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.

2024 Sun Feb 18

Lenten Study, The Creeds, A Guide to Deeper Faith

When we say the Creeds (the Apostles’ Creed at baptisms and at Morning Prayer and the Nicene Creed when we celebrate the Eucharist), we are stating our belief in what the church believes, in faith, about God—that God is one being in three persons—that is, three “persons” within the one Godhead. 

It’s easy to say these words without much thought because they are so familiar.  And yet, they are the words that create community among Christian believers around the world, past, present, and future, the Apostles’ Creed being the most widely used of all of Christianity’s confessions of faith. These words are so important that they are permanently attached to our altar wall, along with the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer. The creeds not only bind us together in communities of faith,  but these words, if taken into our hearts, can lead us to a deeper faith. 

During this season of Lent, we will study these creeds, learning about how they came to be, what they mean to the Church, and we will also reflect on how they may help us grow in faith as Christians. 

The study is scheduled for five Wednesday nights of Lent—Weds Feb. 21st, 28th, and  March 6th, 13th, and 20th at 7PM on Zoom ID: 833 7014 5820 Passcode: 528834

Bingo Night, Feb 26, 6pm-7:30pm, Port Royal Fire house

Mon., Feb. 26th, Bingo Night 6-7:30PM at Port Royal Fire Department St Peter’s is serving as a Partner in Education with the Caroline County Public Schools.

We will be providing snacks for the Caroline County. If you would like to help, please bring granola bars, individually wrapped bags of trail mix, or small bottles of water and place them in the back pew by Sunday, Feb. 25.

Sermon, Feb. 18, the Rev. Tom Hughes – The Symbols of Lent

Lectionary
Video

It’s nice to be here together as we begin Lent. These lessons that we have last Sunday and this Sunday are monumentally important because of what they teach us about the coming of the Kingdom, which is here, about the Messianic age which has now begun and how we are to live in it. The way I think to begin is to understand the importance of knowing symbols and what they mean because you can’t have a spiritual understanding of scripture if you don’t understand symbols and so that’s how we’re going to spend some time on this morning.

But I want to say to you first about Lent. I think sometimes we miss the point because I know people who are intent upon giving things up. I’m not going to have any popcorn or I’m going to give up wine. Some people take on things. I think both of those approaches are not quite what lent’s about and particularly the idea of giving up things. It’s not that you give up things that bring you pleasure or are good for you or make you happy, the idea is to give up things that are bad for you. The focus of what you give up is not the things that are lifegiving and happy that help you get along in this life and that you enjoy. You don’t give those things up. It’s not the idea for us to suffer. The idea is for us to grow spiritually and the way you grow spiritually is to make an intentional effort to give up those things that are not good for us

The lessons of last Sunday and this are just chocked full of powerful symbols for us to understand. The first one is that water – Jesus being baptized in the water. Remember the way to read scripture is to always look for the spiritual meaning in it. Don’t read it for what’s on the surface, read it for the spiritual meaning that is in it.

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Voices, Lent 1, Year B

1. Trinity –  Paying attention in Lent

In the sobering stillness of Lent, we surrender our busyness and preconceived ideas and open ourselves up to being surprised and changed by God’s love. We practice paying attention. We may find ourselves led down paths we didn’t expect — right to our own wildernesses. And as we are loved through our discomfort, we see the work God is doing in the world to bring about justice and peace, and we become part of that work. In letting go, we make room for new life, even in the most inhospitable of places.

Who knows where God will send us — beloved and driven by the Spirit — to help heal our broken world?

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“God’s Garden”, Learning the Lord’s Prayer

Do you remember when you learned the Lord’s Prayer ? I don’t and I bet you don’t either. “God’s Garden”, ages 5-9 began learning it during Lent on Feb. 18 to be ready by Easter.

Two techniques were used. A “signing” video was played and the children over the course of the session became adept in learning the Lord’s prayer in this manner by imitating the movements and text from the teacher. Moving hands and bodies almost reminded one of an exercise class.

The second technique was adding a cross to a piece of paper where the prayer written on the arms of the cross. The children used their fingers to trace the path of the prayer. Much less aerobic! You could also learn a segment at a time.

We have two videos showing how it went:

1. Signing

2. Tracing

“Letting Go” – Lent 1, Feb. 18, 2023

This is week 1 of Bishop Wright’s 5-part Lenten teaching series themed “Letting Go”. “Letting Go” is letting go of those things and ways that hold us back- weights, obstacles, and sin.

Week 1, Lent – “The Spirit “drove”Jesus into the wilderness and away from the familiar for a season. Spirit herded/hearted him away from home and routine, placing him among “wild beasts” and in the hands of attentive “angels.” He was at the same time, vulnerable and cared for.

“Adventures with God are always like that, God subtracts and then God multiplies. That’s fine for Jesus and his adventure, you might say, but who wants to leave the familiar, really? Remember whether we’re talking work, marriage, learning or life with God, the familiar should come with a warning label! The familiar can become a rut and a rut can become a grave. If we’re not careful we can adventure-proof our lives and make them memorials to who we and God formerly were rather than living testimonies to who we and God are right now. ”