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!

The Saylors brought their nativity collection to St. Peter’s for Advent. Jan has been collecting since the early 1990’s. The photo above took a character (or group) from each of the 8 countries represented in their collection.

There is a story behind each piece of art. Some of the art was bartered (Dominican Republic, Haiti) and others bought from Ten Thousand Villages a nonprofit fair trade organization (Indonesia, Peru, Colombia). Some of the pieces from Zambia and Dominican Republic reflect their overseas travels. Closer to home the US piece came from Jan’s family home. We thank them for sharing this treasure with St. Peter’s.

In Genesis 1:27, “God created man in his own image.” In turn, the universal nature of the nativity story has sparked artists to derive their own image of the event.

Under a partly cloudy sky and low humidity, coffee hour returned. For a July 4 it was very pleasant in terms of weather.

Ken and Andrea donated all the food from his birthday party on July 3. The menu included hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, baked beans, macaroni salad and a variety cookies and cakes. Cookie and Johnny brought water melon and organized the space with tables and decorations. People could come as they were without having to provide food. Thanks for all of the above.

It was relatively a small crowd which provided plenty of space for conversation. It was the first Parish event with the new pavilion which made it special.

A wonderful July 4 Sunday with great weather, partly cloudy with low humidity. We had 29 – 22 in the church and 7 online.

The flowers were donated by John and Toni Faibisy in memory of John’s mother, Mrs. Marion Faibisy, born on July 4, in Nova Scotia. Brad announced that he had a niece born earlier today on July 4. There are several people, including his later mother born on July 4.

The music was in keeping with the holiday – “How Firm a Foundation”, “America the Beautiful” (offertory), “Faith of Our Fathers”. This was in the bulletin – The Rev. Daniel Crane Roberts, who served a small rural parish in Brandon, Vermont, wrote the stirring words of today’s closing hymn, “God, of our fathers” for a celebration in his small town to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the signing of The Declaration of Independence. Later, the hymn was used in a national celebration of the centennial of the adoption of the United States Constitution. It has appeared in Episcopal hymnals since 1892.

Mission work continues. We are now collecting hand sanitizer for Caroline’s Promise. The goal is 250 containers but should be small that students can carry with them.

After the service we had our first coffee hour since March, 2020. 16 months is a long time! We made up for it thanks to Ken, Andrea, Cookie and Johnny who provided all the food, setup and decorations. Wonderful! The link to the story with a photo gallery.

This not only Trinity Sunday but it was our first “maskless” Sunday since the pandemic with the pew holders full again with books and a sermon relating an apple to Trinity Sunday 28 were in the congregation with more online.

It was a warm Pentecost – maybe like a holy wind. 17 were present with another 9 online for a total of 26. There were differences in the past – “Hail Thee Festival Day” was done as a prelude and “O day of radiant gladness” became the opening hymn. The Holy Communion used Eucharistic Prayer D and not the special Prayer for Pentecost. Eucharistic Prayer D is the lengthiest and is generally associated with the holiest of our holidays or with occasions of Christian unity.

One thing that continued was the holy tongues of fire that appeared during the closing hymn, “There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place”. Johnny and Edgar did the honors.

The sermon spoke less of the Pentecost event and more of practices. Pentecost is the beginning of the church’s mission as well the coming of the Holy Spirit. The mission can’t work unless the Holy Spirit can do its work. If people think they have all the answer than the Holy Spirit is blocked.