Thursday, July 28, 2011
St Lukes Service 11:00am July 31st
**Please note that the 11:00am service normally at Christ Church will be at St Lukes, Smithfield this Sunday July 31st**
Readings, July 31st, News & Announcements, Summer poetry.
Summer in Smithfield
Sweet birdsong gives rise to the emerging dominant morning sun
in all its glory and power.
Roses open their hearts freeing their fragrant perfume
And open our senses to the summer joy.
Crepe Myrtle shimmy and sway, cascading their alabaster smooth limbs
to sprinkle their puffed pink blossoms
Honey bees gently buzz and kiss their precious pollen treasures,
aiding the life line of nature.
Butterfly’s seek out their sweet lavender havens
teasing and flirting with the innocent pure white lilies.
Beaches blanketed with crystal sand
slipping through our palms and circling our toes,
evoking a warm balmy memory of summers past.
Children playing, families laughing, enjoying vacations beside the clear blue sea.
Sunflowers dance the tall order of surrendering their hidden spring faces
to the jealous blue sky,
mimicking their golden mistress of summer.
Egrets skim and glide effortlessly
over the lapping still waters of the Pagan River
.
We seek shelter from the heady warm sometimes unrelenting sunbeams
under the soothing shade of the outstretched noble oak tree.
The multiple unique tones and shapes of coloured leaves in abundance
remind us we are all a part of this intricate woven fabric of life
And as each precious plant, and creature once again,
takes its place in the summer sun, they bloom, wildly and softly,
these blooms take voices,
and the voices are what we might imagine to be like those of the Angels,
soft and beautiful, strong and kind.
Within these pure, sweet, enchanted voices
is the music…
the music of Life, Love, Creation, and Summer
Written by Deborah Webb
News and Announcements:
Sun July 31 Early Quiet Service –
Celebration Service –
Sunday School; all ages –
St Lukes - Traditional Service –
Tues Aug 2 Daughters of the King –
Wed Aug 3 Bible Study Eucharist:
Celebration Band
Sun Aug 7 Early Quiet Service –
Celebration Service –
Sunday School; all ages –
Traditional Service –
*Sundays at Four ~ Terrific Teen Talent*
Readings July 31st
Reader: A reading from the book of Genesis [32:22-31]
Jacob wrestles with a stranger he comes to recognize as God. He is told that he now will be called Israel
Reader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church
People: Open our ears to hear your Word.
But during the night he got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He got them safely across the brook along with all his possessions.
But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn't get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob's hip out of joint.
The man said, "Let me go; it's daybreak."
Jacob said, "I'm not letting you go 'til you bless me."
The man said, "What's your name?" He answered, "Jacob."
The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel
Jacob asked, "And what's your name?"
The man said, "Why do you want to know my name?" And then, right then and there, he blessed him.
Jacob named the place Peniel (God's Face) because, he said, "I saw God face-to-face and lived to tell the story!"
The sun came up as he left Peniel, limping because of his hip. (This is why Israelites to this day don't eat the hip muscle; because Jacob's hip was thrown out of joint.)
Reader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
People: Open our ears to hear your Word.
7.45 & 11:00am (St Lukes)
+The First Lesson: Jacob wrestles with a stranger he comes to recognize as God. He is told that he now will be called Israel
A Reading
The same night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and likewise everything that he had. Jacob was left alone; and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he struck him on the hip socket; and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day is breaking." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go, unless you bless me." So he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then the man said, "You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel
Reader: The Word of the Lord People: Thanks be to God
Psalm 17:1-7,16:1-11 Page 600, BCP
Hear my plea of innocence, O LORD;
give heed to my cry; *
listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.
give heed to my cry; *
listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.
Let my vindication come forth from your presence; *
let your eyes be fixed on justice.
let your eyes be fixed on justice.
Weigh my heart, summon me by night, *
melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.
melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.
I give no offense with my mouth as others do; *
I have heeded the words of your lips.
I have heeded the words of your lips.
My footsteps hold fast to the ways of your law; *
in your paths my feet shall not stumble.
in your paths my feet shall not stumble.
I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; *
incline your ear to me and hear my words.
incline your ear to me and hear my words.
Show me your marvelous loving-kindness, *
O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.
O Savior of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.
But at my vindication I shall see your face; *
when I awake, I shall be satisfied, beholding
your likeness.
when I awake, I shall be satisfied, beholding
your likeness.
+The Second Lesson: Paul struggles to understand why Israel
am speaking the truth in Christ-- I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit-- I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own people, my kindred according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Messiah, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
Reader: The Word of the Lord
The People Respond: Thanks be to God
Monday, July 25, 2011
News
“Terrific Teen Talent” Concert hosted at Christ Church
Sunday, August 7 - 4:00 pm Christ Church will host six award-winning teenage musicians. Their repertoire will showcase their individual talents and passions. This year’s program includes: Sarah Haigh, soprano from Smithfield; pianist Joseph Vaz a frequent visitor to Smithfield; tenor saxophonist, Trey Sorrells, from Churchland; tenor Benjamin Bartell from Hampton; Daniel Corbin, percussionist from Virginia Beach, and Andrew Gonzalez, violist from Chesapeake and second year student at Juilliard in NYC.
This program is supported by a free-will offering. Information: 757-375-9140.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Calling Volunteers for a Restoration Project
The Chanco Board of Directors is planning to begin preservation/restoration work on one of our conference center buildings. In August, the first part of this project will commence with the replacement of the roofing, siding and insulation of one of the conference center buildings. Doug Weymouth (Cursillo alumni, professional contractor, and member of Christ and St. Luke's in Norfolk) has graciously volunteered to supervise this project and will need several teams of volunteers to provide the labor. Whether you can just swing a hammer and haul away debris or whether you are a professional roofer, we need YOU! All skill levels are necessary for this project to be a success. To volunteer, please contact Jack Mace at 757-627-3401 or jwmace@cox.net and indicate when you are available between August 8th and 18th, your current skill level (0-10 with 10 being professional contractor), and your available tools. Food and lodging at Chanco will be provided for volunteers. A final approval for going forward with this project will happen on August 1st by the Chanco Board. Click here for a letter about this project from Chanco Board President, the Rev. Conor Alexander. There is an urgency in this need in that, to date, insufficient volunteers have committed to the project. Please help us to preserve the "heart of our diocese" with a commitment to giving a day or 10 days to this project. Thank you, in advance, for your support of Chanco's ministry and its future restoration!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
News & Announcements July 24-31 2011
News and Announcements:
Sun July 24 Early Quiet Service –
Celebration Service –
Sunday School; all ages –
Traditional Service –
Wed July 27 Bible Study Eucharist:
Celebration Band
Sun July 31 Early Quiet Service –
Celebration Service –
Sunday School; all ages –
Traditional Service –
ATTENTION , PLEASE!!!! RE: Joint FUNDRAISER
NEXT DATES for IN-GATHERING are:
- COINS &
CASH : onJuly 24, 2011
Please, place Jars & Envelopes with Cash in designated location in church. J2A will roll the coin & cash collection, record it and give it to the Counters on July 31, 2011 . Please, Put your name on jars & envelopes to recycle them back to you.
- CHECKS: July 31, to
November 27, 2011
Please, place checks in offering plate. Write separate checks “for Chol Deng” & “for J2A”.
For more information, please, refer to instructions on handouts or bulletin board.
Thank You J Kind Hearts,
Chanco on the James
Dear Friends of Chanco,
You may have heard through the grapevine that Chanco is planning to do some preservation / restoration work on our conference center buildings. There are several pieces that need to come together to make this happen and one of them is you. The first part of this project is projected for August 8th through the 18th and will involve replacing the roofing, siding, and insulation of one of the conference center buildings. (Future projects will address the other three.) Doug Weymouth, a professional contractor and member of Christ and St. Luke’s in Norfolk
To volunteer, please contact Doug Weymouth at athike@juno.com and indicate when you are available between August 8th and 18th, your current skill level (0 -10, all levels are necessary), and your available tools. A final determination for going forward on this project will happen on July 19th at the Chanco Board Meeting.
Thank you so much and we look forward to many years of ministry ahead of us at Chanco!
Readings July 24th 9am, 7.45am, & 11am
Reader: A reading from the book of Romans [-25]
Paul offers the reassurance that at those times when prayer is difficult for us, the Holy Spirit prays for us and will bring us comfort
Reader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church
People: Open our ears to hear your Word.
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture:
They kill us in cold blood because they hate you.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.
Reader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
People: Open our ears to hear your Word.
+The First Lesson: In order to marry Rachel, Jacob agrees to serve her father for seven years. In the end, Jacob gets Rachel as his wife, but is tricked into taking her older sister as his wife as well.
A Reading
Laban said to Jacob, "Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?" Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah's eyes were lovely, and Rachel was graceful and beautiful. Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, "I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel." Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you than that I should give her to any other man; stay with me." So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed." So Laban gathered together all the people of the place, and made a feast. But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob; and he went in to her. (Laban gave his maid Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her maid.) When morning came, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?"
Laban said, "This is not done in our country-- giving the younger before the firstborn. Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years." Jacob did so, and completed her week; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.
Reader: The Word of the Lord People: Thanks be to God
Psalm 105:1-11 Page 738, BCP
Give thanks to the LORD and call upon his Name; *
make known his deeds among the peoples.
make known his deeds among the peoples.
Sing to him, sing praises to him, *
and speak of all his marvelous works.
and speak of all his marvelous works.
Glory in his holy Name; *
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
Search for the LORD and his strength; *
continually seek his face.
continually seek his face.
Remember the marvels he has done, *
his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,
his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,
O offspring of Abraham his servant, *
O children of Jacob his chosen.
O children of Jacob his chosen.
He is the LORD our God; *
his judgments prevail in all the world.
his judgments prevail in all the world.
He has always been mindful of his covenant, *
the promise he made for a thousand generations:
the promise he made for a thousand generations:
The covenant he made with Abraham, *
the oath that he swore to Isaac,
the oath that he swore to Isaac,
Which he established as a statute for Jacob, *
an everlasting covenant forIsrael
an everlasting covenant for
Saying, "To you will I give the land of Canaan
to be your allotted inheritance."
to be your allotted inheritance."
Hallelujah!
+The Second Lesson: Paul offers the reassurance that at those times when prayer is difficult for us, the Holy Spirit prays for us and will bring us comfort.
The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
"For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Reader: The Word of the Lord
The People Respond: Thanks be to God
Monday, July 11, 2011
Readings July 17th 7.45 & 11am
+The First Lesson: On a journey, Jacob dreams of angels on a ladder between heaven and earth. In his vision, God promises to make a great nation of him and to be with him always.
A Reading
Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Reader: The Word of the Lord People: Thanks be to God
Psalm 139:1-11 Page 794, BCP
LORD, you have searched me out and known me; *
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You trace my journeys and my resting-places *
and are acquainted with all my ways.
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, *
but you, O LORD, know it altogether.
but you, O LORD, know it altogether.
You press upon me behind and before *
and lay your hand upon me.
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; *
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
Where can I go then from your Spirit? *
where can I flee from your presence?
where can I flee from your presence?
If I climb up to heaven, you are there; *
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
If I take the wings of the morning *
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there your hand will lead me *
and your right hand hold me fast.
and your right hand hold me fast.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will cover me, *
and the light around me turn to night,"
and the light around me turn to night,"
Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day; *
darkness and light to you are both alike.
the night is as bright as the day; *
darkness and light to you are both alike.
Search me out, O God, and know my heart; *
try me and know my restless thoughts.
try me and know my restless thoughts.
Look well whether there be any wickedness in me *
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.
and lead me in the way that is everlasting.
+The Second Lesson: Paul declares that those who have chosen to follow Jesus can live in joyful hope because they are sons and daughters adopted by God.
A Reading
Brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been
groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we
were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Reader: The Word of the Lord
The People Respond: Thanks be to God
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)