So much happened during my two week hiatus! Special services & celebrations, vacations, weddings, birthdays .... let's catch up!
1. The Feast Day of St. Peter's - Sunday, June 27
Fr. Scott led a wonderful celebration of our namesake's Saint - St. Peter the Apostle.
Fr. Dennis drove over the mountains from North Carolina for the celebration. It's always wonderful to have him join us at St. Peter's!
Garon gifted St. Peter's with a beautiful thurible and incense which he carried in the service. Thank you, Garon!
Scott and Sue arranged for a string quartet to join us for the celebration!
And Sue also played!
Fr. Scott gave a beautiful sermon that started by answering the question of why we celebrate a man, St. Peter, and his life. He discussed what we know about St. Peter including his life before knowing Christ, his often rash behavior, his inspirational first Holy Spirit inspired sermon, and his death. Fr. Scott also emphasized Peter's answer to Christ's very important question of "Do you love me?", reminding us of how we serve a God of second chances. Please find Fr. Scott's wonderful sermon at the 22:10 minute mark at the link below:
After services we hosted a luncheon including BBQ pork sandwiches and pot luck dishes.
Thank you to everyone who made the The Feast Day of St. Peter such a wonderful day!
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2. Agnes's Birthday
During the week after the Feast of St. Peter's, Agnes's daughter and grand daughter invited us to join them in celebrating Agnes's 80th Birthday! What a joyous birthday celebration for such a wonderful addition to our St. Peter's family
Happy Birthday Agnes and may God bless you with many more!!
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3. Independence Day, Sunday, July 4
Happy Fourth of July! Teresa sent me this beautiful picture of the fireworks display put on by the church across the street from her house.
Independence Day: O Eternal God, through whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old; Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen BCP, page 263
On Sunday, July 4, Scott led a beautiful morning prayer service while Fr. Scott was on a family beach vacation!
Scott's sermon discussed the Gospel Lesson in which Jesus, the carpenter and rabbi, is telling Simon, the fisherman, how to fish. However, instead of rejoicing after his great success, Simon falls to his knees saying to Jesus "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord". Scott points out that Jesus just proved He knew more about Simon's vocation and "inner man" than Simon himself knew. Scott then described a time when God posed a question to him: "If I ask you to quit music, will you do it?" Scott ultimately concluded Jesus was the Lord of the universe, Lord of the orchestra and Lord of his personal life - so, yes he would do so.
Jesus concludes his conversation with Simon by saying "Fear not". Scott proposes Simon was fearful about putting his life in the hands of Jesus. Could he trust Jesus to lead him safely? Could he muster the faith to follow Jesus wherever He might lead? Scott concludes by asking us if we have embraced Jesus as Lord of our lives? Are we trusting Him to lead us in our journey with Him? Are we ready for Him to give us a new name like He did for Peter and Abraham?
After services, we noticed Rosalind, Teresa, and Agnes were decked out in red, white, and blue while Sue was anticipating the golden glitter of the coming fireworks!
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4. Sixth Sunday after Trinity, July 11
Fr. Scott officiated our beautiful Holy Communion service this past Sunday.
Fr. Scott's sermon discussed Jesus's warning that "except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven". The Pharisees accused Jesus of wanting to do away with the Law which would destroy their religion. They followed the letter of the law but had no relationship with God and were therefore spiritually dead. The Pharisees had traded a relationship with God for a 'religion with rules and rituals'. As Anglicans, we need to be particularly careful not to just go through the motions i.e. read the prayers but not pray them. Fr. Scott reminded us that we are called to be in a relationship with God and that relationship is what saves us. Please find Fr. Scott's wonderful sermon at 25:00 minute mark at the following link:
In Christian Education this morning, Fr. Scott started a series of lessons on the Creeds. In this Sunday's lesson discussed the sources of authority in the church. The supreme source of divine revelation is the Bible. The Reformation supported the idea that we did not need the church to interpret the Bible, we could do that on our own..... so now we have over 33,000 Protestant denominations. However, we can also refer to the centuries of consensus of interpretation as expressed by the religious councils of the first 1000 years of unified church history before the East/West split. The Nicene Creed was a product of the first Council of Nicea called in response to the heresy saying Jesus was a created being not God. Therefore the Nicene Creed was a summation of the official church interpretation of the Bible.
The second source of authority is tradition which includes Saints, scholars, leaders and liturgy. The Anglican church teaches that the Bible leads to traditions and traditions can only require what the Bible requires i.e. the Bible is above tradition. However, the Roman Catholic church teaches that the Bible and traditions are equal.
The third and last source of authority is private revelation. This is often unreliable as people can be deceived individually. Any private revelation must be tested against scripture.
5. Wedding, Saturday, June 26
My youngest son, Greg (center), married his high school sweetheart, Samantha, near Syracuse, NY. Sam's niece and flower girl joined us in the picture.
Thank you to everyone for all your prayers and well wishes!
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