From the Rector – Becoming Church – The Acts of the Apostles
Throughout Lent folks gathered to study the Gospel of Luke, and this Eastertide we will continue The Good Book Club by exploring the formation of the early church in the Acts of the Apostles.
We will meet on six Sundays, beginning April 15. This scripture study will take the place of our regular 9:30 am Sunday Bible Study. We will be using The Good Book Club Bible Study produced by Forward Movement to guide our discussions. Attending every session will be fruitful – but don’t let that keep you from dropping in just on the Sundays you’re available.
Below is the full schedule and description of each session. I look forward to digging deep in scripture with you in the coming weeks, and finding ways that the church today is like the church was then – and discovering what we can learn about becoming church from the first followers of Christ.
Yours in God’s peace,
Kristin+
April 15 – Week 1: Acts 1:1-11
This week, we will take a close look at Acts and the events surrounding the birth of the church. Events like the Ascension and Pentecost will come sharply into focus, and we will consider ways the Holy Spirit is still ministering to and through us today.
April 22 – Week 2: Acts 6:1-7
This week, we’ll spend some time discussing a major conflict in the midst of the early church. We’ll unpack the push and pull of Hellenism, traditional Jewish understandings, and how this situation gives rise to the office of deacon, as well as provides for a bigger table and tent for the growing church.
April 29 – Week 3: Acts 9:1-22
This week, we will meet Paul and notice a shift in the narrative of Acts. We will discuss Paul’s personality and the intensity of his character. In discussing Paul’s gifts, we will also spend some time thinking about how our gifts can often cut both ways, being helpful and hurtful at times, and explore some strategies for how to use our gifts in our faith communities and in our personal lives.
May 6 – Week 4: Acts 11:1-18
This week, we will take a serious and substantive look at Peter’s vision and why it is tied to the conversion of Cornelius. We’ll discuss the ideas of clean/unclean and why Peter’s vision was such a game-changer for the church, as well as the conflict that ensued and the difficult of implementing change.
May 13 – Week 5: Acts 15:1-31
Once again, we’ll look at one of the pivotal conflicts in the early church and see how far we have (or haven’t come) in the intervening 2000 years. Discussion and disagreement about
circumcision and kosher dietary laws as well as Greek and Roman social/cultural influences may remind us of the conflicts and conversations that we are having in our homes, faith communities, and in the wider world. We’ll also take time to talk over the life-changing habit of sharing meals.
May 20 – Week 6: Acts 16:16-40 and preview of Acts 28:23-31
This week, we look at another liberation story and talk about Paul’s second missionary
expedition. We will discuss the idea of making “good trouble” in addition to creating some
strategies for studying the remainder of Acts on our own and pondering the “happy ending” of the overarching story of the emergence of the church.
Choir/Music
Firstly, thank you all for your kind words and comments about the music this Holy Week and Easter. The choir’s worked very hard preparing a lot of music for a few days, and we’re glad we were able to contribute to each of these services!
This month, we continue with our discussions about the origins of music in the church. We spoke last month about biblical references to music in both the new and old testaments, and here we’ll talk about the hymnal that’s included in every copy of the bible.
Music was seen as a practical pursuit because it had an educational purpose: in a time when most history was passed through word of mouth, stories were more easily remembered when passed along through song. Think about the ABC song set to “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star;” I’d bet that most of you now still sing through it today when you’re trying to alphabetize something (I certainly do!).
The strongest example of music within the bible is the Book of Psalms. The word “psalms” is derived from the Greek word “ψαλμοί” or “psalmoi”, which literally translates in English to “instrumental music,” implying that the book of Psalms is really a collection of lyrics. Old-Testament-scholar Hermann Gunkel categorizes the the psalms into five subsets: (1) hymns, (2) communal laments, (3) royal psalms, (4) individual laments, and (5) individual thanksgiving psalms.
In addition to the Psalms, we find even more texts meant to be sung, known as Canticles, in the New Testament. In the book of Luke alone, we find the Magnificat, or Song of Mary, the Benedictus, or Song of Zacharia, and the Nunc Dimittis, or the Song of Simeon.
Over the years, many people have written new music to accompany the texts of biblical psalms and canticles. Just look at few of the interpretations of Psalm 23 recordings below!
Shepherd Me, O God (by Marty Haugen, which we’ll be singing at the service on April 22nd)
My Shepherd Will Supply My Need (using a folk hymn, arr. Mack Wilberg)
The Lord is my Shepherd (by Steven Crino, a fellow Peabody student who has played piano in my absence a few times over the last year)
The psalms and canticles are rarely sung as part of the service in contemporary churches, particularly in the US, but next month we’ll talk about the early Judeo-Christian worship services, and how these songs and others would have been used!
Nursery School
The St. James’ Nursery School has a display at the Mt. Airy Library for the month of April. We want to highlight what it means to be a quality, accredited early childhood education program. The Pre-K 4’s have their work on display at the beginning of the month and the 2’s and Preschool 3’s will do the same for the last half of the month. We hope you can drop in and take a look!!
WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS
Memorial Services
Long-time parishioner Jeanne Hammond will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday, April 12 at 3:00 pm. If you are interested in attending please call or email the church office for details.
A service for Matt Braman, husband of Rev. Bill Doggett, will take place on Thursday, April 12 at 3:00 pm at Christ Church on Capitol Hill.
American Red Cross Blood Drive at St. James’
Please make your appointment for our upcoming blood drive to be held on Thursday, May 10 from 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. You can sign up by going to www.redcrossblood.org, or by calling Bryant Dulany at 410-596-4227.
Episcopal Night at Camden Yards vs. Tampa Bay Rays, July 27, 7:05 PM
All are Welcome! (yes, we really mean ALL) Invite your… Long-time church members, newcomers, friends, relatives, neighbors, copier repair guy, and anyone else who would enjoy an afternoon of baseball. Purchase your tickets online
LARGE TRAILER NEEDED!!
The Basket Raffle Committee recently learned that the large trailer we have used in the past to transport our 60+ baskets and tables has been sold; therefore, we are greatly in need of an enclosed trailer approximately 28 feet long for Friday evening, October 12, through Saturday evening, October 13, 2018. Please contact Don or Cheryl Windsor at (c) 301-642-8487 (h) 301-865-3195 or dcwindsor@comcast.net if you or someone you know may be able to help us with the use of a large trailer or two smaller enclosed ones.
SPRING CLEANING??
As you begin your Spring cleaning, downsizing or even if you would like to “re-gift” holiday items you would like someone else to enjoy, please consider donating any items in good condition to our annual Basket Raffle that may be suitable for men, women, or children of all ages If you have questions about Basket donation items, please contact Joan Fader at 301-703-8787 or faderj1@juno.com.
Items for the Silent Auction would be those that would generate higher bids by themselves rather than as a part of a basket. Such items could include paintings, quilts, unopened perfume, fine jewelry or high-value gift certificates, and the like. If you have questions about the Silent Auction, please contact Mary Hutchins-Danna at 443-277-0505 or mhdslp@hotmail.com.
Prayer Rotation
Please join the Daughters of the King in praying for each parishioner in rotation during 2018 by taking this notice home and by posting it where it will remind you to pray on a daily basis for the needs and blessings of:
Peter Sabonis and Leslie Dickinson (Jacob)
Nicholas and Rebecca Sach (Alexander, Juliana)
Aline Sautter
A member of the Daughters of the King will be contacting you this week for special prayer requests.
