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, who are still here, and we honor with gratitude the land itself and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Youth

2023 Highlights at St. Peter’s

This is a topical summary. We have another page that is a chronological listing of 2023 events with table of contents with links to the events.

The highlights can be grouped as follows:

A. New ministry
God’s Garden
Chancellors Village
Advent Worskhop

B. New expressions in ministry
Stewardship tree
Lent -Stations of the Cross in the graveyard and more services

C. Expanded and revised ministries
Mission trip to Jamaica
Anniversary Village Harvest Food Ministry
Sacred Ground revised
ECM (Episcopal Church Men) end of year expanded donations and use of an art auction.
Community – Prayer service, Outside Christmas pageant, Work with community organizations
Key parishioner volunteering
ECW (Episcopal Church Women) projects

D. Music provided new delights
Easter, the summer and Christmas
Blue grass concert

E. Losses connected with two historic trees and two heating systems.

1. New ministry – God’s Garden

A new ministry debuted Sept 17, 2023. God’s Garden for 5 to 9 year olds began with 4 children and two experienced teachers, Elizabeth Heimbach, the originator of the class and Jan Saylor.

One of the first activities was to “God’s Garden” which explored what it meant to be a saint, today (Oct. 1, 2023) for St. Francis Day on Oct. 4. As an example they told the story of St. Francis taming the Wolf of Gubbio. Then, they made Pet blessings with treats to give out in church to make pets happy on St. Francis Day, Oct. 4.

2. Expanded ministry in Jamaica

Even before the mission began, we hosted Annette Steele, principal of Victoria Primary School who enjoyed a full day at St. Peter’s on Sun, Aug. 13. She addressed the church at announcements about our joint mission to help the students in her elementary school get ready for school in Sept, both in 2021 and 2023. She explained how much it meant to the students and her community.

After the service, she enjoyed St. Peter’s hospitality at a luncheon and met our parishioners and guests.

The group of 3 on the mission team distributed our donations in Jamaica on Aug. 26

We not only brought the usual school supplies but added 6 tablets. Separately, 7 used computers were donated to a school that had never had a computer.  

There were different ways of distributing the items.  There were contests for tablets and food baskets won by answering questions. Certificates given out based on merit overall and in areas like math. A number of students won $1,000 Jamaican dollars for math competency. Teachers were not forgotten – 2 footballs were given out to the coach!

3. Village Harvest ended its 9th year and began its 10th year in August, 2023 and ended the year serving the most people since 2019.

For the year, we recovered from a slow 1st quarter, 2023 and ended the year serving 1,063 people compared to 1,051 in 2022. It was the best yearly total since 2019.

Unfortunately, the same trend overall wasn’t present with food. Food increased from 2021 to 2022 (14,303 to 15,302 pounds) but dipped to 13,859 pounds in 2023. The first quarter was the problem. We had 2,913 pounds in that quarter compared over 4,000 for 2022 and 2021.

As a result, pounds provided per individual dropped from 14.56 in 2022 to 13.04. In 2021, it was in the same range at 14.32. Overall, pounds per individual are substantially higher since 2019 than in earlier periods.

The 2023 collection on Giving Tuesday, Nov 28 of $1,205 was the highest Giving Tuesday figure since 2019 and provides over 5 months of support for purchasing food for 2024

4. Sacred Ground revised their scholarship program

Representatives from Sacred Ground met with Jessica Thompson, Executive Director of the Germanna Educational Foundation, for lunch at Castiglias in Fredericksburg on Oct. 10, 2023.  The goal was to determine how we could move forward with a new focus on our scholarships for students.

Sacred Ground voted unanimously by email in early December to fund the recommendation forwarded by Jessica Thompson at Germanna for scholarships for students entering the trades. Each student is “in financial need and from underserved populations.” The $2,700 would be split equally to pay for their training.

Each student owes approximately $1,500 for the classes to complete the training. We will pay for the additional expense for each student through additional scholarship funds

They also toured Patawomeck Village in November. The goal of the visit was to understand their history and culture as well as our role

Earlier, the Sacred Ground group had the pleasure of meeting with Alanna Gray (beside Catherine), and her mother and grandmother (opposite Alanna) at Cuppa Cheer in February

Read more

Music filled the Air, Sun Dec. 17

As part of the sermon on Advent 3, Dec. 17, 2023, Catherine explored the role of music and sang a number of Christmas pieces important in her faith life. You might call this the “singing sermon.”

The music theme carried forward to the offertory. During the offertory we had 5 of our youth entertain us on trumpet, French horn, piano, ukelele and vocals

From the sermon Dec. 17, 2023

“In the Living Compass publication, Living Well through Advent, Scott Stoner talks about the music of Christmas.  He says that “music is a thin place for many, where the distance between themselves and God is narrowed.  It has long been said that music is the language of the soul and that those who sing, pray twice.” 

“So in this year’s last  week of Advent, let the music of Christmas become the language of your soul, your own prayer. Let this music bring you closer to God.  ”

“As you pray, let the  music of Christmas bring you back into that unbroken circle of love with those who are here, and those who have gone on to glory.

“May the light shining in us, bring  light into the darkness and witness to God’s glory.”

Links:
Video
Written Sermon

St. Peter’s Chrismas Play, a 25 year tradition

St. Peter’s Christmas play has been different from the typical Children’s Church play. It will be held on 2nd Advent this year, Dec. 3, 2022

First it has involved parishioners of all ages and not just children. Second it takes up most of the Sunday service. Lastly the play is written fresh every year. No repeats. The tradition began in the 1990’s under the Rev. Karen Woodruff when there were many children in the parish.

Here is a collection of Christmas pageants from 2010.

This year St Nicholas will visit the 11AM service and the St Peter’s youth will take the lead in playing holiday music for the congregation.

Summer Party for Youth and Children

What’s better than a party before school reopens!! St Peter’s Episcopal Church women welcomed a group of youth and children from Port Royal for lunch and games on Wednesday, August 9th. School starts next week.

This was the first summer event for Port Royal since the pandemic. In 2019, we had a program during June and part of July. Here is a link to an event in late July, 2019.

This year focused on pure entertainment. The children had fun playing various games. The giant bubble maker was a huge hit. Also, everyone guessed how many M&Ms were in a large container (1984 M&Ms!). The winner gave everyone else some M&Ms to take home.

Adults and children enjoyed eating pizza, watermelon, and grapes for lunch in the pavilion. All of the children got to take home a selection of books, thanks to Elizabeth and The Little Free Library program. Thanks to all who attended and all who worked to make this enjoyable time a success.

Thanks to the work of the ECW and planning by Andrea Pogue and Elizabeth Heimbach. Thanks in addition to Dave and Jean for helping out.

Photos, Youth Pool Party, Aug 13, 2023

(full size gallery)

The Youth end of summer came to the Davis household on Aug 13 at 2pm. School begins this week. Instead of a blessing of back packs, the focus was on water – the waters of baptism and the waters for recreation. They first discussed baptism. Most could not remember their baptism so it was appropriate for Catherine to lead them in the renewal of their baptism vows. They discussed the differences between John the Baptism focus on repentence and Jesus baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Swimming was next on the agenda. Since it was a hot day, the water was refreshing, even for Jack, the Davis dog.

About 4pm there was an ice cream social – making your ice cream in a bowl and or cone. There were at least 5 flavors of ice cream. After this there were games – a bean bag game, in particular. The hummingbirds fluttering around were a visual treat. We learned how much sugar and water was needed to keep them happy.

The party concluded at 5pm. Time for school!

A Youth Group is organizing

Sept 25 was the first meeting of a revitalized youth group. The 8 youth have a common interest in music so we had 2 trumpets, 1 French Horn, 1 piano player and 4 singers. They are all working on Christmas Music. Each played a Christmas piece individually.

Catherine suggested playing for the Dec. 18 service which is traditionally the Christmas Play. Catherine would write a play around their music talents.

We ended the evening with an introduction to the Prayer Book and the saying of Compline with the adults present.