FROM THE RECTORThank
you, everyone, for a good Annual Meeting on Sunday. Thank you for attending,
listening closely and asking questions. I especially want to thank our Zoom
co-hosts, Sammie, Lois and Jen. Sammie was responsible for admitting everyone to
the meeting and making sure there was no inadvertent background noise. Jen
highlighted our speakers throughout the service and the Annual Meeting, at the
same time taking notes for the minutes of the meeting. And Lois showed a huge
number of slides and charts along with her usual hymn slides. It truly takes a
village! Thank you to Jen and Bob, Patti and Sammie as well, for their
contributions to the meeting.
Kelly’s Address: Several of you have asked for an
address for Kelly Antonelli, Candace’s wife, so you can send a sympathy card.
Her address is:
Kelly Antonelli
24 Heath Street #3
Somerville, MA 02145
I know she will appreciate hearing from you – we are her church
family! She is staying with her mother and is near other family members.
Here
is a repeat of The Salt Project’s
Theology of Valentine’s Day. I think it’s been a few years since we ran
it the first time.
“Before
Hallmark, before long-stemmed roses delivered to your door or your desk, before
heart-shaped boxes of chocolates with embossed “flavor maps” — there was St.
Valentine. Actually, there may have been two. The history’s pretty murky, and
includes legends about an early Christian priest (or was it a bishop?) martyred
for (perhaps?) surreptitiously helping Christians to wed. So uncertain are the
details, in fact, that in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church officially
discontinued liturgical veneration of St. Valentine, though he’s still on the
list of recognized saints.
But the
holiday lives on. It turns out Chaucer, of all people, may be the reason why:
the late-medieval poet penned “Parliament of Foules” sometime around 1375,
including a link — embellished by more than a little poetic license — between
courtly love and St. Valentine’s feast day. February 14, Chaucer wrote, is the day
birds come together to find a mate: “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
/ Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.” A lovely day indeed — and as
the poem’s fame spread, so did the day’s association with affection, both avian
and human.
But however
fanciful these various legends may be, there’s a deeper wisdom beneath the
whimsy. For centuries in Christian thought, the most prestigious book in the
Bible, the “graduate school” of Christian spirituality, wasn’t Matthew, Mark,
Luke, or John, or the Book of Genesis, or the Psalms. It was the Song of Songs,
an ancient — and pretty racy! — romantic poem about love in a world fraught
with danger. Over the centuries, the poem was interpreted as an unsurpassed
figurative portrait of the love between God and God’s people.
This
Valentine’s Day, think of all the love in your life — the love you feel and the
love you witness; the love you remember and the love you long for; even the
love among the birds of the air! — as a glimpse of God’s care for all creation.
And if you’re especially perceptive (or especially mischievous), you can
glimpse divine love even in places as ordinary as a sweet little greeting card,
an arrangement of flowers, or a “flavor map” embossed on a heart-shaped lid.
If we have
eyes to see and ears to hear, the truth about God’s love is that it’s all
around us, the Song of all songs, the Symphony of all symphonies, echoing
everywhere.”
Blessings, CarolineING
Thank
you, everyone, for a good Annual Meeting on Sunday. Thank you for attending,
listening closely and asking questions. I especially want to thank our Zoom
co-hosts, Sammie, Lois and Jen. Sammie was responsible for admitting everyone to
the meeting and making sure there was no inadvertent background noise. Jen
highlighted our speakers throughout the service and the Annual Meeting, at the
same time taking notes for the minutes of the meeting. And Lois showed a huge
number of slides and charts along with her usual hymn slides. It truly takes a
village! Thank you to Jen and Bob, Patti and Sammie as well, for their
contributions to the meeting.
Kelly’s Address: Several of you have asked for an
address for Kelly Antonelli, Candace’s wife, so you can send a sympathy card.
Her address is:
Kelly Antonelli
24 Heath Street #3
Somerville, MA 02145
I know she will appreciate hearing from you – we are her church
family! She is staying with her mother and is near other family members.
Here
is a repeat of The Salt Project’s
Theology of Valentine’s Day. I think it’s been a few years since we ran
it the first time.
“Before
Hallmark, before long-stemmed roses delivered to your door or your desk, before
heart-shaped boxes of chocolates with embossed “flavor maps” — there was St.
Valentine. Actually, there may have been two. The history’s pretty murky, and
includes legends about an early Christian priest (or was it a bishop?) martyred
for (perhaps?) surreptitiously helping Christians to wed. So uncertain are the
details, in fact, that in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church officially
discontinued liturgical veneration of St. Valentine, though he’s still on the
list of recognized saints.
But the
holiday lives on. It turns out Chaucer, of all people, may be the reason why:
the late-medieval poet penned “Parliament of Foules” sometime around 1375,
including a link — embellished by more than a little poetic license — between
courtly love and St. Valentine’s feast day. February 14, Chaucer wrote, is the day
birds come together to find a mate: “For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne’s day
/ Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.” A lovely day indeed — and as
the poem’s fame spread, so did the day’s association with affection, both avian
and human.
But however
fanciful these various legends may be, there’s a deeper wisdom beneath the
whimsy. For centuries in Christian thought, the most prestigious book in the
Bible, the “graduate school” of Christian spirituality, wasn’t Matthew, Mark,
Luke, or John, or the Book of Genesis, or the Psalms. It was the Song of Songs,
an ancient — and pretty racy! — romantic poem about love in a world fraught
with danger. Over the centuries, the poem was interpreted as an unsurpassed
figurative portrait of the love between God and God’s people.
This
Valentine’s Day, think of all the love in your life — the love you feel and the
love you witness; the love you remember and the love you long for; even the
love among the birds of the air! — as a glimpse of God’s care for all creation.
And if you’re especially perceptive (or especially mischievous), you can
glimpse divine love even in places as ordinary as a sweet little greeting card,
an arrangement of flowers, or a “flavor map” embossed on a heart-shaped lid.
If we have
eyes to see and ears to hear, the truth about God’s love is that it’s all
around us, the Song of all songs, the Symphony of all symphonies, echoing
everywhere.”
Blessings, CarolineING
via Zoom (email RectorSAITV@gmail.com for Zoom information)
or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/standrewsinthevalleytamworth/
AND...
JOIN US FOLLOWING THE SERVICE FOR
A VIRTUAL
on ZOOM
JOIN US FOLLOWING THE SERVICE FOR
A VIRTUAL
on ZOOM
The
Collect
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in
you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do
nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your
commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.
First Lesson Jeremiah
17:5-10
In
our opening Lesson we hear how the prophet urges each individual to trust
solely in the Lord, who alone can search out human motivations. Jeremiah’s primary concern is that people
should realize the importance of their choice.
Only one who recognizes the powers of human self-deception and rests in
the Lord can live a fruitful life.
Psalm 1
The Lord
makes fruitful the lives of those who choose the way of righteousness.
The Second Lesson 1 Corinthians 15:12-20
In this epistle reading Paul insists
that belief in resurrection from death is basic to the faith that Jesus was
raised, which, in turn, is vital to all Christian hope and experience. If, as some suggest, there is no
resurrection, then there is no reason to believe that God raised Jesus. If Jesus was not raised, then we remain in
our unforgiven condition and are without hope for ourselves. In fact, however, Christ was raised and is
the first of many who will find new life.
The Gospel Luke 6:17-26
In our gospel passage Jesus heals many
of their illnesses and teaches his disciples that the values of the kingdom of
God are quite different from worldly standards.
His words offer both comfort and challenge. Those who now are poor, hungry, sorrowful,
and persecuted will find blessing, while the rich, satisfied and well spoken of
will experience emptiness. Jesus’ disciples must learn to share in material and
spiritual deprivation in the world if they are to know the joy of the kingdom.
Learn more from the Rev. Kate Harmon Siberine, Missioner at the Episcopal Mission of Franklin by clicking here.
Parish: Kelly Antonelli, Audrey Berry, Carolyn Boldt, Marty Cloran, Judy Grace, Bev Hammond, Sue Huckman, Joan Marshall, John McGowan, Elizabeth Pease, Grete Plender, Becky Riley, Steve Thompson, Carol Tubman, Gabriele & Bob Wallace.
For those celebrating anniversaries: Valerie and Bill May.
Please let the Parish Office know if you would like to add or remove someone
on the prayer list. Thank you.
Food for Thought
Love yourself. Then forget it. Then,
love the world.
~ Mary Oliver
