St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Port Royal, VA
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.
Of note this Sunday in the photos:
“Happiness comes from in here. We live from the inside out not from the outside in”.
Video
Transcribed
I’m Tom, I’m from over here at St Peters and what a joy to be doing this and to hear that beautiful reading of that scripture again. You never get tired of that do you, that story over and over again.
What a wonderful gift that is, and on top of that, the perfect setting for being here together for the sunrise the Lord has provided for us so beautifully. And if you appreciate it, the symbolism here is everywhere. You’ve got spring, new beginning, new life coming up, you got the river of God flowing by out here and it just goes on and on, new life, new light into the world, the light of Christ – we’re celebrating it right now so it’s just everywhere. If you’re not already half dead you can see it around you, the presence and power and the love of God.
Special segments this Sunday included :
#2 Dedication of the Paschal Candle
#3 Alleluis comes back, a project of the children
#10. Farewell Helmut Linne von Berg
#11. Birthday – Larry Saylor
1. Opening Hymn – “Jesus Christ is risen today”
2. Dedication of Paschal Candle
3. Alleluia comes back
Click here to view in a new window.
“Noli me tangere” Antonio Correggio (CA. 1525)
In the beginning, the Lord God formed a man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into that man’s nostrils the breath of life, and so the man became a human being. And then, the Lord God planted a garden in Eden. And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, a river to water the garden, and God put the man there to till the garden and to care for it. The Garden of Eden was so inviting that God would walk there in the cool of the evening breeze, reveling in the beauty of the garden.
Since the beginning of time, gardens have provided sustenance, beauty and inspiration.
Those blessed enough to have a garden witness the ways in which the garden changes through the seasons.
They’ve tilled the ground, watched with an amazement the new growth springing up from the seeds they have planted. Gardeners harvest, and then when the plants are spent and dead, they put the garden to bed to rest for the winter. And then the gardener waits, the seasons change, and it’s time to till and to plant again.
Gardens have always been places of death and resurrection.
That first man, blessed to live in the Garden of Eden, could not simply live there, reveling in its blessings and beauty, but ended up putting himself above God, and sin came into the garden. God sent the man and the woman out of the Garden so that they would not eat from the Tree of Life and live forever.
And so death came into the world.
From David Lose
“The story of what God is doing in and through Jesus isn’t over at the empty tomb, you see. It’s only just getting started. Resurrection isn’t a conclusion, it’s an invitation. And Jesus’ triumph over death, sin, and hate isn’t what Mark’s Gospel is all about. Rather, it is all about setting us up to live resurrection lives and continue the story of God’s redemption of the world.”
From Lawrence
“It is nothing less than a brand new future for the whole of creation. On Good Friday, the entire old world order of fallenness, despair, decay and death triumphs over Jesus. It is the end of Jesus’ mission and is the human race’s verdict on God’s salvation in Jesus: “Crucify him!” The Word of Resurrection that summons Jesus from the tomb is the freshly uttered Word of God that summons a new creation into being out of the ashes of the old.”
“The resurrection of Christ is no mere pledge of a future resurrection. It is a principle of resurrection now going on within us, and in which we must act, moment by moment.” – Richard Meux Benson, Brothers of St. John the Evangelist
The important truth of Easter Sunday is that God said “Yes” to Jesus even though on Good Friday the empire said “No”. If nothing else, the survival of the Easter stories is proof that Jesus has continued to become very real to Christians that never met him in the flesh.
The resurrection joy of Jesus escapes the clutches of death because it’s the joy of the new creation, a joy broken free from the evil of this fallen world.
And this makes Easter breathtaking. As Jonathan Edwards boldly declared: “The resurrection of Christ is the most joyful event that ever came to pass.” The resurrection of Christ will bring the most spectacularly joy-filled event because it ignites an eternally abiding and forever unconquerable joy.
1. David Lose – "It’s Only the Beginning"
The story of what God is doing in and through Jesus isn’t over at the empty tomb, you see. It’s only just getting started. Resurrection isn’t a conclusion, it’s an invitation. And Jesus’ triumph over death, sin, and hate isn’t what Mark’s Gospel is all about. Rather, Mark’s Gospel is all about setting us up to live resurrection lives and continue the story of God’s redemption of the world.
Mark gives us a clue to that in the very first verse, in an opening sentence that is almost as abrupt and awkward as the closing one. Mark, you’ll remember, doesn’t give us the long genealogy of Matthew; the tender story of shepherds, angels, and a mother and her newborn together in a stable as in Luke; or the theologically soaring and totally wonderful hymn to the Word made flesh of John. Rather, Mark says simply, even pointedly, “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” Goodness gracious, but that doesn’t even sound like an introduction (and, indeed, some have wondered if it was Mark’s title rather than opening line). But the key thing here is that Marks says straight off that all of Mark’s writing is only the beginning of the good news of what God has done and is still doing for the world through Jesus the Christ.
It’s only the beginning; this story isn’t over. It’s only the beginning, and we have a part to play. It’s only the beginning, and if you wonder why there is still so much distress and pain in the world, it’s because God’s not done yet. It’s only the beginning, and Mark is inviting us to get out of our seats and into the game, sharing the good news of Jesus’ complete identification with those who suffering and his triumph over injustice and death with everyone we meet. It’s only the beginning, and we’re empowered and equipped to work for the good in all situations because we trust God’s promises that all will in time come to a good end even when we can’t see evidence of that.
It’s only the beginning….
Easter Sunday, the culmination of Holy Week!
Easter celebrates the reality of Jesus’ resurrection in all its many aspects. Hope, Transformation, Evangelism and a new life.
“The miracle of the resurrection is that time itself has started over. The new time has begun! Just as it was in the beginning, when the word was with God, the Word will be with God again. Jesus is ascending to the Father.
“In other words, in this new time that has begun with Jesus’ death and resurrection, the family relationship that was broken in the Garden of Eden has now been restored and healed.
From the sermon in 2018: