Advent Study Group: We will use “The Poetry of Advent, an Advent Companion to Mary Oliver’s Devotions” for our Advent study this year. Booklets are available at the church, of if needed, we can mail one to you. It’s also available digitally – email me if you’d like a digital copy. We will meet on Wednesdays at either 1:00 or 7:00 pm. If you plan to join, please let me know which time you prefer.
Thank you to everyone who helped with
our fall clean up day last Sunday. We made a lot of
progress, but still have work to do. Fall clean up day part 2 is this
Sunday, November 21 following both services. The primary task is to finish
cleaning up the gardens and raking up under the pine and spruce trees.
Stewardship Update I’m
grateful to all of you who have turned in your pledge cards and fall leaves. As
of today we’ve received 48 pledges, for a total of $139,775. We are still short
of our goal of $155,000 and the number of pledges received. Please turn in your
pledge card and your fall leaf on Sunday at the latest. Thank you!
I will be on vacation
visiting my sister Tuesday, November 23 – Sunday, November 28. Please contact
Patti Rau, our Senior Warden if you have any pastoral needs. The Rev. David (Chip)
Robinson will preside at both services on November 28. Chip is the recently
retired rector of the Shared Ministry of Trinity Church, Hampton and Christ
Church, Portsmouth. I know you will welcome him in my absence.
A Brief Theology of Thanksgiving, Part II, from the SALT Project
Becoming
More Grateful
OK, so gratitude is
powerful — but how to make more of it in our lives? It turns out that some of
the most effective tools for increasing gratitude are also some of the simplest
and most familiar. First, the basic act of not just counting our blessings but
also recording them in a form we can revisit later — say, in a journal or
notebook — has been shown to significantly enhance feelings of thankfulness
over time.
Second, another simple
action has been shown to be even more effective: writing a letter of thanks to
a friend, family member, acquaintance, or even a stranger. That’s right —
thank-you notes can change your life! Indeed, we should reconceive the humble
thank-you note not merely as a way to inform others about how grateful we are,
but also as a way to help strengthen how grateful we are in the first place.
And a third practice
isn’t only effective, it’s downright fun, even and especially in a time of
pandemic: connecting with a friend once a week for coffee (or tea, or lunch -
by phone, online, or on a physically-distanced walk), and intentionally
devoting at least part of the conversation to sharing what we’re thankful for
these days. When it comes to gratitude, just “saying it out loud” to someone we
like and respect, not to mention hearing what they’re thankful for, is a
powerful step toward noticing — and more deeply experiencing — the blessings in
our lives.
Blessings, Caroline
The remaining Sundays at 8:00 and 10:00 AM
This Sunday-November 21
The Last Sunday after Pentecost
at 8:00 and 10:00 a.m.
The
Collect
Almighty
and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your
well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that
the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought
together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
First
Lesson 2
Samuel 23:1-7
From the
Hebrew scriptures we hear a lyric poem that celebrates the Davidic
monarchy. God has established David’s
throne. David is in turn to make himself
a blessing to the people, ruling justly and in the fear of the Lord. The godless will be overturned, and the faithful
ruler, it is implied, will be the tool for their unseating. God’s covenant with the just ruler, David, is
an everlasting covenant.
Psalm
132:1-12
A petition to the Lord to remember the
promise to David of a son to reign after him and for a lasting kingdom.
The
Second Lesson Revelation 1:4b-8
In this lesson the revelation made
known to a disciple named John begins with a greeting from the everlasting God,
from the seven spirits which worship God, and from Jesus Christ, the firstborn
from the dead. Jesus, who continues to
love his disciples, is praised as the faithful witness whose sacrifice has
formed a royal household, a new priestly people to serve God. Soon he will come, like the one foreseen by
the prophet Daniel, on the clouds of heaven.
He now rules over all earthly kings, and God, the Alpha and Omega, the
first and the last, is sovereign over all.
The
Gospel John
18:33-37
In the gospel, as his passion draws
near, Jesus comes face to face with the Roman governor, and seeks to explain
the nature of his kingship. It has been
suggested to Pilate that Jesus pretends to be some form of political
ruler. But Jesus’ kingship does not use
the force of this world’s weapons.
Pilate then realizes that Jesus’ kingship must be of a different order. The sovereignty of Jesus is found in his
witness to divine truth. He reveals God’s purpose and character, and those who
share in this truth hear his voice.
Updating the Prayer List
Please let Deb know if you would like to add someone to the prayer list. Thank you.
We seek your presence, O God,
not
because we have managed to see clearly
or
been true in all things this day,
not
because we have succeeded in loving
or
in reverencing those around us,
but
because we want to see with clarity,
because
we long to be true,
because
we desire to love as we have been loved.
Renew
our inner sight,
make
fresh our longings to be true
and
grant us the grace of loving this night
that
we may end this day as we had hoped to live it,
that
we may end this day restored
to
our deepest yearnings,
that
we may end this day as we intend
live
tomorrow,
as
we intend to live tomorrow.
~
John Philip Newell,
Sounds
of the Eternal; Morning and Night Prayer
Next Food Pantry:
25 John & Joan Marshall
