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.

The Spiritual Side of Apollo 11

On  July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Although faith and science have often been in conflict in the past and many see the mission as only a triumph in science, there are examples of faith a part of the Apollo program.

One of the first acts performed on Apollo 11, after first landing on the Moon, was a celebration of the Communion by astronaut Buzz Aldrin. In 1969, Buzz Aldrin was an elder at Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston, where he was given the communion kit that he took to Sea of Tranquility. Upon landing on the Moon in the Eagle LM, Buzz made the following announcement to Mission Control:

“Houston, this is Eagle. This is the LM pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way.  

Aldrin reported later  “ In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.

“Eagle’s metal body creaked. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements

It is especially fitting and poignant that Buzz also read Psalm 8: 3-4:

3 “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;

4 “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals[a] that you care for them?”

Each year since 1969, his church, Webster Presbyterian,  holds a Lunar Communion service to commemorate Buzz Aldrin’s celebration on the Moon.

The mission also carried goodwill not only with the message “We came in peace for all mankind” but also left a special disc. The company Sprague used a photo-etching technique using lithographic thin films to create a long-term alternative to microfiche to engrave letters (scanned and reduced 200x) from the leaders of the world’s nations.   Each letter was photographed, and optically reduced to the point where each letter was ¼ the width of a hair! 

Some like Buzz Aldrin carried their religion to the moon but at least two others felt the tug of religion on their return.

Jim Irwin of Apollo 15 felt the presence of God during his 67 hours on the Moon’s surface. In his autobiography Destination Moon he wrote:   “Before the flight, I was really not a religious man. I believed in God, but I really had nothing to share. But when I came back from the moon, I felt so strongly that I had something that I wanted to share with others, that I established High Flight, in order to tell all men everywhere that God is alive, not only on earth but also on the moon. “

Astronaut Alan Bean recounts another experience on Apollo15, “I can remember when he and Dave were riding along on their rover near the end of their 3rd EVA and Dave said, “Oh, look at the mountains today, Jim. When they’re all sunlit isn’t that beautiful?” Jim answered, “Really is, Dave. I’m reminded on a favorite biblical passage from Psalms: ‘I look unto the hills from whence cometh my help.’ But of course, we get quite a bit from Houston, too.

Sunday Links for July 17, 2022 – Pentecost 6

July 17, 11:00am – Eucharist

Mary and Martha

Guest preacher, the Rev. J. Lee Hill

July 20, 3:30-5pm – Village Harvest

Please email Andrea to volunteer at wakepogue.public@gmail.com, or (540) 847-9002. Pack bags 1-3PM, Deliver food to clients’ cars 3-5PM.

We had 24 in house and 7 online for Pentecost with Rev Lee Hill, Diocese missioner for racial justice and healing. His sermon was on the story of Mary and Martha a short story that appears abruptly in Luke when Jesus visits their home in Bethany. Both Mary and Martha serve, yet Mary understands the priority and necessity of choosing to be present with Jesus at his feet which was the key point to Rev. Hill. Martha is doing everything to get ready except be with Jesus. Jesus seems to favor Mary’s approach . Both of them were not typical of the time – Mary a female sitting with a prominent male guest and Martha a female head of household.

As of Sunday, we have collected 182 markers out of a total of 250 for donation to Caroline’s Promise for the news school year. We hope to make up the rest this week.

We celebrated BJ’s birthday. BJ is our bread maker for Sunday communion.

Another unique Sunday for music. Larry on guitar and Helmut on violin teamed up for the prelude, “Sweet Hour of Prayer”. Larry took the offertory, “Because all men are brothers”. The tune is Bach. Tom Glazer wrote the words in 1947. Peter Paul and Mary’s version in 1965 is probably the best known. It also fit the work and message of Rev. Hill

Lunch was held in the parish house in honor of Rev. Hill. A portion of the “Sacred Ground” group met with Rev. Hill during Lunch. Hill’s work is to encourage Sacred Ground as a prime responsibility. He is also promoting a second ground that is intended for Black and Indigenous populations. Another activity is help congregations handling racially related issues. For example, he is working with Little Fork church with a Confederal statue on their property.

The Work of General Convention 80 in 2022

This was not an easy convention (most of them aren’t). COVID forced the postponement from 2021 to 2022. Then in May, the convention was cut in half from 8 days to 4 days.  Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said they would consider “matters essential for the governance and good order of the church.” and save the rest for the next convention in 2024 in Louisville.

 It was all business – no receptions, exhibition hall or vendors or even photo sessions with the delegates. The normal 10,000 in attendance dwindled to 1,200. Despite this mandate, the lower numbers and the reduced time to consider business they had to weight in on 412 resolutions in 4 days which they did.

How did they do it ?. Planning

1 Legislative committees acted online with of the resolutions before gathering in Baltimore.

2 Bishops and deputies had floor debates only on more controversial measures or on actions that they wanted to raise to greater prominence.

3.They passed the resolutions in batches through consent calendars.

What major actions were taken ? This review will group resolutions into 5 areas

  1. Book of Common Prayer
  2. Racism
  3. Social policy
  4. Reacting to Gun Violence
  5. Environment

Book of Common Prayer .

What General convention didn’t do ? A comprehensive Prayer Book revision is not a part of this. Instead the idea of a Prayer book that is broader adding other liturgies. Most importantly Convention would create a framework for this to happen for future evaluation by revising Article X the implementing part of the constitution for the prayer book which is used to change the Prayer Book. It will require a second reading at the next convention in Louisville in 2024 since it is a constitutional amendment.

The Book of Common Prayer for the first time under A059 would be “those liturgical forms and other texts authorized by the General Convention.” In other words, liturgies that are not in the current prayer book that could be elevated to “prayer book status,” whether they are replacing parts of the prayer book or standing on their own.  In the past they revised the existing Prayer Book under Article X. However, it has never specifically provided for authorized liturgies that are not proposed revisions to the existing book

Rt. Rev. Jeffrey Lee, bishop provisional of Milwaukee, chair of the House of Bishops’ Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy & Music – “The idea of the prayer book [evolving from] a book bound and physically present in a pew to a curated collection of texts that lives online”

Only the 1979 BCP has currently been “authorized.” All of the other liturgies have been “approved” for trial use. Anything to be “authorized” has to still be approved by two successive General Conventions.

Over a dozen liturgical texts have been “authorized” – for trial use, experimental use, or simply “made available” These include Marriage Rites, Holy Eucharist: Rite Two expansive language, Enriching Our Worship Series, Book of Occasional Services, LitGuries from other communions with bishop permission, Daily Prayer for All Seasons. Propose changes must go into trial use status. The substitute left the specific process of authorizing new texts open to future canonical definition, focusing just on the constitutional change that would enable such work

The final version creates a working group to propose canonical changes that would clarify or alter the status of the rites that have been authorized for trial or experimental use over the last few decades. That working group will present those recommendations to the 81st General Convention, where A059 will come up for a second reading. It leaves in place the requirement that any prayer book changes must be approved by two successive General Conventions, and specifies that any changes must be authorized for trial use first.

The prayer book contains rites for both public and private devotion, as did the earliest versions of Thomas Cranmer’s, the original author. But now also  the adaptation1 of liturgy is stated here: “The Book of Common Prayer in this Church will be communal prayer enriched by our church’s cultural, geographical, and linguistic contexts. “  This goes back to the original Prayer book which had to alter the English Prayer book “to fit the local conditions and circumstance.” Presumably. this would include new liturgies and those form prayer books around the world.

President Jennings of the House of Deputies reminded the  convention that,  even as Jesus calls us, he is already on the move. We are not simply called to be with Jesus, though that is important; we are called to follow him. The church is never allowed to remain stagnant or self-satisfied. We are caught forever in the exciting, frustrating, uncomfortable, and ultimately divine process of discerning the direction in which God is calling us as individuals and as a church.  

2 Racism

Resolution A125, for which the budget includes $400,000 in start-up funds for a new Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice which would bring anti-racism training oversight to the province and diocese levels and creating a permanent foundation moving forward.

Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice be charged with facilitating, coordinating, encouraging, supporting, and networking efforts of Episcopal dioceses, parishes, organizations, and individuals for racial justice and equity, and the dismantling of white supremacy”

Gay Jennings in her sermon said “And I am in hopes that the creation of the Episcopal Coalition for Racial Equity and Justice through the passage of Resolution A125, will be among the most significant actions this church has ever taken.

Resolution A127. Confronts racism in terms of  Indigenous boarding schools

Resolution A126  which would have the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music to study the language of the Book of Common Prayer and report back on colonialist, racist and white supremacist, imperialist and nationalistic language and content and develop proposals for amending text

Resolution A052 clarifies the mandate of the Executive Council  Committee on Anti-Racism and Reconciliation.

Resolution C058 requires the Executive Council to respond to the church’s racial audit of leadership.

Resolution A086 would allocate money toward making a priority the development and support of programs that respond to eco-justice concerns, address environmental racism, and work to alleviate environmental burdens on Indigenous communities, and to provide training and financial aid and other resources for the work

  1. Social policy

Convention passed Resolution D083 “affirming that all Episcopalians should be able to access abortion services and birth control with no restriction on movement, autonomy, type, or timing.

The Convention adopted resolutions to offer paid family leave and health insurance to lay and clergy church employees through the Denominational Health Plan. 

Resolution A003 urges but does not require, dioceses to adopt uniform paid family leave policies for all employees. 

Resolution D034 created a new task force to provide advice about the Denominational Health Plan, which is provided through Church Pension Group and which churches and dioceses are required to provide to clergy and some lay employees. The task force will provide the 81st General Convention in 2024 with options to reduce health insurance costs across The Episcopal Church.

  1. Gun Violence

Convention spoke out against gun violence, passing resolutions B003 on ghost guns, B006 urging advocacy for state legislation against gun violence and B007 commending investment in community violence intervention to prevent gun violence.

The convention occurred in the midst of 19 children killed in Uvalde, Texas on May24  and  a gunman in Highland Park Illinois killed a gunman in Highland Park, Illinois, killed seven people at an Independence Day parade,

  1. Environmental

A088 Commit to the pressing work of addressing Global Climate

Reiterates that “climate change is not only a scientific concern or environmental issue, but what the United Nations calls “the defining issue of our time… at a defining moment” (UN Secretary General, September 10, 2018), an all-encompassing social crisis and moral emergency that impacts and interconnects every aspect of pastoral concern including health, poverty, employment, racism, social justice, and family life and that can only be addressed by a Great Work involving every sector of society

t General Convention reaffirmed that the Episcopal Church shall support and advocate for policies, programs, pastoral responses, and theologies that work to ensure no community – especially financially impoverished communities, frontline residents, migrants, and BIPOC communities (Black, indigenous, and people of color) – shall bear a disproportionate impact of the environmental, health, and economic threats of climate change;

D064: Endorse and Encourage Green Deal Legislation

Most notably the addition of a “question to the Parochial Report regarding how each parish is reducing their carbon footprint and to share those results as a whole with the Episcopal Church.”

It also opens a conversation about “adding portions relating to environmental stewardship in the Canons of the Episcopal Church” and resolves “that this Convention transmit a message to each diocese of The Episcopal Church with a copy of this resolution before each Diocesan Convention following the 80th General Convention.”

Adding Sustainable development goals rose to the attention of Convention:

  1. Zero Hunger
  2. Good Health and Well-being
  3. Quality Education
  4. Gender Equality
  5. Clean Water and Sanitation
  6. Affordable and Clean Energy
  7. Decent Work and Economic Growth
  8. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
  9. Reduced Inequality
  10. Sustainable Cities and Communities
  11. Responsible Consumption and Production
  12. Climate Action
  13. Life Below Water
  14. Life on Land
  15. Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
  16. Partnerships to achieve the Goal

Resolution A020 “encourage[s] all parishes, dioceses, and jurisdictions” to not only learn about and teach these goals, but to undertake “self-audits to assess how their existing mission work and ministries already address the SDGs.” 

A087: Net Carbon Neutrality by 2030

A087 sets for the Episcopal Church a “goal of net carbon neutrality in its operations and the work of staff, standing commissions, interim bodies, and General Convention by 2030,” in line with the UN’s Decade of Action on the SDGs. It also encourages “parishes, dioceses, schools, camps, and other Episcopal institutions to pursue their own goal of net carbon neutrality by 2030.

One amendment is worth highlighting. At the resolution’s Legislative Hearing, Bishops Bascom (Kansas) and Lattime (Alaska) collaborated on additional language regarding land use. First, the amendment “request[s] the diocesan bishops of every diocese to begin to build networks of landowners and creation trustees in each diocese who will devote portions of their land [to various sustainability projects].” Second, that “The Episcopal Church support and advocate for the subsistence rights of Indigenous people and policies that protect and preserve land and resources solely for subsistence use.”

C015: Carbon Sequestration – Creates An Internal Carbon Offset Program

Resolution C015 is a partner resolution with A087 above that provides specific guidance on the establishment of an internal carbon offset program. Carbon offset programs at large are understandably controversial: the assets traded in many programs are impossible to track, and many carbon offsets, when purchased, do not come to fruition. This is precisely why C015 is central to achieving net carbon neutrality in the Episcopal Church by 2030. An internal offset program would be thoroughly vetted and ethically allocated.

 

And one more thing about General Convention – What else is significant ?

1. A Change in generations

From Gay Jennings – “But what I am proudest of are the people I have had the opportunity to call into leadership. There has been a generational change in our church. The houses of General Convention are more racially diverse than they have ever been. A new generation of young leaders is on the rise in our legislative committees, thanks, in part, I would like to think, to the creation of additional leadership positions which I filled exclusively with younger deputies. At this convention we are focusing special attention on the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church, which was composed almost entirely of millennial leaders.”

2. Videos from the Episcopal Church – the GC Show. Here is an example

https://media.episcopalchurch.org/video/gc80-show/?mc_cid=955c49c016&mc_eid=bb9fa5686d&wchannelid=u0ozx2qu3w&wmediaid=raaza08md1

Looking at Congregational Vitality in  a different way – “that goes beyond average Sunday attendance, and really in terms of how lives are being transformed and how we can walk in God’s footsteps out in our community.

Another example from NC

3. Navigating the changes during the Pandemic

Six resolutions came about to help The Episcopal Church adapt to changes in society and find new ways of supporting the church’s mission and ministry, from experimenting with creative uses of technology to rethinking how congregations report membership and financial data.

“Little did we know when we began this work that a global pandemic would place the church in the midst of the greatest adaptive challenge of our lifetimes,” the Rev. Chris Rankin-Williams, chair of the committee, told deputies …“The pace of congregational decline across the country has been accelerated by the pandemic, and there is great uncertainty about the future and financial viability of many of our churches

“We are truly navigating off the map. With the depth of challenges, the solution is not clear,” he said. The resolutions the committee proposed were intended “to position the church to address adaptive challenges and evaluate the experiments that are necessary to create our future.”

  • A097 calls for an evaluation of the 80th General Convention’s use of technology to hold all of its legislative hearings and meetings online, possibly offering a model for future church governance meetings.
  • A098 creates a task force to study how communication and collaborative tools can enhance the work of the church’s interim bodies.
  • A099 relates to the church’s capacity to collect and study data on its adaptive efforts. The resolution specifically cites the need to fund “significant professional research expertise and capacity.” This is the only resolution of the six that wasn’t adopted, as the House of Deputies instead voted to refer the proposal back to an interim body to study further, for consideration at the 81st General Convention in 2024.
  • A132 creates a task force to study “indicators of 21st century congregational vitality and how The Episcopal Church can collect data that measures those indicators.”
  • A155 creates a task force to revise the financial page of the parochial report, filed every year by dioceses and congregations. Updating the parochial report form to better summarize congregational life was a top priority of the Committee on the State of the Church.
  • A156 creates a task force to consider ways The Episcopal Church can re-evaluate how it counts membership to better align with how people today connect with the church including “a wide range of cultural and regional contexts.”

 4. Bishop Curry

https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2022/07/08/presiding-bishop-invites-episcopalians-to-look-to-their-roots-during-gc80-opening-eucharist/

https://anglican.ink/2022/07/08/opening-address-to-the-80th-general-convention-of-the-episcopal-church-by-presiding-bishop-michael-curry/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=opening-address-to-the-80th-general-convention-of-the-episcopal-church-by-presiding-bishop-michael-curry

Preaching on the Book of Isaiah and its descriptions of the Babylonian exile, Curry compared that age of disorientation and turmoil to the past few years in the United States and the unprecedented disruption they have wrought

As a response to that , the Church was preparing  evangelistic campaign reaching into the secular, non-Christian culture of America. “It was an attempt to take the way of love that we’ve been living with and working at and share this with the wider culture beyond the red doors of the church, to share something of the reality of this Jesus and his way of love, to share something of the reality of the possibilities that his way of love opens for all of God’s children

‘But as we were getting ready to do this, someone stopped us and asked, “Have we asked people in the society, who do you say Jesus is?” Maybe have we asked ourselves that? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that may be one of the most important questions even for the Christian. Who is Jesus Christ for you today? So we contracted with the Ipsos group, a global marketing group that does this kind of research. We partnered with them, and they conducted a poll of the American population. It was a comprehensive poll, which actually gave us a snapshot into the American population across all races, ethnic groups, all religious groups, all political groups, across geographical territories.

Eighty-four percent of the American population says that Jesus is an important spiritual figure worth listening to. Eighty-four percent across all groups

Then we asked them, “What about Christians? What about the church?” Well, they answered. Among non-Christians in particular, those who are not Christian, 50% associated Christians with the word hypocrisy; 49% with the word judgmental; 46% with self-righteousness; and 32% with arrogance. And then, nearly half of non-Christians in America—hear this—nearly half of non-Christians in America believe that racism is prevalent among Christians in the church.

 Remember, 84% of the people surveyed across the board find Jesus attractive, something about him compelling. Eighty-four percent. The problem is there’s a gap between Jesus and his followers. Are you with me? And it’s that gap that’s the problem. It’s that gap that undermines our efforts to commend this Jesus and his way of love to a wider culture, to those who don’t have a religious background. Walking the way of unselfish, sacrificial love as Jesus taught us, closes the gap. Following the way of this Jesus, until his footprints and our footprints become indistinguishable, begins to close the gap

The study will be used to inform an upcoming social media evangelism campaign designed to bring Jesus’ message into secular American society – “to share this with the wider culture beyond the red doors of the church,” he said. 

5. Stats! Stats! Stats!

Two women will lead the House of Deputies for the first time in history

Julia Ayala Harris is the youngest person to be elected president of the House of Deputies. She is also the first Latina to be elected to that post. 

The Rev. Rachel Taber-Hamilton of Olympia is the first ordained woman and the first Indigenous woman to be elected vice president of the House of Deputies. 

The Hon. Byron Rushing of Massachusetts is the longest-serving deputy — serving in 16 conventions since 1973. At this convention he concludes serving as vice president of the House of Deputies. 

The senior bishop here is Arthur Williams, Diocese of Ohio, who was consecrated bishop suffragan 35 years ago on October 11, 1986. 

In the House of Bishops, there are 122 bishops and four bishops-elect. Of them, 38 are first-time bishops at a General Convention and 34 are women. Three of the four bishops-elect are women

 

Videos, July 10, 2022, Pentecost 5

1. Bell

2. Prelude

This was a combination of two pieces which fit together

A. Prelude: Bourrée Andantino G.F. Handel

B. Bourrée Con Moto W.A. Mozart

3. Welcome

4. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

5. The Gospel – Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37

6. Sermon- Rev. Thomas Hughes

7. Selection Prayers of the People

8. Offertory

9. Blessing

Markers for Caroline’s Promise completed~

St Peter’s goal was to collect 250 boxes of markers, eight to a box for Caroline County school children, to be distributed by Caroline’s Promise on Saturday, July 23rd at Caroline Middle School.

As of Sunday, July 17, we had 183 markers with another 67 to go. We reached 250 during the next week, in time for the distribution.

The photo shows the delivery to Caroline Middle prior to the event. Thanks to all who contributed!

Commentary, July 10, 2022

 Theme – God’s call challenges us to obedience, compassion and action for justice

“The Good Samaritan” – Van Gogh (1890)

The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

First Reading – Deuteronomy 30:9-14

Psalm – Psalm 25:1-9

Epistle – Colossians 1:1-14

Gospel – Luke 10:25-37 


Today’s readings focus on God’s call challenging us to obedience, compassion and action for justice. In Deuteronomy (Track 2), Moses assures the people that God’s call to obedience is not too difficult nor is it hidden. Paul writes that Christ, the image of the invisible God, is our Creator, Sustainer and Reconciler. Jesus answers a lawyer’s question by telling the story of the Good Samaritan.

Read more…

What we say about ourselves is not nearly as important as how we live out what we say—how we live out our lives with Christ. We are called by God throughout scripture and tradition to care for the poor, the outcast, the oppressed, and the marginalized—but throughout our history and scripture, we have found ways to make excuses. We have put ourselves before others and have justified our way of life, while others around us and in the world continue to suffer. We cannot remain ignorant of the struggles of others. Eventually, justice catches up to us

Moses warned the people in the wilderness, and they did not listen. Jesus questions the lawyer who wants the right answer to be given, who wants to speak aloud the truth, and helps him to realize that it is about a love that shows mercy, a way of living towards others. How are we living out our faith? Are we just saying what we believe in? Is it more important to have the right statements of faith, or is it more important to do what Jesus has called us to do and live out our faith?


How often have we passed by persons in need or deferred social involvement to keep our own schedule ? We are not bad persons either; we simply place our broad spectrum vocational callings ahead of the concreteness of God’s call in the present moment.


Our challenge is to grow in stature, so that we can creatively and lovingly balance our personal and institutional responsibilities, including our self-care and care for families and congregations, with the unsettling challenges to go beyond our immediate responsibilities so that we may become God’s partners in healing the world. Jewish mystics remind us that to save one soul is to save the world. From a God’s eye view, this means to care for our loved ones and ourselves as well as those who are loved by God and beyond the walls of our communities. This will lead to agitation but our agitation will find completeness and comfort in feelings of wholeness which emerge when we join our well-being with the well-being of our most vulnerable local and global companions.


II. Summary


First Reading – Deuteronomy 30:9-14


The book of Deuteronomy is presented as Moses’ farewell address to the Israelite people gathered at the border of the promised land. The book is a reinterpretation of Mosaic instruction (the Jewish Torah or Law) to deal with the situations of later history. It, or the core of it, was probably “the book of the law” found in 621 BC, which sparked Josiah’s reforms (2 Kings 22–23). It emphasizes the continued relevance of Moses’ teaching to each generation. In its real purpose, Deuteronomy is about starting over, hoping to get it right and keep it going this time, where “it” is national identity expressed through loyalty to God’s law.


Today’s reading comes from Moses’ third address (chaps. 29–30). In this scene, as in others in the book, we see the author leading us away from a classic mythological view of God’s wisdom and direction to a new place wherein God’s teaching is evident and approachable. The people are promised restoration and renewal of the covenant. Following the verses that promise a continuing prosperity, we are led to the feet of the Law, the commandments of God. It is here that Israel will encounter the living one, not in the gifts of God’s blessing


They will enjoy the blessings of obedience (v. 9) if they seek, follow, serve and obey the lord with the total intensity of their whole being (v. 10). God has drawn near and revealed the guidelines that are necessary for living a life pleasing to God. God has already placed these deep within us. Our task is to discover and live them.


What God is asking of them is not too difficult, nor is it far-fetched; but rather, it should become second-nature, because the word is very near them (vs. 14). God delights in us when we are faithful, because we are concerned about the same things God is concerned about. Moses’ hope is that the people remember that the same God who brought them out of Egypt, and gave them manna in the wilderness, and gave them the commandments so that they would know how to follow God’s ways will not forget that God is always with them. Moses’ hope is for the people to remain faithful as God has remained faithful.  


Psalm – Psalm 25:1-9


Psalm 25:1-10 is a prayer for God’s guidance in this life. This psalm seems to describe the intimacy of God’s wisdom and Law as the Deuteronomist has done in the Old Testament reading this week.


The psalmist seeks God’s protection and help, but also prays for wisdom and insight in how to follow God, seeking forgiveness for where one has made mistakes in the past. The psalmist sings praises for the way God teaches us and gives us direction, and if we are faithful, we will understand God’s faithfulness.


This is an acrostic psalm, each verse beginning with a successive letter of the alphabet – one of nine in the collections of the Psalms.. It is in the form of a personal lament and contains the usual cry for help (vv. 1-3), plea for guidance (vv. 4-5), expression of trust (vv. 6-15) and presentation of the psalmist’s plight (vv. 17-19) in a prayer of vindication (vv. 16-21). The psalm may have been written for general use by any worshiper.


In verses 4-5, the psalmist asks God to teach him truth. He recognizes that his adversaries, both external (vv. 2) and internal (vv. 7), are strong enough to triumph over him. His fear of the lord compels him to acknowledge that God alone can make him into a person of true righteousness (v. 9).


There are images of a journey in these verses, with the central image of the psalmist attempting to walk in the ways of the Lord (see “He guides” (verse 8) and “All the paths” (verse 9). God is pictured here not only as one who shares wisdom, but also as one who forgives when we have forgotten the wisdom.



Today’s reading is the first of a sequence of four Sundays from the letter to the Colossians. The letter to the Colossians addressed tendencies among the Colossian Christians to merge differing beliefs. They had apparently adopted additional teaching, ritual observances and ascetic practices from various sources–Judaism, the pagan mystery cults and speculative theosophy–in order to supplement Christianity and thereby ensure salvation. The letter asserts the entire sufficiency of Christ and of redemption through him.


Today’s reading follows the outline of the beginning of most of Paul’s letters: salutation (1:1-2), thanksgiving (1:3-8) and prayer of intercession (1:9-14). The Colossians are reminded of the gospel they learned from Epaphras (4:12f; Philemon 23). Paul prays that they may be open to God’s will and be strengthened by God to lead moral lives; the connection between knowledge of the gods and ethical behavior was not always made in the pagan religions.


The use of such words as knowledge and wisdom may be a deliberate appropriation of terms used by the mystery religions in order to claim them for Christ. In the Graeco-Roman world at this time there was a general sense of being imprisoned in the world and subjected to evil spirits; thus, many different groups promised deliverance through esoteric knowledge and practices.


What we hear is a message of encouragement, that we no longer live in the power of darkness but in the reign of Christ. The author begins with blessing the Colossians with God’s strength and endurance from God, that they may bear fruit and be pleasing to God and to others. Paul proclaims that it is God who “has delivered us from the dominion of darkness” and it is his Son “in whom we have redemption” through baptism. There is no need to propitiate other powers.


Paul wants them to continue in their knowledge – he mark’s it out: God’s will, spiritual wisdom, understanding. And he prays that there me fruits that come from the faith that they so boldly exhibit. There is a hint of trouble to come, Paul is no Pollyanna, “and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience.” Suddenly at verse 13, the focus shift from the faithful to the faithful Jesus, “in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” This is the foundation of the discussion that Paul will have with these people, and which we shall listen in on during the coming Sundays.


Gospel –  Luke 10:25-37 


Last Sunday the Seventy (or Seventy-Two) were sent out, and when they returned the reported about the things that they had seen. Now we shall meet a character who cannot see. But it is not just the young lawyer who cannot see, the characters in the parable Jesus tells also cannot see.


Today’s reading illustrates the challenge of Christian discipleship in relationship to others. Luke 10:25-37 is the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan. The greatest commandment is listed in all four Gospels in some variation. In Luke’s version, it is not Jesus who answer the questioner with the Greatest commandment, but it is Jesus answering a question with a question—when the lawyer asks “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”


The scholar’s question to Jesus about how to summarize the Jewish Law was one frequently posed to rabbis, who commonly replied with the second part of the answer, taken from Leviticus 19:18b (“you shall love your neighbor as yourself”). The first part is taken from the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”) which was part of the daily morning prayer of the Jews.


Jesus responds with, “What is written in the law?What do you read there?” Jesus is telling the lawyer to look up what is in the law himself. The lawyer picks up on this dance of questions and responds to Jesus – “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”


He waits for Jesus’ response, “You have given the right answer; do this and you will live,” the lawyer asks another question, “And who is my neighbor?” His concern about the Law is really about his concern about survival. Even though he knows the answer about God, neighbor, and self, he doesn’t know how to enact it.


Then Jesus tells the parable. By attaching the story of the Good Samaritan, Luke illustrates in a memorable way what the love of a neighbor requires. This also reinforces the Christian application of the Jewish covenant commandments to all persons. In looking for God, we must also see the neighbor, and the neighbor is the last person that we might expect. Usually “the neighbor is the one we would rather avoid.


Jesus asks the question at the end “Which of these three was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” That is the final question asked, and the lawyer finally has to answer, “The one who showed him mercy.” Love is about showing mercy, and love is about doing justice. This is the way of God, the most important commandment: to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves, and the way of love is justice and mercy.


Thus a neighbor was a fellow Jew or a resident alien who was under their protection (Leviticus 19:34). The parable turns the question around, from neighbor as object of love to neighbor as one who shows love without defining or delimiting the recipient. Like God (Luke 1:78), like Jesus (Luke 7:13), like the prodigal’s father (Luke 15:20), the despised Samaritan has compassion upon the one in need and acts decisively to rescue the sufferer from the difficult situation.


Today the whole world has become our neighborhood. Scenes of the overwhelming needs of strangers strain our eyes and assault our senses. Crime in our city streets and on the highways has become so common and violent that some of us do not dare be good Samaritans nor teach our children to be friendly to strangers.


Moreover, vast social machinery now exists for taking care of the needy. Many of us give, either voluntarily or under some compulsion to support those agencies and organizations that are the caretakers of social needs. Our social conscience is able to stay alive in this way without too much personal involvement.


So what sense can we in our day make of the one-to-one setting of the parable of the Good Samaritan? The question now seems to be the same one the lawyer asked of Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” Or, whom are we obliged to help?


Jesus offered no formula to help us make categorical decisions. Implicit in the parable was the only guideline we have—Christ’s loving concern for the individual and willingness to take action to change the situation.


Love is the only energizer and director of our activities that we can trust to guide us. We can know who our neighbor is only when we know who God is. When God’s word is in our hearts and God’s Spirit in our lives, we are able to respond to the needs around us.


Jesus ended the lawyer’s speculative approach to the meaning of life. The parable reversed the lawyer’s question from “Who is worthy of my attention?” to “To whose need must I respond with the love that God shows to me?”


It is by God’s light that we see God’s image in the faces of our brothers and sisters. It is by Christ’s Spirit within us that we extend aid and comfort to them. Real redeeming work, whether for the body or the soul, requires costly, self-sacrificing effort. We pray for grace to bear Christ’s love to all left bludgeoned and abandoned beside the road.

Sunday links for July 10, 2022 – Pentecost 5

July 10, 11:00am – Eucharist

The Good Samaritan

July 13, 4:30-6pm – Village Dinner

Take out or eat in. Call Susan Linne von Berg to make your reservation. 804-742-5233. July’s menu is : Barbecue ribs, bake beans, potato salad, corn on the cob and dessert.

We had 18 in the church on Sunday and another 6 on Zoom. We were able to to provide birthday greetings on Zoom for Laura Carey whose birthday is on July 13

School believe it or not is another month way. To that end, we have been asked by Caroline’s Promise to collect 250 boxes of markers. We have a ways to go with 35 boxes collected through I know several are ordering this week.

Helmut and Brad teamed up on violin and piano for both the prelude and offertory. They are recorded under video’s.

Tom provided the sermon on the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan had build a solid base for his life. To live a solid life, it needs to based on something with meaning and purpose, such as Christ who is the rock. He cited Deuteronomy as the basis – “For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Van Gogh’s Depiction of the “Good Samaritan

From Author of this article

Vincent Van Gogh’s dynamic and intimate portrait of the Good Samaritan is based on the French painter Eugene Delacroix’s similar painting. Van Gogh painted his own version of Delacroix’s The Good Samaritan while recuperating at the asylum of Saint-Rémy after suffering from two mental breakdowns in the winter of 1888-89.

At the time, Van Gogh was feeling spent and fragile and this sense of helplessness colors both figures at the heart of the painting. The broken and attacked man can barely get up on the horse. His muscles appear limp, depleted of any strength that could help him sit upright. All the man appears capable of is clinging to his rescuer. Likewise, the Samaritan seems to be barely able to summon up the strength to lift the man on the horse. By imbuing the painting with his own brokenness, Van Gogh creates a moving depiction of Christ’s solidarity with us in our human weakness. Christ humbles himself, taking on the form of a slave (Phil 2:7). And we, like this robbed man, can do nothing without Christ who strengthens us (Phil 4:13).

In some of the earliest  interpretations of the parable by early Church theologians, most famously by Augustine, the Good Samaritan is an image of Christ. The two coins with which the Samaritan pays the innkeeper are the two commandments: to love the Lord Our  and to love our neighbor as ourselves. During this Lenten season, we strive to love God more through purifying our lives of distracting loves of lesser things, and we strive to love our neighbor more through positive actions of charity and almsgiving.

As we meditate on this image of the Samaritan lifting up the weak robbed man, let us ponder what weaknesses we need Christ to heal in us this Lent. How is Christ seeking to reach us, even in our weakness? And how, through acts of almsgiving, can we be Good Samaritans for our neighbors in need this Lent?

On May 8, 1889, exhausted, ill, and out of control, Vincent Van Gogh committed himself to St. Paul’s psychiatric asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, a small hamlet in the south of France. A former monastery, the sanitarium was located in an area of cornfields, vineyards and olive trees. There Van Gogh was allowed two small adjoining cells with barred windows. One room he used as his bedroom, and the other was his tiny studio. While there, Van Gogh not only painted the surrounding area and the interior of the asylum, he also copied paintings and drawings by other artists, making those paintings his own through modifications he made to the painting’s composition, the colors and, of course, the brush strokes.

One of the artists whose works Van Gogh copied and modified was the Dutch Gold Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn. The Good Samaritan by Rembrandt drew Van Gogh’s attention: in which a Samaritan man hoists a wounded man with a bandaged head onto a horse to be taken to an inn for recovery.

When Van Gogh was admitted to the sanitarium in St Remy de Provence, he had become so difficult, so sick that the townspeople of Arles, where he had been living and painting had given him the name “the red-headed madman.” After a psychotic break during the visit of fellow artist Paul Gauguin, Van Gogh was all but put out of the town. With the help of a couple of people, he eventually made his way to the sanitarium in St Remy de Provence where he copied and modified Delacroix’s painting of The Good Samaritan.

If viewers were to see the two paintings – Rembrandt’s and Van Gogh’s side by side – the first thing that would strike you is the light in Van Gogh’s painting and the darkness in Rembrandt’s. Though not sharing the bright colors of his paintings in Arles, Van Gogh’s painting of The Good Samaritan, is well lit which means we can make out things more clearly in the painting.

Compassion without Boundaries -Background of the “Good Samaritan” in Luke from author Alexander Shaia

Some background of the Gospel of Luke provides insight of why this story appears in this gospel and no others. Luke wrote in the 80’s AD after both Matthew and Mark (and before John). Jesus resurrection was 50 years earlier. He wrote it in Antioch in Turkey at a time when Christianity was expanding to the Gentiles all throughout the Mediterranean. How was Christianity to unite these peoples ?

The issues are taken up in The Hidden Power of the Gospels: Four Questions, Four Paths, One Journey by Alexander Shaia.

“Nero had executed the Jewish Christus followers of Rome twenty years earlier, although persecution had not extended to Christus believers throughout the rest of the empire at that time. Then in 70 CE, Vespasian leveled the Great Temple of Jerusalem and massacred all its priests, throwing Judaism into total disarray. In the steps that religion took to survive, a process began that still resonates in the lives of Christians and Jews.

“The slaughter resulted in a complete lack of religious authority. The Pharisees, educated teachers of Jewish religious law but not officially con­nected to the Temple, stepped into the vacuum. By the mid-80s CE, the time of Luke’s gospel, their role had significantly increased. In many Jewish communities, their voices rose to roles of clear leadership. In others, they represented merely one of many voices struggling to advise how best to move forward in the face of great loss. Eventually, the Pharisees became the primary voice of the Jewish community, reunifying the people in the ab­sence of the Temple and its priests—but not before Luke began to write.”

And as part of their ascension “The Pharisees advocated for the removal from Judaism of all variant sects who believed that the Messiah had already come. Chief among these were the “Followers of the Way”’ (the Christus sect), who maintained that the Messiah had arrived for the salvation of all people, not just Jew

“They carried pain, and some of them likely had a touch of ar­rogance attached to their lingering resentments. They had also migrated all over the Mediterranean basin, which presented them with persecution from another quarter. The Roman government was more than nervous about the Christus followers—it was terror-stricken. “The fear of this message led to its oppression of the Christus communities—and the persecution increased steadily.

“The fear of this message led to its oppression of the Christus communities—and the persecution increased steadily.

“Although some scholars believe that the Gospel of Luke was written to a high Roman official in defense of Christianity, others think it was a teach­ing written in Antioch designed to be distributed among these burgeoning communities across the Mediterranean world.

“In Hebrew teachings, “heart” implies a unitive aspect of one’s hu­manity that is greater than mere emotion—encompassing body, feelings, will, intuition, and thought—everything but soul.

“How were the nascent “Followers of the Way” to move forward in the face of being cursed by the Pharisees, abandoned by most of their Jewish friends, and oppressed by the Roman Empire? How could they deal with the hurt and resentments that threatened to poison their lives and divide their families? Should they verbally dispute and defend themselves against each hurt? Should they take up arms and fight? Should they hold to tra­ditional practices?

“Luke draws a stark spiritual line, using his gospel to focus on spiritual maturation. He instructs the Followers of the Way to stringently challenge themselves, speak their truth boldly, yet maintain- inner equanimity and avoid self-righteousness. Faced with opposition on all sides, the course Jesus taught in Luke’s gospel was for the Christus believers to “be” at peace, rather than taking up arms or trying to effect change through anger. This gospel is filled with instruc­tions about growing into the capacity for mature relationships and compas­sion and generosity without boundaries.”

“The Gospel thus became a “how to” manual designed to be distributed among these burgeoning communities across the Mediterranean world.”