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.

2023 Sun Dec 24

Advent 4, Christmas Eve, Year B

The Advent mystery is the beginning of the end of all in us that is not yet Christ. – Thomas Merton

Explore Advent, Part 4 – Over the Sundays in Advent there will be a presentation each week focusing on that week’s scriptures, art and commentary and how they demonstrate the themes of advent. Let’s continue with Advent 4.

Explore the Christmas Scriptures Let’s move to the Christmas scriptures

From the Presiding Bishop – Messages since 2012

 

Diocese of Va. Advent Meditations, Week 4

Feast of the Annunciation –  9 months before we celebrate the nativity there is the related Feast of the Annunciation on March 25 which is described here .

Art of the Annunciation – The Annunication has been depicted in art for a thousand years. Here are 30+ images of that history .

Nativity art, all around the world.

“I will light candles this Christmas” – Howard Thurman

Blessed Like Mary- David Lose invites us to understand that we are Blessed Like Mary
 

National Geographic explores – "How the Virgin Mary Became the World’s Most Powerful Woman"

A Digital Nativity.

What if current social media like Facebook, Gmail, etc had been available at the birth of Christ ? Watch the Digital Nativity

Advent 4 – Apollo 8, Christmas Eve at the moon

It has been more than 50 years since this mission and since the first 10 verses of Genesis was read to 1.5 billion people, the largest audience to that time.

It was commemorated by a celebration at National Cathedral on Dec. 11, 2018 called “Spirit of Apollo”. The webcast is here.

Dean Randy Hollerith introduced it. Hollerith called it an “this amazing mission that I would call a pilgrimage. It revealed not only dark side of the moon and but gave our most powerful images of our small and fragile world God’s precious gift awash in an unimaginably large universe. I think of it as a holy journey not only what it accomplished and what it showed of our place in our God’s grand’s creation.”

The six-day mission lifted off on Dec. 21, 1968, with its crew of Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders.

The voyage had many firsts.

Read more

Advent 4 – Space in the Manger

by Meghan Cotter. Meghan is executive director of Micah Ecumenical Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit that offers holistic care to the community’s street homeless

"Some time back, I watched a friend in need attempt to repair five years worth of disintegrating relationships. The library, a local gymnasium, a number of area businesses and even her family had cut off ties in response to her boisterously disruptive behavior.  

" She’d picked up criminal charges—a few nuisance violations, a trespassing or two and an assault on an officer. At times, even the agencies trying to help her had been left with little choice than dismissing her from their facilities. But the more the community isolated her, the more volatile became her symptoms. She grew angrier and louder. Her self-appointment as the spokesperson for her homeless peers turned radical, even threatening. Feeling ignored and stripped of personhood, she waltzed into a church one Sunday, intent on being heard. Just in time for the sermon she rose from the congregation, rolled out a sleeping bag and unleashed a number of choice words to convey the plight of Fredericksburg’s homeless.

Read more

Advent 4 – Cry of a Tiny Baby

A post from teacher and theologian David Lose: "So maybe I shouldn’t describe this Christmas carol as “unlikely” in that Bruce Cockburn has explored the Christian story and theology, along with issues of human rights, throughout his forty-year career. But it may very well be unfamiliar to you. If so, you’re in for a treat, as the Canadian folk and rock guitarist, singer-songwriter’s beautiful retelling of the Christmas story blends elements of both Luke’s tender narrative of the in-breaking good news of God to the least likely of recipients – a teenage girl, her confused fiancee, down-and-out shepherds – with Matthew’s starkly realistic picture of a baby that threatens kings by his mere existence. 

Here’s the link to a video with the words .