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.

2025 Sun July 6

Green is for Growth in Ordinary Time

Adapted from “Anglican Compass”

The color green is associated in the season of Ordinary Time. It appears in green clergy vestments, in green fabrics on the altar and pulpit, and sometimes in green hangings or other adornments. You might even choose to wear green on occasion (no obligation to do so!).

This green represents growth. Just as we see green in the growing plants of the natural world, green appointments in the church remind us of God’s creation, his gift of food for our flourishing, and his command to numerical and spiritual growth.

The Green in God’s Creation

In nature, green is the universal color of vegetation, including trees, bushes, grass, and all manner of edible crops. Scientifically speaking, plants’ chlorophyll absorbs the blues and reds in the light spectrum, leaving the greens reflected in our sight. Green is not the most common color on earth (that distinction belongs to the blue of waters and skies), but it is the color most associated with growth and the food that growth requires.

Green is the only color named explicitly in the Genesis creation account, where God gives to the animals “every green plant for food,” and likewise gives to man “every plant yielding seed” and “every tree with seed in its fruit” (Genesis 1:29-30).

Moreover, the home God made for man was a garden, which contained “every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (Genesis 2:9). In other words, God expressly linked the sight of green trees with the expectation of good food.

By analogy, when we see green in the church, it is a sign of the good food we will find there.

The Green in God’s Temple
The analogy between the church and the green garden of Eden is not as far-fetched as it may seem. God has always made a link between his place of worship and the Garden of Eden, both through figural symbolism and the color green.

The Tabernacle and the Temple both featured figural symbolism of plants and fruits, including the lamp stand shaped like an almond tree (Exodus 25:31-34), priestly vestments adorned with pomegranates (Exodus 28:33-34), Temple doors carved with gourds and open flowers (1 Kings 6:18), and all around the walls of the Temple were carvings of palm trees and open flowers (1 Kings 6:29).

Similarly, the design of both the Tabernacle and the Temple referred back to the Garden with strategic use of the color green. This color was achieved not through fabric, but rather through the metal bronze, which oxidizes into a green patina. In the Tabernacle, bronze appeared in many places, but most importantly as the material for the altar (Exodus 27:1-8). Thus, just as in the garden, the color green was linked to the provision of food. Green altar fabrics in churches today make the same association.

The Temple featured bronze in its great pillars at the entrance of the building, complete with capitals engraved with pomegranates and lilies (1 Kings 7:15-22). To someone entering the Temple, it must have felt utterly transporting, the green pillars like glorified trees of a new Eden.

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A Prayer for Change


The Women’s Prayer Circle, St. John’s Episcopal Church, North Guilford, developed A Prayer for Change.

Their hope is that as more people and churches use and share it, the prayer creates an energy that will be a force for loving change.

“Loving God, You have made the whole of human life in your image;
“Each one of us shaped in love.
“Your goodness is ever-present within us all.
“But there is so much evil and pain in our world, it comes at us from every direction.
“Teach us how to rediscover Your love within us, to use that love as a force for good.
“Help us to turn our hearts toward the world in hope, praying for each other, regarding each other as treasure.
“Join us all together in prayer, that we might be the light which darkness can never overcome.
Amen

Here and There on the Web

1. Journaling in Ordinary Time

Journaling can provide breadth and depth to spiritual practices. Plus it is helpful for jotting notes about an activity or friend.

2. Good Book Club with the Psalms

Sign up at the above link covering all 150 Psalms. June sessions will be hosted by Forma and July sessions by Forward Movement. Thursdays at 3:00 p.m. June 4-July 31, 2025. Connect with interested people about the Psalms all over the world for stimulating discussions.

3. Try out AI about the Episcopal Church, hosted by the church You can access it any time

4. Silence “Silence isn’t simply the absence of noise it is the delivery of divine presence. Silence is the medicine for the tyranny of anxiety. Silence is a fierce warrior against all falsehood. Silence reveals the connective tissue between us God and all creation. Happy Summer!” Rev. Rob Wright, Diocese of Atlanta 1 Kings 19:1-15″

A Weekful of Saints!

Collect for this week – “Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

June 25th – Nativity of John the Baptist

The Birth of John the Baptist, or Nativity of the Forerunner) is a Christian feast day celebrating the birth of John the Baptist, a prophet who foretold the coming of the Messiah in the person of Jesus and who baptized Jesus. The day of a Saint’s death is usually celebrated as his or her feast day, but Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist, while not being exceptions to this rule also have feast days that celebrate their earthly birth. The reason is that St. John (Luke 1:15), like the Blessed Virgin, was purified from original sin before his very birth (in Catholic doctrine), though not in the instant of conception as in the latter case.

June 28 – Irenaeus

Irenaeus (125?-202) was an early Church father, having been taught by Polycarp, who had been taught by John the Evangelist.

 During the persecution of Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor from 161-180 the clergy of that city, many of whom were suffering imprisonment for the faith, sent him in 177 to Rome with a letter to Pope Eleuterus concerning heresy.  While Irenaeus was in Rome, a massacre took place in Lyons. Returning to Gaul, Irenaeus succeeded the martyr Saint Pothinus and became the second Bishop of Lyon, the main trading port for Western Gaul (France). During the religious peace which followed the persecution of Marcus Aurelius, the new bishop divided his activities between the duties of a pastor and of a missionary.

We remember him for two things – his work against Gnosticism and the recognition of the four gospels. He apparently did well there, becoming an influential leader against the rising heterodoxy Gnosticism. He first used the word to describe heresies . The Gnostics saw the world as material, and leaves much room for improvement and they denied that God had made it. They saw Jesus more as a spirit than a real flesh human . Before Irenaeus, Christians differed as to which gospel they preferred. Irenaeus is the earliest witness to recognize the four authentic gospels, the same we have today. Irenaeus is also our earliest attestation that the Gospel of John was written by John the apostle and that the Gospel of Luke was written by Luke, the companion of Paul. 

June 29 – Feast of Peter and Paul

The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul commemorates the martyrdom in Rome of the apostles St. Peter and Paul of Tarsus, observed on June 29. The celebration is of ancient origin, the date selected being either the anniversary of their martyrdom in 67AD or of the translation of their relics. They had been imprisoned in the famous Mamertine Prison of Rome and both had foreseen their approaching death. Saint Peter was crucified; Saint Paul, a Roman citizen, was slain by the sword.  Together they represent two different Christian traditions.

Why do we remember them ? Peter is pictured on the left with the keys – the keys to the kingdom. In Matthew 16, Christ says ” And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.” They keys since then have been symbols of Papal power.  Peter represents that part of the Church which gives it stability: its traditions handed down in an unbroken way from the very beginnings, the structures which help to preserve and conserve those traditions, the structure which also gives consistency and unity to the Church, spread as it is through so many races, cultures, traditions, and geographical diversity

Paul is pictured with the Bible. He, on the other hand, represents the prophetic and missionary role in the Church. It is that part of the Church which constantly works on the edge, pushing the boundaries of the Church further out, not only in a geographical sense but also pushing the concerns of the Church into neglected areas of social concern and creatively developing new ways of communicating the Christian message. This is the Church which is constantly renewed, a Church which needs to be constantly renewed 

Anything but Ordinary! Ordinary Time

Ordinary TimeBeginning on Pentecost 2, we enter the Church year known as Ordinary Time. After Easter, Jesus’s ascension into heaven, and the coming of the Holy Spirit to us at Pentecost, we accept responsibility for being and becoming Christ’s body in the world. We are called by Jesus to live in community, our lives together guided not only by the example of Jesus, but by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
 

Basically, Ordinary Time encompasses that part of the Christian year that does not fall within the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, or Easter. Ordinary Time is anything but ordinary. According to The General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, the days of Ordinary Time, especially the Sundays, “are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects.” We continue our trek through the both the Gospels of Luke and John- through parables challenges, healings – some great stories and teachings.  

Vestments are usually green, the color of hope and growth. Green has long been associated with new life and growth. Even in Hebrew in the Old Testament, the same word for the color “green” also means “young.” The green of this season speaks to us as a reminder that it is in the midst of ordinary time that we are given the opportunity to grow. 

Ordinary Time, from the word “ordinal,” simply means counted time (First Sunday after Pentecost, etc.). we number the Sundays from here on out in order from the First Sunday after Pentecost, all the way up to the Last Sunday after Pentecost The term “ordinary time” is not used in the Prayer Book, but the season after Pentecost can be considered ordinary. 

The Church counts the thirty-three or thirty-four Sundays of Ordinary Time, inviting her children to meditate upon the whole mystery of Christ – his life, miracles and teachings – in the light of his Resurrection.

You may see Sundays referred to as “Propers”. The Propers are readings for Ordinary Time following Epiphany and Pentecost, numbered to help establish a seven day range of dates on which they can occur. Propers numbering in the Revised Common Lectionary begins with the Sixth Sunday in Epiphany, excludes Sundays in Lent through Pentecost and Trinity Sunday, and resumes the Second Sunday after Pentecost (the first Sunday after Pentecost is Trinity Sunday), usually with Proper 4. 

In some ways, it might be right to think of this time as “ordinary”, common or mundane. Because this is the usual time in the church, the time that is not marked by a constant stream of high points and low points, ups and downs, but is instead the normal, day-in, day-out life of the church. This time is a time to grapple with the nuts and bolts of our faith, not coasting on the joy and elation of Christmas, or wallowing in the penitential feel of Lent, but instead just being exactly where we are, and trying to live our faith in that moment.  

It is a reminder of the presence of God in and through the most mundane and ordinary seasons of our lives. . It is a reminder that when God came and lived among us in the person of Jesus Christ, he experienced the same ordinary reality that we all experience. And that God, in Christ, offered us the opportunity to transform the most ordinary, mundane experiences into extraordinary events infused with the presence of God. God is there, present in the midst of the ordinary, just waiting for us to recognize it.  

Only when the hustle and bustle of Advent, Easter, and Lent has calmed down can we really focus on what it means to live and grow as Christians in this ordinary time in this ordinary world. It is a time to nurture our faith with opportunities for fellowship and reflection. It is a time to feed and water our faith with chances for education and personal study. It is a time to weed and prune our faith, cutting off the parts that may be dead and leaving them behind. And we have a lot of growing to do, so God has given us most of the church year in which to do it.