Photos
Lent 2C, March 13, 2022 , Back from the Desert, Jesus as a mother hen
A freak storm on Sat March 12 brought snow, rain, sleet and high wind most of the day. This was cleared by Sunday but the 15 degree temperatures reduced a attendance to 14 and 6 online. The Rev. Deacon Sallie Hartman was the guest preacher during morning prayer.
Larry Saylor -“Praise you in this storm”
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!
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!
Christmas Eve service Dec. 24, 2021, “living in expectation of God’s unfolding purposes”
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!
Christmas Play, 2021 goes outside
Since the 1990’s the annual St. Peter’s Christmas Play was inside the Church, usually during Advent 4. The play has always involved much of the congregation. However, due to Covid, there was no 2020 play.
Let’s do something different! In 2021, the idea was to go outside in terms of location and marketing. We would invite the community and bring the meaning of Christmas to the world and schedule it in the evening outside. It would have two performances to attract a larger audience in the community. We also went outside the church for additional actors and actresses for an ecumenical flavor. We had a real Jesus born in 2021! The angels were not just children but adults as well. The music had to be mobile!
This was a more involved play with 6 scenes and locations, including the pavilion dedicated in 2021. With this complexity the play had to include more directions and location managers.
Nativity Collection – Jan and Larry Saylor
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.