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.

Way of Love

Voices -John 3:16 -God’s Offensive Love

By David Lose 

John 3:16, everyone’s favorite Bible verse. But I’ve wondered whether, if people thought about what this verse says for just a little longer than it takes to read a bumper sticker, it might just prove to be one of our least favorite verses in the Bible. Let me explain.

Jesus articulates in this statement what Luther called “the Gospel in a nutshell” – that God is fundamentally a God of love, that love is the logic by which the kingdom of God runs, and that God’s love trumps everything else, even justice, in the end.

I realize not everyone reads it this way. After all, Jesus says “everyone who believes…” will eternal life, which perhaps implies a different outcome for those who don’t believe. But read on, for in the next verse Jesus states that, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Period. Moreover, the “judgment” to come is not punishment but simply the crisis that befalls those who will not come out of the darkness for fear of the light. It is not judgment as punishment, but judgment as crisis, as tragedy, as loss. God comes in love to redeem such loss, turn such tragedy into victory, and demonstrate true power through sheer vulnerability and sacrifice.

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“A Case for Love” – 30 day Journal

The team that created the movie “A Case for Love” is beginning the “Month of Unselfish Love.” During the next month, everyone is invited to perform daily acts of selflessness and journal those moments.

Two options to document your efforts:
1. Download the 30 days journal
2. Download the single page you can date and use in MSWord or Google docs for a particular day

What to write?
1. Describe the act of love.
2. Describe how it impacted the recipient.
3. Describe how it impacted you.
Thank you!

Unselfish Love

Unselfish love is defined as an altruistic form of love characterized by selflessness, compassion and concern for the well-being of others, and placing the needs and happiness of others above one’s own, without expecting anything in return.

Sunday’s Thoughts Jan 28, Epiphany 4

This week 7 of us went to the Paragon Theater in Fredericksburg to see “A Case for Love”. This movie was 3+ years in the making by an Episcopalian film maker and is based on Bishop Caurry’s “Way of Love” concept that goes back to 2018.

The movie spotlighted 13 stories involving unselfish love plus many more “man on the street” questions involved the Love question. A number of prominent individuals were also spotlighted including Episcopalians, Bishop Curry, Senator Danforth and Al Roker.

It was inspiring! The group that made the film has challenged in the next 30 days to journal us and extend the “Way of Love” for lives. A link for the journal is here. PDF, Word and Google docs.

The church has taken a variation of this and designated 2024 as the year we are to “Walk in Love. ”

Each season will have a particular focus. The focus of the Advent and Christmas season will be Walk to the Manger. The season after The Epiphany where we are now will be Walk in the Light.

How do we “Walk in the Light” ? The answer has much to do with concept of “Way of Love.” This involves treating others with kindness and respect and have a sense of compassion for others situations. We should serve others by volunteering, helping those in need, and living a life of service. It is also involved in not hiding the truth and being honest with others even when it hurts.

In Mark’s Gospel this week Jesus has to confront a demon inside of a man. This is the first healing story and for Mark the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. The demon knows exactly who Jesus is – “the Holy One of God.”

What strikes the crowd about Jesus’ teaching is that he does it “with authority,” speaking in his own voice rather than citing other authorities. In Mark and elsewhere, Jesus often references both scripture and tradition — but not here at the very outset, a vivid signal of his distinctive prophetic standing and power. For Mark, when Jesus speaks, we hear God’s voice; and when Jesus acts, we see God’s action in the world. He definitely speaks with authority and with God’s light. In this sense, his teaching is indistinguishable from his mission, and from who he is.

We don’t know the details of the demon but it destroyed his personality, rendered him an outcast, unclean, and unable to live with his family. Jesus confronts this unclean spirit directly with the simple words: “Be still. Come out from him.”

Part of “Walking in the Light” is the the requirement on us to confront those in our time with demons. We have many more demons in our time. Think of how addiction overwhelms individuals and families; how racism and white supremacy shape-shift over time; how anger consumes; how envy devours; or how all of us, even against our will, how we are complicit in creating the blanket of CO2 and other gasess overheating the planet (2023 set the record for the hottest global year on record). Demons are diffcult to isolate and overcome. We have work together in many situations to do this.

How can we walk in the Way of Love?

1. Decide to forgive. One of the most important aspects of the love walk is forgiveness. Choose to see people as God sees them.
2. Decide to hold your tongue. Love isn’t rude.
3. Decide to believe the best about people. Love believes the best about others.
4. Decide to not get offended by controlling your anger.
5. Decide to help those in your neighborhood that can use a hand. Be aware of opportunities to show the way of love.
6. Decide to recognize God’s presence in our everyday life
7. Decide to use the gifts you have been given in the world to make it a better place.
8. Decide to engage in Bible reading.
9. Decide to be like Jesus and retreat, especially when you are emotionally, physically and spiritually tapped out.
10. Decide to avoid the indulgence in food. The healthier our bodies (and minds), the better position we are in to walk in the way of love on behalf of the people around us.

“A Case for Love”, a Movie for Our Time

On January 23, 2024, there will be a one night showing of a new movie entitled “A Case for Love“.  The movie originated in 2019, prior to the pandemic by a team led by Brian Ide, a film director in California. 

Watch the trailer

Get tickets – $12.75 or $9.50 seniors. Paragon theatre in Fredericksburg, 4pm and 7pm shows.

Link to Film Website.

The movie may be a good tie-in to our 2024 theme. St. Peter’s has a 2024 theme of  “ Walk in Love” with 4 distinct seasons. The movie will be shown during one of those seasons, Epiphany, with a title of “Walk in the Light”. Light has been viewed as  a metaphor for righteousness and goodness.   As Bishop Curry writes in his book Love is the Way  “Love as an action is the only thing that has ever changed the world for the better..” “Love is a commitment to seek the good and to work for the good and welfare of others.”

Ide writes about how the movie idea came to him  “Recently, I had grown more and more troubled by the increasing divisive state of our culture, and found myself contemplating, “What can I do to help?”

“While that led to many considerations, at the end of the day, all I really knew how to do well is make movies. Combining this glaring need with my skills, I went about the task of making this documentary —to give voice to my own thoughts as well as many others around the country.

“Bishop Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, inspired the film’s focus as he offered a solution to what ails us: “Love.” Specifically, “Unselfish Love.”

“As Bishop Curry wrote in his latest book, “When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary. When love is the way, we will lay our swords and shields down by the riverside to study war no more. When love is the way, there’s plenty of room for all of God’s children. When love is the way, we actually treat each other, well, like we are actually family.”

“Could the answer to society’s problems really be that simple and actually within the grasp of each of us?  This film presents what I observed and encountered while criss-crossing back and forth across the U.S.,  in search of the answer. Viewers must decide for themselves, and if their answer is “yes,” they will hopefully be inspired to live—intentionally—more selflessly and become part of the solution, making their  own case for love

“In the documentary, our film team travels the U.S. searching for people living their lives selflessly and interviews them about how that way of living affects others and themselves. We also interview random people on the street, discussing where they’ve witnessed unselfish love and where they’ve seen its absence. We also learn what well-known figures, including Pete Buttigieg, Al Roker, Sam Waterston, John Danforth, Becca Stevens, Jon Meacham, Russell Moore, Kelly Brown Douglas, and Jim Clyburn, have to say about the topic. Finally, Bishop Michael Curry places all we’ve seen into context.

“Subjects explored: Racial Justice, Sexual Identity, Military Service, Foster Care, Politics, Sexual Trafficking, Disability, Loss of Loved Ones, Refugees, Volunteering, Food Justice and more.

“What’s the verdict on “A Case for Love“? Is unselfish love the antidote to what ails us? Join us January 23, 2024 and decide for yourself!

“The film will be shown on one night in about 1,000 locations. The closest location to us is Paragon movie theatre in Fredericksburg. There are two times – 4pm, 7pm. The film is about 2 hours. The admission is $12.75 adult and seniors $9.50.”

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The Way of Love – in summary

1.  From the book Love is the Way by Michael Curry

“Love is a firm commitment to act for the well-being of someone other than yourself. It can be personal or political, individual or communal, intimate or public. Love will not be segregated to the private, personal precincts of life. Love, as I read it in the Bible, is ubiquitous. It affects all aspects of life.”

“Love is a commitment to seek the good and to work for the good and welfare of others. It doesn’t stop at our front door or our neighborhood, our religion or race, or our state’s or your country’s border

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To Be a Church Rooted in Love

Grace and peace.

This is the month when we consider how we’ll support St Peter’s financially in the coming year. We have an opportunity to consider what being part of a church means, and where we are in our commitments not just to God, but to this body of Christ of which we are a part. Are we a church rooted in love? And if so, how do we continue to grow into God’s love for our own good and for the good of the world around us?

To be a church rooted in love is to be a church that does two things well. The first thing is to be a church that opens its doors to any person who comes. This person may simply be curious. Perhaps this person may desire community with others, and/or desire a deeper knowledge of God. These desires may surface only after the person walks through the open door and finds a loving, accepting community within those walls, a community of people who model the meaning of loving God and one another.

The second thing that a church that is rooted in love must do well is to grow strong, faithful disciples, those who will follow Jesus, no matter the cost, and will support one another in their life in Christ. We do this together through worshiping, praying, studying, giving in support of the church, sharing fellowship with one another, and reaching out into the world to share God’s love. These strong faithful disciples are the ones who throw open the doors and welcome others in, hoping that they too will decide to join fully and to become disciples themselves. These disciples are the ones who worship, pray, study, give, share together in one another’s joys and sorrows, hoping to deepen their relationships with God. These are the ones who reach out into the world on God’s behalf.

Our ongoing challenge as disciples is to grow stronger and ever more deeply in our love for God and in our desire to follow Jesus, more giving, and more compassionate toward one another and toward those who may never walk through our doors, but who are desperately in need of God’s love—our ongoing challenge is to be more complete and more loving in our welcome.

For those of us who are on the fence, and that’s all of us at some point or another, torn by so many things that keep us away from God and halfhearted toward one another: Jesus asks us to decide to move beyond seeking, or being halfway committed, and to commit to becoming a whole hearted disciple, one with a new heart and a new spirit of love, ready to follow wherever Jesus calls us to go as this community of faith. And Jesus calls us to be patient with one another in our varying levels of commitment, to have compassion for one another, to encourage one another, and to help one another to be rooted in love as we grow together, and welcome the stranger in.

Catherine+

Walk in Love Planning Help Needed!

The new church year starts on the first Sunday in Advent, this year on Sunday, December 3rd. The Vestry has decided that the coming year’s theme will be Walk in Love.

Each season will have a particular focus. The focus of the Advent and Christmas season will be Walk to the Manger. The season after The Epiphany will be Walk in the Light. The seasons of Lent and Holy Week will be Walk to the Cross. The Season of Easter will be Walk in New Life. The season after Pentecost will be Walk in the Way. Catherine and the Vestry will be working on what we do together as the church with these themes in mind. We need a planning committee!

If you are interested in helping with the fun of planning the new year, please complete contact Catherine at (540) 809-7489 or complete this form. Thanks for willingness to help plan!

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Bishop Curry homily at funeral of Queen Elizabeth

“You know, the Lord didn’t put you here just to consume the oxygen.”

– Bishop Curry

“A lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Great teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read?’ And the lawyer answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Jesus then said to him, ‘You have answered rightly. Do that. Love God and your neighbor, and why you’re at it, yourself, and you will find life.’” Life as God intended. Life that lifts humanity up to the highest possibility of our nobility. Do that. Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself, and you will fulfill God’s dream for all of God’s children.

Now Jesus didn’t say all of that. I added a little bit, but that’s what he meant. I was probably, I’m guessing, 12 or 13 years old when I had a conversation with my father, or better yet, it was a monologue. He spoke, I listened. He wanted me to do something, and I don’t remember what it was. I’m 69 years old now, so it was a long time ago, but he wanted me to do something, and I have to tell you, I didn’t want to do whatever it was. But of course, I didn’t say anything to him, but somehow my facial expression betrayed my innermost thoughts. And he read my mind, and he blurted out as parents often do with pre-adolescent children, “You know, the Lord didn’t put you here just to consume the oxygen.”

Now I don’t think that was a philosophical, theological thought. I think it was purely a parental response. And I have two grown daughters so I know how parents do that. But the truth is there was wisdom in that statement. The Lord didn’t put me here, didn’t put you here, didn’t give any of us the breath of life, however long or short it will be, just to consume the oxygen.

Now there are students here who have clearly studied the life sciences and know about the process of photosynthesis. Am I right about that? You can’t see them, but they’re nodding. They know about photosynthesis—that process built into God’s biological creation whereby mammals, animals, exhale, if you will, carbon dioxide and inhale oxygen. The plants and vegetation take in the carbon dioxide that we have exhaled—unless we are waiting to exhale, as Toni Morrison taught us. They take in that carbon dioxide and they release the oxygen. Does anyone think that’s an accident?

It’s this symbiotic relationship. This relationship between animals and plants, between human beings and the rest of the creation is how God made the world and intends for it to function. We are here not just to consume the oxygen. We are here partially to consume it. We have a biological and ecological purpose, but we are not here just to consume, just to acquire, just to get. We are here to consume the oxygen and then to give carbon dioxide in plants and trees and those wonderful British gardens that I have seen all over the world. Our plants and vegetations give thanks that we are here, and we must give thanks that they are.

No, we are not just here to consume. We’re here to give. We’re here to give back to this world, give back to each other, give back to the God who made us. And the Bible tells us, though, in the Hebrew Scriptures, for example, Moses said it this way, “Man does not live by bread alone.” Of course you need bread, but you do not live by bread alone, “but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” The prophet Micah said it this way, “What does the Lord require of you?” Every human being. Micah said it this way, “The Lord requires of you to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” And Jesus of Nazareth said it this way, quoting Isaiah who’s the first lesson that we heard a few moments ago when he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty all those who are oppressed by anything, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

Moses, Isaiah, Jesus, the great religions of the world. The Dalai Lama would tell you this. The Lord didn’t put us here just to consume the oxygen. He put us here to live and to give and to serve, and as Ignatius Loyola said, and not count the cost. Are y’all with me so far? Can I get an amen out of y’all? Could you say amen? Yeah, we are here today to give God thanks for someone who did more than consume the oxygen. That’s why we’re here. You can clap for her. Go ahead. It’s all right. It’s all right. I know we’re in the National Cathedral, and we have to be on our best behavior, but it’s all right. Clap inwardly. Oh, it’s all right. Yes. Yes.

Her Majesty in 1953, the year I was born, vowed that she would dedicate her life to the service of her people, and indeed, of humanity. And you know what? She kept her word. She kept her word. We are here to give God thanks that it is possible to serve and to keep your word. As the Archbishop of Canterbury said at the abbey the other day, “She served out of her religious faith. She served and dedicated her life to God and God’s service, seeking to follow in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth and His way of love as her way of life.”

Listen to what she said. This is Christmas 2014. “For me, for me, the life of Christ, the Prince of Peace, whose birth we celebrate today, is an inspiration and anchor to my life, a model of reconciliation, of forgiveness. He stretched out His hands in love, acceptance, and healing. Christ’s example has taught me to seek, to respect and value all people of whatever faith or none.”

A lawyer came to Jesus. I know there are lawyers in this room. A lawyer came to Jesus, as lawyers often did if you read the New Testament. And he came to him and he said, “Jesus, what is the secret to eternal life?” Which was a way of saying, what is the key to a life that matters now, and that as it matters now temporally will last unto eternity? And Jesus said, well, look, brother, you the lawyer. What does it say in the law of Moses? What did Moses say? And the Lord replied in Deuteronomy, Moses said the Shema, “Hear, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” And in Leviticus, he wrote, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And Jesus said, you have just passed the heavenly bar exam. Do that. Love God and your neighbor, and you have found the key to life. Live and serve God. Live and serve your neighbor. Serve each other, and you have found the key to life that not even death can take away from you.

But this was a lawyer Jesus was talking to. Now I’m going to sit down in a minute; don’t worry. This is a lawyer Jesus was talking. And he said, this is good, Jesus, but you are a preacher and I’m a lawyer and we work with words. So can we define neighbor? Can we narrowly define neighbor? And Jesus didn’t play the game. He told a story and you know it as a parable of the Good Samaritan. It was a story of one person who helped another person who was of a different religion, who was of a different nation, who was of a different ideology, who was a different political party, who was a… Oh, I’m getting in trouble now. Who was from a different country, a different person. Jesus told the story of somebody who helped somebody else, over-transcending their differences and helped them just because they’re a human child of God. And therefore, my brother, my sister, my sibling. And He said, do that and you’ll be the neighbor, you’ll be the human that God intended.

God put you here to do more than consume the oxygen. But let me bring this to a conclusion. I was in the airport yesterday on my way here. And I was in line, and I had the collar on, and a man came up to me and he said, “How are you, bishop?” And he asked me, “Where are you going?” And so I told him, and he said, “That’s nice. She was a lovely lady.” And then I asked him, “So where are you going?” And he said, “My wife and I are on our way to Ukraine.” And I said, “What are you going to do?” He said, “We’re part of a medical team. My wife is from Ukraine and we’ve gone several times. But my faith teaches me I’ve got to do everything I can to help.”

I never asked him what faith he was. Never asked him what ethnicity he was. I never asked him was he gay or straight? I didn’t ask him any of the questions. I just simply opened my wallet and gave him the money I had in it. And those of you who know Episcopalians, you know that was a move. And then I thanked him, and he went on his way, and I went on mine. That’s why the Lord put us here, to honor God by caring for each other, loving and serving each other.

At the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, the great Mahalia Jackson stood up and sang one of Dr. King’s favorite songs that epitomized why he sacrificed his life. It said very simply:

If I can help somebody along the way, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song, if I can show somebody they’re traveling wrong, then my living will not be in vain.

If I can do my duty as a good person ought, if I can bring back beauty to a world of rot, if I can spread love’s message as the Master taught, then my living will not be in vain. Then my living will not be in vain.

Dear friends, the God who loves Her Majesty and receives her into the arms of that love created each one of us out of that fountain of love. And we are at our best when we live in that love. God love you. God bless you. And may God hold us all in those almighty hands of love. Amen.