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.

Understanding trends of the Village Harvest in May

Understanding trends of the Village Harvest in May

We are close to the results of 2021 after 5 months in 2022. For the year (2022) we are at 447 clients compared to last year’s 465. Overall pounds for 2022 are at 6,343 pounds which is close to last year’s 6,364. Like the clients figure it is statistically the same.

Looking at just the last two months together (April and May), however, shows a variation from the two months before that (Feb and March). Basically, Feb and March offset the results of April and May to allow for a similar year to date in May, 2022 to May, 2021.

Read more about the May harvest

Introduction to the Trinity – what it is and what it is not

The core belief

The doctrine of the Trinity is the Christian belief that there is One God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Other ways of referring to the Trinity are the Triune God and the Three-in-One.

The Trinity is a controversial doctrine; many Christians admit they don’t understand it, while many more Christians don’t understand it but think they do.

In fact, although they’d be horrified to hear it, many Christians sometimes behave as if they believe in three Gods and at other times as if they believe in one.

Trinity Sunday, which falls on the first Sunday after Pentecost, is one of the few feasts in the Christian calendar that celebrate a doctrine rather than an event.

A fundamental doctrine

The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most difficult ideas in Christianity, but it’s fundamental to Christians because it:

 -states what Christians believe God is like and who he is 

 -plays a central part in Christians’ worship of an “unobjectifiable and incomprehensible God” 

 -emphasises that God is very different from human beings 

 -reflects the ways Christians believe God encounters them is a central element of Christian identity 

 -teaches Christians vital truths about relationship and community 

 -reveals that God can be seen only as a spiritual experience whose mystery inspires awe and cannot be understood logically  

Unpacking the doctrine

The idea that there is One God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit means:

-There is exactly one God  

 -The Father is God  
 -The Son is God  
 -The Holy Spirit is God  
 -The Father is not the Son  
 -The Son is not the Holy Spirit  
 -The Father is not the Holy Spirit  

An alternate way of explaining it is:

There is exactly one God

There are three really distinct Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Each of the Persons is God

Common mistakes

The Trinity is not

 -Three individuals who together make one God  

 -Three Gods joined together  

 -Three properties of God 

BBC’s Trinity Page

Introduction to the Trinity – what it is and what it is not

The core belief

The doctrine of the Trinity is the Christian belief that there is One God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Other ways of referring to the Trinity are the Triune God and the Three-in-One.

The Trinity is a controversial doctrine; many Christians admit they don’t understand it, while many more Christians don’t understand it but think they do.

In fact, although they’d be horrified to hear it, many Christians sometimes behave as if they believe in three Gods and at other times as if they believe in one.

Trinity Sunday, which falls on the first Sunday after Pentecost, is one of the few feasts in the Christian calendar that celebrate a doctrine rather than an event.

A fundamental doctrine

The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most difficult ideas in Christianity, but it’s fundamental to Christians because it:

 -states what Christians believe God is like and who he is 

 -plays a central part in Christians’ worship of an “unobjectifiable and incomprehensible God” 

 -emphasises that God is very different from human beings 

 -reflects the ways Christians believe God encounters them is a central element of Christian identity 

 -teaches Christians vital truths about relationship and community 

 -reveals that God can be seen only as a spiritual experience whose mystery inspires awe and cannot be understood logically  

Unpacking the doctrine

The idea that there is One God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit means:

-There is exactly one God  

 -The Father is God  
 -The Son is God  
 -The Holy Spirit is God  
 -The Father is not the Son  
 -The Son is not the Holy Spirit  
 -The Father is not the Holy Spirit  

An alternate way of explaining it is:

There is exactly one God

There are three really distinct Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Each of the Persons is God

Common mistakes

The Trinity is not

 -Three individuals who together make one God  

 -Three Gods joined together  

 -Three properties of God 

BBC’s Trinity Page

A Spiritual Look at Climate Change

The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” –Dietrich Bonhoeffer

1. Creation is a reflection of the glory of God to be good stewards of God’s creation, which includes all of us who live within it

2. Climate change is a spiritual challenge.  Handling climate change is part of how we live our faith.

3. We have a responsibility to care for the least of us. The poorest amongst us bear the greatest burden and risk of climate change.

4. We are called to respond to what we see around us. We are moral messengers for the common good, translate  compassion into action.

The “Ins” and “Outs”

One of two Gospel stories this week is Jesus confrontation with the “Canaanite woman.” Reading on we can see a connection to our time if we view the story as a classic case of “ins” vs. “outs”. And that brings us to our time. At the bottom are 5 contemporary examples of the same thing. Here is the story:

There are three confrontations. Number #1. Jesus puts her off, ignores her apparently excluding her because of her ethnicity. The disciples want Jesus to send the woman away because she’s being a nuisance. Number #2. Jesus tells the woman that he was sent only to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel which means not Gentiles. Number #3. Even when she kneels in front of him, Jesus says that it isn’t fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. The woman persists and eventually Jesus relents, apparently impressed by the depth of her faith and her willingness to experience humiliation for the love of her daughter. Jesus cures her daughter from a distance;

One perspective is that the story can be seen as a study of “ins” and “outs” with the Canaanite woman in the Gospel being an “out”.

If she is “out”, then why is Jesus “in”? The “ins” and “outs” is a matter who is in control. Control can be one who is controlling the conversation, such as Jesus in this conversation. Control can also be legal, economical as with civil rights. Control can be based on perception when a group of people decide you are not “good enough”.

Control can be based on sheer numbers. In the Gospel story, the Canaanites were enemies of the Jews and even through Jesus was in their turf, he took relations in his own hands withs his diciples against only one Canaanite. It can also mean situations when people have already judged your actions and they use verbal language and body language to tell you are in error.

This classic struggle of “ins” and “outs” can be applied in so many ways – religion, economics, wealth and in social relations. Fairness and justice are all part of it. We see people not as they are – in this case simply trying to get a cure for a child. We tend to classify and put labels on people which isn’t fair.  

The collage in this article are part of 5 examples (links) in our time with the lnks below demonstrating the “ins” and “outs”. In the movie “Legally Blonde” Elle, the aspiring law student, is up against a group of students who doubt her abilities in law school. She doesn’t appear to have the intellectual ability.  We salute those that are trying to bridge barriers, such as the case in “Freedom Summer” in 1964 in trying to sign up African Americans to vote in Mississippi. There are two links for that event. It also can be situations when you are against a group that says by word or expressions that you shouldn’t act this way.  Be sure to check out the video at from the last link- “Unsung Hero” – how one person can exact change when others doubt him. The boy tries to make a better life for those he comes in contact with and the crowd shakes their heads at his efforts. (Amazingly,that video was produced by a life insurance company!)

How to Lead Your Life ?

By Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby

There are two ways to live life. 

One way is to live as if we’re owed it all, that we deserve everything good that comes our way, and that anything bad we receive is an unfair mistake. The other way is to see it all as a gift.

Everything around us seems to hardwire us to believe we deserve it. All of it: education, fun times, money, respect, friendship, love. But deep down, we know it’s a lie. We know we don’t deserve it any more than anyone else.

Thankfully, God doesn’t work in terms of ‘deserve’. He doesn’t give people what they’ve earned.

Instead, he gives gifts. It’s all an utter gift. Your health. Your friends. Your family. Your future. His love for you. Everything. Gift. Gift. Gift.

And knowing that, the response from us shouldn’t be living like we deserve it, but being thankful.

How might today be different if you chose to see all these gifts for what they are, and be thankful?

From . St Johns Church Donisthorpe, UK

Virgin Mary, Aug. 15

We celebrate her saint day on August 15. 

Mary lived circa 18 BCE- 41 CE. She was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, the daughter of Joachim and Anne and the wife of Joseph, the carpenter. Little is known of her life except when it relates to Jesus life. She remained faithful to him through his death (when his disciples denied, betrayed, and fled), and even after his death, continued life in ministry with the apostles.

The New Testament records many incidents from the life of the Virgin which shows her to be present at most of the chief events of her Son’s life:

  • her betrothal to Joseph [Luke 1:27]
  • the Annunciation by the angel Gabriel that she was to bear the Messiah [Luke 1:26-38]
  • her Visitation to Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist [Luke 1:39-56]
  • the Nativity of our Lord [Luke 2:20]
  • the visits of the shepherds [Luke 2:8-20] and the magi [Matthew 2:1-12]
  • the Presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple at the age of forty days [Luke 2:22, 2:41]
  • the flight into Egypt, the Passover visit to the Temple when Jesus was twelve, [Matthew 1:16,18-25; 2; Luke 1:26-56; 2];
  • the wedding at Cana in Galilee [John 2:1-11]
  • and the performance of her Son’s first miracle at her intercession [John 2:1-11],
  • the occasions when observers said, "How can this man be special? We know his family!" [Matthew 13:54-56, Mark 6:1-3, Luke 4:22; also John 6:42],
  • an occasion when she came with others to see him while he was preaching [Matthew 12:46-50,Mark 3:31-35, Luke 8:19-21],
  • her presence at the foot of the Cross, where Jesus commends her to the care of the Beloved Disciple [John 19:25-27],
  • her presence with the apostles in the upper room after the Ascension, waiting for the promised Spirit [Acts 1:14].   

Besides Jesus himself, only two humans are mentioned by name in the Creeds. One is Pontius Pilate, Roman procurator of Judea from 26 to 36 AD and the other is Mary. There are more feast days in The Episcopal Church honoring Mary than anyone else.

There have been many appearances of Mary over the centuries. Tradition says that in 39 CE, the Virgin Mary appeared in a vision to Saint James the Great in Zaragoza, Spain. Over the centuries, there have been dozens of additional reports of appearances of the Virgin Mary in different times and places. Two of the most influential visions of the Virgin Mary are the Virgin of Walsingham and the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Her story was carried by National Geographic in December, 2015 –"How the Virgin Mary Became the World’s Most Powerful Woman"

Her message to us was simple – "Listen to Him. Listen to my Son. Do what He tells you."