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 29

St. Francis, Oct. 4

A Pet Blessing for St. Francis day, Oct. 4 

The blessing -“Our pets have already blessed us. On St Francis Day, we get to bless our pets.” St Francis of Assisi, who lived from 1182 to 1226, had a great love for animals and the environment. He understood the earth and everything in it as God’s good creation and believed that we are brothers and sisters with everything in creation. So on this day, we remember St Francis and thank God for the gift of our pets.

When you have a moment with your pet, offer this blessing written by Bishop Mark S. Sisk:

Live without fear. Your Creator loves you, made you holy, and has always protected you. May we follow the good road together, and may God’s blessing be with you always. Amen.

“Who was St. Francis? ” – a link collection

Brief biography

St. Francis movie on Youtube

“Brother Sun, Sister Moon”- trailer

Director Franco Zeffirelli’s “Brother Sun, Sister Moon” focuses on the early years of Francis of Assisi in this 1972 film.

Poem by Jan Richardson from the “Painted Prayerbook”

Addressing myths about St. Francis

St. Francis preaching to the birds

Paintings by Giotto on St. Francis

Rhonda Mawhood Lee: “Go a little crazy on St. Francis Day”, a sermon preached at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Durham, N.C

“It’s appropriate to go a little crazy on St. Francis Day, because during his own lifetime, many people thought Francesco Bernardone was insane.” 

Richard Rohr on St. Francis

Rohr is a Roman Catholic priest and writer. He is the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation which brings together action and contemplation .

He recently created a video on St. Francis.

Rohr discusses St. Francis and his connection with nature which he refers to as “The First Bible”.  Some points

1 The  early Franciscans taught that the whole natural universe is the first Bible

2 if we murder and mangle and manipulate and destroy, how would we possibly have the skills to reverence and use, correctly, the written Bible?

3  You grant respect and reverence to nature and you let the animals talk back to you. Once you’re inside the enchanted universe where everything is granted subjectivity, you’re never lonely

Diocesan ECW 134th Fall Meeting, Oct. 12, 2024

The ECW Fall Meeting will be hosted by Aquia Episcopal Church on Saturday, October 12, 2024. 9am. registration/continental breakfast. Meeting begins 10am.

The Rt. Rev Gayle E. Harris is the keynote speaker. Theme -“A Child of God, A Woman of Faith, A Warrior of Christ. ” The address is 2938 Richmond Highway, Stafford, VA, 22554.

The meeting concludes at 1:30pm with Holy Eucharist.

Registration is here. Please register by Oct. 1.

Sunday Links, Sept. 29, 2024

19th Sunday After Pentecost Sept 29, 11am. Season of Creation 5

  • Web site
  • YouTube St. Peter’s Page for viewing services
  • Facebook St. Peter’s Page
  • Instagram St. Peter’s Page
  • Location – 823 Water Street, P. O. Box 399, Port Royal, Virginia 22535
  • Staff and Vestry

  • Wed., Sept 25, Ecumenical Bible 10am in the Parish House reading the lectionary for Sept. 29
  • Wed., Oct 3, Ecumenical Bible 10am in the Parish House reading the lectionary for Oct 3

    • Coming up!

  • Bill Wick’s Funeral, Sat Sept 28, 11am

  • Diocesan ECW 134th Fall Meeting, Oct. 12, 2024
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  • All articles for Sunday, Sept 29, 2024

    • Recent Articles, Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Sept 29, 2024


    Ninetenth Sunday after Pentecost, Season of Creation 5, Sept. 29

    Season of Creation 5, Sept. 29


    Episcopal Lingo, Part 6, Baptism
    Diocesan ECW 134th Fall Meeting, Oct. 12, 2024
    Lectionary, Sept. 29
    Lectionary Commentary, Sept 29, 2024
    Tough Words from Jesus, Sept 29
    Visual Lectionary, Sept 29, 2024
    St. Michael and the Angels, Sept. 30
    St. Francis, Oct. 4, 2024
    Richard Rohr on St. Francis, Oct. 4, 2024

    From Week 5, Sept. 29 – Deforestation
    Deforestation introduction
    Deforestation contributing to drought
    Deforestation in the Amazon
    Focus on 5 areas of the Environment during the Season of Creation – Deforestation this week

    From Week 4, Sept. 22 – Food
    Focus on 5 areas of the Environment during the Season of Creation – Food this week
    Food waste introduction
    Focus on Food Waste
    Food Waste tackled by 9 states. Only Mass. was able to make reductions
    Season of Creation Lectionary IV, Sept 22
    Prayers for the Earth

    From Week 3, Sept. 15 – Native Plants
    Focus on 5 areas of the Environment during the Season of Creation
    Native Plants on the Rappahannock
    Boosting Pollinators during the Season of Creation

    From Week 2, Sept 8 – Climate Change
    Focus on 5 areas of the Environment during the Season of Creation
    The tipping points of climate change — and where we stand
    Summing end of 2023 progress on climate change
    Assessing Climate – What’s NOT Working?

    From Week 1, Sept 1 – Introduction
    Why a Season of Creation ?
    What is 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

    Sept 29 – Tough Words from Jesus – Mark 9:38-50

    From the SALT Blog

    Link to Mark’s Gospel reading

    1) “Once again (it’s a common theme in Mark), the disciples just don’t get it. Jesus, holding a child in his arms, has just been teaching them about true greatness; about seeking humility, not superiority; about being “servant of all,” not “first of all.” And how do they respond? With a breathless report showcasing their religious arrogance! Someone else is casting out demons in Jesus’ name, “and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us” (Mark 9:38). Note the phrasing: “not following us.” In a perfect illustration of Christian hubris, the disciples equate “following Jesus” with “following us.” If they’re not with us, they must be against us.

    Read more

    Lectionary, Pentecost 19, Proper 21, Year B, Sept. 29, 2024

    I. Theme –  Healing and protection involving our work and inspiration from God

    “Jesus Welcomes the Children” – Maha (1973)

    “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea” – Mark 9:42

    The lectionary readings are here  or individually: 

    Old Testament – Numbers 11:4-6,10-16,24-29
    Psalm – Psalm 19:7-14 Page 606-607, BCP
    Epistle – James 5:13-20
    Gospel – Mark 9:38-50  

    Today’s readings illustrate how God can choose unexpected people to do God’s work. The readings focus on healing and protection. Neither of these entirely comes from God, but involve our agency as well as divine creativity and care.

    In Numbers Eldad and Medad, though not participating in Moses’ official “commissioning,” receive the same Spirit of prophecy as the seventy elders. James suggests practical guidelines for those who wish to do God’s work. Today’s gospel reading relates how Jesus, like Moses, endorses the work of those who, though not part of his “in-group,” still bring healing in God’s name.

    Readers may squirm with embarrassment at the first words out of John’s mouth in today’s gospel. He brands himself a bigot with his snooty concern: those other guys are doing good! Translated to today’s terminology, it sounds all too familiar: someone of another age group/church/parish/gender/ethnic group/system of belief is threatening our monopoly on ministry. It is especially ironic in view of the fact that the disciples themselves had just failed at exorcism (Mark 9:14-19).

    The passage has particular meaning as we enter an era when people are united more by common concerns than by religious labels. Could it mean more to be a committed Christian or a faithful human being than to be a good Catholic, Episcopalian or Lutheran ? If our brothers and sisters in synagogues or mosques make inroads on a social problem that plagues us all, we cheer for them, rather than jealously wishing we’d achieved that success.

    As if we weren’t already squirming enough, Jesus directs a word to those who might consider themselves more educated or advanced in faith than others. He reserves his grimmest punishment for those who take advantage of the childlike. The next time we are tempted to poke fun at the simple beliefs of others, we might remember Gehenna: the smelly, smoldering garbage dump outside Jerusalem. Our little joke or ploy might buy us a one-way ticket to the place where maggots chew on offal. Is it really worth it?

    Read more

    Lectionary Season of Creation V

    Collect – “Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure;”

    Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 takes us through the problems of leading a badly-informed, traumatised people, the virtues of delegation and the liberation of letting others get on with what we cannot manage!

    These verses stand near the beginning of part II of Israel’s time of wandering in the wilderness,  having just departed from Mt. Sina. A lively exchange between God and Moses follows. God replies to Moses’ complaint in two respects:  (1) God will share the spirit given to Moses with others, who will help to bear the burden (see verses 16-17, 24-30); (2) God will provide the meat for which the people have asked (see verses 18-23, 31-35). God works in and through the natural world to provide for his people

    The entire book of Numbers is set in a journey through the wilderness. For us is may be a wilderness due to climate change. We are taken from the securities of life to the unknowns

    Read more

    Season of Creation – Forests (Deforestation)

    This week we look at ground level to consider deforestation

    Deforestation

    Forests in our memories – From Michelle Cook, Intergen. “How do you think of forests? In your imagination are they places of peace and quiet? Are they places that scare you? Are you more at home in a eucalypt forest than in a mangrove forest? Sometimes forests can be places of fear. Think of all the old stories from Europe, the folk tales some of us may have grown up hearing. Stories like Hansel and Gretel, where children get lost in the forest. Stories like Snow White, where the beautiful young girl gets taken to the forest by the hunter so that he may kill her far away from witnesses. Forests in these stories are seen as places of secrecy, of unknown dangers and mysterious powers.”

    “In Psalm 139 it is our bodies being knit together in our mother’s wombs that becomes known. God, the creator of everything, knows our bodies, and hear the Psalmist says to us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Even the workings of the womb, hidden from us, and felt by mothers, are known by God. The story of creation is retold in Genesis 2:4b-22. Adam is created from earth and is set in a garden – a forest of fruit trees – a garden of food. Here is a forest, where again, all is known. The chaos and desperation of the land, where nothing is yet growing, is contrasted with the richness and safety of the garden.”

    Read more

    More than half of Brazil is racked by drought. Blame deforestation

    Washington Post, Sept 13, 2024

    Men ride horses Sunday across the dried-up Parana do Manaquiri, a river in Manaquiri, in Brazil’s Amazonas state.

    Brazil is in the grip of its worst drought on record, Brazil’s Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alerts said this month, a drought that has parched at least 59 percent of Latin America’s largest country and dried out more than 1,400 cities.

    Along the Rio Madeira in Amazonas state, locals are trekking miles on the hot sands of the dried riverbed in search of water. In the Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetland, fires have scorched an estimated 20,000 square kilometers (7,720 square miles). The vast Cerrado region is in the grip of the worst drought in at least 700 years, according to researchers at the University of São Paulo. And the air in São Paulo state has grown so heavy with forest fire smoke that authorities have urged people to avoid physical activity outside.

    Much of the crisis, scientists say, can be explained by climate change, which is driving temperatures higher and making rainfall more unpredictable. But it’s been exacerbated by the deforestation of the Amazon, which has the potential to disrupt rainfall patterns across much of South America.

    The biome is hydrated by a unique rainfall pattern known as “flying rivers.” Moisture blows in from the Atlantic Ocean and forms rain over the eastern Amazon. The dense forest canopy absorbs the water, then releases much of it back into the atmosphere as vapor to be carried farther west. The cycle repeats until the flying rivers collide with the Andes mountains, where they turn southward into central Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina.

    Reliant on trees, the hydraulic system is now being frayed by deforestation. The destruction has been most acute in the southeastern Amazon, precisely where the moisture from the Atlantic is first deposited. The loss of vegetation is reducing the volume of water that’s reaching the continent.

    This effect is being compounded by deforestation elsewhere. The Cerrado region, which has far fewer environmental protections than the Amazon, has been decimated in recent years by forest loss. Eight of the 10 municipalities that posted the highest rates of deforestation last year were concentrated in the region.