The Vicar is presenting the following sermon series during Easter.

11-Apr   Topic: Adam & Christ   Title: "Two Adams" (1 Cor. 15:22)

18-Apr   Topic: Judgment   Title: "Two Deaths" (Matt. 10:28)

25-Apr   Topic: Regeneration   Title: "Two Births" (John 3:3)

2-May   Topic: Atonement   Title: "Christ's Cross" (1 Pet. 2:24)

9-May   Topic: Eternal life   Title: "Your Resurrection" (John 11:25)

16-May   Topic: Glory   Title: "Your Crown" (1 Pet. 5:4)

23-May   Topic: Divine Election   Title: "God's Church" (John 15:16)

The Vicar continues his weekly exposition of the Catechism, found in the Book of Common Prayer, pp. 845-862.

Q. What response did God require from the chosen people?

A. God required the chosen people to be faithful; to love justice, to do mercy, and to walk humbly with their God.

Many people think that the New Testament replaces the Old Testament or that law is incompatible with gospel, but is there anything in this answer that suggests a time will come when God expects us not to fulfill His law?

Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matt 5:17). In doing so He became the exemplar of His own people, the chosen people, and for all the redeemed of the human race.

—JWD.

The floral guild is always grateful for donations. If you are interested in dedicating flowers in memoriam or for a special occasion, such as a birthday or anniversary, please send an email to stpeterschurch@optonline.net with the date and the name(s) to whom you would like to dedicate the arrangements.

By 1962 St. Peter's had grown large enough and had sufficient financial support to resume its former status in the Diocese. (Tompkins does not say when it lost this status.) She writes,

"After consultations with Bishop Donegan and Suffragan Bishop Wetmore, it was decided that St. Peter's Church was again entitled to be invested with a rector.

"Through the kindness and generosity of many friends in the church the rectory—which had been rented to a succession of tenants after the departure of Mr. Robertson—was renovated and repairs were made on the church. In 1962 the Reverend John H. Widdows came to St. Peter's as the new rector. The significance of his coming was that St. Peter's Church had resumed its 'first-class membership' in the Diocese, having exactly the same status as any other major parish in the Diocese such as St. Thomas in New York City or Grace Church Millbrook."

How long this "first-class" membership lasted is unclear. Mr. Widdows resigned as rector in 1966 and "for the next four years, the vestry carried on the work of the church most effectively with the assistance of invited ministers and dedicated laymen." In 1970, the vestry called the Reverend R. Rhys Williams as priest-in-charge. Mr. Williams lived in the rectory with his wife and four children, and also taught at Marist College. Topkins notes this diminution in clerical title, but does not explain it, adding that the "future looked very bright for St. Peter's Church." I suspect finances had become an issue again.

—Adapted from Louise Tompkins, A Landmark: The History of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church (Lithgow, NY, 1971), 22-23.

We ask that you please not come to church in person if you have Covid-19, have symptoms consistent with Covid-19, or are subject to the provisions of the New York State Covid-19 Travel Advisory.

O God, the King of glory, who hast exalted thine only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph unto thy kingdom in heaven: We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless, but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Savior Christ is gone before; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Holy Ghost, one God,

world without end. Amen.

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