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.

Advent 3 – A Message of Inclusion, Hope and Joy

From the SALT Blog

John’s Sermon from Advent 2 carries over to Advent 3 – ” His sermon is often understood as a blunt, bristling attack (“You brood of vipers!”), but on closer inspection, it’s actually a powerful message of inclusion, hope, and joy — which is why, after all, Luke calls it “good news”

Luke calls John’s preaching “good news,” a cause for joy (Luke 3:18). Why?
“1 First, John’s challenge itself is dignifying, since it presumes that we have the capacity to rise and meet it, to become the even more generous, honest, respectful people God created us to be.

“2 Second, because John’s challenge is open to all, not just a privileged few, thereby declaring the divine covenant open to all in an astonishing, inspiring way.

“3. And third, because John’s prophetic poetry includes the promise that the Spirit comes, in wind and fire, not to destroy but to refine, to restore, to make us more radiant children of God. Will we have to let go of our anxieties, our self-absorption, our apathy, our sin? Yes, and those will be burned away in God’s unquenchable fire. But the chaff is removed for the sake of the wheat! Jesus comes that we might be saved and restored — and this is indeed “good news of great joy for all people” (Luke 2:10)!

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Advent Thoughts

Advent is a season of Watching and Waiting. It is a season of leaning into hope

Lord Jesus:
Come into our world and heal its wounds
Come into your church and raise it up
Come into our homes and make them holy
Come into our work and make it fruitful
Come into our minds and give us clarity
Come into our lives and make them beautiful
O Come, O Come Emmanuel

God of the past, the present and the future, grant me patience when I must wait, courage when it’s time to take action, and the wisdom to know when to wait and when to act. Amen.

Mary’s Song – the “Magnificat”

From Songs in Waiting

The Song of Mary – The Magnificat

Luke 1:46-55
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
“my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; * for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
“From this day all generations will call me blessed: * the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.
“He has mercy on those who fear him * in every generation.
“He has shown the strength of his arm, * he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
“He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, * and has lifted up the lowly.
“He has filled the hungry with good things, * and the rich he has sent away empty.
“He has come to the help of his servant Israel, * for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
“The promise he made to our fathers, * to Abraham and his children for ever.”


It is a song that speaks profoundly about being “childlike.” Luke focuses his entire Christmas narrative around the person of Mary, who was probably just a child, a young girl who was per­haps twelve to fourteen years old, as it was customary for Jewish girls to marry just after puberty. 

In this light, the Christmas story is of a child hav­ing The Child. 

When people begin to bring their children to Jesus for his blessing, the disciples send them away, seeing the children as a waste of his precious time. But Jesus rebukes them, saying, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14), He is saying that the deep­est spiritual knowledge, while hidden from the wise and learned, is revealed to children. He even goes so far as to say that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, we must become like children: “Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). Jesus often refers to us all as “children of God” 

The name Magnificat comes from the first word in the Latin Vulgate translation of this song, “magnify” or “glorify.” Most probably a compilation of phrases from the Psalms, various Old Testament prophetic books, and Hannah’s Song in 1 Samuel, the Magnifi­cat has been part of Christian liturgy at least since the time of Saint Benedict in the fifth and sixth centuries. 

The Magnificat has been recited every day for cen­turies by Christians, chanted by monks, and set to music by composers of every age, perhaps the most famous being Johann Sebastian Bach’s composition, which he wrote for Christmas Day 1725 

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Saylor Nativity Collection

The Saylors brought their nativity collection to St. Peter’s for Advent in 2021. They are in the windows. Jan has been collecting since the early 1990’s. The photo above took a character (or group) from each of the 8 countries represented in their collection.

Top Row, left to right – Bolivia, US, Indonesia, Peru

Second Row, left to right -Dominican Republic, Zambia, Colombia, and Haiti

There is a story behind each piece of art. Some of the art was bartered (Dominican Republic, Haiti) and others bought from Ten Thousand Villages a nonprofit fair trade organization (Indonesia, Peru, Colombia). Some of the pieces from Zambia and Dominican Republic reflect their overseas travels. Closer to home the US piece came from Jan’s family home. We thank them for sharing this treasure with St. Peter’s.

We have a photo gallery of the exhibit.