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Block Print by Mike Newman
Projects
St. Peter’s Links
1. Stewardship Sunday, Nov. 10
Stewardship is about being grateful, responsible stewards of the gifts we receive from God.
The tradition of giving back to God and to the church comes from the Biblical practice of “tithing,” which means to give back a tenth of our earnings to God (Numbers 18:26).
The Episcopal Church sees stewardship as more than simply contributing money to the church; it’s also about contributing time and talents, and volunteering for ministry and mission. It’s about reaching out to build relationships from a perspective of abundance instead of scarcity.
Cards are being collected this Sunday Nov. 17.
2. Samaritan’s Purse- Operating Christmas Child (Collected this Sunday, Nov 17)
Time to get shopping for your shoe boxes ! Last year we provided 25 boxes. This is the 20th anniversary of the national program which has enriching children’s lives all over the worlds with gifts provided by churches, letting them know God loves them and they are not forgotten. They hope to provide 9.8 million boxes in 2013 – they have provided 100 million since they began. See the following links:
2. Don’t want to create one ? Give online and follow the destination of your box.
About Samaritan’s purse and Operation Christmas Child :
2. Operation Christmas Child – Fact Sheet
3. Everything about the UTO offering
The UTO offering is from Nov 3 until boxes are collected on Dec. 1
We believe that when daily thanks is given and money is placed in the Blue Box, the money becomes an outward and visible way to say thanks. It is a way to take our Baptismal covenant seriously ~ to love God, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
The UTO program culminates each year in the May In-Gathering, when the offerings of each parish family are collected … offerings that are combined with those of Episcopal parishes everywhere to support projects worldwide for missions and ministry.
4.The Thirteen Concert
6. Gardens
From "God’s Garden" by Dorothy Frances Blomfield Gurney (1858-1932)
7. Pets
Don’t see your pet ? Upload a picture
8. Prayer requests – Add a name to the prayer list here.
Commitment Sunday
Sunday, Nov. 10 is the distribution of 2014 pledge cards. A better word is commitment card.
- Commit to help us reduce hunger in this area,
- Commit to us to bring hope to Peumansend jail,
- Commit to help us bring comfort to those suffering in sickness or loneliness,
- Commit to help us in Christian education and encourage fellowship.
- Commit so we can make a difference.
God calls us to share in God’s mission of caring for the world, using all the gifts God has given us.
Pledge cards are due next week – Nov. 17
Here is the Stewardship letter that accompanied the Pledge card.
Stewardship IS..
Stewardship is … Everything I do after I say, “I believe.”
ALL that we do, with ALL that we have, ALL the time.
God calls us to share in God’s mission of caring for the world, using all the gifts God has given us. We are stewards, caretakers of God’s gifts. Everything we have was a gift from God, and God asks us to use it all for God’s purposes. Generosity flows naturally out of our gratitude for the gift of love, family, and life itself.
Stewards promote the Shalom of the Kingdom: blessings of life, health, growth,
harmony, justice, abundance, fulfillment, joy, praise of God
In the church, we are stewards of the good news of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ.We are called to share that good news with new generations. But we live in a world where sharing that news is becoming ever more challenging. In order to share the good news, we need financial and other resources.
Our worries about stewardship tend to focus on money. But stewardship is all about mission. It’s those gifts which help St. Peter’s ministries thrive – food distribution and meals in our community, outreach to those in need, Christian education and fellowship for all.
Convince people that the church is doing God’s mission and that it will truly transform our lives and our communities … and each of us is an integral part of that mission … heart, mind and body … and the money will follow.
Stewardship isn’t …
+ Fundraising.
+ Paying the light bills or maintaining a building.
+ Paying a decent staff.
+ Meeting the budget.
+ Keeping the church alive.
+ Paying our fair share of the dues.
+ Passing on a legacy to our children.
Stewardship is …
+ Sharing in God’s mission with a glad, generous and grateful heart.
+ Transforming lives in our community.
+ Prayerfully responding to God’s call.
+ A deeply spiritual matter.
+ Something that blesses the giver more than the receiver.
Stewardship is discipleship; it is a complete reorientation of our lives toward God, who calls us through Jesus Christ.
Stewardship is… Everything I do after I say, “I believe.”
Living into Stewardship. How are we doing ? (full size gallery)
This Sunday
Nov. 17, 2013- 10:50am, Godly Play
Nov. 17, 2013- 11:00am, Holy Eucharist, Rite II.
Calendar
This Sunday at St. Peter’s – Servers, Readings
Ordinary Time, Nov 17, 2013
I.Theme – Emphasizing the Divine over the Secular
"Pantocrator – Christ" -El Greco, 1600
This portrait is of Christ as the ruler, the resurrected presence, who in God form, speaks to us. The scripture reading for today from Luke is a hard one, in which Jesus warns his disciples of hard tests ahead. This painting provides a vision of a savior who will sustain, and in the end, triumph over suffering and death.
The lectionary readings (Proper 28) are here or individually:
Old Testament – Malachi 4:1-2a
Psalm – Psalm 98 Page 727, 728 BCP
Epistle –2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Gospel – Luke 21:5-19
This week begins apocalyptic readings that will continue through Advent 1. The faithful are the targets, here. What to do in contemporary crises? Don’t panic, Don’t give up the work you have been doing. Praise God and relish in his power and majesty. The tone of the readings coincide with the increasing darkness and shorter days in this season.
The readings are to counter the problem of the delayed return of Christ. Paul expected the second coming of Jesus very soon, initially certainly in his lifetime. However as the event was delayed, some used Paul’s writing as abandononing his work.
The Old Testament reading of Malachi provides speeches in dialogue style, where the prophet scolds the priests and the congregation about various malpractices and against tired religious scepticism. This passage seems a conclusion of these speeches contrasting the fate of the evil doers with those of the obedient faithful, destruction for the first and healing for the second.
The best is yet to come as shown in Psalm and the Gospel
A second theme is God’s power and magesty which will be the heart of next Sunday. This best seen in the Psalm This psalm is an eschatological hymn, culminating in shouts of praise at the coming of God, the ruler of the world and all creation to judge the world with justice and fairness. Only a new song can begin to describe the wonders of God’s power.
Just as 2 Thessalonians admonishes us not to grow tired in doing good, so Luke reminds us today to look at hardship and persecution as a chance to tell the gospel, the good news. Jesus tells us again: Do not be afraid! Not a single hair of our heads will be lost and standing firm will bring us through the trouble and to life.
The when and how of Christ’s second coming is not our concern. What is our concern is the faithfulness with which we pray, sing, tell and live love until he comes.
ECM, Nov 9 plans Thanksgiving an d Chrismas Activities
"We had a good meeting Saturday and discussed the upcoming Holidays. The group wanted to do two things: provide needy families with food and gifts for the upcoming holidays. In that vein, with the little bit of money in the Church treasury that is earmarked for us, it was decided that we will take a small but appropriate amount for food for a needy family for Thanksgiving. Johnny Davis volunteered to contact Social Services and get the name of a family needing help in getting food for Thanksgiving.
For Christmas, we will follow the procedure we successfully used last year. Each Episcopal Men’s Group member is asked to donate $25 towards gifts for a family that cannot afford to have a Christmas. Helmut will get the name of a family from Social Services and a description of their needs and we will try to select gifts and food along the lines that were suggested by Social Services to meet that family’s needs.
Region One meeting Nov. 6 with Bishop Ted and Kirk Gibson on the Shrine Mont Campaign
We welcomed Bishop Ted Gulick, Assistant Bishop of Virginia and Kirk Gibson, Development Officer of Shrine Mont to share their ideas about the new Shrine Mont Capital Campaign. During October, 2013, the Diocese set a goal of $2 million dollars ($2.5 million dream goal) for the campaign based upon a feasibility study by the Episcopal Church Foundation and announced two co-chairs.
Region One: Update on Haiti Toilet construction, Nov. 7
Foundations and walls in with plumbing. Roof materials slow to be shipped. Project later than expected though within budget and quality exceeds the requirements.
Port Royal: Block by Block- An Introduction
In late August, I was at the Heritage Center in Fredericksburg to check for various entries on Port Royal and St. Peter’s. The Heritage Center is a collection of repositories by both individuals and organizations that has been in existence for more than a decade. The volunteers index the data so that you may find references across various repositories that have been given to the center. I wanted to see if there was anything I had missed.
On that August day after looking at photographs, I noticed an entry for a Port Royal map. Expecting a small highway map or real estate map I was pleasantly surprised when a volunteer brought out a map that was as tall as I was. It took up a whole table!
The map was of Port Royal in 1930 and showed current structures and also those no longer there. It contained a listing of the trees planted. It had been owned by Jim Patton, owner of Gay Mont and no stranger to those of us that appreciate him saving many of St. Peter’s historical archives. Most of Jim’s gifts tended to go to the Library of Va. so I was somewhat surprised to see his name there. The above image is at the bottom of the map to identify it. Since photography seemed to come to the village after 1920 you could use this map together with the photos of the 1920’s and 1930’s.
While this could supplement the map, a better look may be to compare what was there to our own time. What had been lost, gained or otherwise changed ? The biggest question – how does this change our view of the town ? Does it tell give us a direction of next steps?
The next thought was to break the map down by blocks to make it manageable. So in this series we will go block by block. Current photos will supplement the map with a description of what was there and what has changed. This series will appear periodically under the category "Block by Block" and it is being written as I go along rather than as a finished product.
Here is an example of one of the blocks on the map – block bordered by Caroline, King, Middle, and Main to show the type of details :
Port Royal was organized into 5 streets moving horizontally and 4 streets vertically if Main Street is Counted based on Ralph Fall’s map adapted from a 1743 survey. There are 18 full blocks.
On the far side from Main Street. there is a half block bordered by Frederick Street. There are six of those. So there are up to 24 possible stories if each block is taken separately.
The town was established in 1744 and as Ralph Fall writes in Hidden Village its purpose was "to enhance trade and commerce rather than provide services the citizens could not provide individually." Already Port Royal had "many taverns and stables and several blacksmiths on the main-travelled road north and south from Williamsburg." "…Ships of large tonnage could sail up the Rappahannock River to its harbor."
It was Richard Talliaferro, one of the 18 magistrates appointed on the founding of Caroline County of 1727, who petitioned the Williamsburg government to raise money by selling lots. Money was needed to "redeem the said mortagaged premises andpreserve the negroes and personal estate of the said Robert Smith, for his widow and children." Robert Brooke did the survey.
The lots were 84 half-acre lots numbered starting on the river side. Thus each block contained 4 lots or two acres to the square. The basic streets and and names have not changed over time. What has changed is what is on those lots as we will see.
I will not do this in order of the lots. I will start with our own block at St. Peter’s. I will show the map at the top of the article and then provide pictures of what it looks like now with some descriptions.