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

Q.   How did God prepare us for redemption?

A.   God sent the prophets to call us back to himself, to show us our need for redemption, and to announce the coming of the Messiah.

The prophets are often accused of being only about “doom and gloom.” The English word “jeremiad” can mean just that. In fact, the opposite is true. Rather than inevitable decline, deterioration, and eventual extinction, the prophets look forward to God’s restoration of all things (Acts 3:21).

The prophets had a special word of hope for the Gentiles, who were not the chosen people, and who did not have the benefit of God’s Torah instructions on how to live. Isaiah 11:10 foretells the coming of the Jewish Messiah, who will bring the blessing of a restored relationship with God to a new chosen people, comprised of members from every nation.

Join us after coffee hour for a check-in of no more than 45 minutes to see where we all are. 18 months of pandemic has changed a lot of habits. Is church and church school still on your list? How about an acolyte program? Would you like to do a Christmas pageant this year? Have children that are confirmation age? This is the meeting to discuss everything and sort it all out. What we do in 2021-2022 will be informed by your input.

This is an annual family favorite. Bring your children and your pets. Outdoors, under the tent.

This low-key event will introduce children ages 8 and up to the various roles in our liturgy: lector, usher, crucifer, and altar server. Sometimes it helps to commit to something — and having something to do during the service is a great commitment! Serving in church as a child can (and often does) lead to a lifetime commitment to the church and a spirituality that grows as your child grows.

The Vicar will offer confirmation class for children 12 and older after Easter. The tentative dates are: Apr 23, Apr 30, May 7, May 14, May 21 & May 22.* All days are Saturdays. Class is from 3 to 4:30 in the Parish House.

* On Sunday, May 22, 2022, the children will lead all aspects of worship at the 9:30 service, including the homily. N.B. we still do not have a date for the bishop’s visit, but I have requested either June or sometime in the fall of 2022.

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Featuring our own Nancy Vanderlee.

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Go through your closets and choose one to three of your most fabulous, designer items that you no longer wear such as clothing, handbags, scarfs, hats, coats, shoes, and jewelry. Make sure items are dry cleaned, washed, pressed, polished and shined. Drop-off items at St. Peter’s Church in the Old Parish House by Sunday, September 26.

Columbus Day Weekend - Oct. 9th & 10th

Franklin Ave., Millbrook, N.Y. (Outside in front of Danielle’s Hair Design, near Babette’s.)

You may also support the work of the Pantry by writing a check. Payable to “Food of Life Pantry” please include in Memo line: CLOTHES SALE. Mail to St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 40 Leedsville Road, Amenia, NY 12501.

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.

St. Peter's is pleased to offer the convenience of online giving via our website. You may make a pledge payment or a one-time gift either by ACH or credit card. From the website menu, click on Serve > Make a gift online, or click here.

Highlights from Henry Chadwick's The Early Church (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1967), selected by the Vicar. Chadwick was the sometime Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge.

"A further consequence of the Gnostic devaluation of the created order was the depreciation of the Old Testament. This was greatly accentuated by a thorough exploitation of the Pauline antithesis of law and gospel. The Gnostics liked to contrast the God of the Old Testament as the God of justice, whose principle was an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, with the loving Father proclaimed by Jesus. This antithesis was especially worked out by Marcion... who came from Asia Minor to Rome, where the church excommunicated him in 144. He wrote a book entitled Antitheses (to which 1 Tim. vi, 20 could conceivably be an allusion) in which he listed contradictions between the Old and New Testaments to prove that the God of the Jews, the creator of this miserable world, was quite different from the God and Father of Jesus whose existence the world had no inkling of until the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar when Jesus suddenly appeared preaching the Gospel. It was inconceivable that the divine redeemer could ever have been born of a woman, and Marcion rejected the story of the birth and childhood of Christ as a falsification imposed on the authentic story." (pp. 38-39)

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Grant us, O Lord, we pray thee, to trust in thee with all our heart; seeing that, as thou dost alway resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so thou dost not forsake those who make their boast of thy mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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