Sunday, January 25, 2015 (full size gallery)
Two services today, 9am and 11am on the 3rd Sunday in Epiphany with 9 and 34 in attendance, respectively. We had two visitors at 9 and one at 11am. Weather was moderate for this time of year. Cloudy conditions dominated the early service with some cleearing by 10am. By 11am it was cloudy again.
The recent Annual Council of the Diocese in Richmond Jan 22-24 dominated the service. The sermon related council to a sand painting. "The person takes sand in his or her hands, and before our eyes, an amazing scene grows and changes and transforms as the artist , seemingly with no effort at all, creates a story in the sand."
There was death, a church closing at Highland Springs and a church moving from mission to parish status, a birth (Rapidan) as well as 8 key stories of ministry at work in the last year.
The sermon took a metaphor from Bishop Goff’s report: "We are like a crazy quilt, which is a traditional American type of quilt made with patches of varying sizes, shapes, textures and colors, sewn together with all sorts of threads and types of stitches, without a discernable pattern. We are like a crazy quilt sewn from a family’s favorite clothes, each piece with its own story. We are alive with layer upon layer, stitch upon stitch of creative energy."
The reading from Mark was about Jesus proclaining the Kingdom of God and recruiting 4 disciples – Andrew, Peter, James and Jon. Jesus could have established the kingdom on his own rather than attracting disciples. Jesus was not a solo act, according to Mark. The ‘good news of the kingdom’ is about what happens to people and it is also about people, about community. The clue to Jesus’ meaning, at least in Mark, must be Mark’s Jesus. It will mean reaching out and touching people, bringing healing, liberation, renewal. It will mean joining Jesus’ ‘act’
The sermon continued. "Because he wants them to help him grow, transform, and change the world, and to bring the kingdom of God to birth." Catherine brought out a quilt from Ben’s family to illustrate the point that we are part of the fabric, connected to one another. "Here we are, each a little bit of fabric, but when God stitches us together in love, we become something useful, and we become strong, and we can reach out beyond ourselves and proclaim the Good News by being people of justice, truth and love, people who can help make the kingdom of God a reality here in this place-here in Port Royal, in Caroline County, and beyond. "As Bishop Susan told us, we’re the living, believing, body of Christ. It’s up to us now to tell the world that the kingdom of God really has come near, And to proclaim the Good News together, by reaching out beyond ourselves."
Sermon finished on this -"And when we are stitched together with others in the Diocese, the good news gets even bigger and better." The example was used of the kitchen grant being chosen by the UTO in the Diocese for submission to the national church. The kitchen helps us reach beyond ourselves with the community dinners and the food distributions in particular.
During the announcements, Roger summarized council in his report to the congregation as our delegate. We commissurated with Boyd who was supposed to be a delegate but slipped on Thursday near the hospital and broke his nose and bruised his face. As Johnny said "raccoon man."
Ken announced that he is a looking for tutors for the Port Royal Enrichmnent program, a successor to the tutoring program from last year. The program will be up and running again shortly. He asked people to consider becoming tutors or becoming advocates for the program in their circle of connections. It will be only on Mondays 5pm to 7pm and held at the Parish House.
We celebrated Joe Betchy’s birthday on the actual day.
Coming up are the Souper bowl food collection next Sunday of money and food stuffs. For the first time we are giving the money and food to our own Village Harvest ministry which distributed 385 pounds on Jan 21, helping over 60 people. Food stuffs this month including chile and related items.
Also next week is the Candlemas service on Feb 2, at 7pm. Rev. Bambi Willis and St. Asaph’s will be joining us and she will be the celebrant. It celebrates mid winter between Christmas and Easter and Jesus entry in to the temple 40 days after Christmas.
Finally, Feb 1 is the last day to signup for the "Picturing Mary" field trip on Feb. 9 with Susan Tilt as leader. Catherine showed Susan’s book from the exhibition.