The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word “Celebrate” as 

1. to do something special or enjoyable for an important event, occasion, holiday, etc. 
2. to praise (someone or something) :
3. to say that (someone or something) is great or important.
4. to perform (a religious ceremony)

I want to invite you to a special service which meets all four of those definitions. On Sunday, September 15 at 10 am there will be a Sung Eucharist at St Barnabas with the theme of “Celebration.” What are we celebrating? 

Our celebration is twofold: this will be our first Sunday in the church since the old floor and carpet were removed and new flooring and carpet laid. These renovations have kept us out of the church space, also known as the sanctuary, for a month. There have been other subtle changes to the interior which I will leave you to discover when you visit. For the completed work we give thanks to those whose labors in the heat and dust this past month have resulted in a new and improved look to our church interior.  ...  read more

Among the readings selected for this coming Sunday is almost the whole of a letter written by the apostle Paul around the year AD 60. It is the Letter to Philemon, which Paul wrote while he was in prison. The letter reveals something essential about human relationships in the early Christian age: regardless of differences in social status, Christians were expected to treat one another as brothers and sisters in Christ.  ...  read more

In preparing for last Sunday’s sermon on Jesus’ healing of the woman on the Sabbath, it occurred to me that in conversations with other Christians about what we believe and what we practice, the subject of Sabbath almost never comes up. Why should that be? Either we don’t give the subject the attention it deserves, or the notion of a Sabbath or a “day of rest” no longer appeals to us – it is a relic of a bygone era to be discarded as hopelessly irrelevant and out of date. ...  read more

Last week was the 50th anniversary of the music festival at Woodstock. There have been a number of articles looking back at that event, and on Amazon Prime a new documentary tells the story from the perspective of the organisers and those who attended. I saw the original movie when it first came out, albeit one with cuts for nudity and bad language, in a school party, presumably because our teachers thought it would be educational.  ...  read more

Last week Ruth and I were at Memorial House, Rehoboth, where we hosted the annual beach week for (mainly) members of Christ Church Christiana Hundred. (It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it). However, it wasn’t all sun and sand; every morning at 8 am we said Morning Prayer outside on the deck at the rear of the house. We had Holy Eucharist on Sunday at 5 pm and also on Tuesday at 8 am for the Feast of the Transfiguration. ...  read more