|
|
|
The Season of Lent at Christ Church
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
|
Whoever you are, and wherever you
find yourself on the journey of faith, you are welcome at Christ
Church, as you are, to receive the blessings of God so freely given.
|
|
Greetings!
This Wednesday night begins the five-week, Lenten program. We'll gather each Wednesday night in Lent to build community and share the Lenten journey together. Come when you can. At 6 PM, we put out a big pot of soup and bread, and bring a salad if you wish. At. 6:30 PM, we'll read and meditate on holy scripture, as we are called to do in Lent, using the King James Bible in its 400th year as our starting point. At 7:30, we will say our prayers and then be home by 8 PM.
Lent is important, and its both easier and richer the more we are rooted in our Christian community. I commend a recent article by Jeffrey MacDonald in the Boston Globe about Christians regaining their Lenten discipline as a way to reclaim an authentic faith. He writes, "Lent resembles the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, though with one big difference: Muslims actually take Ramadan seriously. American Christians talk about fasting and deprivation, but most practice nothing of the sort. For Christians in this country, self-denial makes life less pleasurable. So why do it?"
We seek to answer the question together on Wednesday nights. Participation in the church community always requires a sacrifice of time. Time is the most important gift we have to give to each other. Consider this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. "A service that one should perform for another in a Christian community is that of active helpfulness. This means, initially, simple assistance in trifling, external matters. There is a multitude of these things wherever people live together. Nobody is too good for the meanest service. One who worries about the loss of time that such petty, outward acts of helpfulness entail is usually taking the importance of his or her own priorities too solemnly."
I like the custom of calling Sunday morning worship "the service." Explore the greek etymology of the word "liturgy" and you'll discover it means "to be a public servant." Profoundly, worship is to be of service to God, through being servants to each other in a public way. The time you give on Sunday morning is time in service to each other. Lent is the ideal time to make a serious commitment to Sunday worship at Christ Church, no matter what.
The devastation in Japan is tremendous. Read a report from the Anglican Archbishop of Japan here.
Timothy Safford
|
|
Sunday, March 20--The First Sunday of Lent
9 AM--The Holy Eucharist, Hymns and Sermon
10:10--The Forum: All Parish Confirmation Class: The History of Democratic Catholicity
11 AM--The Holy Eucharist, Sermon and Choral Music
|
|
|
Distinguished Historian Gary Nash lectures at St. Peter's, Thursday March 24, 7 PM
St. Peter's Church, located at the corner of Third and Pine Streets in Society Hill, Philadelphia will present a lecture on Absalom Jones's Neighborhood: Reaching for Freedom, Dignity and Justice on Thursday, March 24th, 2011 at 7:00 PM in the church. Dr.Gary B. Nash, one of the country's most respected historians on early American history and professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, will explore the life and environs of former slave Absalom Jones, who founded the first African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, and led the way to freedom, dignity and justice for all African-Americans. |
|
Making Your Pledges and Contributions Online
The best way to make your pledge contributions and offerings to Christ Church is in person on Sundays. However, many parishioners choose to set up regular recurring gifts from a bank account or credit card through our secure members website. Click here to get started today.
Thank you for making Christ Church possible!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
