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 May 5

Sunday Links, May 5, 2024

Easter 6, May 5, 11am

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  • Location – 823 Water Street, P. O. Box 399, Port Royal, Virginia 22535
  • Staff and Vestry

  • Wed., May 1, Ecumenical Bible Study, Parish House, 10am-12pm  Reading Lectionary for Easter 6
  • Thurs., May 2, Confirmation Class continues, 7:30pm-8:15pm. This session will be in person at St. Peter’s.
  • Sat., May 4, 11am, “Foundations of an African-American Community” in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Old Port Royal School 506 Main Street
  • Servers, Easter 6, May 5 11am
    Lector: Andrea Pogue
    Chalice Bearer: Alice Hughes
    Altar Clean up: Andrea Pogue
    • No Coffee Hour due to the Bishop’s reception, May 19.
  • Wed., May 8, Ecumenical Bible Study, Parish House, 10am-12pm  Reading Lectionary for Easter 7
  • Thurs., May 9, Ascension Day. “Thy Kingdom Comes”, prayers to Pentecost
  • Thurs., May 9, Confirmation Class cancelled. Next meeting in person, Thurs May 16, 7:30pm.
  • Sat., May 11, Episcopal Church Men’s (ECM’s) Meeting to ready the church for the Bishop. 8am.

  • May newsletter
  • All articles for Sunday, May 5, 2024

    • Recent Articles, May 5 2024

    Easter 6, May 5
    Photos
    Videos
    Bulletin
    Sermon
    Named Sundays in May
    Lectionary, May 5, 11am service
    Commentary
    “Friendship Is at the Heart of the Gospel”>


    Rogation Sunday
    Rogation hymns
    Rogation Sunday photo gallery
    Rogation redefined


    Visual lectionary May 5
    Julian of Norwich, May 8
    Eastertide
    Celebrate Eastertide

    Earth Day, April 22
    Spring at the end of April
    Earth Day, 2024
    St. Peter’s and the Earth
    Team Up to clean up event, April 20
    Manage your plastics usage
    Parish Creation Care committee on Earth Day
    Colors of spring
    A poem for Earth Day

    Ministries
    ECM Maintenance, May 11
    Chancellor’s Village Sermon, April 23
    Foundations of an African-American Community
    Sacred Ground, Jan., 2024
    Sacred Ground, Feb., 2024


    St. Peter’s and the Earth
    Team Up to clean up event, April 20


    May newsletter
    ECW Spring meeting, April 9
    Breakfast program in Jamaica


    Portland Guitar Duo at St. Peter’s, April 19, 2024


    Village Harvest, April, 2024
    Village Harvest, March, 2024
    Village Harvest, Feb., 2024


    Creeds class notes 5 sessions- Conclusion


    God’s Garden collection

    Sermon, Easter 6, Year B- “Abide in His Love”

    Last week I said that in the sermons I get to share with you before I leave, I want to consider what the scriptures appointed for each Sunday have to say to this parish in this time of transition. 

    Today’s gospel passage completes the gospel from last Sunday, in which Jesus tells the disciples that God is the gardener, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches.  Jesus reminds the disciples that God the gardener must prune the branches to make them bear more fruit, and that we, here at St Peter’s, are going through a pruning with all the changes ahead.  But the promise is that since Jesus the vine to which we branches are attached, we can count on bearing more fruit because God the gardener has pruned us.   

    As Jesus continues this conversation with the disciples, he moves from a focus on pruning the branches to a focus on the disciples abiding in his love.  This focus on abiding in his love is where we begin today’s considerations about the parish transition ahead of us. 

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    Rogation Hymns

    Rogation Sunday is the day when the Church has traditionally offered prayer for God’s blessings on the fruits of the earth and the labors of those who produce our food  

    Our hymns today reflect the themes of Rogation Sunday. Here are two examples:

    1. “Not here for high and holy things”

    Geoffrey Anketel Suddert-Kennedy, 1883-1929

    First three verses

    Not here for high and holy things
    we render thanks to thee,
    but for the common things of earth,
    the purple pageantry
    of dawning and of dying days,
    the splendor of the sea,

    the royal robes of autumn moors,
    the golden gates of spring,
    the velvet of soft summer nights,
    the silver glistering
    of all the million million stars,
    the silent song they sing,

    of faith and hope and love undimmed,
    undying still through death,
    the resurrection of the world,
    what time there comes the breath
    of dawn that rustles through the trees,
    and that clear voice that saith:

    This list of “common things” is so long that it occupies three full stanzas of the hymn, culminating in that tantalizing “that clear voice that saith:”.

    The remaining verses – continue this – the lark in the sky, giant sun soars up,

    The last verse focuses on God

    “to serve right gloriously the God who gave all worlds that are,
    and all that are to be.

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    Photos, Sixth Sunday of Easter, May 5, 2024

    Notes

    Service was affected by the absent of our organist whose car broke down on the way to church. Hymns had to be rearranged with Catherine filling in on keyboards.

    Sermon was a continuation of the previous Sunday dealing with transition. The metaphor shift from the Vine to abiding in Love all from the Gospel of John.

    Attendance of 20 was affected by parishioners traveling.

     

    (full size gallery)

    Lectionary, Easter 6, Year B

    I.Theme –   A Community characterized by love

    "The Endless Road"  –   Margret Hofheinz-Doring (1971)

    The lectionary readings are here  or individually:

    First Reading – Acts 10:44-48
    Psalm – Psalm 98 Page 727, BCP
    Epistle –1 John 5:1-6
    Gospel – John 15:9-17 

    Today’s readings urge believers to come together in a community characterized by love. In his sermon, Peter tells Cornelius of God’s work in Jesus Christ, thus opening the doors of the Church to Gentiles. The author of 1 John describes Jesus as God’s love for us, and calls us to embrace one another in that love. In the gospel, Jesus tells his disciples that they have been chosen to love one another; in this they will find perfect joy.

    The great commandment, love God and your neighbor, transforms everything we do.  While we cannot describe the specifics of love, because love is always highly situational and concrete, a commitment to loving actions and attitudes is at the heart of our relationship with God and all creation.   Love embeds us in the fabric of relatedness, opening us to the creative energy of the universe and enabling us to become channels to others of the divine energy we have received. 

    Acts 10:44-48 This missionary speech in today’s reading marks an important turning point in the outreach of the early Church. Many Jewish Christians feared and resisted the possible inclusion of Gentiles, but Luke makes clear that Peter himself (even before Paul) began the mission to the Gentiles under the direction of the Holy Spirit. 

    Cornelius was a “God-fearing” Roman, one who worshiped God but had not adopted all of the Jewish religious practices. Cornelius receives the sacrament of baptism, but not before he and his gathered household receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This event marks a new Pentecost. The circle of Christian faith has now broadened to include the inhabitants of “the ends of the earth” (1:8). The Spirit first came to Jews (2:1-4), then to the despised Samaritans (8:14-17), and now to the Gentiles. 

    Psalm 98 This psalm is closely related to Psalm 96. Its original setting may have been the enthronement festival of Yahweh, celebrated each year at the New Year’s feast of Tabernacles. In later times the psalm was interpreted to herald the lord’s final coming. It presents the lord, in faithfulness to the covenant, acting in history for the salvation of God’s people.

    1 John 5:1-6 The writing of 1 John seems to have been occasioned by a schism in the community due to heresy, specifically the denial of Jesus’ humanity. The central theme of 1 John is that “God is love” (4:8). The significance of this statement is explored through repeated meditation that interweaves theology and ethics. Those who make the early baptismal confession, “Jesus is the Christ,” have assented to a pattern for their behavior. As God’s children, Christians are to love God and one another and to obey the commandments. Through trust in Jesus, the Christian may overcome the world.

    John 15:9-17 Believers are to love one another with a love characterized by self-sacrifice. Thus while Christians are still "servants" (v. 15, literally “slaves”) of Christ in terms of ministry (see 12:26; 13:14-16), they are "friends" (v. 15) of Christ in terms of intimacy with God. In and through this relationship Christians are appointed to "bear fruit" (v. 16).

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