Photos

Rogation” means “asking”. In the agrarian culture of yesterday, it was common for the church to gather on the Rogation Days to ask God to bless the crops being sown.

We would have asked Him to send rain and to bless us with a good harvest later in the year. A common feature of Rogation days in former times was the ceremony of beating the bounds, in which a procession of parishioners, led by the minister, churchwarden, and choirboys, would proceed around the boundary of their parish and pray for its protection in the forthcoming year.

Thoughts on Pentecost from the National Gallery

Unless the eye catch fire,
The God will not be seen.
Unless the ear catch fire,
The God will not be heard.
Unless the tongue catch fire,
The God will not be named.
Unless the heart catch fire,
The God will not be loved.
Unless the mind catch fire,
The God will not be known.

186th anniversary, 16th birthday for a parishioner, distributing the UTO boxes.

Larry has been building his first guitar over 3 years. He played his new creation this morning on a piece “Praise You in This Storm.” Link

Epiphany 4 – When things don’t go right!. Lots of upset people – H – an upset Jeremiah in the Old Testament, a discordant Corinthians community in Paul and finally Nazarenes who didn’t like Jesus message and were ready to cast him off to his death when he came back to his home town.
Thankfully we had a snow that would quiet discordant voices in Port Royal!

We were back in the church for this Christmas Eve after being on zoom exclusively a year earlier. Masks continued as the omicron variant of Covid19 swept the world. Some churches like the Washington Cathedral moved all of their services online. We held ours in the church but with masks required. We had 39, 36 in house and 3 on Zoom. The weather was moderate in the 50’s with partly cloudy to cloudy skies.

We had a new nativity scene outside with 3 figures – Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus

This year may be noted as as return of enhanced music. Since last year Larry Saylor was with us on guitar, and Mary Peterman is back on flute as well as Denise Gregory with her voice. The choir had a new energy and depth which was shown on the “In the Bleak Midwinter.” The choir contributed soloists – flute, guitar and violin. Later in the service, Helmut sang “Silent Night” accompanied by Larry on guitar which was the way it was performed in 1818 on guitar and vocal. Helmut sang the first verse in German and the congregation repeated the 1st verse in English along with the rest of the hymn. Certainly a highlight of the service!