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 Sept 1

Focus on 5 areas of the Environment in the Season of Creation, 2024

We have taken the five Sundays readings in the Season of Creation and highlighted a specific environmental area which we will cover weekly. (This week, earth; ) How is this area affecting us ? What can we do to improve our use of them ? We have added related scriptures.

1. Earth – Sept 1

Collect “O God, creator of heaven and earth, you have filled the world with beauty and abundance. Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that rejoicing with your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. ”

2. Water – Sept 8

Isaiah 55:9-10 “8 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.”

3. Energy – Sept 15

Isaiah 40:28-31 “The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. 30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; 31 but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

4. Food – Sept 22

James 5:7-8 “Be patient, therefore, beloved, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. ”

5. Climate (Deforestation) – Sept 29

Romans 8:18-21 “18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ”

Recent Articles, Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Sept 1, 2024

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Season of Creation 1, Sept. 1

Season of Creation 1


September, 2024 newsletter
Lectionary, Sept. 1
Lectionary analysis
Visual Lectionary for Sept. 1


Earthrise – Caring in the Season of Creation
Why a Season of Creation ?
What is the Season of Creation ?
Prayer Service Sept 1, 9am for the Season of Creation
The Season of Creation, 2024
Connecting to the Season of Creation
Keys to the Season of Creation
Spritual Reflections on Nature and Humankind
Focus on 5 areas of the Environment during the Season of Creation


Episcopal lingo, Part 2 – the Vestry
The Feast Day of St. Augustine, Aug 28, 2024

Sunday Links, Sept. 1, 2024

15th Sunday After Pentecost Sept 1, 11am. Season of Creation 1

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

  • Wed., Sept 4, Ecumenical Bible Study resumes at 10am in the Parish House reading the lectionary for Sept 8

  • All articles for Sunday, Sept 1, 2024

    • September, 2024 Newsletter

              It has been a busy month with Rev. Tom Hughes preaching on the first and second Sundays.  Rev. Shirley Graham returning on the 3rd Sunday and sharing many of the things she had learned about us on her initial visit in June. Then on the 4th Sunday our Senior Warden led us in Morning Prayer and shared a message. 

    August Vestry Report

              Your Vestry met on the 4th Thursday in August with an update from the Senior Warden on the search for a new Treasurer for the church. It seems to be a very demanding job and no one has stepped forward to volunteer. As assistant treasurer, Johnny will continue to deposit the money and write the checks to pay our monthly bills. Accounts, Inc. in King George owned by Jamie Brissey has been hired to do our the record keeping.

              Junior Warden, Larry Saylor reported that he had sprayed and cleaned around the rear doors of the Sacristy. (Cookie, Johnny, BJ and Jim Anderson continue to weed and take care of the yards.  Travis Minter is paid to mow the lawns.)

              Andres Pogue, ECW president, announced that the ladies had met at Bravo Restaurant in Fredericksburg to discuss activities & fundraisers for the coming year.  All were excited about the pre-Thanksgiving dinner the ladies will cook and make available to the community. Also discussed were raffles, silent auctions & Bingo.

              Linda Upshaw agreed to be our representative to CERVE. (She attended her first meeting at Countyline Baptist Church this week.)

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    Earthrise: Caring in the Season of Creation, 2024

    In 1968 US astronaut William Anders took this photo of the earth from space. It is called Earthrise. It was the first color photo of the Earth taken from space and as Anders noted it was the only color in the universe. According to the BBC, the photo is credited with raising the profile of the global environmental movement and led to the creation of Earth Day in 1970.

    “Earthrise”‘s philosophical significance sunk in over years, after NASA put it on a stamp, and Time and Life magazine highlighted it as an era-defining image. “It gained this iconic status,” Anders said. “People realized that we lived on this fragile planet and that we needed to take care of it.”

    Even Anders, who calls himself “an arch cold war warrior”, felt it held a message for humanity. “This is the only home we have and yet we’re busy shooting at each other, threatening nuclear war, and wearing suicide vests,” he said. “It amazes me.”

    How do we treat this blue marble located in a deep cosmos? We know that our earth is fragile, beset by the unthinking actions of humanity. How can our readings this week help us reflect on our relationship with God’s creation and this planet.

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    Gospel in September, 2024

    During September we are back to the Gospel of Mark after our excursion through John Chapter 6.

    Jesus is on the move this month from Tyre, to Decapolis, to Caesarea Philippi, back to Galilee, and Capernaum.  (He is in a transition as we are typically in September).  While there are dealings with the public in the form of healings, most of the month concerns conversations with the disciples in the form of teachings.  Some are heated.   While they now see him as the Messiah his fate questioned by them.

    September  1- Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

    The Gospel according to  Mark and The Epistle of James are paired for the next several weeks in the lectionary, providing help in how to live as faithful followers of Jesus.   The selection from the sayings on defilement (7:1-23) that constitutes today’s gospel raises the question of the relationship between “the commandment of God” and “the tradition of the elders” and of the real meaning of cleanness and defilement, issues of vital interest to the early Church. All three sections concern ritual purity: the first centering on washing (7:1-8), the second and third on food (7:14-15, 21-23). 

    Mark 7 begins with Jesus being challenged by the Pharisees and scribes for how his disciples have behaved. They have not all washed their hands. In those days, the washing of hands was for a purification ritual, not for hygiene. The washing of hands was to purify oneself against what was unclean, specifically in this case, food that might have been handled by Gentiles. The leaders were more concerned with people following the literal letter of the law, the traditions that they held, rather than the spirit of the law, which was to honor God in all that they did and said. Their tradition justified the keeping out of the Gentiles as well as the poor and those they would call “sinners”—people who could not afford the rituals of purification in the temple. Jesus tore down the walls that would divide the “pure” from the unclean, the sinners, the Gentiles, the Others—and declared that what comes out of the mouth—what we say that hurts and harms, that divides and separates—this is what is really sinful, unclean, and against God’s ways. 

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    Lectionary, Pentecost 15, Proper 17, Year B, Sept 1, 2024

    I. Theme –   The challenge of living according to God’s guidelines

    Cerezo Barredo (1999)

    The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

    Old Testament – Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
    Psalm – Psalm 15 Page 599, BCP
    Epistle –James 1:17-27
    Gospel – Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23  

    Today’s readings remind us of the challenge of living according to God’s guidelines. Moses in Deuteronomy teaches that the law of the lord is a gracious gift to God’s people.  James reminds us that the word planted within us can save us as we do what it says. Jesus emphasizes that right relationship is based on obedience to God, not in compliance with human traditions.

    Incorporated in the Deuteronomy passage is the incalculable mystery of Israel’s election and mission. Moses appeals to the unique revelation of God to Israel and pleads for whole-hearted obedience to God. The law is to be a fence around the people of God so that they may live obedient to the One God, preserved from idolatrous influences in the years to come. The nation’s fidelity to God’s law was meant to demonstrate to all humanity the divine rule in human history. Here in substance is the missionary purpose of Israel’s existence.

    Judaism considers the messianic claim of Jesus an addition that radically departs from the basic principle of the Jewish faith–the unity of God. The reference to a “god so near” is interpreted by the rabbis to mean that no intermediary of any sort is required for the worshiper to approach God in prayer. Judaism has a wide tradition of religious tolerance. It teaches that all people are judged solely on their moral life and the righteous of all nations share in the world to come with the righteous of Israel.

    Judaism always taught that right motives are all-important, and Jesus certainly emphasized this in his teaching and preaching. In Mark 7, he points out that evil comes from within, “out of the heart.” Although righteousness cannot be legislated, the innumerable additions to the Torah via the oral tradition were justified by Israel’s teachers as necessary for deeper understanding and for increased resistance to idolatry–the offense that leads to all other sin.

    Sin continues to take its toll. Human pride and perversity remain unconquered without divine intervention–the new and marvelous things that God did by sending the Son into the world. We know that the rulers of darkness and the spiritual hosts of wickedness assail us. The sword of the Spirit is still the Word of God. But the word came new and powerful in Christ to cleanse our hearts of evil from within. Christ completes the “whole armor of God.”

    Faith is a matter of head, heart, and hands. Faith without works is useless, so says the author of the Epistle of James. Theology that can’t be practiced is irrelevant – a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Action without reflection or divorced from values and vision is ultimately aimless and destruction, and certainly self-serving. Holistic theology embraces the wisdom of embodiment and integrates it with the guidance of spirit and reason.

    In all things and at all times, our lives should praise God. In all things and at all times, our lives should model to others the love of God. In all things and at all times, our words should build up the reign of God, and not harm others. We are called to tear down the walls of division, not to judge others. We are called to care for the poor, the widows, the orphans, the marginalized, the oppressed—not to condemn or curse or justify ourselves. And when we bring ourselves into alignment—our words, actions and beliefs/values, we find ourselves living more authentically as Christians and followers of God’s way, and living more filling lives. We give value to ourselves and to others when we live authentically as followers of Jesus the Christ.

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    What is the “Season of Creation”?

    The Season of Creation is an optional season for the church year. For the most part, the seasons of the church year follow the life of Jesus: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter. The remainder of the church year encompasses Pentecost season (or Ordinary Time), which celebrates life in the Holy Spirit.

    For centuries, our theology our theology has focused on relationship with God and our human relationships with one another. The Season of Creation focuses God’s relationship with all creation and with our relationship with creation (and with God through creation). It highlights our role in understanding and addressing address the ecological problems we face today as a part of God’s creation.

    “Fun fact: planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Mankind? About 140,000 years old. Let me put that in perspective: If you condense the Earth’s lifespan into 24 hours, that’s one full day, then we have been here on this planet for… …drumroll please… …three seconds. Three seconds, and look what we’ve done….”

    Prince Ea’s annotation for the video.

    Why a “Season of Creation”?

    From The Season of Creation: A Preaching Commentary by Norman C. Habel and David Rhoads

    There are many reasons! Here are seven of them:

    First, because God is first and foremost the Creator of all of life. To fail to focus adequately on this dimension of God’s reality in worship is to fail to appreciate the fullness God’s work, and it is to narrow and diminish our relationship with God. Our own fullness of life depends upon our relationship with God as Creator.

    Second, because we were created with the rest of nature. We came from Earth and we cannot survive without all that Earth provides. Just as Earth has creative powers, so Earth itself has restorative powers. Unless we have centered opportunities to express awareness of and gratitude for our  dependence upon Earth and our relationship with other creatures, we will not be whole as human beings.

    Third, because God has given us a creation to celebrate with! In recent years, much of humanity has viewed creation as a resource to be exploited rather than a mystery to be celebrated and sustained. The time has come not only to celebrate creation but to transform our human relationship to creation by worshiping in solidarity with creation

    Fourth, because through worship we have an opportunity to come to terms with the current ecological crises in a spiritual way so as to empathize with a groaning creation. Worship provides a viable and meaningful way not only to include creation’s praise of God but also to engender a deep relationship with the suffering of a groaning creation.

    Fifth, because a fresh focus on the wonders and wounds of creation will help us in positive ways to love creation and so care for creation as our personal vocation and our congregational ministry. Worshiping with this new awareness may well provide the impetus for a new mission for the church, a mission to creation.

    Sixth, because this season enables us to celebrate the many ways in which Christ is connected with creation. From the mystery of the incarnation to the mystery of a cosmic Christ who reconciles all things in heaven and Earth, we celebrate the connection of Christ with creation. And we seek to identify with Earth in solidarity with Christ.

    Seventh, because this season enables us to deepen our understanding and experience of the Holy Spirit in relationship with creation. As the “Giver of life” and the “Sustainer of life,” the Holy Spirit is the source of our empowerment, inspiration, and guidance as we seek to live in a way sustainable for all God’s creation. Being “in the unity of the Holy Spirit” encompasses our relationship with all of life. This is foundational for our worship.

    Spiritual Reflections on Nature and Humankind

    The issue of Climate Change that has enveloped over the last generation has involved both religion and science. It is closely related to the Season of Creation due to need to take action on climate change that imperils God’s creation.

    Science and religion are tools to investigate reality from two different angles. Each discipline asks a fundamentally different question.

    Science asks: how does the universe work?

    Religion asks: why is there a universe and what is its purpose, and what is our purpose of existence as human beings?

    Now, as the Earth is affected by climate change and other environmental problems we need science to learn more about the causes, effects, and solutions to these problems.

    So what’s the role of religion? While scientists can tell us what needs to be done, they are usually not able to motivate society to implement these solutions. That’s where we need religion. Religion provides us with the spiritual understanding of our responsibility towards the Earth and towards other human beings including future generations. In other words, religion provides an ethical or moral framework. And it motivates us to act!

    The concern of the environment is an interfaith issue and not just Christian. All faiths have talked about it.

    The issue in the Bible goes right back to the early Israelites

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    The Season of Creation, 2024

    Sept 1 – Oct 4, 2024

    For Five Sundays in September we will be in this optional lectionary within Pentecost. The end of the season, Oct. 4, is the Feast of St. Francis.

    The 2024 Season of Creation’s symbol is “the first fruits of hope,” which is inspired by Romans 8:19-25. The theme for 2024 is “To Hope and Act With Creation”, and the symbol represents the idea that people can work together with creation to bring about hope. The hope is that creation can be freed from decay and brought into the glory of God’s children. Hope is also seen as a tool that can help people overcome decay and realize freedom.

    Sept 1 was proclaimed as a day of prayer for creation (World Day of Prayer for Creation, or Creation Day) by Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I for the Orthodox in 1989, and was embraced by the other major Christian European churches in 2001 and by Pope Francis for the Roman Catholic Church in 2015.

    The event is celebrated in many faith traditions and has a centralized website. This year, the theme for the season is “To hope and act with Creation”. Amid the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, many are beginning to despair and suffer from eco-anxiety. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are on a pilgrimage to better care of creation. As people of faith we are called to lift the hope inspired by our faith, the hope of the resurrection. This is not a hope without action but one embodied in concrete actions of prayer and preaching, service and solidarity.

    In walking together, we follow the role of Jesus, who walked with friends on the roads around Jerusalem. As he traveled the byways of his community, Jesus invited us to encounter God through God’s presence in creation. Whether by considering “the lilies of the field” or the “grain of wheat that falls to the earth,” the spiritual journey of following Jesus is closely tied to the everyday wonders of nature that He experienced in His earthly journey.

    Keys to the Season of Creation

    For centuries, our theology our theology has focused on relationship with God and our human relationships with one another. The Season of Creation focuses God’s relationship with all creation and with our relationship with creation (and with God through creation). It highlights our role in understanding and addressing address the ecological problems we face today as a part of God’s creation.

    “Imagine a great circle. God encircles everything else in this circle.

    Inside the circle is a second circle, and that circle is us. We human beings encircle the rest of creation, at the center of the circle. Look at the word, earth. If you move the letter “h” from the back of this word to the front, the word “earth” becomes the word “heart.”

    We are going to look at 6 keys to the Season of Creation

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