". . . his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." Luke 2:51-52
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Fr. Scott's sermon for the First Sunday After Epiphany discussed the Passover visit to Jerusalem by the then 12 year old Jesus along with Mary and Joseph. Mary and Joseph were both model parents and faithful Jews - raising Jesus on the scriptures. Fr. Scott reminded us that the family was designed by God as the basic unit of life and made the family holy by choosing to be incarnated into a family.
Please find his complete sermon at the 16:38 mark at the following link:
Thank you , Fr. Scott, for asking us to remember "we are participating in Holiness by participating in the messiness of everyday family life"!
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Unfortunately, our Epiphany service this past Thursday was cancelled due to snow and ice. The snowy view out my front door the next morning! Carol, who lives much further east, reported receiving over 4"!
Since we couldn't meet on Epiphany, Fr. Scott blessed and distributed chalk before our Sunday service. He also distributed a "Blessing of the Home on the Feast of the Epiphany" that we can use as we mark the threshold of our homes with the blessed chalk. If you missed getting the blessed chalk or the blessing paper, please see Fr. Scott.
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After services, we enjoyed each other's company before heading downstairs to our monthly pot luck luncheon.
In addition to all the wonderful main course food including 7 layer tacos with chips, three bean pasta salad, submarine sandwiches . . . we had these amazing homemade desserts provided by Deborah and Carol!
Thank you to everyone for bringing and sharing so much wonderful food!
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Fr. Scott discussed the Feast Day of Epiphany in Christian Education this week. After Easter, Epiphany is the oldest feast of the church and has evolved over time in both the Western and the Eastern churches. He reviewed the traditions associated with Epiphany including the blessing of the chalk, the Epiphany Fire, Epiphany water, the King Cake, the "Woman's Christmas", the announcement of the moveable feast dates, and several others. Thank you, Fr. Scott for the fun and informative lesson!
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Deborah and Matt have arranged with Fr. Scott to have their house blessed on Saturday, January 22. They have invited us all to join them for the blessing followed by appetizers starting at 4 pm! More information including contact info and the address will be shared this Sunday! Please let them know if you plan to come this Sunday!
Thank you so much for opening up your house and inviting us to join you for this special event!
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Lots of 'Thank You's' to Rose Marie and Earl (with help from me) for setting up the church for the Epiphany service and then helping store all the decorations for next year. Also many thanks to Sue for moving all the decorations, including ornaments and poinsettias, downstairs for us to put away!
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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 (Rosalind) if you would like to join us on Discord.
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We received the following information from the APA this past week!
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As I was working on this post, looking outside at the grey and gloomy sky . . .
