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 Jan 14

“Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

“Fight on Amos”

Many people now read King’s classic “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (1963) in college and like the Apostle Paul, King did some of his best work in jail.

King’s Birmingham Campaign began on April 3, 1963 with coordinated marches and sit-ins against racism and racial segregation in Birmingham, Alabama. The non-violent campaign was coordinated by Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights and King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

On April 10, a blanket injunction was issued against “parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing and picketing”. Leaders of the campaign announced they would disobey the ruling. On Good Friday, April 12, King was roughly arrested with others. The day of his arrest, eight Birmingham clergy members wrote a criticism of the campaign that was published in the Birmingham News, calling its direct action strategy “unwise and untimely.”

King’s Letter has been called one of the most significant works of the Civil Right movement. You can read it here – and was addressed to the eight clergymen that opposed his action.

In the letter King applied Amos to his situation, quoting from Amos 5:24. Amos gave his message to the Israelites in 750 BCE. Amos warns the people of Israel that the Lord is displeased with their behavior. People are overly concerned with earthly possessions, bodily desires and there is a shallow adherence to their religious values. Amos tells the people that God will soon judge them for their sins.

King wrote “But though I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an extremist, as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from the label. Was not Jesus an extremist for love: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Was not Amos an extremist for justice: “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” Was not Martin Luther an extremist: “Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.”

He also quoted Amos in the “I Have a Dream” speech, 5 months after the above letter – Dr. King declared, “we will not be satisfied until ‘justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.’”

King had used the message of love when during the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1956 when white supremacists firebombed his house while he was away and an angry crowd gathered at his home. He told them to go home, saying “We must learn to meet hate with love.”

Five days later, he received a telegram from Julian Grayson, an undergraduate classmate at Crozer Theological Society who had become a Methodist minister. It read simply, “FIGHT ON AMOS GOD IS WITH YOU.”

King: A Filmed Record (1970)

King: A Filmed Record … Montgomery To Memphis is a 1970 American documentary film biography of Martin Luther King Jr. and his creation and leadership of the nonviolent campaign for civil rights and social and economic justice in the Civil Rights Movement.

It uses only original newsreel and other primary material, unvarnished and unretouched, and covers the period from the Montgomery bus boycott of 1955 and 1956 through his assassination in 1968. The original newsreel segments are framed by celebrity narrators Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, Ben Gazzara, Charlton Heston, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, Anthony Quinn, Clarence Williams III, and Joanne Woodward.

The movie was produced by Ely Landau and directed by Sidney Lumet in what was the only documentary he would direct in his whole film career. It lasts 1 hour 45 minutes.

Accomplishments of Martin Luther King

He promoted a vision of equal rights under the law in public accommodations and eliminating segregation throughout America, ignoring the differences in skin color

To work toward this goal, King helped to popularize the technique of nonviolent confrontations based on his reading of Gandhi, Whitman and others which combined with his organizing abilities helped to bring about successes. King’s techniques for non-violent confrontations are explored here.

During the less than 13 years of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s leadership of the modern American Civil Rights Movement, from December 1955 until April 4, 1968, African Americans achieved more genuine progress toward racial equality in America than the previous 350 years had produced.

Here’s a sermon Catherine preached in April, 2018 on the 50th anniversary of his death.

Here are 10 accomplishments of his life:

Read more

Sermon, The Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B

“As Gail O’Day says in her commentary on John’s gospel, Jesus becomes the bridge between heaven and earth. Knowing Jesus is to see the way to heaven opened for us.”

Have you ever had this experience?  You’re in the grocery store in the produce section.    

Someone comes up to you and says with great intent, “I know you from somewhere.”  This happens to me more than it used to, since there are many short women with gray hair and glasses pushing carts through the grocery store aisles, trying to remember what exactly was on that grocery list that they can’t find—now which pocket did I stuff that list into? 

So there you stand with this person who is sure that they know you from somewhere, and you’re thinking, “I don’t think so, but maybe….”and the person names various places that might have been where they knew you, and then, at last,  there’s an epiphany and the person  says,  “Oh, wait, weren’t you at Christ Church (or wherever) for a while?”  And then the dim lightbulb in your mind gets brighter and you remember–“Oh yes!  I remember now!” and you have a little chat next to the bananas, which yes, you remember, ARE on your grocery list, and then you part ways, hopefully both happy that an old acquaintance has been found and acknowledged even if only for that moment.

So here’s Nathanael, minding his own business when his friend Philip comes running up with some news.  (Remember that people have been fervently hoping for the Messiah).  “We’ve found him!”  Philip says with great excitement—”the one we’ve been waiting for, Jesus of Nazareth!”

Read more

Binge reading and other online resources on the Gospel of Mark

Article from BuildFaith

Mark opens with words from the prophet Isaiah: “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,” and indeed the gospel itself serves as a messenger for the life and ministry of Jesus. Written around 65-75, Mark proclaims the good news that Jesus is the messiah and Son of God.

From BuildFaith – “Last summer, my church hosted a gathering where we read the Gospel of Mark together, as a group, out loud, all at once. In short, we decided to binge-read all the episodes of Mark in one night. We gathered in the parsonage with about thirty people squeezed into an oddly-shaped circle (you could just as easily do this on a Zoom gathering), and read the Gospel together. We picked Mark because it was the shortest of the Gospels and we could read through it in one evening.”

Click the link above to see how it went.

Other online resources for the Gospel of Mark:

1. Bible Project on the Gospel of Mark

2. Gospel of Mark on Apple podcasts. Check out the app on Apple devices (iPad,Mac,Apple Watch, iTunes) and search for “Gospel of Mark”.

In Pursuit of Peter – Confession


Caesarea Philippi

Video on Peter’s Confession

The first 5 minutes are the most important. You are there at the same place where the confession occurred.

Transcript of the key moment

“Jesus has come to this center for pagan worship.( Caesarea Philippi in Israel). Everything here would be abhorrent to a conservative jew, like Peter. The deities of the pagan world were more active, and more powerful in certain locations than others, and this surreal-looking place, to them, was a place where you could expect deities to be active. what you’re standing on here would be full of worshipers… of the deity, pan, whose statue is going to be tucked in here. In fact, Eusebius, the church historian, says this cave was the entrance to hades. Many people made the trek here to worship the Greek god, Pan. Pan was half human, with the hind legs and the horns of a goat. His powers were said to rule over nature, and especially fertility. the words “panic” and “pandemonium” have their origins in the myths surrounding pan. The religious expression of pan’s worshipers played out in acts of raw lust and hedonism. The scene to be deeply disturbing to Peter – every norm of observant Judaism would be violated. A high point for Peter’s discipleship of Jesus occurs here. You know Jesus begins by asking them, “who do people say that i am?” some of the disciples say, “you’re a prophet, “some say you’re Elijah.” And Peter finally nails it, “you are the Christ, the messiah, the son of god, “fulfillment of messianic promises.” And that’s a huge moment, and Jesus, in effect, says, “you got it.”

“When Jesus asked the disciples, “who do people say that i am?” and he starts to hear answers that fit the sea of galilee context, he says, “but what about you?” and Peter’s right there. He’s going, “oh, i get it. “You want us to put the question in the right context. “You are the Christ,” and then he adds, “the son of the living god. in contrast to everything “that’s claiming authenticity here, you’re the real deal.” Jesus affirms what Peter said, and this is also a very significant statement. He says, “this has been revealed to you “by my heavenly father,” and then he says, “you are Peter,” and remembering that Peter means rock, “and on this rock i will build my church.” and this is an extraordinary moment for Peter.”

Confession of St. Peter, Jan 18, 2024

"St. Peter"- Peter P. Rubens

This is not a confession of the church but relates to Peter, the Apostler !

Jesus went to the predominately pagan region of Caesarea Philipp. Here is the Mark reading (Mark 8:27-30) ” Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.” Peter nailed it at this time

Jan 18 is the day appointed for this event. The collect – "Almighty Father, who inspired Simon Peter, first among the apostles, to confess Jesus as Messiah and Son of the living God: Keep your Church steadfast upon the rock of this faith, so that in unity and peace we may proclaim the one truth and follow the one Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. "

The Call of Prophecy – King and Samuel

by Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell

For many church leaders, in the past and present, we have been called to speak out for God’s ways of righteousness and justice, and sometimes we have to speak out against the very institutions that have nurtured us in our call. We have had to overcome the voices of fear inside us or the voices of doubt outside of us that tell us we haven’t heard God’s call and we should go lie back down. It’s not an easy call to follow. As we honor and remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this month we remember King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, in which he writes to some of the very clergy who have supported him but have also tried to stop him, in an attempt to avoid conflict. Prophets are called to speak to conflict, to address it and not run from it, to speak and act out despite their fears and the fears of others. Dr. King certainly did this in his life and ministry. While one can argue for or against calling Dr. King a prophet, it is clear the Dr. King lived his life as many of our Biblical prophets did, speaking and acting out for God’s ways of justice and righteousness. I call him a prophet.

As we honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this month, the Call of the Prophet Samuel is an appropriate reading for today. In reading Samuel’s story, we can find the story of all prophets who have been called to speak out for God’s ways of justice and righteousness. We find the story of many who have heard the call of God but have had that call questioned by others (in this story, Eli questions the call, but not God, and when Eli is certain it is God calling Samuel, he encourages Samuel to listen to God). God calls Samuel to do something that is not easy: to speak out against Eli’s own sons, that they can’t skate by doing whatever they want to by offering sacrifices afterwards, that they can’t get off because their father is a priest. Samuel has to stand up to the family of the very person who has taken him in and cared for him, the very person who has instructed him how to listen to God’s ways. It is not easy to follow the call of the prophet.

Come and See

Former Lutheran seminary president David Lose writes the following this week about "Come and See":

"These words, this invitation, form the heart not simply of this opening scene but much of John’s Gospel. John’s story is structured around encounters with Jesus. Again and again, from these early disciples, to the Pharisee named Nicodemus, to the Samaritan women at the well, to the man born blind, to Peter and Pilate and eventually Thomas, characters throughout John’s Gospel are encountered by Jesus. John structures his story this way, I think, to offer us a variety of possibilities, both in terms of the kind of people to whom Jesus reaches out and the kinds of responses they offer…and we might offer as well. And so across the pages of John’s Gospel there are women and men, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, powerful and vulnerable, people of all shapes and sizes and varieties that Jesus meets. And to each one, in one way or another, he says the same thing: come and see. Come and see God do a new thing. Come and see as your future opens up in front of you. Come and see the grace of God made manifest and accessible and available to all."

This is the Sunday to invite someone to come to Church.  Is St. Peter’s a "good fit" for them ? Come and see. As Lose writes "the number one reason people give for coming to a church for the first time is that someone invited them personally. Just as Philip said to Nathaniel, that is, someone said to them, “Come and see.” Which means that the future of the church depends greatly on ordinary, everyday Christians summoning the courage to invite someone to come and see what they have found in the community of the faithful that is their congregation." Go and Tell.