in the world! They involve the both the clergy and parishioners in the church as well as others. Many of these ministries are historic (Bible Study is 20 years old) but some, like Sacred Ground were created in the last five years.
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The September meeting of the St. Peter’s ECW was held at the Heimbachs’ house because tree work at the church made parking limited. There were about 11 in attendance. Typically the ECW (Episcopal Church Women) at St. Peter’s give half of their earnings away by the 4th quarter of each year for outreach.
After everyone enjoyed tea and snacks, we welcomed our new member, Jean Devitt. Then, Elizabeth reported that the ECW account currently totaled $2280.89, and the group agreed to donate $100 to CERVE, (the Caroline Emergency Relief through Volunteer Efforts), $250 to Catherine’s Discretionary Fund, $500 to Village Harvest, and $500 to Social Services for their Christmas program. Since an anonymous member had given an additional $70, the ECW account will have $1000 after these donations are made.
Nancy Long has agreed to do some research to find out about the cost of repairing the brass altar vases which were a gift to St. Peter’s from the ECW, while Alice said that she would try to find out the possible value of the large bas-relief currently stored upstairs in the rectory.
The group also discussed plans for the coming months including a visit to Chancellor’s Village, and a tour of the Potowomack Center. In addition, we talked about providing refreshments for the Epiphany and Presentation Services when the St. Peter’s Choir will join the choir of St. Asaph’s. We also agreed to prepare dinner for the Episcopalian students at Mary Washington, and, perhaps, to supply snacks for them during exam week in early December.
Finally, several people had ideas for events for which we could sell tickets to raise money. Jan suggested a Mother’s Day brunch, Catherine suggested a croquet match, and several people talked about the possibility of an event like a concert that could include a barbecue.
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