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.

Photos

It’s Butterfly Time!

July is usually considered butterfly month but several have come our way. Here are two submitted by Andrea and Ben. There are about 20,000 species of butterflies worldwide. About 700 inhabit North America.

A Boost for the Village Harvest, April 2023

Food Delivery from Healthy Harvest in Warsaw

Clients at the Village Harvest increased from 81 in March to 104 in April. Ongoing, the church is now advertising with local social service and Caroline County Schools to increase visits. 104 represents the largest number since Jan, 2022 where there were 115. It was additionally above last year’s April figure of 70.

Food in pounds were 1,365 representing the largest amount of food available since last Dec.

The food is divided into produce, grocery items and meat. The graph compared April 2023, 2022 and 2021 and then 2019. (There was no distribution in 2020 due to the pandemic.) Produce recovered in April, 2023 up to 51% of the total after slipping to 35% and 27% in 2022 and 2021, respectively. It now exceeds in percentage 2019, the last normal year prior to the pandemic.

Despite the improvement year to date after 4 months, we are 12% below 2022 in clients and 20% under in available food.

Tenebrae Returned! April 5, 2023,

1. Background of the service Tenebrae is the opening of the Holy Week services for the church.

Unlike the other Easter services, Tenebrae doesn’t relate to a specific Holy Week event as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.

“Tenebrae” is Latin for shadows. The purpose of the service is to recreate the emotional aspects of the passion story. This is an unusual service with its own Liturgy. There is no music – the readings carry the service. And it’s not from the traditional Gospel readings.

It sets a mood and brings you through the Holy Week story through a set of “shadows”. The shadows move through the agony of last week- Betrayal, Agony of the Spirit, Denial, Accusation, Crucifixion, Death and Burial – symbolized by the lighted candles.

Each shadow generally has a reading from Luke, a Psalm and a hymn. The readings range from Lamentations in the Old Testament to commentary from St Augustine, and at last a reading from Hebrews, in which the theology of God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ is presented for our consideration. The Psalms dominate the service. 

This service makes use of the power of light and sound to emphasize the darkness of death.  15 candles are lit and extinguished gradually throughout the service until one is left.   The candles are snuffed out as Jesus life was.  The candle in the end, the Christ candle, is taken away seemingly saying that evil won. However, dramatically a noise is heard at the end denoting the events of Good Friday and the Christ candle is brought back,  a solitary light in the darkness for resurrection into which we depart, indicating that Christ has triumphed.

2. Bulletin

3. Photo gallery

4. Service (begins at 10:11)