From the Vicar...
Yes, you read it right: it's still Easter. Easter is a season, not just a day. A fifty- day season to be exact.
Unfortunately, if this second Sunday of Easter is anything like previous second Sundays of Easter I've experienced, attendance will be a little smaller this week than it was last week. Perhaps it will be among the least attended Sundays of the church year.
Obviously, that's because everyone is exhausted from absolutely swamping our churches on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday - oh, wait, they didn't. (Though I do think those who did come to those powerful services came away deeply nourished by having done so.)
No, the problem is, society has made Easter a day and not a season - and so, outside the walls of the Church, they're already packing Easter away and marking down the candy and the baskets and the bunnies to half price.
So, how do we counter that? Curiously, on this second Sunday of Easter, we have to start off by talking about Lent to understand why the season is just as significant as the day.
Think about the Lenten season just ended: If you count the days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Day, without counting the Sundays, you get forty days. The forty days of Lent. The forty days of Lent are calculated by omitting the Sundays. Of course, the question that rises to the surface here is: Why? Why aren't Sundays included in Lent?
The reason is this: Sundays are never fast days. They are always feast days. Every single Sunday is a Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord. Every single Sunday is a celebration of Easter. Even the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost. Even the 3rd Sunday of Advent. Even all the Sundays in Lent.
All are feasts of the Resurrection.
The first Christians were, of course, Jewish; whose holy day is the Seventh Day, the Sabbath, Saturday. But, those same first Christians gathered together on Sunday - even though it was a "work day" and not a day of rest - because Sunday was the day that Jesus rose from the dead. And so, every Sunday is a holy day. Every Sunday is a celebration of Easter.
The bottom line is this: As this second Sunday of Easter approaches, we must embrace the fact that Easter is no less Easter this week than it was last week. And it will remain Easter for fifty days, right up until Pentecost, which this year falls on May 15. Meaning what? Easter season is the exact opposite of the Lenten season. If all of that was a time of fasting except the Sundays, this is a time of feasting including the Sundays. Even the weekdays of Easter are Sundays when understood this way. It's like the joy spills over so profoundly, a single day of the week cannot contain it all.
So, my friends, even though some of the trumpet lilies have started to brown, the tulips have gone a little limp, the brass has already started to develop its next round of tarnish, and the church photocopier is a little less taxed in its weekly bulletin production - it's still Easter. It's still a celebration of the resurrection of Our Lord.
And, so it is every day from now until Pentecost. Come to the Feast! Join the Party! Christ is alive! Alleluia!
Fr. Chip
An Easter "thank you"
I want to express my thanks to everyone who helped make our Holy Week and Easter services so meaningful and beautiful. A special "thank you" to our altar guilds, who made both sanctuaries look so festive; to Alexis and the choir for the joyful music you played and sang; to the Acolytes and other Altar Ministers who led the Congregations through our worship and praise; to the Readers and Intercessors, who told the Story so well; to Nita for all the hard work typing, printing and assembling bulletins; and to all of you whose presence pulled it all together. What a week!
Fr. Chip
Home communion
The Sacrament of Holy Eucharist is available to any church member at home or in the hospital who desires to receive it. Fr. Chip will be setting aside time during the Easter season to make visits. If you find yourself temporarily sick or confined at home or in the hospital and would like communion brought to you, please call the Shared Ministry office at 603- 926-5688 to set up a convenient time.
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... |
April 3
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Salvation Army Soup Kitchen ministry of Christ Church; Debra Littlefield
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April 10
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Outreach Ministries of both congregations; Liza & David, Colin & Griffin McGuckin; Joanie Gagnon; Carol Gobar
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Fundraiser for Discretionary Fund is now underway Between now and the Day of Pentecost (May 15), we will be undertaking a fundraiser for the Vicar's Discretionary Fund. Peter Monte (at Christ Church) and Gordon Lane (at Trinity Church) will be selling raffle tickets for a $200 gift card from the Atlantic Grill in Rye. Tickets are $15 each or three for $30. See Peter or Gordon at coffee hour if you'd like to help us beef up this Fund, which helps people in need both within our congregations and in the community at large. Calendar drawings get underway tomorrow! It's not too late to buy a calendar - or to sell a few more copies. Folks might miss the first couple of drawings, but names will be "in the basket" for the rest of the month - still a good deal! There are items worth approximately $1,500 in prizes and you can win up to 30 times for the month. Please be sure to buy a calendar from a church member and pick up additional copies to sell to your friends! You may also email the Shared Ministry Office to purchase a calendar at trinity55ad@gmail.com. Throughout the month of April, we will be publishing the winners of our daily Calendar fundraiser drawings. Cindy Robinson will draw a name each morning starting tomorrow, April 1, 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. One reminder to our Calendar sellers: If you are selling to someone outside our congregations, put your name on the back of the ticket so we can convey the gift via you. Tena Wolf
Judy Koch, rest in peace Judith Jantzer Koch, 73, a faithful member of the Trinity family and wife of Lutheran pastor George Koch, passed away suddenly last Friday, March 25 at Portsmouth Hospital surrounded by her family. Visiting hours will be from 2-3 p.m. on Saturday, April 2 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Newington. The Memorial service will follow at 3 p.m. with a light reception afterwards. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the New Hampshire SPCA, PO Box 196, Stratham, NH 03885 or the National Alliance for Mental Illness, 85 North State Street, Concord, NH 03301.
Trinity Church to host New Orleans Jazz Night
When: April 2, 2016
Time: 6:00 to 8:00 pm
Where: Hobbs House - Trinity Episcopal Church, 200 High Street, Hampton, NH
$5.00 Donation - Hobbs House
FEATURING: The EPISCO-CATS Jazz Combo, and Traditional New Orleans Food, Including King' Cake!
Lay Leadership Institute Saturday, May 7, 8:30 am - 4:00 pm Rundlett Middle School, Concord The Lay Leadership Institute is again being held at the Rundlett Middle School in Concord. The seminars for this year are as follows: Rite Essentials: Acknowledging that service in worship is an exercise of leadership, Bishop Rob Hirschfeld will guide seminar participants through our liturgies. He'll explain what is really happening at the altar, how our rites took shape, the importance of place and word and symbol in our worship, and why we do things as we do. The Art of Narrative: Telling stories is a powerful tool for reaching others - to inform, explain, persuade, support, inspire and spread the faith. Sharing stories builds community. Moreover, perceiving our lives as stories helps us make sense of our history and our relationships, inviting us to deeper spirituality. Participants in the Art of Narrative will gain practice in forming and telling stories. The Greening of the Church: Representatives of Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light will assist congregations toward environmental soundness by helping participants track energy use and carbon footprint, install no-cost and low-cost projects and practices that reduce energy bills, update heating and electrical equipment, and locate rebates and financial assistance that help pay for sustainability projects. Wardens' Round Table: This annual seminar brings wardens together for peer-talk about issues unique to their canonical office and to learn from one another's experiences and insights, led by a seasoned moderator. This year's Round Table will include Mutual Ministry Review, as Canon Hannah Anderson guides wardens through the process vital to healthy congregational life. To register for the Lay Leadership Institute, go to the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire's website, www.nhepiscopal.org, click on congregations and click on Lay Leadership.
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