From the Vicar...

 

Jesus gives us three tools: community, service, and prayer

 

The three holiest days of the church calendar are Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. Today, Maundy Thursday, is not one of those three days, but, as important as Easter may be, you cannot truly experience Easter without experiencing Good Friday - and you can't get through Good Friday without Maundy Thursday. Christ's goal at that night's Last Supper wasn't just to enjoy one final evening with his friends; it was also to prepare them for what only he realized was to come. He prepared them by giving them three tools, tools he also gives us: community, service, and prayer.

 

The gift of community is seen primarily in the night's fellowship. Jesus was there to break bread with his friends and encourage them to keep breaking bread after he was gone. We memorialize this scene as the central act of worship in the Episcopal Church: "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me... This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

 

And what do we call that act of worship? Communion, very similar to community. Because for all our foibles and failings, we are still Christians in the same Body of Christ, and at the end of the day, we worship together before the same God and the same altar.

 

The gift of service is rooted in action. In the case of Maundy Thursday, that action is the washing of the disciples' feet. You might not be comfortable with tonight's optional foot washing. That's okay - a lot of people aren't. Our society is not a particularly intimate one, and there are few things more intimate than the foot. But when Christ touched the feet of his disciples, they experienced not just community, but a powerfully intimate sense of how Christ was dedicated to serving them.

 

Now, it's true, foot washing isn't a part of today's culture - you wear your shoes, you take your shower - but in Christ's time, it was something you had to be intentional about every single time you walked through a door lest you tracked dust everywhere you went. So servants, if you could afford them, would do this gross but necessary task for you several times a day. Christ took the role of a servant, and instructed us to do the same.

 

The third gift Christ gave us was prayer. Elsewhere in the Maundy Thursday Scriptures, he prays at great length not for his own path but for his disciples gathered there at the table. And then, he led them to the Garden of Gethsemane so that he, in the darkest, most terrifying hour of his life, could pray. It was his last moment of freedom, and he chose to spend it talking to his Father.

 

These three things - community, service, and prayer - are helpful, powerful, and dare I say necessary tools for enduring anguish. If they weren't, Christ would not have used them to prepare his disciples. But as simple actions, they mean nothing. They must be rooted in something even deeper, something even more powerful - love.

 

Tonight, we begin a three-day liturgy that is all of a piece: the Triduum is, at its heart, about a single thing: Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. Love is not just a schmaltzy Hallmark card. It is what compelled the Messiah to beg God to take the pain from his heart, and then to go through with it anyway. And even though it seems impossible, we are called to try and follow that example: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

 

Tonight we begin a journey past the table, past the towel and bowl, past the cross, to the grave, and, ultimately, to the empty tomb. Christ loved us enough to die for us, and also to prepare us. So for the pain that comes tomorrow, and for all the pains in life, from hospitals to heartbreaks, we have community, service, and prayer. But above all, we have his love. 

  

Faithfully,             

Fr. Chip 

 

 

Holy Week and Easter schedule

 

Maundy Thursday, April 17          

7:00 p.m. joint liturgy at Christ Church

After the service, you are invited to remain in prayer in the Lady Chapel, which will remain open for any who so desire.

 

Good Friday, April 18           

12:00 noon - Ecumenical services at St. John's, Portsmouth and the United Methodist Church, Hampton

2:00 p.m. - Stations of the Cross at Christ Church

7:00 p.m. - Joint Good Friday Liturgy at Trinity Church

 

Great Vigil of Easter, April 19                  

8:00 p.m. - joint liturgy at Christ Church

(Note: No Saturday evening service at Trinity on April 19.)

 

Easter Day, April 20                  

8:45 a.m. at Trinity Church - festival Eucharist of the Resurrection

10:30 a.m. at Christ Church - child-friendly Eucharist with Easter Egg Hunt following   

 

 

Good Friday Offering

 

Since 1922, Episcopalians have supported the ministries of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East through the Good Friday Offering. Through the work of the Episcopal dioceses in the Middle East, Christians maintain a peacemaking and stabilizing presence in the region, serving their neighbors regardless of faith background. To make a donation to the Good Friday Offering, please write a check payable to Trinity Church, with the memo, "Good Friday Offering." A plate will be stationed at the rear of the church to receive your offering at the Good Friday liturgy.

 

 

 

There will be ecumenical Good Friday services in each of our communities, both at noon. The Hampton service, which Fr. Chip will be part of, will be at the United Methodist Church on Lafayette Rd. In Portsmouth, the service will be at St. John's, 101 Chapel St. Both will consist of readings interspersed with musical selections and various prayers and litanies. At the Methodist Church there will also be a Prayer Labyrinth in the parish hall for any who wish to quietly walk the circuits in their stocking feet.

 

Our own liturgies will be a Stations of the Cross service at Christ Church at 2:00 and the Prayer Book Liturgy of Good Friday at 5:00 at Trinity Church. The latter will include an anthem at the Veneration of the Cross by the combined choir.

  

  

THE GREAT VIGIL OF EASTER

SATURDAY, APRIL 19 AT 8 P.M.                            

 

For several years now, Christ Church has observed a custom that is well on its way to becoming a parish tradition. What is it? It's the ringing of bells at the "alleluias" of the Great Vigil of Easter .

 

On Saturday evening, April 19, you are invited to bring a bell, small or large, to the 8:00 p.m. Easter Eve service. We will gather in the darkness on the front steps of the church (weather permitting), light the New Fire of Easter, process the Paschal (Easter) Candle to the strains of the glorious chant, Exsultet, hear the marvelous stories of God's work in salvation history and then ring those bells as we celebrate the First Eucharist of Easter. An agapé feast follows in the Marshall Room. This is a joint worship opportunity for both churches. (You are invited to bring something fun and creative for that - it's our first "feast" after the forty days of Lent!)

 

 

Easter Sunrise service at North Beach

  

If you are an early riser, you might want to attend the joyful seaside service at North Beach in Hampton. The Rev. Michele Bagby Allen of the North Hampton Congregational Church will be the preacher at the 5:45 a.m. service. Our own Fr. Chip will be among the participating clergy. Following this ecumenical service, there will be a pancake breakfast at the United Methodist Church on Lafayette Rd. All are invited.

 

 

Spring sing! An Eastertide choral celebration

 

After the success of our Epiphany ecumenical choral celebration, we've decided to offer a sequel. On Sunday, May 4 at 2:00, the combined choirs of several area churches will be gathering at Hampton's United Methodist Church on Lafayette Rd. for an Ecumenical Eastertide Choral Celebration. Each participating choir will offer one Easter anthem from its repertoire - then all will join for a mass singing of Handel's "Hallelujah!" chorus. 

 

 

You asked for it...Fr. Chip's sermons online

 

The suggestion was made at last month's Bishop's Committee meeting that our Vicar post his sermons on the church websites. Beginning this week, they are now posted. You will find them linked to the "Worship" page on our websites:

 

 

  

Our Shared Ministry Cycle of Prayer this week and next

 

Each week, in both of our churches, we pray for one ministry we share and one or two households in each church. About once every six weeks, we will instead using the Shared Ministry Collect we prayed throughout the opening months of our Shared Ministry.

 

In our prayers the next two weeks, we give God thanks for...

 

 

Apr. 20	The Prayers of the People will conclude with the Collect for our Shared Ministry
Apr. 27	Soup Kitchen teams at Trinity Church; Melanie Harden, Jim Heinz & Jeffrey Heinz of Christ Church; Bob Main & Belinda Wilkes of Trinity Church

 

 

The final session of our Via Media series will be held on Sunday, April 27 at 12:00 noon. We will begin with a soup and bread lunch in the Marshall Room (the room where coffee hour is held), and will continue with video and discussion in the classroom next door. Our topic will be "So What? What does it mean to be a Christian today?"                                        

 

Calendar Drawing winners

 

On Tuesday, April 1^st, we held the first drawing of our Calendar Fundraiser. Fr. Chip and Cindy are drawing the winning ticket each morning and notifying the winners. Here are our winners so far:

 

Thursday, April 10	Two hand-crafted bird houses donated by Chuck Ott
	Winner: Peter Wahl
Friday, April 11	$30 Golf & Ski Warehouse gift card donated by John Normand; $20 cash donated by Ginnie-Lee & Mark McCaddin
	Winner: Skip Page
Saturday, April 12	$35 Rolling Green Nursery gift card donated by Shirley Phillips
	Winner: Joyce Phoenix (our first two-time winner!)
Sunday, April 13	$25 Ruby Tuesday gift card donated by Wesley Rowe; Potter donated by Kathy Glennon
	Winner: Mark & Ginnie-Lee McCaddin
Monday, April 14	$50 Hannaford's Supermarket gift card donated by Robert & Phoebe Bischoff
	Winner: Gordon Lane
Tuesday, April 15	$25 Philbrick's Fresh Market gift card donated by Gary Dozier & Tabby; $25 Walmart gift card donated by Iris McLoughlin
	Winner: Mike Spinelli
Wednesday, April 16	$30 gift card to the 99 Restaurant donated by Patrice Wood; $20 Cinemagic Theater gift card donated by Ida Moriarty
	Winner: Craig Davis

 Winners will be announced each week in the E-News.  We wish good luck to everyone!

  

Saturday, May 3 - One day to serve

 

Operation Blessing and Seacoast Adopt-A-Block in Portsmouth are sponsoring a one-day event called "One Day to Serve" on Saturday, May 3. This past Sunday, Linda Seward, our liaison with Operation Blessing at Christ Church, issued the invitation to any who wish to join the effort.

 

At "One Day to Serve," we have the opportunity to transform a neighborhood in a single day by...picking up trash, raking, spreading mulch or loam, and painting or washing windows.

 

The best part is this event is local (within minutes from where you live), easy (you simply show up and serve) and affordable (it's free). The goal is to involve 300-500 local church people from all over the Seacoast area working together for the same cause.

 

There is power and impact in "showing God's love in practical ways." Serving is a way to treat people the way God wants to see them treated.  It is the very essence of God's personality. That's why it's so powerful. Registration is at Connect Community Church, 200 Chase Dr., Portsmouth (just off Market St., near I-95 Exit 7) from 11:00-12:00. Service will take place in 13 locations from 1:00-4:00. For details, contact Tammy Joslyn at 603-988-2671 or log on to

theobnh.org. 

 

 

The History, Lore and Legends of the Isles of Shoals

 

May 17 at Trinity Church

Celebrate the history, lore and legends of the Isles of Shoals - fishermen and pirates...ghosts and grand hotels!  Trinity Church in Hampton and Christ Church in Portsmouth invite you to join us on May 17th at Hobbs House, 200 High Street Hampton, NH, to celebrate the rich history of the Isles of Shoals with an original program by actor Stephanie Voss Nugent.  The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and refreshments will be served; the presentation begins at 7 p.m.  Tickets are $10.  For more information or to reserve your tickets please see Ann Newell or Gordon Lane at Trinity Church, or Kris Ebbeson at Christ Church

 

 

The Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire has revised the Safe Church Policy during the summer of 2013. The curriculum for Safe Church Training now consists of three hours of online training and three hours of class training. On-line Modules must be completed prior to attending any Safe Church Class.

 

Anyone in need of refresher training is asked to take the new Initial Safe Church Training. Refresher training is required every three years vs. five years. Please contact your Safe Church Minister to verify when you are due to take your refresher training.

 

Please register with your Safe Church Minister. You may register anytime. Even if you plan on attending a class this fall you may register now and complete your online training whenever is convenient for you between now and the fall. For Christ Church, contact Patsy Tremblay at pehjat@comcast.netor call 603-205-2195. At Trinity Church, contact Patrice Wood at phwood2013@gmail.com.

 

Training classes for this spring are offered the following Saturdays from 8:30am to noon except as noted on May 22nd below:

 

April 26, 2014 - All Saints', Littleton

May 22, 2014 - Trinity Church, Meredith, 6pm to 9pm, Thursday

May 31, 2014 - Trinity Church, Claremont

 

Training classes for the fall are offered the following Saturdays from 8:30am to noon except as noted on October 7th below:

 

September 13, 2014 - Trinity Church, Meredith

September 20, 2014 - Christ Church, Exeter

October 4, 2014 - St. Barnabas, Berlin

October 7, 2014 - Church of the Good Shepherd, Nashua, 6:30pm to 9:30pm, Tuesday

November 15, 2014 - St. Thomas, Hanover

November 22, 2014 - St. Paul's, Concord

  

Transportation Assistance for Senior Citizens (TASC)

Providing transportation assistance to eligible seniors and others with medical mobility issues. Currently serving the NH seacoast communities of Exeter, Greenland, Hampton, Hampton Falls, Kensington, North Hampton, Rye, Stratham and Seabrook.  Contact:  603-926-9026

 

Contact Amanda or Aidan at Dress4 School Success for clothing donation drop off or clothing needs 603.918.6816 or email  dress4schoolsuccess@comcast.net. during the school year.  All requests are confidential.

Please email submissions to porthamp@gmail.com or mail to the office at Trinity Church, 200 High St, Hampton, NH 03842 or Christ Church, 1035 Lafayette Rd, Portsmouth, NH 03801. Entries should follow the Submission Guidelines.