Holy Saturday – April 7th

• The Great Vigil – 7:30 PM

As the church awaits the glory of the resurrection, this is a day of preparation.    As the sun sets, bringing with it the end of the Lenten season, one of the most beautiful services of the entire church year is held.  We begin in utter darkness, signifying Christ in the tomb, and then a new fire is lighted & blessed and with it the Paschal Candle symbolizing Christ.  As the Paschal Candle is carried into the church, the light is passed to parishioners who each hold a candle.

As the church is illumined by just candlelight, the ancient hymn The Exsultet is sung.  Then, within that light, lessons are read which remind us of God’s desire for man’s salvation.  The Sacrament of Holy Baptism takes central focus for the priesthood of all believers and then we celebrate the first Eucharist of Easter.  The darkness is now full light!

Easter Day: The Day of Resurrection – April 8th

• 9:00 AM -  Holy Eucharist with Hymns
• 11:30 AM – Solemn Festival Eucharist

A day of joy, celebration and the gift of life to God’s people!

At the 9:00am service, children are invited to bring a flower to help decorate the cross.  This is also the day for everyone to bring their mite boxes.  This liturgy is followed by our traditional Easter Egg Hunt for young children.  Instructions will be given.

At both services, a full choir and procession with all of the ritual appointed for the day helps us celebrate and express our joy.  The Easter sermon is given; the choir anthems are spectacular and the glory of the day radiates from our worship into the community.

For so many, Holy Week jumps from Palm Sunday to Easter Day, and the Passion of our Lord is overlooked.  Journey with us as we continue a tradition that honors our Lord and gives a strong witness of our faith.

Palm Sunday – April 1st

• Distribution of the Palms and Holy Eucharist  – 8:00 AM & 10:30 AM

The most holy of weeks begins with Palm Sunday, also called Passion Sunday.  Here the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem is recalled, and yet, the liturgy quickly shifts to the events of the week that lead Jesus to his arrest, trial and death on the cross.  The congregation gathers in Old Brick, processes to New Brick with blessed palm leaves, and joins in the reading of the Gospel narrative in parts.  The liturgy ends in quietness; a stark   contrast to the joy of the procession. So our Holy Week journey begins.

Parishioners are invited to take the palms and place them in their homes as a reminder of the Kingship of Christ and the frailty of our human lives.

Monday in Holy Week – April 2nd

• Liturgical Dance Performance – 7:30

Come and embrace the Passion of Our Lord as we begin the journey of walking with Jesus day by day. We honor Monday in Holy Week with a Liturgical Dance performance called Were You There? at 7:30 PM in the Church.

Tuesday in Holy Week – April 3rd

• Stations of the Cross -  7:30 PM

Walk with us and recall the way of the Passion in this ancient service.  Prayers are offered at each of eight Stations depicting specific events of our Lord’s arrest, trial, crucifixion and death. Paintings are by parishioner Kelmie Snider.

Wednesday in Holy Week – April 4th

• Tenebrae – 7:30 PM.

As Jesus draws ever closer to the events of Good Friday, the church readies itself by the reading of the service of Tenebrae, taken from the monastic tradition.  In this service, the daily prayers for the next three days are said, so that the focus can be on the sacredness and liturgies of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.  A candelabrum with fifteen candles is used, and one by one, the candles are extinguished, until the only light remaining symbolizes the light of Christ.  This light is taken and hid for a moment, as Christ was laid in the tomb.  Then a loud noise, that of the earthquake, is made, and the light is returned to its stand.  In silence and by the light of only that candle, the congregation leaves.

Maundy Thursday – April 5th

• Remembrance of the Institution of the Holy Eucharist – 7:30 PM

In the evening we will gather to bring into remembrance the Last Supper of our Lord and the Institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.  We hear and remember the words of Jesus as he states, “Do this in remembrance of me.” As the service concludes, the altar is stripped of all of its apportionments, so that the focus of all can be upon the cross alone on Good Friday.  Then we hear of the Agony in the Garden as Jesus is arrested.  The Altar of Repose is set for The Watch that takes place through the night, as in response to our Lord’s question- “Could you not watch with me one hour?”

In addition, the congregation is invited to come and spend an hour (or any portion) in prayer and solitude at the Altar of Repose, set up in Old Brick.  A sign up sheet is posted in the rear of the church, but more than one person may share the same hour.

Good Friday – April 6th

• Meditations on the Cross – 12:00 Noon
• Good Friday Liturgy – 7:30 PM

Christians throughout the world recall this day upon which Jesus died.  As it remembers the great sinfulness of man, it also points to the glory and love of God.  It is most somber in its offering, and includes the Veneration of the Cross, another ancient custom of the Church.  A plain wooden cross is carried into the church and is held before us.  The congregation is invited to come forward and reverence the cross, by touching of the wood, a simple bow, a genuflection or the act of kissing the wood of the cross.

The afternoon service lasts one hour, and draws our attention to the extraordinary love that God has for each of us in giving His son to die upon the cross.  The evening service is fifteen minutes longer as we also receive communion from the Sacrament Reserved.  Church tradition prohibits the celebration of the Eucharist on this day.

-To expect the unexpected

-To be willing to change the course of our journeys

-To listen for His guidance

-To allow trust to replace fear and anxiety

-To expand our universe

-To give ourselves to others

- To keep in touch

- To allow our souls to take control and grow

-To spread the love of Christ and His joy to those whose lives intersect ours.

Am I on a journey with a loving, knowledgeable Father or am I on a solo adventure?  I often ask myself this question.  I yearn for a deep understanding of the world and its cultures.  In the mid 1990s I visited Gabon, a West African country, where Albert Schweitzer spent the majority of his life.  Schweitzer was a physician, a theologian and a concert organist in Europe.  He was a truly successful and integrated person.  But his desire was to serve God by serving others and by exercising great compassion.  Was it just a “coincidence” that I had the opportunity to see what a humble life Dr. Schweitzer led?  I was there on business, working in a French hospital very close to his past home and office.  His living quarters were now a deserted museum, with a writing desk, his glasses, his antique medical instruments, his Bible, a pedal organ and his narrow bed with mosquito net.  There was no electricity and only oil lamps for light.  What struck me was how little it takes in terms of material possessions and how much it takes in terms of faith and dependence on God to have a meaningful and productive life.  His motivation was gratitude to God and a reverence for life.

Although the following motivational story has been circulating on the Internet for years, I saw it for the first time while messing around on the computer, waiting for meditation inspiration to hit.  I was thinking about “Walking humbly with my God,” and what that means to me.  My thoughts kept returning to the idea of giving thanks for everything in our lives, but especially the basic joys that we often miss in our day-to-day busyness.  About then I came across this story, which gets across what I was thinking better than any words I could formulate at the time, so I share this now. At the end of the story, is a video adaptation.

Life is the Coffee:

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor.  The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and in life.  Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.  While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

“What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eying each other’s cups.

“Now consider this: Life is the coffee and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups.  They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and do not change the quality of Life.  Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided.  So, don’t let the cups drive you … enjoy the coffee instead.”