Sigrid is now a great - grand aunt with the birth on Friday of Simon Alexander in Switzerland! Congratulations to all her family! Welcome to this crazy, beautiful world Simon, and may God Bless you!
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This past Sunday, The Third Sunday in Epiphany, Fr. Scott dove into the Gospel lesson from John about The Wedding Feast at Cana. As John only describes eight miracles in his Gospel, we need to pay attention to the ones he chose to write about. A few of the many interesting points Fr. Scott discussed include:
-Jesus was not known as a miracle worker at this time but still had followers who joined him at the feast.
-Mary did not know the extent of his powers, but knew he could and would fix this problem if she asked, thus revealing himself to the world for the first time.
-The servant, already in trouble for not having enough wine, still followed Jesus's directions to put more water into the ritual cleaning jars - not jars people would want to drink out of - and then served it!
Fr. Scott also discussed some of the symbolism:
- the wedding is symbolic of joy and hope for the future
-Mary as the new Eve but Mary says "yes" to God
-Jesus starts his ministry by reversing social norms - good wine served last.
It's hard to summarize all the information presented in his sermon in this short blurb! The entire sermon can be found at the following link starting at the 21:50 marker:
Thank you, Fr. Scott, for a very interesting perspective on this Gospel lesson and for a beautiful service!
While you are at the link to the service, listen to the beautiful music that Ming is providing to St. Peters! The recording of his playing sounds beautiful but hearing him play it live is amazing! Thank you Ming for the beautiful music!
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Fr. Scott also reviewed his revised APA mentoring program. He will be with Fr. Wade Miller in Blacksburg on the following dates:
- February 7
- March 7
- April 11
- May 2.
Currently we are planning Morning Prayer on those Sundays but will update as we get closer to each date!
In Sunday School, Fr. Scott reviewed the history, definition, and responsibilities of the hierarchy in churches. He covered Bishops (Presiding, Diocesan, & Suffragan), Priests (Arch-deacon, Canon, Dean, Rector, Vicar, & Curate), and Deacons. Thank you, Fr. Scott, for reviewing all this information.
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This Sunday we recognized Carole and Earl for all their years of service to St. Peters! Carole's roles include Mission Committee, Altar Guild, Birthday Card & Thank You Note Sender, Cook Teams, Cleaning Teams, and many others! Earl's roles include Mission Committee, Sr. Warden, Treasurer, Jack of All Trades Repairman, Wall Builder, Mail Collector, Turner On of the Heat (I'm particularly thankful for this one!), and many others! Thank you both so much! Thank you Teresa for purchasing and engraving the St. Peter's Icons!
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Teresa thought of all the important and generous work Claudia does for St. Peter's in her calm and quite way ...... and wanted to share her appreciation! Teresa gave Claudia a beautiful pin from Biltmore! I want to second all those kind thoughts and say 'Thank You' to both Claudia and Teresa for being such wonderful members of St. Peters!
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Sue continues to lead our weekly online prayer group on Tuesday at 11:30. Thank you so much Sue for taking the time each week to lead our prayers! If you have a special prayer request but cannot join us, please send your request to Sue. Please contact me if you would like to join us but are not on Discord.
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