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.

Making Adjustments – Easter 3

Suzanne Guthrie

“The disciples have been night-fishing, but as dawn breaks they have nothing to show for their efforts. Jesus appears on the shore, too far away to help. He shouts at them to fish differently, to throw their nets on the unconventional side of the boat. That’s where they find what they’re looking for.”

-Richard Beard from the novel, Lazarus is Dead (p.219)

“Is it possible that finding what I’m looking requires just the slightest adjustment in my way of seeing? How can pulling up my net, moving it a few feet over, throwing it back in the same waters, make a difference? And yet…

“What other slight adjustments to my life, my character, my thinking, my relating to family, friends, neighbors, the world, might change barrenness to fecundity? At any given moment there’s probably at least 153 ways to begin.

Do you remember the dynamic between the two disciples running to the tomb on Easter Morning? Mary Magdalene, having found the tomb empty runs to wherever the disciples have been hiding and brings back Peter and John. John outruns Peter but hesitates to go in. When Peter arrives he enters the tomb and sees the disarray of cloths. “Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed” (John 20:8).

“John understands. Peter acts.

“Here in the boat, the stranger on the shore calls to the men in the boat. Children, have you caught anything? No? Cast your net on the right side of the boat and you’ll catch some. And they did. And could hardly manage the haul of fish. “The disciple who Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

“Peter, who is naked, throws on his clothes and jumps into the water to swim toward shore, leaving the others to manage the miraculous catch of fish.

“John understands. Peter acts.

“When I act first, perhaps I need to understand more. When I understand and fail to act, well, that’s another adjustment I need to make.”

Eastertide, 2025

 We are in Eastertide until Pentecost, June 8

Eastertide is the period of fifty days, seven Sundays from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday. Easter is not a day but a season and it is one to examine the Resurrection, more broadly and deeply.  There are a number of questions.

Is Resurrection just about death has been swallowed up in victory (1 Corinthians 15:54-56) ? Is Resurrection of Jesus is a precursor to your own resurrection (1 Corinthians 15) ? Does it say something about our own ability to expect to see Jesus (Luke 24) ? How does the new Christian community begin to function making Christ the central part of daily life ? (Acts 2)

Jesus physically appears in Easter 2 and 3 making the Resurection tangible. The shepherding part of his ministry is explored in Easter 4. From Easter 5-7, Jesus must prepare the disciples for his departure. He is going to leave them. Jesus prepares his disciples for continuing his ministry without his physical presence.  Themes explored include the holy spirit, the Prayer of Jesus and God’s glory through His Son and the church.

Christ ascends on the 40th day with his disciples watching (Thursday, May 29th). The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit.This fifty days comes to an end on Pentecost Sunday, which commemorates the giving of the Holy Spirit to the apostles, the beginnings of the Church and its mission to all  peoples and nation.  Note that the Old Testament lessons are replaced by selections from the Book of Acts, recognizing the important of the growth of the church.

St. Mark’s Day, April 28

John Mark is the author of the Gospel of Mark which we are reading this year in Year B.

The painting was done in 1625 by Frans Hals, a Dutch painter, who painted portraits of all the Gospel writers.

Mark’s work was the first Gospel probably written in the 60’s AD. Gospel means “Good News” of Jesus Christ reflecting His life and work.  The Gospel says the Kingdom of God is at hand and brings new life, sanctification and hope to the world. It is also one of the Synoptic Gospels.

Synoptic, in Greek, means “seeing or viewing together,” and by that definition, Matthew, Mark, and Luke cover much the same subject matter and treat it in similar ways. Some scholars believe an oral gospel existed first, which Matthew, Mark, and Luke used in their versions.  Others argue that Matthew and Luke borrowed heavily from Mark.  A third theory claims an unknown or lost source once existed, providing much information on Jesus.  Scholars call this lost source “Q,” short for quelle, a German word meaning “source.”  Still another theory says Matthew and Luke copied from both Mark and Q.

Mark stresses Jesus’ message about the kingdom of God now breaking into human life as good news (Mk 1:14–15) and Jesus himself as the gospel of God (Mk 1:1; 8:35; 10:29). Jesus is the Son whom God has sent to rescue humanity by serving and by sacrificing his life (Mk 10:45).

Tradition holds that Mark was present when Jesus Christ was arrested on the Mount of Olives.  In his Gospel, Mark says: “A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.” (Mark 14:51-52, NRSV) Because that incident is not mentioned in the three other Gospels, scholars believe Mark was referring to himself.

John Mark first appears by name in the book of Acts.  Peter had been thrown in prison by Herod Antipas, who was persecuting the early church.  In answer to the church’s prayers, an angel came to Peter and helped him escape.  Peter hurried to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many of the church members were praying

Paul made his first missionary journey to Cyprus, accompanied by Barnabas and Mark (Acts 13).  When they sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, Mark left them and returned to Jerusalem.  No explanation is given for his departure, and Bible scholars have been speculating ever since.  Whatever the shortcoming was, it disappointed Paul though Paul later forgave him

According to Coptic tradition, John Mark is the founder of the Coptic Church in Egypt. Copts believe Mark was tied to a horse and dragged to his death by a mob of pagans on Easter, 68 A.D., in Alexandria. Copts count him as the first of their chain of 118 patriarchs (popes).

St. Mark’s day is a public holiday in Venice since Mark is Venice’s patron saint. One of the highlights during the Feast of St Mark is the Regata di Traghetti, a boat race featuring gondoliers who compete while transporting passengers in their gondolas. One tradition associated with St Mark’s festival was the Festival of the Blooming Rose, symbolizing love and romance. The custom of giving a rose bud (bocolo) to a loved one is still practiced today.

Celebrating St. Philip and St. James, May 1

From St. Philip and St. James


[Image credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons]

“Today is the feast of Saint Philip and Saint James, apostles with ambiguous storylines and confusingly common names. We celebrate them on a combined feast day because, even though they died at different times and in different locations, their bodies were moved and are buried together in the Church of the Twelve Apostles in Rome.

“Philip appears in several important moments of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus calls Philip to follow him shortly after calling Andrew and Peter, and Philip responds by telling his friend Nathanael. Philip convinces Nathanael to ‘come and see’ Jesus even though the skeptical Nathanael isn’t sure anything good can come out of Nazareth.

“In the Gospel of John’s account of feeding the crowd of 5,000, Jesus asks Philip, ‘how are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?’ And Philip’s practical response about a monetary value sets the table for the feeding of the multitude with the bread and fish. A few chapters later, Philip converses with ‘some Greeks’ who want to see Jesus and then at the last supper Philip asks to see the Father in order to be satisfied.

“Philip the Apostle is easy to confuse with Philip the Evangelist, who is one of the seven appointed as deacons in Acts 6, and who teaches the Ethiopian eunuch about Jesus a few chapters later. One of the fun challenges of the New Testament is figuring out who shares the same name with other followers of Jesus, or a game I like to call, “now which Mary is this?”

“Today is not only about Saint Philip though, we must also remember Saint James, often called James the Less. This moniker helps distinguish him from James the brother of John, who together are known as the sons of Zebedee, and from James ‘the brother of our Lord.’ Little is known about the James whom we celebrate today. He is called the son of Alphaeus, and he might have been with his mother (another Mary!) and the other women watching the crucifixion from a distance

“The character, identity, and intrigue of these two apostles are rooted in their relationship to Jesus. They are counted among the twelve which means they are participants in all the stories about Jesus’ teaching, healing, and his resurrection appearances we read about in the gospels.

The gospel lesson appointed for today contains two important ‘I am’ statements from Jesus. ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life’ and ‘I am in the Father and the Father is in me.’ Jesus teaches Philip that God the Father dwells within God’s Son Jesus, and Jesus the Son dwells in God the Father. He goes on to say that those who believe in Jesus will do even greater works than Jesus did. As Christians we believe that Christ dwells in us, and we in him.

“The apostles Philip and James invite us to both come and to see Jesus. They encourage us to bring to Jesus those who are skeptics and those who seek to know more about our Lord. They ask the difficult questions for us about the meaning of our faith and how we are able to satisfy it.

“God’s story continues with us. We, too, are complicated characters with disparate back stories, working for the common goal of God’s Kingdom. Today on this shared feast day, give thanks for Saint Philip and Saint James, for their life, example, and their commitment to follow Jesus. You might read the lessons appointed for today and discuss the many ways Christ dwells within each member of your household. Help them to find their own place in God’s story.