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Worship Services
The Rev. David "Chip" Robinson
Vicar
All people of faith are welcome to receive Holy Communion at the Lord's Table
Christ Episcopal Church
1035 Lafayette Road
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Rite II at 10:30 am
Coffee Hour follows
Clergy office hours
Tues & Thurs 9am-12noon
200 High St.
Hampton, NH 03842
Saturday Rite l at 5pm
Rite II at 8:45 am
Coffee Hour after the service
Clergy office hours
Mon & Wed 9am-12 noon
The Vicar's sermons can be found by clicking on the link for either church and going to the Worship page.
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(603) 431-1809
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at Trinity Church, Hampton
(603) 929-7349
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Episcopal Churches on the Seacoast
Seacoast Convocation
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Ministry Schedule
Christ Church
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Going into the hospital?
Due to privacy laws, churches are no longer routinely informed if you or a loved one is admitted to the hospital. Please be sure you let us know when and where you will be a patient so we can be in touch with you and include you in our prayers and healing ministry. Don't assume the Vicar knows - he would much rather hear from several people than from no one!
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From the Vicar...
"I know my own and my own know me"
"I am the good shepherd," says our Savior, "I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father." This coming Sunday, "Good Shepherd Sunday" as it is known, we will explore this truth.
But I have to tell you: It is a mystery to me how it is that we are known by God and how we know God.
It is easier for us to understand how God knows us, because, after all, God is our creator and must know us inside out. God is the "Almighty God to whom all hearts are open, to all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid" - as we say at the beginning of the Liturgy. But what difference does it make?
You might see God as the One who holds the keys to the gate of heaven, the One who records all our thoughts and actions in his book, a book which will be opened at the end of time when we will receive our eternal reward. Other people object very strongly to a "peeping tom" sort of God, who pries into every aspect of our lives, probing our thoughts and spying out our actions.
Still others will think of God as the one who watched over us while we were in our mother's womb, the one who saw how our limbs were formed and how our thoughts and our personality came to be - this is the God we praise in Psalm 139 - the God in whom we live and move and have our being.
This Sunday, the readings encourage us to see God as the God who cares about us, like the good shepherd who cares for the sheep. St. John, in his letter to the early Church, says, "God is love, and we know love by this, that he laid down his life for us." Earlier in the letter John says, "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God." What John is telling us is that God not only knows us through and through, but loves us and wants us to be whole and happy. The measure of love is that Christ laid down his life for us. God knows who we are and what we are like, and knows what we need and what sustains us, and because of this, gives us what we need.
God knowing us...that's the easier side of the equation to comprehend. But what about our knowing God? How can we know God?
This may sound simplistic, but I believe it: The only way to know Jesus is to be like him, the only way to know God is to be faithful to God. St. Paul said to the Church at Rome, "Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect." It is only by acting and living and worshipping as Christians that we can become followers of Christ.
You could compare it to riding a bicycle: You only become a good rider by getting on a bicycle and actually doing it. You can look at a bicycle all day, and read books about bicycles all day, but until you start pushing the pedals you will get nowhere. It's a bit like saying, the only way to know if you can swim is to jump in the water.
St. Peter is the example the Church puts before us in our first reading this Sunday, from the Acts of the Apostles. Dragged before the Jerusalem courts because he and John had cured a lame man, Peter stood up and plainly declared what he was doing and in whose name he was doing it. His heart did not condemn him, his conscience was clear.
What is true for them is also true for us. If we want to know how God knows us and how we can know God, then we must love, not in word and speech, but also in deed. All that remains for us is to go forward boldly...
Fr. Chip
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...
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April 17
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Christ Church Sunday School; Melanie Harden, Jim Heinz & Jeffrey Heinz; J.R., Coleen & Faith Bridle
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April 17
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Soup Kitchen teams at Trinity Church; Lee Hoginski; Bob Main & Belinda Wilkes
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Healing Service at Trinity
On Saturday, April 16 at 5 p.m., we will have our next service of Holy Eucharist and healing at Trinity Church. This service includes healing of mind, body, and spirit through prayers, laying on of hands, and anointing with holy oil. Everyone is welcome. Our next healing service at Christ Church will be on Sunday, May 1.
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 each morning 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. Here are our winners for the April 6-12 drawings ("GC" means "gift card"). On Sundays, we are holding a "bonus" drawing for gift cards we received that didn't get listed on the calendar.
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Date
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Prize
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Winner
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Apr. 6
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Stonewall Kitchen Blueberry Breakfast Box valued at $40
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Candace Merrill
(sold by Carol Gobar)
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Apr. 7
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Food Basket valued at $50
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Ginnie-Lee McCaddin
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Apr. 8
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$25 GC: Panera Bread
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Joy Eiras
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Apr. 9
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$25 GC: PetSmart
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Louise Bridle
(our first two-time winner!)
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Apr. 10
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$50 Cash
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Betty Lane
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Bonus
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$25 GC: Olive Garden
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Patrice Wood
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Apr. 11
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$40 GC: Cumberland Farms
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Kathy Glennon
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Apr. 12
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$25 GC: Dunkin Donuts
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Mary Borg
(sold by Louise Bridle)
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Annual Plant Sale on Saturday, May 7th
Just a reminder for the upcoming plant sale at Christ Church on Saturday, May 7th from 8-2. Please consider donating some of the perennials from your gardens or something for the bake sale. And...if you're donating perennials, now is the time to start separating them so they can be part of this sale.
Thanks for your help!
Tena Wolf
New directories being produced
At last our 2016 Shared Ministry Directory is ready for distribution. The front portion has information on our staff and volunteers in each of our churches. Then follow listings of our membership with, wherever available, photographs. Those on our email list will receive these electronically. A few print copies will be produced for those without email. If you do not receive one either in your email inbox or by mail, let us know and we will make one available to you.
'Goodsearch' can help us raise money for our ministry
Help raise money for Christ Church Portsmouth or Trinity Church Hampton by using Goodsearch whenever you search the internet or shop online. It's easy!
First go to www.goodshop.com. At the home page, click on "Choose a Cause." This will take you to a screen titled: "Who do you want to help?" Type in the name of your cause - "Christ Episcopal Church - Portsmouth" or "Trinity Church - Hampton." Then create a user profile that will allow you to keep track of your individual amount raised. Goodsearch does the rest. Each fall they send out checks for the combined amount earned by all of our supporters through Goodsearch and Goodshop. It adds up quickly!
There are also quick-to-install add-ons that make your use of Goodshop easy: The GoodShop To-Go Button, GoodApp Toolbar and Goodsearch Plug-in all install in less than 30 seconds and help you to earn donations for your favorite cause when you shop and search even when you don't visit Goodsearch first.
From our perspective, it's "free" money - the more we search and shop, the more money we can earn for our respective churches. If you have any questions or need help getting started, please feel free to contact Kris Ebbeson at kebbeson@metrocast.net or 603-319-4685.
New Hampshire Gay Men's Chorus to sing at
Christ Church Sunday, May 1 
The New Hampshire Gay Men's Chorus will give four performances of its Spring 2016 concert, Dudes and Divas! Concert dates are April 30, May 1, May 14, and May 15, in Nashua, Portsmouth, Concord, and Manchester. The Sunday, May 1 performance at 4 p.m. will be right here at Christ Church.
Tickets are $20 per person, and can be bought in advance here- or at the door.
Tickets on sale for Village Preschool Spring Raffle
Would you like an evening at the Sonesta Hotel in Boston with free breakfast and free overnight parking?
Would you like to have $100 to spend at Market Basket?
Would you like your morning coffee paid for?
If so, take a chance on our spring raffle! Tickets are available at Village Preschool. The cost is $1 per ticket. Call the preschool at (603) 929-7349 to reserve tickets, or just stop by. We are raising money to purchase a piece of equipment requested and chosen by our students. The raffle will continue until May 13, 2016.
Ginny Bridle
Executive Director
Village Preschool
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Contacts
The Rev. David "Chip" Robinson, Vicar
Christ Episcopal Church, 1035 Lafayette Road, Portsmouth, NH 03801
phone: 603-436-8842
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-Noon
Trinity Episcopal Church, 200 High Street, Hampton, NH 03842
Shared Ministry Administrator: Nita Niemczyk
phone: 603-926-5688
Office hours: Monday-Friday from 9:00-1:00
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