Communion, Sept 25, 2022.
Sept. 25, 11:00am – Holy Eucharist
Season of Creation 4, Sept 1 – Oct. 4
This Week
Sunday links, Pentecost 16, Sept 25, 2022
Videos, Sept 18, Pentecost 15
01 Welcome and Hymn = Be My Vision
02 Opening Acclamation
03. Hymn of Praise – Scottish Blessing
04 Creator Collect
05 Gospel from Luke 16:1-13
06 Sermon Sept 18, 2022 – Tom Hughes
07 Offertory – Portion
08 Stewardship presentation
09 Blessing
10 Closing Hymn Let us with gladsome mind
Sunday links, Pentecost 15, Sept. 18, 2022
Village Dinner, Sept. 14, 2022 – burgers with all the trimmings, while looking out on the Rappahannock River. The weather was absolutely perfect.
Sept. 18, 11:00am – Holy Eucharist
Season of Creation 3, Sept 1 – Oct. 4
This Week
Sunday Links for Pentecost 19, Oct. 16, 2022
Harvest Scene
Oct. 16, 11:00am – Holy Eucharist, Pentecost 19
Bulletin, Pentecost 14, Season of Creation II, Sept. 11, 2022
Click here to view in a new window.
Remembering 9/11 in 2016
Come Back Home!
Evening Prayer, 6pm Sun., Sept. 11, 2016
We offer a service of Evening Prayer Sunday 6pm for those who served and those who gave their lives 15 years ago on 9/11.
This is a short but important service. Here’s the bulletin.
Rev. Gary Jones of St. Stephens in Richmond wrote about 9/11 wrote about the positives from the even
“At times like this, it’s as if we become like the prodigal son. We come to ourselves, we remember our true life, and we know we need to go back home. And that is certainly what happened 15 years ago. A nation deeply divided by a bitterly contested presidential election came together in an extraordinary show of unity. It was as if we woke up and came to ourselves. We returned to prayer, and we recovered a sense of unity, kindness, and compassion. We realized then what we from time to time remember now, that it shouldn’t take a tragedy to awaken this spirit in us.” “
There is certainly a solemnity about this anniversary, but there is also a bright and hopeful reminder of our potential – there is a light within us all that is simply waiting to be uncovered. Many of us have poignant memories of 9/11. One of mine is a gathering of 300 beaming little girls – singing, praying, hugging, and finally giggling with delight as they waved goodbye after chapel. Nine-eleven reminds me, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”
Review the 10th anniversary remembrance.
Lectionary, Sept 11, 2022 – Pentecost 17, Year C
I. Theme – Punishment and Grace
The lectionary readings are here or individually:
First Reading – Exodus 32:7-14
Psalm – Psalm 51:1-11
Epistle – 1 Timothy 1:12-17
Gospel – Luke 15:1-10
Today’s readings praise God’s merciful pursuit of God’s people even as they sin. The readings contrast punishment and grace. In Exodus God forgives the Israelites’ spiritual impatience and lack of trust that lead them to turn from God to an idol . The Epistle and Gospel highlight God’s graceful care, which encompasses the lost and sinful. Paul offers himself as an example of one found by God, transformed by the power of God’s mercy. In the gospel, Jesus tells stories that illustrate God’s great joy over each sinner who repents.
If God’s grace welcomes back the apostle Paul, despite his persecution of early Christians, will it welcome back the wealthy whose largess has come at the expense of the poor. Grace transforms the past, and opens us to become new creations. We still may have to face the consequences of the past; but grace leads to new behaviors and openness to expanded divine possibilities for ourselves and the good Earth.
Jesus makes clear in the Gospel that everyone falls within the shadow of salvation, regardless of their past behavior and place in society. What Jesus is doing is placing worth and value on what others had deemed worthless. The Jewish mystical tradition proclaims that when you save one soul, you save the world. This wisdom provides a creative lens through which to read the parable of the lost sheep.
Each one of us is made in the image of God; therefore, each one of us is worthy. Because of that, we are valued. We belong to God. And God will seek us out to the ends of the earth as a lost sheep, into all the cracks and darkness and lonely, lost places as a lost coin. We are not forgotten to God, even when we fall into despair, into addiction, into hopelessness.
II. Summary
First Reading – Exodus 32:7-14
Exodus 32:7-14 is from our second thread of the readings this season, in which the theme of God fulfilling the covenantal promises made with the people prevails.
Early in their journey from slavery in Egypt to the promised Land, God’s people became restless and untrusting
When Moses led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, they did not go very long or very far before they lost confidence in Moses and in the path on which he was leading them. They were camped in the Sinai desert at the foot of a mountain, while Moses was up the mountain receiving extensive instructions from the Lord. The people grew restless, then nostalgic even for the ways of their Egyptian former masters. They melted jewelry and formed an idol (or a token of rebellion against Moses) from it in the shape of a calf, then worshiped it with exuberant ceremony. The golden calf would be followed as their god. Of course the Lord is outraged, and Moses has to intervene, reminding the Lord of the covenant, lest the Lord revoke it.
This reading begins a section on Israel’s sin and God’s forgiveness (chaps. 32–34). It serves both as a narrative sequel to the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai and as a spiritual reflection upon Israel’s repeated apostasy from the time of the exodus to the exile. The worship of the golden calf signified an adoption of the Canaanite rites of Baal. It may represent not a false god but a challenge to Moses as mediator between the people and God.
In view of the lord’s anger, Moses intercedes for the people. He reminds God that it was God’s actions that brought them out of slavery into the wilderness. He reminds the lord of the covenant that these are God’s own people, that God’s name is now bound up with theirs and that God had promised Abraham, not Moses, many descendants.
Moses uses Egypt in a unique way in his argument with G-d. “What will the Egyptians think?” And to this he adds significant names: Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (Jacob). To these God had made significant promises of continuity and a future
God changes God’s mind about destroying them all, remembering the covenant to Abraham and Sarah and to their descendants forever. Like wedding vows, God will be their God, through good times and bad, and will never abandon them completely or destroy them. Although Moses effectively ends the conversation with God’s repentance, he seems to be unable to answer to the evidence that God sets before him.
Psalm – Psalm 51:1-11
This is one of the great penitential psalms. The psalm’s title, added later, ascribes this psalm to David during the time of his repentance for the seduction of Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah (2 Samuel 11:1–12:25).
Psalm 51:1-10 is the opposite of Psalm 14: in this psalm, the singer acknowledges their own sin, their own turning away from God, and desires reconciliation and forgiveness and restoration. The singer famously asks for a new, clean heart, and a new and right spirit within them, to guide them on the path that leads to God.
The constant hope and the goal of the covenant people was to become a community in right relationship with God and one another. Sin was understood as whatever disordered relationships – it is everywhere and at every time. The psalmist seeks not merely the removal of guilt, but the restoration of a right relationship to God. Verse 4 does not exclude sin against one’s neighbor, for that was also understood as an offense against God because it broke down the covenant relationships desired by God.
The psalm also speaks to the ubiquity of God’s knowledge of us – in the hidden knowledge within us. In verse 9 we begin to feel relief. “Purge me with hyssop” refers to the priest’s sprinkling the people with the blood of the sacrifice, or as in Numbers 19:18-22, where it refers to cleansing with water. The point is made with both images – the psalmist seeks redemption and forgiveness, and it is given so that it can be heard and be the cause of praise. The verse regarding “the right spirit” might call us all back to creation again, where the Spirit reboots us into righteousness and holy living.
This psalm has a place in the Liturgy for Ash Wednesday, where it serves as a psalm underscoring the penitential nature of the day. The introduction to the psalm serves as a poignant notice as well:
Epistle- 1 Timothy 1:12-17
Paul enjoyed God’s mercy, and uses his experience as an example for potential believers.
This selection begins a seven-week series of readings from two letters traditionally attributed to St. Paul. 1 and 2 Timothy, along with Titus, are called the pastoral epistles because of their emphasis on the proper ordering of the administration and worship of the Church. Many scholars today believe that these letters were not written by Paul himself but by a later follower. Such an author may have pieced together some of Paul’s personal letters and added material that presented oral Pauline teaching which addressed later situations.
Today’s reading is a thanksgiving for Paul’s conversion, especially as it serves as a paradigm of God’s mercy in the conversion of all “sinners.” A phrase characteristic of Paul’s emphasis on tradition is “the saying is sure” (v. 15) indicating a quotation from familiar teaching or hymns.
The author intends for the reader/hearer to understand what Paul stood for, and to see in his own story, the story of Christ’s grace intended for them as well. The exaggerated list of vices that describe Paul’s former life (“blasphemer”, “persecutor”, and “man of violence”) is meant to highlight Paul’s message of grace, which is intended for the reader, ostensibly Timothy. Thus Paul serves as the primary example of grace that will abound in those who follow the Gospel of Jesus.
This passage is a beautiful statement of thanksgiving to Jesus who is the one who called the writer into this ministry, using him despite of, and because of, his faults and shortcomings to be a witness to God. Christ came into the world to save sinners. The writer is grateful for God’s blessings, grace and mercy, and that because of God’s grace and mercy the writer is able to use his whole life as a witness of Jesus Christ and of Christ’s faith and love.
The closing is very interesting and is perhaps the remains of an ancient doxology that was used in early Christian worship.
Gospel – Luke 15:1-10
Luke writes his gospel for a community undergoing transition. Jesus’ original followers were poor Jews. But now the situation shifts so that Luke’s audience is composed primarily of respectable people who have an annoying way of looking down on others for a variety of reasons.
Luke 15:1-10 contain the first two of three parables in this chapter—the most famous, the Parable of the Prodigal Son, is not included in the lectionary this time. But these first two parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin are also important. Here Jesus is gathered with both the sinners (tax collectors and their ilk) and the supposedly righteous (the Pharisees and the scribes). What Jesus does and says will come under the close scrutiny of both camps.
Jesus was eating with sinners, welcoming them, and that some of the religious leaders were complaining about it. In both of these parables, the protagonist pays attention to something that normally would be forgotten about soon after—a lost sheep, a lost coin. It would have been ridiculous to leave 99 sheep behind to go after one lost sheep. Losing just one was probably a miracle that you didn’t lose more. Same with losing a coin. If you lost a $100 bill but had 9 more of them, you might be a bit angry that you lost it, but you would get over it soon. You certainly wouldn’t be going out and inviting your neighbors to celebrate once you found it
Luke 15 describes God’s joy at homecoming of sinners. The trilogy of Luke describes three states of being lost: wandering off ignorantly, being lost in the shuffle, and choosing to go astray. None of these states is beyond God’s redemption. At any moment we can turn around to awaken to God’s grace
Jesus uses the unwearied search of a shepherd for a lost sheep or of a poor woman for a lost coin as an image for God’s unchanging love toward the sinner. God’s constant seeking-out of the lost is manifested in Jesus’ redeeming ministry. God’s love takes the initiative; the sinner’s response is repentance. But rejoicing is the central note of these parables, for there is no mention of penitence.
Like Nathan, who convinces David of his sinfulness, by getting him to identify with the poor neighbor of his story (see Psalm 51, above), so Jesus seeks to have the hearer, whether sinner or scribe, to identify with the one who has lost either sheep, coin, or son
There is also the connection in this parable to the others. The shepherd risks the flock, to some degree, by leaving them to find the lost sheep. But, perhaps more importantly, the ninety nine cannot be fully saved apart from the lost sheep. They will remain ninety nine and not experience the wholeness of the perfect number, one hundred. Salvation is relational; our salvation is connected to the well-being of others. We cannot be complete without the salvation of others. The joy of heaven is found in the welcoming home of every soul.
The two parables in today’s reading make the same point. They answer those who criticized Jesus for having any dealings with the outcast and despised. It was a strong ancient principle, especially among the Pharisees, that one should not associate with sinners. “Sinners” were both those who led immoral lives and those whose occupations were considered sure to lead them into immorality—tax collectors, shepherds, etc. “Sinners” could not hold office or act as legal witnesses.
Jesus makes clear that everyone falls within the shadow of salvation, regardless of their past behavior and place in society. What Jesus is doing is placing worth and value on what others had deemed worthless. The Jewish mystical tradition proclaims that when you save one soul, you save the world. This wisdom provides a creative lens through which to read the parable of the lost sheep.
Both parables speak to the implicit value of things. People—human beings, their very lives—are valuable to God, every single one. And when society starts saying you’re worthless, you might start believing it—and ending up in addiction, depressed, and feeling completely useless to the world. But Jesus says “You are valuable—You are precious to God.” Jesus would rather leave the 99 who know who they are to find the one that has been rejected and left for dead. Jesus would rather spend all the time looking to find one who was lost than to forget and move on. People are more valuable than lost coins or even lost sheep
Videos, Sept. 4, 2022 – Season of Creation I
1. Hymn – “When Morning Gilds the Skies”
2. Hymn – “A Scottish Blessing”
3. Gospel reading Luke 14:25-33
4. Sermon
5. Selection from Prayers of the People on creation
“We pray for your creation: convict us of the ways in which we break down and destroy the fabric of your world and give us the will to amend our ways as we seek to live in harmony with the goodness you have created. ”
6. Offertory – Solo piano
7. Eucharistic Prayer – “We Give Thanks”
8. Concluding Blessing
9. Concluding Hymn – “This is My Father’s World”
Plastics Polluton
Plastics are present in furniture, construction materials, cars, appliances, electronics and countless other things. According to the New York Times, the main cause for the increase in plastic production is the rise of plastic packaging. In 2015 packaging accounted for 42% of non-fiber plastic produced. That year, packaging also made up 54% of plastics thrown away.
Plastic pollution is now recognized as a hazard to public health and the human body
Chemicals leached from some plastics used in food/beverage storage are harmful to human health. Correlations have been shown between levels of some of these chemicals, and an increased risk of problems such as chromosomal and reproductive system abnormalities, impaired brain and neurological functions, cancer, cardiovascular system damage, adult-onset diabetes, early puberty, obesity and resistance to chemotherapy.
The EPA estimates that production of plastic products account for an estimated 8% of global oil production. The drilling of oil and processing into plastic releases harmful gas emissions into the environment including carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide, ozone, benzene, and methane (a greenhouse gas that causes a greater warming effect than carbon dioxide) according to the Plastic Pollution Coalition.
When plastics break down due to exposure to water, sun or other elements they can break into tiny pieces -so tiny,most of them cannot be seen with the naked eye. These small plastic fragments are now everywhere. When you drink water, eat fish or other seafood, or when you add salt to your meals, chances are you can also be ingesting tiny pieces of plastic. Those particles -called microplastics- are a contaminant which is now present in the oceans, water ways, the soil and even in the food that we eat. Once plastic enters the bloodstream of an organism it stays there.
What you can do – Reduce, Recycle, Remove
You can calculate your plastic footprint here
Step 1 –Reduce your consumption of plastics.
1. Take a reusable coffee cup with you.
2. No to plastic straw
3. Cut down on plastic carrier bags bring your own!
4. Use dishes, glasses, and metal silverware instead of their plastic counterpart
5. Choose cardboard and paper over plastic.
6. Say no to single-use plastic bottles! Stop buying bottled water. Carry a reusable bottle to limit the number of throwaway bottles, a major source of pollut
7. Select products that are designed for multiple uses and making sure nothing gets thrown away before its usefulness is spent is another effective way to drastically reduce one’s plastic pollution footprint.
8. Take a little extra time while doing your shopping and select products without plastic packaging. and always be sure to avoid products that are xcessively wrapped in plastic.
9. When you go clothes shopping, avoid fabrics with plastic microfibers such as nylon and polyester.
Step 2- The second step to be sure to take is recycling the plastic you do use and making sure you are doing so properly.
Port Royal Convenience Site
25516 Tidewater Trail
Port Royal, VA 22535
Step 3 The final step is contributing to the removal of plastic that is already in the environment by recycling your plastic bags and participating in roadside and river clean-ups.
Season of Creation, 2022
The burning bush is the Symbol for the Season of Creation 2022. Today, the prevalence of unnatural fires are a sign of the devastating effects that climate change has on the most vulnerable of our planet. Human greed, desertification and land misuse lead to the disintegration of ecosystems, the destruction of habitats, and the loss of livelihoods and species at an alarming rate. Creation cries out as forests crackle, animals flee, and people are forced to migrate due to the fires of injustice that we have caused.
On the contrary, the fire that called to Moses as he tended the flock on Mt. Horeb did not consume or destroy the bush. This flame of the Spirit revealed God’s presence. This holy fire affirmed that God heard the cries of all who suffered, and promised to be with us as we followed in faith to our deliverance from injustice. In this Season of Creation, this symbol of God’s Spirit calls us to listen to the voice of creation.
May this 2022 Season of Creation renew our ecumenical unity, renewing and uniting us by our bond of Peace in one Spirit, in our call to care for our common home. And may this season of prayer and action be a time to Listen to the Voice of Creation, so that our lives in words and deeds proclaim good news for all the Earth.
Dr. William P. Brown of Columbia Theological seminary wrote the following about creation care. “The fundamental mandate for creation care comes from Genesis 2:15, where God places Adam in the garden to “till it and keep it…” Human “dominion” as intended in Genesis is best practiced in care for creation, in stewardship, which according to Genesis Noah fulfills best by implementing God’s first endangered species act.”
Ordinary Time, Sept 4- Luke 14:25-33 – The Cost and Benefits of Discipleship
Climb that Hill
Here is the passage
This is at least the third time Jesus has said something provocative. Jesus makes a statement in 12:51 about not bringing peace. Also consider his actions on the sabbath in 13:11. Now another teaching moment on the cost of discipleship.
Picture yourself in the crowd following Jesus. You can only see his back. Occasionally, he turns around to deliver a difficult saying, almost as if daring people to continue following him. Yes, he is probably trying to reduce the crowd by making the way harder than it is now. Jesus is beginning to sense the “all” that lies ahead for him personally (betrayal and denial by his closest companions, followed by false arrest, torture, and brutal execution). He is trying to find the genuine seeker.
This text begins and ends with an “all or nothing” injunction about following Jesus, with two practical illustrations in between.
a. introductory statement (25)
b. “hating” family members (26) // Mt 10:37; Th 55:1; 101:1-3
c. bearing one’s cross (27) // Mt 10:38; Mk 8:34; Mt 16:24; Lk 9:23; Th 55:2
d. tower builder (28-30) –illustration 1 no parallels
e. warrior king (31-32) –illustration 2 no parallels
f. renouncing all possessions (33) no parallels
Jesus has three demands three demands or renunciations: (1) one renounces one’s family; (2) one renounces one’s life–by bearing the cross; (3) one renounces all that one has. Note the demands are for disciples, the leaders, not to those who are invited to only come eat at the table. Grace is for all but not discipleship.
The Three Demands:
1. Renounce family
The word “hate” use here is different than in our own time It means “to turn away from, to detach oneself from,” rather than our animosity-laden understanding. In Genesis, we read in one verse that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah (29:30), but in the next verse, it literally says that Leah was hated (“unloved” see also v. 33). Leah was not hated like we usually use the word, but Jacob simply loved her less than he loved Rachel. Jacob didn’t have an intense dislike for Leah.
The family context is important. You were identified by your family. Individuals had no real existence apart from their ties to blood relatives, especially parents. If one did not belong to a family, one had no real social existence [like widows and orphans?]. Jesus is therefore confronting the social structures that governed his society at their core.
“Hate” is used in the sense of subordinating our natural affections, even our own being, in commitment to Jesus. A person who decides for Jesus may well find their family opposed to their new faith. In such a circumstance, loyalty to Jesus takes precedence over loyalty to family – if you want to be a disciple – a leader in the Jesus movement. Ultimately Jesus’ appeal is not to ignore people’s interest but to appeal to them. You want real profit? You want real life? Then follow me – become detached.
2. Bear Cross. Jesus usually says to take up the cross but this time is to bear the cross. In the Interpreter’s Bible it says this “Cross bearing requires deliberate sacrifice and exposure to risk and ridicule in order to follow Jesus. This commitment is not just a way of life, however. It is a commitment to a person.”
Bearing the Cross simply may mean bearing the burdens. Luke travelled with Paul and in Galatians – “From now on, let no one make trouble for me; for I carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.” If indeed Luke accompanied Paul on some of his missionary journeys, he would be familiar with the Pauline vocabulary. Paul no doubt thought deeply about the way that his discipleship to Christ was like marks on his body–indeed, he says that his imprisonments and punishments were for Christ.
3. Give up possessions
Giving up possessions means saying farewell to them. How important are they ?The idea is not being possessed by them so they don’t divert you from the task at hand. This is also related to families Jesus regularly associated family power with possession power, because both belonged together. One of the reasons for family power was protection of possessions.
This may be more in eliminating what is dear or in the way to follow a life of simplicity to follow and act on what Jesus has to say. It is also to possibly examine our priorities and place him higher on the list
If doesn’t mean “if I give up all my possessions, I will be automatically admitted into “Christ’s club”. It is not what we don’t have that tells us whether we are genuinely followers of Christ – it is what we invest what we have in moving the kingdom of God forward in our time and in our place.
The passage ends with two parables. The first one is calculating the costs of building a tower. Think about the cost of discipleships before you begin, not during.
Often, if we wait until everything is perfectly planned before beginning a project, we would never get started. On one hand, one should know about the costs of following Jesus and not just “go along with the crowd”, but on the other hand, we don’t know exactly what “crosses” may be before us. A would-be disciple needs to consider the cost of discipleship
The second is going into battle with much fewer troops
A wise person would consider the “cost” of going to war before tackling an enemy who could easily overwhelm them. Faced with such an enemy, a wise person would sue for peace. A would-be disciple should consider the cost – don’t start what you can’t finish.
Think long and hard about Christian discipleship before a decision is made. Divided priorities drain the ability of the person to be a disciple
In summary
On one hand, Jesus makes it very difficult to be his disciple. It will cost us everything and we need to know the cost before “jumping” in. Reliance on family and possesions must be set aside for a total dependence of Jesus, the cross-bearing Christ. Such a decision for Christ comes with consequences: humiliation, shame, trouble in relationships and life in general- bearing the cross
On the other hand, Jesus may be making it impossible to be his disciple using our own abilities When we confess, “I can’t,” then we are open for God’s “I can.” Self-reliance must be set aside for a total dependence of Jesus, the cross-bearing Christ. Discipleship means a relationship of learning and growth with Jesus as the teacher and God as God, not family.
In the book Power Surge, Mike Foss lists “six marks of discipleship for a changing church” which he expects members to practice. They are:
- daily prayer
- weekly worship
- Bible reading
- service in and beyond the congregation
- spiritual friendships
- giving time, talents, and resources
They are simply habits of the soul that open us to the wonder and mystery of God’s active presence in our lives. They keep us focused; they fix our attention on the things of God.