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

Update on Snacks for Caroline County Public Schools

Based on information discussed at the February CERVE meeting regarding the need for snacks at the elementary schools in Caroline County, St Peter’s Vestry made a donation, along with many other churches, to raise $1268 to be spent on snacks for the three schools. Teachers at these schools have been individually providing snacks for their classrooms since many of the children cannot afford to bring a daily snack to school.  

One of the CERVE members coordinated with personnel at the three county elementary schools, getting input about what snacks would be wanted.  She then purchased juice boxes, fruit cups, apple sought and other healthy snacks and delivered snacks to the three schools.  With the donations received, the schools will receive snacks through the rest of this school year.  Needless to say, everyone is extremely grateful for this direct help for our Caroline County children. 

Rogation Sunday, May 5, 2024

Rogation Sunday, a time of celebration and prayer, is a time set aside to appreciate and recognize our dependence upon the land for our food and most importantly upon our dependence of God for the miracles of sprouting seeds, growing plants, and maturing harvest.

The Rogation Days, the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, originated in Vienne, Francein 470 after a series of natural disasters had caused much suffering among the people.  Originally, the Christian observance of Rogation was taken over from Graeco-Roman  religion, where an annual procession invoked divine favour to protect crops against mildew.   Archbishop Mamertus proclaimed a fast and ordered that special litanies and prayers be said as the population processed around their fields, asking God’s protection and blessing on the crops that were just beginning to sprout.

The Latin word rogare means “to ask”, thus these were “rogation” processions.  The tradition grew of using processional litanies, often around the parish boundaries, for the blessing of the land. These processions concluded with a mass. The Rogation procession was suppressed at the Reformation, but it was restored in 1559. The poet George Herbert interpreted the procession as a means of asking for God’s blessing on the land, of preserving boundaries, of encouraging fellowship between neighbours with the reconciling of differences, and of charitable giving to the poor. The tradition of ‘beating the bounds’ has been preserved in some communities. In the latter   a group of old and young members of the community would walk the boundaries of the parish, usually led by the parish priest and church officials, to share the knowledge of where they lay, and to pray for protection and blessings for the lands. Others maintain the traditional use of the Litany within worship. In more recent times, the scope of Rogation has been widened to include petition for the world of work and for accountable stewardship, and prayer for local communities, whether rural or urban.

The Sunday before the Rogation Days came to be considered a part of Rogationtide (or “Rogantide”) and was known as Rogation Sunday. The Gospel formerly appointed for that day was from John 16, where Jesus tells his disciples to ask, and ye shall receive.

At St. Peter’s we have used this occasion to plant trees, “beat the bounds” by reviewing our property condition, pray for rain and to ask God to bless us with a good harvest later in the year.

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).

Read more

A Rogation Treat – OnBeing interview with author Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Listen to the interview

She is the author of the Braiding Sweetgrass. From Bookshop.org “As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowledge together to take us on “a journey that is every bit as mythic as it is scientific, as sacred as it is historical, as clever as it is wise” (Elizabeth Gilbert).

“Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, and as a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings–asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass–offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return. “