 From the Vicar... "The mother of all liturgies" is upon us After living and celebrating the holy and penitential season of Lent, we enter into the heart of Holy Week which is the most sacred and significant time in the Liturgical Year. Holy Week is the time in which we enter into the Paschal Mystery of Christ in a most unique and profound way. This reaches its climax in the celebration of the Triduum, the greatest of all liturgies, on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil when we truly walk with Christ and enter into his saving mystery. Even though the Triduum is celebrated over three days, it is actually one liturgy that begins Maundy Thursday evening and ends late Holy Saturday night. In fact, it is often called the "mother of all liturgies." Through the Triduum, we literally walk and journey with Christ from the washing of the disciples' feet to the celebration of the Last Supper, to the Agony in the Garden, through the Passion and Crucifixion, to the celebration and joy of the Resurrection. It is a powerful and moving experience that all Episcopalians should experience if they are able to. Fr. Chip
Our Triduum liturgies
|
|
At Trinity Church
|
At Christ Church
| |
Maundy Thursday
April 2
|
|
7:00 p.m.
Holy Eucharist and Stripping of the Altar
| |
Good Friday
April 3
|
7:00 p.m.
Good Friday Liturgy
|
| |
Easter Even
April 4
|
Note: No Saturday evening liturgy at Trinity Church on April 4
|
7:30 p.m.
Great Vigil of Easter
| |
Easter Morning April 5
|
8:45 a.m.
Festival Eucharist
|
10:30 a.m.
Festival Eucharist
- Easter Egg hunt follows on church grounds
|
Additional Triduum notes
Ecumenical Good Friday Services - During the first of the three hours of Our Lord's suffering on the Cross, North Church, Market Square, Portsmouth, will host an ecumenical service of readings and meditations. Our Vicar is one of the clergy participants; lay participants are invited as well. Hampton will also have a service at noon that day, with First Congregational Church, 127 Winnacunnet Rd., serving as host.
Good Friday Offering for the Holy Land - The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, has shared a request for this year's Good Friday offering. In her letter to clergy, she explains the Church "has been in partnership with the Diocese of Jerusalem for a very long time. Since 1922, we have taken an offering in our churches on Good Friday to support the work of the gospel in the Land of the Holy One. That Land is still the place of deep division and conflict, more than 2000 years after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. He and his earthly family suffered under threat of oppressive regimes, fled as refugees to another land, labored to supply their bodily needs in the face of dire economic realities, and he himself was executed as an enemy of the state. All of those realities are present today in the Anglican/Episcopal Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East."
To honor the Presiding Bishop's request, there will be an offering plate placed at the entrance to our Good Friday liturgy at Trinity Church on April 3. All loose gifts will go to the Good Friday Offering; if you are making your gift by check, please provide a memo, "Good Friday Offering," so our counters are clear as to your intentions.
Easter Sunrise Service at North Beach -This annual service near where Rt. 27 meets Ocean Blvd. in Hampton, will be held at 6:15 a.m. Easter morning. The Rev. Mark Lowe of Hampton's First Baptist Church is the preacher; Fr. Chip will be among the clergy participants.
Watch Bishop Rob's Easter message
You can watch Bishop Rob share his Easter Message for the Church here, and share the link with friends, family and colleagues.
Read Bishop Rob's Good Friday meditation
Bishop Rob's Good Friday Meditation can be found at his blog, www.tendingthevine.org.
No healing liturgy Easter Day at Christ Church
As the first Sunday of April falls on Easter Day, we will forego the laying on of hands for healing that day. Our next healing liturgy at Christ Church will be on Sunday, May 3. Trinity's healing liturgy will be on Saturday, April 18 at 5 p.m.
Mutual Ministry Review open forums
There will be an "Ask the Bishop's Committee" open forum after church on
- Sunday, Apr. 12 at Trinity and on
- Sunday, Apr. 19 at Christ Church
to introduce the work we are doing in response to our recent Mutual Ministry Review and answer questions/quell rumors. In Christ Church's case, there will also be some introduction to the upcoming Capital Campaign there. Be looking for a letter in your mailbox during Easter Week to introduce these forums, the issues being discussed, and to invite your participation.
We are still putting together plans for a joint "whole congregation" retreat facilitated by Canon Hannah Anderson to address the questions, concerns, celebrations, fears, and in some cases misconceptions the February questionnaire revealed. We are likely looking at a summer or early fall date. Stay tuned.
Calendar drawing winners
Throughout the month of April, we will be publishing the winners of our daily Calendar fundraiser drawings. Cindy Robinson will draw a name at noon each day and the winner will be notified they've won - and how to retrieve their gift. All names go back in the basket - so each person has thirty chances to win. And no prize is worth less than $50! Be watching this space next week for our first list of winners for the April 1-7 drawings.
Our Shared Ministry Cycle of Prayer
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. 5
|
We will use the concluding collect for our Shared Ministry
| |
Apr. 12
|
Christ Church Sunday School; J.R., Coleen & Faith Bridle of Trinity Church; Liza & David, Colin & Griffin McGuckin of Christ Church
|
| 
